Don Fernando’s cigarblog

Some of the cigars reviewed on this blog were kindly send to me by the manufacturers or shopowners and I would like to thank them here, Rudy from Vegas de Santiago, Jose from Don Rigo, Richard from Manila cigars, Don Ursulo from Don Ursulo cigars,Robert from Bucanero cigars, Eric from Kioki cigars, Kyle at Warped cigars and Henny from havanacigar.

If you are a cigar manufacturer or a cigar shop owner and you would like me to review your cigars, you can send me a sampler and I will write a review and put a link to your website on my blog. Feel free to contact me at fp128@reageert.nl

Rudy from Vegas de Santiago ( www.vegassantiago.com ) had sent me this new cigar to review, a corona with a golden band which said “secretos del maestro”. The wrapper looks rough & raw with some veins and some green spots on it. The aroma is full & heavy and reminds me of a stable, while the construction is good, no hard or soft spots in it. The predraw is fine and leaves a spicy aroma on the palate.

The flavor is full and tastes like dry leather but the leather is replaced soon by spices, but also a bit dry. The leather makes a comeback with a little pepper and halfway there is a quick appearance of something sweet, but it disappears just as quickly as it appeared. Unfortunately, the cigar mellows out towards the end instead of taking it to a climax. 

The burn and the smoke are fine, but the ash is frayed and not really firm.

Would I buy this cigar again? I think I will stick to the Vegas de Santiago puros, although I would like to try a robusto from this secretos del maestro blend too. 

Construction: 16 / 20
Draw: 14 / 20
Appearance: 12 / 20
Smoke & ash: 9 / 10
Burn: 16 / 20
Aroma (first part) 7 / 10
Aroma (middle part) 7 / 10
Aroma (last part) 6 / 10

I reviewed 3 out of 4 Costa Ricans Vegas de Santiago torpedos so far, and here is the 4^th. The Vegas de Santiago Originales torpedo, 153mm long ring 50 made of 3 year old Costa Rican filler and binder with a Habano seed wrapper from Nicaragua.

What a nice cigar, light wrapper, good construction, a close to perfect burn, light draw, thick white smoke and a firm ash. The flavor is leather and wood which are accompanied by a hint of toast and some cacao. Halfway the leather and wood are decreasing while the cacao grows stronger and near the end some herbs show up, combined with the cacao. The turning point is very late.

Would I buy this cigar again? Yes, this one is just as good as the Vegas de Santiago puros torpedo.

Price / value: 17 / 20

Vegas de Santiago from Costa Rica is one of my favorite cigar manufacturers, and they have 4 different brands, the Puros, Originales, Don Luis and the Chaman. The Chaman is made out of filler and binder from Costa Riga and Nicaragua with a Connecticut wrapper from Ecuador.

I smoked the Torpedo, a 153mm ring 52 cigar which has a nice oily wrapper and the aroma of straw and hay. The first flavor is mild leather and halfway I could taste a pleasant sour which is gone pretty soon. There is not a lot of progress in this cigar, the flavor is very even. The smoke is thick and white and the ash is firm.

Would I buy this cigar again? No, I prefer the other Vegas de Santiago brands.

Price / value: 15 / 20

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

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