Camacho Triple Maduro Robusto

It has been too long since I reviewed. Needless to say, working in cigars takes up time. So, I am starting this year off with the Camacho Triple Maduro.

This cigar is made of tobacco from Honduras. It is a puro, so wrapper, binder, and filler are from the same place. With this one though, it is also made of all maduro leaves.

The first third of this cigar hit me with pepper. After the first few puffs I had notes of espresso and dark roast coffee. Hints of charcoal began to come in, creating a nice mix. The next third kept with the espresso. The pepper and dark coffee disappeared. Some of the charcoal remained and some sweetness came into play. That is a good thing because without the other flavors, this cigar might become too bitter. Towards the end an earthy flavor arrived along with a little bit of straw. A light coffee flavor came into it, which mixed well with the other flavors.

This cigar had a slighty toothy and oily wrapper, but it felt brittle. There was a small split in the wrapper, but it did not get bigger and smoked past it just fine. The draw was pretty firm, but it still produced a good smoke. The burn was wavy, but did not need correction. It evened itself out, so all is well with that. Held a decent ash, but after an inch and a half it fell off.

This cigar was a gift from my friend Jeff, so I had to look up a price. It comes to around $15 in MN. That is pretty steep for a Robusto, but this cigar was pretty good. I wish the construction was better, and while it had good flavor, the transition could have been smoother. It took about 45-50 minutes to smoke, which is not a bad time at all. With this price, expectations are higher. The burn is not being counted against it since it evened out, but the construction flaw and the transition will be. All in all, I would give this smoke another go, if nothing else in a different vitola.

Final Grade: B+/A-

Thunder by Nimish Robusto

I had Thunder sitting in my humidor for awhile. I smoked one of them, and let the other one age. I thought it time to write up the review.

This Robusto (with a very nice spiral pigtail at the top) has an Ecuadorian habano wrapper, Nicaraguan and Honduran binders (yes, that is two binders), and Nicaraguan, Honduran and Costa Rican fillers.

Tight feel to it, and slightly oily.

This cigar started out with a blast of salt. It was very salty, but not to the level of being overpowering. That went down a little bit and hints of pepper, a little earthiness and nuttiness came through. During the second third the salt remained, but the the other flavored shifted to more of a coffee and leather mix (mainly coffee). The last third had the spice, nutty tones, and salt. The salt got less though, which let the nutty tones come out more. The aroma on this one was sweet and rich, which complemented the flavors.

This cigar was well made, only needed one correction. It produced a big smoke and the draw was not too bad (a little firm, but not much).

This Robusto (which is 4.5 x 54) will run around $7-$8 in Minnesota. All in all this was not a terrible smoke, but not great either. At the end when the salt went away some nice flavors came out, so that is redeeming. The price will not break your wallet, which is also a plus. This had decent construction as well which brings things up. The issue I see with this one is the one overpowering flavor, and the others in the background too much. This might be only for this vitola though. I would not say this was a bad smoke, it wasn't. This smoke is above average and I might give it another shot in another size. Unless I have a medium roast coffee, or a dark soda pop like Dr. Pepper, I would not pick this one up. You need something to accompany this cigar. Though, I think the blend has a lot of potential and I will possibly try it again in another size. With that, this cigar is on the boarder.

Final Grade: B-/C+

Di Fazio Connecticut Torpedo

I am doing another Di Fazio cigar, this time the Connecticut shade.

This cigar uses a Connecticut shade Ecuadorian wrapper, and Indonesian binder (from what I could find) and fillers from Nicaragua and Honduras. Little veins and smells like creamy and straw.

I got a creamy straw flavor out of this cigar on the first puff. The cream took over and started giving off hints of sweet butter, slight hint of nuts, and a touch of oak. The oak flavor goes away and a sweet nut flavor comes in. It is almost like a sweet peanut butter made from roasted nuts. The cream and sweet butter stay with this. The aftertaste is creamy and of light tobacco flavors. You get a hint of straw in the aftertaste as well.

The construction on this cigar was very good. The draw was a little loose, but not too loose. This cigar burned even, it only needed one correction thanks to wind, and produced a large amount of smoke.

This cigar, in Minnesota, would run aroun $8-$9, and that is for the torpedo vitola. I could not find much wrong with this cigar. If you want a mild smoke, this is a good one. Complex, smooth, and mild. I would suggest this smoke to anyone who likes them light. It goes great with a cup of coffee.

Final Grade: A+

Alec Bradley MAXX Connecticut

So, I met up with my friend Mike, who also runs a review site called Old Cigar Box, and we decided to review a cigar together. We had some differences, but our final take is not too far off. Let's get to this review.

This cigar is made with a Connecticut wrapper leaf grown in Ecuador, a binder from Costa Rica, and filler from Nicaragua, Colombia, Mexico, and Honduras.

This cigar started out with a creamy flavor, hints of spice, cedar, and butter. The butter flavor made the cream slightly bitter, but not bad. The aftertaste was of cedar, spice, and cream. About halfway through the cedar flavor left the taste and it became toasty in flavor. This also goes for the aftertaste. Shortly after that it became tart, and I set it down to see if it would come back. Needless to say, it didn't. The taste, and aftertaste, became very tart for the last fourth.

The construction looked good, with a slight veiny appearance. It had a good draw to it throughout. Towards the end the draw became hot, the cigar was splitting, and it was unraveling. The burn started uneven and corrected itself, then went uneven, the corrected, and so on.

The size of the cigar was The Freak which is just a little bigger than a Double Toro. The cost was $11 and it was not worth it. This cigar, no matter how it was smoked, was terrible. It turned and never came back. Also with this one, when I thought it couldn't get worse, it managed to find a way.

Final Grade: F

San Lotano Habano Torpedo

I went into Little Havana looking for something new to smoke, and Steve guided me to this brand. From what I know it is only sold in stores. So, I picked up the one that was a medium blend, right in the middle, and gave it a try.

The wrapper on this is Brazilian, while the binder is Honduran. The fillers are Honduran, Dominican, and Nicaraguan.

As I lit this cigar up up I got a wonder taste of a mild pepper and a toasty note with it. As the cigar burned, it opened up to flavors of espresso and leather. The leather was the most subtle of the flavors, but even if you miss it there is no problem. The aftertaste consists of spice and leather. It seems to last too short with the leather, and too long with the spice. Neither stay around long enough to taste badly so that is not something to fret about.

The construction on this was good. Had a easy draw, produced a good smoke, and burned very evenly. The appearance of the cigar was very pleasing as well, with the wrapper being very even. The feel of the wrapper was like that of a fine, if not a tad rough, velvet. It had a fine toothy-ness to it.

The price on this 50 minute smoke was $12.50, plus tax. Now, that price is a little high, but not enough to deter me from having another one. This smoke is worth having.

Final Grade: A+

CAO MX2

Being that Maduro smoker I am, I took an MX2 for the tasting. Now, I had heard two things from this cigar. "Love it," or "hate it."

This cigar is made with a Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro wrapper, a Brazilian Maduro binder, and fillers from Nicaragua, Peru, Honduras and the Dominican Republic. This cigar had a oily wrapper that was a little soft. Firm feeling though as far as filling.

Torching this cigar, for me, was a treat. A rich earthy flavor, mixed with a taste of coffee. This cigar almost had a sweet undertone with the coffee flavor. It was like if you added just a hint of sugar to a French Roast. The Earthy flavor stayed balanced and did not over power the smoke. The aftertaste consisted of a nutty flavor with a hint of coffee or espresso. It is nice for the coffee flavor, but at times it seemed the earthy flavor was overshadowed at times, even nonexistent.

The burn was different. Instead of a nice white ash, it was as black as the cigar. I found this to be very interesting. It burned very evenly though until the end. The wrapper started to split. It was like watching an explosion in slow motion. I had to slow way down to avoid it getting worse. Once passed, the cigar finished just fine. The draw was a little firm, but consistent.

The price point for this cigar (double toro size) was $11.75, plus tax of course. Not a bad price for a hour long smoke. A Maduro usually costs more as well. So, for the what you are getting, the price is good.

The just missed explosion of my cigar will bring the grade down. The overshadowing of the earthy flavor will also bring it down, but not much because of what you get with the coffee flavor. Without the split and almost exploding, this cigar would be an A-/A.

Final Grade: B

Alec Bradley MAXX The Freak

I walked into Little Havana Tobacco, the local tobacco shop, and saw Steve, the owner. I have come in a few times. I like the place and it is close.

I love my dark wrap cigars. Maduro is the wrap for me. I saw a cigar by Alec Bradley MAXX. It was called "The Freak" and it was in a black box. I decided to try it out.

This cigar is made with a Nicaraguan Habano wrapper, a binder from Costa Rica, and filler from Nicaragua, Honduras, Mexico, and Columbia

This cigar is huge. A double toro as it could be called. This is a thick stick. I thought I may be in for a strong smoke, but then I lit this monster...

The tobacco tasted decent on my lips and mouth, but as I was puffing I wasn't getting much. Four puffs in the flavor came rolling past my tastebuds. It was surprisingly mild. A nice even smoke too, but you had to give it a few good puffs to get a good smoke out of this. Mind you, this is a large cigar and it takes a lot to stay lit. My girlfriend was there watching me build up a smoke with a big smile on her face. She decided to have a cigar of her own in the meantime.

It had a nice earthy and nutty flavor with a nutty finish. In the middle of the whole thing was a rich coffee like flavor. The aroma was almost coffee like as well. These flavors are well maintained. Personally, I thought the aroma was better than the taste, but it is still good.

When I put the cigar down, I noticed the aftertaste. Now this cigar had a decent aftertaste. A light nutty flavor with a hint of coffee. Not so strong that you could not taste anything else, and not so weak that it was gone when the smoke left. It is closer to strong than weak, but it is pretty in the middle, which is nice for this kind of wrap and size.

The construction was good. Easy draw and even burn, all the while producing a good smoke.

This cigar gave me a nice, smooth, mild taste. The only thing some people may have issues with is sitting for 45 minutes to an hour to smoke the thing, but at that shop, that is what the leather chair is for. Also, it takes a little while to get going, but not too long.

The pricing was great for what you got at only $11. Some of these go for closer to $20.

Final grade: A-