Quick Review – E.P. Carrillo Short Run Delirios

By Allen on Jun 15, 2010 in Cigar Reviews

I’ve been away from the site for a few days and while I was out enjoying myself I ran across a great new cigar, the E.P. Carrillo Short Run Delirios.  If you follow my Twitter feed you may have noticed me raving about this cigar. 

Let me start by saying that I’ve been a huge fan of Ernesto Perez-Carrillo’s offerings for many years and was both sad and excited when he left General and his beloved La Gloria Cubana brand to “start over” with a new brand baring his name.  I was really excited to smoke the first offering from E.P. Carrillo (the Edicion Inagural), and have been even more excited to see how the regular production would perform.  So when I was told that a local shop had juest received their first shipment I made haste. 

The Short Run is an absolutely incredible stick, it’s very complex and full of flavor.  This medium-full beauty offers up notes of wood and a nice spice.  In my opinion one of the finest offerings I’ve seen hit shelves at the local B&M in a while.  I’ve made my first purchase of several to enjoy and I am patiently awaiting the next arrival which has a full box with my name on it!  This is definitely a must try, so if you haven’t done so, find them locally and BUY!

View the original article here

Quick Review – First Impressions of the La Palina 1896

By Allen on Jul 19, 2010 in Cigar Reviews

Yesterday afternoon while attending CAO Cigars Lady Liberty event I had the pleasure of meeting fellow blogger Jerry Cruz (aka. Don “Cruz”ado) from Stogie Review.  I mentioned to Jerry how much I enjoyed his video (and the commentary) on the La Palina Launch Event at W. Curtis Draper in Washington, DC.  We discussed the cigar for a few more moments along with some of the recent happenings in the blog world until Jerry had to break away and do some more filming.

Jerry responded to our conversation by meeting me outside and gifting me a La Palina 1896.  I asked him if I should smoke it then or if I should let it rest for a while, to which he responded, “smoke it now and see how it goes.”  The cigar has a nice oily wrapper that sports some veins and rough texture.  The pre-light aroma consisted nice sweet tobacco, a little spice, and cocoa.  The pre-light draw was a little loose and offered up notes of sweet tobacco followed by a lite cocoa note.  At this point I obliged Jerry’s kind gesture and sparked this beauty with my trusty Lamborghini Forza.

When I actually got into the cigar things only got better.  The cigar produced loads of creamy smoke that coated the palate with a wonderful sweetness.  I actually made the comment to several people that the first few draws reminded me of dessert.  I picked up lots of caramel notes, so much so that it reminded me of a bread pudding I ate once in Louisiana.  As the cigar progressed I started to pick up some of the cocoa that was present pre-light and a little black coffee.  The flavors were incredible and progressed nicely from start to finish.  I did have a few burn issues with my only sample, but I tend to place the blame on the terrible Tennessee heat and humidity that plagued us on Saturday.  This little issue is why I smoke multiple cigars for a full review, but in this case I’m excited because I’ll have to smoke a few more samples of a cigar I thoroughly enjoyed to produce a true review.

I’m not sure when I’ll be able to pick a few more of these up, but as soon as I do you can count on a full review to be posted.  The La Palina 1896 was really enjoyable and I loved the flavors that it produced.  If I had to give a bad mark at all it would be the price (MSRP of $19.00).  This one happened to be a gift courtesy of a kind BOTL so I can’t complain, but they are a little pricey.  But at the end of the day we all have different budgets so I would not hesitate to recommend this cigar, but for me it would be a special occasion purchase.  Stay tuned for a full review and thanks again to Jerry for sharing this beauty.

View the original article here