cigars

  • Tatuaje La Riqueza SE 2024

    Tatuaje La Riqueza SE 2024

    The Tatuaje La Riqueza SE 2024 comes in two different wrappers: a Connecticut Broadleaf and a Mexican San Andres. This review focuses on the Connecticut Broadleaf version, which is limited to 1500 boxes of 10, much fewer than the 4500 box run of the SE 2022. The mottled medium brown Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper has a…

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  • Tatuaje La Riqueza SE 2022

    Tatuaje La Riqueza SE 2022

    When Pete Johnson released the La Riqueza SE in 2022, it was listed as one of the best cigars of the year on NJBS.  Only 4,500 boxes of 10 were produced. In this review, I wanted to see how it performed after more than two years of aging in the humidor. The cigar features a…

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  • Casa Fuente Churchill

    Casa Fuente Churchill

    The Casa Fuente brand by Arturo Fuente is primarily crafted for their Casa Fuente store in Las Vegas. However, it is occasionally available in limited quantities to select Fuente accounts across the US. Fortunately, Twins Smoke Shop is one of those accounts. The medium brown wrapper is slightly toothy, and the cold draw offers notes…

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  • La Flor Dominicana LG Emeraude

    The “LG” references LFD’s co-founder Litto Gomez. The cigar is limited to members of the TAA which recently celebrated its “emerald” anniversary (55th), in 2023, hence the French “Emeraude” in the name. As with all cigars released in the Litto Gomez line, the LG Emeraude is made entirely of Dominican tobacco grown at the company’s…

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  • Best of 2024

    Best of 2024

    Since 2019, when Not Just Blowing Smoke began, I have shared my thoughts on the best new cigars and tobaccos of the year. On the one hand, the last thing the cigar/pipe world needs is another list of the best of 2024. But I am not just blowing smoke when I confess that some of…

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  • H. Upmann 1844 Añejo Toro

    H. Upmann 1844 Añejo Toro

    Wrapper: Ecuadorian HabanoBinder: PA BroadleafFiller: Nicaraguan, Honduran, DominicanSize: Toro 6 x 54 The H. Upmann 1844 Añejo Toro features a uniform and silky-smooth coffee brown wrapper with a light oily sheen. The cold draw brings notes of barnyard, hay, and leather. Upon lighting, the cigar opens with notes of nuts, buttery-sweetness, light coffee, leather, and cedar.…

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  • Padron 50th Anniversary Maduro

    To celebrate our 34th anniversary, my wife and I enjoyed the Padron 50th Anniversary Maduro. This special cigar, originally released in limited edition 50-count humidors in 2014, is made to commemorate the company’s 50th anniversary. Refills are available annually to humidor owners. Origin: NicaraguaWrapper: NicaraguaBinder: NicaraguaFiller: NicaraguaSize: Toro 6 1/2 x 50 box-pressed The cigar features a slightly toothy, evenly…

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  • The Rocky Patel Emerald Toro

    The Rocky Patel Emerald Toro

    Rocky Patel has a large portfolio of cigars that seems to grow by two or three lines each year. This year, that includes the Year of the Dragon, the Rocky Patel Gold Label, and most recently, the subject of this review, the Emerald. The Emerald is a soft box-pressed cigar with a silky coffee-brown wrapper…

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  • Ferio Tego Summa Torpedo

    Ferio Tego Summa Torpedo

     “Summa” is the Latin word for a comprehensive summary or treatise, or total, or archetypal example. It is a word commonly used in theology and philosophy. In fact, the first thing that comes to mind when I see the word “summa” is St. Thomas Aquinas’ unfinished masterwork, Summa Theologica. So, I was intrigued when I…

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  • The Rocky Patel Conviction

    The Rocky Patel Conviction

    In recent years, several brands have introduced super-premium offerings to the market, and one of those is Rocky Patel’s Conviction. This cigar is made with tobacco that has been aging since 2014, from Rocky Patel’s first harvest, and it comes with a retail price of $100 before taxes. Wrapper: Mexican San AndresBinder: NicaraguanFiller: NicaraguanSize: Toro…

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