These fine cigars are made in the same factory as the Tempus.

Wrapper: Maduro
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Honduran & Nicaraguan
Shape: Robusto
Size: 5 X 50
Draw: Perfect
Burn: Solid Ash
Construction: Flawless

Alec Bradley creates another fine smoke – PRENSADO! This is their latest creation and is one of the most beautiful box-pressed cigars I’ve ever seen; it is nothing less than superb! The smoke just billows out with tons of cocoa, black pepper, and spice. The first 2/3 is medium-bodied, followed by the last 1/3 being FULL-BODIED.

I am not a big maduro fan, but the pepper and spice in this cigar cover up the traditional maduro taste.

I highly recommend this cigar!

Depois de ter cortado o meu belo cabelinho, descobri que tinha muitas brancas… claro que brancas são sinónimo de conhecimento e de vida… mesmo assim dispenso-as!
Mas isto significa que estou a ficar entradote… trintão maduro! Embora por dentro me sinta um jovem inconsciente, na verdade já não sou um miúdo! Tenho pena!!!
Então e depois de reflectir um pouco, sim que esta coisa da idade dá para isso também… descobri algumas coisas que já fiz e que não me estou a ver a voltar a fazer… tudo fruto da idade!
De entre todas destaco as seguintes:
- Sexo na praia… aquela merda com a areia e o vento… não estou a ver!!!
- 2 directas seguidas… (não estou a falar de sexo, mas poderia muito bem ser)… já uma directa sabe deus quanto mais duas…
- Andar de carro a mais de 200km à hora… que grande palermice… só num caso de emergência muito muito grande… de resto não voltarei a fazer tal estupidez…
- Ter de ser socorrido pelo INEM depois de uns copitos a mais… que decadência… um degredo… foi só uma vez, mas chegou…
- Pensar primeiro em mim e depois nos outros… os filhos não o permitem!!!

Fruto da idade e das consequências da vida… e lá vamos nós, cantando e rindo!!!

Ya les pase las fotos de las personalides del año (click aqui) segun la revista GQ, ahora los dejo con las portadas del mes de diciembre en donde aparecen los mencionados, Chris Pine como la revelacion y hottie del año, Tom Brady como la ama de casa que todos quieren y el elenco de the hangover como los comediantes del año.

click en las pics para agrandar

En la edicion del mes de diciembre de la revista GQ de estados unidos viene un especial con los mejores entretenedores del año, en musica, deportes, cine, television y politica, disfruten de este mega post, recuerden:

click en las pics para AGRANDAR

El hottie del año: Chris Pine

El “trailblazer” del año Neil Patrick Harris

Cast: The Hangover

El hermano de todos: Paul Rudd

El ama de casa ideal: Tom Brady

El crossover de diseñador a director: Tom Ford

El actor nuevo: Joseph Gordon-Levitt

El Lider: Barack Obama

El villano (de pelicula): Christoph Waltz

Cast: Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, Bradley Cooper

Los vampiros de True Blood

Chris Pine

Vergie y su marido infiel esposo Josh Duhamel fueron captados saliendo de un restaurante de New York muy risueños y totalemente “enamorados·, esto se ve tan real como las bobbies que acaba de comprarse Amy Winehouse, para quien no lo sepa, una stripper dijo haber tenido un rapidin con Josh, lo que enfurecio a Vergie al grado de no salir con el, pero unos dias despues una revista le pago a la stripper para que pidiera disculpas y que todo quedara como un mal entendido… LOL

click para agrandar

LOL la verdad es que no entiendo si esto lo hicieron a proposito o es una especie de ilusion visual, el caso es que en la nueva portada de Esquirre, Robert Downey Jr esta muy mono sentadito abriendo las piernas y al parecer señalandonos un cameltoe que se le forma en su entrepierna, lo extraño para quien no lo sepa es precisamente el cameltoe, ya que este solo se forma en las mujeres cuando usan ropa muy ajustada, bien por Robert Downey queriendo competir contra Tranny Gaga en eso de los ambos sexos XD

click para agrandar

Country: Nicaragua
Wrapper: Maduro
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan Ligero (Jalapa, Esteli, Condega)
Size: Torpedo 6.0″ x 54 ring

My previous review was of the Cain Habano Robusto.  In that review I detailed a bit about the makeup and story of the this straight Ligero cigar so click on over and check that out as well.  Today I am smoking the Maduro Torpedo.  I was trying to find some more information about this wrapper and was unable to find anything definitive about it.  I have seen it referred to as a Nicaraguan Maduro, a Mexican Maduro, and even a Brazilian Maduro wrapper.  I am not sure which it is at this point.  I am not inclined to agree with the Brazilian label though.  As Maduro wrappers go this one doesn’t have much tooth to it, and in my experience, the Brazilian maduro is on of the toothiest maduro wrappers I have seen.  That is just an opinion and a guess though.  It could very well be Brazilian, I just don’t know right now.

The wrapper on the Cain Maduro  is dark and mottled with a few prominent veins running across its surface.  It has a slight tooth and oily appearance.  This cigar starts off very similar to the Habano.  I ti s smooth and creamy, medium bodied without much power.  It has a very nondescript, sweet maduro flavor to it .  I began to wonder if this one would pick up in the last third like the Habano did, but it did not.   It was very one dimensional.  The flavors never changed and it never developed any power.  It was surprisingly light for an all ligero cigar and flavor wise it was pretty boring.  The Habano version was much better.  This cigar just never did anything for me.  I’ll be smoking the Habano again, but I don’t have any interest in revisiting the maduro.

Rating – C

Pretty little city

I think I’m gonna try to make these ‘monthly calendar of events thingys’ a permanent feature to Warm Warmer Disco. I think for now I’m gonna stick to just doing Madison and MKE events. My hope is that people get on up, go out, and just have fun, no matter where they are! As always, none of these lists are exhaustive!

Here’s a list of some links that I think are always good for info:

Majestic Theatre

WUD Music

Cardinal

indieQueer

Barrymore Theatre

Orpheum Theatre

The Project Lodge

The A.V. Club Madison

Great Dane Pub

The New Loft

Below, are some of the things that I just wanted to highlight for the month of November:

+ BASSNECTAR @ The Majestic | Wed, Nov 4th

+ Hail Archer @ Electric Earth Cafe | TODAY, Fri, Nov 6th

+ THE SOUNDS @ The Majestic | TODAY, Fri, Nov 6th

+ FUTURE ROCK w/ Nick Nice | The Majestic | Wed, Nov 11th

+ Retro Rave 2009: QUARANTINE | Sat, Nov 14th | High Noon Saloon

+ iQ edition of REBIRTH | Fri, Nov 20th | Cardinal | monthly

+ Sundays @ Maduro with Nick Nice | Maduro – 117 E. Main St. | weekly

+ Natt Spil Rock Night & more | Natt Spil – 211 King St. | weekly (Mondays)

+ Rebirth with Nick Nice | Cardinal – 418 E. Wilson St. | weekly (Fridays)

+ 80s VS 90s Retro Dance Party | monthly | I think the date for this month will be up soon.

**I’m sure there are plenty of other events that I am missing, or want to go to, but as the month goes on I will add them!

I dug out a sample I got from the Big Smoke 2006, the Pioneer Valley Especiales Maduro Robusto. This beautiful maduro has been aging now for almost two years in my humidor. It measures five inches long with a 50 ring gauge. This cigar is manufactured in the Dominican Republic and features Dominican filler surrounded by a US Connecticut shade binder and a US Broadleaf maduro wrapper.

Pioneer Valley Especials Maduro Robusto

I was impressed by the gorgoeus wrapper. It is uniformly dark and oily. The cigar itself was packed firm and the veins on the wrapper were barely noticeable. The cap was flawless. I used my Xikar cutter to make a straight cut and lit the cigar with my standard butance torch lighter.

The draw was a little tight but loosened up considerably after the first inch. I also had some difficulty with the burn at the beginning. After about three quarters of inch of burning crooked, it straightened itself out and burned perfectly throughout the rest of the smoke. The ash was very firm and stunningly white.

The aroma consisted of coffee, leather, and a touch of spice. The main flavors of the cigar were the same coffee, leather, and spice with a nice sweetness ffrom the wrapper. The spice came through as a touch of black pepper and nutmeg. The finish added a sharp chalky metallic aftertaste that I sometimes notice in Dominican fillers. It wasn’t unpleasant to me in any way other than the sharpness and actually complemented a nice taste of salt on the finish as well. I particularly like maduros with a little salt on the finish to contrast the sweetness of the maduro wrapper. The cigar burned for 55 minutes, and the flavors remained unchanged. The overall strength of the cigar was medium and the smoke was full-bodied.

Highlights:

+ Beautiful wrapper
+ Stunning ash
+ Nice core of rich flavors
- Metallic flavor on finish was a little strong
- Tight draw initially
- Minor burn issues at the start

I deducted seven points for the finish as I do think the metallic aftertaste is a bit strong and not everyone will enjoy it. I took off another four points for the draw and three points for the burn. The resulting score is 86.

I did like this one enough to try another but I would like to see the finish a little more in balance with the main core of flavors.

Back in April i got a box of these from one of my friends who was visiting Dubai from the USA. I was pleased and confused at the same time because these cigar looks just amazing and  i haven’t had any Oliva before. By now I’ve smoked few and found here what i found:

This is the 601 Oscuro in a robusto size “tronco” @ 5×52  ~ $9.00

The wrapper is chocolate brown with some veins, though the construction seems perfect. There is a triple cap and the cigar is firm to the touch. Prelight aroma is a mild woody chocolate with coffee notes.

The light-up brought loads of dark woody spice and black pepper. So spicy were the first few puffs that it seemed harsh. The flavor and body, which were both full and thick, were laden with dense bittersweet chocolate and spice. Some woody notes like tannin rich oak coat the palate. Some of the spice mellowed but mostly stuck around.

Coming through the first third and into the halfway mark the body builds to a thick, dense smoke of dark earthy flavors. The spice is a bit harsh through the nose.

The final stretch of the cigar was much the same as the rest. There was quite a kick of nicotine from this stick.

The burn was impeccable though not a very slow one. The ash was a beautiful white-gray color with thick bands that looked like mummy wrappings.

All-in-all it seemed a decent smoke though I am not sure they’re worth the high price tag.

Sabato sera anche noi di poemas de puros abbiamo degustato l’edizione limitata di Bolivar del 2009. Il Petit Belicosos Edicion Limitada 2009. Un buon sigaro. Uno tra gli Habanos fumati più corposo. Vanta una ricchezza di sapore ineguagliabile. La fascia è molto scura, oleosa, con evidenti venature che corrono lungo il corpo del sigaro. E’un sigaro fluente dal tiraggio perfetto. Il fumo nelle prime boccate è abbastanza forte con una prevalenza di pepe nero e cuoio. Andando avanti compare pepe bianco ed i sapori diventano molto più complessi, con note di frutta rossa matura, cuoio consunto, e un pizzico di cacao. Verso la fine si mantiene la complessità del secondo terzo e compare un lieve sentore di legno carbonizzato.Questa Edición Limitada si distingue per l’accurata selezione e l’invecchiamento di due anni delle foglie di tabacco selezionate. Tutto ciò trasforma questo prodotto in qualcosa di molto speciale. Sapore: pieno, Lunghezza: 125 mm, Ring Gauge: 52 Vitola: petit belicosos

Siamo compiaciuti di questo sigaro giovane ma confezionato con foglie mature, sicuramente ne conserveremo alcuni all’interno dei nostri humidor.

Last time we talked about the concept of maduro referring to both a wrapper color and a fermentation process. This time I want to go through the different types of Maduro wrappers out there and discuss their flavors to help you know what to look for when trying to identify these. I will also provide some examples of cigars with those wrappers if you want to try them yourself.

I break down the maduro wrappers into families based on the seed used like this:

• Habano (San Andreas, Nicaragua, Honduras, Jaltepec, I guess Cuba now too)
• US Broadleaf (Connecticut, Pennsylvania)
• Mata fina (Brazil)
• Arapiraca (Brazil)

Since we were talking about Mexican tobacco in my last post, let’s start there. Maduro wrappers need to be thick and hearty, and Habano-seed tobacco grown in the San Andreas region in Mexico produces outstanding wrapper for this task. The maduro process tames some of the harshness that I attribute to Mexican-grown tobacco and the result is a toasty and earthy flavor with a nice sweetness. The Gispert Maduro is a low-priced and good smoke that features this wrapper.

Take that same tobacco and move it to the Jaltepec region in Costa Rica and you will find the same core flavors but with the sweetness ramped up even more. This is due to the nutrient-rich soil in the region. The wrapper color varies quite a bit depending on the length of the fermentation, but some of the nicest wrappers I’ve seen come from this region. I have already reviewed the Graycliff 1666 on this blog which features this wrapper. In that same review I mentioned another cigar, the 5 Vegas Serie A. It is a good example of a value-priced smoke with this excellent dark wrapper.

Suitable Habano seed wrappers can also be grown in Nicaragua and Honduras. The maduros here are usually made from the Criollo variety, but Corojo can be used as well. In the last couple of years, the first Cuban cigars have appeared with maduro wrappers too (but I haven’t tried those…yet). The Nicaraguan and Honduran grown wrappers are richer and more earthy than the others I have mentioned, and tend to be more semi-sweet giving the overall flavor more of a cocoa or chocolate type character.

Now switching seed varities to that of the US Broadleaf stock, this seed is grown throughout the northeastern United States, but most prominently in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. The Connecticut-grown seed produces a very smooth, creamy, subtly sweet maduro. It is not quite as toasty as the Habano wrapper. It also makes me think more of a milk-chocolate flavor, although not that sweet, in comparison to the more dark-cocoa flavor from the Nicaraguan Habano maduros. The ever-popular Macanudo Maduro cigar features a Connecticut Broadleaf maduro. AJ Fernandez has released a cigar called the Diesel which features a maduro wrapper from Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvanian wrapper is spicier than its Connecticut cousin and the sweetness is even more subtle.

Brazil is the home of the last two varieties I want to discuss. The first is mata fina which is grown in the Bahia region of Brazil. The mata fina wrapper usually has some discolorations on the wrapper giving it a marbelized look to it unless it has undergone a very long fermentation. But it is a wonderful wrapper full of both sweet and spicy flavors in perfect balance. This particular variety is also used as filler tobacco frequently because of it flavor profile. You will find this wrapper on the wonderful C.A.O. Brazilia.

The other Brazilian wrapper is of the Arapiraca variety. This wrapper is also very sweet but adds a nice leathery flavor to the mix in place of the spiciness of the mata fina leaf. The Carlos Torano Signature cigar is a good example that features this wrapper.

Obviously there are a lot of common flavors between these different wrappers due to the maduro process, but I hope I have shown that there are secondary characteristics and different sweetness levels between these varities. As you smoke examples of these wrappers, I would encourage you to try to pick out the differences you detect, and as I always suggest, write down what you find.

This is a brand owned by Ashton. Don Pepin was hired to blend this line. The cigar is a Nicaraguan puro with a maduro wrapper. The robusto size is 5×50. Cold aroma is of hay, wood, moss and dark chocolate. Sorry for the blurry photo.

Long ashes from San Cristobal

The light brought some pepper and medium to thick smoke with a bit of cedar and a roasted nut flavor that was indistinguishable (to me) at first. The burnw as perfect, as you can see in the phone, for a long time. In the first third the notes were a dank, mossy, earthy note with roasted nuts, woody aroma and a touch of leather and spice.

The midway point didn’t change anything. The cigar had a free draw that gave me lots of smoke with each puff. The smoke was dense and flavorful. I’d say a medium to full body with full flavor. The spice and pepper was there but not overpowering and it mingled well with the other notes and aromas.

The final third didn’t change much. The burn stayed even and the ash was solid with gray and white. The body and heat kicked up a bit when there was about an inch and ahalf remaining.

I thought this was a great cigar. For ~$7.00 – $8 per stick it’s a tad steep for me since there are similarly good maduros with this level of flavor and body for about ~$6 and sometimes less on deals from certain websites. I’d recommend trying this.

Thank you for visiting us. We have moved to our new website! Click here to visit Toasted Foot!

Size: 6½x52, Torpedo

Wrapper: Maduro

Filler: Cuban-seed, Dominican Republic

Strength: Full

Price: 6-pack, $55.00; Box of 25, $185

Grade: 8.9

Velvet Cigars in New York City recently sent us a few samples of their full-bodied house blend, The Tompkins. Each of their three cigar lines is named for locations in New York City’s East Village; the Tompkins is named for Tompkins Square Park.

In the past four years, Velvet has sold over 50,000 of their house blends. Their website describes their house blends the following way:

A master blend of finely aged Dominican, Cuban-seed tobacco, each Velvet Cigar is a handcrafted, exceptional smoke. Our expert rollers select only the choicest of leafs to craft our exclusive line of cigars. For over three generations, the family-owned business has produced cigars that have stood out for consistency and flavor.  It’s a passion you’ll taste in every stick.

You can learn more about their line of house blends here. We held onto these smokes for about a month and we’re ready to fire one up!

Appearance, 1.8:
I was first drawn to the eye catching band on this cigar; it had a very elegant color scheme of scarlet and gold and it really seems to fit with the Velvet line of cigars. The toothy wrapper was in good shape, though it did have some evident veins which gave the smoke a bit of a rugged look. The cigar was firm to the touch with good weight but was a little spongy towards the foot. The pre-light aroma was of clean tobacco with some hay at the foot.  The cold draw produced notes of leather and some spice in the back of the throat.

Burn, 1.6:
After a clean cut and a good toasting, I had this Torpedo lit up. The draw was a little tight at first but opened up after ten minutes or so. I did not feel that this stick produced an adequate amount of smoke; in the first third I almost felt like I had to work at it a bit to keep it going. The light gray ash held for 2 inches before falling but after that it did not hold well for the rest of the smoke. However, there were not any issues with touch ups or re-light.

Flavor, 2.8:
The first third of the torpedo produced notes of leather and spice with a cedar type finish. Even though there was not a large amount of smoke at this point, it really coated my palate well. The second third of this cigar really opened up and produced more smoke and flavor. The leather was still present, but the cedar notes were replaced by a much sweeter finish. The last third of the smoke lightened up a bit with an earthy tobacco flavor capped off with a lingering sweetness.

Overall, 2.7:
The highlight of this smoke is the flavor profile; it was a very full flavored smoke and I would rate it more towards medium to full as opposed to full bodied. The $9.00 per stick price is fair and I think most purchasers would be satisfied with that price point. I still have another Torpedo in the humidor, along with a Robusto. We will add to this review in the future when we spark the Robusto. I hope the burn issues will clear up with the next stick; if they do, this one will likely cross the 9.0 mark.

(Total: 8.9)

I’ve had a lot of discussions over the years about maduros and I’ve found many smokers have some misconceptions regarding these beauties. I am going to address some of those here.

The first item I want to discuss is strength versus the darkness of the wrapper. You cannot say with certainty that a cigar with a darker wrapper is stronger than a cigar with a lighter wrapper. For example, the Joya de Nicaragua Serie C is a strong cigar with a Connecticut wrapper. It is much stronger than the Torano Casa Torano Maduro, even though it has a nice dark wrapper. If you are a fan of stronger cigars, don’t limit yourself to dark wrapper cigars. Do the research and you will find others to try.

Secondly, the is a lot of confusion when discussing maduros- are we talking about a maduro color or the maduro process? There are about 50 color classifications to wrapper colors, usually reduced to six broad categories (thank goodness) presented below with all of their equivalent names:

• Double claro, candela, American Market Selection (AMS), jade
• Claro, natural
• Colorado claro, English Market Selection (EMS)
• Colorado
• Maduro, Spanish Market Selection (SMS)
• Oscuro, double maduro, maduro maduro, negro, black

Some of the cigars marketed as maduros are actually oscuros, or even colorado, when talking about color. Even worse is that a few manufacturers have added dyes to their cigars to make them nice and dark and labelled them as maduros. And technically, they are right- they are maduro in color.This practice was much more common in the cigar boom of the 90s, but I’m sad to say a couple of cigars at the last IPCPR show also had the dye treatment. I’m sure many of the retailers did not order them once they discovered the black stains on their mouths and fingertips. At least I hope so.

To get cigar wrappers dark naturally without dyes requires an intense and expensive fermentation process. “Maduro” translates to “ripe” in Spanish. As tobacco leaves are harvested from the fields, they are placed in curing barns for around 45 days. The leaves change from green to brown. For darker leaves, the tobacco is stacked in large piles called pillones. Heat is generated as the leaves ferment, and the pillones have to be rearranged from time to time to keep the all of the tobacco fermenting at the same rate and to inspect the progress. Leaves can spend several years (usually 3-5) in the pillones before they are finally ready. The fermentation brings out the natural sugars in the leaf causing the darkening color change. The longer this fermentation process goes the milder the wrapper becomes. The extra time and storage required for producing maduro wrapper is what leads to the maduro-wrapped versions of cigars being more expensive than their natural-wrapped counterparts.

There is another common way to create maduro wrapper. It is usually called “cooking.” It is really a steaming process where the wrapper leaf is placed in a steam chamber until the desired color is achieved. Obviously this is a quicker and cheaper method than the first method I described. The problem? It doesn’t really bring the sugars out like the natural process. The result is a maduro-colored wrapper without much of the maduro sweetness. These wrappers are usually used only on milder maduro cigars.

To do any of these methods, you must have a leaf that can take the intense process. You must use tobacco leaves that are particularly thick and hearty. Usually only leaves from the top two-thirds of the plant are used. The leaves near the top have more sugar, as the top leaves received more sunlight to fuel photosynthesis. The leaves at the top of the plant also produce more oils, which are used by the plant to help protect it from the sun. The stronger maduro wrappers are made from the top leaves of the plant, and the milder ones from the middle of the plant.

In part 2, I’ll discuss which tobacco varieties can handle this harsh process and how the region they are grown in affects their taste.