Wrapper: Honduran Maduro
Binder: Honduran Maduro
Filler: Honduran Maduro
Size: 5 x 50 “Robusto”
Body: Full
Price: $10.16
First, I’d like to thank everyone that sent emails and comments asking how the old bird was. She is fine. Very, very sore. Instead of finding just one mass, the doctor found four and removed them. We will know what we are up against in 48-72 hours. Fingers crossed. Thanks again for all the love. And Charlotte instructed me to tell all of you that when she gets better; every single concerned reader gets one blow job. Unfortunately, it’s from me, not her…but I am very good at it. (Oy vay).
I received a few care packages over the last week. And every one of these kind readers has asked to remain anonymous.
Back on the 3rd, when I announced that the Eiroa CBT was available at Cigar Hustler, one reader snagged himself a few and sent me some. What a guy.
This is the press release:
“June 11, 2014 (Miami, Fla.)–C.L.E. Cigar Company and Christian Eiroa announce the release of the EIROA CBT (Capa, Banda, Tripa) Maduro for July of 2014.
“What makes this cigar so special is that all of the tobacco leaves used for the Wrapper, Binder and Filler are Maduro (or Mature) leaves. Each leaf was selected from only the top priming’s of the tobacco plants, giving this cigar the intense and complex flavors with its deep body and very smooth finish. “The taste lingers with you and 30 minutes after, you are looking for the next one” says Christian Eiroa, founder of the C.L.E. Cigar Company.”
Originally, the cigar was to be called the Eiroa Maduro. It will make its official debut at this month’s IPCPR trade show.
Sizes are:
Prensado: 4 x 48
Robusto: 5 x 50
Toro: 6 x 54
660: 6 x 60
Eiroa had simply decided that it was time to have a rip roarin’ full bodied blend in his arena of cigars.
No one else has reviewed the cigar and for probable good reason. A week’s worth of humidor time is not enough. But I dry boxed the cigars for 48 hours and then prayed to baby Jesus I am doing the right thing. I just had to write this morning. Write or die.
The stick is like a brick. If feels like concrete. Only the slightest give in a couple of places. Seams are invisible and a few minor, small veins. The wrapper color is a combo of coffee bean, Oscuro, and lightly glossed over with reddish shellac. There is a nice oiliness with a bit of tooth. The cigar has a double or triple cap that is perfectly applied
The cigar band is simple and elegant and because it is shiny and silver lined, you probably won’t see any of the band in my photos. Inside the outer ring, it says ““Salud, Amor y Pesetas.” This translates as Health, Love, and Money.” It is an old Spanish salutation for good luck.
I clip the cap and find aromas of the darkest bitter sweet cocoa, and a snoot full of potent spice that makes me sneeze and my eyes water. Same thing happened with the original Eiroa blend. There is a very rich earthiness that fills my snout. Also, some subtle baking spices and a bit of sweetness.
Time to light up. (Please, baby Jesus don’t have me fuck up by smoking this cigar too soon!)
The first puffs are meaty, earthy and sweet.
Smoke fills the room and the draw is spot on. For such a jam packed cigar, I expected more difficulty with the draw.
The sweetness takes over at the front of the line. And then BAM! Holy shit! The red pepper hits me like a Mack Truck in the puss. My eyes uncontrollably tear up. My nasal passages are clear and big enough to drive that truck through. My eyes are as big as saucers because it came out of the left field sun. Manny Mota!
The sweetness has a treacly form to it. Like cream custard combined with something very sweet and fruity. A wonderful honeysuckle flower becomes apparent. The char line is the tiniest bit wavy but nothing to worry about. Getting a stick that has a razor sharp burn line seems to come very infrequently these days.
Cocoa. Lots of it. With marshmallows. That’s the elusive sweetness I could not peg at first. Almost an overabundance of sweet.
Creaminess attacks next. Boy, did I luck out with this cigar’s lack of humidor time. It is about to become a flavor bomb at the ¾” mark.
The charred meat component becomes very strong. The spiciness is unrelenting. But by the 1” mark, the flavors blossom into a magnificent flavor profile. I complain and bitch how I tire of the same ol’ Nic puro flavor profiles; yes, they are great with the right blender behind the wheel, but they are no longer unique.
This, ladies and germs, is a unique cigar. And of course not a Nic puro. Blenders are overlooking Honduras and the DR for good sources of interesting tobacco. And going straight for the jugular with the Esteli blends.
Here are the flavors: Spice, more spice, even more spice, creaminess, cocoa, sweetness, charred meat, cedar, leather, honeysuckle, and marshmallow.
I begin the second third. For such a jam packed cigar, it seems to be burning faster than I expected.
Dry boxing does magical things to cigars. Most cigars come to you over humidified. Most. And if you try to smoke one right out of the cello, they go spongy on you due to the heavy amount of moisture still in the cigar. So dry boxing gets rid of that excess moisture and while that is happening, the cigar matures quickly. At least some do. It’s never 100%.
I can only imagine what this stick will taste like in a few months. I have two left and I will love them, my precious, and cherish them.
Speaking of Christian Eiroa, how about them new Camachos? Oh my sweet Lord…. What a mess Davidoff made with that great brand.
The flavor profile is just spectacular. If all I am getting is potential, then halle-fucking-leujah! This will surpass any blend Eiroa has come up with.
The char line has been perfect since I first bitched about it being a bit wavy. So, I’ve answered my own question.
The strength. Time to discuss it. It started off as classic medium body and now, as the halfway point nears, it is moving up to medium/full. I’m sure more humidor time will cause the strength factor to ramp up a bit. Of course, extensive humidor aging will have the opposite effect.
The red pepper has been tamed by a whip and a stool. A wooden stool, not a… well, you know. And besides, I don’t taste peanuts or corn.
I am dead center at the halfway mark. While it is not a cheap cigar; and can be more expensive with the bigger sizes such as the Toro at $11.16 and the Sixty at $12.15, this blend is worth it. The small Prensado, which is a petite corona, goes for $9.16.
Cigar Hustler still has all the sizes available by the single or the box. The boxes come in 20 count and therefore force the expense to spill over into the $200 range. Too rich for my blood.
Speaking of blood, have I ever mentioned that my dad’s side of the family comes from the Transylvanian mountain region of Hungary? My grandfather sounded exactly like Bela Lugosi.
Which reminds me of a good after-review story.
The creaminess envelops the flavor profile. Behind that are the variations on a theme of sweetness. Behind that is a tamed spiciness. And then: charred meat, honeysuckle, cedar, leather, and marshmallow.
New flavors arrive in the form of nougat and graham cracker. Now we’re cookin’.
The speediness of the first half’s burn slows down in the second half.
This such a lovely cigar.
The strength finally moves to full bodied. Nicotine makes its dreaded appearance. I’ve been smoking the stick slowly so it doesn’t burn out before I finish writing.
The last third begins.
It is here that the cigar becomes very complex. The balance is great and comes with a nice long chewy finish.
The profile is so smooooth now. The nicotine isn’t so bad. But it is most definitely one of the smoothest full body cigars I’ve smoked.
The flavors make no significant changes and finishes up beautifully. Eiroa has a real winner with this blend.
Unless the cigar is price fixed, the prices should come down a bit once the cigar goes into regular production. You know how it goes. Everyone goes nuts trying to buy them at first. People overbid on Cbid. But a couple months later, things calm down and the cigar is no longer a fatted calf.
I highly recommend this cigar. Even if all I got was the portent of things to come, it is a fantastic cigar.
And now for something completely different:
1983
The Eddie and the Monsters record was pressed and on the market. Butch and I were sent all over the country for PR. Traveling with Butch was a side show unto itself.
It was almost Halloween and Tiger Beat Magazine, Rocshire Records, and Tower Records put together a free trip with Butch to visit the ski slopes of Transylvania. A reporter from Life Magazine would accompany them for photos.
The winner, for some reason, was not allowed a companion. Cheap bastards. But instead, a chaperone from the record company.
I hired Grandpa Munster to be master of ceremonies at a huge Halloween party at the Hollywood Palladium. We met, made arrangements for a fee, and we were a go.
The contest ran for a month. The night of Halloween, Butch and I were in New York doing the Today show. So we made a short video in which Butch made his apologies for not being there. I was in the video too; wearing my best Alexander Haig pin stripe suit smoking a cigar.
At the end of his spiel, he walks of camera and grabs two real lemon cream pies and smacks me with both of them on each side of my head.
Obviously, it was a one take deal. But it went off without a hitch. I was covered in sticky lemon cream pie. Yuck.
The video was then played on a loop the entire night of the party at the Palladium in the lobby. The party had live bands and Grandpa Munster, Al Lewis, doing shtick in between.
They picked a winner. It was an 18 year old chick from Hollywood. A week later, they began making arrangements for the trip. And then the old monkey wrench hit home.
The chick wanted to take her boyfriend. The record company said no.
This went back and forth for a couple of days and no resolve was found so the chick said she wasn’t going.
So what did the record company do? Pick a second place winner? No. They called the whole thing off. They got their PR. And that was the end of that.
The guy from Life Magazine was a friend and had graciously taken the photo for the cover of the 45 single sleeve.
Life fronted him a huge sack of dough for going with them on the trip and the photographer went out and bought a large sum of coke with.
Now that the project was ruined, Life wanted their money back. Clearly, the guy had no dough to repay them and was so coked out he just ignored them. That was the last time he worked in Hollywood.
I still have the video in professional ¾” tape format somewhere in the basement with the rest of the project.
So the only thing I have to show for that pie in the face is this one photo:
Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS
Cigar Reviews by Phil 'Katman' Kohn 
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