Zack the Stogie Man's Honorable Mentions for 2011

After spending the last couple weeks working on my Top 10 of 2011, I found it difficult not to give the proper respect to all the cigars that were worthy. There are five other cigars that were very close to making the list, but I felt that they just didn’t leave an impression like the others did.

I felt it was only fair to create the list of some of some honorable mentions for the best cigars I reviewed this year.

San Cristobal Elegancia Imperial Review

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut

Filler: Nicaraguan

Price: $7.00

For my birthday a couple weeks ago, my family and I went over to Center City Philadelphia. While we were over there I had to make a stop into Holts Cigar Shop. I went in there for the sole purpose to find new cigars to review. I have been trying to get my hands on this cigar because I enjoyed the other San Cristobal lines. I couldn’t pass up this opportunity.

The Connecticut shade wrapper is very light brown, almost the color of sand. The wrapper is also very smooth. There is a very thin vein that runs the length of the cigar, but nothing I am worried about. . The stick is very solid with a softer mid-section. The cap is perfectly flush and gives off a nice and earthy smell. The bands on this cigar also made it stand out in my humidor.

As soon I lit this cigar up, I was greeted with a slight spice. There was also a great amount of earth that came out right away. About an inch into this cigar, the spice mellowed out quite a bit. As the cigar progressed, there were some nice wood notes as well a little bit of sweetness. By about the one-inch mark, the spice was gone and there was plenty of earth and wood to fill the gap. Just around the start of the second third, there was a slight bitterness like black coffee that comes out.

San Cristobal Seleccion Del Sol Robusto Review

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Sun Grown

Filler: Nicaraguan

Price: $7.00 - $8.00

A couple weeks ago I had a wedding to go to in Northeast Pennsylvania, right near where I went to college. So I figured that since I was up that way, I would stop in at the cigar shop up there that I frequented while I was at school. They quite the selection there. This was one of the cigars that I picked up while I was up there. I was asked to review this one next. Since the weather was nice enough today, I went out on my front porch and got to work.

This cigar was a medium shade of brown and was constructed very well. There were no veins and even had a smooth, even cap. The only flaw I found in the construction was the foot. The foot was very soft and actually made lighting it difficult. The smell of the wrapper was sweet and earthy.

The flavor started almost immediately. There was a little bit of spice and earth combination at first, but after a few puffs the spice dulled and earthy notes became prominent. About a half inch in, there were woody cedar notes that kicked in. Slowly more earthy flavors came out which dulled down the spice even more.

San Cristobal Papagayo Review

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo

Filler: Nicaraguan Long-Filler

Price: $9.00 - $10.00

So over the weekend I was walking around my local cigar shop looking for something different. I wanted something good, that I had never tried before. So as I was walking around, I saw a few boxes of these on the bottom shelf. So I grabbed a few to give them a try.

The cigar itself looks really good. The wrapper is chocolate brown and very smooth. There are no veins in the wrapper and no soft spots. The cigar is constructed great. The cigar has a very sweet chocolate smell to it.

Once I lit the cigar up, the flavors were great right from the start. There were strong notes of spice and wood. There was a little bit of sweetness that came out as well. After about an inch or so of this great stick, the spice died down and became much more earthy and sweet.

After a few inches the body of the cigar mellowed out a little bit. The earthy wood tones became very prominent in these few inches. There was still quite a bit of sweetness as well. This cigar becomes very creamy on the palate.