This Month's Selection

Featured Cigar	Shape	Size	Strength	Country	Panel Rating
Danli Reserve Robusto	Robusto	5.0 x 50	7.5	Honduras	89
Gran Habano Habano #3 Gran Robusto	Toro Grande	6.0 x 54	6.0	Honduras	90
Isla del Sol by Drew Estate Churchill	Churchill	7.0 x 50	6.0	Nicaragua	91
Montecristo Afrique Jambo	Robusto	5.0 x 52	7.5	Dominican	90
Santa Damiana Cabinet #100	Churchill	6.75 x 48	5.0	Dominican	92
Pinar P2000 100% Cuban Torpedo	Torpedo	5.0 x 50	6.0	Dominican	93

Danli Reserve Robusto

Danli Reserve is a complex, medium- to full-bodied cigar created by Julio Eiroa and his son Christian to celebrate the cigar-making capital of Honduras, Danli. Light it up and you can almost taste the rich Honduran soil. Made with an exquisite blend of rich, hearty, long-leaf tobaccos grown in the Jamastran Valley, the stick is wrapped in a smooth, leathery, dark, natural Habano-seed leaf.This smoke is powerful but balanced with a smooth, deliberate draw and a slow, even burn. The Danli Reserve produces a dense, light grey ash that clings to the cigar and must be coaxed off. The initial spicy pepper punch quickly transitions into a smooth, earthy, leather flavor that's both robust and densely nuanced. By mid-smoke the flavor picks up again to deliver an intensely hearty character, while filling the air with a pleasant aroma. Best after a meal, this no-nonsense dose of thick, wholesome Honduran strength should be taken to your favorite recliner and enjoyed with your favorite brandy or cognac.

Gran Habano #3 Habano Gran Robusto

The Gran Habano line consists of Honduran premiums that give today's biggest names a run for their money. The brand is comprised of a trio of Honduran-rolled blends, each with escalating fullness of body due primarily to the type of wrapper leaf used. So it's a great line for those who want to sample a wide range of flavors and intensities from the same cigar maker at an affordable price. The Connecticut #1, with its Connecticut shade wrapper and smooth Nicaraguan fillers, is mild-to-medium-bodied. The Habano #3, draped in a gorgeous, dark Habano wrapper, is medium-bodied, while the Corojo # 5, sporting a spicy Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper, is a bold, full-bodied cigar.

This month, we selected the Habano #3. The blend consists of sweet Costa Rican tobacco with Nicaraguan and Mexican fillers. The Habano's construction is flawless: firm with no soft spots whatsoever. This beauty opens with a burst of peppery spice that mellows toward leathery, earthy notes. Gran Habana #3 received accolades and an outstanding '90' rating from Cigar Aficionado: "A dark, attractive smoke with an elegant draw and burn. It's salty and rich. There are creamy, coffee notes and a touch of nuts and earth, and the finish is long. Medium to full bodied." Consider pairing it with a smoky single malt scotch.

Isla del Sol by Drew Estate Churchill

This medium-bodied gem from Drew Estate is a deliciously infused Nicaraguan premium. The band's Aztec-like design depicts a sunny island attitude, which is fitting, since Isla del Sol is actually an island off the southwestern coast of Florida. Each cigar is loaded with a rich blend of aged Nicaraguan tobaccos wrapped in a beautiful lmaduro-rosado-colored Sumatra wrapper, and topped by a wonderfully sweetened cap. Dominican, Honduran, and Nicaraguan filler leaves have been carefully infused with the enticing nuances of premium, Sumatran Mandheling coffee beans. The binder is Cuban seed Ecuadorian Olor. The draw is easy, and the Isla del Sol smokes evenly from start to finish. Look for a rich, creamy smoke with—no surprise here—ample notes of mocha and coffee. About two inches in, the intense sweetness of the cap disappears, and you're left with a rich tobacco flavor complemented by the coffee notes. The aroma is luxurious. Try it with a dry Irish stout like Guinness.

Montecristo Afrique Jambo Robusto

Handcrafted in the Dominican Republic from African cigar tobaccos (Cameroon and Tanzania) with a bit of Peruvian and Nicaraguan tobaccos as well, this is a unique cigar. The binder is Ecuadorian and the wrapper, Cameroon. The result is a wonderfully distinct and intoxicating smoke with an exotic, spicy core.

The cigar is firm yet pliable. Take a whiff. Even unlit, it smells rich and inviting. Panelists found the initial draw to be light and flavorful, the taste sweet and soft on the palate. At the halfway point, there were slight hints of pepper, then notes of coffee, and, finally, more distinct peppery flavors. The bright gray ash was firm and the burn almost perfect. Allow an hour-and-a-half for this medium- to full-bodied baby. A tawny port would work well with it.

Santa Damiana Cabinet #100 Churchill

Santa Damiana is a name synonymous with high quality cigars The brand originated in Cuba, and today's Dominican manufacturer introduced the Cabinet Selection in 1992. There are two Cabinet Selection series. The Yellow Series, which is what you're receiving, sports a blonde Connecticut Shade wrapper and can boast the highest quality Dominican binder and fillers, while the Blue Series offers a Habana 2000 wrapper grown in Nicaragua with a Dominican binder and Brazilian, Dominican, and Connecticut broadleaf fillers.

The Cabinet #100 is visually lovely – a blonde beauty that delivers! The cigar is mild- to medium-bodied with a nutty character and dry finish, which makes an oaky chardonnay the perfect pairing. This is as smooth a cigar as you will find, so make sure you allow plenty of time for it. We can almost guarantee you aren't going to want to put this out!

Pinar P2000 100% Cuban Torpedo

The Pinar P2000 is one of the only cigars on the U.S. market that uses authentic Cuban tobacco, which means its tobacco was in this country prior to the onset of the Cuban embargo in the early 1960s. The embargo only increased the demand for what Cuban tobacco remained in the U.S., and prices went sky high. Cigar makers and leaf brokers began buying as much of the prized leaf as they could to ensure continued U.S. production of Cuban cigars.Today most of the pre-embargo inventories are long gone – with the exception of one major stash owned by the folks at Pinar, who purchased a whopping 46,000 pounds in 1998. It was only available that many decades after the embargo because ownership of it was tied up in legal proceedings for years. (FYI, the tobacco had been in a 70°F/70% environment since it was imported in '56, '58', and '60.).Today Pinar uses this rare leaf in their Pinar 2000 line, cigars blended with 100 percent Cuban fillers. The tobacco is sent to Equador to be blended and rolled with an Ecuadorian binder and wrapper. It's then shipped back to the U.S. Given that the stogies have gone through customs twice, their authenticity is well documented.

So if the blue and gold band looks plain to you, perhaps it's because when you've got the real thing you don't have to decorate it ostentatiously! Expect a relatively creamy smoke with subtle hints of spice and pepper that give just a hint of the strength and complexity this tobacco no doubt offered when it was younger. It comes as no surprise that the P2000 has mellowed considerably over time, allowing some of the more intricate nuances of the tobacco to come through. Notes of cedar and leather are present on the sides and front of the palate throughout the smoke. A Mojito would be a fitting and complementary pairing. Make it the Cuban way by using quinine water (tonic), not soda water. Salud!