We have a General Cigar Company centric post today. General Cigar is kind enough to send me samples of their new stuff from time to time, the curious thing about all these new releases is that I rarely see them on retailers shelves for some reason. Now, I don’t get out much, and my sample size is pretty small, but it doesn’t seem like a lot of these get a lot of traction. I can pull out a handful of Macanudos and Partagas cigars from my humidor that most people 
probably have never heard of or seen. Many of them are really good cigars too, it’s a little bewildering. I should stop biting the hand that feeds me. I’ll have to do a vintage GCC cigars post one of these days. Anyway, the latest batch of new releases included new lines from Partagas, Macanudo and El Rey Del Mundo. We’ll start with the Partagas. Interestingly, the Partagas Y Nada Mas Santiago, isn’t made at General’s factory in Santiago, perhaps that’s what the name alludes to? It’s made by William Ventura. I’ve not liked a great many cigars I’ve smoked made in this factory. This cigar was a pleasant surprise. It has a Habano 2000 wrapper, Sumatra binder and a filler blend of Piloto, Corojo, Ecuadoran something and Broadleaf. I really liked this cigar, it had a toasty spice kind of thing going on. I smoked a few of these and would be interested in trying the toro and gordo sizes, although I think the 5″ x 50 robusto size burned a good long time.
Next up was the Macanudo Gold Label Limited Edition Torpedo. This is a 6½” x 52 torpedo, with a Connecticut Shade (Capa Especial) wrapper, a Mexican binder, and a filler blend of Mexican and Dominican tobaccos. The wrapper and binder are lower priming tobacco, second priming for the wrapper. The first one of these I tried a couple weeks back was a dud, it refused to burn for some reason. The second one I smoked yesterday was perfect, as 99% of the Macanudos I’ve smoked in my life have been. It was a good smoke. It wasn’t overly mild, it had some flavor, it was a little nutty, a little creamy. I guess it’s a Macanudo with the strength bumped up a notch. It was a very pleasant smoke, one that would be good in the morning with coffee. Speaking of that, it’s midway through June and it hasn’t yet been warm enough to have that morning cigar yet, and that annoys me!
El Rey Del Mundo is a brand that was in my rotation back in the 90’s. I smoked a lot of the tissue wrapped Rectangulars, and I had one a few years ago and it was still really good. I think JR Cigars/Santa Clara might be a little peeved that General is taking this brand national and they (JR Cigars/Santa Clara) had an exclusive on this for many years. There was a size that was named after JR Founder Lew Rothman’s wife, the Flor de LaVonda, with was a pyramid size. I think Lew had a lot to do with the brand. The El Rey Del Mundo Appointment is a nw cigar made at the HATSA factory in Honduras. The wrapper is Julio Eiroa’s Cameroon seed grown in Honduras, with a Connecticut Broadleaf binder and Nicaraguan and Ecuadoran fillers. The Partagas also has Ecuadoran filler, with no mention of varietal, which I find odd. Anyway, it would be hard for me to imagine a cigar burning better than this one did! All the tobaccos burned at exactly the same rate, leaving the ember flat and the burn straight. For a cigar under $10, this is a real winner. The flavor was on the savory side, with some wood, spice, and a little sweetness. I really enjoyed it, and the 5″ x 50 robusto smoked for well over an hour. This is another cigar I’ll look for on the larger sizes.
That’s all for today. Happy Father’s Day. I have my traditional Father’s Day cigar lined up, an Esperanza Para Los Niños from 1999, now 26 years old! The Esperanza Para Los Niños project is mentioned in this Cigar Aficianado article (linked). These still smoke well, at least the one I smoked last year did! Until the next time,
CigarCraig
