JC Newman El Baton Robusto Review

Posted on March 15, 2018 by thecashkeepers

The reason this review comes about is because a customer asked me to bring this cigar into my shop. I try to be as accommodating as possible for my customers when I have the shelf space. I brought in the El Baton Robusto and Belicoso. Both retail for $6.99 which I think is a good deal for an “everyday smoke”. I decided to give the robusto a whirl and here we are!

Blend Profile
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
The El Baton website does not give specifics about what type of tobacco from Nicaragua they use, just that it is from Nicaragua.

Appearance & Smell
This has a toothy, medium brown wrapper. It has some veins but the veins seem very fitting and not overbearing. The smell is earthy and a little oaky.

Smoke Preparation
I used a Xikar X1 to put a flat cut on the cigar. The cut was good and appears to have no construction problems.

Burn & Draw
The lighting process was easy and the cigar seemed to take an immediate and even light. The draw was nice, not too easy and not too hard, just an easy medium. As the cigar went on, it did start to burn unevenly a bit. You can see the unevenness in the picture above. Then it even back out which you can see in the next pic.

Strength & Body
Immediate impression is that it is a medium. As it goes on, it gains a little more strength. So medium plus at max. There was not a lot of complexity in terms of flavor variation and transitions. It was rather bland overall.

Final Thoughts
This cigar had good construction which is expected of anything coming from JC Newman. When it came to flavor and actually enjoying the smoke, it really wasn’t there for me. I found it to be bland and boring. Would I smoke it again and give it another chance? Yes. The notes of earthiness and oak weren’t bad but it got boring. I would be willing to give them another shot to see if my palate picks up something new. At an “everyday smoke” price, it’s well constructed and would be one that I could give out at any occasion and not feel bad about price or strength. Perhaps I will give it another chance soon!

Sourced: Locally
Brand Information: El Baton Website

Peterson Tankard Pipe Refurbish

Posted on February 2, 2018 by thecashkeepers

A friend sent me a Peterson Tankard that he had picked up. He asked me to make it shine like new again. So here are the before and after pics of the process! It’s hard to tell in the before pictures but there was a decent amount of oxidization that had occurred to the stem. I usually get better pictures than this so I’m sorry for the poor lighting/pictures. Trust me though, it really was an awesome refurb!

Stem
Even with the flash on my camera, it’s hard to tell that there was quite a bit of oxidation that needed to be removed. I wet sanded the stem using 500 grit, 1000 grit, and 1200 grit. The stem was then sanitized and cleaned on the inside. The stem is finished with a buffing of red tripoli and carnauba wax.

Bowl
This bad boy was pretty clean on the inside. There wasn’t a lot of carbonation that had to be removed. BUT the bowl had some serious ghosting, whatever tobacco that was smoked in this pipe before was very strong. So I reamed the bowl down and added a professional grade bowl coating after sanitation to help dispel any remaining ghosting (per request of my friend). The shank was then cleaned and sanitized as well. The metal ring was shined up with some fine steel wool. The bowl was finished with a quick buffing of red tripoli and carnauba wax.

I’m sorry that the lighting isn’t that great in these pictures. The transformation really was awesome! My friend will receive his pipe back soon and I can’t wait for him to light it up. Thank you for reading about this refurb and let me know your thoughts! Thanks!

Nub Connecticut Review

Posted on January 21, 2018 by thecashkeepers

The Nub Connecticut is not new for me but it has been awhile since I smoked one. I decided that I wanted a morning smoke with my coffee. The shorter size of the Nub line lent itself to be a great option for starting the day off right! Here are my thoughts on this cigar!

Blend Profile
Wrapper: Connecticut
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Country of Origin: Nicaragua

Appearance & Smell
The pre-light appearance is a smooth, tan wrapper that looks delicious. The pre-light smell has creaminess and some cedar notes.

Smoke Preparation
I used my Xikar Xi1 to put a flat cut on the very end of the cap. I also used my Xikar Enigma double torch to get the cigar lit.

Burn & Draw
This had a great draw for a morning cigar. It was a little bit easier to pull through than I like my other cigars but it was nice to have an easy smoke in the morning. Burn stayed mostly even. You can see some slight unevenness in the picture above but it was never enough that I felt like I needed to touch it up,

Strength & Body
I found this cigar to be mild to medium. The Connecticut wrapper keeps it like but the Nicaraguan filler has a little more strength to it. The flavor was great! It stayed pretty true to the pre-light smell, lots of creamy richness, cedar notes, and a little bit of nuttiness.

Final Thoughts
This is definitely a smoke I would have again as a morning cigar. It paired very well with my coffee, the draw was easy, the strength was never overwhelming. Overall, I found it to be a great way to start my day and I would definitely buy some more of these! I will note that this cigar might be a little more mellow than other Nub Connecticuts because it was in my humidor since 5-18-16.

Source: Purchased Locally

Golden Grain Pipe Refurb

Posted on December 18, 2017 by thecashkeepers

This was another pipe that came to me in a lot of estate pipes. It’s a beautiful little Golden Grain. The grain in the bowl was gorgeous, so I just couldn’t wait to get my hands on the stem to make the whole pipe stand out again. Here are the before pictures:

Stem
The stem had some fairly heavy oxidation, so I wet-sanded it with 500 grit, 1000 grit, and 1200 grit. The tooth marks were shallow enough that they came out with the oxidation removal. The stem was finished up with a buffing of red tripoli and a buffing of carnauba wax.

Bowl
I reamed the char/layers out of the bowl and sanitized it with vodka. The vodka helped to clean out the extra carbon and dust. The shank received the same vodka cleaning with q-tips as well. The top of the bowl had some buildup, so I topped it by dry-sanding with 500 grit, 1000 grit, and 1200 grit. Then I re-stained the top to match the rest of the bowl. The bowl was also buffed with red tripoli and carnauba wax.

Here are the after pics!

Thanks for looking!

Wellington Churchwarden Refurb

Posted on December 11, 2017 by thecashkeepers

This was a nifty pipe that came to me in a lot that I purchased from an estate sale. It looked like it had been smoked once or twice but it still had a sale price sticker on the bottom of the stem near the button. I thought it was odd that it wasn’t removed when it was smoked. I’m not sure if it was the original sale price sticker or a second hand sale price sticker but it’s cool either way!

Here are the before pictures!

Stem
This pipe had quite a bit of oxidation. It looks like it had some water/liquid spots on it from long ago. Luckily I didn’t have to fight with tooth marks! A quick wet-sanding with 500 grit, 1000 grit, and 1200 grit. It was finished with a quick buffing of red tripoli and a buffing of carnauba wax. I did remove the sticker to gain uniformity in the vulcanite.

Bowl
Since the bowl only seemed to be smoked once or twice, there wasn’t a lot to clean out. I did a very light reaming and cleaned/sanitized it with q-tips and vodka. There were a couple spots on the outside that needed a quick buff, so they were also buffed with red tripoli and carnauba wax.

Here is the finished product!

The pipe turned out perfect! It’s hard to tell from the lights and reflections but the button end on each side of the stem turned out awesome! I can’t wait for this pipe to find a new home!

Thanks for taking a look!

CLE Corojo 11/18 Cigar Review

Posted on September 23, 2017 by thecashkeepers

I have indulged previously in a couple of CLE cigars but this blend was a brand new one for me. It has been in my humidor for at least a few months. I forgot to put my label on it so I don’t know the exact time when I put this in my humidor. With all that being said, I was excited to get into this new-to-me blend!

Blend Profile
Wrapper: Corojo
Binder: Honduran
Filler: Honduran
Country of Origin: Honduras
Vitola: 11/18 6×50

Appearance & Smell
The wrapper was much smoother than most cigars I have smoked. Not very many veins, only one really noticeable one. There was no toothiness to the wrapper by eyesight or to the touch. The wrapper has a very medium brown appearance. I really dig the gold and silver label they put on this one! The smell was very earthy and rich with a little bit of a creamy undertone.

Smoke Preparation
I used my favored Xikar Xi1 cutter to put a flat cut on the cap. Pre-light cold draw gave me the same earthiness that I picked up on the smell of the wrapper. I lit this cigar with my Xikar Enigma double torch.

Burn & Draw
WHOA! The rich earthiness can definitely be tasted immediately upon lighting. This cigar had a fantastic velvety smoke to it. Thick smoke that just rolls of the tongue. The first third presented a bit of spice that played nicely with some undertones of creaminess. The draw was great! Not too tight, not too loose, but the smoke time was amazing. It was an easy hour and a half smoke and I wasn’t trying to go slow. It started to burn slightly crooked but it corrected itself without a touch-up.

Strength & Body
This smoke is definitely a medium to full. It’s not overwhelming by any means, but that corojo wrapper packs a bit of a punch. I wouldn’t really categorize this as a complex smoke. It had very pleasant aromas and flavors but it didn’t change a great deal throughout the cigar.

Final Thoughts
I enjoyed this smoke! If you are into really earthy cigars with some creaminess and a tiny bit of spice, then this might be the cigar for you! If you tend to look for complexity or constantly changing flavors, you might want to skip this one. I personally tend to love corojo wrapped cigars, so for me, this is one I would pick up again. I enjoyed the rich earthiness with creaminess and spice! As you can tell, I smoked it right down to the nub and I enjoyed every bit of it!

Source: Purchased Locally
Brand Information: CLE Cigars

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