Growing up in a family of smokers was pretty standard in the 1960s and 1970s. My grandmother, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles and many cousins were smokers. Even my dad smoked until I was four years old. But the enjoyable part for me was the incredible aroma of cigars and pipes that were slowly, steadily smoked by two uncles and both great-grandfathers.

As I’ve written before, my great-grandfather Benjamin Roy Gillett had a pipe or cigar lit constantly from rising in the morning until bedtime late at night. He was retired by the time I was born and had few hobbies, especially as his health started to decline in his later years. Grandpa lived a long one hundred and two years, and smoked his pipe or cigars almost up until his death in 1997. That memory stayed with me for years, and even though I tried the requisite Swishers and Black & Milds, aside from smoking Backwoods when I was deer hunting, I just never took to the taste of a cigar.

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Some of my earliest and fondest cigar smoking memories took place at around four in the morning. It was a decidedly unpretentious affair.

The stick was a machine made Garcia y Vega Grenadier purchased in a box of six along with a bag of Cheetos and a bottle of Snapple from a 24 hour mini mart. Back in the 80s, this was often what passed for dinner on midnight shift on the police force since you could eat it on the fly and, if interrupted, it wouldn’t get cold. After the domestic and tavern disturbances faded into silence it was time for a cigar. I’d call my partner on the talk-around channel and we’d meet up in the dark parking lot of a manufacturing firm or pre-dawn mercury-vapor lit commuter train station.

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Some people might argue that there are more than just three primary tobacco growing nations (outside of Cuba, that is). Still, I think most of us could agree that the tobacco regions generally recognized today as key ones (once again, not including Cuba) would be those located in the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua.

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I never thought that I would be a cigar a day smoker.  I was a once-or-twice-a-week guy, not wanting to be absent from my family whilst sitting outside for two hours or so per night. Family situations change, elders need caregivers, caregivers need to get out of the house from the elders and voilá, smoking more than one cigar per day sometimes is suddenly a reality.

My good friend of nearly twenty years at Cigar Weekly sent me a bag of cigars some months back with a request that I let him know about one of them. So, Stan, this is for you, me brother. This is the Asylum 13 Oblongata made by the CLE Cigar Company, founded by Christian L. Eiroa. According to their website, this cigar, called the 60 x 6 due to its dimensions, is made of all corojo tobacco. This should be an experience no matter how it turns out. The Eiroa/CLE corojo farm is in Honduras, according to Cigar Aficionado’s Gregory Mottola, the plantation in the Jamastran Valley once known as Argelia is now called El Corojo after its namesake tobacco. (Gregory Mottola. Crop Report: El Corojo Farm, Honduras. https://www.clecigars.com/crop-report-el-corojo-farm-honduras/ February 5, 2020, accessed May 27, 2020.)

The wrapper leaf is beautiful, simply no other way to describe it, whilst the entire cigar is box-pressed. I almost ruined it clipping it with a tough guillotine cutter. However, I was able to ameliorate the damage. It lights quite nicely with one match and I was met with a strong woody character that coated the back of my tongue. A little ways in and that almost “over-flavor” due to the heat of the lighting has abated a great deal. This is now a pleasant woody cigar, with a nice tight, straight burn.

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June 4th, 2018

Vitola: Torpedo
MSRP: Around $5
Wrapper: San Andrés
Binder: Dominican and Nicaraguan
Filler: Dominican and Nicaraguan

I am truly grateful to be able to review this cigar, which I had heard about from a close friend of mine. I was even able to meet the owner, blender and roller of JNV cigars, Jorge Nicolls (Don Jorge). Not only is he a great cigar brand owner, but also a great man in general. We instantly became friends. Now, onto the review!

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May 24th, 2018

This, my final review of the Case Study series from Ventura Cigar Company, is a write-up on the CS/05, one of 26 different blends in the line that pay homage to 26 famous homes built in Los Angeles. The LA homes are renowned for their simplistic, modernist designs and their famous master architects. The Case Study cigars mirror the homes with their simple, minimalist labeling and the fact that all were blended by famous, albeit secret, blend masters.

Sixteen of the blends are ‘Master Editions’, while ten are ‘Limited Editions’. The CS/05 is a limited edition. My knowledge of the cigar is restricted to what venturacigar.com informs me. No information is given regarding the blender’s identity or where the cigar was blended.

The Case Study CS/05 blend comes in three vitolas, respectively measuring 5.75 x 60, 5.75 x 54 and 6.75 x 52. This review profiles what I’ll call the ‘Robusto Extra’, given that its 5.75 x 54 format doesn’t fit conveniently into any established size category. Maybe it’s a short Toro or a fat Double Corona. Who knows? Full disclosure... I love the size of this cigar. At any rate, here’s what I thought of it.

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