Carlos Toraño Single Region Jalapa- Prerelease Review

[Editor's Note: This is a review of a Prerelease cigar that was released at the IPCPR Show in New Orleans two weeks ago and collected and given to me by the amazing "Smoker X"...Most of the time, we in the blog community are only given one sample of any cigar that is released at the show, and so most of the reviews in this section are rated using that one sample...However, unlike Predroduction Reviews, the Prerelease cigars that are given out are almost always rolled at the exact same time as the eventual Regular release of the same stick, so the only difference between a Prerelase cigar and a Regular Production cigar is a little bit of age. ~ ed.]

For those of you that don't know...

This year at the annual IPCPR Show in New Orleans, Carlos Toraño introduced the first release in its Single Region Series, the Jalapa...The basic idea is that each cigar in the series (a different one released every year) will contain tobacco that is grown only on farms in a very specific region of the country (so in this case, the Jalapa region in Nicaragua)...

The Press Release says it thusly:

The concept highlights the different characteristics of tobaccos grown on individual farms in various regions in the world’s best tobacco-producing countries. Each Serie will feature a blend that is created entirely from tobaccos grown on one carefully selected farm in one particular region. The blend’s flavor and aroma will reflect the influence of the region’s soil, weather and topography.

The Carlos Toraño Single Region Jalapa will be released in boxes of 25, and will be available in three different vitolas, priced from $6.50-6.95 each:

• Robusto (5 x 52)
• Toro Grande (6 x 54)
• Churchill (7 x 50)

But enough of that, let's get down to business, shall we?

The cigar itself (I smoked the Robusto for this review) is a nice looking stick, with a reddish brown wrapper that is quite firm when squeezed...The wrapper has an interesting breadish scent, along with some cinnamon which made me think immediately of cinnamon cookies...The band is fairly boring looking, just Red on White for the main band ("Single Region") and White on Red for the second band ("Serie Jalapa")...The predraw brought fairly normal flavors of tobacco and small amounts of pepper...

The Dominant flavors in this cigar were leather, chocolate, a sweetness that I could not identify (maple?), a bit of pepper and perhaps some cinnamon on the retrohale...There was some slight spice in the beginning of the smoke, but that quickly faded into the background, never to return...

The flavors did not change much at all from start to finish, and I did get bored with it fairly quickly (although I still nubbed it, of course)...

Final Notes:

• This is an interesting idea for a cigar (a stick that contains tobacco that is grown only on farms in a very specific region of the country), but as I was smoking it, I was thinking that perhaps the fact that all of the tobacco came from the same area is one of the reasons that the cigar was lacking in complexity...
• The Draw was a bit tight for the whole cigar, but not enough to pitch it...The burn was wonderful, and I never had to touch it up once...
• The Final Smoking Time was 1 Hour and 15 Minutes...

The Bottom Line: I don't know what I was expecting from this cigar, but what I got was just a fairly basic, boring, monotonous blend of Nicaraguan tobacco flavors...throw in the lack of any significant spice or pepper and the tight draw, and what you have is a (VERY) middle of the pack cigar...To be fair, the burn was excellent, and the price on these is an advantage (under $7 each), but with so many new (and better) blends being released for about the same price, I will not be wasting any more time on this cigar...

Final Score: 83

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Coming Thursday:

A Review of the J. Fuego Origen Originals!

Ramon Allones Lusitanos (Portugal Edicion Regional 2010)

~Review by Steve Valle~

Ramon Allones released their first Regional Edicion series of the year a few months ago which we reviewed HERE and enjoyed quite a bit. The second Ramon Allones release this year in the Regional Edicion series is the Petit Edmundo sized Lusitanos for the Portugal Region.  If you know me, you know that I have been nothing but impressed with the Ramon Allones regional offerings in the past few years. In my opinion, they have proven to be the most flavorful and consistent regional’s in the bunch... The Lusitanos is only one of 2 petit edmundos to be released this year, the other being the Juan Lopez Seleccion No.3 for the Benelux region. The Lusitanos is limited to just 2,500 boxes of 10 cigars (so 25,000 cigars total worldwide), and like most regionals are individually numbered.

Here are some photos of the box itself…

Here we go…

This cigar is obviously very small, but despite it’s measurements I actually like the size of it. It looks to be a perfect hour long smoke and feels really great in your hand. It sports a nice Colorado shade wrapper with minimal veins and a slight oily sheen to it. It has a perfect triple cap and a firm pack to it. The Pre light is sweet and spicy. I get a nice tobacco aroma mixed with some barnyard and a little bit of cinnamon. The pre light draw is full of the sweet tobacco and a touch of cedar...

• Cigar Reviewed: Ramon Allones 2010 Lusitanos (Portugal Edicion Regional) 
• Number of Cigars Smoked for Review: 2
• Country of Origin: Cuba
• Wrapper: Cuba
• Binder: Cuba
• Filler: Cuba
• Size: 4.3 inches
• Ring Gauge: 52
• Vitola: Petit Edmundo
• Est. Price: $13.00

The First Third starts off very toasty and sweet! Right off the bat it reminded me of roasted marshmallows. A very nice combo! A few puffs into the cigar I also get a nice roasted nut flavor as well as some coffee on the finish, a very nice opening...

Coming into the Second Third I am still getting a really nice toasted tobacco flavor but the sweetness has mellowed...The cigar has become a bit creamy as well, especially through the nose. I also get a faint wood flavor followed by a dark roasted coffee bean flavor on the finish. The cigar is burning very well, almost a perfect burn line so far and the ash is holding strong...

Finishing up in the Final Third the flavors haven’t changed much from the last third. I attribute this to the small length of the cigar and find it to be pretty common. I did notice that the creamy note has turned into a buttery like flavor and feel. The smoke is very thick and velvet like on the tongue. The finish is quite long as well. The rich coffee bean flavor just sits on the tip of my tongue and slowly drifts to the back of my throat.

Final Notes:

• While some people are turned off by this size cigar I actually really enjoyed it. Granted, I enjoyed the cigar so much that I wish it wouldn’t end, but still I respect what the size has to offer. It provides a very cool smoke and easy draw that is quite enjoyable...
• Although I loved this cigar, I still recognized some youth in it (After all, it was boxed in April!) and I believe this cigar has many years before it hits its stride. You know those cigars that you just know will be great in years to come? This is one of those cigars...
• The toasty sweet opening was very impressive. It’s the first time I have ever tasted anything like marshmallows in a smoke. I have heard that description before and always thought it was ludicrous. I am excited to know that my palette is expanding…
• The Final Smoking Time was 1 hour 15 minutes.

The Bottom Line: I enjoyed this cigar a lot! I am glad to know that Ramon Allones is still putting out amazing regionals. I loved the toasted flavors this cigar had to offer. It had a perfect balance of sweetness and managed to stay so enjoyable and consistent through the whole smoke. If I had any complaint it would be the lack of spice and pepper. It really didn’t have much kick to it, but for some reason, I was ok with that during the smoke. The flavors were so clean that I forgot all about it... It’s a shame they only come in 10 count boxes....

Final Score: 92

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DON'T FORGET:

Leave a comment (any comment) to enter our contest to win 1 Ramon Allones Lusitanos (Portugal Edicion Regional 2010) from my Humidor!

Details and Rules Here!

_______________________________________________________________________

Coming Tuesday:

A Prerelease Review of the Carlos Torano

Single Region Serie Jalapa!

Illusione Singulare "Phantom" (LE 2010)

For those of you that don't know...

About 1 month ago, it came down the Cigar Grapevine that Dion Giolito of Illusione Cigars fame (Twitter.com/vudu9) were releasing their first Limited Edition cigar...Dubbed the Singulare "Phantom", it is a 6x50 Nicaraguan stick rolled at the Raices Cubanas factory in Honduras from 100% Nicaraguan tobacco and comes in boxes of 15 cigars, with only 1000 boxes released...The word is that Illusione will release an LE every year, but each will be a different sized cigar...

Incidentally, Illusione has now released 4 new cigars in the last month or so...three of the releases were additions to existing lines, and one is a brand new release...The Additions to existing lines are the Holy Lance Candela (reviewed HERE), the Holy Lance Maduro and the Epernay "Le Matin" (reviewed HERE)...(There is also an ~888~ Candela that is making the rounds that I would love to review, and if anyone has a line on one, drop me an email)....the Brand new release is (of course) the Singulare "Phantom", which we are reviewing today...

The boxes for the Illusione Singulare "Phantom" (LE 2010) look like this:

But enough of that, let's get down to business, shall we?

• Cigar Reviewed: Illusione Singulare "Phantom" (LE 2010)
• Number of Cigars Smoked for Review: 3
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Wrapper: Nicaragua
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Size: 6 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 50
• Vitola: Toroish
• Est. Price: $12.00 ($180.00 for box of 15)

The Cigar itself is obviously extremely well constructed (almost "Padron-esque")...everything about it screams "Quality", and the wrapper is a medium brown color, and smooth as silk (so to speak)...The cigar is quite firm when squeezed, and the wrapper smells of Leather, tobacco (imagine that!) and just a little bit of what I wrote down as "Mint"...

The First Third starts off with some slight spice on the tongue, but quick fades as flavors of Sweet Cedar, tobacco and a nice earthiness develop...not gritty at all, fairly mild, and a great start to a cigar...

The Second Third picks up where the First Third left off...The woodiness note (mostly cedar) becomes quite dominant, and there is still a sweet earthiness that is present, but there is also a very interesting Floral undertone that is hard to describe for pretty much the entire Third of the cigar...There is also very little spice for most of the 2nd Third, but it does start to increase substantially as we move into the last Third...

The Final Third changes dramatically, as the spice that was present in the First and Second Thirds ramps up dramatically...The basic flavor profile is the same, (sweet earth and creamy Cedar), along with a slight honey flavor, and the increase in the spice really made the other flavors that much more enjoyable...It did get a bit harsh at the end of the cigar (most likely because I smoked it too far down to the nub), but that will diminish with some age...

Final Notes:

• I find it interesting that Illusione is one of the only (non-cuban) cigar brands to put dates on their boxes...The date is from when the cigars are boxed, NOT sold, but I really wish that more cigar manufactures would adopt the practice...
• The bands on the Phantom are quite different then the normal Illusione bands (as they should be, being an LE and all)...The text is Silver on white (instead of black or Gold on white), and there is an extra "EL" in script font, which supposdely stands for "Edition Limited"...
• The Smoke coming off this cigar was extremely spicy, a stark contrast to the sweetness of the cigar flavors...
• This was not the strongest cigar in the world, but the strength it DID have, it displayed wonderfully, and I would put it solidly in the "Medium+" range...
• The Final Smoking Time for this cigar was 1 Hour and 40 Minutes...
• Although quite a few places are already sold out of the Phantom, you can still buy both boxes and singles at Empire Cigars (click for link)...

The Bottom Line: I have always been a fan of Illisione cigars (the ~mj12~ has long been a go to cigar for me), and I have to tell you, this is a slightly different profile from most of Dion's sticks...The complexity was great, with flavors fading in and out all the time, but with a great spice that just made everything better...Add in the amazing construction, burn and draw, and this is a winner in my book...An almost perfect example of how a cigar can combine spice, flavor and strength effectively... Honestly, I liked the Singulare "Phantom" just a bit more then the eccj 15th, and I can only imagine how these are going to taste with a few years on them...I am extremely glad I got a box to put down for a while...

Final Score: 93

 

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DON'T FORGET:

Leave a comment (any comment) to enter our contest to win 1 Illusione Singulare "Phantom" (LE 2010) from my Humidor!

Details and Rules Here!

_______________________________________________________________________

Coming Tuesday:

A Review of the Ramón Allones Lusitanos:

Edición Regional Portugal

Weekly Cigar Review Roundup, News and Contest Winners~ August 23 - August 29, 2010

There are some great reviews around the Cigar Blog Universe this week...go check them out :)

• The Stogie Guys review a Macanudo Cru Royale Robusto
• Keepers of the Flame flames up a Berger and Argenti’s Entubar
• Toasted Foot toasts a San Lotano
• Cigar Inspector inspects a Davidoff Puro d’Oro Magnifico (which we reviewed HERE)
• Zen & the Art of the Cigar talks about Floods Devastating Honduras
• Casas Fumando lights up a Arturo Fuente Hemingway “Short Story” (which we reviewed HERE)
• A Cigar Smoker posts a Camacho Liberty 2010 
• The Stogie Review posts a Master by Carlos Toraño
• Nice Tight Ash talks with Berger and Argenti Entubar
• The Crooked Burn burns a Tatuaje Seleccion de Cazador 7th Reserva

And, if you Missed one or more, here is a look back on the reviews we posted last week!

• On Monday, we posted a Prerelease review of the brand new AVO Heritage! 
• On Tuesday, we took a day off...
• On Wednesday, we reviewed a Blind Review Cigar!
• On Thursday, I announced to the world I had Shingles!
• On Friday, I showed you what BOTL J. Carlos Gomez sent us from the IPCPR Show in New Orleans!
• On Saturday, we reviewed a Litto Gomez Chisel from 2008!
  

Here are a few updates to the site...

• While a few of you got close, no one guessed Steve's Blind Review cigar, which turned out to be (surprisingly enough) a Rocky Patel Decade Edicion Limitada...A cigar that is getting better then average reviews..
• Next week is the last Cowboys Preseason game, and you know what that means....it is almost time for the Cowboys Contests to return! Basically, if the Cowboys win any given game that week, I give away REALLY cool sticks and swag...You don't want to miss them, I promise :)

There were no Contests last week, but there will be next week, Promise...

 Also, don't forget to check back here next week! All of next week we are going to be previewing quite a few of the new cigars that were released at the IPCPR Show in New Orleans last week!

So, on Tap we have:

• A Prerelease Review of the Illusione Singulare Phantom (I swear)!
• A Prerelease Review of the La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amore
• A Prerelease Review of the Carlos Torano Single Region Serie Jalapa
• and more :)



LItto Gomez Chisel Puro (2008)

~Review by Steve Valle~

The Litto Gomez Chisel was introduced in 2003, and since then has become a favorite vitola among cigars smokers. Once you see the unique shape you will know why... There are 4 other vitolas in this line, and they all consist of tobacco grown on Litto’s farm in the Dominican Republic. Anyone who knows tobacco knows that it’s not easy to grow shade grown wrapper in the Dominican Republic, but Litto has seemed to master it, as evidenced by how his cigars smoke (and how they rate in reviews around the web)... The chisel shape was extremely innovative when it was first released to the cigar world...

The story goes that Litto Gomez was driving into work one day, and as he was chewing on a Pyramid shaped cigar, he suddenly realized that the shape that resulted from his chewing felt extremely good in his mouth. From a Cigar Aficionado article, his quote says the rest:

"This way it goes into the mouth in a perfect way, very comfortable. I think it even fits better than a torpedo or a pyramid. It also allows you to smoke a big ring gauge cigar without filling your mouth."

The Chisel shape is very easy to love. It’s very unique and feels wonderful in your mouth. The cigar has a milk chocolate wrapper you can tell was made with care. It’s a bit toothy and has some veins here and there yet it feels seamless and smooth at the same time. It's one of the nicer shade grown wrappers I have seen. The cigar also has a nice firm pack.

Adding to that, this could go down as one of the BEST pre light aromas I have ever experienced. WOW, these have changed in a year. It has an extremely heavy chocolate aroma with tons of cinnamon and spice. I mean it literally smells like a basket of cinnamon potpourri. It also has a very meaty, spicy aroma to it. It reminds me of a cube of beef bouillon honestly. I can’t say I have ever experienced that before. All of this mixed is just a beautiful assault on my senses. The pre light draw is full of cedar, cinnamon and an overall heavy tobacco taste.

Starting off into the First third I am getting a heavy dose of cedar and cinnamon. I have never had a cigar that taste so much like the pre light draw as this does. There is also a spicy sensation on the tongue. It almost makes the tip of my tongue go numb for a second. After about 15 puffs or so the cigar takes on a bready like character…almost doughy. It also has a very rich feel to it. It’s very full bodied but medium in strength...

Coming into the second third the spice has died down a lot. I am still getting a strong cedar and cinnamon combo and the finish is full of the bread flavor from the beginning but with a touch of pepper now. It has a long peppery finish. Still medium in strength and the smoke is still very rich but very cool and easy to smoke. The ash is holding on for a long time! You can see little specks of tooth in the ash as well...

Reaching the Final third the cinnamon note that has made up most of the cigar has completely died. The entire profile has changed a bit as well. While I am still getting a nice cedar flavor the cigar has turned a bit creamy and there is now a nice coffee note on the finish as well as a touch of leather. It always pleasing to see a cigar change in the final third. It keeps things interesting and exciting.

Final Notes:

• The shape is a huge plus for me here. It is just a very comfortable shape and just feels perfect in your mouth.
• While I loved this when it came out I found it even more enjoyable two years later. The cigar has rounded out nicely and seems much more balanced and complex than I remember it.
• A huge plus for me was the way the smoke managed to stay so cool. Even to the very nub it was a very cool and rich smoke. It made it very easy to detect the flavors and enjoy its complexity.
• Final smoking time was 1 hour 50 minutes.

The Bottom Line: What can more can I say? I mean it was fabulous. I noticed a definite change in the two years it’s been aging. I found it to be more complex and well rounded. The flavors flowed perfectly. Not one flavor overpowered the other. I can only imagine what this will do in the next few years. I think this is one of those cigars that is just destined for long term aging. If you come across any of these chisels from 08 or even earlier…grab them!

Final Score: 94