Camacho Havana Diademas Cigar Review

Macho, Macho man!

So I bought a 10 pack of these Camacho Havana Diademas...

I am so exited because the box is crafted so nicely, in yellow with gold lettering. I open the box and wowed even more because each one is wrapped in a golden snake patterned outer material. There are two bands, the one that holds the golden snake skin material and the one on the cigar itself. I take the band off the golden snake pattern wrapping and under there is a second white paper wrapping. I finally get to the cigar itself there's the second band on the cigar. So these cigars are double banded and double gift wrapped. But before even that, when I first opened the box I got hit with a strong whiff of spice and cinnamon as a tobacco scent. Each one smells like very nice aged sweet cinnamon tobacco leaf. The scent from the whole box is a combination of each cigar.

This cigar looks a little like a slimmer club that a cave man back in the day used or like a submarine. The end where you light it has a nipple (I like nipple shaped cigar ends, it makes it easier to light it: one center point to get it going rather than like cigars where the ring gauge is evenly shaped throughout the cigar). The cap where you cut off and the end where you light is not the ring gauge they call a 60. They must refer to the fattest part of the cigar right below the end. The cap's ring gauge is small, I would say the diameter less than a dime.

It is a Salomon shaped cigar

My first was on December 2012 and I had smoked a handful between now and then. It's now June 2014 and I believe from what I can recall is my fourth one. I had gifted a couple away. There are three more out of the original ten in the box.

Vitola: Salomon (8.0" x 60RG)

Price: $11.00 to Sold Out/Limited Supply per cigar

Wrapper: Honduran (Cuban Origin) Criollo

Binder: Honduran (Cuban Origin) Corojo

Filler: Honduran (Cuban Origin) Corojo

Aged in Humidor: 1 Year 6 Months

Appearance and Construction:

A little uneven with noticeable veins with a dark complexion yet not too dark.

I made one mistake with these, I kept them in the box instead of a humidor. They have dried a little but not a bad dried out, luckily I keep up with the humidity the best I can.

Draw: Just Right

Aroma: Medium

Ash: Medium grey, a little flaky but it held in a uniform cone to about 2 inches 

Fumes: Medium

Burn: Perfect with a speckle of uneven

Boldness: Just Right
Harshness: I didn't notice any, not at all even to the bitter end, none
Strength: Medium to Lightly Strong
Complexity: It does have it's points where the notes change but not overly so, yes, a little

Tasting Notes:

The aroma that emits off the wrapper is very nice, sort of like a refined light scent of cinnamon stick with a light hint of pepper or spice. The cold draw is loose and of wood-like and a hint of spice. The most recent cold draw is of the same but also comes with a light sweet cinnamon spice. Lighting it with the butane lighter is easy with the nipple as a fuse.

Initial light: A spicy dried black cherry on wood.

1 cm in: It's like a toasted brownie with wood notes

With the above introduction to what I would consider one of my top ten cigars is a sweet (aged) cinnamon like spice on the aged tobacco, a well refined taste of the tobacco leaf it's made from. Another one of those cigars you can feel the soil it comes from. It's very toasty with a coolness to the puffs. The last of the first is a bit dark toast but not too dark, it has a very nice grilled tobacco note on the last of the third.

The second is less refined, some of the profile from the first dies down and it gets rather toasty with puffs of a cool airiness. The black cherry hints remain lightly now and then and with rotation of toasty dark coffee.

The third has a toasty dark coffee note also, less of the spicy cinnamon and dark cherry notes, more so of toast and dark coffee bean. No harshness of tannin, but deep and dark. There are cigars that do not have good ending but this cigar didn't. I had no problem savoring to the very last inch or savory darkness.

Besides the presentation I like these, they are enjoyable to smoke because of it's smoothness, no harsh spots, it's strong and has a good character. I rate them a 97.

My Father by Don Pepin Garcia No. 1 Cigar Review

Happy Post-Father's Day!

I didn't have time to photo fresh cigar photos, maybe when I get the chance but I have a simple snapshot off my phone when I was puffing away...so without further ado, this is the Garcia family "My Father" cigar, supposed named in honor by Jaime to his father Jose Pepin Garcia. My father has always been a very basic person, work (save to support the family), eat simple, gamble a little in Mahjong, watch sports and love the family, so I try to honor him when I can. He doesn't smoke cigars. But for all the dad's that do take care of their kids well...

The background of the father's cigars, Jose Pepin, has a good reputation and the name just brings enthusiasm in wanting to try such an honor. I tried this cigar when I first got it, didn't take notes like so many cigars. I just enjoyed them without a thought but I remembered it being good and then again yesterday on Father's Day, I'll bring you the notes for the second cigar.

I had a five pack of the No. 1

Vitola: Robusto (5.25" x 52RG)

Price: $10.00

Wrapper: Ecuador (Cuban Origin) Habano

Binder:Nicaragua (Cuban Origin)

Filler: Nicaragua (Cuban Origin)

Aged in Humidor: 1 Year 6 Months

Appearance and Construction:

It's built well not too tight though. The cigar looks like any other cigar similar to the others from Esteli. The wrapper is a tan color.

Draw: A bit on the loose side but it's right

Aroma: Medium aged sweetness with hints of a buttery scent

Ash: Light grey with a little flaking, no black burn rings, there are ripples but rolled evenly

Fumes: Medium

Burn: A speckle of uneven

Boldness: Medium
Harshness: Only light bitterness at the end
Strength: Medium to Lightly Strong
Complexity: It does have it's points where the notes change but not overly so

Tasting Notes:

Before I leave it in the humidor out of the clear wrap for a few months, I take a whiff of the foot while still clear wrapped is if of caramelized/aged almost sweet tobacco. One of the cigars you can taste the soil it comes from. The cold draw is a light spice especially a little tingle when touching the tip of my tongue.

(1) Grassy
(2) Sweet in a aged tobacco leaf
(3) Just to throw it out there during it's first impression from a smell of the wrapper before even lighting it is like a sweet potato pie (I think the aroma has been building up)

Initial light (circling with butane lighter): Toasty caramel-like creamy air of well aged tobacco leaf, smooth.

1 cm in: notes of dark candy

The first half is as described with a toasty, aged sweetness of tobacco leaf, hints of caramel, a nice sweet buttery aroma and occasional hints of spice, woody (cedar) and tobacco.

Up to the second of third half and the fumes are a gentle, slowing down a bit as I let it rest with a nice calmer profile in taste than the first. Still toasty, lighter in the caramel-like notes and a airy buttery profile to compliment. This is where I notice the speckle of uneven burn midway through the second and I touch it up and after a few more minutes at about 2.5" the ash drops, I am being gentle.

Forgive me for adding some notes because I'm also reflecting on life as I sit back and enjoy each puff... Like a bonsai tree to know where to cut, know the things in life to keeps things at bay or as they are when they are beautiful or at it's joy. I'm also reminded of a quote that without knowing harshness there's no sweetness in life. This cigar has very little harshness and that little speckle of uneven burn is part of life's beauty.

I'll end the last part of the second with dissipating caramel sweetness, still toasty but it gets a feeling like I'm smoking a average cigarette or cheap cigar now. I'm losing interest.

I leave it alone to rest for a few minutes then bring the butane lighter and bring it back to life as it dies out a bit.

On relighting the third I get a a deep charcoal toast and then as I let it burn a tranquil buttery toasty profile comes back with the a dark toasty caramel on tobacco. It has a different aroma this time, a little less enjoyable. It's the same profile but faded and more rustic. It's profile is bolder with a tannin note. It's complexity is somewhere in between liking and not liking. It comes and goes with blandness of an average cigar to bits of dark toast. Down to a little less than 2 inches left and I'm not really enjoying the cigar any more. It's dark almost like toasting wood charcoal. Overall I'd rate this a 91 cigar, enjoyable, no real harsh spots but be aware of upper medium to dark boldness.

I also have much respect for the positive things that outshine the negative things my father does, in the same naming honor

Arturo Fuente - Short Story Cigar Review

I've been trying to layoff cigar reviews due to the fact that I have not been indulging in smoking because it's bad for ones health, so since January 2014 until today-the fresh start of June, I had decided to enjoy a sunny day with a smoke I had a year back: Arturo Fuente's Short Story.

Arturo Fuente had an connection and esteemed respect for the way Earnest Hemingway lived. It would seem as I am reading they knew each other. Or at the very least crossed paths with one another. Hemingway's stories have cross my path and I also have esteemed respect or a high interest in Hemingway's stories, especially his short stories, for example: 'A Clean Well-Lighted Place' is my favorite. So it would be no absence of good marketing or honor in me grabbing a smoke named in such.

The cigar lives up to it's name because just like a short story, it's short.

Vitola: Perfecto (4.0" x 49RG)

Price: $5.80 to $6.60 per cigar

Wrapper: Cameroon

Binder: Dominican Republic

Filler: Dominican Republic

Aged in Humidor: 1 Year 6 Months

Appearance and Construction:

Well the complexion does look Cameroon, a well wrapped, uniform, tight in the cap, all around down to a nice rolling to the nipple end. There are highly noticeable veins. It's band is like a red ribbon awarded to best of show. The question is it?

It's still packed tight after being in my humidor for 6 months over a year. I begin as usual by taking in the aroma of the wrapper and it gives off a aged sweetness like most decent cigars should. The cold draw is a leafy tobacco. As I light it easily with my butane lighter: the initial scent is a medium aroma of dark burning tobacco.

Draw: Loose but not too loose

Aroma: Medium to Light

Ash: Grey and White, rippled like a cone of Shawarma meat

Fumes: Yes, quite a bit especially on puffing but not like a chimney

Burn: Uneven and inconsistent, it never gave out

Boldness: Bold but not heavily
Harshness: It's point of view, do you like a deep, sort of burnt note occassionally, some call it chard. Do you like a raison, not so sweet taste in your cigar occasionally?
Strength: Medium to Lightly Strong
Complexity: Not much

Tasting Notes:

1 cm in: I get a bit of a raisin along with a medium dark tobacco note.

Normally I would break down the first, second and third profile but I don't believe the Short Story needs that for it is a short smoke like it's name with a tasting profile that does not change throughout the cigar. It is pretty much it's name a short story, one hour of your time for strong tobacco notes and a bit of raisin notes in the mix.

I would not buy any more of these for it's price tag. Don't get me wrong it's a solid, smooth, smoke from very good tobacco but the profile was just too plain for my taste. Rating: 79

Red Savina Pepper Review

As a followup to the previous article on Hot Sauce, the day after an unknown pepper was brought in. It is a Red Savina pepper (350,000-580,000 Scoville) variety of the Habanero. It is rated on the Scoville chart hotter than the Scotch Bonnet (100,000-350,000 Scoville) and below the Ghost pepper aka Bhut Jolokia - Naga Jolokia (About 1,000,000 Scoville).

Pop it in my mouth like if it were nothing, like a cherry with 350,000 to 580,000 Scoville(s) of heat behind it. Now, I haven't done this in a long time (over ten years), pop a whole Habanero pepper and just chew on it with the rind, seeds, veins and all, well I tossed the stem.

I give it thirty seconds and nothing, I'm waiting because I know the heat will be there in another minute, BAM! It's stinging thirty seconds after the first thirty seconds of nothing. It is like a someone brushed some lighter fluid around my mouth and lit it with matches. And it intensifies gradually and stays on the tongue, on the roof and around the mouth for about five minutes even after drinking a few cups of water and a cup of milk. I had let it sit for two minutes of burning trying to be a tough manly man, I finally gave way and drank those few glasses of water and a cup of milk to dissipate the scorching feeling. The heat is like a bell curve on a graph gradually going up and stays stinging for a little over five minutes before it goes down but afterwards my eyes were wide awake. The whole ordeal is ten to fifteen minutes of whoohoo! During, my eyes were a little red and so was my face, I had watery eyes.


Flavor: Peppery Gas
Heat: 5 Points
Affect: Over five minutes of a burning linger