Past Newsletters - May 2010

Featured Cigar	Shape	Size	Strength	Country	Panel Rating
Don Pepin Garcia Blue  Generosos	Toro	6.0 x 50	8.5	Nicaraguan	93
Fonseca Serie F Robusto	Robusto	5.0 x 52	6.0	Dominican	91
Jose Dominguez Signature	Churchill	7.0 x 50	5.5	Dominican	89
La Aurora Cameroon Cetros	Corona	6.4 x 41	5.0	Dominican	88
Perdomo Reserve Oscuro	Robusto	5.0 x 50	7.0	Nicaraguan	90

Don Pepin Garcia Blue Generosos Toro

This beautiful, Miami-made gem bears the name of its world-renowned maker, Cuban-born master blender José Pepin Garcia. He makes some of the world’s finest cigars. For cigar aficionados, the name Tatuaje immediately comes to mind, but that’s just one of his creations famed for rivaling the character, flavor, and overall experience of the finest Cuban cigars. The Blue Generosos is another. A full-bodied, full-flavored puro, it’s made with a blend of 100% Cuban-seed Nicaraguan tobacco wrapped in a dark Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper. With its triple cap, the construction is as good as it looks. Expect a blast of pepper to start, quickly morphing into a smooth, creamy smoke loaded with rich coffee notes, and balanced by spice and chocolate. It burns cool down to the nub. Made in Pepin’s Miami-based El Rey de Los Habanos factory, quantity is extremely limited. In addition to being named among the World’s Top 25 Cigars (number eight to be exact) the Don Pepin Garcia Blue received a well-deserved ’93’ and ’92’ rating. This is a smoke you will want to enjoy outside, all afternoon, on a beautiful spring day with a gin and tonic at the ready. If it’s a veranda you’re sitting on, a mint julep will work well, too.

Fonseca Serie F Robusto

Enjoy this fine Cuban brand, legally! OK, OK, so calling this a “Cuban brand” may be a tad misleading, but technically, it’s the truth—and our lawyers will support us on this—we checked it out. Here’s the skinny: Fonseca was originally made in Cuba, and still is (making it a Cuban brand, no?), but for years it has also been hand-rolled by Manolo Quesada in the Dominican Republic. Quesada is a master at his craft with the uncanny ability to create cigars that rival—and outperform—Cubans. Given his legacy, it’s no surprise. His great-great grandfather started brokering tobacco leaf in Cuba in the 1880s and, four generations later, Manufactures de Tobacos S. A. (MATASA) produces some of the finest cigars in the world: Fonseca, Cubita and the #1 ranked cigar of the year in 2008, the Casa Magna, to name a few. From the mid-1880s until 1960, Quesada's great-grandfather, grandfather, father and several generations of uncles brokered tobacco out of Havana and sold it around the world. In the 1930s, one uncle started to buy and resell Dominican tobacco, creating a permanent family foothold on the island of Hispaniola. By the time Castro came to power, Sobrinos de A. Gonzales (the company founded by Quesada's great-great-grandfather) and Constantino Gonzales (founded by a great-uncle) were the largest tobacco brokers in the world. But in April 1960, Quesada's family was forced out of business by the Castro government. So while these cigars are still being made in Cuba, the family that created them has been making them in the Dominican Republic for nearly 50 years now.

Wrapped in a beautiful Connecticut shade wrapper, the heart of the smoke is the well-aged mixture of superlative Dominican long-fillers—a blend of Tercio-Aged Ligero Cuban seed. The result is a smooth, creamy, well balanced smoke. The "F" in Serie F is for "Fuerte" - Spanish for "strong" or "full flavor."  Classifying the cigar as medium-bodied, panelists preferred the latter translation. Grab yourself a good port. May we suggest the Portuguese port of choice, coincidentally carrying the same name as our cigar here, Fonseca Port?

Jose Dominguez Signature Churchill

This cigar is made at the well established Victor Sinclair factory in Santiago, Dominican Republic. Jose Dominguez is the owner and master blender there and this stogie is aptly named his signature blend because he created it for his own enjoyment. The packaging speaks to the pride he takes in this handmade—doubled banded, the cigar is also encased in a cedar sleeve which helps to promote the aging process and imparts a cedary note into the tobacco. A Connecticut-Ecuador wrapper (Connecticut shade leaf grown in Ecuador) wraps a wonderful blend that’s a combination of Dominican and Honduran long-fillers. As is often the case when trying to determine the body of a smoke, some panelists deemed the cigar on the heavier side of mild and some on lighter side of medium. The Jose Dominguez Signature produces thick clouds of smoke with each draw. Look for robust leathery and earthy flavors with distinct notes of cedar and a long lingering finish. This gentle giant is perfect for breakfast with your favorite cup of java or for lunch with a glass of dry Riesling.

La Aurora Cameroon Cetros Corona

La Aurora is the oldest cigar made in the Dominican Republic, using tobacco grown in the same fields of the Cibao Valley for over three generations—a testament to its consistency. In fact, La Auroras are not only the best selling brand in the country, the brand is considered a national treasure down there. Those who have discovered this brand know it as a smooth and mild "steady workhorse" of a cigar—well constructed and always dependable and delicious. The dark Cameroon wrappers from West Africa are the icing on the cake of this mellow-tasting, mild-bodied cigar. Pair this one up with a malty red ale or, if a cocktail is more your style, a mojito.

Perdomo Reserve Oscuro Robusto

The Perdomo Reserve, Nick Perdomo’s top of the line brand, received the highest taste rating ever from Cigar Insider, the monthly newsletter of Cigar Aficionado, when it debuted in 1998. Their vertical rating of the entire line of Perdomo Reserve cigars came in at an average rating of 90.4 which was tied with only one other brand for the highest average vertical rating in their history. The other brand was none other than Arturo Fuentes’ Opus X, which generally retail in the $20 to $60 per cigar price range! The Perdomo Reserve line is manufactured on a private farm in the highly fertile region of Esteli, Nicaragua. Only the most experienced rollers are allowed to make these babies and Nick Perdomo himself hand selects each and every one of the dark, oily, Ecuadorian Maduro wrappers that grace the cigar's exterior. The special, highly scrutinized blend is composed of double-aged Cuban-seed tobaccos. These box-pressed beauties are aged three times longer than normal to produce an exceptionally rich flavor with hints of spice and chocolate. The smoke emits an earthy, herbal-sweet, spicy aroma. The flavors are balanced, but pack some punch especially after the midway point. Look for a bold, plentiful, smoky charcoal aroma that’s concentrated but not overpowering. One panel member said, “A perfect balance of complex and simple.” If that makes sense to you, then please explain it to us.

This gem is worthy of your best single malt scotch or single barrel bourbon.