Top Hat Tobacco Blog

Casa Torano Maduro on a nice Spring day

Like many of the younger generation who has smoked more than a few, I really like a good Maduro cigar. I love the Maduros that kick up the strength like the CAO LX2 and Partagas Black. I love the sweeter side of Maduro like the Sancho Panza Double Maduros. Now, I am also a fan of the vast Carlos Torano line, so naturally when I saw they recently took their house blend called the Casa Torano and wrapped it in a very black maduro wrapper, I had to try one.

I snagged one of their generous Torpedo size…a 6.5×54 gauge.  I examined the jet blackness and I could see the nice sheen of oils coming off this Ecuadorian grown maduro wrapper and my juices were flowing. It smelled nice and sweet and was very aromatic pre-light. I cut off part of the torpedo and lit it up with my favorite stick matches provided by Top Hat Tobacco.

Oh, I hope Santa is nicer to me than Carlos Torano on this day. For very rarely am I this excited to try smoke and get smacked down almost instantly. Wow…immediately I got a nasty peppery acid in the back of my throat. The smell of the smoke was very foul and thick…it smelled…well, smoky I guess. More like the way a room smells the day after smoking than during the experience. Perhaps I jumped on these new sticks too soon and should have let them age in Top Hat’s humidor a bit longer.

I had to go to their website and see what they had to say about this thing:

“Casa Torano is a nice little story. What was once used as the family’s house blend, and a cigar only handed out at Torano rolling events, has now become one of Carlos Torano’s top-selling brands. So much so, it was only necessary to give it a maduro-wrapped counterpart. And so, Casa Torano Maduro was born, a mellow blend of Dominican and Nicaraguan long-fillers wrapped in a dark and toothy maduro leaf. Complex, yet balanced, this mild to medium-bodied mixture results in a creamy, spicy, earthy smoke with a rich, naturally sweet aftertaste. It’s mild enough to pair with your morning cup of coffee and flavorful enough to top off a hearty steak dinner.”

Now I find those notes amusing because anytime I’ve been to a cigar rolling event, the cigar has always tasted the way this one does…very bitter and not yet ready to smoke. But because you are at the event, you light it up anyway interested to know what a freshly rolled stogie tastes like, only to be re-taught a valuable lesson. Thankfully I had a stiff Schlafly Oatmeal Stout beer to wash down the strong cigar tastes.

I will say that about half way through, the cigar did warm up a bit and started to provide some coffee aftertaste and a little more pleasant spice in the throat, but you really shouldn’t have to smoke half of a cigar before you enjoy it.  It did produce a nice white non-flaking ash that broke off after it reached about 2 inches.

In Torano’s defense, I do think they make outstanding cigars and we offer nearly their full line in our shop, especially the spicy Virtuoso line. And I will say that last night I actually smoked the Casa Torano natural and thought it was a nice mild smoke. But, I think maybe this Maduro version was pushed out a little too soon to jump on the Maduro bandwagon.

If you do want to try these out anyway, Top Hat sells them for around $120 a box…very reasonable and I think over time they will loose some of their bitter opening. Or at least I hope so!  They are much too pretty to taste so bad….

Written by Eric Cigar Reviews and Related Topics www.tophatcigar.com

The Chateau Real line of cigars is being touted as Drew Estates answer to Macanundo. As most of you know, Macanundo is known for making good mild cigars. The Drew Estate website calls this cigar “ultra smooth, naturally sweet, and deliciously creamy. Refined and elegant, it is the epitome of a relaxing cigar.”

After smoking the Chateau Real Maduro Gran Templar (52 ring gauge by 6 inches, corona gorda), I have to agree with most of their descriptions. The cigar is quite handsome right out of the cellophane.  It has a rich chocolate, oily, grainy color that just looks tasty. The aroma is also pretty nice with notes of rich earth on the wrapper and sweet red wine at the foot. The maduro wrapper is from San Andres. I had difficulty getting accurate names for all the tobacco. Some sites call the wrapper San Andres Negro Oscuro, which may just be variations of the color shade. The filler consists of Nicaraguan Criollo and Dominican Piloto long fillers.

This cigar  feels like it has some heft to it. The rolling construction of the wrapper looks nice and I saw no obvious flaws along its length. However, I did feel a few soft spots which caused me some concern. But overall, this cigar looked well constructed for a maduro costing less than $6 a stick.

The cigar took a couple of wooden matches to get lit evenly. The draw was free with very slight resistance. The amount of smoke I was getting with each draw at first was disappointing.  I attribute this to the soft spots I felt earlier in different places along the cigar, especially the foot. This is a good example of how underfilling a cigar can affect the draw negatively.  Overall though, this was a minor negative which went away as the cigar burned down a bit.

Luckily the flavors were nice and smooth.  The cigar started off with a nice sweet mocha taste along with some “twangy” wood flavors. There was a slight scratch of pepper to the back of the throat, more like Coke than Pepsi.  The finish was clean with some slight pencil lead residue left in the mouth.  Eventually I also tasted roasted peanuts, some cedar and highlights of black cherry.  The finish was “whiskey”-like but a little harsh.  As the cigar progresses, the mouth residue goes from pencil lead to more wine-like.

The body of the cigar is medium throughout and the strength level is mild to medium in my opinion.  I also noticed when I ashed the cigar that there was no cone of ligero. Usually, ligero is more resinous than the other tobaccos in the blend and burns at a slower rate. Ligero is also responsible for the strength of the cigar.  The ash was a nice white color, and held together well.

With the price point being fair and the taste being enjoyable, I would recommend this cigar to others.  If you are looking for a great tasting cigar and you typically like mild to medium smokes, you should definitely give Chateau Real Cigars a try.

Written by Eric Cigar Reviews and Related Topics www.tophatcigar.com

Sorry guys we’ve been quite busy this summer, and while we’ve burned a lot of cigars, we haven’t written about them very much!!  So back to it, here’s a new cigar to check out over at Top Hat Tobacco when you get a chance.

Brand: Nub
Type: 460
Length: 4.00
Ring Gauge: 60
Wrapper: Connecticut (Ecuador)
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Price:$4.60 ea at Top Hat Tobacco

Brand:
The Nub line of cigars is a creation of Sam Leccia, a former sales representative for the Oliva brand. In mid 2007 the idea of the Nub was pitched to the Oliva Family and they were skeptical. After having smoked numerous samples the excitement began to grow on them and the line went into production.

Pre-Light:
The very first thing that stands out about the cigar is its girth. With such a large ring gauge of 60 and its short length of 4 inches, it feels a little strange when held. As I handled the cigar more, I found the wrapper to be smooth with only a few small veins. When held to the light its oily sheen is easily noticed. When pinched, the Nub Connecticut felt firm from head to foot. The aroma on the wrapper and at the foot was a mild peppercorn scent which did not carry through into the pre light flavor once the cigar was cut. The draw of the cigar was excellent with some minor resistance which kept me from over puffing.

After a lengthy toasting and lighting process (keep in mind this is a lot of cigar to get burning) the burn was even and produced a generous amount of smoke. After just a few short minutes I quickly became accustomed to the large ring gauge and began to appreciate the cool and rich smoke it produced.

The first third of my Nub Connecticut kicked off as a mild to medium bodied smoke with a smooth finish which was both soft and short on the palate. The base flavor is interesting in that it doesn’t take any time at all to get warmed up and start producing deep, rich flavors.

The core component of the flavor profile at this junction of the smoke was that of the Connecticut wrapper. I immediately noticed a buttery toast sort of flavor that began to make me salivate. I also picked up a wood flavor as well as a blush or rose wine flavor, which I found to be the mildest yet most interesting flavor in the bunch.

One Hour:
After an hour of smoking I found myself at the second third of my Nub 460 Connecticut. The body at this point was now firmly seated in the medium spectrum and in doing so, made a slow and steady transition that was difficult to notice until after the transition was finished. The finish remained light on the palate while remaining short and smooth.

The burning characteristics of the cigar were nicely behaved. The ash was very light in color while holding a firm shape. The burn line was both thin and even while producing a medium volume of resting smoke that did not offend. Each puff produced a generous supply of cool and thick smoke.

Two Hours:
As I came close to the two hour mark, I found myself into the final third of my Nub 460 Connecticut. The body remains in the medium spectrum and seems to have come to a plateau. The finish has built slightly and is a touch heavier on the palate while remaining smooth.

The subtle and enjoyable flavors of the first and second third began to fade and were replaced by a pepper and spice flavor that is prominent when the smoke is blown through the nose. The pepper and spice make for a pleasant end to a very enjoyable smoke.

As the cigar burns down to the nub, it begins to get a little warm on the fingers and requires the smoking pace to be slowed a bit. Even while warm on the fingers the smoke doesn’t burn the tongue and mouth creating a harsh flavor.

Conclusion:
Overall I think that this was a very enjoyable cigar. With its short length and large ring gauge it isn’t nearly as unwieldy as many other cigars that contain this much tobacco. In fact, packed in its small size it holds more tobacco by weight, than a 52 x 8.00 Presidente, which makes it both cool burning and easy to smoke.

Written by Eric Cigar Reviews and Related Topics www.tophatcigar.com