La Flor Dominicana “Air Bender”
May 2, 2010 Cigar
Tonight’s review is the La Flor Dominicana Air Bender.
Lfd Air Bender cigars are Litto Gomez’s most ambitious full-bodied creations. An Ecuadoran Habano wrapper encases the Dominican longfillers & binders grown on their La Canela farm in the Dominican Republic. “The result is a very smooth, flavorful cigar with lots of body,” says Litto. Starting with molasses on the cold draw, once lit you’ll enjoy a spicy smoke that builds to a rich, woody base with some semi-sweet notes in the mix. Another “must smoke” from this highly-respected maker of boutique cigars. Each vitola in the line gets its name from the classic Kung Foo movies and the warriors. It is known that these ancient warriors could “bend the air”, thus the name behind them.
Now, on to the review.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Size: 5.5×52 (Toro) “Maestro”
Origin: Dominican Republic
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Dominican Republic
APPEARANCE and CONSTRUCTION – (18 of 20 pts.)
The wrapper on the Air Bender is beautiful. It was smooth, oily with no blemishes at all. It is a medium chocolate brown and very pretty. The cigar was firmly packed all the way through. I could clearly see the ligero leaves bunched in the foot of the stick. All in all a very well constructed cigar as I would expect for a Lito Gomez product.
SMOKING CHARACTERISTICS – (22 of 25 pts.)
The wrapper had a light cinnamon aroma as well as some toast. The foot had a strong scent of cedar and dark coffee. I used my Palio cutter on the Air Bender and it provided a clean opening. The cold draw was a little tight, but not awful. Right away I picked up notes of spice with some nice nuttiness. The draw remained a little tight throughout the smoke, but nothing I would complain too much about. Burn line was thin and there were no burn problems whatsoever. Nice firm white ash throughout.
FLAVOR – (26 of 30 pts.)
The initial flavors were a disctint spiciness followed by a walnut nuttiness. The spice was very prominent, and honestly a little overwhelming to my palate. The second third of the cigar introduced a mild sweetness in the background, but the spice was still prominent. Final third lost some of the spiciness but kept the nutty flavor as well as introducing a pleasant earthiness.
OVERALL IMPRESSION – (22 of 25 pts.)
The Air Bender is a beautifully made cigar that delivers all of the power you would expect from a LFD smoke. The spice in the first two thirds of the cigar were a little more spice than I enjoy, but they weren’t a turnoff. If you like the full bodied and spicy LFD profile, this cigar is a winner. If you don’t enjoy that spice component as much, you may find this stick too much for your palate.
TOTAL SCORE – 88
Tags: Air Bender, La Flor Dominicana, Lito Gomez
SPECIAL EVENT – MARCH 27th @ Nat Sherman
Come to Nat Sherman in the heart of Midtown East in NYC for the first ever NYC Cigar Tweet-Up and social media event sponsored by Camacho Cigars!
Nat Sherman will be opening its doors all-day on Saturday, 27 March and offering lots of specials and unique deals where you can meet in-person some of your social media “friends” and enjoy what we all love: great cigars. Box specials, accessories on sale, and to celebrate the upcoming start to the MLB season, spend $75 on anything and receive a limited edition Nat Sherman baseball cap (a $25 value) FREE!
In addition, Nat Sherman will be extending all specials and deals to everyone regardless of if you are able to come to the store or not: simply call 1-800-MYCIGAR or e-mail your Tobacco Consultant to take advantage of these offers all day long.
Many thanks to Camacho Cigars for being our sponsor of this first event of its kind here in NYC and Camacho will be providing a special cigar to give away with purchase for the event. Which cigar will it be?? You need to come by and find out!! Plus you tweet about your experiences & spoils during the event by using the #CigarTweetUp hashtag.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Lindsay Heller (@TheCigarChick) at lheller@natsherman.com
Tags: Lindsay Heller, Nat Sherman
“QUICK PUFF” – San Luis Rey Regios
Mar 1, 2010 Cigar, Quick Puff
Tonight’s review is a “Quick Puff” review of the San Luis Rey Regio.
The San Luis Rey is a Cuban brand that flies somewhat under the radar among most smokers. The “Rey” is medium bodied and relatively reasonably priced cuban.
The Regio is a Robusto sized stick that has a slightly dry appearance. It is chocolate brown in color and has a strong barnyard aroma with some coffee at the foot.
The Rey had a slightly tight draw at first. After lighting and taking 6 or 7 puffs, it loosened a bit, but it was still a little too firm for my liking.
The stick had a lot of nice coffee, earth and cocoa flavors. There was also a tinge of saltiness at points.
Overall this was a good smoke minus the difficult draw. The draw was actually a problem on 2 of the 3 sticks I tried over a 2 week period, so it could be indicative of a bigger issue. Other than the draw problems, this was a nice stick at a reasonable price from my cuban source. I’d recommend it for those of you who like Padron cigars, as I get a similar flavor profile of coffee, chocolate and some earth.
Tags: cuban, San Luis Rey
“AGED” Review – Camacho Liberty 2003
Tonight’s review is the first in our new section “AGED” Reviews.
Our first “AGED” Review will be the Camacho Liberty 2003.
On a trip to CigarInn on the Upper East Side of New York City, I happened to be digging through the piles and piles of boxes that Gus and his brothers have in their walk-in humidor. The space is small and jam-packed with cigars, so many times, you have to dig around to find certain things.
It was on just one of those rummaging sessions in early 2009 that I discovered a treasure. Sitting under stacks of boxes, I discovered a 3/4 full box of 2003 Camacho Liberty. I immediately grabbed 5 of them and brought them over to Gus to pay. He was astonished that he even had any left.
The 2003 Camacho Liberty is an enormous perfecto shaped cigar. It measures 8″ by 50 x 52 x 38. It has light brown wrapper and comes wrapped in tissue paper and rests in it’s custom cedar coffin. A sticker on the outside of the coffin says “Liberty 2003″ and “9,022/20000″ which indicates there were 20,000 of these cigars made. Having almost 7 years of age on it, I am very excited to dive into the 2003 Liberty.
The wrapper is a light brown and has a mild aroma of cedar (certainly from the cedar coffin) and some barnyard. Despite being almost 7 years old, the cigar is in perfect condition, I’m sure in part due to the tissue and coffin.
I cut the head with my Palio cutter and lit the perfecto foot with no problem. Both cold and hot draw were a little tight but nothing too bad. Initial flavors were of mushroom and a toasty quality. There was definitely an earthy funkiness to this cigar. The entire first half of the cigar had intermingling flavors of toast, earth and a very light spice.
Second half of the smoke turned a little woody and introduced a creaminess to the smoke that made it feel even milder than it originally was.
A huge tunnel developed at around the halfway point. It lasted for a while, but considering the sheer size of this smoke, it didn’t ruin the overall experience.
I would say the 2003 Liberty is a nice smoke, but not nearly as interesting or complex as the more recent versions of this line. I’ve smoked at least one cigar from each year the Liberty has been released and I can honestly say that the blends have gotten better over the years with 2005 and 2007 being my favorites.
The 7 years of age that this cigar has on it has certainly had an impact on the strength. The first time I smoked this cigar, I remember more of a distinct spice and a heavy dose of leather. There was almost no leather and just a remnant of that spice left. It has definitely turned into more of a toasty, creamy and smooth smoke that has a mild-medium bodied profile. Simple, but enjoyable.
Alec Bradley Family Blend Robusto
Jan 18, 2010 Cigar
Tonight’s review is the Alec Bradley Family Blend Robusto.
From their website, Alec Bradley Family Blend cigars were created expressly for the fathers of the company’s three principal executives, Alan Rubin (President), Ralph Montero (Vice President), and George Sosa (National Sales Director).
Available in only one size, the cigars are rolled into a 50 x 5 ½ Robusto shape capped with a classic Cuban pigtail at the head. The cigars are presented in handsome chests of 50 cigars bearing the signatures of David Rubin, Miguel Montero and Reinaldo Sosa, respectively.
The smoke is medium-bodied, creamy-smooth, and full-flavored with a marvelous aroma.
Alec Bradley Family Blend named #16 on Cigar Aficionado’s Top 25 Cigars of the Year: 2009 List.
Now, on to the review.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Size: 5.5×50 (Robusto)
Origin: Honduras
Wrapper: Honduras
Binder: Indonesia
Filler: Honduras, Nicaragua
APPEARANCE and CONSTRUCTION – (17 of 20 pts.)
The wrapper is a medium brown color with no noticeable veins or blemishes. There is what appears to be a small glue mark towards the middle of the stick. I can only assume its wrapper glue as I didn’t notice this on any of the other samples I had. Feels firm all the way across the length of the cigar. The head is nicely applied with a small pigtail. Not sure why, but I love the addition of pigtails to cigars. It gives me a sense of the roller and even though it sounds silly, it makes me think of the rolling process and the skilled hands that created this cigar.
SMOKING CHARACTERISTICS – (21 of 25 pts.)
The foot and wrapper both have a mild aroma of fresh cut wood and some earthy sweetness. None of the aromas on the wrapper and foot are very strong however. Cut with my Palio cutter and lit with my Blazer torch. Cigar burned evenly until the final third where it got a bit out of control. each of the three samples I tried of this stick all had some sort of burn issue towards the end of the smoke. Not sure the reasoning there, but it was consistent. Draw was very good and smoke was light and airy.
FLAVOR – (25 of 30 pts.)
The initial flavors were a basic light wood, light leather and dry nuttiness. Flavors were good, but not overwhelming. Second third, each of the flavors intensified and the smoke became more enjoyable. There was also a slight saltiness I noted in the second third. The combination of wood, leather and nuts remained into the final third of the cigar.
OVERALL IMPRESSION – (20 of 25 pts.)
Considering how much I enjoyed the SCR blend by Alec Bradley, I was somewhat disappointed in this stick. It wasn’t bad, it just didn’t have anything that would compel me to pick one up again. It was a little too basic for me and didn’t have that “wow” factor that would separate it from any other cigar in its category. Flavors were good, not great. Build was good, not great. Impression was good, not great.
TOTAL SCORE – 83
Tags: Alec Bradley, Family Blend
