Call for suggestions for an NC tasting

[frenchkiwi]

Dear fellows,

some of my cigar tasting club members want to try a whole batch of NCs.

i haven't really smoked many, mainly due to an unhealthy obsession with cuban tobacco, so i'm out of the loop ;-)

if you had to pick 4-5 singles for a tasting pack that kind of gives a good picture of NCs (e.g cameroon wrappers, maduro, the kind of non-cuban specialty), that stand out from the pack, less than US$10-12 each, what would you choose?

from memory and without research, i would say play it safe with:

- Padron of some kind possibly the older cheaper Anniversario '64s or similar

- Arturo Fuente hemingway or don carlos

- Rocky Patel vintage or similar

i have heard rumours of more recent cigars illusione, liga privada are these available, what style are they, and any good?

p.s: only one thing to bear in mind - these club members are mostly newish smokers who are used to the comparative mildness of cuban tobacco - the huge "blow your head off with power" nicaraguan-style stuff is probably off limits....?

many thanks to all in advance!

[bc8436]

Some NCs I enjoy that fit what you're looking for ...

Padron '64 Monarca

Arturo Fuente Anejo 46

Arturo Hemingway Short Story

Liga Privada No. 9

Ashton ESG

Only Illusione I really enjoyed so far is the Holy Lance. Not a fan of Rocky Patel at all.

[CigarmanTim]

Used to love the Hemmingway and Don carlos...consider them so-so anymore... How about an Ashton VSG. A taste all it's own....A fuente Anejo... I could hook you up there...A Diamond Crown Maximus

[riazp]

Casa Magna Colorado Robusto

Padron 1926 no.9

Illusione 88

My father no.1

Oliva Serie O reserva

[aes8]

Padron 80th

Ashton VSG NOT ESG

Then I would add a few botiques such as Illusione, any Tat, and a Opus

[Diamondog]

Padron 1964 Imperial

AF Anejo/Camacho Triple Maduro

Ashton VSG torp

Liga Privada T52 belicoso

LFD Cameroon Cabinet torp

Tatuaje Conjonu 2003

This selection imo is sure to wow....

[CM125]

I have smoked all of these

1-Padron 1964 corona maduro

2- Drew Estate Liga Privada #9 belicoso

3- Rocky Pate 1990 Churchill

4- Tatuaja reserva sw

Curtis

[SCgarman]

Any smaller ring Padron 1964

Ashton ESG

Coronado by LaFlor Dominicana

Illusione 88

Carlos Torano Noventa

[olotti]

I'll try my best here but these are all top notch to me:

-Ashton VSG- try the Tre Mystique its a smaller size but this is the best sungrown around

-Padron 64 Anny in maduro- Top notch cigar in a Principe size

-A. Fuente Sungrown cuban belicoso- Awesome cigar, real balanced with nice richness and spice

-A. Fuente Anejo 46- Corona sized, a little more pricey around $12 but a great smoke with a real unique flavor.

-Liga Privada either the T52 or #9- Some of the best smokes around. Great flavor and construction. You'll find em anywhere from 9-12 USD depending on size.

Hope this helps. PM me if ya need more thoughts.

[cigcars]

My recommendations are:

*) Nearly any Arturo Fuente cigar

*) CAO CX2/LX2/ or MX2

*) Padron 45th Family Anniversary

*) La Aurora Platinum Preferidio or its limited release Para Japon cigar

IMHO I think y'all should be reasonably satisfied with the above

[Maron76]

La Flor Dominicana DL Chisle

Joya de Nicuragua Antano

Liga Privada , only ones worth trying in this line is the "Flying Pig" and "Dirty Rat" IMHO

Illusione, best medium bodied NC out right now. Most of your top shelf NC's are medium full - full.

Don Pepin Garcia, Serie JJ Maduro

I have some Partagas 160's I could donate to the cause depending on how many you need.

[SamuraiJack]

Ashton VSG - Tres Mystique of Corona Gorda

Padron 1964 - any (extremely consistent line, imo)

There is a boutique brand here in Chicago that has a great and unique blend, Tesa - Shaman: http://www.tesacigars.com/blend.php?blend=7 They do internet orders I think. Its a great, consistent medium bodied, sweet, complex blend, brazilian wrapper. One of the most Habano-esque NC's.

[mikejh]

la flor dominicana coronado

illusione epernay

ashton vsg

alec bradley tempus

fuente anejo

[docbp87]

Illusione Epernay would be a great choice for NC cigars for CC smokers.

[reliefdvm]

Staying in the middle of the price ranges

I would choose any of the illusione Epernay - with my favorite being the La ferme

Arturo Fuente Don Carlos with the #3 being a pretty good one.

any of the Padron anniversary with a nod to the #9 ( well outside the price range that you listed)

Moving up the strength ladder I would go with Tatuaje Brown label - unico and 7th reserva being 2 personal favorites.

As for strength I would stay away from all La Flor Dominica - I won't smoke one while driving for fear of getting pulled over for suspicion of drinking while driving. I am a little bit of a nicotine whimp.

[Puros Y Vino]

Padron 1964

Casa Fernandez Lancero

Nub Habano

Opus X (these are a "must try" any vitola should do)

Oliva Series O or V.

Anything from La Flor Dominicana (Mysterio is excellent) or La Joya Di Nicaraugua (Antonao in particular)

[tjhernandez34]

Tatuaje (and it's other brands- El Triunfador, Cabaiguan, La Riqueza, etc)

Illusione

Padron Anniversary Series

Opus X

All these are good choices, but depending on the budget the Padron and Opus X cigars could get expensive if purchasing by the box. The others above are nice boutique brands that don't carry as high of a price tag as the Padron and Fuente cigars do.

Specific cigars:

Illusione Holy Lance (medium full, grassy spiciness) or F9 (medium, holiday spices)

El Triunfador No. 2 (medium bodied with a nutty character)

[Peter11216]

Hey,

It's an interesting exercise, you and your buddies are considering. I think the main difficulties in making suggestions based on your criteria are that there is no tasting pack that would give you "a good picture of NCs". There is a fair amount of variety, and I think it is safe to say, the NC market can't be represented by any half-dozen sticks. Unfortunately, or not, depending on your tastes, the NC market seems to be dominated by strong, full bodied cigars. Thus, it seems that there is more effort going into producing good full-bodied cigars than good medium cigars.

For example, a number of people recommended the Ashton VSG, blended by Fuente. However, most people concur that this is a pretty strong line of cigars. In fact, I think almost all the recommendations so far are for full bodied cigars.

I suppose if you are looking for a sample of good NC's than you should be looking for strong cigars, because that is where the action is. However, I suspect you can find an interesting and decent selection by starting with blenders, and then looking for their milder cigars.

1. "Pepin" Garcia blends nice cigars for Pete Johnson who markets the Tatuaje line. If you go to the Tatuaje website you'll find a selection of cigars that are listed as milder under various marcas, but, I believe all blended under the name of "Pepin" Garcia. Trying some of these milder sticks is a safe bet.

2. Continue to look for other marcas blended by Garcia, which are milder, and I think you'll do OK.

4. The Fuente's blend or lend their name to so many different cigars, including Opus, Ashton VSG, God of Fire, and their own A. Fuente brand, of course. I think they tend to produce good cigars, and agree with recommendations made by other people. However, most of these tend to be pretty strong.

5. La Aurora produces medium and mild cigars. This is a dominican based manufacturer, but they do mix in leaves from other countries. They've got a nice website which is easy to use. (I had a La Aurora cameroon blend the other day, and it was really interesting. It had an underlying cayenne (pleasant) bitterness, with a few subtle changes in sweetness along the way.)

6. La Flor Dominicana also produces milder cigars. They have the double ligero line which is meant to be very strong, however, the company seems to have a good reputation. If you look to some of their other blends, this might provide your friends a good experience. (These last two, LFD and LA, I don't have a lot of experience with, but, because of I've been trying to find milder cigars, I've been reading more about them.)

7. Recently, I've been pretty impressed by Illusione, however, I think of these as being full-bodied. Illusione also put out some of their main line in light green claro wrappers. I tried one lancero, "Holy Lance" or "~HL~", claro, and it was quite good. For some reason, they don't seem to mention these on their website, but a few internet retailers sell them.

Finally, if you want to know my supplier, please send me a PM.

Best,

Pete

Dear fellows,

some of my cigar tasting club members want to try a whole batch of NCs.

i haven't really smoked many, mainly due to an unhealthy obsession with cuban tobacco, so i'm out of the loop ;-)

if you had to pick 4-5 singles for a tasting pack that kind of gives a good picture of NCs (e.g cameroon wrappers, maduro, the kind of non-cuban specialty), that stand out from the pack, less than US$10-12 each, what would you choose?

from memory and without research, i would say play it safe with:

- Padron of some kind possibly the older cheaper Anniversario '64s or similar

- Arturo Fuente hemingway or don carlos

- Rocky Patel vintage or similar

i have heard rumours of more recent cigars illusione, liga privada are these available, what style are they, and any good?

p.s: only one thing to bear in mind - these club members are mostly newish smokers who are used to the comparative mildness of cuban tobacco - the huge "blow your head off with power" nicaraguan-style stuff is probably off limits....?

many thanks to all in advance!

[frenchkiwi]

thanks guys you are really coming through for me here.

i went had a look at this NC retailer website i last saw 5 years ago and they now have hundreds and hundreds of brands.

is it just me or has their been another explosion of diversification in the US market!

Anyway there is a nice consensus developing on certain cigars in this thread i will see what's available ... i am biased towards the ones i myself have never tasted of course - AF anejo, illusione, liga privada... in the meantime keep the suggestions coming!

[Plato]

Illusione HL "Holy Lance" try the candella wrapper if you can find it.

Illusione Teaching Machine. Greeeeeaaaaat Smoke

Tatuaje Especiales

Any Tatuaje Reserva

La Flor Dominicana Litto Gómez Líne (any)

Litto Gómez Small Batch #3 (Amazing smoke, but sometimes very hard to find)

I personally don't like the LFD Airbender. Its gotten a lot of hype but I don't even put.it in the top three of LFD cigars.

And yes IMHO Liga Privada is a great smoke. I prefer the T52

Don't forget Ashton. Great producer. And I believe Fuente rolls a lot of their sticks.

Ashton Puro Sol (Often Over looked in favor of the VSG. Great medium to full smoke. One of my favorites. )

Ashton VSG (Virgin Sun Grown) a fine full bodied cigar.

Oliva Serie V's get lots of hype. I think they are over rated.

For NC cheapies (under ten USD), I like Carlos Torano 1959 Exodus (almost dessert like)

Perdomo 10th Ann. Champagne Torpedo (creamy, chocolate, sweetish, mild to medium bodied)

La aroma de cuba Mi Amor (owned by Ashton. I don't like the rest of their blends. Reminds me a lot of the Padron 1964. I call it the poor man's 1964

For me, Tatuaje, Illusione, and LFD are tops when it comes to non Cubans.

Have fun experimenting with your friends. Let me know if you need any Litto Gómez Small Batch number threes. I've got a bunch. I can send ya some.

Plato

[Stalebread]

A lot of great suggestions above. I think it would be hard to go wrong with Illusione, VSG and some of the others.

If you want to consider something more on the milder, creamy side, you might look at AVOs. Maybe the AVO XO Intermezzo or something from the Domaine line which is still creamy but with a little more punch.

[jedipastor]

My Top 5 NC brands:

Tatuaje

Liga Privada

Padron

Arturo Fuente

Illusione

Recommending specific cigars is always hard, as one doesn't know your tastes or vitamin N tolerance level (a lot of these are very strong when compared to Cubans). But I'll list some of my favorites.

Tatuaje: Cabaiguan natural (creamy & smooth), Noella (brown label corona--strongest brown, spicy), Especiales (brown lancero--mildest brown, cereally-delicious), Reserva J21, Black Label, La Riqueza #1 and #5, El Triunfador Lancero Especial (maduro), El Triunfador #6 (habano--mild but very flavorful), Angeles (red pc), Verocu line

Liga Privada: #9 (sweet and chocolatey) and T52 (stronger, cedar w/baking spices/cinnamon) are both amazing, I prefer the robusto and toro but they're all good. The "Dirty Rat" is great, but very strong.

Padron: The '64 series, '26 series, and Family Reserve series are all outstanding. The '64 is more peppery/up-front, '26 more refined, 45th very strong but curently my #1 favorite cigar on Earth!

Arturo Fuente: Casa Fuente Lancero/corona gorda, Anejo 46, Opus X (I prefer the thinner rings), Don Carlos, Hemmingway (both Cameroon and Maduro .. the "Work of Art" vitola is excellent!)

Illusione: 68, 88, f9, hl, Epernay la Ferme and Le Mattin, Cruzado Dantes

Also, the My Father Lancero is awesome, as are most things by LFD (strong, though).

If you want "cubanesque" (a term that's nearly meaningless now, thanks to copy writers), That Cabaiguan, La Aurora 100 Anos, CAO Vision, Tatuaje Especiales and My Father Lancero all come to mind quickly.

If you want something relatively unknown, very good, and VERY strong, check out the new Cromagnon. The tiny "Knuckle-dragger" is amazing!

Note: Many NCs have very thick wrappers (any of the Broadleaf Tatuajes or Padrons, Liga Privadas, etc), and as such perform exceedingly better when you take a 2nd puff shortly after the first (once the wrapper gets going well).

[frenchkiwi]

To cut a long story short i restricted myself to one cheap retailer that i had used before, and their limited stock, as i had to get an order out pronto for a member travelling through US.

Ended up with:

- Fuente Anejo 48s

- Fuente Hemingway short story (prior experience was good)

- Ashton VSG Tres Mystique

- Ilusione Epernay Le Elegance (don't know who named these but they need a french lesson)

- Liga Privada T52 Doble Corona (no other vitolas left!)

- Nub Cameroon 464 Torp (half price - prior exp ok).

It should give everyone a bit of an idea of what NCs are about. Namely, lots of exotic international tobaccos, often mixed in the same cigars, a lot more marketing effort trying to be original with radical vitolas, aged and/or scented curing processes (eg cognac for anejos), fancy bands, a great variety of generally larger sizes, greater strength, good qualityofconstruction/price ratio, and - hopefully - utterly different but still good smoking.

Many thanks to all for your input!! Having tasted a few NCs in my time, I know they're not quite my style, but hopefully there'll be one or two in there that surprise me. I'll let you know if there is!