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Cigar Review: Aging Room F59 Churchill

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I’m sitting in a comfy chair inside Lehman Cigars, a cozy, family-owned shop and lounge on Bedford Park Boulevard in the North Bronx near the Botanic Garden, with Aging Room’s latest creation in my hand. Aging Room first made major cigar headlines in 2013; years of blending and experimentation earned their F55 cigar the No. 2 spot in Cigar Aficionado’s Top 25 Cigars of the Year. After a further two years of work, Aging Room is now following up on the F55 with a successor stogie: the F59. Building upon the F55’s reputable foundation, the F59 is designed to surpass its predecessor’s strengths and overcome its weaknesses. Will the F59 be a successful sequel? Let’s find out.

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Form and Substance

  • Vitola: Churchill
  • Wrapper: Dominican Habano
  • Binder: Dominican Habano
  • Filler: Dominican Habano
  • Dimensions: 50 x 7
  • Country of Origin: Dominican Republic

Aesthetics, Construction and Feel

The F59 looks genuinely natural due in part to its minor imperfections. The wrapper is rugged, with veins galore; the cap is loosely wrapped (though that’s probably just the cold weather); and the box press is a bit round, with a few soft spots on the edges. However, the wrapper has a sultry velvety texture, and the cold odors are exquisite: the body boasts a light, but dense wood flavor, with nutmeg on the foot.

Smoke and Flavor

First Third: Right from the get-go, the draw is perfectly loose and fluid, allowing the strong and chewy nutmeg notes to flow seamlessly to the palate before being released into the air as rich, thick smoke clouds that boast a lush timber aroma. There is a salty undertone just beneath the nutmeg. The two major notes combine with the ’59’s thick texture to produce an ever-thicker aftertaste that sticks to the palate like glue.

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Second Third: The draw begins to loosen a little too much; there’s much thin air and wind in every puff, making the flavor less prominent. Despite this, a spicy element makes its way into the texture, tickling the tongue slightly. Cinnamon also appears in the background, melding deliciously with the salt to form a solid background flavor profile. Around this time, the burn begins to canoe slightly, the ash begins to tilt to the side, and the draw begins to fade, staying loose, but needing constant puffing to keep it alive. A noticeably tilting ash is the surest sign of them all that it’s time to let it go, so I do. The ash goes remarkably cleanly and without a fuss.

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Final Third: The final third sees the salt and cinnamon starting to give way in the background as the nutmeg begins to take over. By the time the first half of the final third is cleared, the salty cinnamon is good as gone. The nutmeg itself begins to flatten out for a moment, but soon regains its vitality and conquers the entire flavor profile. At this point the flavor begins to going for the palate directly. The aftertaste becomes noticeably chewier; the nutmeg moves in and coats itself over the palate entirely, making the taste much more direct and full. The burn never fully evens out, but the coating of the palate with nutmeg nevertheless constitutes a fine finish.

The Final Verdict

While not perfect in execution, the F59 was an intriguingly pleasant smoke overall. The flavor profile was slightly more simplistic than expected, but great nonetheless. All in all, the F59 not only lives up to the promise of its predecessor, it surpasses it. Job well done, Rafael! can we expect an F63 in the not-too-distant future?

Final Grade: A

Tips for a Perfect Smoke Experience

  • The F59 may be an Habano, but as a Churchill, it smokes more like a Maduro due to the higher wrapper to filler ratio and the extended length, so be prepared!
  • This would make a good pairing with a lighter scotch, such as a Macallan 15.
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Cigar Review: Macanudo Cru Royale

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The Macanudo Cru Royale is rolled by General Cigars and Macanudo is one of their flagship brands. Rolled in the Dominican Republic, they are known for their consistent construction and smoking experience, aged wrappers and having a broad, widespread appeal to both novices and experienced smokers. For this review, 2 cigars were smoke and were generously provided by Famous Smoke based out of Pennsylvania.

Cigar: Macanudo Cru Royale

Blend Specifics:

Vitola: Poco Gordo 4”x60

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano

Binder: Dominican La Vega Especial

Filler: Nicaraguan, Dominican and Brazilian

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Appearance and Construction: The Macanudo Cru Royale has a semi-dark chocolate wrapper. Minimal veins and tight invisible seams. Very smooth sating feel with a slight oily sheen. Dense, even packing and sports a nicely applied double cap.

Smoke and Flavor Characteristics:

Cold Aromas: The wrapper is bit of wood, faint farmyard, and a touch of spiciness. The foot presents chocolate, wood and leather. The cold draw has chocolate and wood with a touch of mineral grit, not unlike gravel.

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First Third: The first few draws show a lot of leather, more of that mineral grit and a very easy, open draw. A dry wood also becomes present. The draw give off thick clouds of smoke, no spice is detectable at the moment. Though the leather hangs around in the nose and mouth for a good while. The aroma pouring off the foot is also of rich leather.

Burn line isn’t razor sharp but performance is just fine. The ash formation is a very pale gray, almost white, slightly flakey and absent of rings. There’s fair amount of cream that comes into play. I’m tapping the ash off at ¾ inch since it’s really flakey. The body is medium, the flavor is medium to full, and the strength is at medium.

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Second Third: The second third picks right up where first left off, leather and wood with a decent does of cream. Performance is still excellent. A bit of chocolate comes in on the aroma. Removing the band takes little to no effort and is held together with self-adhesive glue. Body still at medium, the flavor is medium to full, and the strength is at a medium.

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Final Third: The final third is holding true to form and still leads with the leather and wood combo. The aroma is still pleasantly woody, earthy, and leathery. Performance and burn are still doing well. Just toward the end, within the last inch or so, the heat started busting the wrapper in multiple areas, though the performance is still ok. Also, the wood ramped up has become the dominant characterizing note. This cigar finishes out at medium in body, medium to full in flavor and medium in strength.

Final Thoughts: The Macanudo Cru Royale features fine leaves, excellent and consistent construction and smoking experience. The profile is more on the drier and bitter side of the flavor spectrum with the leather providing a bit of savory respite. The aroma is calming and luxurious and the profile isn’t at all strong which makes it a good early morning / mid-afternoon smoke. For a small vitola cigar, it has a pretty long smoking time. The body and strength are a solid medium while the flavor is medium to full.

Smoking time was 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Grade: B

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Cigar Review: La Hoja Edicion Clasica 1962

1 0 3.5k

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The La Hoja Edicion Clasica 1962 comes to us via Willie Flores and Carlos Gomez of La Hoja, who are also good friends to all of us over here at FTNYC. You can find these exceptional boutiques at most shops in the NYC area as well as our events where we have featured the brand and their various lines. The Clasica is rolled in the Santiago region of the Dominican Republic and is a recent release from the company, featuring new labeling to their previous offerings.

Cigar: La Hoja Edicion Clasica 1962

Vitola: Toro 5.5” x 56 soft box-pressed

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Corojo

Binder: Dominican

Filler: Dominican

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Appearance and Construction

The Edicion Clasica has a dark chocolate wrapper with minimal smallish veins, a very slight oily sheen, and a very smooth dry satin texture. The seams are visible but the wrapper is noticeably wrapped well around the cigar and still shows good construction. A nicely applied double cap, and comes packaged with a foot band. The cigar also has an even sponginess throughout and the foot shows an even dense bunching.

Flavor & Smoke Characteristics

On the wrapper, there is cedar, a touch of earth and not much else. On the foot, there is cinnamon, a touch of white pepper, a hint of chocolate, and overall on the sweeter side. The cold draw is salt, cedar, a bit of earth and musk, which makes present the good amount of fermentation and aging this tobacco has gone through. Also to note, the wrapper tobacco leaves a salty taste on the lips from the head of the cigar. The draw is an even to slightly loose tension, which is great.

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First Third: The first notes give way to a very soft white pepper, salt, a touch of cedar, and a bit of musk. A nice cream with a bit of a gritty earth on the finish rounds out the initial draws. From the start of the cigar the mouth-feel and retrohale of the smoke are exceptionally smooth. The aroma is characterized of cedar, dark chocolate, earth, and leather notes. Staring off with a close to razor shape burn, the ash is tight but fragile looking (flaky, but not) and is a pale gray with slightly darker, very thin ring lines. The smoke is medium to full in body, medium to full in strength, and medium to full in flavor. Progressing through the first third, the earth, cedar, musk, cream and leather take hold as the main notes, with minor notes of salt, dark chocolate and a slight soapy floral. The smoke is still very smooth, with a clean crisp finish in the mouth, while leather and salt last through on the finish in the nose. The smoke is overall very dry feeling, and cool with no spices to be found. Only a touch of white pepper comes through here and there. Toward the end of the first third, a touch of bitter cinnamon start to also last on the finish.

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Second Third: Transitioning from the first to second third, a little spice comes up, but only last for a moment and primarily on the tongue. Notes are still characterized of earth, leather, musk, even though it has come down a bit, cedar, chocolate, salt, and a slight floral. The ash fell off on its own as one solid chunk at 1.5”. The cigar starts to lose its razor sharp burn and seems to do so when the wrapper leaf is overlapping another part of the wrapper leaf with concentration at the seam. Though, the cigar is still performing well and flavors aren’t being lost due to the burn. It may need a minor touch up here and there. The chocolate comes up a little, with now entering a slight espresso note to complement, while the salt has moved down a bit. The earth, leather and cream are still holding strong. The aroma is also still of leather and salt notes. The smoke is medium to full in body, medium to full in strength, and now moving up to full in flavor. The smoke stays fairly cool as the cigar progresses through the second third. This cigar also gives off nice creamy plumes of smoke.

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Final Third: Starting into the final third, I did have to give the cigar a minor touch up. The flavors are still holding with the cedar and leather taking the fore, with the earth moving down just a little. The espresso has come up a bit with the chocolate; the salt is still moving down but sticking around. The band is a self-adhesive and comes off cleanly. The musk is making more of presence in the aroma and the profile is still holding at medium to full in body, medium to full in strength, and the flavor moving back down to medium to full. The cream is also lasting through the finish, while the smoke in the mouth is getting slightly grittier and the retrohale being very smooth. As the cigar gets down to the nub, the chocolate and espresso both begin to last on the finish, and the smoke stays fairly cool. The leather, earth, cream, musk, and cedar still hold their notes quite strongly to the end.

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Final Thoughts

This cigar screams class, from its top-notch construction, to its choice selection of rare filler, binder and wrapper tobaccos, its complex earthy profile and extremely smooth smoke production. All these characteristics make up an exceptional cigar and a one-of-kind experience. Though, I did have to touch it up a couple times throughout the session, each time was only a minor case. The cigar, its construction and flavors held strong and never strayed away from its intentions of providing a fine experience. The complexity lasts through the duration of the smoke, with its major notes being leather, earth, musk, cedar, and cream and minor notes of salt (though, the salt is a major and minor note, depending on where in the session one is experiencing this note), dark chocolate, and very slight hints of espresso, floral notes, and white pepper.

Smoking time was 1 hour and 20 minutes

Grade: A

Cigar Review: Rocky Patel Decade Robusto

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Rocky Patel has always been a favorite of mine: so much so that there was a time when I would smoke his Vintage 1990 cigars almost exclusively. But, as any aficionado will tell you, not all cigars are created equal, and even different types of the same cigar can be quite different from one another. As such, I’ll be revisiting the Decade, one of Rocky’s most prolific creations. Our founder Matthias Clock reviewed the Decade Toro almost three years ago. Today, I’ll be tackling the Robusto vitola. Now I know what you’re all thinking: why revisit this particular cigar? Because this is a cigar worth examining more closely: it boasts a whoppin’ 95 rating in Cigar Aficionado magazine, and it’s also a personal favorite of yours truly. However, I’ve also experienced inconsistencies with this blend in the past, which means the case isn’t closed just yet…

Blend Specifics

  • Vitola: Robusto
  • Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra
  • Binder: Honduran
  • Filler: Nicaraguan
  • Dimensions: 5” x 50’
  • Country of Origin: Honduras

Aesthetics, Construction and Feel

The Decade Robusto is quite a sight to behold. Its dark, rough Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper contrasts perfectly with the regal beige-gold label. I haven’t even held it in my hand, and I’m already impatient to smoke it! While the wrapper looks rough and has no peach fuzz, it’s still remarkably smooth. The meticulously box-pressed body is firm without being rigid and boasts no noticeable soft spots: two very good signs that any serious smoker should always seek in a cigar. The cold odors consists mainly of oak and leather with a hint of spice so strong that it burns the nostril if you’re not careful. The foot boasts a more chocolate-centric aroma, again with a sneakily strong hint of spice just below the surface.

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Smoke and Flavor

First Third: A great journey begins on the heels of a finely balanced draw. The first few puffs bring forth a harsh and bitter dark wood that leave the palate in the form of excellently thick and lush smoke clouds. A wholesome helping of bread is prominent in foreground, along with the wood. As the white-gray ash continues to hold its form near-perfectly and the burn remains consistently even, the spice present in the cold odors comes into the mix and melds with the wood, maturing it. The flavor profile’s middle ground and background have gradually crystalized in the mean time, the middle ground sporting a constant, delicious dark chocolate essence, while a tart element of sugar takes the background. The bread recedes some from the foreground as the first third nears its end, at which point the Decade develops a rich chocolate and wood aftertaste that smoothly wraps itself around the palate like silk on the skin.

Second Third: The second third is a somewhat purgatorial stage for the Decade Robusto. The near-perfect draw begins to tighten. The ash falls off suddenly and unexpectedly. What’s more, the burn begins canoeing, though fortunately it never fully does, limping along as it fluctuates. Meanwhile, the tart sugar note in the background intensifies. The wood flavor in the foreground again matures and becomes more toasty. However, it also becomes more bitter, concentrating and taking over the foreground, forcing the bread out. The ever-present spice in the middle ground intensifies as well, to the point where it touches the tongue. The burn finally begins evening out, signaling the end of the purgatorial second third.

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Final Third: And now that we’ve cleared Purgatorio, it’s time to experience Paradiso. The bitterness in the wood at the forefront recedes, allowing for the wood to be enjoyed more easily before it too eventually recedes to make way for the dark chocolate, which soon replaces the bitter essences entirely. Advancing to the front from the middle ground, the dark chocolate expands and shares the foreground with the rich, toasty wood. This particular transition coincides with an emergent leathery texture on the draw, which loosens back up, further enriching the cigar. While the burn is still a bit uneven, the spice at the nub is greatly diminished. The Decade Robusto finishes out strong on the heels of a sweet, dark chocolate and wood flavor profile with a rich, leathery draw.

The Final Verdict

I wanted a solid performance, and that’s exactly what I got! Experience tells me the best way to have a Decade is to have it box-pressed, hence my choice of this particular vitola. Not only does it deliver a rock-solid smoke with an excellent flavor profile and draw, it also does so in an efficient amount of time. In conclusion, I think I’ve found my new favorite vitola for one of my top five favorite cigars!

Final Grade: A

Total Smoking Time: 00:47:16

Tips for a Perfect Smoke Experience

  • This little one may only be 5×50, but it packs a punch comparable to a 6×60 maduro, so don’t underestimate the Decade Robusto! While black coffee is well and good, make sure you have dark chocolate on hand: it’s proven to help protect against tobacco buzz, and it brings a sweet balance to the experience to the smoke with the cigar itself can’t quite bring on its own.
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