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!

Memorial Day Weekend Cigars

It's been a whirlwind Memorial Day/Michelle's birthday Weekend and I've got some short cigar reviews mixed in with some photos of me and my crew enjoying the holiday!




I started the weekend off with this chunky 5 Vegas "Fifty Five", a thick, partially box pressed chub of a stick. Scott gave it to me and they've apparently been his "go to" stick for some time. The stick was a damn fine stick for the money ($3 pretty much all the time from Cigars International). Though not overly complex, it had tasted of pepper and tobacco and had a perfect burn and lots of plumage. For me, I'd smoke this again and would rate it a "2" on my four point scale. In fact, I smoked a Maxx by Alec Bradley later in the weekend (a cigar that costs at least double of what this 5 Vegas runs) and it was not nearly as good of a stick.




Here's Anne-Marie helping Michelle in the Garden early in the weekend!



Here's our littlest cave explorers in Alabaster Caverns. We had to fill them up with chicken and picnic fixin's before the big underground adventure!


Here's Ry with our surprise guest star, Grandpa!

Here's Grandpa at the top of the hill waving us on!


Here's Michelle and Thane enjoying the main cavern tour.



...And here's Thane and Ry doing some short exploration of one of the smaller caves nearby (this one is called the "Water Cave" I believe).



And here is how I celebrated the adventure's conclusion: a Coronado by La Flor, double corona (7 x 50). The Coronado is one of my favorite cigars and this was no disappointment. It had a perfect wrapper, draw, and plummage and gifted me with about two hours of solid peppery smoke. I tasted some cinnamon, spice (paprika?), and lots of tobacco and pepper and shot boom clouds of smoke in the air. I tried to nub it but all the caving activity and hot sun combined with the potent stick to make me light headed-I wussed out and let it go with about an inch and a half left.
This stick is a 4-is truly one of my favorites and was a great capstone to a great weekend of adventure!

Perdomo Habano (Maduro) Robusto 5 x 52

Perdomo Habano (Maduro) Robusto 5 x 52

This stogie is dark and oily...and a big boy (52 ring gauge). It has a double wrapper (the foot wrapper had already slipped off so is not seen here), giving it a classy look that is incongruous with its cheap price (I got it for $2 on Cigar Bid in a sampler). It is composed of all Nicaraguan tobaccos from the three main growing regions of that country. It has been aging in my humidor for six months or so.


The band is ornate and a bit gaudy but I like it-it lists the three growing regions by name on the main band and has the Perdomo flowery symbol thing in the middle.

The stogie had that strong barnyard odor on the prelight. Though it was a stout smoke, it felt light in the hand, which made me think it might have been underfilled and have too loose a draw. However, this was not the case and it smoked like a champ.

It took the flame well and had a pleasant burn throughout. It didn't change much but the qualities it did have were pretty decent-a medium maduro flavor, with some coffee and pepper bits. The smoke was plentiful and dense. Rico would have really liked the plummage but I was glad I was smoking it outside because indoors or in a car it could have become a bit much.

Quick review: I rate this stogie a 2. It's a decent stogie and I would smoke it again anytime. Though it never achieves greatness, it is very solid. It seemed to have medium flavor and mild to medium body-the dense flavors were never offensive.

It would also make a great gift cigar to a buddy who was short a smoke (solid smoke + cheap price means everyone is happy!).



Here I am enjoying my Perdomo Habano in my new Clutch trucker hat!

Other News
I watched Gamers: Dorkness Rising, a movie recommended to me by Brad. It was pretty funny and got me excited about throwing some dice again. Too bad May and (now June!) are booked with work and Family stuff! Perhaps July will work out for me!

May Smokes

No pictures this time...just a short list of smokes I've enjoyed this month so far.

Montecristo (white label): I was given this as a gift by a coworker and smoked it last Sunday morning...good stuff. I'd call it mild to medium. The burn was perfect and it paired well with my Costa Rican coffee. I'd rate it a "2" (pretty good)-it doesn't get any higher just because it's not quite as flavorful as I've been enjoying lately.

Alec Bradley Tempus Creo (Lancero): I picked this up at Wichita at the Cigar Chateau. It is an elegant, double banded stick (one band at the foot). Man, this is a really great smoke. I have enjoyed some Alec Bradleys before but this is truly a premium. I'd rate it a 3 or maybe 4...need to try another to decide. It's a full and flavorful experience that I'm sure is duplicated in the shorter, chubbier sticks of the line.

I'm in Wichita now, doing some web training. Tonight is the big Clutch concert and I'm sure Ry and I will find time for a small smoke before we hit the Big Event.

Tatuaje Especiales (7.5 x 38)

Tatuaje Especiales (7.5 x 38)

It was a beautiful night last night...no wind, perfect temperature...so I grabbed a stogie I bought in KC at the Tatuaje event a few months ago when I was on my lancero kick.

I used my trusty Cuban Crafter cutter and my Blazer lighter/welding torch. I backed it up with some midrange scotch that wasn't too great.





Here's the lancero before I cut and lit it up!

And here are my tools.

This stogie was pretty damn fine. It had a great "tart" Pepinesque teste but not as much pepper as his often have. At several times I tasted (I am not shitting you) cinnamon rolls or something very similar. That's a first for me but I swear that's what it tasted like.

It's a potent cigar-it's strength started to hit me about 1/4 of the way in.

The plumage was solid and the taste really great. It needed a few touch ups but I left it alone for too long, I think, when I was called in for emergency tech support for the wife's internet class. I rate it a solid 3 on a 4 point scale-it's a great smoke and I really liked it but it's not one of the best.

Lancero Kick

Well...I went on a major lancero kick a month ago or so and I bought a box of El Triunfador (really good lanceros!). I also tried to sample as many lanceros as possible. I read all the articles about how good they were and how the flavor is better and I gave it a real try...

...and it is true. The flavors are much more distinguishable and interesting...however the downside is social stigma (when your amigos laugh at you while you smoke it hurts, friends, it just hurts!)...increased cost (in most cases) and the missing "boom". The thinness of the lanceros loses that depth and richness that the thicker ring gauges have (even though the thicker ones seem to muddle the flavors more).

I think I'll keep picking up the lanceros now and then but I don't think I can live on them alone.