"Personally, it is a miss for me. I found the flavors to be muted with a thin body and poor burn. Hopefully, this is an outlier and the others had a more positive experience. The way that it is smoking to me, I'm not sure where it would fall into my rotation. It isn't bold enough for a nighttime smoke and it's too mild to stand up against a cup of coffee. " -Alan (Eulogy)
CAO has announced a new, stronger follow-up to the Flathead V-19 blend, Flathead V21. This brand new blend, created by Rick Rodriguez and the CAO blending team, uses a Mexican San Andres wrapper, Connecticut Broadleaf binder, and Nicaraguan and Dominican ligero tobaccos.
For the first time in over a year and a half, Aging Room is releasing a new cigar. The Aging...
Alec Bradley has announced that their Alec & Bradley Gatekeeper cigar will be moving production from Ernesto Perez-Carrillo's (EPC) Tabacalera La Alianza in Santiago, Dominican Republic to Tobacos De Oriente in Danli, Honduras. The company says the change is due to increased demand from a combination of EPC Pledge Prequel and Gatekeeper receiving #1 and #7 Cigar of the Year from Cigar Aficionado magazine. The blend remains unchanged.
"The flavors were plenty good just a few unwanted notes that didn't go well with the rest of the profile. Draw was great, construction on the other hand and burn suffered greatly. Depending on price point I would smoke again." -Ryan H. (Ryan H.)
Quality Importers Trading Co. has announced the Humidor Supreme Balthazar end table humidor. Humidor Supreme is the new line of upscale desktop, furniture and commercial humidors. The new Balthazar takes a modern approach to humidor design, made to be visually appealing as well as funcional. With its minimalistic approach, it uses clean lines with subtle details to fit in any space.
"This was a strong cigar from the very first puff and they had me a bit concerned. Thankfully, the strength gradually lessened and allowed me to enjoy the power and not overwhelm my palate. At the finish, this cigar was firmly in my wheelhouse and had me ready to light another. For an experienced smoker, I’d recommend this…for a rookie, I’d be cautious. Personally, I loved it!" -Jason H. (Jokey Smurf)
"The flavors in the cigar were very muted and hard to pull out. The strength was very well-mannered, but the cigar never really developed into anything stellar. It was an enjoyable experience, just not a memorable one. I wouldn't hesitate to hand this cigar to less experienced smokers, as there is nothing in it that would discourage it. It would hold up nicely with black coffee late in the morning or bourbon in the evening. Most beers would probably overrun it." -Kevin A. (Kevin A.)
Plasencia Cigars debuted the Plasencia Cosecha 149 at the 2021 PCA trade show this week. The word "Cosecha" translates to "harvest," and in this case is a reference to the harvest of tobacco used in this blend. Plasencia Cosecha 149 contains tobacco from the 149th Plasencia Family harvest, which happened in 2014. The tobacco has been fermenting and aging ever since, until it made its way into this particular cigar.
Espinosa Premium Cigars has announced the third cigar in the Espinosa Laranja Reserva line: Laranja Reserva Azulejo. The original Laranja Resrva was released in 2014, followed by the Laranja Reserva Escuro in 2019. The name Laranja is Portuguese for Orange. Azulejo is also a Portuguese word for a blueish glazed colored tile. The same blue is used on the Laranja Reserva Azulejo band.