“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
“QUICK PUFF” – Liga Privada T52
Jan 9, 2010 Cigar, Quick Puff
Tonight’s “Quick Puff” review is the new Liga Privada T52 by Drew Estates.
Drew Estate created the Liga Privada T52 Toro “stalk cut habano” for Steve Saka’s personal enjoyment and this cigar was released in 2009 at the New Orleans IPCPR show. A departure from the flavored cigars and budget sticks Drew Estate is known for, the Liga Privada T52 is quite complex. A multi-country blend of tobaccos the core of this cigar is the Dominican, Honduran, and Nicaraguan filler. The Brazilian Mata Fina binder is grown by Jose Fuego. The wrapper is a new wrapper never before used called the “stalk cut habano”.
The T52 has the same beautiful construction you find in the Liga Privada No.9. The wrapper is a flawless, smooth, oily beauty. It’s absolutely gorgeous. Aromas off the wrapper are of coffee bean and sweet tobacco. The T52 had a flavor profile very similar to the Liga Privada No.9 but with more intensity. There were some of the familiar dark chocolate, espresso and burnt sugar flavors. The difference is the power. The T52 has a more intensity with each of those flavors along with a black pepper and slight spice that I never found in the Liga No.9. It lit, and burned absolutely perfectly. For my palate, I prefer the No.9 over the T52 simply due to the medium body in the No.9. For those of you who enjoyed the No.9 but wanted little more “kick”, this might be just the cigar for you.
Tags: Liga Privada
“QUICK PUFF” – CAO MX3
Dec 6, 2009 Cigar, Quick Puff
Tonight’s “Quick Puff” Review is the mysterious CAO MX3 Robusto.
CAO maintains an inventory of specific tobacco that they use in special blends called “The Escaparate Collection” The collection is an assortment of different cigar blends that utilizes these special tobacco lots. What makes these blends unique is that they are generally not released to the public or released in very small amounts since there is not enough of the Escaparate tobaccos to be used in standard release blends.
One of these mysterious, Escaparate cigars is the CAO MX3. The MX3 is available only at Drapers Tobacconist in Washington D.C. – (800) 572-2382. It is exclusive to them and will most likely remain so as long as they last.
The MX3 is a very rough looking stick. It has a lumpy, bumpy wrapper, but is firmly packed. The stick is incredibly oily and is very rich looking. Nose is distinct chocolate and espresso. Maybe the ultra dark maduro wrapper has my mind playing tricks on me, but I swear I smelled chocolate covered coffee beans. Draw was a little firm for my liking. It took me two good draws to pull enough smoke for one normal draw. Bothersome, but not a deal-breaker. The MX3 is a simple, but amazing flavor profile. It’s basically chocolate, coffee and light wood. What makes this cigar special is the intensity of those flavors and how they mingle together so nicely. Simply put, this cigar was delicious.
It’s disappointing how difficult these are to obtain and how limited they are. This is truly a wonderful smoke that I would buy again and again if readily available. As it is I will certainly pick up more from Drapers and hide them away. Definitely a contender for Top 10 Cigars of the year.
Tags: CAO, Draper's, Escaparate, MX3
“QUICK PUFF” – Davidoff Colorado Claro Special R
Nov 27, 2009 Cigar, Quick Puff
Today’s “Quick Puff” review is the Davidoff Colorado Special R.
The sun-grown Connecticut Ecuador wrapper on the Colrado is reminiscent of the Cuban varietal dark, reddish-brown in appearance and stronger in taste. The genetic structure of its seed produces lower yields and only a limited quantity of these harvested leaves meet Davidoff’s strict quality standards, making this extraordinary offering highly sought after. The four exclusively selected Davidoff Colorado Claro formats have been given a unique second band, are protected in cellophane and presented in distinctive 10-count boxes.
I picked up mine at the Davidoff shop in the Time Warner Building in Manhattan’s Columbus Circle.
The construction on the Colorado Claro was the first thing that stood out to me. I generally assume Davidoff cigars are going to have excellent, if not perfect construction. While the Colorado wasn’t bad, it was certainly not the blemish free and smoothly wrapped stick I generally get from Davidoff. The wrapper had a few veins and some areas that looked like miscuts. Again, not horrible, but when I think of Davidoff, I think of perfect construction.
The wrapper had a distinct Graham Cracker aroma with some earthiness. The stick lit and burned beautifully. The stick started out with a nice burst of spice that’s also not very traditional in the Davidoff cigars I’ve smoked. There were predominantly flavors of cedar wood and some leather all framed with a nice mild spice. Finish was clean and very pleasant. Body was medium to full and flavor was very rich.
Overall I enjoyed this stick very much. A nice balance of flavor, body and strength. A little more strength and a little more spice than I would expect from Davidoff and both were welcome. For the Davidoff smoker, these are a no-brainer. Go out and get one to try. For those of you who feel Davidoff cigars aren’t as complex or as full-bodied as you might like, try these. You might be surprised it’s a Davidoff.
Tags: Colorado Claro, davidoff
“QUICK PUFF” – Casa Magna Oscuro Robusto
Nov 13, 2009 Cigar, Quick Puff
Tonight’s Quick Puff review is the Casa Magna Oscuro Robusto.
After the hubbub Casa Magna enjoyed over the Colorado Robusto which was named Cigar Aficionado’s cigar of the year for 2008, many people were eagerly anticipating this latest release.
The Casa Magna Oscuro has an incredibly dark Oscuro wrapper. As dark as any stick I’ve seen in a long time. The wrapper is very oily and very nice looking.
Aromas on the wrapper were faint, but the foot had a chicken coop or barnyard smell.
Flavors included some light woodiness, raisiny sweetness and some asian spice in the second third. A solid medium body throughout.
Burn was decent. A little uneven in the first third, but corrected by the second third.
Overall this stick was pretty good. Not overwhelmingly good, but a decent buy for the price. I found the flavors to be a little too muted for me. They were nice, but they were at a volume of 4 and I wanted a volume of 7 or 8.
Tags: Casa Magna, Oscuro
