Blogs by Tag: ligero

Background:

The Carlos Torano Family Cigar Company released the new Torano Vault Cigar at the 2011 IPCPR Tradeshow in Las Vegas. The story behind this new blend is that it is actually an old concept, recorded in by Carlos Torano Sr. in the family's special "blend book," which captured every blend that the family has created. Making this book priceless for the Torano’s which they store under lock and key. The book outlines blends that are current as well as a whole list of yet to be produced blends, hence the name “Vault.” To produce the Vault, Charlie Torano scoured this same book and found a blend they developed in 2000; blend A-008. This particular blend impressed Charlie as it had great potential but was missing an important ingredient and was never released. After revisiting this blend, Charlie Torano realized the missing ingredient was Ometepe tobacco, which is grown on the rich fertile soil of the volcanic island of Ometepe, in Lake Nicaragua. Using complex Nicaraguan long filler tobaccos in conjunction with this Ometepe leaf as a ligero binder the blend produced a spicy full bodied aromatic cigar with solid rich earthy flavors. The cigar is finished with a Colorado Shade-grown Habano wrapper.

Construction / Appearance:

The Torano Vault Toro sports a very attractive colorado reddish brown colored wrapper that's smooth to the touch with a nice oily finish. The packaging and cigar ring is very nicely done, black and silver without too much flash. The Vault also has a foot band identifying the long lost blend as A-008. The cigar is well packed, with no soft spots I can identify. The aroma coming off the cigar itself and through the cold draw is very barnyard, with a promise of some spicy, sweet tobacco flavors.

First Third:

The Vault took to flame like a champ and lit right up. Despite the heavy packing of tobacco, the draw is a tiny bit on the loose side, which I don't mind considering the blast of flavors coming from the initial few pulls. The cigar is putting out lots of chewy smoke. The profile is solid medium right off the bat, the flavor is very rich, complex and balanced with an earthy base, some sweetness and a bit of spice through the nose. This is not a hard cigar to like, I'm thoroughly enjoying the mix of earth leathery notes with an underlying spice and a long creamy finish. The burn line is almost perfect, the ash is a bright white falling off at half inch to inch intervals.

Second Third:

The second third has the body ramping up to medium-full, I have a feeling this one is on it's way to full body by the time I snuff it. The nutty creamy finish has some spice in the mouthfeel that blends excellently with everything else going on here. This is definitely one of the best Torano cigars I've smoked in a long time. The Torano Vault absolutely satisfies a wide range of the palate, but it doesn't over do it in any one area.. As the second third winds down the cigar has hit a very comfortable stretch… relaxing, smooth and absolutely full of dynamic flavor.

Last Third:

The last third is proving to be definitely fuller bodied, with a salty meat character. The sweetness has left for the most part, leaving a rich earthy smoke. The draw is a bit loose, which is causing the cigar to burn a little hot, but the flavor keeps me coming back. The nuttiness that was a major component of the cigar throughout has also come to the forefront.. reminds me of those roasted nut vendors you see (and smell) on the sidewalks of city streets. I decided to put the Vault down when it started to burn my fingers a bit. The cigars burn stayed razor right till the end.

Overall:

I think many cigar smokers are going to be very happy that the Torano family opened up the Vault book to create this blend and put it out on the market. An absolute exercise in balance and complexity, again I think this is one of the best efforts out of the Torano camp in a long time. They hit this one out of the park. Whether you get into the back story or not, bar none, this is a phenomenal cigar. For medium to medium-full bodied smokers who are looking for a great complex cigar that hits all areas of the palate , this is absolutely worth a try. Check out what's in stock on our Carlos Torano Vault Brand Page.

Thanks for reading..

Keep on Smokin-

~GC

Currently rated 5 by 1 person

Tags: Carlos Torano, Torano Vault, Torano Vault Toro, blend book, Carlos Torano Sr., Ometepe, Nicaragua, ligero, shade grown Habano Wrapper

Categories: Product Reviews, What's New, IPCPR Watch

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Aging Room Small Batch M356 Presto Review
By GC
10/18/2011 4:03:00 PM

Comments(2)

Aging Room Small Batch M356 - Presto (4 1/2" x 48)

Background:

The Aging Room Small Batch M356 is a small batch production created by Rafael Nodal and Oliveros created from Habano Seed Ligero grown in the La Canela region of the Dominican Republic. M356 indicates the day the blend was created, on a Monday, on the 356th day of the year. Nodal claims to have been trying to launch the brand for a while now, but due to the scarcity of the quality tobaccos that go into the blend was only able to release it now.

Aging Room Small Batch M356 comes in 4 sizes, the Major (6 1/2" x 60), the Mezzo (6" x 54), the Rondo (5" x 50") and the Presto (4 1/2" x 48). For this review I will be smoking the Presto which has recently garnered a 94 rating from Cigar Aficionado and is labeled by the manufacturer to be medium bodied.

Appearance / Pre-light:

The cigar itself is an interesting small Robusto size wrapped in an attractive chocolatey brown Habano wrapper. The hue of this wrapper is just perfect, not too dark, not too light.. The artist in me always has a critique for the band, this one is pretty interesting and eye catching. Kind of a mix of traditional and a modern look. The cigar seems packed well enough, and is giving off a lot of aroma from both the wrapper and the foot. Sweet barnyard and some nutty flavors. The pre-light draw is fruit and nuts. Lets light this baby up.

First Half:

I'm going to do halves on this one being that it's only 4.5".. After getting this little guy lit, I get an intense rush of complex flavors. The Presto comes out swinging with a blast of pepper and some leathery earthy flavor. The smoke output on this short Robusto is impressive and the draw and burn are close to perfect. About a third of the way in, I'm starting to get some enjoyable sweetness mingling with the rest of the woodsy flavors. Although aged, this tobacco has not lost any flavor at all. While medium in body, the M356 Presto is absolutely full in flavor. This is a great cigar for the colder weather that is approaching. Perfect size, very satisfying and lots of flavor.

Second Half:

This is my first smoke this morning, and being generally a full body smoker, I'm finding it to be a perfect cigar to start my day. I'm very impressed with amount of complex flavor coming from such a small cigar. The body builds toward the end of the stick close to medium-full, as the peppery spice comes to the foreground. The finish remains rich all the way to the end. The Aging Room M356 did not get hot or bitter toward the end, I was able to enjoy this cigar down to the nub.

Overall:

Big things come in small packages. I've always been a fan of the Lancero due to being able to truly taste the wrapper flavor. The idea is the same here, although the ring gauge is a little bigger. The concentration of flavor is awesome in this little bomb, and extremely complex for a short smoke. To often short cigars are doomed to a singular flavor throughout with no changes or complexity, this is not the case here. I would definitely recommend trying this cigar, rating aside, I think you'll be impressed. The Presto size also gets my vote for a great shorter smoke for the upcoming colder seasons. The entire smoke time was under an hour, and that was at a pretty slow pace. After smoking a few of this smaller size, I'm interested to try some of the bigger rings to see if they impress as much as the Presto size did.

These just landed in our warehouse and are ready to ship. Checkout the Aging Room Small Batch M356 brand page for availability.

~GC

Currently rated 0 by 0 people

Tags: Aging Room Small Batch M356 Presto, Oliveros, Rothschild, Rafael Nodal, Habano Seed Ligero, La Canela

Categories: Product Reviews, What's New

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Tatuaje Fausto FT140 Review
By GC
7/29/2011 10:39:00 AM

Comments(1)

The Fausto is one of the latest releases from Pete Johnson’s Tatuaje Brand. Based on the exclusive T110 (Thermonuclear) Blend, which was created for a brick and mortar shop in Hawaii a few years back. This cigar has been greatly anticipated by all the Tatuaje fans out there and likely fans of ultra spicy full-bodied smokes will find themselves really enjoying this cigar. The Fausto contains all strong Nicaraguan fillers (mostly ligero) from the Jalapa Valley and Esteli areas and is wrapped in a very dark Ecuadorian Habano Maduro wrapper. I’m smoking the Robusto Extra Size – (5 1/2 x 52) named the FT140. As much as I want to hoard it away, a review is in order, so here goes…

The cigar is very dark in appearance, the Ecuadorian wrapper is very toothy and seems very tough and rugged. The cigar is very well packed, no soft or hard spots and very well constructed, as most cigars that leave the My Father Factory. The dark spicy smoke gives me a little apprehension as I chose this for the first smoke of the day, but what the heck I’m a full body fan and hopefully this cigar is more then just power. The cold draw has a nice earthy taste with a bit of spice already tingling the back of my throat.

After lighting up I am greeting with copious amounts of spice. The initial retro hale puts almost too much spice through my nose, which I usually like but I may have to scale back a bit to start here. The draw in the sample I’ve received is very good, not too loose, not to tight. The burn is also very straight without much wavering at all. Luckily the cigar is not all spice, I’m starting to pick up some nice flavors that accompany the spicy finish. The most prominent flavor next to the peppery spice would be a cocoa sweetness. This is one of my favorite combinations if it is done in a complimentary way, which the Fausto so far seems to be doing. The chewy smoke is very enjoyable as its spicy sweet qualities tingle my mouth slightly. My worry about the power of this cigar has been quickly squashed by the smoothness of the body. While packed with ligero, the cigar has a very elegant way of delivering the spice and power without being overpowering or overwhelming. This cigar is approachable by anyone that enjoys Medium to Full or Full body cigars.

As the cigar moves into the second third, the spice still tingles on my tongue on the finish, but overall the cigar has been tamed a bit. This sets the stage for a more balanced earthy taste; with the cocoa and coffee finish still hanging around. I’m actually getting a nutty flavor barely coming through that is interesting. The cigar remains very enjoyable throughout the second third, with the body slowly building.

In the last third the cigar is building back up in strength and spicy mouth feel. The finish is very spicy, almost reminds me of the aftertaste of eating a spicy meal. It ended very much the same way it started, similar flavors with more body, but never got bitter or harsh. Smoke time ended up being somewhere around an hour and a half. While the body and finish of the cigar was full and spicy, the cigar itself was not a huge Nicotine bomb. I definitely felt it a bit after the Fausto was finished. Overall this is a great, full-bodied treat. For you guys out there that love a true full body, spicy smoke with depth of flavor this is going to be right up your alley. Tatuaje’s loyal fans are going to love this one, not only the fact that it’s a limited release turned full-production, but it’s a great go-to smoke when your reaching into your humidor for a nice strong smoke.

Keep on smokin!

-GC

UPDATE: These are now in stock and can be purchased here: Tatuaje Fausto Cigars

Currently rated 0 by 0 people

Tags: tatuaje cigars, tatuaje fausto, ft140, cigar reviews, ipcpr pre-release, pete johnson, my father, don pepin garcia, esteli, jalapa, ligero, spicy cigars

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