Don Fernando’s cigarblog

Walking on Calle Ocho we were invited into a cigar shop called Top. The owner poured us some Cuba Libres and handed us one of his house blends, a huge torpedo with a shaggy foot.

The torpedo’s are packed in huge 100ct boxes and sell for $8 but we managed to talk them down to $6 a piece. The medium dark wrapper has a lot of small veins. The construction is good and the predraw is on the easy side.

I tasted some wood, mild flavored with a mild chocolate aftertaste. There is also a slight salty flavor present. The flavors slowly grow in strength and midway some pepper is noticeable. At the end the flavor is a slightly salt wood.

The smoke starts thin but get thicker along the way. The cigar is medium bodied and mild to medium flavored. The burn is straight. I did discover a beetle hole.

Would I buy this cigar again? Maybe, if I visit Calle Ocho again and I decide to light a cigar in the store.

Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 6 / 10
Appearance: 7 / 10
Smoke & ash: 6 / 10
Burn: 7 / 10
Aroma (first part) 6 / 10
Aroma (middle part) 6 / 10
Aroma (last part) 7 / 10

On my road trip through the US we stopped at Empire Cigars in Raleigh, NC and it turned out that they had a Nub event the day before. The owners were delighted to see some cigar aficionados from across the pond in their shop and gave us one of the leftover Nub goodie bags. Those bags contained some Gentleman Jack, matchsticks, a cutter, a Nub guitar pick and a limited edition barberpole 4 x 58 nub.

The barberpole looks cool with the smooth maduro wrapper and the less smooth other wrapper (what kind is unknown to me). The construction feels good and the predraw is fine.

The first flavor is sweet leather, full flavored. After an inch there is some wood but the sweet leather is the stronger flavor. At 2/3rd some nut flavor and spices show up.

The smoke is quite full. The draw is good and the burn is straight. The ash is dark and firm but not as firm as the ash from other nubs. For once I didn’t drop the ash on my shirt …… I dropped it on the couch instead.

Would I buy this cigar again? I didn’t like any of the regular production nubs so far, but this one is very nice. Unfortunately it is an event only cigar so I don’t think I will ever smoke it again.

Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 7 / 10
Appearance: 8 / 10
Smoke & ash: 7 / 10
Burn: 8 / 10
Aroma (first part) 7 / 10
Aroma (middle part) 7 / 10
Aroma (last part) 8 / 10

This Petrus Reposado #6000 is a Dominican budget cigar that can be found for a price around 50 bucks for a box of 20. The cigars are made by Felipe Gregorio out of Nicaraguan filler and a Cuban seed sun grown maduro wrapper.

The oily wrapper is dark, but with some stains and it has some small and 2 big veins. The torpedo has a strange sharp but crooked top. The cigar is banded with a simple but tasteful band and a small band at the foot of the cigar too. The full aroma reminds me of wood and straw. The band at the foot is quite sticky and it was hard to get it off without damaging the cigar. The cigar feels well packed, except for the foot that feels a bit under filled. The predraw is a bit easy and has a peppery flavor.

I get a full burned coffee flavor, it is a bit bitter. That flavor stays for the first part of the cigar but then another bitter flavor, one of dark chocolate joins in with the coffee and I like that. Some puffs later some woods accompanies the coffee and dark chocolate. The structure of the smoke is mild creamy.

The amount of smoke is good, but the smoke is a bit thin. The burn is frayed and crooked with an easy draw. The ash is ugly and dark and not to mention pretty frayed.

This budget cigar is medium bodied, medium flavored and it lasted me some 75 minutes while watching a football (real football, not the helmet & shoulder pats wearing sport where you throw the ball with your hands but still call it football kinda sport) game.

Would I buy this cigar again? Yes, price/quality this is a good cigar and it makes a nice ‘give away’ or yardgar

Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 6 / 10
Appearance: 7 / 10
Smoke & ash: 6 / 10
Burn: 6 / 10
Aroma (first part) 6 / 10
Aroma (middle part) 7 / 10
Aroma (last part) 7 / 10

Oliva Special S is made out of Nicaraguan Cuban-seed with the cigar being topped off with a silky and oily sun-grown wrapper from Ecuador. The cigar wrapper has been aged for five years in cedar crates to bring out the tobaccos natural richness while maintaining its smoothness. The construction feels a bit soft. The cigar has a nice barnyard aroma and the predraw is just fine.

The wrapper is very thin and it rips at the mouthpiece while cutting it. Fortunately I had some pectin and I could repair it, avoiding sucking a lot of false air.

I taste some coffee and wood. The woody flavors fade away while the coffee grows stronger. After an inch the cigar gets a creamy feeling and the aftertaste is reminds me of chocolate. These flavors stay the same for some time while the chocolate grows a bit in strength and starts to overpower the coffee. Soon after that I get some wood again.

I miss the recognizable Oliva sweetness that I seem to find in any of their sticks. Not that I miss it flavor wise but I expected to taste it in this cigar too, but didn’t. The flavors grow stronger towards the end of the cigar.

The ash of this medium bodied medium flavored cigar is white. The burn is straight and the cigar produces plenty of smoke.

Would I buy this cigar again? It is a very nice cigar, very nice, but I think I will stick to other Oliva blends when I want to smoke Oliva.

Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 7 / 10
Appearance: 7 / 10
Smoke & ash: 7 / 10
Burn: 7 / 10
Aroma (first part) 7 / 10
Aroma (middle part) 7 / 10
Aroma (last part) 7 / 10

In 2008 Portugal got their first and until now only Edicion Regional from Habanos, a Vegas Robaina petit robusto, 4 inch long and a 50 ring gauge. 600 boxes of 25 were released and this is the only batch made.

The dark oily wrapper is almost flawless, I haven’t seen a lot of cigars with a wrapper that smooth. The construction feels good, I don’t feel any possible plugs of soft spots. The cigar has a full barnyard aroma with a specific smell from which you can tell it’s Cuban. The aroma also contains a peppery smell. The predraw is a little bit on the easy side and feels dry.

I taste the distinct Cuban leather in this cigar. The smoke leaves a dry feeling in my mouth, just like I got from the predraw. After a centimeter the leather is growing a bit stronger and I get something sweet and some wood that are finding their way through the leather flavor. After an inch the leather disappears and somewhat later I can taste a herbal flavor and some nuts. These flavors will stick to the end.

The smoke is gray and quite full. The ash is dark and not very firm. I rate this cigar mild to medium bodied and medium flavored.

Would I buy this cigar again? I have a few left that I will enjoy smoking, but I don’t think I will buy more. I’m afraid that this cigar doesn’t have a lot of aging potential.

Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 7 / 10
Appearance: 8 / 10
Smoke & ash: 7 / 10
Burn: 7 / 10
Aroma (first part) 8 / 10
Aroma (middle part) 7 / 10
Aroma (last part) 7 / 10

Andrew, owner of Guillen Cigars, not only made cigars with my nickname in honor of our friendship, he also made cigars for Aldrin aka S0lefule 0ne in honor of their friendship, and I bought a box of those cigars in honor of my friendship with both of them. The Casa Pineda, as this cigar is called, is made out of Nicaraguan filler and binder with an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper. The light colored wrapper on the 5.5 x 42 corona looks smooth and silky with a few minor and one big vein. The cigars come in a pretty white wooden box and are individually packed in cellophane. Once released the cigar has a nice aroma of straw. The construction feels good and the predraw is just fine.

When I light the cigar I can taste a light coffee aroma, a bit sour and a bit spicy in the front of my mouth. The sour flavor is not unpleasant, and after about half an inch the coffee is replaced with some spicy wood. Halfway the sourness fades away and some white pepper shows up. After 2/3rds its just wood only.

In the beginning the burn caused some concerns, but it corrected itself. The ash is pretty light colored. The smoke is plenty, thick and white. I would call this cigar medium bodied, medium flavored. The construction and draw are good, but I expect nothing less from Guillen cigars, never had a badly constructed or plugged cigar from them.

Would I buy this cigar again? Maybe, if Andy have some left when the box I bought is empty.

Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 7 / 10
Appearance: 8 / 10
Smoke & ash: 7 / 10
Burn: 7 / 10
Aroma (first part) 7 / 10
Aroma (middle part) 7 / 10
Aroma (last part) 7 / 10

About 15 months ago I joined Club Stogie and met a lot of BOTL’s that I now call friends. When Club Stogie was sold to Jon Caputo and turned from a friendly jungle into a commercial website with posh mentality most of my friends moved to Cigar Asylum, a new forum started by the 11 moderators from Club Stogie. Cigar Asylum has been my virtual home since and the friendships that started on Club Stogie grew stronger, so strong that I decided to go on a US trip and meet as many inmates as possible. One of my new friends is Andrew Wood, owner of Guillen cigars, and he came to Las Vegas for E.L.V.I.S. (Epic Las Vegas International Smokefest) with a huge surprise, a gift that left me speechless, overwhelmed and not worthy. Andy had a small batch of cigars made in honor of our friendship, Don Fernando’s. They come, individually packed in cello, in a 20 count gray box with the Dutch flag and the band shows a picture of a man smoking a cigar while wearing a Panama hat, like I often do. Only 24 boxes were made, 6 boxes toro, 6 boxes corona, 6 boxes robusto and 6 boxes belicoso.

The Don Fernando is a Nicaraguan puro, made with tobacco from Jalapa and Estelí. The Belicoso I smoked had a 6 x 52 size and as soon as I remove the cello I smell a full barnyard aroma with some straw. The smooth oily wrapper is quite dark and has only one vein running over it. The predraw gives me the right amount of resistance and I taste some raisin in the predraw.

I can taste lots of coffee and some toast, roasted flavors and after about half an inch some cedar shows up, soon to be followed by a light chocolate flavor. The coffee, wood and chocolate flavor sticks with me for quite a while, at least for the first third of the cigar, and then the coffee and chocolate slowly fade away. They are replaced by a bit of pepper that sticks to the top of my tongue. It’s a mild pepper, not overpowering like some Oliva V, Don Pepin Garcia or El Cobre’s tend to do sometimes. The final third starts with creamy chocolate, the pepper is gone and the wood is on the background, providing a nice base for the creamy chocolate.

This full flavored, full bodied cigar produces a lot of smoke. The ash is gray and firm, the pictures clearly show that and the burn is phenomenal. Straight as a razorblade and the cigar doesn’t die if you don’t puff often. Because of that slow burn, the temperature stays low and makes the cigar fantastic nub material.

Would I buy this cigar again? Hell yeah, I bought 2 boxes and some singles but I want more now they are still available. If you want a taste of Don Fernando, contact Guillen cigars gdwcigars@gmail.com or on their soon to be launched website www.guillencigars.com

Construction: 8 / 10
Draw: 8 / 10
Appearance: 8 / 10
Smoke & ash: 8 / 10
Burn: 9 / 10
Aroma (first part) 8 / 10
Aroma (middle part) 8 / 10
Aroma (last part) 8 / 10

Name: 10
Packing: 10

Band: 10

Disclaimer: I might be a little bias about this cigar