Tag Archives: Velvet Rat

Grimalkin, Macanudo M and Partagas Legend Cigars

Velvet RatI’d like to say it was a busy week, or a good week. I celebrated my 55th birthday this week, and my birthday coming always signals the end of summer which is a downer for me, always has been. I grabbed a Liga Privada, Serie Unico Velvet Rat from the humidor to celebrate, a cigar I seem to have collected several of over the years, I think this was probably the oldest as it didn’t have the Diplomat foot band. Since I have several, it was special, but not too special, ya know? It was a very good cigar, I really enjoyed it, and age had been kind to it as it displayed the smoothness and flavors I expected, which are the rich cocoa notes of the Rat without any rough edges. It was a lovely cigar and nice way to finish the day.  I appreciated all the birthday greetings I received from my friends around the world, it’s always heartwarming!

 

Grimalkin_Toro2018I’ve been negligent in getting to writing something about the new Grimalkin cigars which the folks at Emilio Cigars/Boutiques Unified generously sent me a few weeks back. This is a new imagining of the Grimalkin cigar which was originally produced at the My Father factory, and blended under the direction of Gary Griffith, when he was at the helm of Emilio cigars back in 2011ish. At the time it was a secret that My Father was making the cigar, and I think that had something to do with the Grimalkin name as much as anything, because the cigar was nothing to be embarrassed about, although I, personally, didn’t think the cigar had the hallmarks of a My Father blend. I thought it had a very smooth, complex sophistication. The new Grimalkin is made in Esteli at James Brown’s Oveja Negra factory, home of Black Label Trading Co. and Black Works Studio. The only real similarity I find between the old and new Grimalkins is that they are both exceptional cigars. This new Grimalkin has a delicious and unique sweet flavor throughout that I just couldn’t get enough of. This is a Nicaraguan Puro, no specifics other than that are given, and the Toro I smoked was 6″ x 50, and I believe it’s also offered in a 5″ x 50 Robusto. I’m going to have to dig out the old Grimalkin (they later rebranded it to the Mousa, I think…might have one of those too…) and give it a smoke, but I’m 99% sure that the new Grimalkin is a sweeter, more full-bodied experience, and not because the older ones are aged. This is a great cigar from Emilio Cigars, totally yummy.

 

Partagas_Legend_ToroLeyendaFriday I went with another new cigar, the new Partagas Legend, and Saturday I had another in a different size. First I had the Toro Leyenda, the 6 ¼” x 54 size, which is closest to my go-to size. This cigar has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, a Honduran OSA binder (General must have had a really great crop of Olancho San Augastine tobacco a few years ago because it’s showing up in many of their new blends) and Dominican Piloto Cubano filler. This cigar was delicious, and it reminded me of something, and I couldn’t place the cigar it reminded me of, but as I smoked it I couldn’t get the old Partagas Limited Reserve with the green band out of my head. Does anyone remember that one? Am I nuts?  Probably. Anyway, this Legend is a great cigar, and for the $14.49 price tag it should be. Again, there was an interesting subtle sweet flavor that i enjoyed, it doesn’t have the heaviness one would expect from a broadleaf wrapped cigar, it’s very refined. I dug it, so I had to see what the smaller, Corona Extra Leyenda vitola was all about. I have to say, Partagas_Legend_CoronaGrandeLeyendatrue to my own preferences, I didn’t find the 5 ¼” x 44 to have the same deliciousness as the larger size. as expected, it was sharper in flavor, and I preferred the smoother, rounder flavors the Toro provided, that is, not until the last two inches or so, when I started getting similar flavors, which is weird, right? You can still mark me down as a fan of the Partagas Legend, and there are very few Partagas cigars I won’t welcome into my humidor. If I had to settle on a handful of brands to have in a rotation, Partagas is one of the brands I’d have in the humidor.

 

Macanudo_M_CoronaFinally, I had to try the Macanudo M, Macanudo’s first flavor infused cigar.  I went into smoking this cigar with optimism. I’m generally OK with coffee infuse cigars, even though I’m not a big fan of infused cigars in general. This cigar was recommended to me personally by Macanudo’s brand ambassador, Laurel Tilley, at an event a few weeks back at the Wooden Indian, and I purchased a few of the 6″ x 44 corona size which she said was her favorite. If I had read the blend info before I  smoked it I may not have been so open-minded. The wrapper is Indonesian Besuki, with a Philippine binder, with the filler described as “peppered with a blend of Nicaraguan and other fine tobaccos”. Now, I realize that Sumatra is in Indonesia, and I like Sumatra tobacco, but typically I’ve not liked tobacco that’s generically described as “Indonesian”, and there have been some Filipino cigars I’ve enjoyed, but more often than not I’m not a fan, nor am I a fan of such intentional ambiguity, but I trust the folks at General, and they have had success with coffee infused cigars in the past with the Nub line for Oliva. These have a serious coffee aroma pre-light, not bad. Smoking it isn’t terribly overpowering coffee infused flavoring, it’s cocoa/coffee and tobacco, but it’s not cloying or sweet. It’s not what I expected, and it wasn’t a bad cigar, but it lacked the elegance I expected from a Macanudo, I guess. Perhaps it just wasn’t for me, perhaps I’ll give it another try under different circumstances, although not I have pre-conceived notions where I had fewer before I smoked it!

 

That’s all I have for today. I almost forgot, in the news, Villiger is shipping La Flor de Ynclan Lancero and La Vendcedora Gordo, Drew Estate is shipping the Liga Privada No. 9 and T52 new sizes and Undercrown Dogma, and Alec Bradley is Shipping the Alec and Bradley Blind Faith. All three came in as press releases, if you want to know the details, several other sites published articles. It’s  Labor Day weekend, which for most means it’s a long weekend. Enjoy some great cigars! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

 

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La Gloria Cubana, Cuenca 5 Anniversary, Arandoza White and a Velvet Rat Cigar

Friday evening I dove into the Adorini Cedro – Deluxe humidor and came out with a La Gloria Cubana Serie N GSB, which is a nice chunky robusto size at  5½”x 54.  I haven’t smoked one of these in a long time and I really enjoyed them. Unlike the new Serie R Black and Esteli, these are a heavily Nicaraguan blend rolled in the El Credito Portion of the General Cigar factory in Santiago, Dominican Republic. This is the nice, dark maduro with the little “N” of lighter colored leaf pasted on the cigar.  I’ll never forget seeing the bench in the factory where they painstakingly apply each one perfectly.  The have a hand punch that makes the “N”s and they are scattered all over the place.  It’s a wonder they can sell these as inexpensively as they do.  I picked this particular one up at my birthday party at CI in August along with a couple of the Serie R Black.   I love the rich, hearty flavor of the Serie N, although this one burned a little funky through the first half until it evened out. It happens. It was a lovely smoke and I seriously need to get more of these.  The humidor is still 90% La Gloria Cubana, and holds humidity like a champ.  I’ve said before that this is a solid box, and out-performs the Griffins humidor I have.  BTW, the Griffins humidor does a nice job too, except I have to lock it to keep the lid fully closed. The Adorini’s lid drops with a soft whoosh and doesn’t need to be locked to stay closed.  That’s the only real complaint I have with the Griffin’s box, it’s truly a great looking humidor. It’s the humidor in which I keep all my Liga Privadas and cigars I blended on my trips to Cigar Safari.

 

Cuenca_5Anniversary_RobustoSaturday I took a pre-dinner walk with a Cuenca 5 Anniversary Robusto, one I was looking for and couldn’t find the other night.  This is made for the Cuenca Cigars shop in Florida by A.J. Fernandez.  I smoked the original earlier in the year, a large torpedo, and have smoked a couple of this new robusto size and must say that it’s a very nice cigar.  Full, rich flavor and an excellent burn.  They did a very nice job with this cigar. These run $8.00 a piece, which is pricey, and the much ;larger torpedo is only $.50 more per cigar.  This is consistent with how I understand the costs of producing a cigar (there’s not a very great difference between the cost of making a corona and a Churchill), but not very consistent with normal retail pricing.  Price aside, both sizes are good tasting, good performing cigars that I wouldn’t hesitate to smoke or recommend. They have a shop in Florida somewhere, but if the address is listed on the website, I couldn’t find it and gave up looking after a while.

 

Arandoza_White_RobustoAfter dinner I took another walk and selected an Arandoza White robusto.  This is the second release from Arandoza and is made in Eric Espinosa’s La Zona factory in Esteli.  I’ve been trying to recall if I’ve had a bad cigar from this factory, and I don’t think I have.  This cigar is a Nicaraguan puro with a Dark Habano wrapper. Really a nice looking cigar.  It also burned very nicely, which is a quality I obviously enjoy.  I like seeing a cigar burn evenly, and when you tap the ash it’s perfectly flat.  That, my friends, is one sign of a great blend in my book.  Getting multiple varieties of tobacco with multiple rates of combustion to burn at the same rate is astounding to me.  This was such a cigar.  This has a nice sweet tobacco flavor with some pepper and was quite enjoyable. I have one of re-banded Blue label cigars that I’ve enjoyed in the past. They really fancied up the bands adding a foot band. Nice presentation, nice cigars.

 

LigaPrivada_Velvet RatAs I’ve been writing this, I’ve been enjoying a cigar from the Griffins humidor which returned with me from my last Cigar Safari trip.  It’s one of those unreleased cigars that I may get one or two more chances to smoke again. It’s the Velvet Rat, a smoothed out, stretched out variation of the Liga Privada Serie Unico Dirty Rat. This one has a band on it that says “pre-release sample blend”, and I’m not sure if this is on the market or not. It’s 6¼” x 46, which is a terrific size for me, and I believe the same size as the “Ratzilla”, which I haven’t had grace my humidors. This is a cigar that I’m glad that I’m enjoying on the deck and not out taking a walk.  It’s smooth and rich, not a real heavy smoke like it’s smaller sibling.  It’s sweet and full of flavor and I’m about ready to publish this post right now and just sit and enjoy the rest of the cigar sitting in the sun on a beautiful fall afternoon.  It’s no secret that the majority of the Liga Privada blends suit my palate pretty well, and this is a tasty treat for sure.

 

That’s enough from me, until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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