CigarChoice.net- Cigar Reviews and News

As to not surprise anyone, and to not throw anyone off, I am going to throw up a disclaimer here.  I used a REAL camera for one of the first times in Cigar Choice history!  I had the day off work today due to a dentist appointment, so I thought I would put together a review for you all, and use a real camera this time.  That being said, I am not the world’s best photographer, so some of the pictures suck.  Anyway, here we go!

I got this cigar from my friend Lucas on Stogie Chat.  I set him up with some cigars he was looking to try a while back, and he couldn’t help but bomb me back. He sent me this Opus XxX Power Ranger that he said had 2 years of age on it, so I was excited to try it!  Thanks Lucas! I don’t usually do this, but this is a review based on one cigar. I have had a few other XxX Power Rangers in my cigar past, but its been a while.  I still thought I should go ahead and review it.

Size: 4.5×49

Wrapper: Rosado-Dominican

Filler: Dominican

Binder: Dominican

Pre-Light: I pulled this cigar out of the cellophane, and ran it across my nose.  I got faint hints of barnyard, with some sweetness, and a little bit of molasses or maple smells as well.  I clipped the foot with my trusty Palio, and took a pre-light draw.  As I took a pre-light draw, I got some barnyard and sweetness, along with some spice, similar to a black pepper taste.  This one tastes just as I remember the last one tasting on pre-light. Nice flavors, and I am really looking forward to lighting this one up.

1/3: As I started on this cigar, the first few puffs hit me like a freight train.  I got a BLAST of black pepper taste, and as I exhaled, I got some nice sweet molases/maple flavor, and some of the barnyard flavors that I enjoy.  The ash has a lot of flake to it.  Its falling all over the place, which is not something I expect on a high dollar cigar like an Opus.  The burn was wavy, and not as straight as I would have liked.  I touched it up slightly with my Ronson Jetlite, and it seemed to have corrected itself.  The draw is stil good, and the smoke is billowing nicely!  So far, the flavors are enjoyable, and I am glad I lit it up.

2/3: As I continued on this cigar, the molasses and maple tastes became stronger, and the barnyard flavors seemed to be a bit muted.  The black pepper blast has also gone away, but as I retrohaled the cigar, the pepper flavors introduced themselves to my nostrils.  The burn has managed go wavy again after that first correction, but the ash seems to have become more solid.  The smoke is still billowing, and I am enjoying the flavors quite a bit.

3/3:  As I finished off this cigar, I was surprised that it wasn’t getting hot as smoked it down.  My fingers were staying cool, as were my lips.  The burn was still burning fairly straight, and the smoke is still billowing.  I am still getting all the same flavors that I was getting from the beginning.  Very nice molasses, maple and sweetness, along with some spicy pepper as well.  I am finding myself wanting more of this cigar, but sadly, its a small one!

Overall Impresion:  Overall, it was a good cigar, and I enjoyed the flavors.  I expected the burn to be a little better, and the ash to be a little more solid than it was.   At MSRP, these are cigars that are a bit prohibitive for me to keep by the box full in my humidor.  I will however grab a few on occasion to smoke when I get the urge.  I urge everyone to try an Opus X at least one time in thier life, just to say they tried it.

Smoke Em If You Got Em, Buy Em If You Don’t!

Scott

I know, I know, this cigar has been reviewed by alot of people already, and I am a bit late to the bandwagon, but so be it.  California is a nice place to live, but sometimes that means we get the short end of the stick when it comes to cigars, and the Nub Maduro was no exception.  The east coast seemed to get these sticks in first, and they slowly made their way to one of my local retailers, so I had to pick up a couple for review for my loyal readers.

Pre- Light:  Upon pre-light inspection, I noticed how nicely this cigar was packed at the foot of the cigar, and there were little to no veins in the cigar.  As I ran the cigar along my nose, I got hints of coffee and sweetness, that is often associated with the maduro wrapper.  I clipped the cigar with my ever so trusty Palio cutter, and lit it up with my Ronson Jetlite.

1/3:  As I lit up this cigar, I was excited.  As many of you know, I am a big fan of Nub cigars, so I was really looking forward to smoking this cigar.  As is typical with Nub cigars, it took a while to toast the foot and light the cigar, but after it was lit, I got GREAT billowing smoke, with a great draw.  The first flavors I got came right at the first puff, as is typical with Nub cigars.  I got a nice coffee flavor, with some nice sweetness, and a little bit of spice upon the retrohale.  The smoke continued to billow, and the ash, as is also typical of the Nub line of cigars, stayed strong on the cigar, and it burned perfectly.

2/3: As I continued on this cigar, the ash was still holding strong, and the smoke is billowing nicely.  The flavors are still predominently coffee and mocha along with chocolate.  One thing I did pick up on the retrohale was a little bit of spice, with some woody flavors.  I am really enjoying the sweetness that I get on the tongue, along with all the other flavors I am getting.  The coffee and chocolate are always welcome flavors from me!

3/3:  As I finished up this cigar, I was a bit bummed, as I never really want a good cigar to end, but I was glad I got to enjoy it.  Toward the end, the spice picked up a little bit, as did the coffee flavors.  The smoke was still billowing, and the ash had fallen off right before I started on the last 3rd.

Overall Impression:  If you enjoy the typical coffee and sweetness with a hint of wood flavors that are often present in a maduro cigar, then grab yourself a Nub.  There have been mixed reviews of the Nub Maduro, especially on Twitter.  Some say its not good, some say its ok and some say its great.  I found it to be an enjoyable cigar.  I smoked 2 of them before I smoked the one for the review and they were all solid cigars with good flavors.  The flavors were good enough to merit me seriously considering a box purchase.  The biggest problem I have with that is, I don’t know where I will put them!  If you enjoy the Nub Connecticut, Cameroon and Habano, give the Nub Maduro a shot, I am sure you will not be dissapointed!

Smoke Em If You Got Em, Buy Em If You Don’t!

Scott

So, as I was thinking of something to put up today, I thought to myself, I hadn’t yet gotten the chance to review a cigar podcast.  I had been listening to this podcast since its inception.  Its a new Cigar Podcast with only 2 epidsodes up at this point, but having listened to them both, I think they are headed in the correct direction, with good production values, and great discussion topics.  They also offer some different items in their podcast than others.  One item of theirs that I really enjoy is the “Quick Hits” segment where they review numerous cigars very quickly, giving the listener the important information necessary for review, as well as how they enjoyed the cigar.

The Belicoso Brothers Podcast was started by two best friends, Peter Work and Zach Roesch, who are both in college, as a way to talk more about cigars together.  All in all, I really have enjoyed the first two podcasts of theirs, and I can’t wait to hear more.

I pulled this directly from their website, which tells you a little about what the Belicoso Brothers are all about:

Welcome to the site dedicated to choice tobacco and delicate smoke rings. The Belicoso Brothers are proud to provide their fellow aficionados with up-to-date cigar info ranging from cigar reviews to interviews with fellow cigar lovers to commentary on cigar culture and life. Grab a cigar, kick back in your favorite chair and tune into our podcast. Put a face to our name and discover who the Belicoso Brothers are in the About Us section, and take a look at the blog page to read what we didn’t have time to include in our podcast. And don’t forget to follow us on our Twitter page at www.twitter.com/BelicosoBrother . Enjoy a perspective on the finer things in life brought to you by a younger generation: the Belicoso Brothers.

I have found these guys to be very informative, and a fun cigar podcast to listen to.  As they state in podcast #2, they are still working out a few little kinks, but I am confident that once the little kinks get worked out, this will be a great podcast, and who knows, maybe one day they’ll interview me!

I enjoy it very much, and can’t wait for the next one!

I urge anyone who enjoys cigar podcasts to check these guys out.

http://www.belicosobrothers.com

Smoke Em If You Got Em, Buy Em If You Don’t!

Scott

Ok, it’s about time for another review.  Between working a day job, and repping for Reyes Family Cigars in my off time, along with going to school, finding time to review hasn’t been really easy.  I got this cigar from my friend Skip ( @chiefhava on twitter).  We got to know eachother on Twitter, and eventually, he sent me a message that he’d like to do a trade, as I’d expressed interest in these Camacho Cajones.  My thought was, anything with a name like Cajones has to be a good smoke! I decided to review it for you guys, and let you know what I thought of it.

Pre-Light:  When I pulled this cigar out of my Xikar travel humidor, the first thing I noticed was that it was not real firm to the touch. I noticed there was one real big vein that was running just about the length of the cigar, but that wasn’t about to stop me from smoking them.  The thing I was excited about is that this cigar is aged anywhere from 5-7 years after rolling.  I am uncertain of what sizes they come in, but I have a few in a robusto size, about 5×50 or so, and a few in something that looks like its about a 6×60 size as well.  I clipped it with my trusty Palio, and took a pre-light draw.  The draw was a little looser than I normally like, but it wasn’t going to stop me.  On the draw, I got some nice peppery notes, with some woody and leathery flavors.  I took a second un-lit puff and got a real nice earth tone, with some sweetness on it.  I can’t wait to light this one up at this point!

1/3:  As I started on this cigar, the first thing I noticed was that the draw was a bit more loose than I normally enjoy.  The good thing about a draw like this is, you can control how much smoke you get at once.  The bad thing is, usually the cigar smokes a little faster than I would like.  As I found out, this cigar smoked pretty fast.  As I smoked this portion of the cigar, the first thing I got as far as flavors go, were a few hints of sweetness, and a strong kick of pepper, along with some earthy undertones to it.  The predominant flavor to the cigar at this point is the strong pepper flavor, with a touch of sweetness on the tounge on the finish.  So far, this is an enjoyable smoke.

2/3:  As I continued on this cigar, the sweetness made itself more well known.  The earthy flavors were still in the background, and still muted a bit.  The smoke was plentiful, as the draw was still fairly loose.  The ash was a little flakey, but thats ok, because I am just enjoying this cigar very much at this point.  The burn is fairly even, and I am still enjoying this cigar a lot.  The combination of sweetness and spice is really enjoyable.  Not only are the flavors good, but the nicotine buzz is quite substantial as well.

3/3:  As I finished up this cigar, I found myself with quite a nicotine buzz.  It sneaked up on me a bit, but it was kind of relaxing.  The ash is flaking off, but that doesn’t bother me.  The smoke is plentiful, and towards the end of the smoke, the cigar got hot, and I had to put it down, much to my dismay.

Overall Opinion:  Overall, I found this cigar to be enjoyable.  My only real complaint about it was the fact that that the draw was very loose, which made the cigar smoke fairly fast.  The flavors were very enjoyable though, and I can’t wait to smoke another one.  I have one of the 6×60 versions waiting for me, but I will need a few hours to smoke it.  I want to say thanks to @chiefhava on twitter for this cigar, I really enjoyed it!

Smoke em If You Got em, buy Em If you Don’t!

Scott