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Warped Chinchalle
Warped Chinchalle

Welcome back Ruffians! It’s been a bit since I sent a review, so I’m back with another new one for you. Today we’ll tackle the Warped Chinchalle. I’ve had several Warped cigars produced at the Aganorsa factory in Nicaragua but this is one of the first cigars ever released from Tabacalerala La Isla. The factory was opened up in the Dominican Republic by Hostos Fernandez Quesada. The name Chinchalle is a slang term used for smaller cigar factories in the Dominican. Warped was created in 2007 by Kyle Gellis and started a partnership with El Titan de Bronze to manufacture his line. He considers all of his blends to be a so-called, “Cuban Inspired” fashion. O.K. That’s enough fluff, let’s get into the cigar. 

Warped Chinchalle 

The Warped Chinchalle is only offered in a single 5×50 Robusto size. It has an Ecuadorian Habano 2000 wrapper over a Dominican HVA Binder and Dominican fillers. It was released on September 9, 2021, with an MSRP of $12.50 a stick. The cigar is packed super tightly and has a number of really dark veins throughout. The cold draw is a bit loose with notes of sweetgrass and leather. I decided to light my cigar with a cedar spill today and cut with my Colibri V-Cut. 

The start of the cigar has a lot of deep earth with smoldering cedar. The retrohale is creamy with a slight bit of leather. Burnt marshmallow sweetness shows up towards the end of the first third. The cigar has a decent burn and good draw. I would say it is mild to medium in strength and mild in flavor. 

The second third is a spitting image of the first. Earth and cedar are still at the forefront. The retrohale has some deep wood and slight red pepper spice. Some dried fruit and grass sneak their way in, but not enough to really hang around. It is still mild to medium in both flavor and strength. 

Going into the last third, still more of the same. Nothing in the way of transitions that really sticks out. Still lots of cedar and earth. Towards the end, a metallic flavor starts to take over. I tried to purge it, but the flavor still is overpowering, so it’s time to let it go. The cigar ends at about the medium range in both flavor and strength. 

Well, this cigar was interesting, to say the least. It was not at all what I expected. I had to relight it about 15 times and the draw seemed to get loose and tight in different spots throughout the cigar. It had some decent flavor but few and far between to be honest. It was pretty much the same flavors throughout the cigar and when it did transition to something good, it didn’t last long and was quickly overpowered again by the cedar. 

With the amount of relights, lack of transitions, and metallic flavor towards the end, I can’t see buying a box of these. The almost $13 price point would suggest a higher quality cigar. T Money Score: 2.5/5 Try Single. If you’re a fan of Warped, this is definitely worth a shot. I only had one to try, so I might have had a different experience with another stick. The ones from TABSA seem to be quite better in my opinion. Go grab a couple, give one to a friend and try it for yourselves. You may find something that grabs your attention more than what I experienced. Until next time, smoke well and do something nice for someone! 

Wrapper –  Ecuadorian Habano

Binder – Dominican

Filler – Dominican

Website: www.warpedcigars.com

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 pints.

  • Travis Peterson AKA T Money is the Co-Captain of the Arizona/New Mexico Chapter of Distinguished Ruffians. He started his cigar journey in 2007 and hasn’t looked back. Outside of cigars he has a passion for brewing beer, playing guitar, bowling and golf. He is also a self proclaimed grilling and smoking expert. 

Cohiba Serie M
Cohiba Serie M

We, as cigar enthusiasts, will think of Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Honduras, and so on when it comes to discovering where a particular cigar originates from but, what about the USA? Well, here we have a cigar “Serie M” by Cohiba Cigars that is made right here in the USA; constructed at the El Titan de Bronze Factory in Miami Florida to be exact. General Cigar announced the limited edition project earlier in the year 2021. 

Some of you may know the history of Cohiba others may not. The Cohiba brand has its origins in Cuba going back to 1968. The U.S. version of the brand is owned by Scandinavian Tobacco Group and has been in the U.S. since 1981. For the most part, the U.S. version has come out of General Cigar’s Dominican factory, but for the past few years, the Cohiba band has been produced by other factories owned by General Cigars including Honduras (Cohiba Royale), Nicaragua (Cohiba Nicaragua), and now the United States (Cohiba serie M). 

The Cohiba Serie M is a Nicaraguan forward blend. Nicaraguan tobacco makes up the wrapper, binder, and filler. The wrapper is a Nicaraguan Corojo, which marks the fist time that leaf has been used on Cohiba cigar. There is a double binder with both leaves from Nicaragua. The fillers contain leaves from two regions of Nicaragua (Jalapa and Esteli) and also contain some Domincan Piloto Cubano tobacco. Learning about the origin of this cigar I’m ready to light up and get into my review! 

Having a few cold draws to start this process I’m picking up some natural tobacco notes with some cedar and citrus. Very earthy which kind of dried my mouth out a little. Had a couple sips of water to get my palate ready and here I go with the light up. 

The first third of the Cohiba Serie M kicked off with notes of cedar, earth, bread, honey-citrus, and baker’s spice. Early on, the cedar and citrus notes moved to the forefront. The cedar soon became the sole primary note. The citrus settled into the background, joining the earth and baker’s spice. There were times when the earth notes popped into the forefront. A slight red pepper note emerged late while I entered the second third. 

As I continue on to the second third of the Cohiba Serie M cedar notes maintained on my palate with an increase of red pepper and earth notes. The honey-citrus notes slowly receded during this phase. By the midway point, the earth notes took over as the primary flavor with some coffee joining the party, pushing the cedar into the background with the red pepper and baker’s spice. 

Smoking right into the final third the red pepper and earthy notes were joined by cocoa powder; almost a malty taste and leather right down to the end. 

I was certainly impressed with the overall burn despite the fact that I have heard that other individuals who have tried this cigar had construction (wrapper cracking) and burn issues. The Cohiba Serie M cigar is a medium to a light medium+. This cigar only comes in a 6×52 toro size with an msrp of $29.99 and/or box of 10 for $299.90. It is most certainly one to try despite the price; I will rate this cigar a 4.5 out of 5. Since this Cohiba Serie M was made in the US as mentioned in the beginning of this review it is a “Limited Cigar” so if you are able to find them certainly purchase at least one to smoke and see what YOU come up with for your own review! Enjoy!

Wrapper –  Nicaraguan

Binder – Nicaraguan

Filler – Dominican & Nicaraguan

Website: www.cohiba.com

Rating: 4.0 out of 5 pints.

Liga Privada Dirty Rat
Liga Privada Dirty Rat

Good day, Distinguished Ruffian family. T Money back for another cigar review, just for your reading pleasure. This is a well-known cigar but has become kind of a unicorn due to availability and after-market pricing. I’m sure you all know the name and brand. As legend has it, Steve Saka created this cigar to have with his espresso while in Nicaragua. He has said to have over 50 boxes in his humidor and won’t smoke any that were made after his departure from Drew Estate. He even created the Sobremesa Short Churchill to replace this cigar so he could hoard his precious stash. I’m talking of course about the Liga Privada Unico Series Dirty Rat.

This has been a go-to early morning smoke for me, but they are hard to come by. This cigar has been aging since 2012. I have only a few left and wanted to get my notes down before I ran out. When I first started smoking cigars, finding the Unico Series on the shelves, was like finding the Holy Grail. The first one I had was the Feral Flying Pig. I’ve since stashed a couple of boxes of those away for a rainy day. The L40 was the next one I tried and being a hater of Lanceros, it didn’t do much for me. Then, this one came along. The corona size is also one that I had to grow to love and this is the one that sealed the deal for me. So without further ado, let’s get into it. It is a 5×44 Corona that comes with the same wrapper that is on the T-52. If you like the T-52, you’ll love this cigar. It has a Brazilian binder with Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers. It comes in a box of 12 with an MSRP of $12, but as you know, there is a huge markup on these hard-to-find Ligas. I bought this box from Jerry’s Cigars in Tucson, back in 2012. I cut it with the trusty Palio and fired it up with the DuPont DeFi Xtreme.

Liga Privada Unico Series Dirty Rat

Starting off, the smoke output is absolutely crazy, as with all Liga Privada cigars. There is a TON of earth right off the bat. Slight amount of pepper on the retrohale, but nothing crazy. Getting further in, it has some semi-sweet chocolate coming to the forefront. The sweetness and the earth just meld really well together. The strength and body are at the lower end of medium as I reach the second third.

The second third starts to really show that semi-sweet chocolate flavor. Earth is now barely hanging on, but it is still noticeable. The retrohale is still about the same with some slight spice with a bit of cherry wood. I had a tunnel starting and had to let it go out. After letting it go out and a relight, it seemed to fix itself. It’s tough with these corona-sized cigars to fix a tunnel, but this didn’t have a problem. Strength and body are about medium for both.

Finishing up the last third, there isn’t a whole lot of change. A bit more bite on the retrohale, but that is to be expected with the smaller ring gauge. Semi-sweet chocolate,

dark earth, and a touch of leather round out the cigar. I nubbed it at about the hour and 20-minute mark.

Overall, I think the age really smoothed out this blend and melded the flavors together. I remember there being much more transitions when I first smoked the cigar. This one was crazy smooth and even the retrohale didn’t make me sneeze or eyes water as I remember the younger versions doing. I haven’t been able to find any lately, so I have no frame of comparison, other than my original notes. If you like a corona size cigar and want something with coffee in the morning, this is your go-to. Great burn, only a small issue with the tunnel and huge smoke output.

T Money score: 4/5 rebuy box. If you can find these at, or close to MSRP, grab them. You definitely won’t be disappointed.

Wrapper –  Connecticut Broadleaf

Binder – Brazilian Mata Fina

Filler – Nicaraguan & Honduran

Website: www.drewestate.com

Rating: 4.0 out of 5 pints.

  • Travis Peterson AKA T Money is the Co-Captain of the Arizona/New Mexico Chapter of Distinguished Ruffians. He started his cigar journey in 2007 and hasn’t looked back. Outside of cigars he has a passion for brewing beer, playing guitar, bowling and golf. He is also a self proclaimed grilling and smoking expert.