No photo of the week, so how about cigars of the week

These are three that I have enjoyed thus far this week.

The first two from left to right are newer to me, the Juan Lopez Epicure 2 and the Olivia "O" Classic Ole. The third is the always good CAO Brazilia Pirana.

The Lopez and the O are both in the range that can be called robusto sized and are Nicaraguan puros, meaning that filler, binder and wrapper are all Nicaraguan tobacco.

They are quite different, though. The Lopez starts out mild and cocoa-like and build and has a rich, dark flavor. It's very good. The O is more pungent (in a good way) and is a bit spicier. I thoroughly enjoyed both and have smoked a couple of each of them.

The Brazilia is a blend (but made in Nicaragua) of a dark Brazilian wrapper and Nicaraguan filler and binder. This thing is a smaller cigar, like a chopped down Cuban Corona size coming in at 4.5 inches with a 46 ring and is a little firecracker. 30 minutes of fairly full bodied smoking that is both rich and spicy. The entire line of the Brazilias are just great cigars.

All three of these are well priced and well made, making them good buys in my mind.
Either of them will get you change back from a Franklin for a full box.

When I first started smoking cigars almost 20 years ago, most everything came out of the Domincan Republic or Honduras. At one point, thanks to Hurricanes, even those HUGE Jamaican brands Macanudo and Royal Jamaica were made in the DR. Nicaragua was just starting to be a contender.
No so anymore. Pretty much everything I buy now comes from there.

Although there were a few guys that used Nicaraguan tobacco in their blend like Punch and Hoyo (filler with DR and Hon), there were VERY few cigars coming from there. Joya de Nicaragua was the only well known brand at the time. Punch and Hoyo are still favorites of mine, of course.

Now, there are lovelies like these rolling out of factories in Nicaragua that are taking the world by storm, as it were.

You can see a nice larger res shot of each of these photos by clicking on them.