Jamaica Commodore by Blue Mountain Cigars

Another day, another rep, another company profile lounging all over my screen estate.

This week, I'm delving into Blue Mountain Cigars. They're a newer company out of Miami with some interesting cigars. I had another rep from a well respected industry leader come in immediately after the BMC rep was here and he indicated they're a bit of a joke in the tobacco industry at the moment. Well, that's all well and good, but I've gotta pass judgement on my own.

So today, I'm smoking the Jamaica Commodore in about a Robusto size. When the rep gave me my samples he indicated they had been in his trunk for a few days. This kind of made me wince. So I left them in my humidor at the shop for a couple weeks. Today, I realized they were ready to smoke, and dove in.

So this Jamaica Commodore has a Connecticut wrapper and a Jamacian filler/binder. I've read that there may be a Sumatran-wrapped version as well, but I'm not quite substantiated on that yet.

In the flavor department, it falls a little flat. The Jamacian filler is overpowering my palate with a strong leafy taste that lingers on the roof of my mouth. It's not very strong. Around here, mediums tend to be mild, and full tends to be medium. It takes a Liga Privada, or strong LFD to really light our fires at the shop, but nonetheless I'm fairly confident most people will find this to be a mild.

Summing this cigar up, I'd say it's a pass. I'm not a huge fan of Jamaican tobaccos, so it's not really my cup, but if you're into that sort of thing (think the old, Royal Jamaica), you might give it a shot and pass judgement on this new, growing, company.

-Ephram Rafael Nadaner
Current Smoke: Jamaican Commodore Robusto 1.9/5

The Cost of Free

A wise man, who happened to be a car salesman for a major domestic brand once spoke these words to me:

"Ephram, if anyone ever tells you you're getting something for free, be skeptical. When we tell you you're getting an undercoating for free, you're paying for it. Your free upgrade to the winter package? You're paying for it. Every bullshit sales tactic is at our command in that moment. Trust me, there's no tree behind our lot that grows extra floor mats. If someone offers you something for free, ask what it really costs."

So with that in mind, here's the state of our Pepin Garcia humidor:

I have, maybe 50 cigars left from Pepin's brands. I've got a couple My Fathers, and a couple Black Label Cuban Classics.

I have told this story to our customers, maybe twenty times in the last week, but here goes again...

On our last shipment, Pepin had a promotion going. Due to industry 'rules' I cannot actually explain what this promotion was. However, it basically resulted in us, the retailer, getting a free box of cigars.

There's that word again.

Now, Pepin has a bad shipping department. I say "bad", but what I really mean is "worst in the industry". So when we didn't receive our most recent shipment, we wrote it off for a few days.

"Whatever, the Pepin shipment is late again. Big surprise."

After a few more days, we called. And found out there was a past due amount on our account with them, and that they were holding our order because of it.

"What past due amount? They bill our company card immediately."

Care to guess how much that past due amount was? Well, I'll tell you it was equal to exactly the amount our "free" box of cigars costs, wholesale.

Needless to say, we were not happy. They held our order over a "free" box of cigars. They're currently, at this moment, costing me hundreds of dollars in revenue over a "free" box of cigars.

So we paid the damn invoice. Even though we could have straightened it out and gotten our "free" box, we ended up paying for it just so they would release our order. That's the true cost of "free".

So now, I'm sitting here smoking another brand while I wait for Pepin's order to get here. Hopefully, we'll see it soon before they decide to offer us free shipping, then hold the entire order because we neglected to pay for shipping.

-Ephram Rafael Nadaner

Current Smoke: Aging Room Maduro, Robusto size.

Felix Assouline Cigars

It's been over a month since my last update. Readers rejoice, I'm here. You may now recommence the party.

I had a rep come in today from one Felix Assouline Cigars, and I need to get something of my chest, immediately. The brand's namesake has a terrible last name. "Assouline", pronounced like "Gasoline", is not only difficult to phonetically understand, it makes me thing of the unholy mating of "Ass" and "Gasoline", which is a bridge none of us, except those of you coming from 4chan, wants to cross.

So lets push that off the table and onto the ground for the dogs to feast on, because I know what you're interested in: the cigars. My perception so far, is that the cigars are good.

I'm currently smoking a cigarillo they produce, it's actually a tiny ring-gauge version of another cigar they make, the EGO. the EGO line has a few interesting tidbits about it. First, their cigarillo is the only long-fill cigarillo I've ever come across. I unwrapped it to check. Sure enough, it holds an ash and has a great draw. Flavors aren't as pronounced as it's wider cousin, but it's still one of the best cigarillos I've ever smoked. The ego has another interesting facet in it's line. The "Perfect" vitola is the world's first box pressed perfecto, verified at last year's IPCPR.

Most of Assouline's (wow, that gets worse as you say it) other cigars are blends are wrapped in a decent looking Habano 98 wrapper, bound with a leaf of Indonesian tobacco, and filled with a blend of Nicaraguan and Honduran filler.

I've never had Indonesian tobacco before. I have literally no comment on it for better or worse. Someone pointed out to me that Sumatran tobacco should technically be Indonesian, however, most of this tobacco is actually "Ecuadorian Sumatra", which I surmise means it's a Sumatran strain grown in Ecuador.

Our rep mentioned to us that Ass-Gasoli... damn it... Assouline is working on a puro blend from his Honduran stock. Blends are all well and good, and can be accomplished well by a talented blender, but puro cigars have a higher chance of fairly showcasing the flavors of the selected leaves. It is for this reason that I'm excited to smoke what Assouline is blending next.

All in all, the blends that I smoked received mixed reviews. I liked his "Something Special" and the "EGO" both in the perfecto and cigarillo formats. The others that I gave out seemed to have a cold reception.

I'd give his work a 3/5. It's still maturing, and I'm excited to see what he produces next.

-Ephram Rafael Nadaner
Current Smoke: EGO Shot (Cigarillo format)