The Edge series of Rocky Patel’s are the perfect blend.  They have plenty of smoke, they stay lit if you put it down for a couple of minutes, and the taste is outstanding.  I tasted earth- flavors during this smoke; right now I can’t place the exact taste, as it was 4 days ago when I smoked this.  I guess I will just have to smoke another one

Cigar Details:
Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan-Honduran Ligero
Size: Price: $6, locally
Cigar Aficianado Rating: 90
Someone else’s review: Stogie Guys

Rocky Patel – Edge Toro Maduro is a post from: Cigars and Wine in Grapevine

Everything is so expensive here.  The first cigar shop I went into had these local cigars for $11-$14 per stick.  I thought this was a bit high, but then I looked and saw some Padron 2000 and 4000 series for around $12 and a stick, and a Opex X Fuente Fuente for $42.  All of these were about double what you would pay for them in Dallas, so I figured the Kahauian Cigar was about a $6 smoke.

I visited a couple of other cigar shops before returning to the original one to buy the cigar I wanted.  Most other shops were around the same price, but had less selection than the first one, so I acquiesced to paying $11 for a stick.  I only bought 2 sticks, 1 Light and 1 Maduro because of the price but also because I wanted to try them and didn’t know when I would be back here.

I lit up the Lighter of the 2 last night and smoked it all the way down.  The draw was very good, the quality of the cigar held together, and it had plenty of smoke.  The taste was somewhat lacking.. I did taste hints of cream and possible some nutty flavors, but the flavors were really the weakest part of the whole experience.  Now this was just the Light version, so I am interested to try the Maduro, but this isn’t what I would call a well-priced cigar.

Island Prince Kahaui Cigar; Momona, Light is a post from: Cigars and Wine in Grapevine

Nub 466 Habano is a post from: Cigars and Wine in Grapevine

This month for our Herfers Club we had the Coronado by LFD.  I tasted hints of floral in this cigar.  It burned very smooth and even, had just about a perfect draw, and wasn’t hot at all.  There was plenty of smoke.  It started to get a bit bitter towards the last 1/5 of the smoke, so I put it down and didn’t smoke it any further.  This was a good choice for the club this month.

Coronado by La Flor Domincana is a post from: Cigars and Wine in Grapevine

Rogue Ale, Chocolate Stout is a post from: Cigars and Wine in Grapevine

First, I have never been a huge fan of Sam Adams.  I find their Boston Lager to be rather bitter and harsh, and a bit darker than my tastes prefer.  That’s just me, I generally enjoy a lighter taste like a Lager or Pilsner, over a Stout or Bach, but of course there are exceptions.

So I grabbed this 6-pack today in hopes that it would be like the Sam Adams White Ale, but it isn’t.  However, I still think the taste is pretty good.  It does start off with a somewhat bitter Sam Adams bite, but not one that is over-powering.  After a few sips it develops into a nice taste with hints of dark wheat and “winter sprices” according to the bottle.  Not sure what “winter spices” are, but it does have a nice dark wheat taste to it.  However, so far, the White Ale is my favorite.  I will be blogging about that one later.

Sam Adams Winter Brew is a post from: Cigars and Wine in Grapevine

I have spent the week with my brother in Tampa, FL this week, and we went out for cigars the other night.  Ybor City is an area of downtown Tampa, and there are some hand-rolled cigars made right here in town, so I decided to try a couple of them.  The first one I smoked was this Corojo in a Natural wrapper.  It started extremely spicy and bitter.  The bitterness went away pretty fast, but the spiciness stayed for the first 1/3-1/2 of the cigar.  After that, it developed into a creamy taste until the last 1/4 of the cigar, where the spiciness came back.  There was PLENTY of smoke, and the draw was about perfect.   The ash burned evenly and was pretty light colored, so overall this was a good smoke.

Light of Ybor, Natural Corojo is a post from: Cigars and Wine in Grapevine

My cigar started very dry. It burned incredibly even and had plenty of smoke, but the taste didn’t start all that great. However, about 10% into it, it developed a slight coffee flavor and the dryness dissipated. The dryness did not return and the hits of coffee came-and-went during the entire course of the cigar. The burn remained even, and ash very white, and I never had to re-light it at all.

The quality of this smoke was quite good, but I didn’t care for the taste all that much, and I didn’t like the dryness at all. A good smoke experience, but not one that I would look for again in the store.

Hoyo de Monterrey, Hoyo de Tradicion, Toro is a post from: Cigars and Wine in Grapevine

I smoked 2 of them before writing this post, one Saturday afternoon, and one Sunday evening.  The first one started out a bit hot and very spicy, but quickly mellowed into a mild-to-medium smoke with hints of leather.  The second one wasn’t hot at all, was smooth all the way through, and I got the same hints of leather and some earth tones to it.  There was plenty of smoke and the flavor was quite good, but I think that I still liked the Blue Label better.

The cigar burned a bit unevenly towards the end, but this didn’t affect the flavor or quality at all, in my opinion.  I look forward to smoking the other 4 sticks I got.

Don Pepin Garcia Vegas Cubanas – Invictos – Robusto is a post from: Cigars and Wine in Grapevine

I smoked the first 1/3 of this stick one night and let it go out, then picked it up the next day. After a very short dry spell, it returned to the earthen woodsy flavor from the previous day. I would like to smoke another one of these, but it won’t make my top 10 list.

La Flor Dominicana Cameroon Cabinet #4 is a post from: Cigars and Wine in Grapevine