Nica Libre Potencia Churchill Extra Cigar Review
Nica Libre Potencia Churchill Extra Cigar Review
This 7×52 cigar sports an oily velvet dark brown sungrown wrapper with a slight red hue, triple cap, minimal veins, smooth tight seams and rich sweet earth aroma. First light reveals a very snug draw producing minimal smoke with medium bodied flavors of a smooth sweet earth much like it’s aroma. The first third shows much the same, only adding a bit of pepper to the draw flavors. It has a good bit of strength to it but certainly no full body as it’s marketed. The finish is long but subtle without and pepper or spice. 45 minutes in at the 1/2 way point flavors remained unchanged. Just over 1 hour in flavors finally shift a bit but require a double puff to really bring them out. They have transitioned to a soft creamy nuttiness followed by a soft oily earth. 1:25 minutes in after two touch-ups and a re-light the cigar is unfortunately out once again and I don’t care to try and continue it. Clearly this one just had severe construction issues. Thank you very much to viewer Darin Mohr for generously providing this for review!
My Father Le Bijou 1922 Toro Cigar Review
My Father Le Bijou 1922 Toro Cigar Review
This 6×52 stick offers a dark chocolate oily wrapper with small veins, invisible seams, a very even crushed velvet texture with a slight spongy give and a rich oily chocolaty tobacco aroma. First light revels full bodied flavors of a sily smooth chewy thick smoke, though not a lot of it. Flavors are a deep earth, chocolate and mild pepper zing through the long finish. Draw is perfect with just a bit of resistance. The first third gives solid medium body flavors of a super thick and rich dry aged tobacco with a touch of a sweet chocolate and pepper. 20 minutes in I encountered a strange burn problem, with a tiny shaft burning through the center of the cigar, and 1/2 of the stick getting very hot and mushy. It stopped putting out smoke yet continued to burn. After spending 10 minutes correcting the burn, manually lighting 1/2″ of wrapper and getting through a section that seemed to be rolled with a tube down the center, it is back to burning correctly. 40 min in at the 1/2 way point, flavors returned to a medium-full body treat of rich creamy milk chocolate, a slightly sweet eart and smooth tobacco with a touch of pepper and long smooth finish. 1:15 in at the band point the burn has slowed significantly flavors have changed to a creamy textured, smooth slightly sweet earth with a long earth and pepper finish. I have given it a couple minor touchups, but overall performance is good. Ending at 1:40 min where it got hot probably due to the touch-ups near the end, I ended it as flavors got a bit warm and washed out. If this hadn’t of had the burn issues it would be pushing the two hour mark easily, as I burned off more than an inch correcting the burn. Thank you very much to viewer Jonathan Novatt for generously sending this in for review, I greatly appreciate it!
SWAG Infamous Cigar Review
SWAG Infamous Cigar Review
This 6×54 stick offers a soft dark brown wrapper with minimal veins, good seams, a very firm tight construction and a few patches, with an even double cap, putting off a slight barnyard aroma. First light reveals a very easy draw, minimal smoke production and mild flavors of a slightly sweet grass and earth with a tiny bit of pepper on the finish. The first third develops to a slightly sweet mild creamy leather with a clean short finish. The draw is still very loose and the burn has a bit of a problem, prompting periodic touch-ups. 35 min in to the 1/2 way point there are few changes, with only the leather and cream dying down. Ending at 1:10 the last third was the same flavor wise although the smoke output increased and the burn finally evened out. Thank you very much to swagcigars.com for sending this sample for review!
Macanudo Maduro Diplomat Cigar Review
Macanudo Maduro Diplomat Cigar Review
This 4.5×60 perfecto offers a very oily dark chocolate wrapper with very firm construction, minimal veins and a very small cap & shoulder that gave me a bit of trouble cutting as far as unraveling. Draw was very firm, almost plugged, offering little smoke output and somewhat muted flavors. What did come out of it were very nice notes of cream, light tobacco, sweetness and a hint of pepper with a very short clean finish on the first third. The center section required two touch-ups and changed to a very light sweet leather. Getting to the last third the draw suddenly opened up, producing tons of rich creamy smoke, a creamy earthy leather and a good pepper zing. The center section was obviously not constructed properly. Thank you very much to Jeremie Plouffe for sending this sample in for review!
El Mejor Emerald Torpedo Cigar Review
This 6.5×54 stick offered a loose bound foot with no wrapper on the last inch or so, and came in a cedar sleeve. It gave some interesting flavors directly after the light, with a very loose draw that came up to a normal resistance once the burn point hit the full wrapper section. Flavor was medium bodied offering a mild complexity of smooth and rich wood, hints of sweetness and pepper at points. Burn was good, needing a couple minor touch-ups and the draw was on the loose side overall. The finish changed from the first half to the last, getting shorter and cleaner as it went. Thank you very much to Tinderbox.com for generously donating this stick for review!
Cuban Crafters Cabinet Selection Chairman Cigar Review
This large 6×60 stick offered rugged construction with minor burn issues needing a couple touch-ups giving lots of smooth smoke and a good draw slighly on the loose side. It was mild-medium at most, offering wood flavors with a touch of nuts and sweetness at a few points, with a short, dry finish. Thank you very much to Cuban Crafters for donating this stick for review!
Bucanero Full Sail Maduro Cigar Review
This very nice box pressed 6×50 dark chocolate stick offered a great light tobacco pre-light aroma. The flavors changed constantly to the 1/2 way point, offering woodiness, nuts, cream flavor and texture. A slight pepper heat was present on the top of my tongue all the through, and a slightly sweet oil came through on the last 1/2. Slight burn issues prompted a couple touch-ups, but the draw was perfect, on the loose side with a perfect amount of resistance.  Thank you very much to Bucanero Cigars for donating this for review!
CAO Italia Ciao Cigar Review
This dense, pressed 5×56 stick offers a nice blend of flavors, comprised of a chocolate nuttiness with a touch of pepper on the draw and short finish. The draw is on the firm side, and it needed quick double puffs to get any smoke and flavor out. It had burn issues all the way down, requiring multiple touch-ups. Overall a medium bodied experience worth trying if you get a good deal on them.
Espinosa Y Ortega Cubao #1 Churchill Cigar Review
A large 7.2×49 stick that offered good promise from the start with a strong medium-full bodied leather flavor and great pepper zing, followed by a long pepper and spice finish. By the 2nd half it mellowed to medium losing the leather and most of the spice bringing a smooth nutty flavor. Unfortunately the remainder of the smoke was marred by a very bad burn requiring touch-ups and a relight, ruining the flavors by the band.
