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Infinity Ammunition

img_9520Just imagine, you’ve just finished building your first two AR-15’s. You set up a day to finally throw a little lead down range at one of the nicest shooting ranges in the area, pay your fee, get your targets and ppe (personal protective equipment) and head to your lanes. All the months of acquiring gun parts, finding deals, and putting it all together comes down to this moment…lock and load, the range line is hot! BANG! That first round goes off flawlessly and just feels sexy, BANG! The second round gives ya a warm and fuzzy in the trousers. Everything is going great and then CLICK… fear comes over you, you got a squib load.

Let’s rewind a month or so prior to that day, to when I got myself 500 rounds of 55 grain .223 ammo from a little company out of Melbourne, FL called Infinity Ammunition. I had found them thru the explore page on Instagram (aint technology great?) and decided to give them a whirl, cause they have some awesome prices. After thoroughly going over my rifles to ensure that it wasn’t a problem with them, the range officer, my highly knowledgeable gun sensei buddy, and myself determined that it was the ammo that was the problem. Needless to say, after spending close to 200 bucks on ammo, I was a little… let down let’s say. The next day I shot them an email about what happened and explained that although it was inconvenient, I understood manufacturing processes and that when you’re pumping out thousands of rounds of ammo per day, there’s a chance you could run across a bad batch due to a multitude of things. Here’s where the impressive part happens, THE NEXT DAY I received a phone call from the CEO of the company apologizing for the mishap and assuring me that it would definitely be made right one way or the other. I decided to send them back the ammo (along with the bad loads I had identified), and like the stand-up company they are, they paid for return shipping. Id estimate a week went by, when the ups man came knocking at my door, it was my new batch of ammo! Infinity’s CEO contacted me again to let me know that it in fact was a batch issue that they had contained, and that they threw in a little extra for the inconvenience. I don’t know about y’all, but that’s top-notch service to me, In a time where most customer service is nonexistent in most companies, they stood out, admitted the fault, and moved forward amicably.

I went to my local indoor range just to put a couple mags worth to the test, ZERO problems. I got to say, I was thoroughly impressed with Infinity Ammunition, and it feels good to support a smaller, in state and fairly local business. They offer round counts of anywhere from 50 up to 10000 ( subject to availability ) and calibers of 9mm, .40, and .45 in pistol and .223 & .300 blackout in rifle, along with reloading supplies and brass, and remanufactured ammunition. They ship thru UPS as well. So if you just so happen to be looking for quality ammo at a very reasonable price, head over to Infinityammo.com and do some looking around, guaranteed you’ll like what you see.

Quality: 4 pints out of 5

Price: Varies

Website:  www.Infinityammo.com

 

Montecristo Relentless Toro

IMG_8594I’ve never been a big fan of Montecristio in general, nothing about their quality or construction because it’s always been tiptop, I just tend to like a different pallet of flavors then they have offered. The Relentless was made exclusively for Famous Smoke Shop in PA. and I decided to give it a go. Even though I had I have had these previous experiences I kept an open mind when trying the Relentless.

At first look the cigar is well constructed with tight seams, minimal veining and a clean triple cap. While feeling along the body it is spongy and giving with light resistance, no apparent bulges and only one small spot that could have been filled a little better but this was minimal and confined to only one of the three I smoked. (Side note: Even with this small “dead spot” it did not affect the way the cigar smoked or burned.)IMG_8477

The overall smell was the usual leather and cedar notes that are to be expected from any well kept cigar but traces of dried fruit and a light brew coffee were also present and from the foot a sugar and spice or almost cinnamon toast aroma could be noticed.

The cap cut clean and caused no harm to the construction of the cigar and the light was easily done with one match. The burn started even and the draw was easy but not loose. It provided a pleasant amount of smoke that was medium bodied with a slight grittiness on the tongue.

The 1st third of the cigar had a mild fresh baked bread and hay flavor, a bit lighter of a taste than I prefer but enjoyable non the less. The burn stayed even, the ash was tight, light grey in color and held to stick without signs of wanting to fall off.

In the 2nd third the flavor began to change and it became slightly bitter with a complex multi flavor of black coffee and roasted nuts with the fresh bread flavor lingering in the background. It still has a constant even burn and the ash held on until I tapped it off at around 1.5”

IMG_8478In the final third the flavors mellow out and the coffee becomes more subdued and a pepper and spice taste take over with a surprising touch of cinnamon on the finish. The burn remained even throughout the entire smoke and the changing flavors made this an enjoyable smoke.

If your looking for a good light to medium body cigar this is the one for you. If you like heavier flavor cigars I would recommend this as a morning or early afternoon smoke. It would also be a good choice for new smokers since it wouldn’t be overwhelming in flavor but would give the opportunity to experience how a cigar changes as you smoke it. It could also be a great stick for the golf course with it’s nearly two hour smoke time. Take I trip over to Famous Smoke and pick some up!

Strength: Medium

Shape: Toro

Size: 6 x 54

Country: Dominican Republic

Wrapper Color: Natural

Wrapper Origin: Ecuadorian

Wrapper Leaf: Connecticut Shade

Website: Famous-smoke.com

Price: $41.99 for a 5 pack or $82.99 for a box of ten

Rating: 4 out of 5 pints.

HERRERA ESTELI TORO ESPECIAL

IMG_7955Knowing that Willy Herrera was making this cigar and it was being made in a more traditional Cuban style I was excited to try it. I did a little bit of investigating before the package arrived to know what I would be getting into. All of the Herrera Estelis are rolled in the entubado style with a triple cap. This is the bunching technique, which rolls each filler leaf into itself, almost like a small scroll. Each individually “scrolled” leaf is then placed together to form the bunch. This skillful rolling technique creates a more firmly packed cigar, which allows air to travel between all of the leaves, carrying more aromatics/flavors to the palate. Entubado rolling is the most difficult and complex bunching method and is therefore rarely employed in large-scale manufacturing. (Thank you T.U. for providing a well-explained definition). After having several of these this is what I found.

The cigar is covered in an Ecuadorian wrapper that is light milk chocolate in color. The veining is minimal and the seams are tight and is toped off with a classic Cuban style simple band. The over all feel of the body is giving to the touch but obviously well constructed with no noticeable dead spots. The smell from the body is mild and is bread like with notes of coffee. From the foot it is a bit stringer and has the smells of licorice, aged leather and sugared ginger.

The cap cut easily and with no distress to the construction. Lighting was easily done with two matches and the initial draws provided good amounts of medium weighted smoke. The first third of the cigar burned evenly with the ash holding tight for up to almost an inch before asking to be knocked off. The flavor is a little sweet with a bit of pepper as well as the ginger on the back end.

The second third becomes a bit heavier with the flavor getting stronger. The sweetness begins to dissipate while the pepper and spice remains. The burn continues to be even and construction appears flawless at this point.

The last third stays close to the second third in flavor with just a bit more of the spice notes. The sweetness makes a small reappearance but is quickly gone again and covered by the spice along with a small amount of coffee flavor. The burn stayed consistent throughout the whole smoke as well as no faults in construction could be found.

Along with most items from Drew Estate I would recommend this cigar to anyone looking for a fuller bodied smoke. The build of this cigar is solid and hard to find in any other cigar available to the American market right now and the effort is clearly recognizable when smoking. Go grab a couple a let me know what you think.

On a side note Famous Smoke Shop has started a new cigar and spirits online pairing guide. Go check it out at https://www.famous-smoke.com/cigar-pairing/

 

Strength: Full

Shape: Toro

Size: 6 x 52

Country: Nicaragua

Wrapper Color: Natural

Wrapper Origin: Ecuadorian

Wrapper Leaf: Habano

Website: Famous-smoke.com

Price: $37.99 for a 5 pack or $185.99 for a box of 25

Rating: 4.8 out of 5 pints