Construction: Ashton Half Coronas have a very rough looking wrapper. The Half Corona wrapper is light golden brown in color that appeared very matte.  The small cigar has a nice firm feel to it that stays together perfectly during the smoking process.

Draw: Well Ashton, you may have surprised me with the rough looking wrapper but I knew you would make it up to me with a perfect draw. A nice slow draw will create lots of tasty smoke on the palate.

Burn: Again the Ashton reputation comes through with a great burn on this little Half Corona cigar. Unlike other smaller cigars this Ashton is capable of holding a very nice ash. On average the Ashton Half Corona only has to be ashed twice.

Taste: The Ashton Half Corona is a very consistent and pleasant cigar to smoke when time is not on your side. From start to finish you are going to get a very mellow tobacco taste with a slightly spicy finish after a creamy smoke.

The Ashton Half Corona is much like smoking a Classic and a Heritage mixed together with a touch of Cuban tobacco (for the lucky few who have had the forbidden).

Final Verdict: Don’t you like the small creamy soup before  a large meal? Or maybe that quick late night delight when you should be in bed sleeping? Of course you do – everyone does. This is the same way I look at the Ashton Half Corona.

For just $2.00 the Ashton Half Corona is a perfect cigar to start your morning with or a great quick cigar to end your evening on. They come in packages of 5 so I would suggest buying a couple of boxes. Anyone will be able to smoke these and enjoy the great Ashton cigars.

And if you didn’t know – Ashton is full of great people who not only support our cigar community but they really, really like to have fun. So Ashton and I were brainstorming on what we could do and a few things came to mind (in no particular order):

We need to make sure actual cigar smokers win these sticks and not random people who come across the site (or like free stuff).

It has to be something fun that everyone can easily do.

Something that incorporates Ashton (since they are giving away the cigars).

We wanted to REALLY motivate our fellow cigar community.

Okay, there was a lot more stuff we discussed but there is no need to bore you with the details.

So here we go:
Take a picture of you smoking an Ashton and you could win a box of Ashton Cigars.

That’s right folks. No sampler, no 5 pack, nothing that you can burn through in a single day.

We are giving away 1 FULL BOX OF ASHTON CIGARS.

This is how you win:
Take a picture of yourself (or someone you know) smoking a cigar, any cigar, that Ashton makes.
Submit the picture to puffingcigars.com to be posted.
Ashton, us at puffingcigars.com, and our Readers (based on comments) will decide who wins.

How to submit your picture(s):
Send your picture or pictures to boss@puffingcigars.com.

Rules:
We are not going to put limitations on what kind of picture you have to submit It can be a cell picture or a full blown photo shoot. You can 1 person, 2 people, or 1000 people (have fun organizing that). You can make it serious, artistic, funny, or sexy – whatever you think will capture our attention. You can submit as many pictures as you want. The cigar in the picture must be an Ashton product.

Bookmark this page as the pictures will be posted here.

That’s it. Have fun and good luck!

In my long history of smoking cigars I will never forget my first Ashton Cabinet. It was my first foray into a higher priced stick, and boy what an entrance into the next tier! As a cigar novice, one often wonders what sets apart a five dollar stick, and a ten dollar stick, and at the time I was one, but after that day I knew.

From the website: “The Ashton Cabinet is the “White Burgundy” of cigars. “White Burgundy” gets its rich complex taste from the soil and aging of the grape in French oak barrels. The Cabinet’s 4 to 5 year old Dominican filler blend has a rich, complex and well rounded taste. The extraordinary Connecticut shade wrapper is aged for an extra year and has an elegant palamino color resulting in a smooth and creamy flavor. The Ashton Cabinet includes no less than six different tobaccos and ends with a “big finish.” Seven years pass from seedling to finished cigar before Ashton Cabinet is brought to fruition and presented for your smoking pleasure.”

Construction: The Ashton Cabinet number 6 is a blend steeped in tradition and pride. It is one of the main arsenal of the Ashton line, and it reflects the artisan tobacconists’ love for developing a great cigar. Each cabinet has a beautiful Connecticut shade wrapper of a golden hue, nestled within its binder is no less than six different blends of fine tobacco. Ashton understands patience is a virtue, and any great product worth producing takes time to get to its ultimate fruition. The cigar is from seed to finish a seven year product. The cap is of a solid design and can easily be punched or cut, I would recommend a punch.

Draw: Simply put the draw is an effortless draw that pulls out voluminous amounts of smoke at every delightful inhalation.

Burn: The burn is another testament to the craftsmanship of the Ashton Cabinet. It is one of the most evenly burned cigars that I have ever done. In all my many occurrences of smoking the Ashton Cabinet, I have never had a bad burning stick. The ash is a solid grey and will continue to build until you are ready to dust it off.

Flavor: I’ve always appreciated the unique taste of the Ashton Cabinet. It is a type of taste that reminds one of wood, and campfire overtones. The following descriptor is not the most erudite in saying that it is toasty, but its certainly more apt to describe the Ashton Cabinet as a flavorful cigar that reminds one of eating a lightly singed smores marshmallow. If your not a fan of a lightly singed marshmallow, then this stick might not be for you, but if you are, than this cigar is a wonderful treat all the way through.

Overall Opinion: The Ashton is a wonderfully crafted mid-range smoke. It is a mild treat, that has a wonderful even burn and an easy draw. It is close to the super premium range in craftsmanship and taste, without the often heavy price tag. So if you are looking for a wonderful stick in the ten dollar price range, then the Ashton Cabinet reigns king in this category. Mark Twain often waxed eloquent on how the Mississippi River would bring him back to his brightest and most fond memories, to me the Ashton Cabinet will always stand out as a smoke that represents the artisan craftsmanship that makes cigar smoking such a joy and pleasure to me.

Construction: Dark milk chocolate in color with a triple cap.  Some small veins were spread over the wrapper. Maybe 1 or 2 long running veins that I was able to feel with my hand. Tight wrap with no soft spots.

Draw: La Aroma de Cuba Edicion Especial has a medium draw needing a little work to get smoke. Cutting the Ashton cigar opened up the draw and made it perfect.

Burn: La Aroma de Cuba Edicion Especial has a even burn for the entire smoke, typical of Ashton. Some points of the Don Pepin creation may seem a bit jagged but no touch ups needed.  Ashton solid white ash. Great producer of smoke that coats the pallet.

Taste: La Aroma de Cuba Edicion Especial started out with a great mixture of flavors in the tobacco. Each draw contained a sweet note accompanied by wood, slight coffee, and a bit of leather. Spice in the back of the pallet without the usual Don Pepin flavor.

Sweet wood like cedar. This Ashton cigar is very complex. As the sweetness becomes more delicate an earthy flavor is introduced. Wood was the dominate flavor and the leather made the body increase. Again some spice is in the smoke that coats your pallet. Overall very clean smoke.

Ending is consistent. Sweet, light spice, coffee, earthy. This Don Pepin, Ashton cigar is very complex and will give you a lot of flavors.

Final Verdict: Buy it. On the retail side the cigar will cost (in the low) $7.xx range. Online purchasing would save you about a dollar, $6.xx.  This is a great value for an Ashton cigar, a Don “Pepin” Garcia cigar, and/or an overall good medium body cigar that your pallet will love. Furthermore, I have had the opportunity to age the La Aroma de Cuba Edicion Especial and I can tell you that it does quite well. So pick up this cigar – smoke some now, age some for later – either way you are going to enjoy.

1. What cigar features the first Brazilian corojo wrapper?

2. What cigar was featured in puffingcigars.com first video review?

3. What cigar company makes the delicious Cg4?

Post your answers soon, the contest is only going to last for today!

Benchmade cigars- A handcrafted brand created by Ashton and blended by Jose “Pepin” Garcia. The beautiful sticks have a dark wrapper, pig tale end, and offers an amazing medium to full body taste. Consider the Benchmade a gift to cigar smokers because this super-premium cigar has a super price tag of around two dollars. The Nicaraguan cigar is a mix of long and short filler from five different kinds of leaves that you will absolutely love.

Construction: The wrapper is caramel in color and gives you an initial impression of a very friendly medium, or even light bodied, smoke. This Sumatra-seed wrapper was not very oily and was very solid in construction. It had one large vein that ran down the back of the cigar and the other veins were small and subtle- neither of which affected the smoking or burning in a negative way. Upon completing the “pinch test“: Benchmade robusto was soft or “spongy” but not to the point where tobacco was falling out.

Draw: Anytime a cigar feels soft or “spongy” it’s almost a certain indication that the cigar will have an easy draw. For this very reason I opted to twist the tail on the end (no caps on the cigars keeps the cost down) and see if it would work – it did. The Benchmade robusto smoked great through the little opening. Punching the Benchmade provided me with the perfect draw. Cutting was done by other reviewers and the draw was a bit too easy.

Burn: It’s always interesting to see what kind of burn a “cheap” cigar throws your way. This Benchmade robusto started off burning a little jagged but always corrected itself. I never had to manually correct or relight my stick once. The ash had nice peppery color but didn’t appear very firm; however the robusto only required me to ash twice.

Taste: Let’s start off by letting everyone know the Benchmade cigar is a mixed filler smoke. This means you can, and most likely will, get a different profile or specific taste from cigar to cigar. It may not be noticeable if you purchase a box in full but try the cigars rolled/shipped/created in different months are you will see what I am talking about.

Pepper and spice make the Benchmade cigar nice. Every stick I have had will shoot this flavor in your mouth through your entire smoking experience. Pepper is most prominent in the 1/3 of the cigar and doesn’t allow me to taste anything else.

At the 2/3 point the pepper fades and makes room for a more earthy undertone. From here on out I also get a lot of the tobacco taste any cigar love should…love.

When finishing up the Benchmade you tend to get a bitter taste. This is due to the chopped tobacco catching the impurity’s, something that happens less in higher quality cigars. No need to worry though because you can just purge your cigar and never look back.

Again each stick will vary – so pick one up and try it. If this makes you uneasy just remember that this is still a Don “Pepin” Garcia blend – and you will not be disappointed if you are one of his fans.

Final Verdict: We have a winner on our hands. You get a “Pepin” cigar by Ashton for the low-low price of $2.xx, do a quick search online and you can get the sticks in the $1.60 range. You are getting great value for your money. I also want you to know that the Benchmande cigars are even better with just a little bit of resting time in the humidor. I will be aging a box to see what they do – and I think you should do the same. Quick Note: Of all the Benchmade cigars the robusto was by far the best. Enjoy these smokes and the savings on your wallet.

Other Cigars: I had a sense of familiarity while smoking and reflecting on this cigar. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it when I suddenly jumped up and said “Cubao“. The Cubao had the same kind of peppery taste, caramel wrapper, full body smoke, origin, and both were Don “Pepin” Garcia created.

Ashton VSG Belicoso is one of my all time favorite cigars. I was looking for a good way to introduce the VSG to you, the readers, but could do no better than the Ashton website it self. And after reading about who is involved in creating this amazing stick – you too will realize that the Ashton VSG is something special:

“For those who desire a powerful and intoxicating flavor with a complex rich finish, look no further than the Ashton VSG. The VSG is blended exclusively for Ashton by Carlos Fuente Jr. using 4 to 5 year old aged Dominican tobacco taken from the finest and most fertile plants. The distinct flavor of VSG comes from its wrapper grown on a private estate in Ecuador owned by the Oliva family where this proprietary wrapper leaf is grown for the Fuente Family exclusively for Ashton VSG.”

Construction: Dark, spicy, and perhaps rugged are just three words I would use to describe the look of the Ashton VSG wrapper. The Ecuadoran Sun Grown wrapper has an oily sheen that not only looks amazing, but makes this cigar such a great build. Little veins run through the firm stick but do not effect the cigar in a negative way. Smoking down to the nub will not be an issue with this perfectly rolled stick.

Draw: Belicoso shapes do not leave many options for obtaining your draw: Cut or V Cut. Choose your preferred method of cutting and enjoy because the draw is perfect. In reality this is the kind of draw I wish every cigar had.

Burn: How picky do you want me to be about the burn? Had this cigar been in the 5 dollar range – I would say it was perfect. Except this cigar sits in the $10-$12 range (depending on markup, taxes, etc) so I have to say… the burn is good. While it does get a little off track the stick did a great job of correcting itself.

Taste: Let’s start by giving the Virgin Sun Grown cigar the “nose” test. Doing so will give you an indication of the spice you will soon encounter, the sweetness, and what I would call a light mocha smell.

The 1/3 of the cigar punches you with an amazing amount of spice – it is a medium-full bodied smoke from the start. Once you overcome the spice you get an amazing nutty flavor with a hint of coffee – or perhaps a light chocolate(?). The smoke is full and flavorful giving you a nice creamy finish and a firm white ash.

At the 2/3 point (midway of the cigar) the spice of the Ashton seems to die a bit and take backseat to a sweeter taste. This “sweet” taste only introduces what’s to come: leather, woodsy, and cedar like notes. The body is now in the full spectrum and the smoke is just as creamy. The ash is still white and firm but burned a little uneven.

Grand Finale: The VSG is still in the full range and the leather flavor is what dominates the smoke. The leather taste is supported by the spice (this spice never fades) and something else I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Perhaps it is a sweeter cedar – but it compliments it very nicely making the Ashton VSG easy to smoke to the nub. Again the smoke is creamy and the ash is firm and white. I would like to note the uneven burn corrected it self.

Verdict Is: This is a cigar you should have in your normal rotation and can easily be found in many retail tobacco establishments. I also found that the VSG is even more amazing when aged. So while this is a bit expensive to some (or anyone who smokes everyday) it is okay to buy some and save the VSG for that perfect day.

Other Cigars:

At this current time the only other cigar I can recomend (as in same spciy taste, full body smoke, and quality) is the Opus X.