El Rey del Mundo Cigars LE King of the World VSOP in Review

BRAND: El Rey del Mundo
BLEND: LE King of the World VSOP

WRAPPER: Ecuadorian Sumatra
BINDER: Nicaraguan
FILLER: Nicaraguan, Dominican

FORMAT: Toro (652)
ORIGIN: Honduras
INTENSITY: Medium/Medium-full
SPICE: 2.5/5

NOTES:
Chocolate & Peanuts | Berries & Grapes | Oak & Cedar

Positively jammy cold draw. Big fruit front calms into place surrounded by its ampersanded brethren. A clustered profile but while narrow, maintains delineations well. Tastes some like a small old still life painting of a bowl of fruit; framed in hardwood--needs a feather dusting. Apricots.

Then, buckwheat honey, black pepper, Leather & Suede. Any of these &s would make for great names of trendy downtown boutiques which all bewilder me as to how they make their monthly Nut & Rent. Trust fund kids, likely. I digress. A complex smoke with an atypical profile. Vive le difference.

TASTE: A-
DRAW: A-
BURN: A-
BUILD: A-

FINAL GRADE: A-
A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79

::: very ::: 

La Sirena Cigars Original Trident in Review

BRAND: La Sirena
BLEND: Original

WRAPPER: Nicaraguan Habano Oscuro
BINDER: Nicaraguan
FILLER: Nicaraguan

FORMAT: Trident (750)
ORIGIN: Nicaragua (La Zona)
INTENSITY: Medium-full
SPICE: 3/5

NOTES:
Ginger | Milk Chocolate | Cayenne

Sand ginger powder is an interesting thing. It's a type of ginger, of course, but one that's a tick less gingery. More woodsy-citrusy. Sweet-earthier. That's all over this. With accompanying notes of milk chocolate, other exotic spices, clarified butter, and a lovely cayenne kick. Really an eye-opener smoke.

Nuanced and sating, but also bright and quite delineated, complex. A real zinger like the barbs exchanged twixt Dorothy and Sophia on Golden Girls. Now my mind wanders to Miami and vibrant tropical floral notes. I never got how their family was supposedly Italian yet obviously Jewish.

What's the old Hollywood adage? "Write Yiddish, cast British." I think so. Now I truly wander. I'll digress. this is truly a shayne maidel of a cigar in spirit. Although there are blemishes which make her approachable at a dance. A somewhat janky burn and some awkward seams. It all sweetly works, tho.

A shayne maidel is a pretty girl. It's particularly apt here if said woman has a rapier with and perhaps slight ketsem yofi... that means birthmark; but literally it means mark of beauty. I call it character. Perhaps flavor. All apply. Such a smoke, epes! I'll stop now. Fuhgettaboutit!

TASTE: A
DRAW: A-
BURN: B
BUILD: B+

FINAL GRADE: A-
A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79

::: very ::: 

Bolivar Cigars Aniversario LE in Review

BRAND: Bolivar
BLEND: Aniversario LE

WRAPPER: Ecuadorian Habano
BINDER: Brazilian Arapiraca
FILLER: Colombian, Brazilian, Paraguayan, Argentinian

FORMAT: Toro (652)
ORIGIN: Honduras
INTENSITY: Medium-full/Full
SPICE: 2/5

NOTES:
Peanut brittle burnt in an oven, then placed in a smoker. Crumbs from a corner piece of brownie. A separate dark chocolate syrup flows and grows. A bit gruff, somewhat aggressive. Stiff leather over compost grounding. Some pipe tobaccos ghost pipes. This cigar ghosts the palate. Lo-o-o-ong finish.

At the far end of that finish, a dose of brown sugar drops and bleeds into the next draw and the next draw and the next draw, etc. Somewhere in the core is a ruby red grapefruit, baked--and on top of that is where the sugar goes. Excellent burn and draw. Isn't aggressive then is again. Some guys like that.

There's some dusty spice hither-thither.
This one might age exceptionally well.

TASTE: B+
DRAW: A-
BURN: A-
BUILD: B+

FINAL GRADE: B+
A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79

::: very ::: 

Kaplowitz Media. Cigars of the Month for April 2026

Kaplowitz Media.
Cigars of the Month
for April 2026

(listed in alphabetical order)
(names are links to full reviews)

Bariay 1492 Red Label
Bariay 1492 Black Label

Bariay? More like BariYAY! 

::: very :::