Tag Archives: Viva Republica

Merlions, Fratello, Viva Republica and Evil Genius Cigars and a Contest!

I have been remiss in having contests! Between job hunting, the whole pre-IPCPR news deluge, a lack of companies being forthcoming with goodies to giveaway contributed to this, but mostly it’s my forgetfulness. I’m going to make up for it now. The prize is going to be a selection of cigars from my humidor relating to the cigars featured in this post, and then some, no less than five, most likely more. A few I don’t have more of, but that will me more than made up for, rest assured.  I also will include a Stage V Clinger Cigar Clip! It’s not going to be the usual random, pick a comment out of a hat game this time, I’m going to require a little work. There still might be some randomness, because I don’t think it’s going to be that hard. More on that at the end of the post.

 

Let’s get started! Last week I went on a bit of a La Sirena bender, and I guess I omitted the Merlion brand from that bender, because a package showed up from Danny D this week with a few of the Merlion Robustos and Merlion Maduro Toros with a note thanking me for the post! Merlion Maduro Toro is a favorite of mine, and I have half a box on the shelf, but I’m always happy to add a few to the box, and I’m sure I had some naturals around, so the omission last week was more because I ran out of time than anything else, but I always appreciate the generosity of my friends and valued sponsors! La Sirena is a great little company and produces beautiful cigars which I highly recommend, and will feature prominently in this week’s contest prize, by the way! So I smoked the Merlion Maduro Toro from existing stock, as the ones that arrived this week came off a very hot UPS truck and needed some resting time. The Merlion is made in the DR, with a Mexican San Andrés maduro wrapper, Brazilian Sumatra binder, and Brazilian, Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. The only difference between this and the “natural” Merlion is wrapper, we’ll get to that later. As I said, this is a cigar I really enjoy. It’s not a traditional Toro, as the size is 5½” x 54, but it has pretty much the same burn time for me, so it’s OK.

 

Fratello_Oro_RobustoNext up was a Fratello Oro Robusto. This is Omar de Frias’ Third release, and his first cigar out of his home country of Dominican Republic. Of course, Oro means “Gold” in Italian, which fits in with his theme of a cigar with an Italian brand name. Of course, Oro is also Spanish for Gold, so everyone can figure it out. I’m two releases behind on the Fratello portfolio, sad to say, I still haven’t smoked the Navetta, and the new Navetta Inverso. I gotta get my hands on those two. I have to check the humidor for some Biancos, as this week is the Diner en Blanc in Philadelphia, which my wife and I are attending, and I like to have a selection of “white” themed cigars along. I have my white guayabera all ready to go. Anyway, the Fratello Oro has a n Ecuador Connecticut wrapper, Cameroon binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. I think the Cameroon binder is what makes this cigar stand our from other “shade” cigars, it gives it a little special something, that “Camerooniness” that sets it apart, along with the little extra oomph from the Nicaraguan in the filler blend. It’s a really flavorful cigar, smooth and creamy with some sweetness and spice. A very nice cigar.

 

EvilGenius_TimeMachine_RobustoNext up I had to really do some humidor diving for, but it was worth it. This was a cigar from a company that used to be called Evil Genius Cigars, but due to some trademark dispute or another, has ended up with the name “Censored Genius Cigars“. These guys are basically neighbors of mine, up the road in Allentown, PA, and came on the scene in 2013 with a couple of cigars called White Chapel and Black Chapel, I think the White was the stronger cigar and the Black was the milder, but maybe I’m thinking of some other tricky brand that tried that game. The cigar I chose was the Time Machine, and I want to say it came out at the 2015 IPCPR show. One aside, when ever I meet with the guys at this company, whatever they call themselves, I feel short, and I’m 6″ 0″.  I think the shorted among them is about 6″ 4”. The Time Machine Robusto is 5″ x 50, wrapped in Nicaraguan Habano, with a Nicaraguan Corojo binder and Dominican and Cameroon fillers.  Interesting, one doesn’t generally see Cameroon used in  the filler but it can’t all be wrapper or even binder quality, can it? This was an interesting tasting cigar, and, with three years of age, it performed very well. I don’t recall having smoked this before, maybe I did, I’d have to look back, but it was a good smoke and I’d smoke it again. I’ve lost touch with Alex and his guys, perhaps I’ll run into them someplace in the area one of these days.

 

VivaRepublica_RaptureCRA_RothchildAfter nine years of being a Cigar Rights of America member, and not smoking many of the cigars they send me when I renew, I came across this Viva Republica Rapture in a Rothchild size that was the right size for the time I had, and piqued my curiosity. I have a bunch of CRA banded cigars, somehow I never have gotten the Ligas, or the Opus or anything like that, but some of them probably have enough age on them that I should smoke them. There’s one Hawaiian something or other I never heard of, but the rest are name brands. Anyway, Viva Republica is a brand that is owned by another Pennsylvanian, Jason Holly, who owns a cigar store up in the Scranton/Wilkes Barre area of PA (way up north). They say that the CRA banded cigars are special blends, so this might not be right, but the cigar might have been 4½”x 50 (it most likely was) Ecuadorian Havana Vuelta Abajo wrapper, with Dominican Republic  binder, Nicaragua, Brazil, Dominican Republic filler.  Could have been, I don’t know,  but it was a really tasty cigar, I’m not going to dwell on it too much because it’s an oddball. I would recommend trying the Rapture line, if you are a CRA member and you have this one in your humidor, smoke it, you’ll not be disappointed, if you’re not a CRA member, why not? sign up, tell them I sent you!

 

Merlion_RobustoFinally, I circled back to the Merlion Natural, the original Merlion, and the second release from La Sirena. Like I said earlier, this has an Ecuador Corojo wrapper, with Brazilian Sumatra binder, and Brazilian, Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. The robusto was 5″ x 50 and the band is easily 4″, but, brilliantly, and much to the dismay of the factory staff tasked with the application of the bands, it’s in two parts, so when the lower part is removed, one is still left with a beautiful upper band, and a beautiful band it/they is/are. I like this cigar, but I’m not as fond of it as I am of the maduro version. There’s not a darned thing wrong with the cigar, but it’s a strong argument about the wrapper making a huge difference in the flavor of a cigar, and there a flavor in the Ecuador Corojo on this that isn’t in my particular wheelhouse. Oddly, and people argue that smaller ring gauge cigars showcase the wrapper flavor, the little Merlion Sea Lion perfecto is fantastic! I guess I’m just weird, a point which is rarely disputed. Anyway, I do like the entire La Sirena portfolio, but you can’t love everything.

 

Contest!

Aug12 PrizeThe prize: An orange Stage V Clinger, a cigar holding device that’s got a magnet and a velcro strap and gently holds your cigar when you’re out and about. It’s heavily marketed to golfers, but I’ve used one around the yard, when I’m out on walks (it’s handy if I have to go to someone’s door, I leave my cigar clipped to the mailbox so I don’t have to be standing at the door with a cigar). It’s a nifty device, and it’s free, who are you to complain!  Also, I’ll put together a selection of cigars from my humidor that will include a Merlion Maduro Toro, a Merlion Robusto, an Anchor by La Sirena, an Oceano Atlantic and a La Sirena Trident. No doubt, some other cigars appropriate to the theme of this contest, but would give the answer away, will make it into the prize pack. So your job is to leave a comment, but this time you have to look back a the five cigars mentioned in this post and tell me what they all have in common! I’ll choose a winner from the correct responses next Sunday, August 19, 2018. It’s pretty easy, good luck!

 

That’s all for now, until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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Viva Republica Art of War Corona Gorda

Taking a walk with a Viva Republica Art of War 6x47 - @miamicigar @mcc_wood @vivarepublicaThis year at the IPCPR show, Jason Holley’s Viva Republica released the Art Of War, a larger format in the Warfare series. Jason works for Miami Cigar and Co. who distributes his brand, and has (as far as I know) a store in the north-eastern part of Pennsylvania. The sample provided came in a cardboard box and no band, I imagine the bands weren’t ready, or maybe this is how it’s being presented. I’ll be on the hunt for more of these and will update you on what I find. Did I just give away my final thoughts on this cigar?  I smoked the corona gorda, a 6″ x 47, which is a great size, it smokes a little longer than a robusto, but has a comfortable ring gauge. The cigar also has a “bun” style pigtail cap, which didn’t twist off as well as I would have liked, so it got a little help from the Xikar. The wrapper is a stalk cut Connecticut Broadleaf, not sure why they specify “stalk cut” as I was under the impression that all Connecticut Broadleaf was stalk cut. Whatever it’s called, it’s a fairly rustic wrapper, beautiful in it’s ugliness. On the other end is a unique feature, one which sets this cigar apart. The foot is covered, neatly, almost like a cap, not folded like most closed foot cigars. The other difference is that the leaf used on this looks like a Connecticut shade, but is listed as Dominican Candela. It’s beige, not green, so I imagine “claro” would be a better description. The rest of the blend is  Ecuadorian Sumatra binder and fillers of various priming’s from Colombia, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.

 

Ironically, I was deciding between this cigar and the Merlion maduro, both made at the La Aurora factory.  I took flame to the foot without toasting, which I generally do with a closed foot, no reason to waste that added boost of wrapper flavor. I got a blast of that sweet, creamy shade (in this case, “candela”) flavor that was really nice, then the broadleaf kicked in, and it was a great, dark, rich closed footespresso flavor that I love so. I don’t usually notice a “room note”, but two things happened tonight that made me think of it. First, I was walking on the local multi-use trail with Macha, and an approaching cyclist informed me that “we’re trying to breath here”, which I thought was odd since my cigar had been in my hand for a good minute as he was approaching me, not like he was behind me running into my smoke trail, so I have to imagine his spandex suit was inhibiting his  breathing as there’s no way he even smelled my cigar, let alone been effected by its smoke. I just laughed as I wasn’t quick enough to come back with something along the lines of “I’m trying to have a relaxing walk without the interference of a-holes…” or something. Anyway, I finish my cigar after my walk on the back porch and since the weather was nice, the door to the house was open, which usually isn’t a problem, but when I walked in it smelled like smoke drifted in and it smelled pretty bad, stale cigarette bad. So perhaps the “room note” on this one wasn’t great, but the flavor was and I’ll be in the market for more. The uniqueness of the flavor on the light up, through the strong, dark flavor intrigued me, and I was satisfied with the experience. One to look out for.

 

That’s it for today. Feel free to spread Sunday’s post around if you want. There was some good feedback. Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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El Centurion, a Couple Cigars at Cigar Brothers and a Viva Republica and a Test

ElCenturian_RobustoI mixed it up a little this week. I had determined that whatever was up with my tasters last week had passed, hence the Bugatti post, so I pushed forward.  My methodology for determining this, not that you asked, was to smoke familiar cigars for a few days. Fairly straight forward, and it also lets me enjoy some favorites, like a Nica Rustica, La Sirena and BCP’s SixZero Robolo. So I grabbed a My Father Cigars El Centurian Robusto, which is 5¾” x 50, which is a bit long for a rubusto, but I’m OK with that. The blend, from what I can tell, is a sungrown Criollo 99 wrapper, with Nicaraguan fillers of four varietals,  Criollo, Corojo Habano, and Sancti Spiritus. I typically don’t care for Criollo 99, there’s just something about it that I don’t get excited about. While I think the El Centurian is a good cigar, it certainly performed well, was well constructed and didn’t have an objectionable flavor, it just isn’t one of the cigars that I might reach for again. Nothing wrong with it, just not in my wheel house, it’s a shame because I really like the presentation and want to like it. I never had the pleasure of smoking the original blend of this cigar.

 

Yesterday I met up with Mike C., who, along with his daughter, are producing WineadorArt, and we visited Cigar Brothers Cigars in Berwyn, PA.  There’s a couple of things I like about this shop, one of the brother’s who owns the place EPCarillo_NewWaveCTResis named Craig, nothing not to like there, right?  It’s in an old house, with the store on the lower level and the lounge in the upstairs rooms, of which there are two. Hanging out there is basically like being at home and being able to smoke and watch TV, it’s small enough for intimate conversation with out interuptions or distractions. The weakness is the lack of a large space for events, and, my opinion, maintaining proper storage conditions in the store area, which is one large humidified space. We bought some cigars and went upstairs to smoke. I started with an E.P. Carillo New Wave Reserva Connecticut Belicoso D’Oro. This cigar is 5.7″ x 52 with a well-formed torpedo head. It’s got an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper, Connecticut Broadleaf Binder, and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. I enjoyed this  cigar, but I was expecting something a little more Connecticut Shade, if that makes sense. The wrapper was darker than I expected, which intrigued me and lead to the purchase. It burned well, and was tasty enough, just fairly un-UC_Torounique to me. It was a great cigar to just sit and smoke during conversation without having to think about it. I bought a couple more which I’ll leave in the humidor for a while and revisit. I then moved on to the Undercrown Shade in a toro size. Cigar Brothers had these very reasonably priced and I like them well enough to want to keep some on hand, so I added to the inventory I had at home. While this cigar smoke fairly well, I got the sense that it was not quite as dry as I prefer, going back to what I mentioned about the challenges of having your store be a humidor. I might have had better luck than Mike since the cigars I chose had thinner wrappers, and his selections for the day had thicker wrappers that suck up more humidity. Picking your spot in the shop to buy cigars you plan to smoke there I think is key, and take the ones in the area closer to the humidifiers home to leave in your humidor for a while. I hate to criticize, because I love everything else about the shop (especially Craig’s dogs, who visit from time to time), but having a over-moist cigar be a disappointment in a great environment is a bummer.

 

VivaRepublica_Advanced Warefare_PetiteSince I had already smoked two cigars while out, when I got home and took Macha for her walk, I went small, with a Viva Republica Advanced Warefare Petite. This 4″ x  41 little guy packs a punch, it’s a peppy little cigar! It’s made at La Aurora in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, with Dominican, Nicaraguan and Pennsylvanian leaf in the filler blend. Jason Holly, the brand owner, is a Pennsylvania guy and works for Miami Cigar and Co. as a brand ambassador, among other things. So this was a perfect smoke for the half-hour or so it took Macha and I to make our mile-plus walk. Burn was perfect, it was quite satisfying for a short smoke and it fit the situation well. It’s a great cold weather cigar because it’s loaded with flavor, although it’s tough handling small cigar with gloves.

 

The folks at Bobalu Cigars in Austin, TX have this clever test on their site. Here’s a link, or you can take it right here if whatever you’re reading on supports the embedded page. I thought it was very challenging and well done. Tell you what, I’ll send a 5-pack to the first person to match my score, take a screenshot of your score and post it in the comments or if you can’t do that be prepared to e-mail it as proof. Deadline for entry is Next Sunday, Feb. 14. Good luck!

Test Your Cigar Knowledge

[pageview url=”http://bobalu.com/blog/test-cigar-knowledge/” border=”yes” scrolling=”yes”]

 

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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