One evening at the IPCPR trade show Corey and I were hanging out at the Laguna Champagne Bar in the Palazzo Hotel, which was the big after hours spot at this year’s show, and Juan Cancel handed me a Protocol Corona Gorda and a Probable Cause robusto. I was thrilled to finally get my hands on some of the Protocol cigars, as I 
have yet to find any in the year that these have been on the market. Juan and his partner Bill Ives started Cubariqueño Cigars last year, having their cigars made at the La Zona factory in Esteli, and they’ve been a runaway hit. Tonight I smoked the Probable Cause, a lovely box pressed robusto measuring 5″ x 52, although the box press makes it seem smaller than that. The cigar has Nicaraguan binder and filler, covered with a Mexican San Andrés wrapper that is dark and oily. I found this to be a powerful cigar, and, like the rest of the cigars manufactured at La Zona, the burn and draw were perfect. They say this is a medium strength cigar with full flavor, but I thought it was a little powerhouse. It was loaded with dark, rich espresso flavors and had a unique spice that I couldn’t put a finger on, but was quite entertaining. Juan and Bill have a winner with their sophomore release, it’s a shame that the FDA and our government is against this sort of creativity and entrepreneurship. Two cops from New Jersey/New York have brought some exceptional cigars to the market!
Poll Results
Last week’s poll about the possibility of a CigarCraig.com Secret Santa program results are in 96% of respondents are in favor, with 4% not in favor, so if I can’t pull off a big holiday giveaway like I’ve done in years passed, we can have some fun among ourselves, at least with the 23 people who registered a “yes” vote in the poll. Hopefully we can get more of you interested. I haven’t written off a giveaway of some sort.
That’s all I have for now, until the next time,
CigarCraig
Pretty cool that a cigar named Probable Cause, is a little powerhouse. Good review.
Probable Cause … sounds like my kind of cigar.