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Stogie of the Week

Ramon y Ramon Familia

Origin: Dominican
Wrapper: Cameroon
Binder: Broadleaf
Filler: Piloto Cubano and Nicaraguan
Strength: Unknown
Vitola: Grand Corona
Size: 6.25 x 47
Age: 12+ Years
MSRP: I paid $11.50 each.

Long time Stogie Geeks listener, Rex Mercher, recently posted some pictures on the BOTL forum of a cigar he had smoked. He was unsure what it was and some brothers responded that it was a Ramon y Ramon from a limited edition humidor that Partagas released in 2000. Needless to say I volunteered up the SG crew to smoke these twelve year old sticks on ths show and Rex was kind enough to send me a handfull. After much Googling, I was able to obtain the following information about the blend on Cigarpass forum;

As a tribute to Ramon Cifuentes, the creator of the Partagas cigars, Edgar Cullman, CEO of General Cigar commissioned the Ramon y Ramon cigar to honor General’s long relationship with Ramon Cifuentes. Cifuentes died at the age of 91 in January 2000. The special cigar was announced at the 2000 RTDA show and shipped to the fortunate customers in November. The filler tobacco is Piloto Cubano and Nicaraguan. The binder leaves are Connecticut broadleaf and the attractive and spicy wrapper leaves are African Cameroon. General Cigar manufactured the Ramon y Ramon cigars at the Cifuentes factory in Santiago, Dominican Republic.

What We Have Been Smoking

The complete list of all cigars discussed in this segment can be found on the Episode 28 Stogies Page.

Paul’s List

See Paul’s List, complete with pictures, ratings and mini-reviews on his Stogie Feed.

Tim’s List

See Tim’s List, complete with pictures, ratings and mini-reviews on his Stogie Feed.

Segment: Smoke Cuban Cigars

As I listen and read about cigars on several different places on the Internet, I notice a trend. There are some people that do not review or discuss Cuban cigars (even though they used to). I think some, and I won’t name names, are too heavily influenced by their sponsors. I also see many media outlets reviewing or dealing with only boutique cigars. Then there are places like the 50% flat tire who deal mostly in hard to find or limited release cigars. I’ve even seen some who like to focus on machine made cigars you buy in the drug store (okay, well, I’ve seen some funny YouTube reviews). Another thing I seem to see a lot is people say stuff or publish stuff, and no one calls bullshit. Sometimes it feels like cigar media falls over like dominos. If one person sings a cigar some praise, everyone falls in and won’t challenge it. I rarely see what people say in the blogs challenged, except to sometimes get a label and a bad reputation by the cigar industry.

Lets get one thing straight, we here on the Stogie Geeks show deal with one kind of cigar and one kind of cigar ONLY: The kind that you smoke. It does not matter the make, origin, size, country, wrapper, price, who rolled it, who sold it, who smoked it, who is going to smoke it, where its sold, how its sold or the phase of the moon. If its a cigar, we will smoke it and tell you all about it, without any pre-conceived notions. Without prejudice and without judgment, other than to tell you if we thought it was a good cigar or not.

Having said that, here are 5 Cuban cigars you need to have a box of in your humidor:

  1. Partagas Serie D #4
  2. Ramon Allones Specially Selected
  3. Montecristo #2
  4. Bolivar Belicoso Finos
  5. Hoyo De Montery De Diux

Oh, and btw, Frank Herrara should have the debate about Cuban cigars with someone who has the exact opposite opinion, instead of with a bunch of folks that did nothing but shake their heads and say yes.