Wrapper: Costa Rican Maduro Binder: Nicaraguan Filler: Dominican, Nicaraguan and, Honduran Shape: Archetype Size: 6.0″ x 50 Country: Honduras Strength: Medium – Full Production: Full Price Range: $6.00 Appearance: Rough texture, light amount of thick veins, feels pretty gritty in the hands Flavors: Smooth taste with a hint of cedar, pink pepper, earth, dark chocolate Draw/Smoke: Kind of on the smooth side, easy, is able to be put down for almost 5 min without going completely out Burn: Almost completely even all the way through Ash: Very firm, grey mixed with black Other Comments: If you love 5 Vegas give this a try it’s a very rich tasting cigar
Production: 250 Bundles of 25 Cigars; 6,250 Total Cigars
Price Range: $8.00; $200.00 for a Bundle of 25
The Viaje White Label Project Winter Classic is the first of Viaje’s White Label Project for 2012 and the fifth installment for the line overall. Viaje created the White Label Project to give Viaje customers a glance at what may be to come from Viaje as well as test those cigars with customers. These cigars with their unique and sometimes unique sizes would otherwise not be made available to the public. So it is always a treat smoke a new White Label Project.
The Look: The Viaje White Label Project Winter Classic is 4/12 inches by 48 ring gauge Rothschild with a lightly veined light brown wrapper with some darker brown spots. The Viaje White Label Project Winter Classic like the previous White Label Project is fitted with a white band with the word Viaje printed in black. The pack is firm with some depressions. The depressions concerned me slightly as I didn’t know if that would be an bad omen for the quality of smoking enjoyment that I may get from this cigar.
The Start: The foot of the Viaje White Label Project Winter Classic had an aroma of light spice and barnyard and, the wrapper gave off an aroma of light musk. The pre-light draw had a flavor of light black liquorish. The initial draw contained flavors of dark liquorish, oak wood tones, and light spice.
The Beginning: Going more into the first third of the Viaje White Label Project Winter Classic the smooth flavor profile consisted of oak wood, dark liquorish and, creamy chocolate. Following the flavors that came shortly after puffing on this cigar, the finish was made up of semi-bitter caramelized sugar, light pepper, and an oak woodiness. The draw was great and the burn was very even. The ash had light to medium gray coloring and held well to the cigar. While I was enjoying smoking the Viaje White Label Project Winter Classic I was also outside enjoying the nice weather. As I was doing this I noticed the sun shine highlighting smoke white-blue that came off the cigar. This is not remarkable in any sense but it was nice to witness the sunny side of mother nature while finally getting to enjoy a cigar in the warm open air after months of smoking in doors. So far this was a great start to this cigar.
The Middle: In the second third of the Viaje White Label Project Winter Classic, the flavor profile shifted but only slightly. The oak was replaced by mahogany, the dark liquorish went away but, the creamy chocolate remained. On the retrohale spice and pink pepper were present. The finish had bitter caramelized sugar, sea salt, and a bit of tanginess that could perhaps be described as mango. The draw still quite good but the burn was slightly uneven. At rest the smoke that exuded from the Viaje White Label Project Winter Classic carried an aroma of warm wood .
The End: The final third saw the flavors become over all become bolder. The flavor profile here was still very smooth while the woody flavor of dark mahogany came to the forefront and a creamy dark chocolate was also present. The finish was a bit spicy consisting of a spicy black pepper, and the slight tang from the second third. The draw was yet again still quite excellent, while the slightly wavy burn started to correct itself from the second third. Here in the final third ash seemed to be not as strong as it was in the first third. I stopped smoking this cigar nearly at the start of where the band was as starting to get harsh.
Final Thoughts: The Viaje White Label Project Winter Classic was overall a very enjoyable cigar with an interesting yet most smooth flavor profile. I would love to smoke this cigar in front of a fire place with a good beer or now that the weather is nice again, by a bonfire again with a good beer. I would not mind if Viaje produced this cigar again but maybe this time without the white band.
Price Range: $6.00 per cigar or $65.00 for a box of ten
The Cain F Lancero is packaaged in aluminum tubes and sold in the Limited Edition Studio Tobac Cigar Sampler. This is the only lancero sold in the tubo format. The effort and time taken into producing the lancero version of the Cain F is best said by John Gazerro:
“I really don’t care if anyone else likes this cigar. I love lanceros so I’ll smoke every one of them myself. The blend on this cigar is fantastic. They nailed it at the factory.” says Executive Board member John Gazerro. “Seriously, lanceros are the perfect size for something limited like this. It’s not a size that sells well, but it’s probably the most respected size in the super-elite cigar community.” Gazerro continued “This cigar isn’t for novices. It’s definitely strong; but the real aficionados will appreciate the huge flavor and lack of harshness.”
Well Mr. Gazerro you shouldn’t worry that no one will like the Cain F Lancero and you certainly won’t being smoking them all.
The Look: Has this peaked your interest? It should. The Studio Tobac Cain F Lancero Tubo smoked for this review came fromm a box with a clear lid displaying ten Cain F Lanceros inside styled red aluminum tubes prominently reading Cain F Straight Ligero with a fitting yellow cap. Braking the seal and taking out one of these tubes and unscrewing the cap it showed to hold a 7 x 38 well constructed mid range brown cigar with with some prominent veins.
The Start: This cigar gave off an aroma of spice, cinnamon, pine, and a mixture of earthy barnyard hay tones and the foot gave beheld an aroma of spice and barnyard. After v-cutting the cap the predraw produced spice, light red pepper, and barnyard flavors. Lighting the Cain F Lancero and taking a few initial draws flavors of caramelized sugar, spice, and a dominate woodiness was present.
The Beginning: The flavor profile through the 1st third of the Cain F Lancero was smooth containing spice and woodiness close to oak. Flowing this the finish had oak, light spice that tingles the tip of tongue. The draw was good producing a decent amount of smoke. Finally the burn was even as expected due to the the small ring gauge that reduces the risk of an uneven burn.
The Middle: The flavor profile smoothed and consisted of oak, and slight lightly burned spice. The finish which followed subsided compared to the 1st third and brought toasted wood, and very light spice. The draw was still quite good and the burn was again even. The aroma coming from the Cain F Lancero delivered scents of woodiness and light barnyard.
The End: The final portion of the Cain F Lancero had a pleasant flavor profile of sweetness, toasted oak woodiness, and an undertone of spice. The finish was very light with sweet spicy wood tones. Plesently, the wood tone form the finish lingered for quite some time. The final third saw the draw open up nicely turning the draw into a great draw. Again as expected the burn was still beautifully even.
Final Thoughts:Over all the Studio Tobac Cain F Lancero Tubo was a great cigar which Studio Tobac and Oliva should be very proud of. Every minute of the hour and ten minutes that took to smoke this lancero was thoroughly enjoyed. The great blend of favors which increasing subsided and blended together through out the cigar while keeping a smooth strength is a definate winner. This cigar is a must; any fan of Cain cigars should get their hands on the Studio Tobac Cain F Lancero Tubo it will not disappoint.
Interested in trying the Studio Tobac Cain F Lancero Tubo? If so Tobacco Grove has them in stock. Call (763) 494-6688 and tell them Good Fellas sent you —-> BUY NOW
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo 99 Binder: Nicaraguan Filler: Nicaraguan Shape: Corona Gorda Size: 6 x 48 Country: Honduras Strength: Medium Price Range: $12.25 Production: 99 Boxes of 25 Cigars; 2,475 cigars
This review is on the re-release of the Viaje Plantino Samurai no changes were made from the previous release of this cigar from 2010. Two cigars were smoked for this review. The 1st cigar was least to say, lacking. That 1st cigar had soft spots and had predominant flavors of definite red pepper that was smooth and not over powering and barnyard. This flavor profile was not bad but the soft spots and terrible burn led me to believe that the 1st cigar must not have all the filler that was meant to there. Accounting for this and not at all expecting that fromm Viaje, I decided to smoke another hoping that was a fluke. Glad to say it was a fluke as the 2nd cigar was much better than the 1st and talking to others who have smoked this cigar they reported no construction or other issues with this cigar. So this review will be on the 2nd cigar. Lesson to be learned here though is that there are bad eggs that sometimes get passed quality inspection. This is not something unique to Viaje other companies have produced cigars that I like then after expecting that same cigar to be just as good as before and find it is plugged. So fear not this cigar when made right was very right. Read on for our review of the Viaje Plantino Samurai.
The 1st third of the Viaje Plantino Samurai had light red pepper, very light barnyard and a flavor of rye bread consisting the flavor profile. The finish featured light red pepper and rye bread. The draw was good and the burn was even. The ash was very light gray to dark gray. The 1st third had interesting flavors that composed a great flavor profile.
Following into the 2nd third of the Viaje Plantino Samurai the fresh baked rye bread flavor came through very prominently subduing the other flavors. The finish brought red pepper that was smoothed by rye bread flavor. The draw was good and the burn was even. The 2nd third improved over the 1st third in terms of burn but stayed on par with the 1st third in terms of the flavor profile and finish.
The final third saw the rye bread flavor coming out strong with a finish of light spice and very prominent rye bread. The draw opened making it a great draw. The burn turned slightly wavy but was still on the even side. This final third was very bready and quite simply a pleasure to smoke.
Over all the Viaje Plantino Samurai was an excellent cigar that was not extremely complex but capitalized simplicity. The two flavors of a red pepper spice and fresh baked rye bread that really made this cigar combined and complimented each other nicely. Fresh baked rye bread is flavorful and cooling taking the edge off the red pepper making a slightly spiced rye bread tasting cigar. This combination of flavors should be baked into rye bread and sold every bakery.
Want to get this cigar? Call BURN Premium Cigars at (952) 808-9259 and mention Good Fellas Cigars.
Wrapper: Costa Rican Maduro
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