Review: Acid Kuba Kuba Maduro

• Price: ~$10 ($7-$8 online)
• Size: 5" x 54
• Filler: Nicaraguan
• Wrapper: Maduro
• Time to completion: ~55min

Smoking Experience:

It has been way too long since I have had time to sit down and really enjoy a good cigar. The Acid Kuba Kuba was the first cigar I ever smoked. Recently, I was craving some of that nostalgia, and decided to give the Kuba Kuba another go. I hit up my local B&M, and intended to grab the regular Kuba Kuba, but the Maduro caught my attention, and I decided to blend my first cigar with my new found tastes and pick up this bad boy.

I got home, and got something to eat, then decided to head down to my pool deck and kick back. It was a beautiful clear night out, so laying under the starts and enjoying a cigar sounded like a great way to spend an hour. 

The wrapper on this cigar was oily and smooth. The cap was flush, and overall the construction was great. The draw was smooth and even, and the cigar was easy to light.

Flavors:

As soon as this cigar is within arms reach, you can smell it. It gives off a fantastic sweet aroma. The smell draws you in and made my mouth water. When the cigar touches your lips there is a slight tingle and you can taste the sweetness, and upon first light you are hit with waves after wave of what I could only describe as what I would imagine smoking a glass of southern sweet tea would be like. It was fantastic. 

As you continue to smoke the cigar you pick up on spicy notes and subtle chocolate undertones. These flavors come in waves throughout the length of the cigar. The last 1/3 of the cigar is when you really realize this is a Maduro and you get that incredibly deep and rich taste, mixed with the sweet undertones and it is a great experience. 

The cigar burns smooth and the ash holds strong, which is good because the best flavors come when you allow the ash to build and the cigar to burn a bit cooler. If you draw too quickly, the flavors get ruined by the heat and the flavor is harsh. So sit back (doing so with a glass of lemonade like I did is highly recommended), relax, and enjoy. 

Overall it was a great smoke. It isn't something I would smoke all the time, but it is a fantastic treat and is something I would smoke again without hesitation. I will be trying the rest of the Acid line soon. 

Review: Arturo Fuente Special Selection Maduro

• Price: ~$3
• Size: 6.5" x 43
• Filler: Dominican Republic
• Wrapper: Connecticut Maduro
• Time to completion: ~45min

Smoking Experience: 


The holiday weekend is unfortunately over, and today was business as usual. I am on call for work this week, which means a lot of time sitting around at home waiting on emergencies to come on in. I took a quick call at around 6, and the Sons of Anarchy Season Premier was at 7, so it has been a good night so far. My girlfriend got home from school around 7ish so once the show was over, we headed downstairs to have a smoke.

I did get to swing by the cigar shop on the way home to pick up some fodder for a trade I am doing this month, and while there I saw this stick and figured I would give it a go. It is a "seconds" selection which means it has not made the cut as far as quality controls go (supposedly) and it looked like it was wrapped by an apprentice, but for the $3 price tag, I was willing to give it a shot.

I went through the bin they were in and while some of the sticks looked to be in less than great shape, this one didn't appear to have any major construction issues out side of not looking so pretty. There were no major soft spots, but the cap was sloppy as was the wrapper. There were no tears but some of the leafs had some discoloring.

Aesthetics were the only place this cigar lacked. I was able to cut the cigar with 0 problem. The pre-light draw was a little loose, but good. Lighting this stick was easy and even after lighting it a bit crooked (my lighter was out of fuel so I had to use matches) it evened out on its own and burned perfectly.

The cigar burned nice and cool for the first 3/4, the burn speed was consistent, and it gave off a good amount of smoke for a smaller cigar. It really was much more than I expected it to be.

The ash on this cigar was a bit loose, but burned as a medium grey and broke off every 2-3 inches.

Flavors:


I was pleasantly surprised by the flavors in this cigar. The first few puffs of this cigar have a nice sweet and spicy blend. Really mild, but you know they are there. The smoke isn't incredibly thick, but there is a nice consistency to carry the flavors.

As you get to the end of the first third, there is an undertone of chocolate/coffee that sort of leaves the spiciness in the background. There are some short bursts of sweetness along with the coffee taste that sort of lingers in your mouth as you blow out the smoke. Very nice, very smooth and mellow.

The trade off of spice and sweetness has sort of a rolling feeling, where one gradually leads into the other and back throughout the cigar, it is nice, never too harsh, never to mild, just a smooth and almost creamy blend of the two.

The finish of the cigar brings a noticeable change to a mild tobacco and spice taste, which I very much enjoyed. I am not a big fan of most plain tobacco flavors, but this was smooth and just sweet enough (with some hints of that chocolate) to be very well received by me.

Overall this was a cigar that I didn't have high expectations for but really shocked me. I will certainly go hunting for a few more in that bin the next time I am at the shop as they make a nice smooth smoke on an evening and something I could keep around for friends who don't smoke frequently or don't really like the big bold flavors of some of the other cigars I have come to enjoy. Apprentice rolled or not, this cigar is a winner.

Review: Perdomo Tierra Del Sol Corona Maduro

• Price: ~$3-5 (Gift in a trade)
• Size: 6.5" x 42
• Filler: Nicaraguan
• Wrapper: Connecticut Maduro
• Time to completion: ~45min

Smoking Experience:

Its been a nice Holiday weekend. Off from work, spending time with friends, going to the gym, and relaxing. Tonight I wanted to just relax after a long day of relaxing, so I reached into the humidor and grabbed this guy out. After a brief fight with my lighter (which almost resulted in it getting thrown into the pool) I was able to toast this smoke and light up.

The construction of this box pressed cigar was good, there were a couple of small veins in the wrapper, but nothing horrible (especially considering the price), the wrapper was in good condition, no tears, no water spots, etc. The draw was good throughout the entire smoke, not to tight, not too lose.

The cigar was really easy to light (which is good for my lighter, because it would be in the trash had it ruined my time) and released bellows of thick smoke right from the start. The first third of the cigar burns really hot and fast, it was actually surprising how fast it burned, I thought it was going to be a 25 minute smoke, not the 45 that it ended up being. The burn speed slowed down at the start of the 2/3 but kept a good pace, and continued to let off A LOT of smoke. 

The ash on this cigar was sturdy and grey, and held on until about the halfway point, at which time it fell on me - my own fault for always trying to see just how long I can get the ash, but for this smoke, I really wanted it to hang on to slow and cool the burn.

Flavors:

The cigar starts off really spicy. Combined with the heat from the fast burn, it is an OK flavor. It isn't really strong, but definitively noticeable. There is an underlying earthy taste in the first and second third of the cigar, its pretty mellow and goes well with the spice, but it is all sort of...boring. There were no massive kicks of flavor in the first or second thirds, so it is just kind of meh to me. Not -bad- but not really memorable either.

The final 1/3 of this cigar is a whole different store. Those earthy notes fade away and there are flavors of charcoal and a woody flavor. The flavors were too overwhelming in my opinion and felt like I was sucking the smoke off a newly lit charcoal grill. My girlfriend actually commented on the face I made when the flavor hit me, it was not good. It tasted like fuel. I tired to get passed this, but after a few draws, I just put out the cigar, as the taste was just BAD at that point. Certainly not the finish I was looking for. 

I could have dealt with the first and second third of this cigar as being a really mild, slightly spicy smoke, maybe something cheaper to keep around for friends, but the final 3rd really killed this for me, so I wont be buying it in the future.

Review: La Perla Habana Black Pearl

• Price: ~$5 (received in a trade)
• Size: 4 3/4" x 54 
• Wrapper: Habano
• Filler: Nicaraguan
• Time to completion: ~70 minutes

Smoking Experience:


It's been a long week at work, and after getting home last night, all I wanted was a drink and a smoke. I opened my humidor and saw this little guy sitting off to the side. I had received it in a trade a couple of weeks back and had read some good things, but didn't know what to expect, I was not disappointed.

The cigar is just under 5" long, and looked to be of decent construction. There was one noticeable soft spot in it, and a small tear in the wrapper, but nothing major. I was able to easily cut it, even with my cheap cutters, and it didn't appear to cause any damage, which was nice.

Upon lighting up, the draw was a little tight, and the smoke was somewhat thin and sort of limited. Still plenty to taste, but not the massive clouds of smoke I have had with some other cigars.

The cigar smoked very well for the first 1/3. It was nice and cool burning, easy to keep lit and the draw loosened up a bit at around the 1/3 mark. During the 2/3 the outer wrapper began to separate. I'm not sure what caused this, but it produced a drastic change in the characteristics of the cigar. As the outer wrapper separated,  they wouldn't burn properly, so the taste of the filler was a lot more apparent than the wrapper, then all of a sudden the outer wrapper would light up, generate a huge amount of smoke as it burned down quickly to catch up with the filler, and the process would repeat. It was actually a very...nice...experience.

The rapid change in heat, flavor concentration, smoke density, etc made this a very exciting cigar to smoke. The ash hung on like a champ (It probably helped that I was laying almost all the way back as I smoked), and this seemed to keep the cigar nice and cool, down to about the last 1/5.

At the 4/5 mark the cigar heated up quickly, the draw was still very nice, no clogs, still lots of flavor, and a very nice finish.

Flavors:


I was actually caught off guard by the wide array of flavors produced by this cigar. The first few puffs you take are a mild spice with some noticeable woody undertones. The flavor is pretty mild as there isn't a lot of smoke at this point, so it was a nice way to get started.

About 1" into the cigar, there is a noticeable sweetness that starts to appear. It isn't overwhelming and nicely compliments the spicy taste (like spice cookies!).

At around the 2/3 mark the flavors changed and varied a lot as the wrapper acted up (see above). Each time   the wrapper would separate from the filler, you would get a nice nutty/earthy taste, and when the wrapper lit, you would get a burst of think almost chocolate tasting smoke. The spiciness takes a backseat at this point to the ebb and flow of nutty/earthy flavors and chocolate sweetness. It was fantastic.



The finish of this cigar was very good. As you get into the final 1/3 of the cigar, the spiciness comes back and in the final 1/5 of the cigar there is a smokey peppery taste that takes over and finishes this smoke off with a bang.

Overall it was a great cigar, despite the construction issues (which turned out to probably improve the smoke by making it more interesting). I will definitively be picking up more of these in the future.

How To: Shipping Cigars

One of my favorite parts of smoking cigars so far has been the community of people I have met. In the 2 months since I started smoking, I have had the wonderful opportunity to trade cigars with a couple of guys. Trading allows people to share their favorites (or share smokes only available in their region) and in general is just a fun thing to do with good people.

Every time a trade comes up, people ask "How do I ship the cigars?" (I know this, because this was my first question as well).

Here is how to ship cigars in a trade:


Method 1: Cheap and Easy. - Great for common trades.

1. Pick out the cigar(s) you want to ship. For shipping purposes, cellophane wrapped is very helpful, as it can protect the cigar from rubbing on things and hurting the wrapper.
2. Get a Humidipak to throw in the package. These will keep the cigars moist during shipping. Shipments can get cold when on airplanes, which dries out smokes quickly, so this is important.
3. Put the cigars and the Humidipak in a ziplock bag and get as much air out as possible.
4. Wrap that in bubble wrap (or other packaging material)
5. Stick in an appropriate box. I like to use the USPS flat rate shipping boxes (small size fits 5 cigars with ease).
6. Ship them.

Method 2: More Protection, More Cost. - Good for higher end smokes that need protection or back and forth trades with friends. (Also makes a great Cigar Bomb gift!)

1. Pick out the cigar(s) you want to ship. For shipping purposes, cellophane wrapped is very helpful, as it can protect the cigar from rubbing on things and hurting the wrapper.
2. Pick up a good Travel Humidor of appropriate size.
3. Throw in a Humidipak for simplicity.
4. Put this in a box with appropriate shipping material.
5. Ship them.

Deluxe Travel Humidor /w hygrometer and cutters.

For added fun, throw in a fun note, an extra like a spare set of cutters that you like, etc. Anything to make the experience even better for all parties involved. If you are in a trade and someone bombs you with some extra smokes, be sure to pay that forward, everyone loves an extra smoke here and there!

Disclaimer: Please check your state and federal laws before shipping tobacco products.

Review: Man O' War Special-Edition Figurado

Humidor.com Image

From last night.

• Price: ~$8-10 (Got it in a trade on /r/cigars)
• Size: 7.1" x 58 (ring changes throughout the cigar)
• Wrapper: Habano (Ecuadorean)
• Filler: Nicaraguan
• Time to completion: ~115 minutes

Smoking Experience:


Oh what a night. This week has just been one of those weeks; lets just say I was happy to see Friday night arrive. When 5pm hit, I hopped in my car, went and picked up my favorite gal, and we met up with some friends at happy hour. We hung out for a while, had a few drinks, and just relaxed. Around 7 we decided we were over the bar we were at, so we headed down to what is quickly becoming one of my favorite smoking spots. It is at the end of a pier and overlooks the Waikiki Skyline.

Before leaving for the apartment, I asked my girlfriend to throw a few smokes into my travel humidor, and one of the ones she grabbed was this monster. The Man O' War Special Edition Figurado. It is a monster at 7.1" long at a ring size of 58 at its widest point (and maybe mid 40s at its lowest). The shape is the most unique attribute of the cigar, and while I thought it was a gimmicky at first, I ended up liking what it brought.

Lighting the cigar is a breeze because the end is a small ring size. It quickly opens up to the full 58 ring size and over time tapers back down. The burn was even for the most part, although it did get uneven once or twice, but this is probably becasue of the wind blowing from a single direction and me not rotating the cigar properly when smoking.

Flavor:


This cigar was packed full of flavor, no doubt about it. The flavor intensity changed with the ring size of the cigar, and for the most part was just a nice nutty tobacco flavor. The smoke was harsh at times, but not necessarily unpleasant. Despite the length of the cigar, it seemed to burn hotter than I care for, but again, it wasn't bad, just different.

I think the major downfall of this cigar for me is that it was just sort of one note. The burn time was almost 2 hours, but it was pretty much slight variations of the same flavor for all 2 hours, it was almost too consistent. I would have been equally as happy with a cigar half the size because the flavors didn't develop the way they do in other cigars.

Overall it was a good cigar, it was just lacking that "wow" factor that I expect from special edition cigars. I definitely look forward to trying some other MOW cigars in the future.

Review: Acid Kuba Kuba - My First Cigar

• Price: $12 (from a cart outside a Casino...yea, I over paid)
• Size: 5" x 54
• Wrapper: Cameroon
• Filler: Nicaraguan (flavor infused)
• Time to completion: ~65 minutes

Smoking Experience:

The Acid Kuba Kuba. My very first cigar. I was in Las Vegas for the first time at 25 years old. I was up a few hundred dollars after winning a small NL Holdem tournament at the Golden Nugget and taking down some cash at a 1/2 NL game. As I headed back to meet up with my family on our last day there, I walked passed a cigar cart out side of the 4 Queens Casino. I stopped to take a peak at their selection (I had no clue what I was looking at) and a guy came up and asked me what I liked. I told him I had no idea. I told him I have never had a Cigar, I don't smoke cigarettes, but wanted to give one a try. He looked at me, asked how much I felt like spending, and told me he had a Cigar he could guarantee I would enjoy and would make me come back for more.

The gentleman handed me an Acid Kuba Kuba. He cut it for me, showed me how to light a cigar, explained how to smoke and enjoy one, and sent me on my way.

I headed over to The Chicago Brewing Company inside the casino, grabbed a beer, had them turn on the Heads Up poker championship, kicked my feet up and lit this baby up. I was in Vegas baby, and this is how I wanted to remember it.

Flavor:
From the start, this cigar has a lot of flavor. The infused tobacco has a nice sweet flavor with herb undertones that last throughout the cigar.The flavors intensify towards the end, but really they just get better. The smoke is rich and smooth, and the cigar had a nice uniform draw the entire time I enjoyed it. This was my first and only flavored cigar so far, and is still one of my favorites.

Downside: 
This was my first cigar and I had no idea what to expect, so I likely under appreciated the flavors as they were all new to me. I am excited to give this smoke a second shot once I have a more experience under my belt.