Wrapper: Ecuadorian Dark Habano
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican
Size: 5.5 x 56 “G5’”
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $7.75

Today we take a look at Boutique Blend by Rodrigo Cigars.

From Rodrigo Cigars web site:
“Boutique Blend is our answer to the large ring gauge cigar. Contemporary but never trendy. Unlike other large ring gauge cigars that are often one dimensional power houses, the Boutique Blend offers large ring gauge smokers an amazingly complex profile.
“Vitolas: G4 – 6.25 x 54 / G5 – 5.5 x 56 / G6 – 6 x 60.”
George Rodriguez
Founder & President, Rodrigo Cigars

The company began in 2010. Beyond that, all I know is that this Boutique Blend is the newest blend from Rodrigo Cigars that debuted at the 2014 IPCPR trade show.

The cigar is very rustic with Frankenstein’s Monster veins on the back side of the cigar band. Seams are tight. Lots of small veins. The triple cap is flawless. The wrapper is a semi-oily light brown/butterscotch with a small bit of tooth.

I clip the cap and find aromas of spice, earthiness, barnyard, grass, wood, and leather.
Time to light up.

The first puffs are decadently sweet. Loads of variety: Mandarin orange, vanilla taffy, hot cocoa, sweet cream, and sweet peppers.

And then Bam! A huge wallop of red pepper assaults my senses. Pepin Garcia would be jealous of the Pepper Bomb I am experiencing. Oh my lord! My eyes are tearing up uncontrollably and nose is a water faucet.
I love this cigar.

I reviewed the original La Fortaleza and found it to be great. But the Boutique Blend is a monumental step in a direction I like.

A large crack forms from the foot up an inch. This damn cold weather is the death knell for cigars. It is only 27° this morning. And just allowing it to be an open window for photos affects the cigar. Hopefully, I can burn through it.

The Boutique Blend by Rodrigo Cigars is a dessert cigar if there ever was one. The myriad of flavors; especially at the start, are amazing.

The cigar hit flavor bomb status 1/8” into the stick. It is now spreading out into a more nuanced flavor profile. Smoother, if you like.

The chocolate takes over as the main ingredient to this French dessert pastry. It is like that fancy chocolate soufflé you order at good restaurants. And the fruitiness, combined with the creamy element, turn the Boutique Blend by Rodrigo Cigars into an extraordinary blend.

The strength is classic medium body. A nice place to start first thing in the morning.

It is so cold outside that when I bring the cigar to the open window and place it in the black glass ashtray, I hear a crack.

I always leave the shooting window open for a couple of reasons. The first being it allows more sun into the shooting area. And second, it ventilates the room. I just closed the window and opened another in the kitchen.
This is a real shame. I have a small humidor where I keep cigars for review. The humidity is perfect at 70° for this kind of dry weather. I’ve only had these cigars for about a week and they arrived dry. I had the same trouble with another cigar that I bought from the same online store for review. I need to allow those few cigars to acclimate before smoking and reviewing. My bad.

The other issue that caused this problem is not enough cigars in that specific humidor. That is a prescription for drying out the cigars instead of humidifying them. With all that’s been going on lately, I was forgetful and negligent.

On the upside, I get to start all over with a new stick.

The new cigar develops a burn issue. This stick was tucked away in a nice warm cozy humidor with a bunch of other cigars. I’ve had not trouble with those. I touch up the foot and move on.

The mandarin orange flavor looms large. That sweet and tart citric flavor really offsets the more decadent flavors.

The red pepper begins to dissipate. That was something else. The tip of my tongue still burns.

The second third begins.

Flavor Bomb 2.0.

I will try to list the flavors even though they seem to be in constant flux: Cocoa, mandarin orange, creaminess, spice, vanilla, nuts, toasty, wood, leather, espresso, cedar, Liv-A-Snaps, and Robitussin.

My daughter called me at 7am, woke me up, to tell me she fell at work and needed some pain killers. I told her to go to the hospital but she is paranoid. She just took the final test to be a Milwaukee cop and she is afraid someone she knows will be there and it might affect her chances. I know, I know. She gets her brains from my side of the family.

The funny part, if there is a funny part is that she sent her fiancée over to pick up the pills. He just got off work and was wearing most of his SWAT team gear because my daughter told him to “HURRY!” I stepped outside so as not to wake Charlotte up and I’m standing on the porch with this cop. It must be driving them nuts trying to figure out what is going on? Did I beat Charlotte again? LOL

Back to the Boutique Blend by Rodrigo Cigars. This is a brilliant blend. I can’t get over the wide parameters of the flavor profile.

So, the price point.
It harkens back to 3-4 years ago when a cigar debuted at the IPCPR trade show and it hit the market at around $8-$9. Not $11-$16.

I can’t compare this to a good $6 cigar because there is no $6 cigar as good as this. So it deserves to be in this price range especially due to the limited edition run. And the uniqueness of the blend. $7.75 for the Boutique Blend by Rodrigo Cigars is equitable and fair based on the quality.

I cannot compare it to another blend I’ve smoked in ages. The Boutique Blend by Rodrigo Cigars has its own definitive personality.

I bought this cigar, got 10% off and I am pleased. If this was a big manufacturer’s product, it would have had a much higher price point due to the PR pounding away.

I am at the halfway point.

Flavor Bomb 2.2

The red pepper is just about gone now. But the other flavors are intense. The balance is perfect. It is very complex. And just a fine, fine long finish.

The mandarin orange is a real kick. In concert with the strong chocolate flavor, it now reminds me of those expensive chocolate truffles with an orange creamy filling inside.

The last third begins.

The flavor profile makes a big surge. It has an Ezra Zion profile now. If you have smoked an Ezra Zion blend, you know exactly what I mean. If you have never smoked an Ezra Zion cigar, get to it. One of the very best brands on the market.

In other words, the profile is well rounded, rich and chock full of exotic flavors.

Ezra Zion cigars are one of the hardest lines to review due to the unique quality of the blends.

I will give it a shot: mandarin orange, creaminess, earthiness, leather, wood, cocoa, cotton candy, toasty, nuts, wood, espresso, and spice.

The strength reaches medium/full.

I had serious construction issues with the first cigar up for review. The only criticism I have for the second cigar is that it needs occasional touch ups at the foot. But nothing serious and more concern for the photos than everyday smoking.

A wonderful reader, who wants to remain anonymous, couldn’t take my whining any longer about all the problems I have with my cheap camera and getting good photos. So he sent me a professional three piece lighting set up. It will take time and practice to get the knack of making it do what I want to do, but I just wanted to say thank you for the wonderful gift. My liver is your liver should you need one.

This has been an incredibly long smoke. I still have 1-1/2” to go and I am nearing two hours.

I don’t understand the Lancero mind set. You pay the same, or more, for the same cigar in other sizes. I’ve never smoked a Lancero that lasted more than 35 minutes. So I just don’t get it. You’d think the Lancero would be cheaper not more expensive. But experienced smokers claim the wrapper to tobacco ratio makes it pure delight. Go figure.

The Boutique Blend by Rodrigo Cigars is booming with flavor right to the end. A roller coaster of flavors. And a very intense cigar experience.

I highly recommend this cigar.

And now for something completely different:
A short story.

It was one of my first gigs with Curved Air. Fortunately, I was made to feel very welcome. The toxicity would come a year later.

Because Darryl, the violin player, was the leader we had a theme song. It was called “Vivaldi.” It was named for the composer, Antonio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741).

From Wikipedia:
“He was recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread across Europe. He is known mainly for composing many instrumental concertos, for the violin and a variety of other instruments, as well as sacred choral works and more than forty operas. His best-known work is a series of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons.”

Vivaldi loved to use the circle of fifths in his compositions so our theme song was just that: A circle of fifths. The diagram below explains what that means.

Bottom line: You start on C and then play the fifth which is G. Then you play the fifth of G which is D, etc. This circle goes around 12 times and begins again.

The problem is if you are stoned and get lost. That happened to me a couple of times. Once you are lost, you’re fucked. Why? Because all the notes you are playing are in the key of C and therefore you can play any note in the scale of C and it will sound OK but might be a harmony and not the root note.

One night, we were at the middle of “Vivaldi” and that’s when the band left the stage and Darryl would do a long nauseating solo for 10 minutes using every foot pedal he had. The stoned crowd dug it.

What I didn’t know was when I put my bass down on top of my amp, I moved the tuning pegs a bit. Making me about a half step sharp.

We run back on stage and play the song double time. I’m playing and have no idea why nothing I play sounds right. I am in panic mode.

Francis, the keys and guitarist, walks across this giant step and yells: “C-G-D-A, etc”
I yell back while pointing at my left hand, “I am playing C,G,C,A!!!”

If my bass was in tune, I could have gotten away with being lost. But I wasn’t lost. My notes were all sharp half a tone.

I ruined the song. And it was our finale.

I got the stink eye from Darryl while we finished.

We ran offstage and waited for our encore. A roadie grabbed my bass and hooked it up to an electronic tuner and yelled at Darryl that I my tuning was off. It didn’t make Darryl any happier. I was an idiot in his eyes.

And wouldn’t you know it. There was a reviewer for a big music magazine in the audience and he wrote how Francis had to walk across the stage and tell me what to play.

This was humiliating live. But in print? Oy Vay.

From that point forward, I always carefully lay my bass down during the solo.
Never happened again.

Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS

Tags: Boutique Blend by Rodrigo Cigars Cigar Review, cigar review, cigar reviews by the katman, cigars, george rodriguez, rodrigo cigars