One of the Cuban cigars legends and a well non world wide. Sometimes when I ask my cigar smokers fellows the “Cigarians” why there’s no Montecristo Robusto they point to this one!!! Let’s not to make it very long and start exploring this guy:

Pre light:

Beautiful looking Robusto, well rounded and well placed cap. The Wrapper looks fantastic, lite brown with minimal veins and fair amount of oils. The pre light draw is almost perfect brings sweet aromas of Earth and wet woods.

1st:

From the beginning with the initial puffs lots to say, sweet and peppery cedar mixed with citrusy on the back ground, that was packed in medium body creamy smoke. Farther into this third lots of caramelized sweet floral aromas while the core is changed and added coffee and mocha to the cedar and citrus. Nice touch of pepper join the smoke to add some more excitement to the end of this third.

2nd:

Here the flavors started to change, the cedar, citrus and the sweetness turned down a little and coffee bitter became more pronounced with some earth and hints of hay and just a touch of leather, with the body turning to the upper medium. By the med way point the smoke got more strength and the flavors mentions above got bolder with rich espresso and cedar.

Final:

Medium to full already with rich coffee and hints of old wood or just “Agar wood” and floral flavors to fill the creamy and smooth smoke. The cigar ends with freshly baked bread and bitter coffee.

Final thoughts:

Great, rich and complex smoke to get from this cigar. It is a cigar not just to puff on but to enjoy the perfume and aromas produced by the burning foot. Ive been enjoying Juan Lopez for quite long and I can proudly say that they are consistent Through the years and they age very well. If it was first lunched in 2011 I’d pick it No.1 cigar of the year for sure.

Around the world when talking about Cuban cigars “Partagas” pop-up as one of the leading brands, and this is the latest release. In the trend of world go FAT CIGARS Cubans are no exception so they started to release “Sublimes” “Wide Churchill” and this one. When it was first out people believed it is a bigger SD#4, but it wasn’t, so they were disappointed. I’ve chosen this cigar to be #3 in my “2011 Top 5 Cigars”. Let’s fire it up and see what’s going on here:

Size: 5 ½ X 54

Origin: Cuba

Pre light:

Fat, well rounded and well-constructed cigar. The wrapper is beautiful lite brown oily and has small veins on it. The pre light draw was “Perfect” brings sweet aromas of nut, wood, fruits and cool earth. The burn was almost perfect and the white gray ash holds very well.

1st:

After a while toasting the foot the first few puffs were full of smoke, mild to medium in body with with some tobacco and pepper and hints of earth and coffee. Half of an inch down this fat guy woke up to start showing what it has, the body straight medium and the flavors profile is medium to full. A lot for things happening here; rich Cuban tobacco, earth, leather, roasted coffee and more pepper zing tangling the palate while the aroma is very sweet and floral. Still medium in body by the end of this third.

2nd:

After tapping the long ash and starting new chapter “third” found an increase in body and boldness in the flavors profile. More pepper and sweet spices join here and the core is cocoa” mocha” like flavor. At the half way point the body is upper  medium and there’re some changes in the flavors profile. The mocha took the back seat and Smokey Earth, yet sweet to the core and hints of coffee tobacco, sugarcane and wood.

Final third:

We still in the Upper medium body while more pepper keep coming and cedar jumping around. A lot of flavors and hints with complex sweet profile end this cigar.

Final thoughts:

It is not the most powerful cigar out there and that’s why most of the disappointed team didn’t like it. For myself I don’t really need a fire cracker every day and every occasion. Some times when you already had 1 or 2 cigars and you still need to light up you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. So that’s why I’ve chosen it to be in my top 5.

Trinidad considered by Habanos as a niche brand. It was released commercially on 1998 while before  that it used to be as gift given by the Cuban government to the Diplomats . If you know me you will know that I’m not a big fan of this brand but I visit it from time to time because of 2 reasons first is the “price” and the second is I consider this cigar as a  “Connoisseur” choice and not an everyday smoke.

Size: 5.2 x 44

Origin: Cuba

Pre light

Well constructed cigar with beautiful slightly oily light brown wrapper. Minimal veins here and there. The body is neither  hard nor soft with kind of spongy feel. The pre light draw was very good with some resistance and delivers rich aromas of almond and wood. The burn is almost razor sharpe and the ash holds quite nice.

1st

First few puffs were rich and flavorful loaded with strong tobacco, coffee, wood and pepper and back grounded with sweet cedar, while the body is straight medium. 1/2 an inch down the sharpness just mellowed and the flavor profile developed to bring a mouth watering sweet floral smoke, coffee, cedar with hints of pepper with medium body until the end of this third.

2nd

Here we go with few changes in the experience, the flavors started to get bolder and added some cocoa & leather and the body increased to be in the medium-full range.  At the midway point found some vanilla and grape flavors to join the rich complex profile, while body still medium to full.

Final

At this point the cigar gets wilder and almost full body and strong flavors of sweet tobacco, coffee and leather in core and hints of cedar and some pepper. Reaching the band point cocoa and “coconut” like gets in while the smoke still pleasent.

Final thoughts:

This is a very complex cigar and must try for real cigar smokers. It is so smooth yet it is not your morning choice since it has some strenght on. It is well Known that this cigar changes to better with age, the more you age it the more complex it gets.

hope you enjoy it, if so please like and rate my effort.

Today we are having a look at Cigar No.2 in my Top 5 Cigar 2011. A Regional Edition of the UAE the 2nd after the “punch robusto” in 2008. Bolivar Emiratos is a Sublime size cigar released in February 2011 and exclusively distributed by “Mohebi Group” the owner company on La Casa Del Habanos in the country plus Oman and Iran and suppliers of Qatar. Let’s light it up and see what this revolutionary guy all about:

SIZE: 6 1/2 X 54

ORIGIN: CUBA

Per light:

A well rounded sublime, well packed with a solid body. The wrapper is medium brown slightly oily and has a minimal veins. The pre light draw was almost perfect with just a little amount of resistant, delivers a pleasant woody “cedar like” with earth pepper and leather aromas.

1st:

Initial draw was straight medium body flavorful mostly sweet Cedary earthy tobacco has a pleasant pepper playing on the back ground. 1/2 an inch down the smoke started to get richer and thicker, the cedar is in core with more pepper and floral flavors and hints of orange peel and leather. By the end of this third espresso added to the flavors profile and the body in to the medium range.

2nd:

This third kicks off with rich sweet Cuban tobacco, espresso and pepper and the cedar took the back seat with both cocoa and earth, the body got to the upper side of medium. By the midway point the flavor profile gets more complex with more stuff joining the party. The orange peel became pronounced and some nutty almonds like flavor to coat the palate, the cedar became more like a wet wood and the body more like medium to full. The flavors stay rich and the smoke is cool by the end of this third.

Final:

While we left the 2nd third complex here’s the peak. Including to the above profile the earth got richer and the espresso shot doubled while the body still medium full. farther in the third caramel jumped in to be added to grab more attention while smoke still cool. By the end of this journey the smoke gets little bit hotter yet pleasant and the body still med-full.

In my opinion this is a class “A” cigar and a winner by all means. Very complix and pleasant, well constructed and has everything a good cigar should have. Eight months have shown a lot of this cigar, however couple of years should do more in the complexity department. It is a must have for Bolivar lovers and collectors, if you’re planning to visit the country or transiting in Dubai arrange to get your hands on a box while they’re available.

That’s all about it so hope you enjoyed it. If you did press “Like and Rate” be well.

Welcome to the new years cigar lovers. Before we completely close the book of 2011 I just want to mention the best cigars I’ve had. I didn’t smoke many though. Here I have all Cuban not because I don’t smoke Non Cuban, but because I didn’t have access to the 2011 releases. BTW I haven’t done any list before because I don’t have a rating system yet and those cigars listed as I liked them. Let’s make it and count from 5 to 1:

5. La Gloria Cubana Inmensos “review coming soon”

4. Juan Lopez No.2 “review coming soon”

3. Partagas Serie E No. 2

2. Bolivar Emiratos regional edition of UAE

1. Ramon Allones Allones Extra EL11

Here we go and this is my first top cigar list ever. Hope you like it. Please comment and share your top 5 cigars here.

Man how fast 2011 past and we are almost 2012, all of us had good and bad memories but that all past. Well here i want to wish you all friends and visitors, cigar lovers from all over the world a Happy New Year and for you all good wishes to come true.

Please enjoy your New Year Eve and smoke many “good cigars’ with good health.

from Abu Dhabi

Cigar Palace Editor

This is a quick review of a cigar to get a brief info about it. For me “Arturo Fuente” is new stuff because I have no clue about their cigar and what they are all about. This cigar is from the “Hemingway” series which mostly come in a Figurado shapes. So let’s have a look at this little cigar and see what it has under the innocent view:

Size: 4 ½ X 49

Wrapper: Cameroon

Binder: Dominican

Filler: Dominican

If we have a look at this cigar it is well constructed with no soft spots from foot to head. The wrapper “Cameroon” has that yellowish brown color was toothy with minimal veins on it. The pre light draw was fine with little bit of resistance and drives very cool and mild sweet tobacco taste.

When lit the 1^st ¼ of an inch is very mild like the pre light draw was, but once you are in the 49 point of ring gage the flavor jump in. The smoke is almost medium in body and loaded with what Cameroon is all about, sweet earthy woody tobacco with hints of cocoa and pepper tingling. By the halfway point the body gets higher and the flavor sharper when the wood becomes rich cedar and more pepper which is very pleasant. Leather orange peel and sweet smoke keeps you attracted to until the end of the cigar where it mellows and cool down.

So this cigar is a very good choice if you have no much time and you want to have the real experience of a cigar, it last with me for 35 minutes before I put it down. For me I don’t really smoke those cigars because I like to take my time puffing a cigar and because these small guys gets very hot in a point.

That’s it for now, please rate!!

I know im working very slow but this time im putting the final touches of new stuff to be released in the nearest future. Just recieved new cigars of new releases from habanos like Bolivar Emiratos and the EL 11. Some non cubans as well been shipped from the US and on the way to Abu Dhabi. So please stay tuned and smoke lots of cigars.

Vitola: Corona Grande

Size: 6″ x 42

Box code: RSE ABR 03 (Cabinet of 50)

Smoking time: 1 hr and 1/2

Before I jump straight into things, allow me to give a bit of an introduction to the cigar I am reviewing. The Hoyo de Monterrey Des Dieux is one of the oldest vitolas of the brand. These cigars used to come unbanded until 2005 and only come in boxes of 25 since 2006. I did not rate HdM as a Marca at all, I found most cigars bearing the name one dimensional and boring before smoking my 1st Des Dieux.

This stick was an excellent example of a cigar, light brown wrapper with a bit of oil. The construction was excellent, it was firm with a slight give to pressure. The aroma at cold in itself set the expectations to high. The aromas in concern were those of cinnamon and nutmeg.

Like the aroma at cold, the 1st third started of with a wonderful bouquet of flavors. Cinnamon, vanilla with underlying tones of cedar were the predominant flavors while a nutty profile (what I could describe as cashew nuts) was evident on the retro hail.

Right at the end of the third the Nuttiness and spiciness combined nicely giving flavors resembling those of unsweetened cooking cocoa.

The unsweetened cocoa continueed to the 2nd third. Halfway through the 2nd third, the cocoa was gone and was replaced with flavors similar to those initially sampled in the first third. however, some tea leaf flavors took center stage and were accompanied with some underlying sweetness that I could not put my finger on. The cigar picked up a notch in strength, and white pepper was what I got on the retro hail.

In the final third, things got really interesting, the cigar was medium bodied which was reflected on the flavors being dark and sweet. I could only relate those flavors to dried fruit (dried figs to be precise) accompanied by what I’d describe as canned cherries on the retro hail. The cigar never got harsh and I enjoyed it all the way to the nub..

Final notes:

- This cigar has a ton of flavor and excelled in sticking to the medium side without turning harsh.

- This cigar was one of the most complex cigars I have had. Not only did it have an abundance of flavors.. Each one of the thirds had flavors different than the other. This is a cigar that truly typifies what the word complexity stands for

- This is a well balanced smoke. Every single flavor had its on spot, each flavor flowed with the other in great harmony.

- This cigar is truly worthy of its name. Des Dieux, meaning Gods in French is truly one of the gods of cigars.

Final score: 94

Hope you enjoyed reading, if you did please rate, like and comment.

Initial thoughts:

Size: 5.6” x 44

Origin: Cuba

The Ramon Allones also has a dark colorado colored wrapper… a lil bit oily with a slight shine… tight rolled with a smell of tobacco, espresso and wood…

1^st third:

Let’s light it up… oh WOW!! This cigar is a real powerhouse… the first puffs are really impressin!! Intensive aromas of wood, leather and tobacco dominate the first third… decent sweetness and a pronounced earthiness…

2^nd third:

Durin the second third some white peppe’s comin up… I can feel it bitin while nose-exhalin… not unpleasant, but present. Wood and strong notes of tobacco are still there, added by dark roasted espresso, the sweetness fades slowly away…

Final third:

In the last third the sweetness is gone completely… it’s pure power now: leather, tar, some kinda peat, intensive earthiness mixed with some ammonia…

Final thoughts:

The cigar lasted for 85 minutes, it had an always perfect draw but the ash was not as firm as it was for the “Hoyo” I smoked the other day.

In my humble opinion this cigar is real big-time with a great agin potential. I’m sure you’ll regret it in a few years when didn’t buy some for storage.

Many thanks to Heiko for this review, and to you readers. Please rate, like and comment, Have fun!!!