Cigars, Cigar Information and where to find Premium Cigars, Discounted Cigars and even Cheap Cigars - LESS IS MORE FROM TWO BRILLIANT BOUTIQUE CIGAR MAKERS

LESS IS MORE FROM TWO BRILLIANT BOUTIQUE CIGAR MAKERS

LESS IS MORE FROM TWO BRILLIANT BOUTIQUE CIGAR MAKERS

Tasting the best of Butera and La Tradicion Cubana!

Los Angeles, August 3 – With the 75th annual Retail Tobacco Dealers of America convention and trade show set to start in Houston on Sunday, we thought it might be fitting to try cigars made in Houston or at least created by Houstonians.

We didn’t come up with any brands made in Houston, but Mike Butera has created an enviable niche for himself with his highly-regarded, but often overlooked Butera lines.

And to compliment those three blends, we added three lines from the inventive Luis Sanchez, whose La Tradicion Cubana factory has become so successful that he’s opened a second factory, Real Tabacalera Sanchez-Romay, in Santiago in the Dominican Republic. It turns out we made two good choices from boutique manufacturers whose cigars you should get to know better.

Butera “La Penna”:
[Dominican Republic: available in 3 sizes]
The exquisitely dark Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper is your first clue that this is a full-bodied cigar, beautifully made at the world’s largest cigar factory, Altadis U.S.A.’s Tabacalera de Garcia in La Romana in the Dominican Republic.

Re-introduced in its current blend in 2004, the La Penna line has a spicy aroma and solid construction with a perfect draw. The taste features a rich caramelized flavor with a spicy finish of medium length.

It’s quite satisfying, but smokes very slowly. The flavor calms in the second half, but remains consistent throughout. Very, very nice.
Overall grade: A-: Excellent.

Butera Royal Vintage:
[Dominican Republic: available in 11 sizes]
Mike Butera was better known in the pipe trade that for cigars when he introduced the Butera Royal Vintage in 1993.

He told anyone who would listen about the quality of the blend and the rich flavor of this cigar, and he knew exactly what he was talking about. The Royal Vintage has a spicy aroma and a creamy taste with a slight caramelized flavor. It’s mellow and the happy taste continues through a medium-to-long finish.

The smoothness of the draw and of the flavor are impressive, as is the construction and even burn. A really, really wonderful cigar which, if you haven’t tried it, deserves to be discovered.
Overall grade: A: Exceptional.

Butera Vintage Select:
[Dominican Republic: available in 5 sizes]
This edition of the Butera line debuted in 2005 and has a green band. It has a toasty, slightly spicy aroma with a full body and a slight sweetness to the extra-dark Brazilian wrapper.

The flavor runs toward the creamy side, with a very light note of caramel and a medium finish. It’s very relaxed and mellow in approach with an even burn and easy draw.

There’s a pinch of extra spiciness and a gentle peppery note near the end, but it’s never harsh or aggressive. This is a fine cigar for a more experienced smoker who can appreciate the subtleties of this blend.
Overall grade: A-: Excellent. Luis Sanchez opened his La Tradicion Cubana factory in Miami in 1995 and has been turning out interesting and unique cigars ever since. One of his specialties is producing some of the largest cigars made anywhere and his awesome “The Big One” in the La Tradicion Cubana line is 12 inches long by 192 (!) ring gauge. It’s the largest production cigar in the world and weighs almost a pound.

“There are some guys in Kentucky who order it,” he said at last year’s RTDA show. “I don’t know what they do with it, but they order it.” We found some of Luis’s regular line is worth ordering as well.

American Born Cubans:
[Miami, Florida: available in 4 sizes]
This line – ABC for short – was introduced in 2005 as a salute to the 10th anniversary of La Tradicion Cubana and to honor the contribution of the new generation of Americans born to Cubans who left their homeland after the Communist takeover of 1959.

The cigar itself has a toasty aroma and a rich, light, caramelized taste with short, sweet finish. The blend is consistent throughout, but each of the samples we tried exhibited an uneven burn and therefore suffered a lower grade.
Overall grade: B+: Very Good.

La Tradicion Cubana:
[Miami, Florida: available in 10 sizes]
The flagship of the La Tradicion Cubana factory has been on the market since 1995 and has earned a reputation for consistency and value. Three wrapper shades are available and we tried the light brown, Ecuadorian-grown version which gave the blend a medium body with a light, spicy aroma.

The flavor is calm and relaxed, with a smooth, creamy taste and a beautifully even burn. The finish is short, but it’s easy to smoke and easy to enjoy.

There’s a modest undertone of pepper in the second half, but it only signals the end of a very pleasant and well-made cigar.
Overall grade: A-: Excellent.

Las Memorias Cubana:
[Miami, Florida: available in 3 sizes]
Luis Sanchez knows how to make big cigars. And although there are only three sizes in this line, they’re all enormous: the Gordos is five inches long by 64 ring; the Especiales is six inches by 64 and the Campanas is 6 1/2 inches by 60 ring.

Introduced in 2003, the blend is surprising for such large cigars. Full in body for sure with a spicy aroma, the taste is spicy and has a peppery finish, but with excellent balance and a measured tone that’s never harsh or bitter. Nevertheless, you’ll feel the pinch of the peppery finish on your tongue as the cigar gets going.

The real trick is to be able to handle such a large cigar – a full inch in diameter – in the mouth. But if you can, the construction is excellent with an easy draw and a more gentle flavor in the second half. Let’s just call this line a “gentle giant” and leave it at that.
Overall grade: A-: Excellent.

Both Mike Butera and Luis Sanchez can be rightly proud of the top-quality cigars they offer. While Butera’s are made by Altadis U.S.A. and Sanchez runs his own production facility, both have created blends and insisted on the quality needed to make their brands both popular and respected. Bravo!
~ Rich Perelman

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