Reviews by Brandon S

                High praise and an even higher price… That’s one way that the Ashton VSG can be summed up. Another way is high quality and highly enjoyable. I’ve been saving the leftover change from my weekly Taco Bell runs and was able to scrape enough together to swing by our Super Store and pick one of these gems up and the torpedo was my vitola of choice on this particular day. This chunky 6.5”x55 box-pressed cigar features an Ecuadorian Sun Grown wrapper and Dominican-grown binder and long-fillers. The VSG or Virgin Sun Grown is made at Chateau de la Fuente in the Dominican Republic utilizing the high quality control standards that Ashton is known for;

                Ashton may be best known for their Classic series which features silky Connecticut wrappers and a smoother profile…a far departure from the VSG. The pre-light draw reveals some chocolaty nuances which are quite enjoyable. Upon sparking the cigar, the chocolaty nuances still remain a part of the underlying character of the cigar. About an inch in I’m greeted with a spiciness and an intense buttery texture which can be attributed to the perfect Sun Grown wrapper – this particular wrapper hales from a private estate in Ecuador that is owned by the Oliva Tobacco Family (not to be confused with the Oliva Cigar Family).

                Now half-way through and this full-bodied selection is coming into its own. Exhaling through the nose adds another dimension of flavor and strength that nearly causes my eyes to water! Note – almost…I’m a full-bodied, full-flavored cigar fan, and a tear might be brought to the eyes of a weaker man. But not I! Now, I should mention that the VSG isn’t available everywhere – in fact even when you can find a few, chances are they won’t be there for long. With its high ratings and limited production the VSG is one of the most sought after blends among cigar enthusiasts year after year and I know that some of you may suffer from a bout of “sticker shock” when looking to purchase a few of these. Trust me lad, it’s worth it. Go ahead and treat yourself once in a while! Personally I recommend sparking one of these up after a hearty meal comprised of some type of tasty dead animal and maybe a few vegetables – you know, to add some color to the dinner plate. And don’t forget the brown liquor to wash it all down!

La Aroma de Cuba was always a decent smoke in my humblest of opinions but it lacked that certain something that could take it from simply “decent” to a whole lot more…and then some. The folks at Ashton seemed to agree with this as was evidenced by their recent factory change for production and subsequent re-blending of the La Aroma de Cuba. Now made by Pepin Garcia in his shiny new Nicaraguan factory, La Aroma de Cuba has allegedly taken on a brand new personality. So, without further delay, I’m off to the humidor to grab me a 5-pack of the 6x52 Monarch. Sit tight, I’ll be back in a few…

Alrighty then, I’m back with my Monarchs along with a few other tasty treats I snagged during the trip, but more on those later. As you may recall, the previous blend of La Aroma de Cuba was produced in Honduras with a Cuban-seed wrapper and a blend of Cuban-seed Nicaraguan and Honduran long-fillers. The result was a medium-bodied cigar that was pretty one-dimensional in flavor and yielded a lingering spice on the finish. Take my word for it, I’ve still got a couple boxes of the old blend and am smoking them side by side to compare. The new Pepin Garcia-made La Aroma de Cuba, by comparison is a few shades darker and oily enough to bring a tear to the eye. It literally glistens in the light! Oooooooohhh…..Aaaaaaaaahhh…say it with me now! The new blend boasts a combination of select Nicaraguan long-fillers all brought together with a ruddy and oily Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. The end result is a dramastic (term coined by an excited CI staffer. It is believed to be a combination of the words “drastic” and “dramatic”) improvement over the old blend with the new delivering distinguishable cedary notes up front followed by a host of earthy and nutty flavors throughout as the cigar develops. The spice is still there by the boatload but if you need an extra helping just try blowing the smoke out through your nose! For my palate the new La Aroma is a great smoke and a vast improvement over the old blend. If you haven’t had the new blend yet you should give it a shot right now without delay. If you’ve had the old but not the new, well what are you waiting for? Go on and git some!

With 23 million sticks in our monstrous humidor at any given time it can be tough to single out a cigar to review. I know, I know…poor Brando. Millions of premium cigars at your disposal and you can’t find one to write a review on? You’re right, it’s pathetic. Truth is, much of our time is spent evaluating new blends for upcoming releases and at any given time there are at least a few hundred sample blends (seriously!) needing to be smoked. That’s actually part of the joy in writing these editor’s picks because it gives me an opportunity to smoke a blend that’s been on the market for a while and compare it to various projects we’re working on now. With that in mind I received an email from a buddy I’ll call Staff Sergeant Chuck asking me to review the Punch Gran Puro. First off, as you can see, Staff Sergeant Chuck is in the military (the Army to be specific) and I’m sure I’m not the first person to say it but, Staff Sergeant Chuck, thank you from the bottom of my heart for dedicating your time to serving this great nation of ours and protecting the freedoms we enjoy every day as American citizens. That goes for every one of you reading this who have bravely served in the United States Armed Forces, thank you.

Now, after convincing the boss to let me “borrow” a 5-pack of the Punch Gran Puros from the humidor for a little research I’m back at my desk where I can examine these beefy cigars. I grabbed a pack of the Pico Bonito (6x50) for this review because I’m a big fan of the toro size. To me they are ideal for tasting since they provide enough length to determine complexity but don’t take more than an hour to burn through. The Gran Puro as you might have guessed is a true Honduran puro meaning that all of the tobaccos in the cigar are from one country. In the case of the Punch Gran Puro the wrapper is a Havana-seed Sungrown wrapper which typically means good things if you like full-bodied and flavorful cigars. Direct exposure to the sun means more strength as well as a more leathery texture which is obvious if you take a good look at this stick. The binder on the Gran Puro is also a Sungrown leaf which adds to strength of the Gran Puro. Setting fire to the foot the first few draws are rich and produce a robust flavor that I will describe as nutty and earthy. Cigars that are “puros” really give you an opportunity to zero in on the specific flavors that the soils impart into the tobacco. True to my experiences with Honduran tobacco, the Gran Puro offers a mellow yet very rich smoking experience while producing gigundo clouds of bluish-yellow smoke. The sungrown tobacco yields a subtle spice up front but one that is much more pronounced on the back and sides of the tongue as the Gran Puro continues to burn. Halfway through and to be honest, this smoke has me sweating a little. It’s definitely stronger than I recall and lives up to the name Punch. Not a ton of complexity in the Gran Puro but to be honest, I’m thinking that I prefer it that way. This is an enjoyable smoke right from the start and while the spice builds throughout, the flavor never changes all that much. As far as the quality of construction goes, I’ll have to agree with Staff Sergeant Chuck on this one. It’s simply top notch. Densely packed and heavy in the hand but still draws effortlessly and razor sharp. I’ve visited General Cigars factories on more than one occasion and I can tell you first hand that there are very few cigar makers who take quality to the level that these folks do. Where other companies have a 5-step process for quality-control General Cigar has 12 and that ain’t no joke.

Having smoked my Gran Puro down to the nub I’m quite pleased with it. It has delivered a fine smoking experience and the truth is I think it’s a pretty good value for the dollar. Yes, SCHIP is right around the corner and prices are going to go up across the board thanks to the meatballs in Washington but at the end of the day the Punch Gran Puro may still prove to be a good value for the dollar. That’s just my two cents though. The true beauty of smoking cigars above all else is that it’s really only your opinion that matters.

Staff Sergeant Chuck, I hope this review meets your approval my friend! Thanks for taking the time to write and thanks again for serving this great country!

Well folks, another Thanksgiving is in the books! I hope you all enjoyed your time with friends and family and I certainly hope you found time to enjoy that all-important Thanksgiving Day cigar! I know I did…3 in fact. Funny though, of the cigars I had selected for my Thanksgiving enjoyment the one that stood out head and shoulders above the others was none other than the CAO ‘VR’. I packed my humi with a few select personal favorites and grabbed a few of my VR’s for that inevitable request from my wife’s cousin, “hey man, did you bring any extras?” (you know how that story goes, right?) and off we headed to the in-laws for a day of gorging, imbibing and stories about family members I’ve never met. When said conversation ensued I was only too happy to volunteer to head outside and operate the old turkey fryer for an hour knowing this would be a prime opportunity to light up a cigar and enjoy the peace and quiet of a beautiful fall day. I left my smokes inside but had a spare humi packed in the car and after managing to the get the turkey-fryer fired up I snuck off to the car and grabbed me a CAO ‘VR’ Moby, clipped the foot and lit’er up.

Truly a cigar that can be described as pretty, the ‘VR’ is as oily as it is dark and oh so toothy. I’ve had this box since we received our first shipment back in June of ’07 and the additional aging has done wonders to the tobacco within. Off the start the first few draws are creamy and rich with distinct chocolaty undertones and a sweet finish. I should mention that the ‘VR’ is manufactured by the famed Torano family whose attention to detail and focus on producing a quality product is second to none. So it came as no surprise that after two inches in the burn was as straight as could be with an ash as solid as concrete. Reaching the 1/3 mark some peppery “tinglies” are noticeable on the front and sides of my mouth as the Moby begins to change a bit and pick up some strength. The fryer finally reached 350 so I grabbed the bird and dropped it in. If you’ve never fried a turkey I highly recommend trying it at least once. It’s surprisingly violent and rather amusing to watch the entire pot shake. As I continued smoking my Moby I began thinking of what else I could chuck into the old fryer just for grins… When I finally refocused my attention back on the ‘VR’ I realized that it had mellowed tremendously. The spice and tinglies were gone. In their place rich, leathery notes of chocolate and coffee coated my palate leaving me wanting more but alas, the end was near.

As the evening wore on I smoked the remaining two Moby’s that I had brought along with me enjoying the same experience each time. Ironically I readily gave up some much pricier smokes to friends and family just so I could keep the CAO’s for myself. Just goes to show you that you don’t have to spend a bundle to get a damn fine smoke!

Montecristo is easily one of the world’s most recognizable trademarks when it comes to cigars and I’m quite sure you’ll agree with me on that. Ask a few folks to name three brands of cigars off the top of their head and I can all but guarantee you that Montecristo will be one of them along with Macanudo and Cohiba. What I find interesting is that for all of the fame and recognition this brand gets, these cigars have very little to offer the savvy cigar-enthusiast. These days the trend is headed towards fuller-bodied and more complex cigars that are loaded with flavor and spice. This is not to say that there aren’t a great number of people who enjoy the Montecristo brand however. More so, it is an observation of a brand that owes much of its recognition to the fact that its Cuban counterpart is largely regarded as one of the finest cigars ever produced. To validate this I grabbed a 5-pack of the Montecristo #2 size (Dominican version of course) after realizing that I hadn’t smoked this cigar in at least a few years and owed it to the brand to review it objectively.

Out of the box it is worth noting that the Montecristo is a very well-constructed cigar with no soft-spots to speak of. This is true of each of the five I have on my desk. The Connecticut-Shade wrapper is golden in color with a slightly mottled and blotchy appearance. Clipping the head I drew on the cigar a few times before actually sparking it and found the pre-light draw to be reminiscent of freshly-baked bread and very pleasant. The draw itself is perfect and provides just the right amount of resistance. I toasted the foot, took a few puffs and I was off… The first few draws are very smooth and produce large, thick clouds of smoke. The flavor is gentle with a subtle cedar note and a very short finish. At an inch or so in the burn is impeccable and a sweet, woody aroma has filled the air. The ash is tight and compact and requires a firm tap to dislodge it from the foot. At the half-way mark I find the flavor and strength to be nearly identical to the first inch. Nuances of cedar persist but really not a whole lot else going on with the fabled Montecristo. With just over an inch and a half to go I find myself ready to lay the #2 to rest and hardly impressed with it.

The Monte #2 isn’t a bad smoke by any stretch of the imagination but it does lack the excitement and dimension of many of today’s newer boutique blends. In recent years the cigar industry has become one where the latest and greatest is constantly being redefined by small-batch production that utilizes the very best tobaccos often previously passed over by larger manufacturers due to lack of sustainability. While Montecristo will most likely remain a popular brand name for years to come, the cigar itself is average at best. The sea of mediocre cigars is a large one and if smooth to medium-bodied and one-dimensional is what you seek, there are plenty of alternatives to Montecristo that are equally well-constructed and sell for less than half the price.