The KC/DW Review Series

[sammis]

Hi King Catfish

Nice Review :)

I bought the Shorty's to have something to smoke when it gets cold around here and I can't last the full length of a regular sized cigar.

The ones I sent you have spent about 10 months in my humidor.

I get them from Cigars International and the only thing I have been able to track down is that they are hand rolled in Danli’s San Marco factory.

They do get hot if you pull on them too much but I've always liked the flavor.

Thanks for the Review!

[DeeDubya]

Good review KC,
Sounds pretty good for a small vitola. I rarely smoke anything less than 48. For me the larger rings burn cooler, mellower and of course longer. JMO
Have a good Thanksgiving.
DW

[DeeDubya]

Ashwhuper dropped this one on me in the Pryme split. One of the benefits of trades and splits when one can enjoy many of the fine cigars available today.

Made by Pete Johnson and Don Jose "Pepin Garcia" you would expect something great. The name translates to "The Riches" in Spanish. These are Nicaraguan puros and like the other Tatuaje series are spicy, sweet, with filled with flavor. The dark Connecticut wrapper is somewhat oily and toothy. Consistantly firm role, perfectly even burn and sweet mellow finish make them a treat above many others. They are medium bodied but deliver a cloud of rich, thick smoke. The robust flavors stack slightly toward the very end but not unlike other medium bodied smokes.

Although there are many excellent blends available, I'm all for a good puro, be it Nicaraguan, Dominican or whatever. There is just something rewardingly different when smoking a puro.

On a scale of 1-10 I rate this cigar 9.1.

[logan37]

Nice reviews guys.

The first La Riqueza that I smoked had a really tight draw. I'll have to give it another shot one day.

[DeeDubya]

Nice reviews guys.

The first La Riqueza that I smoked had a really tight draw. I'll have to give it another shot one day.

Now that you mention it, this one did too, but not so that I had to re-cut it. I usually try a v-cut first and if it won't draw I clip the cap.

[logan37]

I smoked the No. 1 size (6.5 x 42). I think that may have been part of the draw issue. The draw was so bad that I barely got any taste from it and hardly any smoke. I tried to cut a little more off to no avail. I'll try a No. 2 (5.5 x 52) if I pick up another one.

I tend to stay away from smaller ring sizes as a personal preference now. Most of my sticks are 50-52.

[King Catfish]

A gift from brother Sammis.

Full disclosure: I am biased toward Gurkhas; I love almost all of the Gurkha varieties I have tried, and I was expecting this one to be a big hit. This was my first Titan. Read on to see if my expectations were met.

The Gurkha Titan is aptly named, appearing in a chunky 6.5x56 toro vitola. The cigar is a deep brown, with the classic gold Gurkha band and a black secondary band proclaiming the variety of the stick in silver letters. A cedar sleeve covers most of the rest of the cigar, but enough is visible in the cellophane to project a squat, belligerent impression, like a sumo wrestler poised to attack.

This big stick is composed of Nicaraguan, Honduran, and Columbian fillers, a Nicaraguan binder, and a dark, slightly veiny 1996 Costa Rican wrapper. A little research revealed that the Titan debuted at the 2005 Retail Tobacco Dealers tradeshow and only 1,000 boxes were produced. This is a special stick indeed!

I smoked this cigar with a couple of Pilsners and Joe Pass and his colleagues on the music box. Handling the stick, I found the construction to be aces, very firm and straight and even. There was a slight sheen on the wrapper. I held the cigar to my nose; the wrapper smelled strongly of that fermented tobacco aroma we all love (but on the sweet end of that particular type of aroma), plus a good bit of cedar. (The cedar taste was no surprise, given the packaging). My cutter handled the task, and the prelight draw was surprisingly chocolatey. (I was not expecting that, given the aroma.) Draw was very easy.

It took a while to properly toast the cigar (which issued a subtle woodsy tang to the air), but once toasted it lit readily. I expected the volume of smoke to be huge, and I was not disappointed. The first few puffs were mild and sweet. The smoke was noticeably cooler than I am used to, which can be attributed to the large ring gauge. Once the cigar got warmed up a bit I tasted sweet iced coffee with the tiniest hint of chocolate.

In the first third, the burn line was slightly uneven but very sharp, demarcating a grayish white ash, and the slight chocolate tinge to the taste wandered away and was gone, leaving the mild, sweet, cool coffee taste. I was surprised to see a spot of burning coal had popped up a half in from the burn line; a bit of tunneling I was not expecting given the apparently excellent construction. However, it was no issue, as the main burn line caught up with this spot and devoured it soon enough, restoring the cigar to flawlessness. The ash fell off at nearly two inches and sat like a miniature concrete tower in the ashtray.

The middle third showed not so much a return of chocolate but rather the arrival of a powdery cocoa to complement the coffee taste, and the body started to build, with some spice developing. Also starting to emerge was a bit of an alkaline undertone, which seemed to be morphing slowly into, but never quite becoming, a leathery flavor. The aftertaste, weak up to this point, began to assert itself.

In the final third all the flavors intensified and started to work together more harmoniously. The body was quite mild in the beginning, becoming medium in the middle onwards. A very long-lived smoke, this cigar exceeded an hour and a half.

The Gurkha Titan is a special cigar: it’s uncommon; large and intimidating to the eye, but gentler than it appears. I did not find this cigar to be as amazingly complex as it has been described in some reviews I have read about it. While not one dimensional, I would not consider it remarkable for its complexity. However, it did evolve nicely, and the evolution made sense; the flavor at the end of the cigar was a more mature, developed version of the taste at the beginning. I recommend one approach this cigar like a special event; make sure you’ve got a full belly, a good drink or two, and a quiet evening in which to devote your full attention to the experience. This cigar has a unique flavor profile and a great evolution worth one’s full consciousness.

I scored this cigar 17.00 (x5) = 85.00, adding a full point for a well-thought-out blend that achieved a very sensible and satisfying evolution of flavor profile and another full point for a strong and harmonious finish, for a final score of 87. I would love to try this blend of tobaccos in a robusto vitola.

Many thanks to Sammis for this rare and special cigar.

[King Catfish]

Having reviewed a Perdomo last week, I decided to go back to that well and try the Perdomo Fresco in the Toro vitola, kindly donated by Sammis.

The Perdomo Fresco wears a Connecticut shade grown wrapper. According to another Web site, the wrapper is a Criollo ’98. This may be the same thing, I’m not sure. The binder and fillers are from the Jalapa Valley in Nicaraga. This cigar comes garbed in a wide, modern, funky, dark-but-multicolored festive band. It sort of reminded of something one would see at a Mardi gras party.

The wrapper was dark brown with a nice oily sheen, slightly rough but not coarse, and construction was otherwise good, firm but not hard. There was a slight ridge in the cigar from about the middle to the head end, but it could not be seen, only felt. This stick felt a little light in the hand for its size, and I expected it to have a relatively short burn time even though it was a sizable Toro.

The unlit aroma was dark and rich and reminded me slightly of bitter chocolate. I helped it doff its cap, and the prelight draw was a little tight. The taste was again chocolatey. I toasted the foot, which brought no particular aroma to the room. The cigar lit readily, as if eager to be smoked. Smoke volume was huge, and the mild smoke tasted a bit dry and dusty at first, with not much else going on, except maybe a little nuttiness. The smoke hanging in the room gave it a pleasant aroma. The draw was nice, not as tight as I feared it would be.

In the first third the dustiness faded and the plain tobacco taste was very smooth. The burn line was very sharp and only slightly uneven. The ash was light gray with slightly darker streaks and held firm to the cigar. The nuttiness increased as the cigar continued its journey to the nub. The overall flavor profile included just a shadow of acidity and bitterness. The ash was still holding on as we approached the middle third until I dropped the cigar from mouth height into the ashtray, knocking the ash off and cracking the wrapper from the (nicely cone-shaped) coal to the middle of the cigar, about 1.5 inches. Yes, I know I’m a clumsy fool.

In the middle third the nuttiness of the flavor intensified very nicely and added a tiny bit of chocolate, and despite my fumble I was enjoying this cigar quite a bit. The acidity and bitterness were gone and the flavor was nutty and still a bit dusty in a positive way, and maybe was starting to become leathery; the aftertaste, heretofore unnoticeable, was starting to build and was nutty and perhaps the slightest bit metallic. The volume of the smoke remained quite admirable. The crack in the wrapper did not expand beyond its original dimensions; the Perdomo sailed past it as if allowing me to take a Mulligan, just this time. By the time I had reached the very center of the stick the crack was history; I was quite impressed!
The second ash fell off at a full two inches in length, perhaps a bit more.

The final third was much of the same, with the flavors jelling a bit more and smoothing out a bit. The body climbed well into medium near the nub. I was wrong about the expected short smoke time; this cigar lasted me an hour and 15 minutes.

The Perdomo Fresco is a decent, well constructed mild-to-almost-medium-bodied cigar that’s priced for everyday consumption. The flavor profile, while not terribly complex, did show some nice evolution, even if the flavors were a bit discordant at times. There was a lot of change back and forth between flavors, especially in the middle of the cigar; these changes were not always consonant, and jangled the senses a bit. I likened it to a band of talented musicians that have not quite jelled with each other yet. Much like other Perdomos the flavor profile is on the vegetal side and lacking in leather. Perhaps I was weak this afternoon or this stick has quite a bit of nicotine despite its mostly mild body; my head was swimming a bit at the end.

It’s an enjoyable smoke. I scored this stick: 16.05 (x5) = 80.25, gaining a half point for a very nice unlit aroma and losing a half point for a weak start. I added three-quarters of a point for the way the cigar brushed aside my dropping and cracking it for a final score of 81.

Many thanks to Sammis for this relaxing afternoon.

[sammis]

Hi KC

Nice Review

That cigar has about a year of age on it. I bought two bundles of the Frescos when I was first starting out, one of the Natural wrapper and this one you reviewed which is the Maduro version of it.

I like the Maduro wrapper better. Although the natural wrapper has become my garage cigar while I'm working on my vehicles.

They do seem to smoke better with some age on them.

As you note, it isn't a really complex cigar but it's a good choice for new smokers (the local B&M introduced me to these)

Glad you had a relaxing afternoon. I was doing OK until I started getting calls from work that I had to handle

[Silencei2]

Great review! I'm going to have to pick up some of these and spend some more time reading your reviews. I hope one day I can be as intricate as you when it comes to dissecting the value of the cigars I smoke

[DeeDubya]

Excellent review KC. This is one Perdomo I have not tried, but now I will. I have never been dissapointed with any of the Perdomo's I have tried, that's why I now have five or six boxes in my coolerdor that I picked up at a reasonable price (mostly the Lot 23 series). With a little aging as Sammis did they should always be a good cigar.