I just wanted to give everyone a sneak peek into what the upcoming reviews will be in the next several months…

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Country: Dominican Republic
Wrapper: Broadleaf Maduro
Filler: Dominican
Size: Perfecto 6.0″ x 47 ring

As if the Cameroon wrapped Hemingway cigars weren’t special enough, The Cigar Family makes an extra special, aged, limited release of the Hemingways with a Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro wrapper. Like the Anejos, the Hemingway Maduros are usually released around the holidays as a special treat for the fans and customers of Arturo Fuente cigars. I gave some more background on the Hemingway line of cigars in my review of the Hemingway Best Seller so click on over and check that out while you’re here.

The Signature Maduro has a oily, dark, toothy wrapper that is simply gorgeous. It has the look of old, well worn leather. Like all the Hemingway’s the foot tapers down to a slightly odd looking nipple. The Hemingway and Hemingway maduro provide an excellent example of how much a wrapper can affect the flavor of a cigar. The maduro is a completely different and unique experience compared to its Cameroon wrapped sibling. The Cameroon version provides a classic Cameroon flavor with a sweet spice. The Signature Maduro starts off with flavors of cedar and a slight sweetness typical of a maduro wrapped cigar with flashes of black tea. As the smoke develops it gets very creamy and mellow. In the last third it starts to exhibit black pepper with a unique earthiness that I find hard to describe. It makes me think of wet earth, almost like I am tasting the rich damp soil the tobacco was grown in.

The construction, as is always the case with any Hemingway was superb. The burn was razor sharp and the as was grey and rough looking but held firm. It produces thick clouds of white smoke with a rich aroma. There is just nothing bad to say about this cigar. It is a wonderful experience from start to end and as good as the Cammie version of this cigar is, it pales in comparison to the complex experience that the maduro delivers. The Signature Maduro and the Work of Art Maduro are by far my favorites of the Hemingway line. If you have never had one, you simply must find one and try it. I usually don’t give maduros this much love, but this is a superb cigar.

Get yours at CigarsDirect.com: Arturo Fuente hemingway Signature Maduro

Rating - A

This year’s Ride for Kids was a great success. It is amazing to me how fast his event has grown over the past 5 years. This year we had over 1000 motorcyclists at the event and raised a lot of money. Thanks to friends, family, and all the generous BOTL that donated this year I raised $3180 beating my goal of $3000. That put me in the top 10 of individual fundraisers at the event for the second year in a row. It says a lot about the growth of the event when I can bring more than twice as much money than I did last year and yet I ranked about the same in terms of individual fundraisers this year. I will have to work hard to keep pace for next year. The event raised in total, $138,280.00 for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. Darth Vader and some Storm Troopers showed up. It was a cool treat for the kids. The top fundraiser of the event this year was a guy who is an illustrator for Lucas Arts and he brought out the Star Wars Characters. There were several “Ride Stars” at the event. A Star is a child who has either beaten, or is battling a brain tumor. They are great kids that a full of personality and do a fabulous job entertaining and inspiring the crowd every year. Here are a bunch of pictures from the event…

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(All the pictures can be clicked for a larger view)

I got there pretty early. This probably wasn’t even half the bikes that showed up. They had us spread across a few different parking lots.

Like I said above, the Dark Lord himself showed up to support the Kids.

There was a sea of humanity under a huge pavilion over flowing out into the sunshine. My poor little camera couldn’t get a wide enough shot to really show how many people where there.

These are the Stars of the Ride. These are some of the brave young kids who benefit from the treatment and programs and research done by the PBTFUS. There were some very emotional moments, but most of all they had the crowd in laughing fits. The younger kids are especially good at playing to the crowd.

And of course the Money Shot (ha ha). This years ride raised over $138,000 which is a huge increase over the $91,000 raised last year. Thank you all for your donations!

So now everyone wants to know who won the cigars…

First I had to write everyone’s names on the tickets I was using for the drawing. Here is a picture of all the tickets in the box I drew them from.

So I gave the box a good shake or twenty and…

First name out and winner of the Opus X provided by my very generous friends at CigarsDirect.com was… Elektrobot

Second name out and winner of the Perdomo Habanos provided by Tabacalera Perdomo was… JohnLongIsland

Third name drawn for the Camacho Monarcas provided by Dylan Austin and Camacho Cigars was… Belicoso Fino

And the fourth name winning the box of Hoyo de Monterey Dark Sumatras donated by The Tobacconists of Cary was… Brian Hewitt

Congratulations to the winners. I will be sending out your cigars this week. And I want to say thank you again to everyone who donated. I really appreciate your help and support. The money raised will go a long way in helping these brave children and their families as they cope with this terrifying disease.

I also wanted to take this opportunity to once again thank the many bloggers, forum members, and friends who helped me get the word out. Without your help I wouldn’t have been so successful. I also want to thank once again, Billy of CigarsDirect.com, Dylan of Camacho Cigars, Jeff & Chris of Tabacalera Perdomo, and Rob & Bill of Tobacconists of Cary. Without the generosity of these folks I wouldn’t have had all these great cigars to give away.
Thanks again everyone!

Had a great Birthday today. My wife got me an Oasis XL Plus for my winecoolerdor and I finished off the day in style. Smoked a 2005 RASS and paired it with a glass of Remy Martin VSOP. I am amazed how every year these cigars get better and better. With 3 years on the beautiful Robustos, their youthful edge is completely gone allowing a lot of subtle flavors to come through. It is one of the most engaging smokes I have ever had. It started off with a slight sweetness and a very unique twang that I can’t put words to but was just great. As it progressed it kept changing, it was almost hard to keep up with it. I hadn’t planned on doing a writeup on it so I wasn’t taking notes, but it was such a great experience I felt compelled to write something to help me remember the occasion. Leathery, earthy, nutty and creamy… Just amazing.

Country: USA
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan Long Filler
Size: Lonsdale 6^3/8 x 43 ring

The Tatuaje Havana Cazadores come in cedar cabinets of 25 and are packaged in the old Cuban style. They are packed wet and wrapped in foil with a yellow ribbon around the bundle. Here’s some pictures I took back when I bought them. You can click the pictures for an enlarged view.

This vitola is reported to be Pete Johnson’s vitola of choice and it also happens to be one of my favorites as well. I love Lonsdales. I think it is just possibly the best size for a cigar. When used with a good blend of tobaccos, the ring gauge and length lends itself to a wonderfully complex smoke with a near perfect duration, about an hour to 75 minutes. I have a hard time picking between this cigar and the Reserva SW as my favorite of the Brown Label line. When pressed I usually end up giving a slight edge to the Reserva SW only because I find it a little more complex.

Like almost all of the Tatuajes, it starts off with a full blast of pepper. Once you work your way into the smoke a bit, the pepper calms down a little. I find this stick to be the most “cubanesqe” of all the Tatuajes. It is a heavy, full bodied smoke with some serious strength. They are hard to take on an empty stomach. The smoke progresses nicely, first with black coffee flavors transitioning into a rich nutty/earthiness with brief flashes of cocoa. It picks up a lot near the end getting spicy and peppery again with notes of wood. It has black pepper on the finish throughout the smoke.

The burn goes crooked every once and while but if you’re paying attention, you can get it to correct itself. The draw is perfect and the ash is well formed. The thick white clouds of smoke produce a room bouquet is very reminiscent of that of a Cuban Montecristo. Tatuajes produce amazing aromas and this one may have the best aroma of all of them.

It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of Tatuajes and the Havana Cazadores are no exception. This is an exceptional cigar that I could be happy smoking everyday. I plan to make sure I never run out of these gems.

Rating - A

The last day of donations was an eventful day capped off by a very generous donation for a BOTL at SocialCigar.com. The Ride is next Sunday on May 4th and I’ll announce the winners of the cigars on the 5th. I expect a few more offline donations from family and friends to trickle in over the next week that are independent from the cigar drawing so I’ll wait until I announce the winner to post the final total on the money raised. I have a lot of people to thank for all the help, not the least of which are all the generous souls who donated. When I wrapped this thing up on the 5th I will make sure I get all those thank yous listed and done right, but right now I want to say a quick thanks to the following people…

Billy Ferriolo of CigarsDirect.com
Jeff Godfrey and Chris Harper of Tabacalera Perdomo
Dylan Austin of Camacho Cigars and Social Cigar
Bill & Rob of Tobacconists of Cary
Tom of Keepers of the Flame
Brian of Brian’s Random Thoughts & The Stogie Review
Stinkie at CigarBeat.net
The Patricks and George at The Stogie Guys
Jesse at CigarJack
Ricky & Scott at Cigar Command
Kevin at The Box Press
BlowinSmoke.net
International Cigar Club
The Herf Hut
Social Cigar
Vintage Cigar Club

The Internet is a powerful place. It gets a bad rep because of all the people that use it for bad things. I think the Internet community of Cigar smokers have shown how it can also be used to do a whole lot of good. Thanks everyone for your support.

Today is the last day to get your donations in to be eligible for the drawing to win one of 4 boxes of cigars. As of this morning I have raised $2205 which puts me less than $800 from my goal of $3000. Every little bit helps so please donate today. All donations are tax deductible. Here is a picture of the prizes.

Click here for all the details on how to donate and enter the drawing.

Country: Dominican Republic
Wrapper: Cameroon
Filler: Dominican
Size: Toro 6.0″ x 50 ring

I provided a bit of background on the Don Carlos line of cigars back when I reviewed the Don Carlos #4 for CigarsDirect.com in October of 2007. Rather than rehash all that here I am just going to cut to the chase today and provide you this link to go back and read the review of the #4 if you are interested. Now onto the good parts, smoking the Presidente…

The wrapper on this cigar is vieny and a splotchy brown. This is unusual for a Don Carlos. They usually have very few viens and the color is usually very smooth and uniform. The rustic appearance had no adverse effects on the smoke though. It was mellow and smooth, the flavors were creamy and refined. It was slightly sweet, typical of a good Cameroon. I found this one to be a little one dimensional compared to the smaller No. 4, but the flavor was so good it was still a very enjoyable smoke. As is always the case with the Don Carlos, the construction was perfection. the burn was razor sharp and the smoke was thick and creamy. These cigars never disappoint.

I used a new style of cut tonight and I have to say I really liked it. I used a double V-cut. This technique was shown to me by my friend Jamie who is a regular at Capital City Cigars in Raleigh. He calls it the “Butterfly Cut”. You use a V-cutter to make a small cut across the head, then you turn the cigar and make a second V-cut perpendicular to the first creating a shallow X across the head. It makes for a very clean cut and a good draw. I enjoyed it so much, it may become my cut of choice. Of course, it is best suited to larger ring gauges. I don’t know that I’d use it on anything smaller than a 48 ring. i highly recommend you give it a try. i think you’ll find you like it.

Get yours at CigarsDirect .com: Arturo Fuente Don Carlos

Rating - B+

Update:

Today I broke the $2000 mark in my fundraising efforts for the Ride for Kids and the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation of the US. Thank you very much to everyone who has donated. If you haven’t gotten your donation in yet, there is still time to do so and get in on the drawing for a free box of cigars!

Just click here for all the details on how to donate and enter.

I also want to say thank you again to the generous companies that donated the cigars for the drawing. Please feel free to pass along your appreciation to these companies both verbally and by supporting their products and patronizing their businesses. I want to thank Billy and CigarsDirect.com, Jeff & Chris and Tabacalera Perdomo, Dylan and Camacho Cigars, and Bill & Rob with the Tobacconists of Cary. Thank you so much for your generosity and support.

Get your donations in by Friday the 25th! Help me reach that $3000 fundraising goal!

Country: Honduras
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Size: Corona 5-5/8 x 46 ring

The Illusione line of cigars are a somewhat unknown brand that is rapidly gaining in popularity. It won’t be long before everyone knowns about this Nicaraguan gem. The Illusione is the brainchild of Dion Giolito who is a veteran of the cigar industry. He wanted a cigar that hearkened back to the days before the Sandinistas took power in Nicaragua and nearly destroyed the cigar industry there. Since there was nothing like that available in the market, he went out and created the cigars he wanted. In an unusual twist, this Nicaraguan Puro is made in a factory in Honduras. Just another unique fact about this unique cigar. The Stogie Guys have a great interview with Dion Giolito that is a very good read. I recommend checking it out.

The Illusione ~cg:4~ is a good looking corona with a smooth dark brown wrapper topped with a cuban style triple cap. It is packed full with nicely bunched tobacco giving the cigar a good solid feel in my hand. The aroma of this cigar is rich and decadent. I could spend 5 minutes just sitting here smelling it, but the real fun is smoking a cigar so I put it to flame. Initially it is very spicy and thick. A cloud of white smoke fills the room with an amazing aroma. One of the most striking things about this cigar is how wonderful it smells both pre-light and during the smoke. It really enhances the experience. After the initial spice, my palate was filled with a robust toasted tobacco flavor with notes of leather and an underlying spiciness. In the last third of the cigar it started to develop a unique bite that is hard to describe. The ash is very dark and a bit flaky. I had to correct the burn a couple times when it went crooked and wouldn’t correct itself.

This is a very good smoke that I’d rate as one of the best in its price range, running $6 to $7 a pop. I want to say this is a medium bodied smoke if a bit on the fuller end of medium, but I wonder if that perception is skewed by the amount of full bodied, robust cigars I usually smoke. I have a feeling that to someone who typically smokes milder cigars, they would tell you this is a full bodied, more robust cigar. Whatever you want to call it, it is a top shelf cigar at a mid-shelf price.

Rating - B+

What others say about this cigar:

Keeper of the Flame
Cigar Stars