Sunday 31 May 2009

Review - Joyas de Panama Especial #1 - 82/100


Joyas de Panama #1 is the first Panamanian cigar reviewed here, and one of the very view Panamanian puros i have smoked. And as such, a pleasant smoke. It is a medium bodied, straight forward cigar, with a mix of spice and cedar as well as some sweet notes.

The delicate wrapper is very interesting in apprearance and seems to be almost transparent in places. Nice feel to the hand and even burn tell about great rolling. The loose draw helps you fill your mouth with lots of smoke with an easy finish.

Goes well on all times of the day, and i guess there is a market for these cigars too. Worth the try for the sake of the Panamanian puro nature.

Origin: Panama

Wrapper: Panama
Binder: Panama
Filler: Panama

POINTS: 82/100 points

Review - Reyes Classic Toro - 74/100


The Classic Toro from the Reyes Family is also classical in appearance with its medium brown Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper and smooth surface. The band is also gorgeous and the cigar performs good too with even burn and good draw.

I have to give it a low score however, since atleast the specimens i received were lacking complexity and flavour. This might, however, be due to some mishandling during the long route to my judgemental taste buds...

The Classic Toro was full of earthy character with tobacco flavour but that was basically it. No real power and no real taste, but not too disturbing or harsh to be a bad cigar... just... blunt.

I will revisit the cigar to figure out wether my score is unfair, and to hopefully find the true nature of this cigar...

Origin: Honduras

Wrapper: Ecuador Sumatra
Binder: Ecuador Sumatra
Filler: Brazil, Dominican Repubulic, Ecuador & Nicaragua

POINTS: 74/100 points

Sunday 24 May 2009

More Pictures on the Hammer Head

As the first two acrylic boxes, ment to be the outer shells of these humidors, arrived smashed to pieces and beyond repair, i have had a minor delay in working with the project.

I will soon get the replacements, however, and get back to trying to figure out the whole picture... Here are a couple of pictures of the first fitting of the top tray and or the humidifiers provided by Heartfelt Industries.





Review - Gurkha G3 - 89/100



Yet another great cigar from Gurkha. The G3 is advertised as an exception from the otherwise medium bodied lines of Gurkha, and a warning to beginners is issued. G3 is rather on the medium side off full in my books but a flavourful and nicely balanced cigar nevertheless...

The triple ligero G3 has a beautiful dark wrapper, which gives a nice oily shine. The Toro sized cigar feels good in hand and obvioulsy has been well constructed. That aslo becomes apparent on good draw and burn.

The delicious mixture of flavours is build on a foundation of dark chocolate and espresso. companied by hints of spice and cedar. All wrapped up with full and creamy smoke with a sweet twist.

G3 is a cigar which fits my taste of juicy nigaraguan type smokes. Will be going back for more...

Origin: Dominican Republic

Wrapper: Nigaragua
Binder: Cameroon
Filler: Nigaragua

POINTS: 89/100 points

Review - Gurkha Grand Age - 88/100



Gurkha Grand Age is the first one form the company with a cameroon wrapper. It is also somewhat limited in supply with only 200 boxes made every two or three months, and i must say, it is worth getting your hands on.

Grand Age comes in boxes of 50 cigars and has formiddable measures of 7.5 inches long and a ring gauge of 54! Don't be frightened though, as the Grand Age is an elegant smoke...

It has a unique blend of a Cameroon Wrapper, Nicaraguan Binder and Nicaraguan and Peruvian Filler, which create a wide range of subtle flavours throughout the cigar. The pleasure starts with a delight to the eye by the beautiful dark wrapper and to the nose by the sweet scent. From the first draw you can already tell, that with its perfect draw and generous amount of beautiful white smoke, the Grand age is going to offer a long and excellent smoking experience.

The profile of the cigar consists of sweet, creamy and cedary flavours twined together with a fine thread of vanilla and spice. As a mild to medium bodied smoke, all the subtleties can be detected. A well balanced cigar in other words.

Smoking along the huge length of the cigar, spice becomes more apparent and maybe even some hints of cocoa and red berries can be detected.

All in all, The Gurkha Grand Age is a great cigar which goes well with the warm summer nights at the patio, cooling off with a glass of ice tea. I will definitely try to get a box and make it the cigar of summer 2009.

Origin: Dominican Republic

Wrapper: Cameroon
Binder: Nigaragua
Filler: Nigaragua, Peru

POINTS: 87/100 points

Saturday 16 May 2009

Cigar Rights of America Announces Latin American Cigar Trip Raffles


May 12, 2009

Cigar Rights of America (CRA) is proud to announce a new initiative to
both grow the ranks of its membership, and to provide its members with an exciting way to appreciate and learn about the world of cigars.

Over the course of the next eight months, CRA will be selecting one lucky member per month through a random drawing for a unique trip to one of the cigar producing countries of Nicaragua, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, or the Bahamas. The winning CRA member will be given an opportunity of a lifetime for two people to spend two-nights/three-days with a well-known cigar maker, and afforded a ‘behind the scenes’ tour of their cigar facilities. Each trip will be unique and individual trip descriptions, official rules, and legal disclosures will be available on the CRA site.

Currently, the participating cigar companies include: La Flor Dominicana, La Aurora, Rocky Patel Cigars, General Cigar, Drew Estate, Don Pepin Garcia, Tabacalera Perdomo, and Graycliff. CRA will continue to announce additional companies as they become available.

Litto Gomez, owner of La Flor Dominicana announced, “This is a new and outstanding way for those that truly appreciate fine cigars to experience first-hand what it takes to produce that cigar, from the field and seed, to the roller that makes it all possible. We believe CRA members will walk away from this experience amazed at what it takes just to make one cigar, offering a new level of appreciation for this industry.”

Rocky Patel, owner of Rocky Patel Cigars, added, “Cigar making is an art form. Just like wine or a great painting, CRA members will see the many hands that go into making premium cigars. CRA felt strongly that members should be afforded this opportunity.”

The CRA Cigar Trip raffles will only be available to CRA members, and winners will be announced on the CRA web site (http://www.cigarrights.org/). The winning CRA member will be responsible for their airfare, however once ‘on the ground’ all lodging, transportation, food, and tours will be provided by the sponsoring cigar company.

Cigar enthusiasts wishing to be included in the CRA Cigar Trip raffle are encouraged to visit http://www.cigarrights.org/ and become a CRA member. Membership starts at as little as
$35/year.

For additional information, please contact Brian Berman, CRA Director of Membership at 818-541-1535, or by email at info@cigarrights.org.

Wednesday 6 May 2009

The Hammer Head - First pics of the Acrylic Body

Here are a couple of pictures from the factory, just finished:


I decided to place the HHH logo to the side, so that the view through the lid is not blocked. I think later on, it will be a sticker rather than low-res silk screening. Just testing...


Come back for more later on...

cheers,

Mikko

Monday 4 May 2009

Hammer Head Humidors - Some Parts...

So...



Here are the latest pics on the Hammer Head Project.

The cedar lining, which covers the bottom and the four sides of the acrylic box from inside:



Here is a little detail on the corner joint. I love it.



Here are all the cedar parts for the above lining separate:



The Hygrometers... Still waiting to be unleashed into action:



And as a temporary solution and for testing, the Humidity Beads in tubes for humidifying (until the rectangular humidifiers arrive):


Until next time...

cheers,

Mikko