Joya de Nicaragua Antano 1970 Cigar Review

This cigar has a bit of a history behind it. It is said that this was one of the first cigar factories in an area of Nicaragua with the perfect soil and tropics for growing tobacco. This is prior to 1970 when the original factory was founded. The brand is Joya de Nicaragua. The "Joya de" means The Jewel of. I believe the Ant part of Antano means old days, yore, yester and most should already know that ano means year. So I have the privilege of smoking a reproduced jewel from the remnant's of Nicaragua's history.

Everyone knows that great powers influence. In this aspect, I mean great powers as in countries like England, Spain, France, America, etc. You can say it destroys a country's original culture or you can say it helps advance it's civilization; in this case, the controlling powers took it's resources. Nicaragua was a colony of Spain and when Nicaragua gained their independence, they were not completely free, other nations had imposing influence, like the United States. The United States was defending against Socialist and self interest. Just as in the case with many other countries, the United States is there with terms. Basically like in many other examples, the United States called shots on who would control the government. Indirectly or intentionally the Nicaraguan government became a dictatorship. Even in freedom, they were not free from their own and it decimated the country. That's why you see countries like these poor because of rebellion and civil war. The 1970 labelled on the band defines a time when the cigar was considered prominent before the socialist gained control.

This is not the first Joya de Nicaragua I have smoked, matter of fact I have enjoyed these as one of the first premium brand cigars I came across when I started. On the shelf of a local cigar lounge, a box sits on the shelf of the humidor with a price tag of $30 each. Is that an original one from around the 1970s? Nah, I think it would go for way more if in good condition. The one that sits on the shelf is probably the same as the one I smoked or another blend, one rolled in recent years. I love cigar lounges but hate their mark up prices.
 
I would have reviewed the Celebracion blend but did not have one. For this Christmas, that is the Sunday before Christmas Eve, I bring to you the review on the Joya de Nicaragua Antano in a Robusto size. I wish all readers a Merry Christmas and Happy 2013 to come.

Vitola: Robusto Grande (5.5" x 52RG)
Price: $6-$7 stick

Wrapper: Nicaraguan (Criollo Habana)
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaragua

Aged in Humidor: 5 months

Appearance and Construction:

The cigar looks basic as does the band. The wrapper is dark brown, though, not deeply. It is constructed smooth with veins that fade right into the wrapper, no leafy look to the wrapper. My stick had no construction issues, not even a nick. The cap is on if part of the body. It isn't firm but not soft, it bounces back ever so slightly. I toast it evenly and lights easily.

Draw: Slightly snug on first puffs but perfect draw there after
Aroma: It does not resonate strongly but a cocoa smell is there when brought close to the nose
Ash: Even waves forming an almost perfect grey cone indicating rolled well; the first log of ash falls at the end of the first third, a little short of the 2" mark
Fumes: When lit it does stream out but when it mellows out, no smoke
Burn: Even and consistent, never went out when left alone
Strength: Medium to Full, I ate dinner lit it at 10:30pm and finished it at 12:40pm, I felt light headed and a tad nauseous afterwards; you won't notice it while smoking it but after you might feel it a little

Tasting Notes:

The scent that it emits out of the hole on the foot while the cigar is still in the clear cellophane cover is of light raisin on tea or tobacco mixed in with oak. The cold draw is similar: raisin on hay or oak. On lighting, it produces notes of sweet tobacco and over baked raisin cookies on the retro-hale. I also get notes of interchanging oak and leather included with those last notes. On the initial light, I get no spiciness.

1 cm in: again more baked raisin cookie accompanying sweet tobacco, you can even say there is hints of black cherry.

1 inch in: it gets peppery and the strength is getting stronger with every puff. I am tasting notes of oak or cedar and leather. Basically the first third is composed of this tasting profile.

The second third in is sweet tobacco, black cherry on cedar (almost like wine), leather and pepper. By close to the end of the second third it mellows out very nicely. At this point, it's like the blend decides to come together and even out the tasting notes. I mean I can still get the taste of leather, raisin, oak but they seem to be more subtle. Yes and the cocoa aroma has come back.

By the end of the second third and into the final third the mellowing of the cigar still has deep notes but changes a little to espresso, mocha and a tad tad tad hint of chocolate. This is when the Joya de Nicaragua Antano is at it's best. Ironically, when I get to the end at about an inch and a half left, when most other cigars begin to get harsh and bitter, this retains it quality tasting notes. It was never harsh or bitter and at this point I had made up my mind that this is a great cigar, great with some roasted chicken. I rate it a 91. It is rich and deep in quality until the very last inch when I have to say goodnight.

My Uzi Weighs A Ton Cigar Review

Nice name for a cigar; like it's niche name of a brand it comes from: "Subculture Studios" a division of Drew Estate in conjunction with Joya de Nicaragua. The cigar is dubbed this for I guess honoring the subculture of art and music. I've smoked a few Joya de Nicaragua cigars but only recently heard of Drew Estate for their La Privida due to Undercrown, No. 9 and their flavored brands like Java. If not for both their reputation, I would think it's a gimmicky class blend like the Cuban Honey cigars. Looking at the band, which I don't base a cigars quality by, it is designed like an ad for a concert billboard... for Public Enemy No. 1...

Play: My Uzi Weighs A Ton by Public Enemy No. 1...when I light this cigar up. Whether the cigar is named after the song or as I have read named Uzi and then when the cabinet was picked up, it weighed a ton, thereafter it was branded My Uzi Weighs A Ton. Whatever, I like the name, marketing, producers and the cigar.

 

Vitola: Toro (6" x 60RG)
Price: $6-$9+ stick

Wrapper: San Andres (Maduro)
Binder: Ecuadorian version of Connecticut
Filler: Brazilian Mata Fina and Nicaraguan

Aged in Humidor: Read Below

This cigar has only been sitting in my humidor for 4 months in it's clear cellophane cover. When I take it out, I get a good whiff of strong dark chocolate and brownie scents. The cold draw is of the same but comes with an extra spice like an off version of turmeric. On examining the one I smoked to find it is packed tight, solid (no soft spots), like a log and with no construction flaws except for a couple of tiny apostrophe sized scratches. The veins are lightly present on the noticeable leaf like wrapper: dark brown with a reddish hew and black shading. I like how this fat 6" x 60 feels in my hands (total opposite of a Corona in 42RG). It lights very easy unlike some other cigars I have come across. The draw is right in the middle. Notes on the side of a bit of flavored coffee hit me, like French or South Asian bean, on the initial draw. One centimeter in is espresso in the draw. That slightly offbeat coffee note is not rich at all; you will get a repeat of that last statement. After mostly coffee and espresso, the end of the first third brings a short spell of ammonia which never appears again. ---The fumes are not light nor overwhelming ---The ash ripples of grey and waves of black ---At one inch in it holds of a solid cone ---Part of the wrapper, at this point, has a particle hanging but burns even by itself right away The beginning of the first inch is of dark cocoa and then dark chocolate. The retrohale does not hit me with much spice or kick like some other cigars but does retain that dark chocolate taste. ---At one and a half inch, the ash retains the ripple of black and grey but now has a tone of brownish, rust like color ---The ash limps sideways ---Two inches in the ash falls Two inches in is a creamy tobacco (not the bitter kind) with dark coffee bean in the retrohale. As I do most cigars, I put it close to my nose every once in a while as it burns for it's aroma: again just like the retrohale: creamy tobacco and dark coffee. The beginning of the second third gets a light cocoa aroma. As I am smoking this I am waiting for my order of food. I am smoking this outside a bench of a smokehouse. The cigar pairs okay with a light beer but not BBQ. I think it pairs well with a Frappuccino with bits of chocolate inside, which I grab later and am pretty much up to the final third. That's right this cigar burns at a good two and half plus hour pace. At one point it was dying out after leaving it for a bit over five minutes and it only took a few puffs to come back alive. I relight anyway to get the full burn back. It comes back with a bit of caramel and a barnyard scent then that dark chocolate and creamy tobacco is back in full force. Near the last inch and a half comes a little bitterness but goes away to present a grilled meat like taste. That dark chocolate taste is still there and I am now outside a Starbucks with my Frappuccino, it pairs well with my drink. Final notes on this cigar is that I would order it again because it's a cigar I place as medium in strength. but for the price of $6-$9 a stick, I find others to be more worth while, I put this at $5 a stick. My rating of it ranks it at the bottom of my top 15 with a 89; I would love to see an enhanced blend of My Uzi. ---The burn, draw, tasting notes, ash, construction and visual appeal of this stick is excellent ---The cigar is not very aromatic, it lacks that aroma that hits your head back to relax - I have had some that by the half way point, I was almost knocked out ---The cigar is dark with only a tad of richness ---The cigar is smooth without any harshness or bitterness
---The cigar is not very complex
---Like the fumes as stated earlier, the entire cigar is not overwhelming

If you want to see the details on this stick feel free to view:

Set of Photos of the My Uzi Weighs A Ton Cigar

J'ai Obtenu Cette

"Ridin' through this world, all alone
God takes your soul, you're on your own
The crow flies straight, a perfect line,
On the devil's bed, until you die

Gotta' look this life, in the eye"

-Intro song to Sons of Anarchy


I'm a fan of the FX network's show Sons of Anarchy because I am a fan of being a bad boy and I like motorcycles. Though, logically, detrimental acts have their reaction. Those who live detrimental lifestyles have those reactions catch up with them and that lifespan is shortened. J'ai Obtenu Cette is the title for this weeks episode and it translates in French to supposedly: "I Got This". In a previous episode one member of the motorcycle club, Tig Triger, killed the daughter of a big time crime boss, Damon Pope. In retribution for the death of Damon Pope's daughter, Pope wanted Tig's head but Jax wasn't ready to give him up. So the temporary alternative, by the order of Pope, was to have one out of four motorcycle club members locked up in jail die instead, because someone had to die in revenge for his daughter's death. Opie stepped up and died. Opie is the right hand man (since childhood) of Jax Teller (current President of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Redwood Original). Whose fault was it? The one who caused the catalyst: Tig Trager or the one who ordered one of the four to die: Damon Pope. In an outlaw world someone had to pay for the death of Pope's daughter, that was Opie and someone had to pay for the death of Opie, the choice for Jax was Tig or Pope. Jax's decision was to follow and give up Tig or change the course of the game, lesson 1. The J'ai Obtenu Cette is meant for Jax's unsaid way of killing Pope, the man issuing the rules: to follow. But in real life, revenge in this savage manner, killing another person, there are more serious consequences.

"To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings of arrows or outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep,
No more, and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to: 'tis a consummation
Devouty to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep, perchance to sleep - ay, there's the rub:
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil..."

When you are young the curiosity of what will happen when you rebel against the rules and regulations of your parents, in most cases, your answer is disciplinary action or punishment. That is the same case when you are an adult, so why do adults do it? Shouldn't they have already learned from the lessons of childhood, if they were fortunate to be present? Three answers to the previous questions. The first answer is the good, morals and love are no longer there or never was. The second is since they have little or nothing to lose, since the love is not there, the end is what they embrace and their selfish view is all that matters or focused on, their actions on others do not matter. A third view is that they have no understanding of right or wrong, it's just not there. Negative actions are based on ignorance or a lack of a positive. But if you have something there, even a little love, care or morals (a conscience), (something my old pastor said:) you cannot serve two masters: walk either in the foot steps of good or suffer the consequences.

Sons of Anarchy is a mind trip of drama for those that like the bad ass life, kind of like the television show All My Children was to house wives. Sons of Anarchy has extreme violence but it is not without a good mix of scenarios or examining the consequences of a detrimental lifestyle.

A few notes from this week's episode:

---The old lady of Jax is having a moral conscience to go good for the future of their children rather than to stay with the motorcycle club, she gives him an ultimatum to go with her or stay without her. But her love for him had her act on a situation earlier which stopped her from escaping that lifestyle. It was stated in a conversation earlier in the episode between Jax and Nero Padilla (Jimmy Smits) that letters Jax are writing are for his son to read only, just like Jax's father had wrote... for him? Jax has an opposite intent than his old lady, to continue the lineage. Lesson 2, this episode showed Jax's old lady (Tara) and Clay (the mischief causing former President) getting arrested, taken out of the picture. The recently assigned Vice President (Bobby Munson) of Jax takes off his V.P. patch because Bobby doesn't like that Jax is turning out to be too much like Clay. Jax says "maybe I'm not so different". It would seem at the end of last seasons finale, the portrait was of the new leadership: Jax and old lady at the helm of the table, but at the end of this episode is of a portrait of Jax Teller and his mom (Gemma Teller, Katey Sagal). What this few second freeze frame indicates is that the Queen bee influencing the hive is not the new game changer, Tara, but with certain individuals that cause road blocks in the club out of the way, the lineage remains, Gemma.

---This character Juice is weak, how can you whimper, cry and fall to demands of anyone else (even under manipulation) if you choose to join an organization known for bad deeds, e.g. a motorcycle gang. Juice reminds me of the movie Savages where this young guy is watching over Ophelia and he feels sorry for Ophelia being kidnapped and shows her compassion. The young character in Savages is shot because "it didn't work out, you're too sensitive". Lesson 3, in the game of being a bad ass is that you do not crumple, if you enter the game of death, you should be ready to die or take what comes at you. If you feel you no longer wish to be in the game, you better take care of loose ends, and toughen it out until the window opens.

---This television show is bullshit because these are staged plots, anyone taking this show for more than it being entertaining with action, violence, drama and acted scenarios is suffering from delusions, please refer to my first paragraph. Life doesn't go as planned, period. There was a part of the show where in order for a plan to work out Tig Trager had to be caught off guard, with a gun in his hand and be turned over to Damon Pope. The show had Tig put his gun down when Jax was pointing his at Tig and screamed. But what if like a true rebel the plan didn't work out for Tig to put down the gun, instead raise it and shoot at Jax.

---Lesson 4, in the game of being Sun Tzu, sorry I mean being a bad ass, you have to be smart like Jax, conniving with your plans. Like in war, the game of being a bad ass, respect your enemies because if they don't kill you, they can teach you as much as they can hurt you, just like your friends. Just like how Gemma betrays Clay, you have to watch a few episodes to understand that Gemma and Clay were in supposed love, what happens in this episode? Gemma didn't back him no more, the new one for the Black Widow is Nero or is it her son.

---But sometimes you have to keep life interesting.


Not exact wording...

Gemma: "Do you want to be with me or not"
Nero: "I don't know if I can give you everything you need"
Gemma: "What do you think I need?"
(Something is said about love)
Gemma: "Only men need to be loved, sweetheart"
Gemma: "Women need to be wanted"

Peg Bundy, I mean Gemma is back in position of Queen (or Black Widow) of the bees, for now. First it was with Clay, but he's out, now it's her son. She also has Nero in her webs.