Stogie Sister

Celebrate the holidays with me and this festive cigar! Today we will try a new to me cigar, Ezra Zion Ninjabread Man. This blend has been released seasonally for many years now. The wrapper and filler aging appears to be the only changes made throughout the years. 6 x 52 Toro Smoking time over 1.5 hours

Find out whether or not you should look for this cheap lighter.

M by Macanduo Espresso is an espresso with cream flavored cigar that is a newer release (2021) for Macanudo. The cigar does have a sweet tip, although I barely found any sweetness. Belicoso (6.0"x54) Wrapper - Indonesian Shade & Maduro barber pole Binder - Philippines Filler - Nicaragua,

"Drew Estate’s newest cigar, the ultra-premium 20 Acre Farm, is now shipping to tobacco retailers nationwide. Unveiled during Drew Estate’s “Freestyle Live: Special Edition” broadcast on Nov. 11th, 20 Acre Farm is a complex, refined and medium-bodied cigar with super oaky and cedary notes accompanied by a whisper of white pepper and a bright hint of citrus. Built at La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate in Nicaragua using a velvety Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade Grown wrapper, a Sun Grown Habano binder, and a filler blend of Nicaraguan tobaccos from Estelí and Jalapa in perfect balance with the opulent and majestic Florida Sun Grown leaf, which is lovingly grown and harvested by Jeff Borysiewicz on his pristine 20-acre plot of land near the Central Florida town of Clermont." (Drew Estate's Website)

Originally blended 2014 and released as a Townhouse Exclusive available only at Nat Sherman, the Panamericana then became available to TAA retailers in 2015. At the time of its release Michael Herklots of Nat Sherman wrote, “This new expression of Nat Sherman is sensationally complex in flavor, achieving great balance by tempering the Costa Rican tobacco’s unique attributes with three different Nicaraguan tobaccos. We’ve been tweaking this blend for two years, and the final product was well worth the time and effort.” Let's see if this cigar is as complex as touted. 6x60 Wrapper - Ecuador Sumatra Binder - Nicaragua Filler - Costa Rica, Nicaragua Smoke time - approx. 1 hr.

HVC was founded as a way for Reiner Lorenzo to pay respect to his home, Havana City. HVC Cigars focuses on keeping Cuban cigar traditions thriving by utilizing only the finest tobacco from Nicaragua to create quality cigars that offer unique experiences. HVC's newest release Hot Cake is the exact name of his first release, Pan Caliente, but with a completely different blend (See below). GRAN CANÓN - 6x60 Wrapper - Mexican San Andres Binder - Jalapa Corojo 99 & Esteli Corojo 98 Filler - Viso Corojo 2006 Maduro

Tatuaje based this cigar name on an unreleased cigar named “Thermonuclear,” which Tatuaje’s owner Pete Johnson created in 2006, and used entirely ligero tobaccos. In 2009, the T110 was released as an exclusive for R. Field Wine Co. in Hawaii; the T being short for Thermonuclear and the 110 refers to the 110mm length of the cigar. (4 3/8 inches long with a 52 ring gauge) Today's blend uses a mixture of ligero and high-priming visos. Short Robusto - 4 3/8 x 52 Wrapper - Ecuador Sumatra Binder & Filler - Nicaragua Smoke time - Approx. 1 hr.

We complete our Caldwell Cigar Sampler Pack tour today with the Eastern Standard Sungrown. 5 x 50 Wrapper - Sungrown San Andrés Habano Binder - Ecuador Filler - San Andrés Valley & Dominican Republic Smoking time - Approx. 1 hr.

"As the newest member to the Diamond Crown Family, Black Diamond offers a uniquely exquisite taste featuring carefully aged tobaccos not found in any other cigar in the world. It is hand crafted by the finest cigar makers at Tabacalera A. Fuente in the Dominican Republic exclusively for J.C. Newman Cigar Company." "The Diamond Crown Black Diamond is a small batch epicurean cigar and is very limited in production because it is held to the absolute highest standard of quality control." JC Newman Website Radiant (4.5x54) Wrapper - Connecticut Sungrown Broadleaf Havana Seed Binder & Filler - Dominican Republic aged 5 years

Cohiba launched a more inclusive, budget friendly, premium line of cigars with their Blue. Let's see if it's worth the price. Let me know what your thoughts are on the Blue and other Cohibas (Non Cuban). Wrapper - Honduran Origin - Dominican Republic Binder - Honduran Filler - Dominican, Honduras, Nicaragua

Tatuaje Havana VI is a 93 rated cigar, critics calling it complex. Let's dive into this cigar and find out for ourselves. Artistas (Torpedo) - 6.2 x 52 Wrapper - Nicaraguan Corojo Binder & Filler - Nicaraguan Smoking time - approx. 1 hr.

La Flor Dominicana (LFD) TAA Exclusives are one-time releases with the number of boxes limited to those ordered by TAA Members at the annual TAA Convention and Tradeshow. The original LFD TAA 50th The Golden Anniversary stick is very sought after because it denotes the very first time that LFD has made use of Criollo '98 from on their own farm in La Canela. This unique filler is wrapped up in Dominican binders and artfully enclosed with a Nicaraguan Habano wrapper. However, today we will try the LFD TAA 50th Anniversary Oro Segunda Edición, or the second edition of the La Flor Dominicana TAA 2018 Golden “Oro” Anniversary that was released in 2018. The second edition's cigars come in two varieties, the natural and maduro and have a split box containing both when buying the toro vitola. The blends both share a Dominican binder and Dominican criollo 99 fillers grown exclusively for this blend. 6.5 x 54 - Maduro Wrapper - Mexican San Andrés Binder - Dominican Republic Filler - Dominican criollo 99

The Crowned Heads CHC Serie E, released in Sept 20101, is the follow-up release to the Crowned Heads Court Reserve XVIII. CHC Serie E is short for “Crowned Heads Court Serie Eruption.” Like numerous releases from Crowned Heads the CHC Serie E is inspired by music, Eddie Van Halen’s guitar solo from the song “Eruption”. Vitola - Hermoso No.2 (6 1/8 X 48) Wrapper - Ecuadorian Habano Oscuro Binder & Filler - Nicaragua (fillers from Jalapa, Ometepe, and Pueblo Nuevo regions)

The Monster Mash Box Sampler set is based on the 13 Original Monster Blends plus a 14th new Monster Blend called “The Creature”. The 13 original blends are offered in the same original ring gauges but are 1 1/2 inches shorter. The Creature is a 5 3/8 x 48 Perfecto and based on the Creature from the Black Lagoon, a 1954 horror film.

"Número Uno was originally blended for World Leaders. Handed by Nicaraguan ambassadors on official missions around the world. In 2018, we gifted some to media and special audiences and got our highest rating in 50 years. We are now officially releasing it as part of Obras Maestras, the designation of our ultra-premium family of cigars." - Joya de Nicaragua's website A whole lot of awards has been handed this cigar. Let's see if it's worth it. Offered in two vitolas: Le Premier (6.88 × 48) & L’Ambassadeur (6.63 × 44). Wrapper - Ecuadorian Connecticut Binder & Filler - Nicaragua

As we continue on our Caldwell sampler pack tour, we come to Caldwell's idea of a maduro. Different websites listed different information for the wrapper, so I just used Caldwell's site. 5 x 50 Wrapper - Connecticut Arapiraca Maduro Binder - Habana Dominicano Filler - Dominican Crillo ‘98, Dominican Corojo Ligero, & Nicaraguan Habano Smoking time - Approx. 1 hr.

With multiple cigars in the top 5 of Cigar Aficionado's list, you know that when E.P. Carrillo puts out a cigar you might want to pay attention. Once again, E.P. Carrillo has a cigar at #1 cigar of the year (2020) with Pledge. Prequel - 5x50 Wrapper - Connecticut Habano Binder - Ecuador Filler - Nicaragua

You saw the unboxing, now let's dive into the cigar itself! Tatuaje has paid homage to the original The Frank cigar by releasing a new Monster Series cigar titled The Frank Redux 1. Released in October of 2021, there are only 5,000 coffin dress boxes available. There are only 13 cigars per box. Similar to the original blend, however this cigar has differences which Pete Johnson of Tatuaje will not divulge at this time. 7 5/8 x 49 box-pressed Wrapper - Connecticut Broadleaf Binder & Filler - Nicaragua

Continuing with our Caldwell cigar sampler pack tour, we try The King is Dead. A puro which uses unique and rare grade A tobaccos. A blend that garnered a Cigar Aficionado 93 rating and was in the top 25 cigars for the year 2015. Wrapper - Dominican Negrito Binder - Dominican Corojo Filler - Dominican Corojo Ligero, Dominican Negrito, Dominican grown Habano Vuelta Abajo

Recently released, the Tatuaje Monster Mash includes vitolas that are based on the original full-sized release for each Monster blend, but 1 1/2 inches shorter than that original release. Monster Mash has all thirteen blends for the Monster Series plus a new and unique 14th blend called “Creature” – based on The Creature from the Black Lagoon character. So far, Creature can only be found in this box sampler. The Creature is a 5 3/8 x 48 perfecto, which is the same as the Black Label Britanicas Extra, and it uses a Nicaraguan double binder and filler, though Pete Johnson isn’t ready to reveal what the wrapper is yet. Supposedly, Tatuaje produced 13,000 Samplers of 14 Cigars.

Continuing with our Caldwell Sampler tour is the Eastern Standard. Rated a 91 from Cigar Aficionado and reported to be "Not your Daddy's Connecticut" on the Caldwell website, let's see if this cigar lives up to that hype. Corretto: 5 x 50 Wrapper: Connecticut Shade x Brazilian Mata Fina (hybrid seed) Binder: Dominican Habano Filler: Dominican Criollo ’98, Dominican Corojo Ligero, Nicaraguan Habano Smoking time: Approx. 1 hr.

Tatuaje recently released, as in my B&M today opened the shipping box, the Frank Redux 1. For this release, Johnson is made 5,000 coffin dress boxes (as shown in video), each containing 13 cigars, making for a total run of 65,000 total cigars. The blend is unique this year to the original Frank released as #1 in the Monster Series. So grab yours now!

A limited and seasonal release, Diesel's Sunday Gravy (San Marzano blend) was developed by master cigar blender AJ Fernandez and Justin Andrews, Diesel’s Senior Brand Manager. The cigars are crafted at AJ’s Tabacalera Fernandez factory in Nicaragua. When asked about AJ Fernandez, Justin Andrews stated, "when I first started working with AJ Fernandez and even to this day, I’m impressed by his method of making cigars. He ferments and ages his tobacco meticulously to achieve the taste he wants. His process actually reminds me of my Mom and how she cooked her Sunday sauce slowly over a low flame, knowing she had the luxury of being able to cook all day on a Sunday to get it just right. The comparison to cooking inspired the name of this new collaboration with AJ, and it’s actually very similar to his approach. AJ never rushes the tobacco. In fact, his processes are what some might describe as painstaking. The result is richness, depth and complexity and like a good Sunday sauce or gravy, AJ’s cigars are always worth the wait." 6 x 54 Wrapper - Ecuadoran Habano Binder - Nicaraguan Esteli Filler - Nicaraguan Jalapa Smoking time - Approx. 2 hrs.

Crowned Heads has created a limited release line of cigars, The Angel's Anvil, just for TAA retailers. However, 2019 marks the first year Crowned Heads used the Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper. While this is a TAA only release, this particular cigar is still easy to find. 6 1/8" x 50 Wrapper - Brazilian Arapiraca Binder & Filler - Ecuadorian Sumatra Smoking time: Approx. 1.5 hrs.

While this cigar is widely available in multiple vitolas, only the TAA retailers of 2020 received the 11/18 (6x54) vitola. CLE made a cigar specifically to celebrate, founder and president, Christian Eiroa's 25th Anniversary of being in the cigar business. Eiroa's favorite tobacco is Honduras tobacco and so the Honduran Puro was created. I found some conflicting information about which type of Honduran leaves were used, either corojo or criollo. 6x54 - Box Pressed Honduran Puro Smoking time - approx. 2 hrs.