The Caldwell Long Live The Queen Maduro Queen’s Crest is a nice corona gorda and maduro offering. There’s some transitioning throughout, and it has a sweet spice and rich core flavor profile. Nice Mexican offering. It is a medium-full cigar that smokes cool from beginning to end. I would definitely come back to this again and would try other vitolas as well.
I enjoyed the Micallef Red Robusto. Best Micallef I have smoked to date. The price is great as well! The flavors were solid from beginning to end, and I loved how the final third showed a return of the enjoyable qualities present in the first. With beautiful construction as well, this is a cigar that everyone should try a handful of times.
The Black Works Studio Intergalactic Event Horizon Petite Corona is a fantastic cigar. To begin with, the vitola is fantastic. It’s not too small or big. Most importantly, the cigar delivered great flavors. There was depth, complexity and transitioning throughout. From beginning to end, the cigar performed incredibly well. This is what PA Broadleaf is about and used to be about. Black Label has shown so much growth as a company. It’s great to see!
The CAO Arcana Thunder Smoke was a fun cigar from beginning to end. The cigar did not show a lot of transitioning, but there were complex flavors throughout. The burn and draw could use some improvement, but I also believe dry boxing these cigars for a period before smoking will help dramatically. I am not sure how these will age, for some reason I have a feeling the youth is what makes this cigar fun, but who knows. Either way, really enjoyed the blend.
This La Flor Dominicana 30 Years was a really nice LFD. Probably the best I have had in a long time. When they put the time and tobacco into a blend, they do great things. They show so many wonderful qualities of Dominican tobacco, and some great body and strength with those flavors. It was not an overly complex cigar, but just good. I think it will age great. Really a nice experience and uplifting following current reviews.
I enjoyed the AVO Expressions Limited Edition 2024, but it also seemed too expensive for the cigar. The flavor profile of cedar, hay, tobacco and spices is always a classic, and AVO does it well, so delivering a similar quality with an LE is silly. I guess you can say this is a good cigar, and a good AVO, but a bad LE. But, that is the case for many cigars.
The Bentley Green Edition Robusto was an average cigar, but I guess that is a win for 2024. Price friendly cigar. I would have recommended making it super premium, like a Bentley, and making the cigar better as well. Nothing major to complain about as a smoker, but as a critic, disappointing.
I really liked the OneOff Black and Tan. It was a good smoking limited edition. Solid blend with a nice level of complexities. There was not a dramatic amount of transitioning, but the flavor profile was so enjoyable that it was not a concern. The body and strength paired well with the flavor profile, and it is a cigar I could smoke back-to-back with ease. The best OneOff I have smoked.
I enjoyed the JRE Aladino Cameroon Reserva. It is a great looking cigar, with a lovely flavor profile, but I was hoping for a little more at the same time. It was never bad, but I felt that it could have popped more, and with a more complex blend add some strength and body. It smoked great, and was one of the better non-Cameroon Cameroon offerings I have had in some time.
This AJ Fernandez Dias de Gloria Brazil Figurado was a great cigar, and I would smoke more of these in a heartbeat. I don’t find the price to be bad, and it’s nice to smoke a good Mata Fina release again. The cigar has creamy chocolate notes, and it had this faint hot chocolate and mocha profile that I loved. The burn and draw were great, and it was complex from beginning to end. Nice transitioning and depth.
