I selected an interesting batch of cigars to feature this week. The first two I bought from 2 Guys Cigars, who held their 40th anniversary festivities this weekend. One of these days I’ll make it back up there for a visit. I actually had a bad dream last night about moving to New Hampshire, we bought a run down house and I was against moving north, if I ever move, it won’t be north! Anyway, I picked up some of the newly 
released El Baton Cameroon Firecrackers by J.C. Newman and United Cigars. This branding confuses me. El Baton isn’t a budget brand, but it’s not on the Diamond Crown level, it’s a mid-line brand I guess. I love them, they are really tasty smokes (I smoked a belicoso after smoking the Firecracker). To my knowledge, it’s never had a Cameroon wrapper, where as they have made a Cuesta Rey with Cameroon. Is Cuesta Rey not a strong enough brand to carry the firecracker? Not sure what the thinking here was. Anyway, the Firecracker is 3½” x 50 with a fuse cap, and aren’t inexpensive at $9.29 each. It started on the bitter side, then the nutty Camerooniness© kicked in, just in time for it to be done. It’s too short. Like I said, I followed it with the El Baton Belicoso, and I can see where it’s in the same family. Fun smoke, happy to have added some to my firecracker collection.
When I ordered the Firecrackahs, I added on a few of the El Mago El Cubano toros, as I’ve been having good luck with the El Magos and wanted to try more. Seems like I’m doing a lot of complaining today. Neither the tube, which is very nice, nor the bands, also nice, say El Mago on them anywhere. This confuses me. This is a new brand that needs all the exposure it can get, because, in my limited experience, they are making great cigars. They can’t rely on imagery to identify the brand just yet. I’d like to see “El Mago” on the packaging somewhere. I’ll admit when I ordered these I didn’t even look at the blend, I may not have ordered them had I known they were shade wrapped cigars. But I did, so I smoked it. It was very heavy on the citrus tang, made it on the sharp side in flavor. Like other cigars in the brand, it burned very well and I enjoyed it for what it was, but it wouldn’t be my first pick. I may take one out of the tube and see if some age smoothes it out. I’ll continue sampling through the El Mago line as I come across them.
Finally, Flatbed Cigar Co. rarely has a new release. Their Panacea line is very good, please check out the daily deals on the left side of my page. You can get some great cigars at a good price. Paul announced a new line last week, the Whippoorwill, so I bought a pack to try. Despite the title of this post, it’s just Whippoorwill, not El Whippoorwill! This falls in the Homestead line, and has a Habano Oscuro wrapper, at least on most of it. The first half inch is just binder, which is Nicaraguan, and the fillers are Nicaraguan and Dominican. Once the burn reaches the wrapper, this is a really good cigar! I say that because I thought it started out a little harsh, but when that wrapper kicked in it was terrific. It smoothed out to a spicy, sweet treat, had a perfect burn and draw, and it’s 6″ x 52, my favorite size. It lasted all the way through the Thunderbolts movie, which I found entertaining (the Red Guardian cracks me up!). Good smoke, keep the great cigars coming Paul!
That’s all for today! Until the next time,
CigarCraig
