The weather’s been all over the place this week, from 70 on Monday to a few inches of heavy, wet snow today. Between the weather, trying to get stuff done in the house so we can move in this weekend, and Thanksgiving tomorrow, it’s been a busy week. I still managed to get a few cigars in, they are helping me retain any sanity I have left. I started off Sunday afternoon with a nice cigar from Gran Habano, the Gran Reserva No. 5 2010 Gran Robusto. This is a 6″ x 54 toro presented with a cedar sleeve. The wrapper and binder are identified as Corojo 2005 and Habano 2005 respectively, with filler from Jalapa. I’m not entirely sure where the 2010 comes into play, or whether the 2005 wrapper and binder are crop years, but this is a really nice cigar. It burned perfectly and had a nice smooth spice. This was a full flavors smoke and considering it’s priced well, has the taste and feel of the well aged cigar that it apparently is. Certainly a cigar that would have a broad appeal and could be smoked just about any time.
Monday’s cigar was delicious, but it was a little over humidified, so I’ll revisit it at a later date. It didn’t smoke they way it should have and I always give cigars the benefit of the doubt when they don’t work right. Tuesday I decided to try a cigar I bought when I was in New York City a few weeks ago and visited the Martinez Cigar factory. This cigar was from their Pasion line, which is a blend of Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers with a Nicaraguan wrapper rolled right in New York City. When I tell you this factory is small, I’m not exaggerating. They have one and a half pairs of 
rollers! One roller concentrates on one line and makes a bunch of their small cigars every day, and a pair works in the normal fashion of a buncher and a wrapper. They age all their cigars in a basement escaparate. It’s a tiny little hole in the wall near Penn Station. The Pasion is a little rustic looking, but it had a free draw and had a very Cuban feel to way it smoked. The flavor had a nice spice and was smooth. This is a place to visit when in the big apple, especially if you’ve never seen cigars being rolled. The cigars are in the $8 to $10 range for the most part, which isn’t uncommon for NYC.
Tonight, in the snow, I smoked a Foundry Rare Air ET-P2 in a 5 ½” x49 robusto (the same size as the Partagas Robusto, which is an unusual size that I really like). The story with the Rare Air series is that they used some seeds from the 1960s that General Cigar has in their library of seeds, germinated and grown on their farm in Mao in the Dominican Republic. I had the good fortune to visit Mao in 2011, although it was before the growing season and was just being planted with some experimental crops unrelated to Foundry. As with most of the Foundry lines, there is little info about the blend, except that it’s grown in the Dominican Republic. I personally have really enjoyed the majority of cigars in the Foundry portfolio, 
and this was no different. It’s a dark cigar, with rich, lush flavors that suit my palate to a tee. It also has a little different something there that makes it unique, and special. This is one of those cigars that could be a go-to smoke, it’s a shame it’s limited. I’ll be interested to see how the other cigars in this line smoke. There are a lot of very reasonably priced cigars in the Foundry line, alas, this isn’t one, coming in just under $10. A fine smoke in my humble opinion.
That’s it for now. For all my American readers, have a safe and happy Thanksgiving! Try to find time to follow your feast with a nice smoke. Until the next time,
CigarCraig
the Pasión, which I enjoyed. The factory is a little store front near Penn Station, where they have three rollers producing all of their cigars. Two of them work in a pair, with one bunching and one applying wrappers, and the other guy spends the majority of his time rolling small cigars that they sell a ton of to mostly walk it customers. They have a basement aging room, where their cigars age for at least six months. I remember this from my visit, so if things have changed in the last year and a half since my visit, I apologize. If you find yourself in Manhattan,check this place out.
A few weeks ago, the folks at Martinez sent me a little three cigar box of their Pasión in the Piramides size, a 6″ x 52 figurado. The Pasión line is wrapped in a Nicaraguan wrapper with fillers from Nicaragua and Honduras. These are very nice cigars, they have a quality that reminds me of a Cuban cigar, both in the way they are rolled and the basic flavor. They are earthy with a hint of sweetness, but mostly a savory flavor. Considering these are manufactured in one of the most expensive cities in the USA, these are reasonably priced in the $10 range, and are well worth a try.
