E.P. Carrillo New Wave Connecticut Short Run 2012 Review

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut
Filler: Nicaragua and Panama
Price: $7.00

A couple weeks ago this cigar was sent to me by a friend to see what my take on it was. I haven't smoked many cigars by E.P. Carrillo, so I was excited when I saw this cigar in the package. I have heard several people rave about this cigar, and have heard that it is a great morning cigar. So, Saturday morning I got up early, and lit this cigar up.

The Connecticut wrapper isn't the same shade as the others I have smoked. This one was more golden than light brown. There were literally no veins running through this cigar, leaving it to be very smooth. The cap was made up of four separate layers that were all perfectly flush.

The cigar itself was solid throughout. From cap to foot there wasn't one spot that softer than any other. The only flaw in this cigar was a small chip out of the wrapper on the underside, just above the band. Since this probably happened in transit, I wont hold that against the cigar. The smell that came off of this cigar was very sweet and had a slight cinnamon hint to it.

Jean Sibelius Short Review

I wasn't sure if I was going to review this cigar or not for a couple reasons. The first reason being, it is extremely rare. The other being, it is only available in Finland. Now I do not know a whole lot about this cigar, so this is going to be a short review. The extent of my knowledge about this cigar is that it is rolled in Finland using Cuban tobacco.

This cigar features a very light brown wrapper with a slight green tint to it. There are a couple flaws and cracks in the wrapper, but nothing too bad. Also, the cigar is very small, a petite corona, and is actually very solid. The cap is composed of a couple flush layers. There was a strong earthy smell to this cigar.


Once I clipped and lit this cigar, the flavors came out immediately. There was a very earthy start with a mild sweetness in the background. As the cigar slowly progressed, there were some light woody notes that came out.  The flavor profile wasn't very complex, but the present flavors were actually very nice.

Viaje Zombie Review

Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: $10.50

Whenever I am in the mood for a powerful cigar, Viaje is one of the companies that I look to. They are very rare in my area. Luckily a friend of mine, and fellow cigar reviewer, Traveling Stogie, sent me this cigar to try out. Yesterday I was debating what cigar to review next, so I asked a couple of people that follow my reviews. This was the cigar that was chosen based on their feedback.

The Nicaraguan wrapper on this cigar is a medium shade of brown and very oily. This cigar just shines. There were a few very thin veins running through this cigar. I knew that these veins wouldn't be of any bother to me.

One thing that stands out about this cigar is that it is capped on both ends. Both caps are composed of three layers that all lay perfectly flush. The cigar itself is very solid and gives off a very sweet pre-light draw and smell.

Alec Bradley New York Six Two Review

Wrapper: Honduran Havana 98 Criollo
Filler: Honduran and Nicaraguan
Price: $6.00 - $7.00

Last Thursday, April 19th, there was a huge Alec Bradley event at Holt's Cigar Company. When I got up there I noticed they had several of these cigars there. Since I am in Philadelphia, it is extremely difficult to get my hands on cigar that are exclusive to a specific area. I was lucky enough to snag a whole box of these cigars. And since I will be up in New York City on Tuesday, I wanted to review this cigar immediately.

The Honduran Havana 98 Criollo wrapper n this cigar is a medium shade of brown and very smooth. There is also a slightly oily shine to the cigar. Like most cigars, there were a couple very thin veins running throughout this cigar, but nothing to worry about.

The cap was actually composed of four separate layers. All of the layers were perfectly flush with the rest of the cigar. The stick itself was solid and uniform throughout and gave off a very strong and earthy smell.

Jose Llopis Robusto Review

Wrapper: Connecticut Shade Nicaraguan
Filler: Panama
Price: $6.00 - $7.00

A few weeks ago I met the representative for Panama Caribbean Tobacco and we talked for a little bit. He then sent me a few cigars to try out and review. Another one of the ones he sent me was the Mad Dog Cigar that I reviewed a couple weeks ago.

He asked me to review this one next because he said there wasn't a review of this cigar yet. So I was told I was going to be the first person to review this cigar. I couldn't pass up that opportunity.

The Connecticut shade wrapper on this cigar is a very light brown shade. The cigar is very smooth to the touch with only a couple very thin veins running through it. This cigar also features a closed foot which made it very easy to light.

The cap was made up of only one, perfectly flush layer. The cap was also twisted on the end like a shirt pig tail. The cigar itself is solid all the way through and gave off a very earthy smell.

Sosa Piramides No. 2 Maduro Review

Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
Filler: Dominican Republic
Price: $10.50

This cigar is another one that was sent to me from a friend a couple months ago. I have heard about Sosa Cigars several times, but have never actually seen them in any store. So when I opened up the package and saw that this was sent to me, I knew it was one I would look forward to reviewing. After letting it rest for awhile, it was time to pull this one out and review it.

The Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper is two shades of brown. Most of the leaf is very dark brown, but around the veins it is much lighter. The leaf is also very oily with one thick vein on the underside of the cigar. The torpedo cap is very smooth with an almost glass-like shine to it. I noticed that for the most part this cigar was solid, but it had a couple soft spots on the underside. There was also a very sweet, earthy and chocolate smell coming from this cigar.

Tatuaje Wolfman Review

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: $13.00

This cigar gave me quite the run around just to get my hands on. I went to a couple shops very early in November, and they were already sold out. After a few months of trying to find one of these, a friend of mine agreed to trade one to me. Now I finally had my chance to review this cigar to see what all the fuss was about.

The Sumatra wrapper is a chocolate shade of brown and very smooth and oily. The oily shine completely covers the cigar. There were a couple veins that ran through the cigar, but none of them seemed thick enough to be concerned about. This cigar was not only a box-pressed torpedo, but it also has a shaggy foot. The torpedo cap was perfect and evenly wrapped. The cigar was solid all the way through and gave off a strong earthy smell.

As soon as I lit this cigar up I was hit with a nice spice almost immediately. There were some earthy tones that really started to come out once the burn got passed the shaggy foot. Once the wrapper was fully burning, the flavors started to pour out. There were some coffee tones that seamed to form, as well as a very nice creaminess. The creaminess and coffee tones were perfect.

Camacho Connecticut Toro Review

Wrapper: Connecticut Shade Ecuadorian
Filler: Honduran and Dominican
Price: $7.00

This is a cigar I received several months back as a gift. I honestly forgot about it until i was craving a milder cigar, which is a rare occurrence. I have had good experiences with Camacho cigars in the past so I instantly grabbed this one. It was towards the bottom of my humidor where it has been aging for at least the past six months, possibly even longer.

I first had this cigar about a year ago, and it was very good then. I am excited to see how the age on this cigar is going to change the profile.

The one think I do like about Connecticut shade wrappers is just how smooth they are. A downfall to them, is that they can be very thin and delicate. This one was flawless. Its light brown color would have shown the slightest imperfection, but I didn't see any.

JC Cigars Natural Churchill Review

Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: $7.00

A couple months ago I received this cigar in a trade. From what I learned this cigar is a "house brand" for a shop out of St. Augustine, Florida. The JC stands for Julio Cardenas who rolls these locally in St. Augustine. I am not one who usually reviews house blends because they are usually only available to people that go to that particular cigar shop. But, because a friend asked me to review it for him, I was more than willing to review this one.

This cigar's wrapper was a light brown shade. It was a little bit darker than a Connecticut shade, but not by much. The cigar itself was very smooth with a couple thin veins running through it. The cap appeared to be made up of four layers, all of which were perfectly flush. This cigar was pretty solid, but the first third seemed a little softer than the rest of the cigar.

Payne-Mason Reserva Selecta Torpedo Barber Pole Review

Wrapper: Connecticut Shade and Dominican Corojo
Filler: "Complex Combination"
Price: $19.00


A couple weeks ago I received this cigar in the mail unexpectedly from one of my readers. I personally had never heard of this company prior to receiving the cigar. I put this cigar in my "to review" humidor and forgot about it for a couple weeks. I forgot about it because it was in the glass tube that it came in, and it was under a couple other cigars. I got a message from the person who sent it to me to see when I was going to get to it. When I got home from work I grabbed it and reviewed it right away.

This is the first time I have ever reviewed a barber pole wrapped cigar so I was interested in seeing how things would go. The Connecticut shade wrapper is very light brown, almost tan, while the Dominican corojo wrapper was a medium shade of brown. The cigar was so smooth that I couldn't feel any of the seams where the wrappers met. The torpedo cap was very smoothly wrapped as well. The cigar was solid all the way through and gave off a very earthy smell.

Tatuaje Limited Release 2010 HCS #2 Toro Grande Review

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano Rosado Criollo
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: $8.50

This Tatuaje is an exclusive blend made for Holt's Cigar Company. When I learned this I had to grab a couple of these to try. I still consider myself fairly new to Tatuaje, but I find fun in trying the various blends. I have smoked probably five of these so far, and saved my last one for this review. If you find yourself wanting to try this one, they are available on the Holt's website.

The Ecuadorian wrapper on this cigar is a medium shade of brown. The wrapper is very smooth with a few very thin veins that run through it. The cap is composed of three layers, all of which lay perfectly flush with the rest of the cigar. The cigar is evenly box-pressed and is pretty solid all the way through. After the last look over I noticed that the cigar gave off an earthy and spicy smell.

Mad Dog Cigars Robusto Review

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Rosado
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: $6.00

I understand that most of you probably have never heard of this cigar, that is the main reason why I decided to reach out to these guys. I personally have never had a cigar from the Panama Caribbean Tobacco Company. Now I know that these probably aren't in your local shops, but these can be found online. I let this cigar rest about a week after I received it to let it adjust from transit.

The thing that really drew me into this cigar is the wrapper leaf. As you can see in the pictures, it is actually a deep red. Some of the cigars I have reviewed has slight red hints to the wrapper, but this one was literally red. The wrapper is also very smooth and has a nice oily shine to it.

There are absolutely no veins running through the leaf. The cap is a little off center, but it is flush. The only flaw in the cigar I noticed was a small chip out on the wrapper on the underside of the stick. I also noticed that the cigar itself was fairly light and gave off a very interesting scent of fruits and flowers.