Apologies if you haven't heard from my gregarious ass in a hot minute.
I've been cleaning up from the most powerful typhoon in recorded history in Japan, while simultaneously battling a bitch of a sinus infection.
Apparently, while I was away, the cats back at Klaro HQ decided to bring in a whole slew of fresh cigars and restock a few new crowd faves that sold out almost instantly. Being that we love sourcing really rare smokes, a hefty portion of these blends are either of the obscure variety or extremely rare and/or of upper echelon status.
That said, there are plenty of other new faces in the Klaro portfolio outside of today's list, so if you want to see what else is new, merely follow these steps:
1. Tap or hover over the "BUY CIGARS" tab on the Klaro website.2. Select "All Cigars" from the dropdown menu that appears.
3. Change the "Sort By:" view tab to "Date, New to Old" on the corner of the portfolio page.
4. Choose some stogies from what you see and drop 'em in your cart.
Webpage navigation tutorial out of the way, it's time to discuss some of the sticks I personally am looking forward to smoking and reviewing along with you. Let's get to it, shall we?
The Klaro 3-Pack by Lovely Cigars
[Buy 5-Pack]
Hitting hard with a 1–2–3 punch of haymakers, comes the first bundle ever released from the cats over at Lovely Cigars. Selected for Klaro by the Lovely crew, this pack contains the Elegante X2, which was the winner of our "Surprise Stogie of the Show" award at PCA 2023, and two other brand-new blends from the Green Bay-based boutique brand.
On either side of this fantastic flagship, you will discover two very different-looking cigars, both of which bear the name "Bay City." Apparently, this is the old nickname for the city of Green Bay, where Lovely Cigars was first founded in the late 1800s. This pack contains both the maduro and the Connecticut Shade versions of this all-new line, making for an outstanding sampler pack for those who have yet to try anything from this boutique cigar brand.
Lovely Cigars No. 162
[Buy 5-Pack]
Just like all the other offerings above from Lovely Cigars, the No. 162 pays homage to the city of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and its rich tobacco-rolling roots. In this case, the blend is a tip of the hat to the old cigar rollers union of Green Bay from yesteryear, which was registered and widely recognized as the "Local 162." As for the cigar itself, this marks Lovely's first stab at creating a cigar with a Sumatran wrapper and doubles down with a Sumatran binder that holds a fatty bunch of Nicaraguan long-filler in place.
Esteban Carreras Devil's Hand Maduro
[Buy 5-Pack]
Full-bodied, but medium-strength, this Ecuadorian-grown corojo maduro features a wrapper that was aged for two full years, which is not something this type of tobacco strain typically tolerates. Compared to the regular version we stock, this darker alternative takes a more malty, molasses-like approach to flavors and aromatics, due primarily to to that maduro wrapper and its extended fermentation. Hands down, one of the more unique blends we have opted to stock in recent memory and one that I cannot wait to smoke and review.
La Aurora Hors D'Age 2023
[Buy 5-Pack]
For those looking for a fresh ultra-premium cigar option with loads of age, Hors D'Age from La Aurora will surely appeal. According to the manufacturer, every single leaf in this blend has been aged for no fewer than 12 years, and that doesn't even include aging room time! Inside, you will find long-fillers hailing from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Colombia form the core, with a duo of Ecuadorian binder and wrapper leaves trussing it all up. Together, with a gorgeous Sumatran wrapper from Ecuador, this blend creates notes of black pepper, hardwoods, and hints of cinnamon, along with the taste of tree nuts and mild coffee.
La Aurora Puro Vintage 2009
[Buy 5-Pack]
In case that last option didn't tootle your horn, we now stock Puro Vintage 2009 from La Aurora, at least in extremely limited quantities. This annual limited release has been around since 2008, and to this day remains one of the company's most sought-after smokes. While the year on the label represents the tobacco leaves harvested from that specific year, all of which La Aurora tells us are the most prized primings, the blend itself does change with each year's release. For the 2009 vintage, you get an Ecuadorian wrapper, a Brazilian binder, and fillers from the Dominican, Nicaragua, and Brazil. This creates a medium-strength cigar with a matching amount of body, that features a dark undertone of flavors found only in tobaccos harvested deep within the rainforest.
German Engineered Cigars (GEC)
[Buy 5-Pack]
La Palina Red Label
[Buy 5-Pack]
Fratello Arlequín Connecticut
[Buy 5-Pack]
EP Carrillo Pledge of Allegiance 2024
[Buy 5-Pack]
Artesano del Tobacco El Pulpo "The Fry"
[Buy 5-Pack]
Equally intense in flavor, but far smaller and more mocha and cedar-centric, comes The Fry by Artesano del Tobacco. Named after a baby octopus, this stubby 4x48 firecracker is an appropriately titled smoke for the mini version of the boutique brand's award-winning El Pulpo blend, which in Spanish means "the octopus." While this little guy does rely upon the same tobacco blend as its 94-rated larger sibling, the San Andrés maduro wrapper on its exterior receives a different fermentation process for a unique spin on an already outstanding cigar.
Artista Core Line
[Buy 5-Pack]
Jake Wyatt Icarus
