Dipping into the world of Handmade cigars

  In recent months, I have had more handmade cigars than machine-made cigars mentioned in earlier posts such as Black & Milds. There is nothing wrong with liking these types of cigars. However, you get what you pay for.  Truthfully, there is nothing like a handmade cigar. The flavors you get from one are better and they have a longer burn time than the ones you can buy at a Walmart or gas station.  There are so many brands to choose from and can seem endless.


     The first handmade cigar I had was a Nat Sherman Metropolitan Host Hobart (shown below), which was suggested to try by a friend of mine.  This cigar was light bodied and filled with flavor. The draw was great as well and produced a lot of smoke. I really like this cigar and is now one of my go-to's. This cigar goes well with a bourbon aged beer or after a cup of coffee.

20th Anniversary Connecticut

   Another Cigar brand I love is Perdomo. Perdomo has a lot of different varieties to choose from. Some of my favorites include Lot 23,  Bourbon barrel aged Habano Connecticut, and their 20th-anniversary collections,  just to name a few.  The Lot 23 is Medium-Bodied and offers a great flavor profile throughout the cigar. This cigar would pair well with a morning cup of joe. The Habano Connecticut is really a cigar that I would lean towards when I want a higher flavor profile. This cigar is one I like during the evenings with a single malt scotch or a high-end bourbon (Such as Bullet or Jefferson reserve).  All the cigars here have a slight sweetness to them which enjoyable for the beginner and intermediate cigar aficionados alike.

Habano Bourbon Barrel-Aged Connecticut

Lot 23 Connecticut

  I was given a box of Baccarat cigars from a friend of mine who had gotten them from a veteran friend recently. It was a brand I never heard of before. They are slightly sweet due to a slightly sweetened tip. Like all of the cigars mentioned on here, they feature a Connecticut wrapper. They are bound with a mexican binder and are long-filled with habano seeded tabbaco grown in Honduras.  The flavor profile I got was a slightly sweet, coffee taste out of this cigar. The size I have is a Churchill (7.0"x50). The average burn time I have is about 2 hours. The packing is tight. The only issue with these is consistancy in the wrapper. Some of them are veiny throughout while other wrappers are smooth. With that being said, they are not a bad smoke to start with or if you just are in the mood for something sweet. 

K.A. Kendall's 7-20-4 Dog walker

  K.A. Kendall's 7-20-4 brand is a rebirth of an old cigar brand that went out of business back in 1964. Back then they were known for their 10 cent cigars and were manufactured at 724 Elm Street, Manchester, NH. K.A. Kendall, a New Hampshire native brought this company back to life. Today they are no longer 10 cents or made in the old Manchester location. One of their signature cigars is a Petite Carona they call "the Dog Walker. " These cigars are very flavorful and have a nutty finish to them. These cigars have an easy draw and are a pleasure to smoke. They are made in Honduras at the new location using the finest tobacco. They feature a Brazillian Maduro wrapper and is has a Costa Rican binder and is filled with tobacco from Nicaragua, Honduras, Mexico, and Columbia. The strength of the cigar is considered to be full.

   These cigars were good, not great. And really are not as memorable as I have moved on to other brands. It is not because that they are bad by any means. The quality is definitely there. It is just not a brand that is regularly available in my area that I reside in. When I lived in New Hampshire, you could find these at Twin's Smoke Shop and sometimes at Castro's Backroom. But, since I now live in another state, they are not as easy to come by as other manufacturers that are mentioned on this blog. When I did buy them, I did get them in the 5 pack as pictured above because that is what I could get my hands on at the time. Nowadays, I like to get single sticks so I can have a different variety in my Humidor. 

Hookah or cigars?

 In today's world, the newest craze as we all know with college-aged adults especially is hookahs. Hookahs are a smoking device with water in glass base. You smoke the Shisha through a hose. the Shisha comes in a wide variety of flavors, honestly, the possibilities are endless. Now I would not write a review on something I haven't tried on more than one occasion. I do occasionally enjoy it, especially when I am just hanging out with a couple of friends at a local lounge. With that being said, I would not make a review on cigars if I didn't really care for them now would I? I love my cigars. To me, there is nothing like cutting the cap off of one and lighting it up and enjoying a nice glass of Johnny Walker Black with it. With the Hookah you can usually enjoy an umbrella drink or a beer more suitably than you could with a cigar. Typically with cigars, I like cigarillos over the bigger cigars. It's just a matter of personal preference. A cigar can last you a couple of hours if you don't rush through it. A hookah can do the same but can depend on how many people you have smoked from it as well. Hookahs are not something that is new as they have been around in the Middle East and southern Asia since about the mid-1500's. The invention of cigars was believed to be invented by the ancient Mayans. However, that is debatable depending on who you ask. In 1883 cigars started being manufactured for enjoyment.  So would I prefer hookah over a cigar? Yes and no. I like the variety of flavors you can get with a hookah, but the downfall is its portability. I think it would look kind of awkward taking a stroll through a park with one in your hands but you can share with your friends without having to light them a cigar of their own. A cigar is by far more portable, and to me, it's about as enjoyable. I can smoke a cigar just about anywhere and not feel out of place.  -GS

Black & Mild Wood tip (pipe tobacco) Cigarillos

      As I said in my last review I would do a review on the Black & Mild wood tip cigarillos. As I mentioned in my other review about the regular black & milds, I prefer these guys over the others. But that is all to a certain extent. For about $1.57 a piece at the local gas station, you can't get a better deal. With that being said, let's review the quality of this cigar. The quality is what you would expect from a machine made cigar; they are usually packed firm and have no issues with the wrapper. The draw is pretty easy with a lot of smoke. The taste is sweet and the cigar has a good aroma to it. The wood tip is more desirable to use over the typical Black & Mild. The only issue i've had is that sometimes they seem to burn through the tobacco inside the wrapper and thus the cigar falls apart after about halfway through, though this has only happened twice so it maybe due to mass production and the equipment they are using to make the cigars. Like on all Black & Milds the wrapper on these are homogenized pipe tobacco. Bottom line, these are enjoyable cigars with a good taste and a low price. These are worth a try if you are a Black & Mild fan.

Middleton's Black & Mild (regular)

    These cigarillos are not my cup of tea, at least to me anyways and it's mainly due to the fact that there really is no flavor to them. They are individually wrapped in cellophane with a paper lable that has a pull tab on it to remove the cigarillo from the package.  They are about a medium in harshness had a good draw and produce a good amount of smoke. As you can tell, I've tried a couple others. These were my first ones I tried when I started. But now I've tried others and bought one a couple nights ago to compare to the others so I could write this review and they don't really taste all that great compared to the other brands I've tried. I bought a couple and went to ash them and they broke right in half.  Overall, it's the bottom shelf gas station cigarillo that is good when you are in a pinch and you have the urge to light up a cigar. However, Black & Mild does have other cigarillos out there. I have had Black & Mild's pipe tobacco cigarillos with the wooden tip ( a review is still to come), and they have a little bit better of a taste and a sweeter aroma to them.  

Hoya de Monterey Excalibur Cigarillo

I was walking down Elm street in Manchester, New Hampshire and ran into Castro's smoke shop. They have a wide verity of cigars from all over. You can even sit down in a barber's chair and smoke there. Anyways, I stopped in and picked up a tin of Hoyo De Monterrey Excaliber cigarillos. They have a good volume and are mild to medium in harshness. At first there is a hint of vanilla but that will fade as you get a little more than half way through. They also are packed firm and have a sensational draw with billows of smoke. These cigarillos run about $14.99 at their shop and come in a tin of twenty.

Dutch Master Vanilla Cigarillo

Last night I picked up a cheap pack of Dutch Master vanilla  cigarillos. Honestly at first I was a little skeptical due to them being not a high end brand. I was pleasantly surprised when I lit one up. They are packed firmly and feature a Connecticut wrapper. The draw was mild and flavorful with a lot of smoke on the breath out. It's aroma is sweet as is its flavor. For about $6.50 for a box of 5 at the local corner store, they are relatively inexpensive. I would reccomend these over a black & mild due to the better quality between the two.