Ultra | CigarCraig's Blog

Earlier in the week I was going through one of the desktop humidors refreshing my memory on what was in there, and I came across a cigar that I remember buying a couple of at a local shop on closeout. I distinctly remember the occasion, it was a bitter cold January evening the first winter we had moved to our current house, making it the winter of 2015. After dinner I ran up to the local shop with my tablet to write a blog post and smoke a cigar in the warmth of the shop, and got there around 6, not realizing they closed at 7. They had these 2011 Quesada Oktoberfest Über, a monolithic 6″ x 65 cigar, in the discount area priced at $5, and, not being able to resist a bargain, I grabbed a handful. Of course, I didn’t get too far into the behemoth before having to head home to finish the cigar bundled up on the cigar porch. I came across the last of the few I bought that night in the bottom corner of this humidor sitting there un-cello’d, and lonely, and I hate to see a cigar sitting there like that, all vulnerable and whatnot, so I decided to take it for one last walk. It’s kind of amazing how much room that one cigar freed up on the humidor, but I wish I had more! After three and a half years in my humidor, and much longer than that since being rolled, this cigar developed into the most floral flavored cigar I’ve smoked in a very long time. I’m not normally into that, but this was enjoyable for being outside of the norm. Every puff of the nearly three-hour smoke was delightfully refreshing, and I don’t recall the ones I smoked previously smoking that way. I think I still have a 2016 Oktoberfest around, should I smoking now, or wait until 2023?

I finally got around to smoking the Fratello Navetta this week, and I smoked both the Endeavor, the 6 ¼” x 54 Toro and the Atlantis Boxer 6 ¼” x 52 Box Pressed Torpedo. Obviously both are similar in size, but they smoked differently. The blend is an Ecuadorian Oscuro Wrapper, Dominican Binder and Nicaragua Filler, with one of the components having a good amount of age, and I can’t remember which, I should have made note of that, it’s an important detail that doesn’t seem to be noted anywhere. This line was released in 2017 and commemorates the NASA Space Shuttle program, Omar was a part of 21 shuttle missions with NASA. In line with the Italian name of his brand, Navatta is Italian for Shuttle. Why did it take me so long to sample the Navetta when I’ve been such a fan of the Fratello brand since it’s beginnings in 2012? I guess I just haven’t seen them on shelves and haven’t gone nuts hunting them down. This week I happened to be in two shops that had them, and received the Endeavor as a generous gift, and bought the Atlantis at a Fratello event. This cigar is medium bodied and what I call sophisticated, with a nice subtle spice and some light espresso. The box pressed torpedo had a more open draw, so it expressed those flavors a little more than that toro, which was less generous with the smoke output. I really enjoy the “Boxer” vitola in all of Omar’s Fratello lines, and I really dug the Atlantis in the Navetta as well. there’s something about the box pressed torpedo that works for me. These are pricey, but really exceptional smokes, and I’m anxious to try the Navetta Inverso when it hits retailers in the coming months. Stay tuned for the upcoming CigarCraig’s Podcast where I talk with Omar de Frias. I also smoked a Fratello Bianco IV, the 6 ½ x 54 in the line at the event at Old Havana Cigar Co. in West Chester, PA Friday and loved it.

Since the Fratello Bianco and Navetta (and Classico, everything but the Oro line) is made at the Joya de Nicaragua factory, and I get on streaks, I figured I’d smoke the Joya Silver Ultra, which is the Corona Extra in the line. I really liked the Toro I smoked, and I don’t think I mentioned it in a blog post, I think I was waiting to smoke some of the other sizes first, and I still want to get my hands on some more of the Toros, we all know I like Toros. I have a Robusto and Corona left to sample, and so far the Corona Extra was really good, but not as good as the Toro. I think additional heat from the smaller ring gauge reduced the sweetness a bit to me. The blend is an Ecuador Habano wrapper with a San Andrès binder and Nicaraguan fillers, but I found the flavor to be very unique and appealing to me, with the smaller ring gauge having a predictable sharper sensation. I’ll be interested to see how the corona and robusto compare. So far, in Joya’s “New Age” line, this is my favorite, the Red is OK, and I never really was able to get a handle on the Black, which perplexed me, I should have been all over that line, but it hasn’t grabbed me, perhaps I’ll give it another go. They include the Cabinetta in the Joya series, which I love. I can always rely on an Antaño 1970 or Dark Corojo, or any of the related special cigars in the Joya de Nicaragua stable, it remains a favorite factory of mine.