While VSI isn’t new to tobacco, it only recently started offering premium hand rolled cigars in February of 2009.  Up until then, Villiger has offered high quality machine rolled cigars.  While this may seem like contradiction, VSI’s use of quality tobacco and high production standards ensured that they put out a good product.  Those standards have carried over into their hand rolled cigars.  Proof of that is evident in the long history of success between the two families that continues today, and will show through in this review.

The first cigar in this series of reviews is La Capitana, the newest edition to their lineup.  I was gifted a 4-pack in a handsome sealable bag that served to keep the cigars fresh and protect them with a soft lining built into the bag.  Some call it marketing, but I like it.  The cigars themselves are robusto sized, measuring 5×50.  The wrapper is a rich dark brown, almost black, Habano Colorado leaf with Nicaraguan tobacco for the binder and filler.  There is mild tooth and veins along the wrapper with oil glistening off of the leaf.  The abundance of natural oils also gives it a strong scent that has a heavy earthy tone with bursts of pepper and cedar.

A good torch let me toast the foot quickly, and a good cutter left a nice clean cut at the cap with a smooth draw.  The initial taste is of hardwood smoke and black and red peppers.  Sweet spices soon follow, lasting into a hay-like finish.   The flavors change a little when I roll the smoke on my tongue.  A sweet earthiness develops with the smokiness, blending with the spicy peppery notes.  There’s a little more body and robustness when I do that, but it’s tempered by the earthiness.  As a whole, there’s a nice harmony to the flavors, with some fair consistency.

The flavors change a little as the cigar progresses.  The peppery spices come more to the front, and the cigar starts to build up to become fuller bodied.  The sweetness lends itself to the spicy note as well.  It becomes a warm sweet spice, like when I open my grandmother’s cabinets in her kitchen, right before the strong black peppercorns that she keeps towards the back kick in and give a tingle that builds.  The woody and smoky notes shift towards the finish, and the entire transition is smooth and gradual.

Overall the cigar as very enjoyable and I’m looking forward to seeing these become widely available.  The flavor profile bears some similarity to La Flor Dominicana, but a little milder without such sharp contrasts in flavors.  The cigar definitely builds up to a fuller bodied smoke that’s flavorful without being a powerhouse kick in the teeth of flavor.  While I wish I had smoked on earlier to write about, I think it was better that I let the cigars rest for some time before lighting one up.  It seems the cigar had time to settle, and the flavors are smoother and mingle better because of it.  I’d recommend trying these if you enjoy a flavor profile that’s similar to what LFD offers, but in a smoother and gentler package that still holds robustness in flavor.  The construction was excellent, leading to a slow and even burn that let the cigar last over an hour with steady puffing.  Not once did I have to correct the burn or relight it, and the smoke remained cool and smooth.

I want to give a special thanks to Anne Dinkins from VSI for sending me these cigars to review.  I enjoyed the cigars thoroughly, as much as the Escudo pipe tobacco.  I would highly suggest looking through their website to see what else they offer, as everything I’ve tried from them has been pleasing.

This particular cigar is an 1844 Reserve in a toro size, measuring in at 6 x 52.  It uses a milk chocolate brown Ecuadorian Cubana wrapper with a Nicaraguan binder and Dominican filler.  The wrapper has moderate veining, but nothing excessively large or unsightly.  There is very little tooth to the wrapper; it’s there, but very slight unless looked at closely.  The wrapper has a light oily shine and just looks like it’s going to have some good flavor to it.  I pick it up and notice that the wrapper has a slightly rough texture, but at the same time has a smooth feel from the oils as well.  It’s not unpleasant, just different from the definite rough or smooth textures I’m used to.  Squeezing gently I notice that it’s firm to the touch and well packed.  After getting a good look and feel for the cigar I bring it to my nose I get a sweet floral, cedary, and earthy scent.  It’s a very pleasing scent, and that combination is what I look for in a good cigar.

Toasting the cigar is very easy and quick with a good torch lighter, and cutting the triple cap is just as simple with a good cutter.  I take a slow easy puff and am greeted with smooth light-medium bodied smoke.  It takes a little before the flavor really starts to develop and flesh out, but after the first quarter inch I get a good feel for the flavor profile.  I pick up notes of sweet spices at the start that tease the tongue and give it a mild tingle.  There’s a slight tanginess that mixes with the spiciness, and leads into notes of leather and wood that lasts into the finish.  Citrus joins the tanginess, and provides an interesting but nice contrast to the flavors.  Overall it’s a nice and subtle mix of flavors that provides some good complexity.  There’s no dullness to the flavors, and while they’re more on the mild to medium bodied side, there’s little doubt as to what I taste.

The flavors don’t change too much, and mainly change in intensity rather than new ones developing.  The changes are subtle from one to the other, with the spiciness building up gradually from start to finish, along with the tanginess.  Despite the differing flavors, they mix and mingle together well.  They find a way to come together in a way that doesn’t offer any off mixes, and the contrast is refreshing in that I can clearly pick up on the different flavors.  Overall I quite enjoy the flavors, and am pleased from start to finish.

The construction on the cigar was top notch, and produced a burn that was slow, cool, and even.  I was able to get well over two hours out of this one cigar, with no harshness, bitterness, or bite.  I tend to understate the importance of having good construction like that, but it really is something that’s necessary for a good cigar.  Without good construction, the wrapper may come apart or split, or the draw may end up getting plugged, and that all leads to an unsmokeable cigar.  I had none of those issues whatsoever.  Now here comes the final factor in whether or not this is a cigar that’s worth picking up: price.  I received this cigar as a gift from a friend, but he was good enough to leave the price on the wrapper for the review.  The price from a tobacconist is $6.50, a steal when you put everything together.  Nice flavor profile, excellent construction, and over two hours of smoking enjoyment.  That’s easily worth that price, and I’d gladly pick up another.  I’d happily suggest you do the same if you get a chance.

Special thanks to Eddie at Tobacco Country USA for sending me this cigar to review.  If you’re ever in Jacksonville, NC, then I highly recommend visiting one of his shops.

The cigar is wrapped in a dark, almost black, maduro leaf. The wrapper is so dark that I can barely see the small veins in the leaf. There’s an oily sheen that’s clearly visible in the sunlight, and gives a smooth appearance. The wrapper has a texture of velvet or crushed felt, and is very pleasing. The cigar is densely packed, and offers no soft spots. Bringing the cigar up to my nose I pick up sweet earthy tones, floral notes, and a slight hint of sweet herbs. All in all, it’s a very pleasing cigar to every sense, and shows quite a bit of promise. I toast the foot easily with my torch lighter and cut the cap with my Xikar to get my first impression of the cigar. The draw has some resistance without being tight, and brings forward plumes of thick dense smoke that’s medium in body. I pick up notes of wood at the front, leading into a blend of espresso and cocoa that starts off bittersweet and finishes with a sweet earthy tone, and retrohales bring sharp red and black pepper to the nose. The flavors are sharp and bold, with clear shifts from one to the other. The clear cut flavors complement one another well, with smooth transitions and breaks, avoiding any clashing of flavors. What I like most with this cigar is the sweet earthy tone that the entire flavor profile holds from the maduro leaf, which adds a nice sweetness to everything.

The flavors don’t change too much as the cigar progresses. The flavor profile remains fairly consistent, starting with wood that leads into the core flavors of espresso and cocoa. The finish remains sweet and earthy, and only changes towards the last third of the cigar. At that point a nice caramel note picks up and mixes in to add to the sweetness. The pepper builds up until the halfway point, and then starts to tone down gradually. Really the only notable changes in the flavors are that they build and mellow. Now some would complain about the lack of changes and claim it to be boring. To that I would like to point out that the flavors were put together well, presented boldly, and allowed for subtle changes in the profile. It wasn’t boring to me, and served well as the first cigar of the day.

Overall I’m quite pleased with this cigar. The presentation of the cigar is quite nice, with a wonderful dark wrapper and a band that adds to the attractive looks. The cigar burned slowly and evenly, and produced cool smooth smoke. The slow burn helped the cigar last me roughly two hours, which was great because the flavors were very enjoyable. Add all that together with a very good price at $5.65 and you have yourself a real winner. I’d also like to point out that this isn’t an online price that doesn’t factor in shipping; this is the price from a good tobacconist. I’d gladly buy more of these cigars at that price, and would highly suggest that you go find one to try yourself as well.

I’d like to give a special thanks to Eddie of Tobacco Country USA again for providing me with this cigar to review. As always, he has given me a great cigar and I highly suggest anyone in the Jacksonville, NC area to check out his stores.

Mackinlay’s rare old highland malt is light gold in color, with decent legs. On the nose, we picked up simple honey and icing sugar notes with undertones of vanilla. Ripe apples and peaches also feature alongside cinnamon and nutmeg, creating a elegant yet simple nose. On the palate, nougat and burnt caramel become more prominent, highlighted by hints of mesquite smoke and nuts, with the sweet tobacco finish lingering.

All said, this is an enjoyable whisky.  While the price is steep, it may be one of the rare opportunities to try Glen Mhor whisky (even if blended), and makes a great collector’s piece.  Although given how enjoyable this whisky was, it’s sad to think that a great many bottles will likely sit on shelves for the next hundred years.  I can only hope that a few find their way into antarctic ice.

This particular vitola is an SCR corona, measuring in at 5.5 x 42.  It’s wrapped in a dark brown wrapper, just a shade darker than milk chocolate.  It has mild to moderate veining, and very mild tooth.  There is a mild oily shine to the wrapper, and the texture is slightly on the rougher side, similar to brown paper would feel.  There are minor imperfections in the form of sunspots, but overall it’s a handsome looking cigar with a slightly rugged appearance and a regal looking band.

Cutting the cap is simple and provides a nice easy draw.  The initial flavors are sweet and mellow, mild to medium in body but plentiful in flavor.  I pick up notes of sweet earth, nuts, wood, and hay in the aftertaste.  It all flows into one another without clashing or mixing into any off flavors.  Eventually, after the first inch, the flavors settle into a nice mellow pattern.  I get some red and green peppers at the start, which are especially noticeable in retrohales.  The pepper flows into a blend of sweet earth, nuts, and mild notes of wood.  It finishes with sweet spices and hay that lasts into the aftertaste.

The flavor doesn’t change all too much as the cigar progresses.  The peppery start becomes a little milder and mellow, but remains at the beginning.  Gradually the wood and nuts take the lead over the earthiness, and becomes the dominant flavors.  Sweet spices develop into the finish and aftertaste, and add a little more dimension to the flavors.  Overall there isn’t a whole lot of change, but enough to be noticeable.  I like that the flavors are fairly consistent from start to finish, with only subtle changes in the presentation.

Overall I’m quite pleased with this cigar.  It provided a very pleasant flavor profile with consistency from start to finish.  It’s toted as the Tempus’ more reserved and tempered brother.  In that regard it seems to do the job quite well, and had similar flavors that were milder and sweeter.  Like other Alec Bradley cigars I’ve smoked, it burned slowly and evenly, and gave a nice easy draw.  Even more impressive is the price of these cigars, which can be found anywhere from $4.80-$6.00 depending on where you look.  I’d have little issue paying $5 for this cigar, and would be on the lookout for good deals on these.  Given the choice between these or the Tempus line, I would take the Tempus for the bolder flavors.  However, at the start of the day or for a more mellow smoke, I would pick the SCR.

The vitola I’ve picked out to review is a robusto measuring in at 5 x 52.  It’s wrapped with Nicaraguan tobacco, bound with Honduran tobacco, and filled with a blend of Dominican and Nicaraguan leaf.  The wrapper is that looks like richly stained cherry wood.  The oils shine clearly off of the wrapper, looking almost like it could drip off of the leaf.  There is mild to moderate veining, and a mild amount of tooth.  The texture is very pleasing to the touch, smooth as satin and equally soft.  The cigar is quite firm as well, with no soft spots that I could feel as I inspected the cigar.  Its scent is very pleasing: sweet earth, roses, and cocoa.

I toast the foot and get it glowing evenly before clipping the cap and taking a puff.  I get a nice easy draw with plentiful amounts of medium bodied smoke.  I’m greeted with black and red peppers that have a hint of sweetness to them.   Notes of charred oak, toast, espresso, and cocoa powder follow afterwards, and the cigar finishes with earth, caramel, and nuts.  The flavor profile is amazing with lots of bold sharp flavors and some nuances that mingle in.  The core flavors would seem as though they clash, but they go together nicely.  The charred oak and toast flow smoothly into the espresso and cocoa, which then flow into the finish.

The flavor profile doesn’t change all too much as the cigar progresses.  The peppery beginning tones down mildly, but remain bold and sharp for the most part.  The retrohales always bring out the pepper and spices the most, and can be a little overpowering sometimes.  The main body of flavors shifts back and forth between each other with no single flavor taking the lead.  While each flavor is sharp, they flow from one to the other quite nicely so that you can enjoy them together or separately.  The finish is a very nice mix of earth, caramel, and nuts that gives a very nice end to the flavors you taste.

I’m quite happy with this cigar.  CAO has earned a reputation of doing things right, and lines like this reinforces that reputation.  The flavors are bold, sharp, and the overall profile is complex and enjoyable.  The burn on the cigar was slow and even, and the cigar lasted just under two hours.  There was no harshness or bitterness to contend with, and the experience was very pleasant.  I can find these cigars for anywhere between $5.25-7.25 per cigar online.  Even at the higher end of the price range I don’t find it to be unreasonable for the enjoyment you get.  I’d happily buy more of these again, and suggest them to someone who wants to try a ligero rich cigar that doesn’t kick too hard.

Cellartracker

This site for me leads the charge in terms of a one-stop shop for wine browsers. Eric LeVine started this database in 2004 and it has ballooned to 50 million monthly page views. Probably the most complete database of wine bottles in existence, Cellartracker is composed of users who input their own wine cellar inventory and then write their own public reviews of the wines as they drink them. The individual reviews are fraught with poor adjective use and irrational taste profiles (“medium plus tannins”?). However, once a wine has several reviews they start to come together to form a more cohesive and useful whole. Cellartracker is also teaching amateurs to get better at tasting and thinking about their own wines, it’s not just a database for millionaires. If you find a bottle of 1997 Campofiorin in a dusty store shelf, there is a pretty good chance you can come here and get a recent tasting note. Cellartracker does much more than just inventory, like integrating professional reviews and giving up to date valuations.

Dr. Vino

A blog for the hipster wine nerd. Focusing on what’s new and hot in the wine world, Tyler Colman has done some great work to shed light on the realities of modern wine farming practices, the behind the scenes world of wine professionals, and the newest ideas in food and wine pairing.

Winedoctor

Leading the charge as a wine reviewer who wears his biases on his sleeve, unlike the mainstream critics. Bundles of in-depth information focusing on Bordeaux and the Loire in particular, with other regions thrown in as spice. Chris Kissack has snuck up the ranks to become a leading site for informatin on Bordeaux, no small feat.

The Feiring Line

Alice Feiring has become a huge voice for naturally made wines, or as she calls them naked wines. Her spirited writing cuts through the modern tricks of wine consumerism and boils it down to wine, food, and sharing good times the way we did in a simpler time. Sound familiar?

Cellar-Book

Keith Levenberg provides deeply intellectual perspective on the state of wine today. Sure the articles come “fortnightly” but they are real gems stock full of insight and often humour.

Wine Diarist

Slate’s Mike Steinberger blends wine news and opinion in expert editorial content that grabs your attention and always sparks good debates in the comment sections.

Wine Library TV

A real innovator in new media, Gary Vaynerchuk carved a huge niche with his free online wine video series. He has since retired from wine videos, leaving behind 1,000 episodes filled with and intuitive and emotional reviews and educational wine info. You can’t watch this guy and not feel energized about the exciting possibilities of what’s in your glass.

The Artesanos Retro Especial line is their newest offering.  The tobacco used in the blend is nothing short of extraordinary.  The leaf used in the wrapper was specially created for this cigar by cross breeding a Connecticut seed and cultivating it in Honduras.   The initial crops gave a “hearty, golden wrapper as noteworthy for its color as it is for allowing each of the cigar’s components to enjoy equal bearing on the overall taste of the cigar.”  Not only is the wrapper unique, but so is the rest of the cigar.  The Artesanos Retro Especial also has a double binder of Nicaraguan and Mexican leaf, and a blend of Nicaraguan and Dominican ligero and additional proprietary leaf.

The vitola I was gifted to review was the Habanero, measuring in at 6 x 52.  It has a lovely milk chocolate brown wrapper with the slight golden tint that La Gloria Cubana describes it as.  There is mild veining and very mild tooth.  There is a nice oily sheen on the wrapper, clearly visible in the sunlight.  The wrapper has the texture of parchment paper that’s been worn smooth.  It’s not quite rough, but not quite smooth either, nor is it off putting.  The texture matches the appearance, which is more on the rough and rugged side.  The scent of the cigar is quite strong, and doesn’t need to be brought too close to my nose to pick up on the floral and cedary notes.

I start to toast the foot with my Rikang lighter and get it glowing to a nice bright red before cutting the cap.  It cuts cleanly and produces a nice easy draw, letting the medium-full bodied smoke flow freely.  I’m greeted with bursts of red and black pepper, like I’m biting into a spicy Latino dish.  Cedar and hickory follow, much milder than the pepper, but no less sharp.  The finish is sweet and earthy, with slight hints of cream on the aftertaste.  The flavors settle a little more and flow more smoothly after the first quarter inch.  The flavor profile starts with sharp and bold red and black peppers, followed by the woody core flavors of cedar and hickory.  The finish starts sweet and creamy, but gradually shifts more towards licorice.

There is a definite shift in flavors as the cigar progresses.  The peppery notes in the beginning tone down over the length of the cigar, but are still sharp and clear.  A slight licorice note develops with the peppery notes, adding to the spiciness, and is most noticeable in retrohales.  The core flavors remain fairly consistent throughout with cedar and hickory.  The earthiness in the finish shifts more towards the core flavors as the finish changes from earthy and creamy to sharp with notes of licorice.  The flavor changes are fairly gradual, and the changes are nice.

I’m quite impressed with this cigar.  The flavors are bold, sharp, and well blended.  There is plenty of complexity to the flavor profile, and I like how it shifted gradually as the cigar progressed.  The transition was smooth and kept me very interested from start to finish.  At the same time, the core flavors were consistent enough that I could enjoy my evening without having to think too deeply on what I tasted to enjoy the cigar as well.  The construction is excellent, and produced a slow even burn that let the cigar last for approximately two hours.  The pricing on this line is quite nice, with this vitola holding a suggested retail price of $7.25 per cigar, or $181.25 per box of 25.  Other vitolas sell for equally competitive prices, and I’d happily pay the SRPs to have a few more in my humidor.  This line has been out since September, so you should be able to find these around.  If you do, then I highly suggest trying one.

Today Perdomo produces cigars out of Esteli, Nicaragua in an 88,000 square foot facility.  They’re known for numerous highly rated lines and receive accolades from reviewers from Cigar Aficionado and Smoke Magazine.  Their blends run the gamut of mild to full bodied, mellow to bold, all offered with a variety of blends and wrappers.  Their reputation is that of high quality and excellent flavors.  The Exhibicion Sun Grown that I am reviewing only furthers that reputation.  The wrapper is Sun Grown Habano leaf grown in Nicaragua, with the binder and filler hailing from Nicaragua as well.

This particular cigar measures in at 5×54 and has a milk chocolate colored wrapper with a mild oily sheen.  There is some veining, just more than a mild amount, and tooth that is so minimal that it’s almost unnoticeable unless you really look for it.  The texture is quite pleasant, feeling like brushed velvet that has a smooth soft feel.  Bringing it up to my nose brings a sweet floral and cedary scent.  Soft gentle squeezes yield no soft spots, and shows the cigar is very densely rolled.

Toasting the foot and cutting the cap was very simple and easy with my new trusty lighter and my Xikar cutter.  Within the first couple of puffs I get a good volume of medium to full bodied smoke and an easy draw.  The flavors are immediate and bold, with red and black pepper spices, leather, wood, and cinnamon.  There’s a bit of sweetness that underlies the flavors, and a little bit of earth as well.  The core flavors are very sharp, and the underlying tones help give more complexity to it.

As the cigar progresses the peppery spices mix with the cinnamon to wake the tongue up.  It leads into a woody mix of charred oak and cedar, which makes up the core flavors.  In the background I pick up leather and very mild notes of cream, which seem to chime in without overtaking the other flavors.  The finish is a little toasty, earthy, and spicy.  The flavor profile remains fairly consistent throughout the cigar, not really changing or shifting too much.  That doesn’t mean a lack of complexity, only that it’s consistent.  The mix of flavors is complex enough, with sharp bold flavors at the front with underlying tones of others to think about mixed in as well.

Overall I found this to be an excellent cigar.  The construction was excellent, with a slow, cool, and even burn.  The flavor profile was very enjoyable, and it more than satisfied me for the two hours I was smoking it.  Even more pleasing is the price point that I can find these for, at roughly $6.45 per cigar at my local tobacconist.  That’s on par with the Padrons I enjoy so much, and while it doesn’t replace them, it is certainly a contender.  I will happily suggest this cigar to you to try out if you get a chance and will be looking for them myself to keep around as well.

I’d like to give a special thank you to Eddie Atalla at Tobacco Country USA for providing me with this cigar.  I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again, he and his staff are exemplary in what I feel a good tobacconist should be.

I’ll first take a look at the Rikang 4.5” tall torch.  It’s not the largest tabletop lighter out there, but it counts as one nonetheless.  It comes neatly packaged in a white sheathed black box, and has the lighter and a plastic attachable stand.  It attaches quite simply and holds steady once on.  Despite it being a smaller tabletop lighter, it does hold a decent amount of fuel, so refills will be minimal.  It has a long spout where the flame comes out of, keeping the heat well away from fingers while using it.  This is a major perk for those who like larger gauge cigars and have to take a little extra time to light them.  This further doubles as a pipe lighter with a simple turn of an air inlet ring.  Quite handy if you ask me, since now I have a lighter that serves two purposes.

Operation is very simple.  Slide the safety switch to the left and push the large button at the top.  I’ve had no issues getting a solid flame in any of the wind conditions I’ve been outside in, save for gale force winds, but realistically I wouldn’t be smoking outside in those conditions either.  I mentioned earlier that you can adjust the flame from a hot steady torch to a soft flame.  All that needs to be done for this is to turn the black ring near the base of the spout after the lighter has produced a blue jet, and you now have a soft flame for pipes.  If you want more or less flame, then look under the base of the lighter and turn the flip up dial.  It’s all very straightforward and fairly foolproof.

I’ve known people who would be willing to pay a fair amount of money for a good lighter, upwards of $50 or more.  I’ve found this lighter for anywhere between $16-20, and wouldn’t mind paying that much in the slightest.  In the weeks I’ve had it, it has been a very reliable lighter with no issues whatsoever.  It produces a strong jet of blue odorless flame that lights up my cigars quickly and lets me enjoy them.  On the days I choose to smoke a pipe, it lets me quickly light my pipe easily.  So far I haven’t had to refill it at all, and that’s with half a dozen uses for cigars and pipes, and it still doesn’t seem like I’d need to refill it anytime soon.  I’d definitely suggest you look into these for a small affordable and effective tabletop lighter.

Special thanks to Aaron of Butane Lighters Wholesale for sending me this little jewel of a lighter.  It’s quickly becoming one of my favorites at home.  I suggest you check out his site for some other affordable and effective lighters.