Rafaeli Churchill, a Jeweler on a Budget
David Rafaeli, a jewler, is the CEO of Miraculous Templar Cigars and selected the Templar’s Iron Cross with a diamond insert as the cigars logo. At first look you notice that the cigar appear to be too veiny, lighting end appeared unfinished. You also notice the end is prepunched for you, usually a mark of an inferior cigar. Nevertheless, it proves to be a reasonable cigar in the right...
St. Luis Rey Titan a Full Bodied Giant
This is a large cigar. The tendency over the last few years of smokers is to seek out and enjoy larger shapes. And, this will certainly fit that bill. Cigar ring size or gauge is measured in 64ths of an inch, so 60 is almost a full inch around. That’s a lot of cigar. In addition to being a bigger cigar with more tobacco, larger rings smoke cooler. The thicker the cigar the...
Benji Menendez – A Man with great history, makes an Historic Cigar
Benji Menendez is a man with a history. His father, grandfather, and uncles were all considered to be legendary figures in the Cuban cigar world. They created H. Upmann and Montecristo to name a few. Menendez, born in Havana, has been in the cigar business all his life. And that experience shows in this cigar made under the Partagas label. With all of this as background you would...
Gurkha Wicked Indie Historic Name-Good Cigar
The Gurkha Wicked Indie is a new release from Gurkha. It is the first release under the newly formed East India Trading Company, a brand whose history dates back to the British Crown and the year 1600. It was recently reformed to present these cigars to the public. The heritage of East India Trading Company is very much in keeping with the brand of Gurkha Cigars. This new line, Wicked...
Cheap Bastard, Funny Name, OK Smoke
I know for certain that I would never have bought this cigar. That is until after I smoked it. I was given this cigar, one each in the maduro and sumatra at a recent trade show. And, I’ll admit to being skeptical. I heard the story of how it came about from the cigar makers, some people from southern California who own a retail shop. they told me that several of their...
San Lantano Oval an Interesting Shape and a Nice Cigar
This afternoon/evening I had a cigar smoking guest join me. He had recently seen the new blog and didn’t know that I was a CigarMayven. When he asked if I could give him some help, I invited him to join me for a late afternoon smoke. I foraged in the humidor and came up with something nice for him to smoke and something interesting, the San Lantano Oval Corona for me. When first...
