Past Newsletters - August 2009

Featured Cigar	Shape	Size	Strength	Country	Panel Rating
Bahia Blue Robusto	Robusto	5.0 x 50	5.5	Nicaraguan	88
Camacho 1962 Churchill	Churchill	7.0 x 48	8.0	Honduran	90
Oliva ‘O' Maduro Perfecto	Figurado	5.0 x 55	7.5	Nicaraguan	92
Rocky Patel Vintage 1990	Torpedo	6.1 x 52	6.5	Honduran	93
Slow Aged Lot 826 Toro	Toro	6.0 x 52	9.0	Nicaraguan	89

Bahia Blue Robusto

With its smooth Corojo wrapper, the Bahia Blue doesn’t need dressing up but its bright blue band with its distinctive silver script does add yet another elegant dimension to this medium-bodied handmade from Nicaragua. The blend consists of Nicaraguan long-fillers grown in Esteli, Jalapa, and Leon and aged five to six years. After rolling, each is aged in cedar for another 180 days. The result is a smoke that’s somewhat mild but flavorful. Expect a rich and toasty profile with a sweet, cedary core, notes of coffee and cream and a crisp, lingering finish. Panelists found the Bahia burned evenly all the way through. Check out our reorder prices on this baby—it could become your favorite everyday smoke.

A very hoppy, west-coast style India Pale Ale would complement the Bahia Blue nicely.

Camacho 1962 Churchill

For cigar aficionados, the Camacho brand is synonymous with “full”—as in full-bodied, full-flavored, and full of character. Their blends usually promise a powerful well-balanced smoke brimming with aromatic flavor. This is precisely why Camacho makers Christian and Julio Eiroa have developed such a loyal cult-like following.

As the band at the foot of your cigar notes, Camacho dates to 1962. That was the year Julio Eiroa exiled to Honduras by Castro began yet another life of cigar making in a different country. The creation of the 1962’s blend was a labor of love for the Eiroa family. Not surprisingly, the filler tobaccos are composed of extensively aged Cuban-seed long-leaf tobaccos grown in their adopted country. The smooth, oily Havana-seed Criollo wrapper is from the 3rd priming. (If you’re not familiar with the term “priming,” it literally means picking. A tobacco plant has several primings, depending on the type of tobacco. The higher the priming, the higher the leaf is on the plant. Because they’re more exposed to the sun and other weather elements, higher primings result in tobacco leaves that are thicker, darker, more flavorful, and stronger in nature.) While the 1962 is by no means the most full-bodied Camacho, it is riddled with deep, elegant flavors. For the most part, this is a medium-bodied stick but every now and then it creeps into the full-bodied realm. Like most of Camacho’s fuller-bodied cigars, the 1962 offers a pleasant spice through the nose that is far from obtrusive. Look for the buttery smooth 1962 to serve up layers of robust, yet elegant, flavors—a delicious, creamy bouquet of earth and nuts, finishing with a pleasant note of white pepper. Our International Wine of the Month Club Members have the perfect pairing in this month's Italian Tamellini Soave.

Oliva ‘O’ Maduro Perfecto

As the second-largest grower of tobacco in Nicaragua, the Oliva family's generations of experience in the industry serves them well. They’re known for growing some of the finest tobaccos in the world and for using the most skilled rollers and blenders in the country to create cigars that are legendary. The ‘O’ series is their flagship premium blend, a puro made with 100% Nicaraguan tobacco. This cigar looks and feels great. It’s so gorgeous, in fact, some may feel it’s a shame to smoke it but don’t deny yourself! The ‘O’ derives much of its unique flavor and subtle strength from its dark five-year old Nicaraguan Habano wrappers that are often in short supply. This lovely, oily wrapper leaf offers a diverse range of robust flavors that are typically Oliva—chewy and rich but smooth from start to finish. It’s naturally fermented to achieve its beautiful, deep brown color.

The Olivas always fill each cigar with an abundant amount of tobacco. The result is a solid roll with no soft spots and a tight draw. For a wonderful preview of the smoke, smell this perfecto before lighting. It smells of sweet cedar. Look for a hint of spice to hit the palate immediately. The spice fades quickly and the flavors mellow considerably before woody and earthy notes dominate. We're proud to offer you a cigar that made Cigar Aficionado's list of Top 50 Cigars and merited a '92' rating. In the magazine's words, "The cigar has gorgeous color and a lush wrapper. It draws well, showing cedar, toast, leather, and coffee notes. A complex and balanced full-bodied cigar.”  As another reviewer said, “The ‘O’ Maduro is as much a standout from the crowd as an elephant in a barnyard full of chickens!”  A cigar this good deserves a top shelf smoky single malt such as Laphroaig or Lagavulin.

Rocky Patel Vintage 1990 Torpedo

One need only look at the handsome, box-pressed 1990 to know this is one special smoke. And August, 2009 may turn out to be the luckiest month of the year for club members. It’s not unusual for us to feature a cigar from Cigar Aficionado’s Top 50 cigar list but this is likely the first time we’ve opted to ship two Top 50s in the same month. In addition to the Olivia ‘O’ Maduro we’re also featuring Rocky Patel’s Vintage 1990 which—in addition to making the list—received a ’93’ rating. Rocky Patel’s Vintage Series is blazing hot in the cigar world for good reason. As it is with the Olivia ‘O,’ the key to the medium-bodied Vintage 1990’s stellar success is its wrapper. It’s a tantalizing, oily broadleaf wrapper from Honduras. Aged a minimum of fourteen years, the gorgeous, all-natural wrapper is older than the company that makes it, Indian Tabac. The Vintage ‘90 drapes a blend of Dominican and Nicaraguan Ligero that is nothing short of masterful: complex and smooth, with layer after layer of deep flavor. The binder is Mexican. Expect a sweet, deceptively strong, intense cigar that never overwhelms the palate despite its firm spiciness. The long, peppery finish ends this complex smoke with a tasty, sweet note.

Rocky Patel and partner Phil Zanghi founded the Indian Tabac Cigar Company in 1995 and the phenomenal success their smokes have gained in the premium market is astonishing, a testament to their dedication to producing super-premium class cigars. Rakesh (Rocky) Patel quickly made the contacts necessary to produce cigars of the highest quality. Their cultivation areas are located in the beautiful Jamastran Valley of Honduras and the Jalapa Valley of Nicaragua. They recently left their fabrication area in Danli, Honduras in favor of a modern production area in San Martos, Honduras. And the owner of the production area is none other than the legendary cigar plantation baron Nestor Placencia. This cigar—called a “masterpiece,” by some—deserves a V.S.O.P. (as in “very superior old pale”) cognac. Courvoisier or Hennessey come to mind.

Slow Aged Lot 826 Toro by Perdomo

Slow-Aged is a good looking cigar, available in one size only, a 6”x52 toro called ‘Glorioso’. It sports a glossy, darker-than-usual Connecticut shade wrapper. The filler is a blend of three different Nicaraguan tobaccos including a choice strain of Ligero leaf that amps up the flavor profile a bit. The burn is slow, cool and stays even from start to finish. The flavor is rich, smooth and complex. Look for unique traces of coffee and cocoa complemented by a slight creaminess that gradually becomes more robust as the cigar burns. Although Slow-Aged is not as full-bodied as most of Perdomo’s arsenal, it’s still a stick that will be most appreciated by seasoned smokers and by others who appreciate full flavor, for that’s the real focus of the 826. The flavor profile is well rounded, mature and never overwhelming. The draw is perfect. It’s cool burning and in spite of its strength, it’s easy on the palate. We’re going to recommend an atypical pairing for this one—food. This is not a cigar you want to smoke on an empty stomach or, for that matter, when you’ve had your fill of your favorite alcohol.