Featured Cigars

July 2008

Featured Cigar	Shape	Size	Strength	Country	Panel Rating
Blue Label Torpedo	Torpedo	6.5 x 52	7.0	Honduras	91
Casa De Oro - CT Broadleaf Maduro	Torpedo	6.5 x 52	7.0	Honduras	90
Fidalgo Negro Corona Maduro	Corona	6.0 x 44	5.5	Dominican	93
La Aurora 1495 Special-Edition Cameroon 94	Corona	5.0 x 44	7.5	Dominican	90
La Vieja Habana 'Leather Patch' Churchill	Churchill	7.0 x 48	7.0	Nicaragua	92

Blue Label Torpedo

Rolled in Danli, Honduras, Blue Label is a small-batch ultra-premium blend that exemplifies the craft involved in the handmade cigar industry. With its silky chocolate brown Habano wrapper that's leathery to the touch, the stick is good looking. It feels firm from head to toe. Note how heavy the Blue Label feels in your hand—a sign that it's jam-packed with tobacco. The savory blend is a mixture of Nicaraguan, Honduran, and Dominican long-fillers bound by a zesty Corojo binder leaf. The medium- to full-bodied Blue Label burns slowly and smokes cool. The cedar-like bouquet is bold but doesn't overwhelm the palate. Expect velvety smoke clouds with notes of cedar and spice and intermittent layers of oak and vanilla. The flavors intensify as the stogie burns, picking up a hint of white pepper along the way. Overall, a strong, complex cigar with subtle nuances that would be complemented well by an dry chardonnay. Our International Wine of the Month Club Members have the perfect pairing in this month's Australian Limestone Coast Chardonnay.

Casa De Oro Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro Torpedo

These 'House of Gold' beauties are produced at the Tabacalera Fernandez factory in Esteli, Nicaragua, home to many well-respected cigar brands. The vision behind the blend was admirable: to produce a cigar of superior quality, taste and appearance at a modest price. After two years of experimenting with blending to get it right, Casa de Oro was introduced at the RTDA (Retail Tobacco Dealers of America) trade show in the summer of 2006. Our panel members confirm they got it right—"affordable luxury" is no longer an oxymoron. Casa de Oro is available in two shapes, Torpedo and Toro, both 6 x 52. Each is ensconced in either a Connecticut shade or Broadleaf Maduro. While both are quite tasty (not to mention eye-catching), our panel especially enjoyed the dark, rich, oily Maduro torpedo so it's the one we're featuring this month. The wrapper is not only attractive, it's been painstakingly aged for three years. This gorgeous exterior is bound to the complex blend of Nicaraguan Viso, Ligero and Seco filler leaves by a mild Indonesian binder. This medium-bodied cigar produces a booming volume of smoke. The flavor profile begins with mild spiciness but as you get past the first inch, it builds toward peppery qualities that are mellowed by a leathery smoothness that takes hold near the finish. The firm, brilliant white ash is a clear sign of properly aged tobaccos. Try with a very hoppy, west-coast style India Pale Ale.

Fidalgo Negro Corona Maduro

Box-pressed in the traditional Cuban style, the beautifully constructed Fidalgo is one handsome stick! We have the legendary Jose Dominguez to thank for it. Its oily double Maduro coffee-colored wrapper adds to its visual allure but, more important, the wrapper offers wonderful body and taste. The premium blend of Nicaraguan long-filler leaves deserves credit as well. Examine the foot of this cigar and you'll note the tobacco is densely packed at the edges with plenty of breathing room through the center. This packing method results in a moderately dense cigar with an easy draw and a billowy smoke volume. The pre-lit aroma, with earthy and chocolate notes, is so pleasant one could almost enjoy the Fidalgo without lighting up. But, of course, we did and discovered an earthy, clove-like sweetness that quickly subsided in the face of a mild spiciness. With time, the spiciness gave way to an ultra-smooth, buttery flavor. The overall feel from this cigar is smooth and relaxing in nature. The draw, nearly effortless, is about as perfect as it gets. Expect a moderate body and a slightly peppery finish. With its billowy smoke volume and slow-burning character, this stick is going to fill the room. We enjoyed this dark specimen with a round of even darker extra-stout Guinness, but a slightly chilled glass of Maker's Mark bourbon would partner nicely as well.

La Aurora 1495 Special-Edition Cameroon '94 Corona

Established over 100 years ago, La Aurora has become one of the oldest and most respected Dominican brands. In 1994, they grew an exceedingly high-quality Cameroon leaf in one of their proprietary fields. The leaf was dark, thick, and flawless but it was so small in size that working with it was difficult. Too good to sell or pass up, La Aurora placed this leaf in their aging rooms for a future project. Fourteen years later, the vaults were opened and the rare leaf utilized. After much testing, Guillermo Leon and Jose Blanco found that the standard 1495 Series binder and long-filler blend (a mix of Dominican Piloto Cubano, Nicaraguan, Peruvian and Dominican Ligero filler) truly captured the savory nuances of their prized Cameroon leaf, and they created a cigar unlike any other in the world. They made it in just one size, a 5" x 44 Corona and packaged them in boxes of 10. Today fewer than 750 boxes exist, and we're glad to put a dent in that number for our cigar club members.

This little Corona produces a lot of smoke but the draw is cool and easy. The ash—a nice white color—is firm. The smoke started out with a cocoa and spice blast that settled down by the first inch with the flavor of cocoa predominating and nuances of nuts. By the end of the first third, the taste transitioned into woodsy flavors without losing the light spice. Occasionally, we detected nuances of cinnamon. In the last half, the woody flavors gave way to flavors of light coffee and a long, medium-bodied finish. The 1495 is a complex, vibrant smoke that doesn't overpower. A V.S.O.P. brandy complements it nicely.

La Vieja Habana 'Leather Patch' Churchill

The exclusive "Leather Patch" series from La Vieja Habana is a premium cigar that impressed us right off the bat (we think you'll have the same experience). This cigar is quite different from both the Early Years and the economical Blue Box blends from La Vieja Habana. Have a look at one of the most desirable features of this cigar: the authentic, chestnut-hued West African wrapper (from Cameroon, known as "Adobe"). Shiny, sultry and smooth, it dresses a top-notch, all-Nicaraguan long-leaf blend. Expect some serious spices to meet your palate when you light this baby up. After a full and flavorful start, the stogie mellows quickly, developing the woodsy, smooth, leathery flavor for which it was named. A chestnut undertone persists all the way through the smoke, giving the flavor profile additional depth. Medium-bodied, this stick holds an appealing salt-and-pepper ash throughout the smoke. The finish is hearty and long-lasting, a perfect complement to the body and flavor this cigar. Cigar Aficionado's Insider rated LVH Leather Patch an outstanding '91.' This one deserves a superior smoky single-malt such as Lagavulin or Laphroaig.