Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican
Size: 6 x 52 Toro
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $24.00
Newest Edition Released: September 2024
Quantities released: 200 Boxes of 20

My cigars received 4 months of naked humidor time.
I reviewed this cigar in 2016. Time to take another look.

BACKGROUND:
From Paul Garmirian Cigars:
“Celebrating 25 years (1990-2015) 25,000 Connoisseur were made in 2015 packed in 1250 boxes. The cigar transitions effortlessly, many have called it, “A Masterpiece” A beautiful dark and oily Oscuro Maduro wrapper, four complex fillers and a Dominican barrel aged binder produce a rich, complex and balanced smoke that is sure to impress the most discriminating aficionados. The strength is medium to full body, but full in flavor. 150 boxes of Short Robusto were released in November 2016.”

THE WHOLE MEGILLAH:
Opinions are mixed and across the board: Great cigar. I can live without it. Dog rocket. Brilliant. It makes you wonder why we idiot few do this thing we call cigar critiques. Takes our minds off our side hustle as cafeteria matrons.

This is a gorgeous cigar. Oil rubbed bronze.

The wrapper emits aromas of sweet barnyard, spice, cedar, milk chocolate, and citrus.
The bulbous cap is a perfect candidate for my PerfecPunch. The blow hole is plugged with Ty Webb’s golf ball. My ally in crime PerfecDraw has a comme-ci comme-ça lazy Monday morning attitude…not looking forward to another work week. I slap it around some, and its attitude is renewed. Dr. Rod owes me $13.61 for being the PerfecSpokesWoman with a PerfecDoubleShill. Wait…now $20.42. Alrighty then…

The cold draw presents flavors of citrus, spice, strong cedar, a bit of chocolate and lemon rind.

In addition to the wavering response to this cigar’s worthiness of a solid 89 rating, flavors found by each reviewer were like a menu at your favorite Chinese restaurant. I counted 24 individual flavors.

Buttery pie crust, black pepper, raw cashews, and caramel. Nice start. That’s 4.

I can’t help but notice how skillfully this cigar is constructed. It has unflawed Goldilocks weight and proportion for coolio lip dangling. You’ve probably noticed that photos of your favorite people with cigars in their mouths are not very flattering. Using Ahhnold as an example, photo #1 is how not to look for perpetuity. Photo #2 is how you want to lock in that perfect manly photo:

Less than an inch in, the cigar displays the rich archetypical qualities I love in my over-the-top-priced cigars. It is super smooth without the nullifying sharp edges.

Creamy, buttery, nutty, a bit of cherry, a slice of black pepper, and caramel.

Cookies & Cream. Nails it. The cherry excels like needing to take a poop in the wilderness.

My first musical project with HOF drummer Hal Blaine was in ’79 or ’80. We hired Hal to record drum tracks on 12 tunes. We did the deed at Sunset Gower Studios in Hollywood. $250 an hour. Almost a thousand dollars in 2025. There was always down time between tracking. Hal was a master storyteller like no one I had ever met. He could weave tales that included Sinatra, Elvis, Paul Simon, Brian Wilson, and countless others. I’d listen to his narratives like Br’er Rabbit at the feet of Uncle Remus. In the previous 10 years I was naïvely confident that I would be in the music biz for life. But the 5 years I had with Hal, I never took for granted. When I opened a recording studio, Hal was always at my side. Any project I was heading or acts that I thought worthy of Hal’s talent, he was there. For scale. Hal insisted in being paid much more than scale with everyone else…if my clients could afford more, they certainly paid it. In that early Sunset Gower period, Mr. Belsky (he called me bubbelah) would tell a story while we were recording. My musical partner would drag me to the bathroom where he would scream at me. Spittle flew as he asked if I knew how much that story cost us in time and dollars? I didn’t care. I have a few mementos from our time in the same trench together. I have his handwritten sheet music, photos, and tapes of him and I playing together. He loaned me his 1971 Sony video recorder he bought so he could watch himself on an Ed Sullivan/Nancy Sinatra Las Vegas special. I had an interview show on PBS. We roundtabled both Hal and Darlene Love. When I was done with the transfer from reel tape to ¾” tape, I brought it back to him. He refused acceptance. He was going through a divorce and lived on his yacht in Marina Del Rey (the ‘Studio Sea’) and he didn’t want to schlep it back to his storage unit. In the following years, every time I spoke to him, he told me to hang on to it. I’ve schlepped this thing with me for over 40 years. It is a heartfelt memory of him I hold dear.

2” into the picture of Dorian Gray, the cigar blend shows exceedingly stellar growth. Transitions kick in. There is serious depth of field. The richness is warm and Fozzie Bearish. Despite the laundry list of flavors attributed to this blend, they are subtle and delicate. Very nice cigar. Do I want more? Can I afford more? Knowing the train has come to the station and the ride is over, makes the trip special.

Strength has been an even keeled medium. Just right for that morning stick with coffee.

In the 70’s, a good friend had a yard big enough for a Shetland pony. Under the influence of weed, he thought the furry beast might want to play like a trained dog. He gently smacked the animal in the puss a few times…laughing at how much fun it was. While the guffaws were still hanging from his lips, the pony reared up like Roy Rogers’ stuffed Trigger and attacked. My buddy fell on his back and was nearly squashed but at the last second, the pony realized it had won and only stepped on Ed’s hand. Say no to drugs…unless they’re free.

The blend reminds me of Hendrik Kelner, El Titan de Bronze, Arturo Fuente, and Warped.

I noodge into the second half. I love the surprise that an excellent cigar brings to the table when you are least expecting it. It lifts the mood and produces a bright aura to your goldfish named Dora.

Hard to review a cigar without music.

New accents: malt, black licorice, bright lemon slices, smoky oak, walnut supplants cashew, coffee, dark cocoa nibs, and nougat.

My second-year German class was taught by Herr Schmidt. A proud Nazi. He was also my history teacher a couple periods later. Mid-term we got into WWII. We came back from Christmas vacation to see the room swaddled in Nazi armbands, helmets, one Nazi flag, and various Aryan supremacy chazerai. Most of us were stunned. Some thought it was cool. My term paper’s subject was the Holocaust. I grew up with just a small handful of relatives as both families were wiped out. Before I wrote my paper, I met my grandfather’s cousin who survived. He spent the afternoon telling us about his shocking, against all the odds, survival. Schmidt handed my paper back with the grade of D. His note at the top of the page: “How do you know this? Are you sure this was real?” A couple years later, Der Ober Fuhrer accidentally drove off a steep cliff on the way to Big Bear Lake. I had an alibi. I was hoping he would have met his end in a gas leak from his oven at home.

My maternal grandfather died at age 52. I was told that my birth brought optimism and joy…his first grandchild. The story given to me when I was young was that he passed away due to a heart attack. In my late twenty’s, my mother’s half-sister who was married five times to Jewish mobsters, told me that due to his nefarious practice of criminal law in Cleveland, he was whacked. Not long ago, I found the photo of his resting place. He died on New Year’s Eve. Kinda’ sends a message, donut? My dad was a lawyer in his office. It answers the question of why my dad went back to school and became a civil engineer…and why we moved to L.A. two years later.

Creamy root beer, black cherries, and chocolate syrup. Strength makes a sudden jerk and hits medium/full. My vision blurs.

Such a good cigar but the price rules out so many smokers from trying it. This could have easily been a $15 stick. You want quality, you gotta get jacked.

After Curved Air, I stayed in London for several months. I began playing with a jazz fusion band from Australia. The guitarist played a time with John Mayall. These Aussies were wonderful people as I claimed a place once again in a band that was familial and supportive of each other. The direct opposite of my experience with Curved Air where it was every man for himself. I spent some time in the studio with them and we played around town. The money wasn’t there though, and I had to make a living. I couldn’t wait for the band to break. I was living on borrowed time with a visitor visa and no longer had Miles Copeland cooking the books so I could stay longer. Still, my final exit allowed me to leave Britain with my head held high and a feeling of positivity. I certainly don’t ponder what could have been…. I might never have met Hal Blaine.

The last 2” is critical in any cigar blend. It either rises to the occasion or fails horribly. By any standard, this is an astral concoction. All the boxes are checked.

If you have the dough, this is a great solo event cigar. SBC dulls the pain by offering them in threesomes. If you can get them from your local B&M, get at least a couple. Sophisticates and newbies alike will enjoy this cigar.

You can purchase the Paul Garmirian 25th Anniversary cigars (3 sizes) from sponsor Small Batch Cigar. Take 10% off with promo code KATMAN.

RATING: 96

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Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS

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