Don Pepin Garcia Blue Magnate (7.63" x 49)

Don Pepin Garcia Blue Magnate (7.63" x 49)

It's Don Pepin Garcia week, baby- and I'm living the good life!

Here's a close up of the label...I think it's the 1st or second label to adorn this particular stogie. I like it.

...and here's the cigar along with the tools I'm using to enjoy it...not pictured is the glass of Johnny Walker Red label I drank...good stuff for the good life!

And here I am enjoying this big guy.

Don Pepin Blue is the definitive Don Pepin cigar for me...it's kind of "middle of the road" for the blends he puts out under his own name (the Black is cheaper and spicier and the White is smoother and pricier). I think they run around $8 for one of this size but I bought them in volume and paid closer to $4.

The stogie looks reddish brown and the prelight is spicy and fully. The flavors are cinammon, peppers, with a little bit of sweetness. It doesn't change much in the flavor but the flavor that is there is top of the line. Unlike some other "Big stogies" this one doesn't take long to get serious and the flavor just lasts and lasts.

I shot boom clouds of smoke while enjoying "Crank" and this fine cigar outlasted the movie and my scotch. Sweet. On the downside, it did need some touching up but nothing too annoying.

The stogie is medium-full in flavor and medium in body and never gets bitter.

RTR Rating: 4. This is a great cigar and one of my favorites, up there with the Coronado. I've had a dozen and never been disappointed. Get one.

Earlier in the week I enjoyed this 601 Green Label (Oscuro) in the "Tronco" (5 x 52) format.

Quick review: I really like the 601's but not enough to buy more than a 5 pack here or there. The green label is probably my least favorite (though it gets a lot of good reviews). It's pretty potent.

This cigar has some mocha and pepper and is full bodied and pretty strong flavor too. I caught some black cherry tartness early on (no shit) as well as a lot of kind of chalky cocoa type flavors.

It reminds me at times of the La Joya Nicaragua Antonio but the 601 is not quite as dangerous.

RTR quick review: 3. It's a really good cigar-great construction, flavor, and appearance. The flavor just isn't my fave, keeping it as a really fine cigar but not among the best.

Here's Ry and Thane enjoying the "after party" of A.M.'s birthday...good stuff! Notice he's rocking the Clutch shirt...

...and here is A.M. opening some presents. She raked it in this year!

Oliva V (natural) Lancero & La Flor Dominicana Toro

Oliva V (natural) Lancero & La Flor Dominicana Toro
...with guest reviewer the Almighty Scotty!


This week I was lucky enough to have my buddy Scott visit for an evening...of course, I made him consume large quantities of cigars and scotch...and we enjoyed kicking back and talking...managed to find some time to grill some steaks and share a beer or two also...great times.


Coronado, by La Flor

Here's the label from my Coronado (by La Flor {Dominicana}), a toro sized beast that I enjoyed over the weekend after my daughter's birthday party! This cigar has jumped into my top five list...there's nothing else I've run into with these kinds of flavors...paprika, cocoa, cinnamon, tobacco,...and some stuff I can't even identify. It's a power house though so make sure you have a full stomach. I did and it still left me sweating and a little wobbly...

I've had maybe ten of these since my last review and they've all been flawless. At around $8 apiece, they're not cheap but I'll gladly part with that kind of money for this kind of experience.

RTR rating: Solid 4: among the best I have ever had.


Oliva V Lancero (7" x 38 thin boy)


Here's Scott enjoying an Oliva V lancero that I gave him. He was a man of very few words but I did manage to get a little out of him:
***mmmmm...spicey. I like the flavor.
***tastes kinda like raisins. Yeah, raisins. That's cool.
***this thing is too light.
***this thing tastes good but does it come in something a little...bigger?

Variants of this repeated for the forty-five minutes or so that he enjoyed this stogie.

I am guessing that he reviewed it at a 2 (fully decent cigar) and that if he'd have had a thicker one he'd have given it a 3 or higher. I, of course, rate this cigar a solid 3 in this format, if not a 4.



And there's Scott right before he said "You're not going to put these pictures of me smoking this girly thing on the internet are, you?"





And here's a bonus picture...of Thane doing some amateur archeology out West with Michelle, Dana, and her boy Jackson. They paid some guy who does this sort of thing and they found some fossiles of several different types of fish which Thane was allowed to bring home with him. They had a great time!

Tatuaje Gran Cojonu (6 x 60)

Tatuaje Gran Cojonu (6 x 60, by Pete Johnson and Don Pepin Garcia).

It's been a heckuva week-I've fixed so many computers and dealt with so many humans that I knew I needed something special...so when I got home and realized that the wind was low and the temperature nice...I grabbed something I knew I'd enjoy...



The Gran Cojonu!

I picked up a box of 12 of these dudes awhile back and really enjoy them. They are hefty sticks, 6 x 60 and feel solid. They have no bands to improve their appearance but they have a certain oily sheen and smell of pepper and rich tobacco.

I grabbed my Red Stripe, my son Thane, a dvd of Fear Factor t.v. episodes (with host Joe Rogan!), and we sat down for the most enjoyable night I've had in some time.


This stogie has an interesting foot-instead of open tobacco, the foot is closed with folded over wrapper. I like this a lot-lighting is very easy and I got a great burn.



Hey, man, I nubbed it! This stogie was fantastic. It had a peppery/cocoa flavor that was very full but not overpowering. It didn't change much but the flavor was so good and so consistant that I really didn't need it to. It burned for four episodes of Fear Factor and lasted through one Red Stripe, two glasses of water, and one restroom break. This baby was a trooper. The super thick ring gauge is not usually my thing but on this cigar it was awesome. The smoke was thick and aromatic and the burn was great too. I think I paid $10 for this stogie and I'd rate it a 4 on my four point scale. It's just a great cigar and, though it's too pricey for me to enjoy all the time, makes a great celebratory cigar when you've got time to enjoy it! Additionally, it's the best Tatuaje I've experienced, having none of the minor let downs that other Tatuajes seem to have, but still delivering that great flavor.



And here's my guest star! Thane and I watched Fear Factor...might try to see how many Rocky movies we can watch tonight!