Dunhill’s 80th Anniversary Cigar
80 years covers a lot of history – from the end of the Great Depression to the end of the Great Recession (a coincidence?). Dunhill celebrated the 80th anniversary of its Don Candido line by issuing a very limited edition called Seleccion Suprema in only 1 size – a 6 X 50 toro. Dunhill states that this is the most exclusive launch in its history and the cigar is available in 8 count boxes...
Jose Blanco’s New Senorial Cigars Are Worth A Try
Jose Blanco has a well established reputation after a long career at La Aurora and a shorter stint at Joya de Nicaragua. Leaving a short retirement, Jose created Las Cumbres Tabaco in 2014 to launch his new Senorial blend, marketed as a full bodied, full flavored cigar. This blend uses Dominican Piloto Cubano and Dominican Corojo fillers with an Esteli Nicaraguan binder, all wrapped by an...
Gurkha’s East India Classic Havana Blend Is Quite Good
East India has 6 separate blends in the market and the Classic Havana Blend is one of the best. The Havana Blend is offered in 4 shapes (robusto, toro, XO and figurado) and sports San Andres tobacco wrapped around proprietary binder and filler. The Havana is box pressed and made in Nicaragua. Gurkha provided me with a Havana toro at the IPCPR in New Orleans. The toro was attractive with an...
Crossfire Cigars Hit The Bullseye With Its Count of San Andres
I have reviewed Crossfire Cigars for a couple of years and found their cigars to generally be above average. At the 2015 IPCPR Crossfire introduced their Library Series, a new blend aimed at the premium market segment and they gave me a sample of the Count of San Andres to review. The San Andres was a 6 ¼ X 56 box pressed beauty, slightly darker than milk chocolate. It was firm and easy to...
Armistead by Battleground Cigars Deserves a General’s Name
When we hear about the war between the Blue and the Grey, famous sites such as Gettysburg, Manassas or Shilo and Generals Lee, Sherman and Grant come to mind. But Battleground Cigars, seemingly far from the war by being based in Hazardville, CT follows a Civil War theme in naming its cigars. At the 2015 IPCPR Battleground gave me an Armistead (Confederate General), one of their Widow’s Son...
J Alexander III Corojo – Almost a Winner
This is the third year for J Alexander III cigars and the Corojo blend launched at the 2015 IPCPR, called JA3 Corojo, is quite good. J Alexander cigars are made by the well-known Quesada Cigars in the Dominican Republic. A JA3 toro (5 X 52) was provided to me by J Alexander III cigars for review. The JA3 Corojo was an attractive cigar sporting a classic pigtail cap and closed foot (to inject...