Switching it up a bit. One of the requests we received awhile back when I asked how we could make The Stogie Review better was to offer quick, concise, picture and audio only reviews. I guess some folks think I don’t have a TV friendly face…in our ever growing attempt to give you (our readers, viewers and now listeners) what you want I bring you The Stogie Sampler feature to The Stogie Review. Don’t worry, I’m not abandoning video reviews (its our money maker…well if we made any money it would be) but this was kind of fun and remarkably convienent and easy to do using my iPhone, microphone and a digital recorder.
With that lets kick this thing off with the newest staple to my humidor, the Serie JJ Maduro by Don Pepin Garcia. Pepin cigars are starting to enter the Rocky Patel arena for me. By that I mean, there doesn’t seem to be any cigar that Pepin gets his hands on that I don’t like.
As for as I know, the Serie JJ Maduro is only the second Pepin cigar to be offered in a Maduro wrapper (the other being the 601 Maduro). This is the belicoso size coming to you at 5 3/4 inches long with a 52 ring gauge. The Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan Corojo filler are the same components you will find in the natural version of the Serie JJ but with a Broadleaf Maduro wrapper.
Construction was great. With some of the other Pepin lines I’ve always experienced some kind of uneven burn issue but not this time. Construcion was spot on with a even draw. On the flavor profile side you have a predominant woodsy/cedar flavor with rich subtle coffee notes and a dark chocolate like finish.
I made the mistake of ordering 5 packs to try them out and by the time I went to pull the trigger on a box of the Serie JJ Maduro, guess what? They were sold out. So don’t make the same mistake I made…pull the trigger on a box (or two) and don’t screw around with 5 packs.
Jerry – Nice feature for those who are on the run and don’t have the time to sit and watch. Next time I’d use the digital SLR camera you got your wife for the pics and not your iPhone. What is it a 1MP camera on the iPhone?
Nice review, Jerry. I haven’t had the maduro in this line yet. I’ll have to pick some up.
Sir yes sir!
I love CigarCommand…such a kick ass name.
I really need to smoke a few more of the Pepin lines. The only one I’ve had is the Blue Label. Mainly I’ve smoked some of his blends he makes for other people.
great idea J! B-Noob(Brian) should get on this track instead of those empthy promises of video reviews! 😉
Wait one minute, Jerry has an iPhone, are you kidding me! Damn it. I have been putting it off, but looks like that will change!
Hey c’mon david23! I take great pride in my empty promises. If I didn’t have empty promises, I’d have no promises at all! 😉
I’ll have to look into this thing they call “audio”… It’s kind of a shame I can’t seem to get the audio playing!
I’ve taken the Mac leap…iPhone one day, MacBook the next.
Vic – the iPhone has a 2MP cam…it be awesome if it did video and/or had a voice/memo recording feature but who knows what updates Apple has planned for the iPhone in future firmware releases.
Firefox Users – It seems you have to have a Quicktime plug-in to get the file to play. Its in .m4a format.
I thought this was pretty cool.
quick info on the base flavor is what i look for.
thanks, jerry!
Southern MD Boy! Nice review!
Couldn’t get the audio to work from my work site. Will try it when I get home. Great idea though! I don’t think it was your face they were trying to avoid, just trying to get that soothing voice where video isn’t always available!
The DPG Black label is my goto gar but the Serie JJ is definitely special. In my experience the new boxes are a little young and need a few months to even out. Being a fan of broadleaf maduro, I just have to give this thing a try. So you suggest a bypass on the 5ver and right to a box right? Any aging suggestions?
I’ve heard from a from a few people who use Firefox that they were having problems before installing some quicktime plugin. I wonder what exactly the problem is…I may have to offer a download link as well as the streamed one.
As far as aging goes…I’m the worst person to ask. I don’t have that kind of discipline to let yummy cigars like these just sit there and go unsmoked.
Thanks, Jerry. I think it’s a kick-ass name too.
As for the aging thing, you’ll just have to get enough other stuff you like into the rotation so that by the time you make it back to these, they’ve got some time on them. Good luck with that, though…I’ve yet to succeed.
I hate Quicktime now. They make you load the complete iTunes anymore. 🙁
Jerry,
.
SInce you’re on the Mac now and have iTunes installed, you can do the following:
Go into iTunes preferences and under Advanced tab select Importing tab and change import using AAC encoder to MP3 encoder. Then under then main menus, Advanced, select Convert Selection to MP3. It will leave the original and make an MP3 version.
mp3 will work for everybody and since quality issue is not a top one in this case, I think it will be easier for anti-Apple crowd to swallow.
Jerry, I like the review & the quick format , for a quick review “on the go”. I think it could be useful to do a follow up review on a cigar that Walt or Brian or yourself may have reviewed in the past. The pictures were good, but I like Brian’s “cigar in motion” format and I think that would work well with the audio. I think that if you make the pics smaller, the pic quality would be better as well. Thanks for all your hard work, guys — I have to get back to Halo3.
Jerry:
Took the plunge and ordered a box of Belicoso.
They still have a box of Sublime if your interested.
Cigar Place
lucky7 – Did you order from Atlantic?
CigarCommand – I’m not sure I’ll be able to accomplish that mission but will give it the old Air Force try (Air Force brat here).
Daniel – Not on a Mac yet…its in Shanghai CN right now and hopefully will be here next week. I tried using an mp3 at first but couldn’t figure out how to get rid of the “chipmunk” effect where it plays a x2 speed.
Kevin M. – “Stogie On The Go” maybe a better name than “Stogie Sampler”. Maybe I’ll let the Fan Forum decide. I agree, smaller pics.
I appreciate the great feedback and ideas everyone! All of you are so much more creative than I am.
I notice you guys did some house cleaning…can I suggest getting rid of the spotback rating thing as well as the one on the sidebar? I think it slows things down when it loads.
@Jerry
Actually, I ordered from Cigar Place. Just click the link in my previous comment.
By the way, the audio worked great from home. Nice touch!
Damn, these look good! I gotta try to locate a few to try… nice review Jerry.
BTW… I love the stogie sampler idea! keep’em coming J
I almost picked up some of these to review tonight, but I decided the Pepin stuff is all over the blogs. I’ve picked up a couple GrayCliffs instead.
lucky7 – You could’ve gotten an even better price by calling Atlantic (if they are in stock).
Cigar Jack – You are so right. Its hard to go to any of the blogs and not see a Pepin review. Mostly since his hot hand is in so many different brands.
I missed this review Jerry. Man you guys have a lot of information of here. I ordered a 10 pack, smoked 7 and was borred by every one of them. Then I traded my last 3 for the naturals, and was still underwhelmed.
Each there own right? Still looking for a Pepin that compliments my tastes.
I love the Don Pepin Garcia JJ Maduro it’s a keeper…great review! ; )
Thanks for the review–I’ll have to try some of those.