Gaby Kafie sent me two of his new 1901 Don Fernando cigars and I was excited to receive them. Today I sat down by the pool with this cigar, a capt' Eli's Root Beer and some Trader Joe's Triple Ginger Cookie Thins.
This chocolate colored cigar is well constructed with minimal veins running through it. The band is simple elegance and the foot has a piece of red ribbon wrapped around it. The stick had a light sheen to it. I took off the ribbon and sniffed the foot and a strong chocolate smell is filling my nose. I smelled a sweaty barnyard from the stick. I clipped the cap and took a dry draw of hay and a spice. I toasted the foot and tasted cedar and coffee from the first few draws of full creamy smoke. I also tasted hints of citrus and nuttiness later in the first third.
The nice grey dense ash held on until the second third and fell. The smoke was still kicking full and the burn was slightly uneven and needed a touch up. The flavors I tasted were citrus, leather, salt and nuts.
The ash fell again as the burn evened out it the third section. The draw remained nice and open as the smoke was still white, full and creamy. A mild sweetness flavor along with coffee and pepper filled out the flavors of the last third of this cigar.
This cigar was a very nice smoking experience and if you can get your hands on a few, I would. The Kafie 1901 Don Fernando Maduro Toro is a Cigar Assessor Approved Cigar. - June 27, 2013
The people at the Ventura Cigar Company sent me over some samples a few months ago and I reviewed their cigar, Estilo and placed the Pura Sangre in my humidor. After smoking a couple, I decided today was the day to review my last one. I will be paring this bold cigar up with a Virgil's Micro Brewed Cream Soda and some Trade Joe's Dark Chocolate Mint Creams.
This well-constructed dark chocolate stick had minimal veins. The band is of a tribal image in gold surrounded by black. The name Pura Sangre is written underneath in white letters. I sniffed the foot and smelled sweet hay. The stick smelled like mushrooms. I clipped the cap and took a dry draw of mild cocoa. I toasted the foot and tasted hints of cedar. Later a citrus tang and leather note joined the cedar flavor. The nice grey ash held on for the first third and the smoke was full. The burn was uneven and needed to be touched up. This could be attributed to a mild breeze blowing.
A little into the second third and the dense ash fell. The burn was still uneven and the smoke kicking full. The flavors I tasted in this section were hints of ginger, leather, cocoa and nutty. Flavor filled in this third. The ash fell again at the end of this section.
The last third and leather, sweetness and honey were prevalent flavors. The burn evened out and the smoke was still pumping out full. I smoked this cigar until I couldn't hold it anymore.
I enjoyed this smoking experience. The people over at Ventura Cigar Company make a nice cigar and I give it the Cigar Assessor Approval. If you see it grab one or two and give it a try. - June 19, 2013
Robert Anthony Meyers
robert@cigarassessor.com
Video Review
When I finished recording this review the news about James Gandolfini's death was just surfacing. I love watching the Sopranos and was sadden to hear of this. A man who loved his cigars.
The cigar I reviewed today was a recommendation by Michael Howe owner of Tampa Humidor. The Drew Estate Herrera Esteli has been receiving a lot of buzz in the cigar world so I decided to review the toro stick. I paired this cigar up with some Sumatra iced coffee with beans roasted from Coast2Coast Roasters in Arcadia, CA.
This well constructed, nice honey/nut brown cigar had minimal veins and felt good in my hand. The band is humble and retro in style. I took a sniff of the foot and smelled mild cocoa and hay and an aroma of sweat and barnyard from the stick. I clipped the cap and took a dry draw of hay. I lit the foot and tasted cedar at first and then nuts in the first few puffs of full white smoke. The draw was nice and open. Later in this first third I tasted notes of sweetness and salt adding to the cedar and nutty flavors. The dense ash was a nice grey in color with a few streaks of black. The burn was even.
The nice dense ash fell around a third of the way in and the burn was even. The smoke continued to pump out full and the flavors I tasted were leather, wood, spice and nutty. The ash fell again before the last third.
The last third and I tasted hints of cedar, wood, honey and a mild pepper flavor. I was able to take off the band without incident. The burn was a little uneven and the smoke was kicking full. I was surprised to see that the cigar's wrapper cracked and split in this section toward the end of the smoking experience. It didn't affect anything but the appearance.
Overall this was a very nice smoking experience and a great cigar. I can say without doubt, this is a Cigar Assessor Approved Cigar. (CAAC)
Today was a day to smoke one of the cigars from my Father's Day present of Alec Bradley Cigars. I received a box of Alec Bradley Nica Puro Toros and a 5 cigar Alec Bradley sampler came along with it. I chose the American Sun Grown Blend Robusto to smoke and review. I will be paring this cigar up with some Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Coconut Caramel bar and Flying Cauldron Butterscotch Vanilla Cream Beer (Non-Alcoholic.)
This beautiful dark brown cigar was well-constructed and minimally veined. The band on this cigar is a piece of artwork and a pleasure to look at. I smelled dark cherry from the foot and sweet barnyard and cherry from the stick. I clipped the cap and took a dry draw of cinnamon. I toasted the foot and got a nice open draw of cedar and full creamy smoke. Later in this third, I tasted hints of coffee, espresso and sweetness along with the cedar flavor. The burn was almost even and the nice light and dark dense grey ash held on during this section.
The burn was burning a little uneven into the second third and needed a slight touch up. The grey ash held on for almost all of this section. I tasted cedar, wood and coffee notes as the white creamy smoke continued to pump out full. It was in this third that I paired up the Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Coconut Caramel bar and it was very delicious pairing. Mixed with the cigar it gave me a coconut mocha flavor in my mouth.
The last section and I tasted citrus, cocoa and an earthiness. The nice dense ash fell right before this section and the smoke was still kicking out full. The burn still wasn't evening out. However it didn't affect the cigar smoking experience.
This cigar was a very nice bold smoke and the nicotine in this robusto
smoke was also bold and left me slightly light headed. Don't smoke this
cigar on an empty stomach. Another great smoke from Alec Bradley. If you
like a nice bold strong Nicaraguan stick, I would give this one a try.
You won't be disappointed. -June 17, 2013
