Don Fernando's cigarblog

And yet another torpedo by Vegas de Santiago, this time a torpedo from the Don Luis line, Secretos del maestro, 153mm long and ring 50 thick cigar, made from Costa Rican and Nicaraguan filler with an Indonesian binder and the wrapper is Ecuadorian.

When smelling the cigar, I can clearly smell a nice distinct smell of manure. The cigar looks fine, the wrapper is a bit oily and the feel is good, the cigar isn’t too tight or too loose. The predraw is smooth and easy, as with all Vegas de Santiago cigars I tried so far. The first flavor that I can taste is full leather which smoothens and becomes a bit sweet pretty soon and halfway there is some cacao to accompany the smooth leather. The leather fades away and is replaced by a light toast and at 2/3^rd of the cigar, the toast is replaced by a fresh mint flavor.

The burn was a little bit crooked, I had to correct it once and the ash was pretty frayed. The smoke wasn’t as full and rich as with the torpedos from the other Vegas de Santiago brands, but this cigar is clearly the fullest bodied one from Vegas de Santiago.

Would I buy this cigar again? Perhaps, if the Vegas de Santiago puros is out of stock

Construction: 18 / 20
Draw: 18 / 20
Appearance: 15 / 20
Smoke && ash: 8 / 10
Burn: 14 / 20
Aroma (head) 8 / 10
Aroma (body) 7 / 10
Aroma (foot) 8 / 10

Price / value: 16 / 20

This nice Costa Rican cigar from the charming Vegas de Santiago factory is made completely with Costa Rican tobacco and has a 52 ring with a length of 152mm. Vegas de Santiago is a small factory, but they produce great cigars, not just puros with Costa Rican tobacco, but they also have other cigars with nice blends from other countries. Just check out their website www.vegassantiago.com

The wrapper of this puros torpedo is nice and oily, the cigar has the smell of hay. It is east to cut and even easier to light, just one cigar match does the trick. The flavors that I could taste are a pepper right at the start, combined with herbs and leather, those flavors slowly make place for hay and grassy flavors and a hint of cacao. Right at the end I could taste some pepper again. A nice medium to full bodied cigar.

The smoke is full, rich and white, the ash is firm and light grey. The turning point comes pretty late and about the burn I can say one thing: PERFECT, not a millimeter crooked, and the cigar doesn’t die soon, when you put it away to get a drink from the kitchen.

Would I buy this cigar again? I already did, and I will keep on doing it.

Construction: 18 / 20
Draw: 18 / 20
Appearance: 16 / 20
Smoke && ash: 8 / 10
Aroma (head) 8 / 10
Aroma (body) 7 / 10
Aroma (foot) 8 / 10
Burn: 20 / 20

Price / value: 18 / 20

When I opened my humidor tonight to pick a cigar, I noticed some flower o none of them, and to avoid further contamination I decided to smoke that particular cigar rightaway. It was the Cuesta-Rey Centenario No. 5 Maduro, a 139mm long 53 ring size cigar from the Dominican republic with a sun grown USA Conneticut wrapper and a Dominican binder and filler.

The wrapper is nice and dark, with some veins. The downside is that the wrapper contains some colordifferences. The band is one of the prettiest I’ve seen so far, very arty and colorfull, but I’de rather have a pretty cigar then a pretty band. The predraw was a bit hard, but not so hard that I would call it bad. The cigar smells like manure and dry hay.

After lighting I can taste leather and a bit of hay. Soon a hint of cacao shows up on the background. The leather isn’t any like the Cuban kind of leather, this flavor is much smoother and lighter. Halfway the cacao grows stronger and it keeps growing stronger when I get to the turningpoint. Right before I reach the turningpoint I can taste a strong fresh mint.

It took me about 65 minutes to finish this cigar. The smoke is a bit light, but the ash is pretty, firm and almost white.

Would I buy this cigar again? Perhaps, it’s not on top of the list.

Today I smoked a Partagas serie D no.4, a robusto, ring 50 and 124 mm long (or short, depends on your point of view). A wrapper covered with lot of veins which gives the cigar a rough and tough feel & look, a cigar for real men who aren’t afraid.

The cigar has the nice smell of hay. Cutting the cigar was easy, just as lighting it. I needed just one cigarmatch to light it. The predraw was smooth, easy and promising. When I lit the cigar I tasted leather, smooth but growing is strength rapidly. After about a third I taste a pretty strong cacao taste and later on some wood. At about 2/3^rd there is a fresh mint flavor which is being followed by toast.

Unfortunately the burn is crooked as hell. It started at a third of the cigar and between that point and the end of the cigar I had to correct several times. All the corrections decreased the smoking time to approximately 60 minutes, which could have been more with a perfect draw. The smoke was good, nice full smooth and white, with a frayed but firm light grey ash.

Would I buy this cigar again? Maybe.

Construction: 14 / 20
Draw: 17 / 20
Appearance: 14 / 20
Smoke && ash: 7 / 10
Burn: 11 / 20
Aroma (head) 7 / 10
Aroma (body) 7 / 10
Aroma (foot) 7 / 10