For those of you that don’t know…

As I said on Wednesday in the review of the Viaje Exclusivo Corona Gorda, there has been a growing trend in recent years for the makers of cigars to release the blends that they themselves (supposedly) smoke as limited releases for the rest of us to enjoy…Much like Pete Johnson’s Black Label and Steve Saka’s Liga Privada #9, the Viaje Exclusivo blend is said to be Andre Farkas’ personal blend…

Over the past two years, there have actually been quite a few different releases in this particular blend (albeit in very limited quantities)…There are more vitolas to be released this year (the new Chiquito soon and the Tower 45th we are reviewing today in April among them) and there are always rumors of even more, of course (I am hoping for a Lancero

The 5 Exclusivo blends that are on the Market at this moment (and two that have not yet been released) are (left to right):

• Exclusivo Robusto (Jar Release)
• Exclusivo Robusto (Bundle Release)
• Exclusivo Chiquito
• Double Edged Sword
• Exclusivo Short
• Tower 45th (not yet released)
• Corona Gorda (unreleased)
• 

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As it’s name implys, the Viaje Exclusivo Tower Cigars 45th is being released to commemorate Tower Cigars 45th Anniversary…However, as you may or may not know, the store’s 45th is actually in 2012, not 2011…So why release an Anniversary cigar early?

Well, when Mark Just at Tower Cigars asked Andre to roll him a special cigar for the release in October of 2010, he assumed the entire process would take a little while, and wanted to be on the ball for next year. What he did not know is that Andre was already looking for just such a project, and had already thought up a few things…As a result, it took quite bit less time then normal for the cigars to be finished (since the initial legwork was already in process)…Mark did not want them to sit for another entire year (these cigars have already been rolled and sitting in boxes for 7 months now), so he decided to release it a year early…

As already mentioned, the Viaje Exclusivo Tower Cigars 45th is a box pressed Robusto made up of the Exclusivo blend…Mark is going to be releasing a cigar every year on the store’s Anniversary, but they may or may not be the same vitola and blend (but the number of boxes in the release will remain the same every year)…Think of it as Tower’s version of the Padrón Anniversary series…

There are 100 total boxes of 20 being released (or 2,000 total cigars)…The boxes are priced at $210.00, and the MSRP of each cigar is $10.50…They WILL be available for Prerelease purchase on April 5th at 10am California time and each person will be limited to purchasing one box AND 5 singles…you can purchase the cigars at this link (you will be able to add the cigars to your cart after 10am on April 5th):

http://towercigars.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1115

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The boxes for the release look like this:

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But Enough of that, let’s get down to business, shall we?

• Cigar Reviewed: Viaje Exclusivo Tower Cigars 45th
• Country of Origin: Honduras
• Factory: Fábrica de Tabacos Raíces Cubanas S. de R.L. (Raíces Cubanas)
• Wrapper: Nicaraguan Criollo
• Binder: Nicaraguan
• Filler: Nicaraguan
• Size: 5 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 52
• Vitola: Box-Pressed Robusto
• MSRP: $10.50 (Boxes of 20, $210.00)
• Date Released: April 5, 2011
• Number of Cigars Released: 100 Boxes of 20 Cigars (2,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked for Review: 3

The cigar itself is a wonderful specimen, with a very smooth medium brown wrapper (despite the veins that are present)…It has an extreme box press, and the wrapper smells like a combination of Cedar, spice and espresso…It is Very hard when squeezed (almost rock hard), has almost no give at all…

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The First Third starts out with the perfect amount of pepper and spice on the lips…Flavors include a musky cedar, leather, cinnamon (hot) and espresso…The Spice tapers off after about 15 puffs, and I can already fel the strength starting to build…

The Second Third shift profiles totally, with more of a Creamy woodish note taking over as the dominant flavor, and a sweet background note (honey?)…There are also flavors of milk chocolate, and a bit of leather…It is also (still) getting stronger, and it is an interesting combination of overt sweetness and strength by the end of the third…

The Final Third has the Spice make a comeback, in waves, as the sweetness from the 2nd Third disappears entirely…Still a very woodsy profile, but more of a spicy wood, with some leather and (dark, bitter) chocolate…It is also VERY strong at this point, not so strong I had to stop smoking, but definitely noticeable…

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Final Notes:

• Make no mistake, this is a STONG cigar…While the Exlcusivo Corona Gorda I reviewed on Wednesday was no lightweight, the Tower 45th blows it out of the water…The strength got progressively more intense until the very end of the cigar…I would put it above the OR Robusto in strength, easily…
• The smoke that was produced by this cigar was wonderful: white, billowy, dense, spicy and plentiful…
• I smoked 3 of these prerelease Tower 45th for this review, and 2 of the 3 were perfect construction, with perfect burn and draw…the last one I smoked had a VERY loose draw, I had to relight a few times, and I even pulled a fairly large stem out of it…Having said that, the flavors were not effected in any way (all 3 samples were remarkably consistent in that regard) and I just chalk the last cigar up to a bad sample…
• The Final Smoking Time was 1 Hour and 20 Minutes (it was a slow burner)…

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The Bottom Line: As I mentioned earlier in the week, I think the Exclusivo blend is the best blend that Andre puts out…Every cigar made with this blend is at the very least very good (with some, like the DES, OR Robusto, Corona Gorda and the Tower 45th being the standouts)…The Tower 45th is no exception, and embodies everything that I have come to expect from one of Viaje’s top releases…Complexity, strength, great flavors and wonderful construction all combine perfectly to make just a wonderful cigar, one that I will be buying a box of (if I can get ahold of one …

Is it better then the OR Robusto? In my mind, yes, but they are pretty close…Is it better than the Corona Gorda? I think I enjoyed them about the same, but for different reasons (the Tower 45th is stronger and spicier, while the CG is more mellow and sweeter)…

Final Score: 93