Don Fernando’s cigarblog

I got this cigar in Antwerp last summer and I know I didn’t buy it because this 5 x 50 robusto because of the looks. The wrapper is pale and has lots of veins and spots. The construction feels good though and the cigar smells a bit like straw, but the aroma is very mild.

I get a full flavored taste of dry wood, a bit metallic after lighting the cigar, but fortunately the metallic flavor disappears soon. The smoke is cool and creamy. I also get a little chocolate. At 1/3^rd I taste hay with some spices. The aftertaste is a sticky chocolate. The spices grow stronger and the chocolate aftertaste is combined with some mint. Some wood accompanies the flavors at 2/3^rd and soon the cigar gives a burning sensation on the tongue.

The draw is too easy with plenty smoke. The ash is light colored, straight and firm with a great burn. This cigar is mild bodied, mild to medium flavored.

Would I buy this cigar again?  I don’t think so.

Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 6 / 10
Appearance: 6 /10  
Smoke && ash: 7 / 10
Burn: 8 / 10
Aroma (first part)  7 / 10
Aroma (second part)  6 / 10
Aroma (third part)  5 / 10

This 5 x 50 cigar is made from tobacco grown on a small tobacco field in Nicaragua with a broadleaf maduro wrapper. The wrapper is a bit rough on the edges with some veins, but that just makes the cigar manly. The minute I remove the cellophane I could smell the barnyard aroma, which means the aroma is quite strong. The construction feels good, I couldn’t detect any weak spots. The band is nice, modest, stylish but unfortunately also quite large and glued together too good, which annoys me as with big bands like these, you have to remove them at a certain moment and with good glue that can be a problem. Oliva has big bands too, but their bands are easily removed so it’s no big deal, but on this Perdomo it’s different. The predraw is just fine.

When I light the cigar with my Ronson jetflame I could taste a full flavored coffee and after half an inch, the coffee gets a mild chocolate aftertaste and about half an inch later, the chocolate becomes the main flavor with a mild creamy texture. There isn’t a lot of change in flavors, but I don’t care because I like what I taste.

Halfway the cigar becomes a bit peppery and the pepper grows a bit in strength with the chocolate on the background. This flavor is consistent almost till the end. The final few puffs are nutty and then I have to dump the nub in the ashtray.

The draw on this cigar is fine and the burn is even better. I had minor burn issues in the beginning, with some crooked burning but it corrected itself and was razor sharp from that moment. The ash is light colored and a bit frayed on the top, but it didn’t turn into a Don King haircut, as I expected it to be after a few puffs. The amount of smoke is fine but the texture is kind of thin and the color has a light blue glow to it. I would call this a full flavored cigar, but I am not sure if this is a medium or full bodied cigar. I mean, while I was smoking it, it felt like a medium bodied cigar, but I think it’s a mean old sniper because I could clearly notice an overdose on Vitamin N when I stood up.

Would I buy this cigar again? Yes, you can find these for $3 a stick and that makes it a very affordable cigar.

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

This 5 x 50 Nicaraguan puro has a nice dark wrapper and feels good constructed, no soft spots noticeable. The aroma of this cigar reminds me of a barnyard and hay.

I can taste coffee with pepper and just a hint of cacao. The pepper is a bit sticky on the palate. Along the way, the pepper and cacao fade away while the coffee stays and some earthy tones appear. At the end, chocolate accompanies the coffee flavor

This cigar gives me lots of smoke, unfortunately the draw is too easy. The burn is good and the ash is white.

Would I buy this cigar again? Yes, I liked it

Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 6 / 10
Appearance: 8 / 10
Smoke & ash: 8 / 10
Burn: 7 / 10
Aroma (first part) 7 / 10
Aroma (middle part) 8 / 10
Aroma (last part) 8 / 10

I used google to find some background info on this cigar and learned that this cigar is made in Miami with Nicaraguan filler, binder and Ecuadorian Sun Grown Habano wrapper and is made by Pablo Romay. Upon feeling this 5 x 50 robusto I found some softer spots in the cigar, which made me worry about the burn. The wrapper has a lot of veins, including a big fat one, and feels dry. The veins are covered by 2 bands, so the appearance is still acceptable. The predraw is just fine and gives me a bit of a dry woody flavor.

I light the cigar and taste a full coffee flavor combined with a little pepper. The flavor is definitely full. After about an inch, the coffee turns into leather and some wood and I can taste an aftertaste of pepper in the back of my throat. But leather is the main flavor.

After a third, the cigar becomes somewhat bitter and harsh, I don’t like this at all, but since I set my mind on reviewing this sucker I keep on smoking. Right at the halfway point there is a creamy chocolate flavor fighting the bitterness and that fight continues right till the turning point.

The smoke on this cigar is just fine, full & thick. I have absolutely no complaints on the razor sharp burn, but the ash is a bit frayed. I consider this to be a full flavored medium bodied cigar.

Would I buy this cigar again? No, it started out nice, but the second part of the cigar wasn’t good enough and the cigar didn’t recover enough in the last part to make up for the bitter taste in the middle.

Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 8 / 10
Appearance: 7 / 10
Smoke & ash: 7 / 10
Burn: 8 / 10
Aroma (first part) 7 / 10
Aroma (middle part) 5 / 10
Aroma (last part) 6 / 10

I had seen these cigars in the past and always left them for what they are, as I was afraid it would be a bad cigar due to the Playboy logo. I expected this to be a ‘status symbol’ cigar, made for posers instead of true cigar lovers. The appearance of this 5 x 52 cigar is pretty with a flawless dark wrapper. The oily Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper has hardly any veins although it has some spots on it. The cigar band is simple, black with a silver edge and a silver Playboy logo printed on it. The construction seems to be good, I didn’t feel any hard of soft spots on inspecting this cigar with its Dominican, Nicaraguan and Peruvian filler with the Connecticut broadleaf binder. I did notice that the wrapper has a very smooth feel to it. The aroma is quite nice with a barnyard feel to it. Cutting it with my Palio was easy. The predraw is pretty light and leaves me with a sweet but peppery flavor on the lips.

Upon lighting the cigar with my torch could taste coffee, full flavored with a hint of nutty toast. After a few puffs, the nutty flavor grows in strength. The coffee flavor slowly disappears while the nutty flavor grows. The toasty aftertaste remains. After about a third the coffee flavor is gone completely and its all nuts and toast. 

At the halfway point the toasty aftertaste is replaced by a chocolate flavor and later on even some pepper. At 2/3^rd the cigar gains power and becomes hot, it leaves a bit of a burning sensation on the tip of my tongue but the flavors are still very nice. I slow my smoking down to let the cigar cool a little and the burning sensation disappears so I can enjoy the last few puffs and part from this surprisingly good cigar. 

 The cigar produces a nice amount of smoke. The burn is flawless until midway, the burn starts to get crooked there and its getting hard to keep the cigar lit. After I corrected it, the burn was fine again. The draw started as a bit too easy but the resistance increased along the way without becoming too hard. The silver gray ash is a perfect combination with the silver & black band with Playboy logo.

The cigar starts out as a medium bodied cigar, but it grown in strength to a full to medium bodied cigar with quite some nicotine build up, it made me a little light headed. Flavor wise I can only say that this is a full flavored smoke.

Would I buy this cigar again? If the price is right, yeah!

Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 6 / 10
Appearance: 8 / 10
Smoke & ash: 7 / 10
Burn: 7 / 10
Aroma (first part) 8 / 10
Aroma (middle part) 8 / 10
Aroma (last part) 7 / 10

This 6 inch 52 ring Ramon Allones is the first Benelux RE ever and the production limits at 600 boxes of 25. The wrapper is a nice oily smooth wrapper and the construction feels good. The aroma is a light version of the unique Cuban aroma

I can taste some toast and soon after the classic Cuban leather although a bit on the mild side. After an inch there is a creamy chocolate flavor added to the leather. Halfway the power increases and for a brief moment a little pepper shows up. After 2/3^rd some salty nuts show up.

This cigar combines a fine draw with dark and firm ashes and a medium smoke. The burn is very good, straight and it won’t die too soon. It is medium bodied and full flavored.

Would I buy this cigar again?  Yes, this year my x-mass bonus will be spend on a box of these puppies

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

G. de Graaf is an old Dutch brand and they have produced a Costa Rican longfiller for some time now. Recently the owners decided to change the blend and the wrapper. The wrapper is now Ecuadorian and comes in both natural and oscuro. I got a sampler with both cigars to try out and review. I smoked the oscuro this afternoon while watching soccer on TV.

The cigar looks pretty, a nice smooth wrapper, quite dark but no maduro. The full aroma reminds me of a stable and at the top of the cigar you can clearly see different kinds and colors of tobacco in the filler.

The first flavors are distinct leather with a nice pepper, but pretty soon these flavors fade away slowly. The cigar becomes a bit creamy but not creamy enough to deserve that label. Halfway there is a harsh sharp flavor for just one puff and then the light cream flavor comes back with now and then a hint of chocolate, but just as the cream, the chocolate flavor never really comes trough.

This cigar is not complex, there is not a lot of development in the flavors but then again, what I taste is not unpleasant.

The burn is fine, only at the end of the cigar I had some problem, the ash is uneven and the smoke is quite full and pretty white.

Would I buy this cigar again? Perhaps, it’s a nice cigar although there are better cigars in this price range.

Btw my team won the match with 6 to 1

Construction: 16 / 20
Draw: 16 / 20
Appearance: 16 / 20
Smoke && ash: 7 / 10
Burn: 16 / 20
Aroma (foot) 7 / 10
Aroma (body) 6 / 10
Aroma (head) 7 / 10

This is a new cigar for the Dutch market, made by Intercigar and sold exclusively at Compaenen cigar shops. It is a hand made Dominican cigar with Piloto cubano ligero, Criollo 98 ligero, Viso Nicaragua,
Mata Norte ligero and Seco Criollo 98 tobacco. There are two versions, one with a sun grown Cameroon wrapper and one with an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper. Today I smoked the sun grown Cameroon robusto.

The cigar is nicely packed, a cardboard 3 pack and the cigars individually packed in cedar with a cellophane wrapper, the sun grown Cameroon wrapper looks pretty and then the nice words stop. The band is pompous and over the top, the cigar doesn’t feel as firm as I like and the predraw has the aroma of raisins.

The first flavor that I taste is unpleasant and musty mixed with light leather; the musty flavor fades away just like the leather but then? What do I taste? I don’t know, I can’t place it, mushrooms? It is a dry flavor. Intercigar produced another cigar in the past for the Dutch market and review mention polystyrene foam and this could be what the reviewers meant. It could also be the flavor of rice crackers that I taste. Anyway, it makes me feel a little nausea and it gets worse, there is a metallic aroma coming to the palette and the cigar is hot, much hotter then other cigars I have smoked in the past.

The smoke is pretty full but not nice colored, the ash is white and firm.

Would I buy this cigar again? Hell no, this cigar is only 4 Euro a piece and you can’t expect a premium cigar for that money, but this isn’t even worth the 4 bucks, I know cigars twice as cheap like the Flor de Oliva or the Vegas de Santiago puros who are so much better

Construction: 14 / 20
Draw: 14 / 20
Appearance: 16 / 20
Smoke && ash: 8 / 10
Burn: 14 / 20
Aroma (foot) 3 / 10
Aroma (body) 4 / 10
Aroma (head) 3 / 10

This Alonso Menendez robusto, 139mm long and a 48 ring is made of Brazilian tobacco. The color is a bit dark but far from being maduro, the aroma is deep and reminds me of a stable. Some veins run over the wrapper, the predraw is fine and releases a light sweetness. The cigar has a firm feeling.

As can be expected from Brazilian tobacco, the flavor is a very deep and dark sweetness. Later on there is a bit of a herby flavor, like some herbs were dipped in honey. The cigar has a certain harshness, bitter, but still with a sweetness on the background. Not very pleasant. 

The smoke is full and ash is ok, draw is just fine, but the flavors aren’t my style

Would I buy this cigar again? No, I can find better cigars in this price range.

Construction: 14 / 20
Draw:16  / 20
Appearance: 14 / 20
Smoke && ash: 7 / 10
Burn: 15 / 20
Aroma (foot) 6 / 10
Aroma (body) 5 / 10
Aroma (head) 5 / 10

Right after the El Cobre torpedo we tried an El Cobre robusto, 127mm long and ring 50, and while the torpedo builds up to a powerhouse, the robusto is a slap in the face. If you’re not ready for this cigar it will blow you away and make you run to the toilet. The cigar has a dark oily wrapper, a strong aroma and it feels hard, well constructed.

As mentioned, the cigar is much heavier and more of a powerhouse then the torpedo, the smoke is thick, much thicker then the torpedo and the first flavor that I could taste were herbs and a little bit of chocolate. Later on I could taste something I have never tasted before in a cigar, liquorice combined with some notes of wood. When those flavors disappeared the cacao came back and grew in strength until the turning point. Even though this cigar started much heavier then the torpedo, you can still notice a growth in strength to the end. This is by far the biggest powerhouse I’ve smoked so far.

Would I buy this cigar again? Yes, if it becomes available in Holland or online.

Construction: 16 / 20
Draw: 17 / 20
Appearance: 18 / 20
Smoke && ash: 10 / 10
Burn: 16 / 20
Aroma (foot) 8 / 10
Aroma (body) 8 / 10
Aroma (head) 8 / 10