Cornell & Diehl -- Autumn Evening

Brand: Cornell & Diehl
Blend: Autumn Evening
Style: Aromatic
Pipe Used: Savinelli Natural
Price: $8.15/2oz.

Appearance: 8
Taste: 8
Room Note: 9
Value: 9
Overall: 9

In my continuing foray into the world of aromatics I recently placed an order for a tin of Cornell & Diehl's Autumn Evening. Billed as a Red Virginia Cavendish with a delicate maple flavor it sounded like just the thing for a crisp fall night.

Upon opening the tin I was greeted with a typical ribbon cut, black and brown tobacco. The blend was a bit drier than normal for an aromatic which was nice and it certainly had the sweet smell of maple syrup.

I packed and lit my Savinelli natural and was immediately engulfed in a wonderful cloud of smoke. The pipe required a few tampers and relights but nothing out of the ordinary and the blend smoked right down without ever once requiring a pipe cleaner swab. This was one dry aromatic and the lack of goop in the pipe was certainly appreciated.

While Autumn Evening gives off an incredible room note that smells of maple syrup and a warm campfire, the flavor is really not too cloyingly sweet. The Red Virgina Cavendish was more reminiscent of a traditional Virgina blend as the sweetness seemed to come from the tobacco leaf rather than the maple topping. There is a hint of maple there to be sure but not nearly the full on assault I feared.

Halfway through the bowl the tobacco added some additional flavors of spice that really perked things up. It was a bit peppery but tasted more like very fresh cinnamon with a hint of cloves. Maple syrup, rich Virginias, and pumpkin pie spice -- what could be better, or more fall-like, than that?

Cornell & Diehl's Autumn Evening is an incredibly satisfying aromatic. Anchored by the rich taste of well aged tobacco, the blend offers up hints of maple and spice that take the flavor profile to a whole new level. If you can, go ahead and load up a pipe, grab a book, and sit outside surrounded by the colors of changing leaves. This truly is the perfect autumn blend.

Padron 2000 Maduro

Brand: Padron
Cigar: 2000 Maduro
Shape: Robusto
Size: 5" x 50
Wrapper: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Binder: Nicaragua
Price: $5.25

Appearance: 7
Construction: 8
Taste: 7
Value: 8
Overall: 7

I picked up a Padron 2000 maduro on one of my infrequent trips to the local brick and mortar store in July and finally got around to firing it up today. This cigar featured a maduro wrapper that was a few shades lighter than is typical for that style of cigar. The wrapper also displayed the typical maduro raspiness with many tiny bumps befitting a well-aged, sun drenched leaf. There was also very fine veining and the wrapper and cap were wonderfully constructed.

The cigar cut and lit easily, burned rather quickly but evenly, and maintained a razor sharp burn line throughout. I finally got to try out my new Palio cutter and it did a perfect job. The Padron 2000 required no touch ups and was a delightfully low maintenance cigar.

Pre-light aroma was nice and rich with a very strong sweet smell almost like roses. For the first few draws the cigar was a bit too astringent but once the ash got to about a quarter of an inch it mellowed out.

There was a bit of spiciness as one would expect with a Nicaraguan puro but the maduro wrapper really tempered it well. The primary flavors were of wood smoke and burnt caramel (there's that sweetness again) and I detected none of the cocoa or coffee flavors often found in maduro cigars.

At about the halfway point I hit a patch where the flavors turned almost gag inducing and it took some steady purging to get past that point. There was probably a bit of bad leaf tucked in there somewhere but fortunately it burned out pretty quickly and the Padron 2000 resumed its normal taste.

There wasn't much complexity nor did the cigar offer up any evolving flavors as I neared the end. As I retired the nub I was left with a nice taste on my palate but I found the Padron 2000 maduro to be a little too middle of the road for me.

As a member of the bargain line from the Padron family, the 2000 maduro is an affordable way to try these wonderfully made cigars without breaking the bank. At $5.25 a stick retail it's one of the best deals going locally. I have to say that I much prefer the natural wrapped Padrons but this was in no way a bad cigar just not what I look for in a maduro.

The Inmates Have Taken Over the Asylum

As most of you know the past few weeks have been full of turmoil for the members of many of the most popular cigar forums. Fortunately all of the old moderators from Club Stogie have ventured forth and founded the brand new Cigar Asylum. Come on over and join up so we can all get back to talking about cigars, pipes, and utter nonsense again.

Mac Baren -- Vanilla Cream

Brand: Mac Baren
Blend: Vanilla Cream
Style: Aromatic
Pipe Used: Savinelli Natural
Price: $8.75/3.5oz

Appearance: 8
Taste: 7
Room Note: 9
Value: 8
Overall: 8

Mac Baren's Vanilla Cream is a nice looking ribbon cut tobacco made up of Black Cavendish and Virginias with a natural vanilla topping. The tobacco smells wonderfully of vanilla backed with the sweet richness of Virginia leaf. The blend packed easily into my Savinelli Natural and lit right up. Other than a few tampers and relights this bowl required very little TLC.

Mac Baren blends are notorious for their tongue bite and since I tend to smoke hard and fast I was a bit worried. Much to my surprise I encountered absolutely no bite or burn from the Vanilla Cream and it remained a pleasantly cool and mild smoke from start to finish.

Whereas many aromatic blends are goopy and much too sweet, this blend offers up just a hint of sweetness and produced very little in the way of pipe gurgle. The foundation of Virginas and Black Cavendish make for a fairly benign smoke with the vanilla topping adding some much needed flavor.

The room aroma is top-notch and fades away gracefully without leaving any stale tobacco smells. This makes for a classically pleasant smoke that is likely to be remarked on and enjoyed by those around you.

Sometimes you just want a mild smoke to accompany you on a walk or while reading a book and Mac Baren Vanilla Cream certainly fits that bill. It's not a complex blend but it does offer up a nice, easy smoke that's pleasing to both the nose and palate.

San Cristobal Clasico

Brand: San Cristobal
Cigar: Clasico
Shape: Robusto
Size: 5" x 50
Wrapper: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Binder: Nicaragua
Price: Gift

Appearance: 8
Construction: 9
Taste: 9
Value: 8
Overall: 9

As a big Jose "Don Pepin" Garcia fan I was excited to try my first ever San Cristobal. This was a gift from a friend and had been aged for about a year before I got it and then a further two months in my humdior. A Nicaraguan puro, the San Cristobal is yet another top drawer offering from Ashton.

The Clasico is a traditional robusto and featured a nice, dark wrapper. The appearance was excellent with a perfect triple cap and a very even wrapper. There were some subtle veins evident but nothing that would indicate any future burn issues. The cigar was at a perfect 65% rH and was nice and firm without being too hard or having any soft spots.

The cigar lit up easily and burned evenly from beginning to nub and required no touch-ups or relights of any sort even when left to its own devices for a few minutes at a time. The ash was a nice light gray and fell off at about an inch and a half due to some jostling in the ashtray.

The initial flavor featured the usual Pepin spice but it was much more subtle than in most of his other blends. The dark wrapper provided a nice toasty, earthy flavor that perfectly balanced the cigar's peppery bite. The San Cristobal maintained that flavor profile right up to the end and while this type of one dimensional flavor can be a negative in many cases I have no problem with it when that single dimension is as wonderful as this one.

While I don't usually comment on a cigar's room aroma (since they are almost by definition stinky) the San Cristobal gave off beautiful clouds of delicious smoke. As a pipe smoker I would compare it to the scent of a traditional English blend. It smelled of rich tobacco with a hint of Latakia spiciness without any cigar funkiness. What a treat.

The San Cristobal Clasico is a top-notch cigar and ranks right up there among my favorites. It was a pure pleasure to smoke and even now I find myself relishing the aftertaste.

Retailing for around $7.50 a stick, the San Cristobal falls squarely in the moderately priced camp and is well worth the slight increase from a bargain cigar. I'm also sitting on a handful of the Monumento size and it's a safe bet that they'll be smoked in the not too distant future given how much I enjoyed this cigar.