halfwheel

Review: Tatuaje Anarchy Apocalypse

You’ve no doubt heard about the predictions for the end of the world that came and went in recent weeks – specifically the end of the Mayan calendar that had some people fearing the explosion of the planet on either December 21. While December 21st didn’t bring the end of the world, the hype surrounding the [...]

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: La Flor Dominicana Meaner Digger

Taking things to ever bigger and longer extremes in the cigar world, the La Flor Dominicana Meaner Digger was created as a store exclusive for Tobacco Haven in Brookline, NH, who held an “end of the world” release party on December 21, 2012. News of this new cigar came out just after Thanksgiving, just shy of [...]

Redux: Oliva Serie V Culebra

Back in the first week of halfwheel’s existence in January of 2012, I reviewed one of the rarest Oliva cigars made, the Oliva V Culebra. Only 200 were officially produced over a span of about five years, and odds are, 99% of the cigar smoking public didn’t even know they existed prior to the review. [...]

Review: Cohiba Millennium Reserve Pirámides

In early 1999, Habanos S.A. released three different cigars from three different marcas under the Reserva del Milenio (Millennium Reserve Series) to celebrate the Millennium during the Havana Festival. Each of the releases were very different vitolas, but all were adorned with the exact same band. CubanCigarWebsite.com says the following about the release: They were issued in [...]

Review: Camacho Super Limitado

Back in March of 2011 the president of Camacho Cigars, Christian Eiroa, did an interview with Cigar Aficionado’s David Savona. During the interview Christian introduced a cigar he had been working on for awhile called the Camacho Super Limitado. The cigar was one of 24 blends he was working on that are going to be [...]

Review: Tatuaje Noella Reserva (2006)

In late 2006, Tatuaje shipped a few retailers limited amounts of boxes of a Maduro version of its Brown Label Corona, Noella Reserva. The wrapper was an ultra dark Ligero priming of the Habano Ecuador that was beginning to be used on the Brown Label in late 2006. Pete Johnson explained the wrapper difference and [...]

Review: Partagás Dunhill Selección Suprema No. 281 (1950s)

About two years ago, a good friend of mine called me up and told me he had purchased a sealed box of Dunhill Selección Supremas that he had never heard of or seen before. He asked me to take some photographs of the box, and I told him I would be happy to. In fact, he [...]

Review: Hoyo de Monterrey Extravaganza (Colección Habanos 2003)

In 2003, Habanos S.A. brought back a modified form of the Hoyo de Monterrey Lusitanias as the third release of its Colección Habanos series. The cigar was renamed the Hoyo de Monterrey Extravaganza and measured 180mm x 50, as opposed to the original 184mm x 50. The first of the Colección Habanos series in the [...]

Review: OpusX Phantom (1994)

In late 1995, the Fuente Fuente OpusX cigars was officially released for the first time in seven different vitolas. They were an instant success and their popularity has only grown since then. In 2009, 14 years later, a bundle of extremely rare OpusX Phantoms, the name Fuente gives to its Lancero vitola, were put up [...]