halfwheel

Review: Reinado Grand Empire Reserve Corona Gorda (Prerelease)

Of all of the 2012 releases from smaller manufacturers, the Reinado Grand Empire Reserve arguably received the most fanfare. For the past few month’s Antonio Lam has made it clear the line was likely to expand from the single 5 x 55 vitola it debuted in. Last week, Lam made the extensions official in an [...]

Review: Padrón W. Curtis Draper 125th Anniversary Natural

In January, Washington D.C. retailer W. Curtis Draper concluded its 125th anniversary celebrations with the arrival of the fourth and final release in what was a year-long series of special cigars. The release was from Padrón and included two 6 x 46 cigars in special blends  The five cigars, in order of release, are as [...]

Redux: Illusione ~eccj~

Sold exclusively through New Havana Cigars back in 2008, the Illusione ~eccj~ was released to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the European Cigar Cult Journal magazine, now known simply as Cigar Journal. Only 300 boxes of 15  were sold of a special 5 5/8 x 46 Corona Gorda with tobacco all from Nicaragua. Here is [...]

Redux: Viaje Exclusivo Corona Gorda

Of all of the blends and releases that Viaje has produced, the Exclusivo line is not only one of the most liked, but is also one of the populous. Although supposedly made for the personal consumption of Viaje owner Andre Farkas, there are now more than ten releases in the line, with more confirmed to [...]

Review: Oliva Master Blends 3 Corona Gorda

In 2003, Oliva released the first in the Master Blends line, followed by the Master Blends 2 in 2005 and the Master Blends 3 in 2006. Intended to be the flagship line of the brand, the length of updates since the introduction of Master Blends 3 has meant it has fallen slightly out of notoriety [...]

Review: Padrón W. Curtis Draper 125th Anniversary Maduro

It took nearly one year from announcement to arrival, but in mid-January, W. Curtis Draper in Washington, DC finally took receipt of the final cigars for its 125th Anniversary Series, courtesy of Padrón. Its arrival follows the 2012 appearances of the Cabaiguan WCD 120 REDUX, a small batch of the original La Aurora 100 Años and the Arturo Fuente W. Curtis Draper [...]

Review: Arturo Fuente Unnamed Reserve 2012

About two weeks ago, we started hearing rumblings of a brand new Fuente blend that was being shipped to retailers. Almost nothing was known about the blend or size before they started showing up to stores, but we quickly confirmed that it uses a Sun Grown wrapper, and includes the same filler as the Don [...]

Review: Tatuaje Black Label Corona Gorda

One of Tatuaje’s most coveted and talked about blends is the Private Reserve, otherwise known as the Black Label blend. Ever since the original release of the foil wrapped Corona Gordas with covered feet in ceramic jars back in 2008, it has become one of the hottest releases Pete Johnson has produced, and now has ten different cigars in the line. I described the history of [...]

Review: Jaime Garcia Sur Oeste Corona

Back in May of this year, in the midst of a variety of regional editions coming from My Father Cigars Inc. and Pete Johnson’s Havana Cellars, whose cigars are made by My Father, a regional edition for accounts in Louisiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas was announced, the Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial Sur Oeste, which translates into southwest. [...]

Redux: Undercrown Corona ¡Viva!

In May of this year, Drew Estate shipped its first extension to the Undercrown line, Corona ¡Viva! The idea was simple, slightly tweak the Undercrown blend to fit the Corona Gorda vitola. While the project was formally announced in December of 2011 and limited samples were available earlier in this year. Here’s what I said [...]