Hello and welcome to Grey Smoke Reviews. I am a veteran cigar smoker, nearly a decade now and I still find cigars that pleasantly surprise me. I will try to keep this blog focused as much as possible on boutique cigar makers and house brands.
Yesterday I had the chance to sit down with Henry and the fellows at Casillas Cigars. The cigars used be to rolled in the store but Henry switched to a factory in Nicaragua about three years ago. All of the cigars are Nicaraguan puros which means 100% of the blend is sourced in that country. I was able to wheedle out of Henry that the tobacco is 3 years old for all of his cigars but he would not reveal which factory he is using. The shop is on 16th Street between T and U in Sacramento. Forgive my horrible camera phone pictures, I shake too much for a decent shot most of the time. Believe it or not these are the better pictures I took for this review.
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Henry is the don of the shop but he and the guys affectionately call each other "bish" which almost sounds like ***** but not quite. He gets no respect.
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The humidor is a nice little room to the right of the entry that dominates most of the shop space. Here are the cigars we all love.
Here is the rest of the shop in case you were curious. The fellow behind the counter in the second picture is Rich. A rather pleasant and funny fellow that helps Henry out around the shop. There are some accessories for sale as well as a water cooler. The seating can seem a little disjointed unless you're in the area behind the humidor but the camaraderie in the store is readily apparent. The crowd when I was smoking was mainly blue-collar Asian-Americans. Definitely a gear change from the lounges I'm used to in Arizona.
I try to smoke a brand's most representative smoke in the robusto shape as I think it is a good flavor medium between my preferred smaller ring gauge shape and the more modern large ring gauge shapes which I find to be uncomfortably large for my hobbit hands. Also, I have a hard time finding medium to strong smokes in a smaller ring gauge which I believe deprives us of proper flavor. Here is the smoke itself.
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A little longer than a typical robusto I eyeballed this one at about 5 3/4" long and 50 ring gauge. The construction was somewhat uneven and there was a somewhat noticeable bulge closer to the head of the cigar. The wrappers in this blend vary in color and this was on of the lightest colored wrappers in the bundle on the shelf. I tend not to pay attention to the initial burning as it is not representative of the cigar in my opinion. I used a triple torch tabletop lighter and a regular guillotine cutter. As you can see in the picture below the burn was relatively even. Here are some pictures of the first third burning.
Forum users I apologize, I can only put 5 images per post.
By now I'm sure you want to know how it tastes. The first third of the cigar had quite enticing sweet bell pepper notes, a hint of salted almonds and cashews on the after taste, and a light earthy maduro flavor was present on the tongue that brought out cocoa as well. To refresh my palate I had been sipping on some Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay 2010 which was dry, with lots of citrus. The citrus highlighted the sweetness of the maduro but masked the wood flavors which started to become more prominent as I approached the second third.
Forum users I apologize, I can only put 5 images per post.
The second third had an oaky base flavor with readily apparent white pepper. The maduro sweetness wove in and out of the smoke and notes of nutmeg were pleasant surprises. The burn was a little uneven but I was diligent about rotating it and it eventually took care of itself. As the cigar headed into the last third the construction started to feel pleasantly soft.
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Those burn issues I mentioned in the second third came to their nastiest point in the beginning of the last third. As you can see though it wasn't too horrible. I did get some ash on my shoe though. For the final portion of this cigar the spice mellowed out and the oak base flavor continued. I think switching to Rolling Rock helped bring the sweetness of the maduro out. There was a hint of cacao and a little bit of earthiness that I really liked. The total burn was about 90 minutes.
THE VERDICT
Flavor: 8/10 Cocoa, bell pepper, white pepper, and oak are the main flavors. It developed nicely, paired well with run of the mill booze, and gave what I think a maduro's performance should be.
Construction: 6/10 The uneven appearance and the burn issues were somewhat annoying but it could keep an ash over an inch which is a good sign for a long filler cigar.
Value: 10/10 In today's overtaxed cigar market and economy the overburdened smoker is hard pressed to find a better deal in a retail shop. These cigars are only $4.50 before tax. Definitely a step up from the Flor de Oliva Maduro and I prefer the medium bodied Casillas Robusto Maduro over the JFR Robusto Maduro that was blended by Don Pepin.
Overall: 8.5 This cigar is not pretentious or overbearing. Its medium body smoke with pleasant chocolate, white pepper spice, and oak flavors make this a solid go to choice. That it is only $4.50 is also in its favor. The construction could be somewhat better but this is not a large issue considering the price. The atmosphere of the shop is inviting and the fellows are jocular and better mannered than most shop crowds in Arizona.
Henry was kind enough to provide me with four more smokes to try and review.
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The address for the shop is below as well as the store telephone number.
Casillas Cigars
2020 16th Street Suite A
Sacramento, California 95818
(916)-448-5052
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