I had a busy week working on a side project, and I slacked of on original content and made up for it with a bunch of news pieces through the week. So I had the luxury of smoking some old favorites, some older than others. One notable cigar was a Fuente Hemingway Classic. For along time I preferred the Signature over the Classic, it seemed like the Classics I smoked all had a metallic flavor to them I didn’t like. Granted, this was in the ’90s, and several 
factors change. The box I’ve had in the humidor for the last three or four years has been spectacular. A La Sirena Trident (Churchill) from he first batch that La Zona made was equally enjoyable. Yesterday I smoked a Nica Rustica Belly from a bundle I bought at the release party in Louisville, KY in July of 2015 that was wonderful, and a Room 101 Uncle Lee from the end of Matt Booth’s Davidoff years. And then, there was the new stuff…
It seems like every blogger and his brother has been reviewing the new Cohiba Royale. I apologize for being another one of them. I suppose when General Cigar sends a bunch of folks samples in the mail, and people can’t get to stores to buy new cigars to review or talk about, this sort of redundancy, repetitiveness, repeating oneself, saying he same thing over and over, will happen. I know that my inventory of newer cigars is 
running low. Enough excuses. This new Cohiba is interesting. It’s also expensive. Granted, it’s less than one third the price of the Cohiba Spectre, but it’s still not a cheap date. The Royale runs from $23.99 to $28.99, which is much more than my usual cigar budget, so smoking this falls into “treat” territory. I suppose the special occasion is surviving another day of global pandemic madness. Anyhoo, this particular Cohiba hits a few milestones for the brand. It’s the first to be made at HATSA in Honduras. This factory makes Punch, Hoyo and the like. This is also the first to use a Nicaraguan Broadleaf wrapper, and this is what really makes this cigar special in my opinion. The binder is Dominican Piloto Cubano and the fillers are from the Jamastran Valley in Honduras and Jalapa and Esteli in Nicaragua. I personally find the cigar to be quite delicious, and I can’t wait to see what some age does to this blend, even though they say that the tobaccos have five to six years age already. It has some sweetness and spice, but there is a little sour note here and there that makes it interesting. I smoked the toro, which is the largest size, and I would have liked a better burn and draw from a cigar in this price range, but that should come with some humidor time as these samples were only about a week off the truck. I look forward to the day when I can catch up with Sean Williams and smokes one of these with him.
The other new cigar I smoked was another one from Providencia Cigars. This one gave me pause, being a non-drinker. It’s the Barrel Aged Old Fashion, and had a pronounced “boozy” aroma to me. After almost thirty years of not drinking, it’s not like something like this is going to make me fal of the wagon, there’s nothing to worry about there. I actually have some liquor in the house for guests, it’s never a temptation. What it means is that I really have no frame of reference for booze related flavors. I don’t think I have ever had an Old Fashion, if I have it was over 30 years ago. I was more of a beer and shots guy than a cocktail guy when I drank. So this cigar was a toro sized cigar, wrapped in a San Andrés wrapper with an Indonesian binder and Honduran and Nicaraguan Ometepe in the filler blend. The magic happens when they age the cigars for four months in barrels that contained Old Fashion cocktail drink from the Little Water Distillery in Atlantic City, NJ. I was a little surprised that the cigars were in the barrel in cello, but that goes to show you that cello
is permeable, and I’m sure it reduces damage to the cigars. The cigar smoked beautifully, like every Providencia cigar I’ve ever smoked. There are a couple small Honduran cigar factories that are making exceptional cigars, and Providencia is one of them. I suppose an Old Fashioned has some sweetness, because there was a nice sweetness to this cigar. This is basically the Providencia Bloodshot blend, aged in the barrels, so the cocoa and dark chocolate are enhanced with the sweetness. I enjoyed it, even if I couldn’t relate to the liquor aspect of the cigar. I may have to root around and see if I have a Bloodshot to compare it to! Providencia Cigars never seem to disappoint, and I am so grateful to Ray for sharing his new blends with me.
That’s al for today, be safe out there, support your local retailers so you have somplace to go when things open up again, and enjoy your day. Until the next time,
CigarCraig
When we were in Miami back in September, we m 
