Joya De Nicaragua’s Antano Dark Corojo is a Real Joy

Joya De Nicaragua’s Antano Dark Corojo is a Real Joy

Apr 08

Joya de Nicaragua started making premium cigars in 1968 and that level of experience is evident in their Antano Dark Corojo Double Fuente. This is one of the few cigars that I believe truly earns the label “oscuro” (blackish or dark). The oscuro wrappers come from the top of the plant where the extra sunlight and time before picking begins to cure the tobacco on the plant. This gives a...

La Aurora Let Out the Untamed Lion.

La Aurora Let Out the Untamed Lion.

Apr 04

La Aurora has a large number of successful cigars that were launched with traditional or even conservative labels and marketing. With its 2014 launch of “Untamed”, La Aurora is breaking from its past practices by using a contemporary approach. Untamed is also designed by La Aurora to be the most full bodied cigar they have offered to date. The cigar uses a dark Connecticut broadleaf wrapper...

A Threesome on a Blue Mountain?

A Threesome on a Blue Mountain?

Mar 31

Blue Mountian Cigars, Marvin Wright’s Nicaraguan cigar company, sells a stick that looks like 3 different cigars cut into thirds with the cap part of the maduro cigar attached to the middle of a Habano cigar and the foot is from a Connecticut wrapped cigar. Hence the name El Threesome – for 3 wrappers around 3 blends, all separate but in the same cigar. Unusual approach and unusual...

Aging Room’s La Boheme is a Star

Aging Room’s La Boheme is a Star

Mar 28

I have reviewed and enjoyed several cigars from Boutique Blends, the organization behind the Aging Room and Swag. Last year the Aging Room launched another premium cigar called La Boheme, named after a famous opera. At the 2014 IPCPR, Aging Room gave me the “Pittore”, a 5 1/8 X 52 vitola of La Boheme, to review. La Boheme uses an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper around Dominican binder and filler....

Accept the Challenge! A New Royal Maduro from Gurkha.

Accept the Challenge! A New Royal Maduro from Gurkha.

Mar 27

Gurkha has had a lot of success with its Royal Challenge blend and in 2014 Gurkha extended the brand by introducing a Maduro version. The Maduro wraps a broadleaf maduro around the Habano/Honduran binder and Nicaraguan/Dominican filler of the original Royal Challenge cigar, giving it a new taste. The size profile ranges from a 5 X 50 robusto to a 7 X 52 Churchill. Gurkha provided me with a...