Tag: Cigar Smoking

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Cigar Review – Balmoral Anejo XO Connecticut

Balmoral Cigars

Balmoral Anejo XO Connecticut Cigar Review

About the cigar

I first head of Balmoral Cigars in late August 2018 at the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival in Denver, Colorado. I got one of these cigars in my loot bag that I received. After smoking the cigar I thought that I needed to do a review of them.

Direct from the Balmoral Cigars website, these cigars are:

Crowned with a shade-grown wrapper from the Connecticut River Valley, Balmoral Añejo XO Connecticut provides a luxuriously creamy experience that embraces your palate with complex notes of vanilla, toasted caramel and white pepper that finish with a smooth, underlying natural sweetness.

Wrapper: Connecticut Shade
Binder: Ecuador Sumatra
Filler: Dominican Olor, Pennsylvania 41, Brazilian Mata Norte

Profile: Complex notes of vanilla, toasted caramel and white pepper that finish with a smooth, underlying natural sweetness.

https://us.balmoralcigars.com/anejo-xo-connecticut/

Initial Lite and First Third

I used a V cutter to cut my cigar. I use the V cut because it allows for good draw while keeping the cap mostly intact so it doesn’t fall apart on you as you smoke it.

After toasting my cigar I didn’t taste any vanilla. I did get white pepper and caramel. There was also the natural sweetness that Balmoral talks about.

I had no problem keeping the cigar lit, and the construction of the cigar was top notch. The burn was even, there were no runners, tunneling, canoeing or mouse holes.

Second Third

The natural sweetness and the caramel merged together and I was getting a light coffee taste. This offset the white pepper well witch started to slowly go away as I made my way through the second third of the cigar. Strangely a butter flavor emerged.

Construction continued to hold up. I didn’t have to touch up the cigar, and the it was more of the same for the burn, and cap.

Final Third and Final Thoughts

The white pepper was mostly gone by this point. But the butter and coffee flavors stayed until the very end. I did have the slightest unevenness to the burn, but it was so slight I just rotated the cigar and it caught right up. The cap stayed in tact the entire smoke.

So would I buy this cigar again? Yes absolutely. It is a great light smoke. I would smoke one of these on a morning walk, or as the first stick of the day. They are priced well, they were averaging about $10 a stick online (please by from your local tobacconist if you can).

Thank you for visiting The Dapper Man we hope you enjoyed this review and have a fantastic day. You can see more of our cigar reviews here.

Greg from The Dapper Man

P.S.
If you like our web page please sign up to receive email notifications about new content.

Please feel free to comment on our post. What do you like, what can we improve on, and what would you like us to do a post talking about?

You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn as TheDapperManUS, and on YouTube.

YouTube: @The Dapper Man
Facebook: @TheDapperManUS
Twitter: @TheDapperManUS
Pinterest: @TheDapperManUS
Instagram: @TheDapperManUS
LinkedIn: @The Dapper Man

Posted on by — Leave a comment

My Father Flor de la Antillas Cigar Review

My Father Flor de la Antillas Cigar Review

Greg and Victor from Rems Smoke Shop in Grand Junction smoke the My Father Flor de la Antillas cigar.

About the cigar

Spanish for Flower of the Antilles this cigar won Cigar of the year in 2012 with a rating of 96 from Cigar Aficionado. This cigar won seven other 90+ ratings that year. The Garcia family normally makes stronger cigars, this was their first attempt at a medium bodied cigar.

Featuring an all-Nicaraguan blend of tobaccos, Flor de las Antillas maintains My Father’s reputation for crafting full-flavored, well constructed handmades. Greeting you from the outside is a dark brown Nicaraguan Sun Grown wrapper beautifully box-pressed and smooth to the touch. This leaf houses a bouquet of Nicaraguan long-fillers and binder, to create an exceptionally balanced and smooth experience. Each Flor de las Antillas delivers a distinct array of flavors, including notes of cocoa, pepper, sweet cedar, and earth. From start to finish, Flor de las Antillas maintains its smooth character and never goes a tick over medium to full-bodied. An anytime of day My Father experience. – Cigars International

Size: Robusto
Shape: Box Pressed
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan long leaf
Price: $8-$9 in Colorado

Initial Lite and First Third

The first puffs on the cigar provided strong notes of pepper. Once smoked an inch we had notests of cedar, cocoa and coffee on the finish with pepper in the retrohale.

Second Third

Still getting sweet notes of cedar, and cocoa with pepper prevalent on the retrohale.

Final Third and Final Thoughts

The cigar is a medium cigar, great for mornings with a cup of coffee. The cigar burns well, tastes great with earth, sweet cedar, cocoa, and some pepper. We highly recommend this cigar.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn as TheDapperManUS, and on our website.

Website: TheDapperMan.org
Facebook: @TheDapperManUS
Twitter: @TheDapperManUS
Pinterest: @TheDapperManUS
Instagram: @TheDapperManUS
LinkedIn: @The Dapper Man US

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Perdomo Craft Series Amber Review

Welcome to another cigar review with The Dapper  Man. Today we smoke a Perdomo Craft Series Amber cigar and pair them with a Guinness Blonde Lager, and a Dragon’s Milk.

The Cigar – Perdomo Craft Series Amber

Filler – Cuban-seed Nicaraguan long-fill
Binder – Nicaraguan
Wrapper – Cuban-seed Nicaraguan Sun Grown wrapper

The Perdomo Craft Series Amber is medium to full-bodied with flavors of leather, spice, and oak that will mingle well with hop forward style beers such as ambers, pale ales, lagers, Oktoberfests, and IPAs. – Cigars International

First Third

Notes of cocoa, some spice (lots of spice on the retrohale), little bit of leather on the exhale.. Very fine white ash. Very good burn.

Middle Third

Notes of sweet cocoa and some coffee on the finish. Had to touch up the burn a little bit, some minor cracking from when we took the wrappers off.

Final Third

Burn corrected itself. Lots of spice on the retrohale, plenty of leather, lots of cocoa and coffee on the finish.

Final Thoughts

Great cigar, burned well. Taste was great, very smooth (unless you retrohale and burn your sinuses). Great price, would recommend for those that like medium to medium full cigars.

The Dapper Man wishes you a fantastic day wherever you are, and make sure you subscribe so you can get weekly updates on Greg’s Year Long Beard Journey.

P.S.
Please feel free to comment on our post. What do you like, what can we improve on, and what would you like us to do a post talking about?

You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn as TheDapperManUS, and on YouTube as The Dapper Man

YouTube: @The Dapper Man
Facebook: @TheDapperManUS
Twitter: @TheDapperManUS
Pinterest: @TheDapperManUS
Instagram: @TheDapperManUS
LinkedIn: @The Dapper Man

Posted on by — 1 Comment

Cigar Review – 5 Vegas (Cinco Vegas) Classic Robusto

5 Vegas Classic Robusto Cigar Review

Hello all, and welcome to another Cigar Review, I am happy to introduce Rachel who’s a member of my local cigar lounge. She kindly agreed to join me today and smoke a 5 Vegas Classic with me.

The Cigar – 5 Vegas Classic (Cinco Vegas)

Size – Robusto (5.0 X 50)
Filler – Cuban-seed long-fillers from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic
Binder – Nicaraguan
Wrapper – Sumatran
Taste – Rich and creamy notes of deep tobacco flavors mingle with hints of toast, coffee, nuts, and gentle spices on the finish. – Cigars International
Rating – “5 Vegas Classic received a healthy ’90’ rating noting: “A solid medium bodied      cigar. It is filled with complex earth flavors, and a pleasant coffee ground taste. It is also very smooth.” – Cigars International

The Smoke

The Cut – Rachel used the V or Notch cutter, while I used a standard cutter on my cigar.
The Light – We used a torch lighter to toast then light our cigars.
First Third of the Cigar – After the initial light we were getting notes of tobacco / earth, and dark coffee, with some spice on the retro or exhale.
Middle Third of the Cigar – We still had the earth notes, and coffee notes, but on the finish we noticed cocoa mixing with the spice.
Final Third of the Cigar – Still very smooth, with lots of coffee and mild spice.
Construction – The cigar was rolled well, not to tight to make it hard to draw on, nor to loose making for a hot burn. The cigar stayed well formed at the head after our cuts. The cigar didn’t crack or unravel during our smoke.
Burn – The burn was good, we didn’t have to touch up the cigar. We didn’t encounter any tunneling, with very minor canoeing that corrected itself.

Final Thoughts

Overall the cigar was rich and creamy, we tasted earth notes from the tobacco, coffee, and cocoa on the finish. the spice was mostly on the retrohale and it mixed well with the cocoa.

Both Rachel and I would recommend this cigar. Though it is a medium bodied cigar the cigar is still rich and creamy for those that like lighter or more mild cigars. While the spice will attract those that prefer heavier, spicier cigars. This cigar would also make a good first cigar as it isn’t to powerful, but not to mild. People new to cigar smoking can smoke this and decide which way they want to go on the cigar scale. This cigar is also very reasonably priced for such a good cigar. If you haven’t had one yet I would recommend picking up a few and adding them to your humidor.

If you have smoked one of these before please let us know what you thought of it in the comments. Did you like it, what did you taste?

We hope you liked this cigar review, if you did please subscribe to our site so you can get notifications about our latest content.

P.S.
Please feel free to comment on our post. What do you like, what can we improve on, and what would you like us to do a post talking about?

You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn as TheDapperManUS, and on YouTube.

YouTube: @The Dapper Man
Facebook: @TheDapperManUS
Twitter: @TheDapperManUS
Pinterest: @TheDapperManUS
Instagram: @TheDapperManUS
LinkedIn: @The Dapper Man