Carlos Torano Exodus 1959 50 Years Review

Wrapper: Sun Grown Brazilian Arapiraca

Filler: Nicaraguan

Price: $6.00 - $7.00

Back in the middle of May, I attended a cigar event in Pennsauken, NJ. One of the vendors there was Carlos Torano. When I informed their regional sales manager of my blog, he gave me a few of these to write up a review on. This cigar has been again since then in my humidor, and today it called out to be smoked.

This cigar had a beautiful wrapper. It was almost like a chocolate brown color. It was also very smooth, and very oily. The stick itself was very solid. I gave it a good look over and there weren’t any defects or soft spots. When I cut the stick, there was no peeling. The construction was immaculate.

Oliveros LTD Toro Review

Wrapper: Brazilian Maduro

Filler: Combination of Nicaraguan, Peruvian, and Dominican

Price: $7.00 - $8.00

I picked up an Oliveros sampler pack a few months back, and this one cigar stood out to me. It was partly due to its wrapper. I am a true fan of full bodied cigars. And this cigar definitely packed the right punch for me.

The wrapper, however, was actually quite rough. The wrapper wasn’t really smooth like most other cigars. It actually felt dry, but I know my humidor is working correctly because no other cigar that I have smoked lately have felt this way. The wrapper had a few thick veins and several soft spots. The wrapper actually smelled quite sweet and tasted like coffee.

Once I lit this stick up, the flavor was clearly coffee. Shortly after I lit it, there seemed to be a mild pepper flavor but that faded quite quickly. Once the pepper flavor subsided, a sweet sugary flavor entered. The flavor actually tasted like coffee with a nice helping a sugar in it. The palate was left with a very sweet coating.

Rocky Patel Ocean Club Review (Saturday Morning Smoke)

Wrapper: Cuban-Seed Nicaraguan

Filler: Dominican and Nicaraguan

Price: $7.00 - $8.00

This year on Fathers Day, my father and I went over to Center City Philly for a few hours. While we were over there we stopped in a cigar shop to see what they had. When I walked over to the Rocky Patel section, I saw this one standing out. The reason it stood out to me was the band. Usually when I see Rocky Patel sticks they have earthy colors, this was unique with its various shades of teal.

When I got up early Saturday morning, this cigar looked like the perfect morning stick. The medium brown, oily wrapper had no thick veins, no soft spots and was a perfect box press. The stick itself smelled earthy and sweet. I knew I picked the right cigar for the early morning.

Diesel Unlimited d.7 Review

Wrapper: Honduran Ligero

Filler: Nicaraguan and Mexican

Price: $6.00 - $7.00

Being that the Diesel Unholy line is one of my favorite lines of cigars, I figured the Unlimited line would have to be just as good. I got my hands of a few of the d.7s a while ago and figured that I would share my experience with this stick.

The cigar is huge, and a little intimidating. The cigar is 7” x 58. The wrapper is dark brown, oily, and has a slight red hue to it. This stick smells really sweet as well. There were a couple veins that were pretty thick that worried me, but they turned out to be nothing. There were absolutely no soft spots, which surprised me as well considering its size.

Once this stick was lit, the flavors were a bit milder than I expected.  The cigar starts off very earthy with a mild spice. There were a few sweet sugary notes coming through as well. After about an inch or so, the cigar got very toasty. This smoke was very creamy and quickly left a silky film on the palate.

CAO Lx2 Gordo Review

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Ligero

Filler: Dominican and Nicaraguan Ligeros

Price: $7.00 - $8.00

 In all honesty, I am not a huge fan of CAO. I personally feel they are a bit generic to say the least. They do have a few within their lines that I do like. And the Lx2 is by far my favorite. I stopped by a shop a few weeks ago and saw this stick, 6” x 60, so I picked it up. I haven’t had it in this size before so I figured it was perfect for a review.

As I said, this cigar is a 6” x 60. Definitely a fat cigar. The wrapper is an oily, shiny, med brown wrapper with a slight reddish tint. The cigar smells ridiculously sweet and was very solid. The band on this cigar is very cool with the tribal design.

One I lit up this stick, the flavors were right there. At first, the primary flavor was pepper but that was quickly greeted by some other delightful flavors. After about a quarter inch, the flavor became very creamy with notes of nuts. Shortly after that, there seemed so be some coffee notes as well. Once the coffee notes came, the peppery spice was cut perfectly for a nice balance of flavor.

La Aroma De Cuba Belicoso Review (Saturday Morning Smoke)

Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro

Filler: Cuban-seed Nicaraguan

Price: $5.00 - $7.00

As I have said before, there is nothing I enjoy more than starting out a Saturday morning with a nice cigar and a cup of black coffee, especially when the weather is so nice. This cigar has been sitting in my humidor for a little over a month. Two of them were given to me as a “Thank You” gift. I smoked one a couple weeks ago, and saved this one for a nice morning smoke.

The cigar is great. The wrapper is a medium shade of brown, almost like milk chocolate. There were several veins in the wrapper, but none were to thick to alter any burn pattern. The wrapper itself gave off a very sweet scent. The only flaw in this particular stick was a softer spot on the underside of the stick right around the band.

Hammer and Sickle Berlin Wall Toro Review

Wrapper: Criollo

Filler: Ligero

Price: $8.00 - $9.00

When I was on vacation last weekend, I walked into the cigar shop right around the corner and saw these gems in the case. I had never heard of the brand, so I had to look it up. I found out that there are only 500 boxes of this line made. So in my eyes that makes this a pretty rare cigar. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity of smoking one of these.

The cigar itself is a light brown color with a slight red hue to it. It smells very earthly and has almost a leather feel to it. The wrapper has a nice sheen to it as well. The cigar it was solid, with no veins and only a few minor soft spots.

Ave Maria Lionheart Review (Saturday Morning Smoke)

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano

Filler: Nicaraguan

Price: $6.00 - $7.00

This was my weekly Saturday Morning Smoke. My fiance and I were away on vacation down on Long Beach Island New Jersey, and I just have to say that is amazing to sit out on the deck in the morning with a cigar and the ocean breeze blowing at you.

This cigar has one of the most amazing bands I have ever seen on a cigar. The colors are very vibrant with a knight on it. The cigar itself was a nice box press with a dark brown wrapper. The cap was a little bit lighter of a shade of brown than the rest of the cigar. The smell of the cigar was unique with its combination of the earthy smell with honey notes. The only flaw in this cigar was a little crack up by the cap, that looks like it was probably a stress crack from the box press.

Acid Toast Maduro Review

Wrapper: Nicaraguan

Filler: Nicaraguan

Price: $7.00 - $8.00

I am personally not a huge fan of flavored cigars, but this one caught my interest. When I first started smoking cigars several years ago, I was smoking the Connecticut Acids: Kuba Kuba, Wafe, ect. Then I started to branch out an all together forgot about the Acid lines. Then about a month ago, someone gave me a six-pack of these sticks, so I felt it was a good idea to do a review on this one.

The wrapper of this cigar is a very dark brown. The stick is very solid with minor soft spot, nothing to worry about,. The cigar smells very sweet, like the other Acid cigars. The smell of this cigar is reminiscent of sweet spices like nutmeg and cinnamon.

Ashton Heritage Puro Sol Churchill Review

Wrapper: Cameroon Sun Grown

Filler: Dominican

Price: $10.00

I’m not a huge fan of Ashton, they have a few lines that I like, but in my opinion they are just a little too expensive to have regularly. I went to an Ashton event, so I picked up a few. So this was the last one I had, and it was asked of me to write it up. So I went ahead and did it.

The wrapper was a medium shade of brown. The smell of the cigar was just a generic sweet tobacco smell. The cigar was solid for the most part, there weren’t any really soft spots, but there were some areas that weren’t as solid as the rest. There really wasn’t any distinctive pre light flavor to this stick either.

My Father Le Bijou 1922 Review

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano Oscuro

Filler: Nicaraguan

Price: $9.00 - $10.00

My local cigar shop just got their shipment of My Father cigars in a few weeks ago, and I had never had the opportunity to smoke one. So when they came in, I had to get my hands on a few.  After I enjoyed a couple of them, I figured I would do a write up.

This cigar has a dark brown wrapper. The wrapper is very sweet smelling, resembling chocolate. The construction of this cigar is very solid with no soft spots at all. There weren’t any veins present that had any possibility of altering the burn pattern at all.

As soon as this cigar is lit, the flavors come out. There were very prominent flavors of pepper and chocolate with subtle background hints of wood and coffee. As the stick progressed, the pepper flavor subsided quite a bit giving way to sweetness of the chocolate and coffee.

Padilla Habano Artisano Review

Wrapper: Habano, Connecticut, and Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro

Filler: Nicaraguan

Price: $7.00 - $8.00

If the appearance of this cigar doesn’t make you want to smoke it, then I don’t know what will. I have never seen a cigar this awesome before. Not one, but three different types of tobacco used in the wrapper. They are wrapped in a crossing pattern almost making it look like an argyle sweater. There were only a few little veins, but given the pattern, there wasn’t much room for thick veins.

This cigar started off somewhat bland. There were little bits of spice that came through, but overall it just tasted like a generic cigar. After about a half inch or so, I started tasting cinnamon. After smoking a half inch of no flavor, the cinnamon gave me quite a surprise. To another surprise to me, I started getting even sweater notes of apple coming through. The taste combined for a toasted apple cinnamon stick.

Perdomo Reserve Champagne Noir Review (Saturday Morning Smoke)

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Maduro

Filler: Nicaraguan

Price $5.00 - $7.00

When I was asked to do a review on this cigar, I couldn’t resist. Perdomo is one of my favorite brands if I need a quick go-to cigar that isn’t too strong. And being that this cigar hasn’t been on the market too long, I jumped all over this opportunity.

This Nicaraguan Puro had a dark maduro wrapper with very small veins. The cigar was very solid in construction with no soft spots at all. The smell resembles coffee but had a pre light draw flavor of honey. One I got these two things in mind, I knew I was in for an early morning treat (roughly 6:45 am).

Rocky Patel Decade Toro Tube Review

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra

Filler: Nicaraguan

Price: $12.00 - $14.00

The more I smoke Rocky Patel cigars, the more I like them. This cigar was the last in the box at my local shop, so I figured I better grab it and give it a try. Once I took this cigar out of its tube, the darkness of the wrapper drew me. I knew I was in for a treat with this stick.

Before I lit this stick I gave it a good look over. This cigar smelled very sweet. If the cigar tastes half as good as it smells I will be in for quite a treat. The cigar is packed very tight as well. There weren’t really any soft spots in this stick. And there were a few veins, mostly really small, thin veins.