The People's Review: This review is an Illusione!

Greetings B/SOTLs The Champ is back again with another review for your reading pleasure! This week's review is a cigar I picked up at W. Curtis Drapers recently that I wanted to try: The Illusione Epernay. Today I'm reviewing the Le Ferm size, which is a toro size. Some background on this cigar (according to http://www.illusionecigars.com): "This blend originally debuted in 2008 through the ECCJ 15th Limited release." Check out the specs on this Nicaraguan puro:

Vitola: 5 1/4" x 48
Binder: Combination of Nicaraguan Criollo & Corojo
Filler: Same as the Binder
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Cafe Rosado coverleaf
Strength: Medium

Ok enough talking...let's get smoking!


Construction and Pre-light

This cigar has a very smooth wrapper with a couple of veins running up the cigar. I don't anticipate any burn issues even with the veins present. The cigar is packed very well upon inspection and there are no soft spots so no worries about tunneling. Give the cap a snip and test the draw and the draw is good with a little bit of resistance. The cold draw flavors are a mix of sweetness with some earthy notes. I can't wait to get this lit up!


Beginning

Right off the bat I'm getting a nice mixture of subtle earth tones with honey and chocolate plus a very good amount of spice as well. The spice is noticeable on the retrohale along with the sweet honey flavor. Nice balance of flavors on the finish; almost resembles a graham cracker with a sort of peppery kick. I'm getting a very pleasant Potpourri-like aroma which would explain the floral earth tones I'm tasting in the smoke. So far, the cigar is medium-to-full flavored and medium strength. Construction is fairly good so far: semi-even burn with a greyish white solid ash holding pretty well. Just a side note: you gotta love random people walking by rapping loudly or little girls cussing about something...only in SE DC!! But as always I digress so let's make the transition!

Halfway Point

Moving onto the halfway point and the spice as faded. Now I'm getting some hints of coffee mixed with some floral notes (very nice!). I lost some of the honey flavor on the pallet but can still catch it on the retrohale. Ahh snap here comes the entertainment rolling by: the neighborhood drunk and his "special" girlfriend just walked by cussing each other out! They're always good for a laugh LOL but back to the matter at hand...still working with a good draw yet the ash is a bit flaky and crooked but not affecting the smoke. Now I'm getting a mix of coffee and honey-infused bourbon along with the floral notes. So far, this cigar is very pleasant and enjoyable...let's see if it can finish strong!

Final Stretch

Coming down to the end here and the coffee notes are really starting to kick up a notch while the floral notes are moving towards the back of the pallet. Construction continues to work in my favor with a nice solid ash and a perfect burn with no flaky ash! Starting to notice a bit of a toasty flavor kicking in that I didn't experience before (mixing in very well). Getting a minimal amount of spice on the retrohale mixing in with the coffee, floral and burnt notes and the strength remained medium throughout and also was a very smooth smoke.

Verdict = WIN!! I thoroughly enjoyed this cigar all the mixture of sweet flavors mixing in with some slight bold yet smooth flavors makes for an enjoyable experience smoking this cigar. Big shoutout and thanks to Dion Giolito for creating this blend and many of the Illusione blends that are so enjoyable and affordable! You can follow Dion on Twitter (if you aren't already) @Vudu9.

That's it that's all thanks again for visiting and remember to keep lighting up those fine cigars and let the smoke take you away! CHEERS AND ENJOY!

-D.C.'s People's Champ

Time to Say Goodbye

It has been an eventful year for the fellas here at The B&B Cigar Club. We introduced the world to our blog a year ago right here on Blogspot, and now it is time to officially say goodbye to the Blogspot faithful. While we are continuing the blog, we are moving over to a wordpress site that has been up and running since October 2009.

While goodbyes are hard, we would not dare think of leaving you empty-handed. We have a CONTEST as our way of saying good-bye. Head over to the wordpress site http://bandbcigarclub.wordpress.com and sign up to become a subscriber. Look for the Nosotros review that will post tomorrow and follow the instructions for your chance to win.

We would like to thank the Blogger/Blogspot community for all of your support and we wish you nothing but good cigars and happy smoking in the future. Hope to see you over on the new site.

 

-The B&B Cigar Club-

The People's Review: With Liberty and stogies for all!

Greetings all! The Champ is back again for yet another review for B&B! This week's review falls in line with the recent Independence Day holiday; with most patriotic holidays we love to have at least one "patriotic-named" cigar to enjoy in honor of that particular day. For this holiday, I decided to break out a cigar that fellow BOTL Keith Hollar sent to me (thanks again brotha!) and that cigar was the Camacho Liberty 09! The background of this cigar is that it is suppose to debunk the theory that the 05 version was the best of the Liberty series. Here are some of the specs behind this cigar:

Vitola: Camacho-trademark perfecto (11/18)

Filler: Honduran

Binder: Honduran

Wrapper: Habano

Strength: Full

So without further delay, why don't we get right into this, shall we?

Construction and Pre-light

This cigar comes in a very nice looking black coffin and wrapped in white paper making it a nice presentation. Out of the coffin, the cigar is very veiny but the habano wrapper looks very good and slightly oily. Inspecting the cigar and there are no soft spots at all and all that Honduran tobacco is packed very well within the habano wrapper. Snip the cap and the draw is very good with just a small amount of resistance. The cold draw produces a sweet flavor with a little tingle on the tongue...so looking forward to what is in store!

Beginning

The Liberty starts off with a nice balance of cedar, chocolate, spice and sweet tobacco all rolled into one. With each puff, I'm getting a sort of spicy buttery finish on the pallet. I'm sensing most of the spice and cedar on the retrohale while the other flavors linger on the pallet as well. So far, all the flavors are blending together perfectly creating a great start to this experience. The construction on this cigar is SOLID!! Burn is perfectly even with a solid white ash and the draw is beautiful producing a lot of white smoke! As I get further into this beginning part, I'm starting to get hints of earth tones on the retrohale mixing in with the other flavors. The strength seems to border on the medium-to-full bodied toeing more towards the full side. Coming to the end of the first third and the spice is starting to settle down and transition to the halfway point.

Halfway Point

As I move into the halfway point, the spice has faded significantly and has given way to the same sweet and buttery notes I was experiencing in the beginning. BTW I just say the devil walk by with a church fan complaining about the weather...it is VERY humid out here sheesh! I seem to do my reviews on the most humid of days...but I digress! Not much to speak of in this part flavor-wise: lots of sweet & buttery notes, a touch of cedar & some slightly prominent earth tones. The strength has slightly settled into a fuller medium yet it still has some kick to it; the draw continues to be consistent and on point and the construction is still flawless! Coming up on the end of this portion and I'm getting a hint of cafe con leche on the pallet and the spice is starting to pick up a little bit more.

Finish Line

Now coming down the final stretch and the flavors seem to be somewhat similar to the beginning with a mix of buttery notes, a little more earthiness, a touch of spice, and some coffee notes. The ash is starting to become a bit flaky, which wasn't an issue throughout the cigar, yet the overall construction remains very excellent! Now mostly tasting tobacco and a little ammonia on the pallet and retrohale with a nice nic buzz going so that unfortunate time has come to end this experience!

VERDICT = WIN! I really enjoyed that cigar and it makes me wonder if the 09 Liberty is this good and is suppose to be better than the 05 Liberty than how good is the 05 Liberty?! If anyone has tried either of these, give us some feedback!

As always, thanks for checking out this review and for visiting the B&B Cigar Club site and if you're on Twitter you can follow me here: @DCsPeoplesChamp. Always remember to keep lighting up great cigars and let the smoke take you away! CHEERS!

The People's Review: Coming back to raise some Cain!

In the immortal words of the original People's Champ (slightly modified): "FINALLY...THE CHAMP HAS COME BACK TO THE B&B BLOG!" Yes indeed after a pretty lengthy hiatus yours truly DC's People's Champ is back to bring you another installment of "The People's Review!" As always this disclaimer:





"The views and opinions expressed in this posting are those of myself and do not necessarily reflect those of the B&B Cigar Club."





Ok now that we got that outta the way let's get right into this! Recently I was gifted this cigar that I decided to review by one of our loyal followers and winner of our first contest, Mr. Keith Hollar (thanks again bro! You can follow Keith on Twitter @Keith1911). The cigar is the venerable Cain F! This cigar was touted as the strongest of the new line created by Sam Leccia, maker of the Nub Cigar (@SamLeccia or @NUBCIGAR on Twitter); an all-ligero cigar that according to Sam went through a triple fermentation process along with some aging to create the ultimate smooth ligero cigar. According to http://www.nubcigar.com/ the Cain F is made up of 32% Esteli Ligero, 25% Condega ligero, and 25% Jalapa ligero all rolled into one very fine looking cigar! Here's the tale of the tape if you will of the Cain F I was about to smoke:

Vitola: Toro 6" x 60

Filler: Nigaraguan Ligero

Binder: Nic Ligero

Wrapper: Nic Habano

Strength: Full

I'm going into smoking this cigar expecting it to be a powerhouse. You can also read a review of the Cain F pre-release by Big Pimpin here: http://bandbcigarclub.blogspot.com/2009/12/mystery-smoke.html. LET'S GET ON WITH THE SHOW!





Pre-Light





In checking out this cigar, it's very packed full of Nicaraguan tobacco (BTW I'm a huge Nic cigar fan) and in inspecting it there are no soft spots to speak of so I don't expect it to tunnel. The cigar is quite veiny but shouldn't pose any issues with the burn. Gave it a snip with my cutter and upon examining the cold draw I get a nice draw with a little bit of resistance. The cigar is giving off flavors of tobacco mixed with coffee & mocha just off the cold draw so let's light it up and see what we get!





The Beginning





This cigar is starting off very nicely with a very reasonable amount of spice on the back of the throat mixed in with a milk chocolate flavor and some coffee notes. There's also some hints of grass mixed in as well (as I've mentioned in past reviews I'm usually not a fan of overly Earthy cigars. Just a little earthiness is doable). As I mentioned, I'm tasting the spice more towards the back of my pallet and throat yet on the retrohale it's a little less noticable. This cigar was touted as a powerhouse cigar and it is not dissapointing as it is very full-bodied starting out and really giving me a nic buzz early yet remaining very smooth (from the triple fermentation process that the blend went thru in its creation)! I'm working with a very good draw with a lot of smoke coming from each puff. I'm continuing to taste a mixture of sweet chocolate, spiciness and earthiness as I'm smoking this Cain. The ash on this cigar is a greyish-white color and is holding pretty solidly with a nice even burn. BTW the nic buzz is getting stronger as I hit the halfway point (good thing I ate before this otherwise I don't know if I will be able to finish this plus it is VERY humid out here!!)





Halfway Point





Hitting the halfway mark of the Cain F and the spice has faded a bit to the background but the milk chocolate is still hanging around (tastes like I just had a Hershey's Kiss). Ok I'm at a point now where the flavors are starting to become difficult to decipher; there seems to be a bit of a burnt flavor mixing in here with the chocolate but the other flavors are a little hard to figure out (they are bad flavors just hard to decipher). The strength has NOT changed at this point...it is STILL very full-bodied and it is hitting me very much with a nic buzz. One thing to point out is that one of my neighbors is playing some classic old school R&B: a little Babyface "Soon as I Get Home" got a brotha grooving as I smoke this cigar! But I digress...I am noticing that a faint spice is evident on my pallet on the finish (I wondered where it went to!). Still very earthy moving forward with a mixture of coffee and burnt tobacco. The construction on this cigar is impeccable as the ash has remained solid with no flaking or no need for touching up the burn! Love it! Also loving this buzz I'm getting from it even with the humidity!



Finish Line



Coming into the finish the milk chocolate flavor is making a comeback mixing in with the notes I experienced from the halfway point. Still not getting the spice I had at the beginning which is something I was expecting at this point in the cigar. The ash is starting to become a little flaky but it looks to be fixing itself; the burn is still fairly even and there is still a lot of smoke! Getting to end it's starting to become a little hot and bitter so I'm letting it die...now it's time for the VERDICT!



VERDICT



This cigar is a definite WIN in my book...any full-bodied cigar smoker would enjoy this cigar! I think with a little more aging more flavors would explode from this blend and this would definitely become an epic win cigar. Anyone who's had a ligero cigar and thought "it's too harsh to enjoy" would love this one because it's ultra smooth!

Thanks for reading and keep enjoying fine quality cigars and let the smoke take you away!

-DC's People's Champ