Ralph's Cigars Blog | Ralph's Cigars | Chicago, IL

Dominican, Italian design, Cuban influenced, Mexican grown and made. This is the Carloni Gold Special Edition, a boutique cigar that, like the phrase suggests, is truly international. You can see the Italian design in the band and plastic sleeve- it looks old-fashioned. Classic, you could say. A small, simply designed gold and red band that states the name and nothing else, I could see an old school Vegas mobster chewing on the end of it as he lost a back-room game of poker. There's a Habano Claro wrapper, the exact shade of a brown paper bag with thin veining and an invisible seam. It looks and feels well constructed. Information online is sparse about this cigar, so I’m excited to dive right in. I actually cannot find what the binder is, and all I know about the filler is that it's Dominican grown in Mexico. 

Today I am smoking the Asylum 867. It’s a line of cigars that at one point was produced by Deadwood, the same company that partnered with Drew Estate to make famous sweet tips like the Fat-Bottom Betty, Crazy Jane, and others. There are three different flavors- Midnight Oil, Zero, and Auntie, in descending size and flavor intensity. While they are all Honduran Puros, it is the added flavor that changes- flavor added by infusing the cigars in flavored liquid, much like how we do it here at Ralph’s Cigars. I am personally a big fan of the aromatic infusion method, as I believe it gives a more natural taste to flavored cigars.

Spring is a time for renewal, and we take that seriously here at Ralph’s Cigars. That’s why we have a whole new haul of cigars that we are really excited about. A new batch of Asylum 867’s, Sancho Panza’s, Macanudos- but I’ve always had a soft spot for CAO, and as such I was really excited for their new line of Fasa cigars. We have the Noche and the Sol in two different sizes, so today I grabbed the Sol in a Toro and lit it up with a dry cedar stick and a cup of coffee.