Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano

Binder: Dominican Piloto Cubana

Filler: Nicaraguan (Esteli), Peruvian (Ometope)

Size: 6.25 x 54 Torpedo

Body: Medium

Price: $10.00

I am so pleased to be reviewing this cigar. I have a cigar group on Face Book called Cigar Freaks. A small group of around 300 members. And we know each other well because of the interaction.

We are proud to say that Jose Blanco is one of our prized members. Jose is a nice guy with a very down to earth demeanor. And such a kind man…

So on with the review..

Blanco retired from La Aurora. Instead of this young man retiring, Joya de Nicaragua made him senior vice president. The owner of JdN, Alejandro Cuenca, immediately put his head and vision together with Jose to come up with a new cigar that was debuted at the 2012 IPCPR convention.

This cigar breaks the tradition of rolling Nicaraguan puros only. With the vision of Jose, he brought in tobaccos from Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Peru and Nicaragua.

The name of the cigar coalesces the joining at the hip of Cuenca and Blanco…and their commitment to excellence.

Construction of this cigar is way above par. It is solid as a rock but with just the right amount of push. Seams are tight. But lots of veins. The wrapper is typical Ecuadorian of dark brown with that reddish tint.

The sniffing detects earth, cedar, cocoa, and smoked wood. At the foot, the cocoa becomes a very dark, delectable chocolate.

I clip and light.

The first puffs are surprising…a wonderful malty cereal taste. With cedar notes and lots of sweetness. Half an inch in, here comes the black pepper. Very mild, but very apparent. I taste baking spices like cinnamon… or maybe cinnamon graham cracker….and a nice mild creaminess. A great first cigar of the day. A breakfast cigar. A cigar that can be appreciated because your palate is clean and fresh…and all of these flavors are delicate and mild.

The burn is a little erratic but I am sure it will correct itself without my help as I have already smoked two of them.

The cocoa builds slowly. A leather component begins to show. And some strong espresso peeks around the corner.

The body is medium right from the get go. I have had this cigar in my humi for over a month. I smoked the other two early and was spanked by the spirit of Cuenca and Blanco. Now the cigar is blooming nicely. I can tell that if given the proper aging time, this cigar will be something indescribable.

The malty flavor permeated the other notes. I don’t remember the last time that flavor profile has been in a cigar I’ve smoked. It’s rare and definitely muy cool.

The char line corrects itself at the 1” point without help from me.

The first third ends nicely. As I start the second third, the cocoa and espresso become more apparent and dominating. The spiciness of black pepper has remained.

The sweetness of the tobacco rises to the occasion and works nicely with the cocoa and espresso. The sweetness is either honey or molasses. It’s like a visit to Starbucks. I believe these flavors will be more forthcoming in the last third.

The last third brings some vanilla and nutmeg to the table. The cocoa continues to get stronger. The body is building….just past medium. The spice ramps up now. It moves to the tongue making it red pepper instead of black.

The cigar’s complexity begins to show now. Like most cigars, it takes the first third, or two, for this to happen.

This has turned into a dynamite cigar. Flavors blooming and seeking out my palate in the most positive way. This is a triumph for the Senors Cuenca and Blanco. Their mommies would be proud.

The burn line continues to be dead nuts perfect.

The last couple inches is all class and finesse. A wonderful cigar. Well balanced and with a nice long finish. Kudos Jose and Alejandro.

And now for something completely different:

Back in the late 1990’s, I played in a 3 piece power blues trio. It was called the Todd Hart Band. Todd was/is a great singer. He spent some time in the legendary English blues band, Savoy Brown, as their lead singer. So obviously, we played out a lot. Todd made his living with music. I did not and suffered the slings and arrows of coming to work with 2-3 hours of sleep under my belt. But the extra dough was nice.

I’ve written about this before but we became the official Arizona Hell’s Angel band. Something I was not proud of. Most of our audience was made up of some borderline tards. And amazingly, their women were mostly hotties. Probably due to all of the drugs the Angels dealt in. No matter where we played, someone was yelling at young women to put their T Shirts back on. We suffered through that.

We had this regular gig on Sunday at some dump in Phoenix. Just horrible. But as a trio, we made out financially and Todd paid us fairly.

Todd Hart on the left and me with the electric upright at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts.

We had the same problem with drummers that Spinal Tap had…although none ever disappeared due to instantaneous combustion.

Our current drummer this gig was this great huge geek. He was a drafting teacher at a trade college. Imagine a geek. Make him 6’-5. And there you go. But he was a very solid drummer and followed me to the tee.

Being a geek, he was also scared of his own shadow…and always scared to death when we played for the Angels. He sort of stood out too. Imagine the wardrobe that Allan on Two and a Half Men wore and you got it.

At the end of one gig, the drummer…can’t remember his name….was rolling his drum cases out to his truck. There was a slight gap between the bikes parked at the curb in front of the dump in a strip mall. Now the geek was so afraid, he lost all common sense. Instead of rolling his hand truck forward and down over the curb…with about 6’ of cases on it….he did it backwards. I was standing there as it happened and I saw disaster coming.

A few of the bikers were standing outside with beers in their hands. I saw the whole thing in slow motion….the hand truck bobbled with all the cases on it and it fell against someone’s bike. The bike rocked back and forth but didn’t fall over.

Scottsdale, AZ..at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts. Todd on the left, our 43rd drummer, and me on the right playing the upright the way God had intended.

Of course, out of 50-60 bikers, the owner was standing right there. He let out a bear growl that made our drummer break into tears. The drummer pleaded with the biker not to hurt him.

I just shook my head. And when I looked at the biker, he winked and smiled at me. So our drummer was made to be the victim over not much of anything. The biker screamed at him to pick up his cases and get the fuck out of there.

The drummer was weeping. I helped him pick up the cases and whispered to him to man up. This was no big deal. Stop crying.

The drummer was so scared that he loaded his cases into his truck and drove off quickly, leaving the rest of his kit on the band stand and without his pay.

I got in the biker’s face and told him he didn’t have to do that. I wasn’t afraid of these goons…plus I concealed a Glock 30..45 cal inside my waist band. I knew how to use it and it gave me a little confidence even though all the bikers carried openly. This was Arizona. It was legal for anyone over the age of 18 to carry openly but you needed a permit for concealed. And since the Angels all had criminal records, a CCW was not afforded them. I always wore a Blues Brothers type of black suit coat and it easily concealed my weapon.

The drummer came back the next day to get the rest of his drums. And he was fine at the next gig which was not an Angel’s gig.

Never played with a weeping drummer before…or since.

In Tempe, AZ…Todd on guitar and vocals…To the right and behind Todd is me with the baseball cap. I am playing my electric upright bass turned into a bass guitar. (Drummer No. 44)

Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS