This Month's Featured Cigars - July 2009
Featured Cigar |
Shape |
Size |
Strength |
Country |
Panel Rating |
| Gurkha CT Robusto |
Toro
|
6.0 x 52
|
5.0
|
Honduran
|
90
|
| OneOff Perfecto |
Perfecto
|
6.0 x 54
|
6.0
|
Nicaraguan
|
91
|
| Partagas Naturales |
Robusto
|
5.5 x 50
|
7.5
|
Dominican
|
90
|
| Puros Indios Reserve Maxima Presidente |
Churchill
|
6.0 x 50
|
7.0
|
Dominican
|
93
|
| Reposado '96 CT Salomon |
Figurado
|
7.1 x 58
|
6.5
|
Nicaraguan
|
89
|
Please Note: Although we will make every attempt to ship the products listed, occasionally we may need to substitute them with equally outstanding cigars. If you strongly desire to receive those listed, please contact us at 800-625-8238 so that we may note your account accordingly.
(The product descriptions below are excerpts from our monthly newsletter. Click here to view it in its entirety.)
For your July smoking pleasure, we’re pleased to bring you Gurkha, one of the premier boutique brands in the marketplace today. Vastly outnumbered by literally millions of cigars put out by big national brands, Gurkha’s limited-edition cigars are to be savored. The manufacturer’s strength lies in making the most of their small, boutique-brand maneuverability to produce cigar blends that epitomize the craft that is cigar making and remind us why we love our stogies. All elements of their cigars speak to true craftsmanship from growing, harvesting and fermenting the tobacco, to creating the intricate leafy blends, to rolling each cigar by hand, and of course, to packaging. With their old Cuban-style packaging and intricate label designs, Gurkhas are instantly recognizable. They also have a characteristic flavor that’s hard to pin down which is another characteristic of a truly artisan cigar. Just six inches long, with a ring gauge of 50, this mild-to-medium bodied stick is not technically a Robusto, it’s a Toro. Look for a smooth, nutty smoke intermingled with woody, almost floral-like notes. If beer is your thing, a nut brown ale will complement this cigar. If wine is your preference, International Wine of the Month Club members have the perfect pairing in Borra’s Fusion (a blend of favored red grapes). Other soft reds will work nicely, too!
This is a cigar whose time has come—the first commercially produced cigar made with leaves grown without chemical fertilization and insecticides. Since 1950, pesticide use has increased 50-fold so it's unlikely there's been a smoke like this for the past sixty years. One look at the ring on this stick and Baby Boomers are going to wax nostalgic. There's no writing on it, no decoration, just the forked symbol that was an icon of the 60's counterculture. Now a Nicaraguan cigar adopts the peace symbol as well as the concept of organic. Alice Waters, guru of organic veggies, would likely be pleased that "natural" applies not just to lettuce anymore! With OneOff, organic tobacco has arrived. Fortunately, it doesn’t taste like it might be better for us than other cigars. On the contrary, organic makes for a deliciously complex and unique taste. The absence of chemicals leads to a deeper, crisper tobacco flavor that has been enjoyed by very few in recent years—until the advent of this stick.
The medium-bodied OneOff consists of a hearty long-leaf blend of ligero grown in the fertile soils of Nicaragua, cloaked by a dark, leathery Cuban-seed wrapper from Honduras. Light up and experience a rush of flavors—cherry with leathery and spicy notes—followed by more subtle ones: cinnamon and black pepper among them. OneOff received several well-deserved '90' ratings and our panel concurs this is a great premium smoke. A cigar this good warrants that pricey Oregon pinot noir you've been saving.
The Partagas line was first developed in 1845 in Cuba, a history that suggests any Partagas cigar is going to be a great smoke. Long before Fidel Castro came into power in Cuba, Partagas cigars were hand crafted in Havana under the supervision of Ramon Cifuentes and his father. Ramon Cifuentes was one of the last of the legendary cigar-makers to leave Cuba. He did so in the early 1960s when he discovered Santiago, Dominican Republic and deemed it the ideal place to manufacture the line. There he continued to produce Partagas and contribute greatly to this nation’s reputation as a producer of fine cigars. The Dominican versions of his famous Cuban brands feature spicy Cameroon wrappers and use a blend of Dominican and Mexican tobaccos as filler. The binder leaves are grown in the San Andres Valley in Mexico. As you may know, Mexican tobaccos are known for being bold and spicy. Dominican varieties, on the other hand, tend to be a bit smoother. The brilliant combination of soft and spicy gives this cigar a unique split personality.
Look for your Partagas to burn nice and easy, long and slow, down to the nub. It begins quite mild, but you’ll notice that the flavor suddenly picks up and then finishes like a different cigar entirely. We gave it a strength rating of 7.5, which is an average of sorts, taking in to account the mild beginnings (what we’d normally consider about a 5.0) as well as its robust spicy nature which comes alive about two inches into the smoke (what we’d consider about an 8.5 or so). Look for more spiciness, notes of honey that peek in and out and a trace of burnt cedar in the aftertaste. Precisely rolled and chock full of tobacco, this well-aged cigar is a real pleasure to smoke. The draw is perfect, free and easy, producing a good amount of cool flavorful smoke. We were impressed with its strength and complex flavor. Try it with Laguavulin, Oban or another peaty scotch.
Puros Indios Reserva Maxima Presidente
The Puros Indios Cigar Factory in Danli, Honduras is run by Rolando Reyes, Sr., a man with more than 65 years under his belt as a cigar maker. Need we say he knows his stuff? In spite of his age, he’s recognized as one of the hardest working men in the business, putting many of us to shame with his work ethic. It is said that he inspects every single cigar rolled each day. Created in 2002 to celebrate Don Rolando Reyes’s 65 years in the business, Puros Indios’s Reserva Maxima is a worthy line indeed. Sniff this medium-bodied stick before you light it and you can smell the aromatics. This famed cigar boasts tobaccos from four nations. The filler consists of leaves from Brazil, the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. They’re bound to the sultry sun-grown Ecuadorian wrapper by an Ecuadorian binder. Expect notes of understated toffee and espresso, rounded out by menthol notes and strong cedary-sweet floral aromatics in the creamy finish. This cigar is so coveted that a special security code is included in every box to prevent counterfeiters. Holds up to a domestic Barleywine style ale and is nicely complemented by the floral elements of a top shelf gin.
Reposado '96 CT Salomon Figurado
With its smooth, elastic chestnut-brown Connecticut wrapper, Reposado ’96 Connecticut is a real looker. Hand-crafted with aged tobaccos and rolled fresh, Reposado ’96 is handmade in Nicaragua. Each is packed with rich, Cuban-seed tobaccos rolled in a thick, 58-ring Salomon shape that delivers tons of complexity and ample flavor. Note how heavy it is in the hand. This is a medium-bodied Connecticut with some chunkiness in the flavor and heft departments which promise meaty goodness. An inch into the smoke you know you’re smoking quality tobaccos. The Reposado ’96 burns like a champ and produces clouds of creamy smoke. Expect an undeniably distinct character with a flavor profile that’s cedary, toasty, nutty and a touch peppery. Notes of coffee complement the rich tobacco core perfectly and a long, somewhat sweet aftertaste finishes each puff. The cigar remains medium in body from start to finish, making for a slow-burning, complex and surprisingly mellow smoke. We counsel patience with this stogie. The '96 Connecticut has great aging potential. A few months of nap time in the humidor and these babies will shine as they were made to shine! Why not enjoy it with a Reposado Tequila on ice?
