Taboo Connecticut:Churchill:Connecticut

I'm a big fan of smaller no name brands. I truly like how these cigars makers do the things they do. They usually offer a pretty decent smoke for a decent price. I guess this is because they don't have to pay for advertising like big name brands do, I feel also that the smaller people have more control on the cigars that they make. Taboo cigar is relatively unknown at the cigar world,but for those who do know the brand can attest to the lovely cigar ladies that follow Taboo whenever they have a large cigar tasting. But my question is, behind all the mascara and highlights are these cigars hiding their true imperfections?

SPECS-
Size-7x50
Wrapper- Ecuador
Binder-Nicaragua
Filler-Nicaragua
Cost-$4.99
Cut-Punch,Guillotine
Smoke Time-45 mins
Drink-Hot French Vanilla Coffee

FIRST IMPRESSIONS-This cigar is rather plain looking. Its the standard Connecticut shade with the expected slight veins and almost dry look. The even wrapper offered a decent amount of compost smell with a ketchup like foot. Not very standard anymore, the cut was crisp and offered a good draw with no particular cold taste. This isn't too bad nor over the top, it seems just about right and a good cigar for this lovely SC sun.

FIRST HALF-The initial taste of this cigar is very decent for the price range. The cigar opens up with a good bit of earth with almost a touch of nuts. The well rounded and mild finish left a good background for the spice to embed it self in your palate. The coffee is complimenting the cigar perfectly, all I wished for when I had this cigar was a nice puff pastry like a nice and warm apple strudel. The small cinnamon undertones shapes this cigar for a good early morning smoke, I didn't find this cigar lacking nor over the top it was just right. Construction is holding up well with just a few occasional touch ups and no flaws on the wrapper, so far so good.

LAST HALF-By this point I've drunk all my coffee and I don't have the perfect companion for this cigar. In this last half I was very fulfilled and choose to smoke the cigar up to the band. So just because you see me reviewing a cigar in halves doesn't mean its a bad smoke,shame on you and your assumptions,ha. But in all seriousness though without the coffee the cigar gets a little darker and not as complex. Along with the darker profile the cinnamon hint is gone and is replaced with a cedar overtone, so overall its not too bad of a trade off in flavors. The cigar did have some small flaws with the wrapper not ashing properly and the burn line did stray off here and there, but for a $5 dollar cigar its great. When the cigar reached the goal line I had planed,the cigar became hard to put down, it almost made me want to go back inside and make another cup of coffee but I felt truly satisfied with this smoke so I can't complain.

FINAL IMPRESSIONS-At $5 bucks this cigar can be a perfect everyday smoke in the morning, the flavor profile is mild enough for anyone to enjoy and feel fulfilled. Even though the constructions was slightly iffy at times it didn't take away from the overall experience. I guess this cigar isn't as Taboo as the name implies. It's just a rather comfortable smoke that will surely greet you well in the morning without disappointments. Cigars like these is why I'm always looking for the next and best small house blends of cigars.

RATING-89
Buy It Again? Yes
Recommend It? Yes, without a doubt.

Camacho Triple Maduro:11/18:Maduro

I'm a big fan of Maduro. I'm always looking for the next and best Maduros out there and usually for me the more the Maduro the better. So when I eventually found out that Camacho had a triple Maduro cigar I was more than excited, being slightly disappointed with the MX2 I soon found out that too much of a good thing can be rather bad. But I'm an optimistic and I have high hopes for this stick. So my question of today is rather simple, is too much of a good thing bad?

SPECS-
Size-6x56
Wrapper-Honduras
Binder-Honduras
Filer-Honduras
Cut-Punch and Guillotine
Price-$13.00
Smoke Time-55 mins

FIRST IMPRESSIONS-This is a very impressive stick from the dual silver bands to this particular size, it just screams out strenght. The wrapper was very figured and dark black. It felt very much like a solid piece of leather and the visible pores of the leaf add to that impression. The foot had a very pleasant smell of dark earth and hay while the wrapper leaf had a compost smell to it. The leaf was very spicy and salty on the lips and tasted like soy sauce,the cold taste was very Norri. This cigar just presents itself as a very black object and I'm so far impressed.

FIRST HALF-Right off the bat you can tell this is going to be a heavy smoke. The cigar opens up with very thick white smoke with a deep and earthy chocolate behind it. Its very rich in red pepper spice. The cigar so far had a deep and simple deep chocolate taste that in indescribable in words. Overall in this half the burn was respectable, this is a Maduro cigar and it must be really hard to blend a all Maduro cigar and get no imperfections. The burn did stray off here and there but I was impressed it never went out on me. The ash is also super strong and I could probably stood the cigar in its ash but I'm a fan of long ashes so I didn't want to risk it. Construction is superb.As the cigar reaches into its second half the smoke seems to bloom out with more flavors and smoke its very enjoyable experience.

LAST HALF-This is a impressive cigar, the smoke truly opens up on this middle third or the last half for me. The simple chocolate is no longer simple, on the finish the chocolate picks up a earthy nut flavor to chug it along. The nut flavor is very smooth and has a cedar undertone to it, while the chocolate picks up a nice overtone anise. This cigar is packed rich in flavors and they deserve a lot more than just one try. Ash is also superb it gets slightly wavy but it just clings on to the cigar. The downfall of this cigar though is its strenght. As soon as the longest ash fell I was introduced to a super strong and dark tobacco taste infused with earth, the profile was tolerable for maybe 5 minutes but after that it just became too much. The nicotine of this cigar really got to me. It was a delayed effect so it was good, it was only really felt after I put the cigar down and layed in my bed. The room was spinning and my stomach hurt, it took me at least 2 soda cans to get over the nicotine lump. For those that don't know, if you ever feel like nicotine has gotten the best of you the best thing to do is combat it with sugar. This was a good cigar and I can't complain I didn't get to finish the last third it was good while it lasted.

LAST IMPRESSIONS-Overall this is a good cigar but the price range is a little steep. The price though is understandable, it's an all Maduro cigar with excellent construction and it was really big vitola so its a moot point really. Maybe with a smaller cigar the nicotine and darkness of it wouldn't be as present. But this cigar did answer my question, I guess too much of a good thing can turn out to be a bad thing. The thing though this cigar wasn't bad, just too much. Giving this cigar to a person new to cigars would be a very mean and cruel but yet very funny joke.

RATING-86
Buy It Again? Sure,
Recommended it? Yes, as a prank or for your own enjoyment if you like Maduro, others though I say be careful and take a seat this thing will knock you down.

Man O' War:Double Corona:Habano

I'm not a big fan of online retailers and that's what has me put me off from getting my hands on this Cigar International's exclusive. Another thing that has put me off was that it was an exclusive, I'm not a big fan of Online Retailers "own" blends. I'm fine about house made B&M cigars but I tend to think that O&R make their own blends for their own profit and don't really care for the quality of the smoke. But I got gifted this cigar and I just can't turn down a cigar. But so does this cigar support my assumptions about O&R quality or does it change my views?

SPECS-
Size- 6.5x52
Wrapper-Ecuadorian Habano
Binder-Nicaragua
Filler-Nicaragua
Price-Around $9 dollars
Cut-Punch/Guillotine
Smoke Time-1 hour
Drink-Coke

FIRST IMPRESSIONS-I'm impressed by the quality. The band is a nice paper with a grim and sinister helmet. The wrapper is very smooth to the touch and fragrant. The foot smells like a earthy hay and nicely packed. The cap was cut rather squishy but produced a perfect draw and no particular taste. So far this cigar is proving me wrong and I don't mind.

FIRST THIRD-The cigar opened up quite nicely. The first initial puffs were similar to a Macanudo 1968. Slightly more spicy and hits you more on the back of the throat. Its not as a refined flavor but its overall decent. The first initial tastes are of nuts, the nuts had a interesting cedar undertone and earth overtone. The finish was good and had a cereal grain similar to puffed corn, it reminded me of Hot Fries. The burn was slow and even, it completely contradicts my expectations.

SECOND THIRD-The spice gets very subdued and not as ruff. The smoke gets more even and refined. The earth that was present on the first third gets deeper and produces a almost sweet mocha. The smoke gets milder and the nut flavor comes and goes with no undertones. Not much to speak about this middle spot other than interesting and not to bad for a CI exclusive.

LAST THIRD-The best and most interesting third. The smoke just blooms up here and produced almost sweet flavors. Though there are no pronounced flavor the occasional hints of leather and nuts are welcomed. After this rather average profile the cigar gets darker and very off putting. As I was close to put the cigar out the flavor profile changed. Though the same flavors were there the way they got introduced was better than before. The nut came on earlier with a good sweetness and with a nutmeg finish. This made me smoke and enjoy the cigar a lot longer than I thought. A pretty decent cigar.

FINAL IMPRESSIONS-This is a decent cigar albeit it's a CI exclusive it changes the exclusive game for me a lot more. The flavors thought weren't as pronounced as I like but this makes for a decent smoke for doing any other things. The price is a bit high and for the expected shipping it'd but this stick well over $10 dollars a pop not worth that price tag, if it was $5 bucks cheaper it'd be good.

RATING-88
Buy it Again? Not Likely
Recommend It? Yes, its decent CI is usually doing special with this cigar that could make it more affordable and worth it.

Perdomo Habano Maduro:Robusto:Maduro

I liked my recent birthday, I've ate some fine food with my family, got to smoke a beautiful cigar with a good friend, but best of all was all the cigars I was gifted.This Perdomo was one of em'(Thanks Bob!). Though this was somewhat of a belated birthday present I was happy non-the-less but I had plans to age this cigar but those plans fell through. Once I got home from my B&M I found the door locked and I forgot my keys and it would of been a good hour and a half before someone came home to open the door, what better way to kill that time than to smoke a cigar? But is this cigar just that? A time killer? Or do I have something more magical in my hands?

Specs-
Size-5x52
Wrapper-Nicaragua
Binder-Nicaragua
Filler-Nicaragua
Price-$6.00
Cut-Guillotine
Smoke Time-50 mins
Drink-Mr.Pibb

FIRST IMPRESSIONS-This is a very gorgeous cigar. The subtle hints of blue,silver and white on the band contrast the dark chocolate brown wrapper well. The toothy leaf was almost vein less and very sweetly fragrant. The foot smelt like earth and a slight touch of hay. The cold draw produce a tea like flavor and it feels slightly too loose for my taste. Overall though the construction seems solid and gorgeous for a $6 dollar stick.

FIRST THIRD-This cigar first blooms up with a good bit of nasal spice that hits you like black pepper, its a subtle spice but enjoyable. Once the spice is subdued a main flavor of nut is introduced with a long and smooth finish that coats your mouth similar to how tea with cream does. Along with the nuts there is a strong overtone of mocha with a undertone of hay. Another flavor that was here was a cedar, it had no complexities but good. My favorite third. The burn is even and for the loose draw the cigar doesn't seem to burn as fast as I thought.

SECOND THIRD-The flavors mellow out here and the with the nut taking a down step as the main flavor and letting the cedar shine through. The cedar gets floral and is slightly sweet. Also the mocha that was present before splits up in flavors. Now you got more of isolated flavors of chocolate and coffee bean. The finish is good but somewhat lacking, the spice also takes a backseat and it feels like there isn't much chugging this cigar to the finish.

LAST THIRD-The cigar definitely looses all its steam here. The enjoyable creamy finish that was present seems to water out and the flavors get milder. All the mocha and nut flavors are gone. The mocha gets replaced leather and the main flavor of cedar is turned to a undertone on the leather. The least favorable third but it still an enjoyable smoke.

LAST IMPRESSIONS- I guess this cigar does answer my question after all. It's more of a cigar that you kill time with and nothing more than that. At the price range its a very good everyday cigar and the flavor profile is good enough to keep you interested. Not to bad of cigar, and a good birthday present and wouldn't you know it I might buy more of these.

RATING-87
Buy It Again?Yes
Recommended It?Yes