Summary:

A rich-flavored, medium-bodied, maduro cigar, with an excellent aroma. A smooth, refined and sophisticated smoke that is extremely consistent.

Background Information:

The CT Signature Toro is 6 inches long with a 50 ring gauge. The cigar has a sun-grown Brazillian Arapiraca maduro wrapper over a Connecticut Broadleaf binder. The filler is a mix of Dominican Cubana ligero and Nicaraguan Habano ligero tobacco. Each cigar is individually wrapped in a cedar sleeve. Manufactuered at the Cuevas y Hermanos factory in the Dominican Republic for Toraño y Cia.

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Think that the only place in the United States where good cigar tobacco can be grown is Connecticut?

If so, you are mistaken.

Deep in the Bluegrass State, in an area more known for thoroughbred horses and fine bourbon, something unusual is happening. Some fine cigar wrapper tobacco is being grown because of the vision and efforts of Mark Barrow, a man who decided to try something no one else had tried.

“I think Kentucky’s heritage is tobacco, bourbon and fast horses, and I want to keep all three of them going,” said Barrow.

Mark Barrow is not just a visionary. He is a visionary who has succeeded.

The story continues after the jump.

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Bert Shapiro, of Pheasant’s Eye Productions, is a very talented independent filmaker. He makes short films about real people, doing real things.

And he concentrates on ways of life that are vanishing.

Ways of life like rolling cigars by hand in New York City.

Here, courtesy of Pheasant’s Eye, is a look at how a torcedor — a cigar roller — turns a pile of leaves into a work of art in the award winning short film Hand Rolled on 29th Street.

The film takes less than three minutes to view. If you have never had a chance to see how a cigar is rolled, you should find this especially fascinating.

More on Bert Shapiro, the filmaker, below the fold.

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Summary:

This Honduran cigar is a medium to full bodied, flavorful and spicy smoke that starts with a peppery note and then settles to become almost as mild as the Cuban Sancho Panza variety. From the half-way point on, there is a pleasant shift in flavor and fullness that leads into a very satisfying finish. The Sancho Panza Double Maduro Quixote is a very flavorful smoke and a true bargain at the price.

While they are a good cigar fresh from the box, they improve remarkably by resting for several weeks to several months. Humidor storage is recommended before smoking, and after storage are not only a bargain but a best buy. The rating and points assigned in this review are based on cigars after about four months of humidor storage. Explanations are given below of problems or defects that you might find in fresh-from-the-box Sancho Panza Double Maduro cigars.

Background Information:

At 4 1/2 inches with a 50 ring guage, this box-pressed Robusto has an impressive appearance. The Quixote is a mild to medium bodied cigar with a a dark maduro wrapper — almost dark enought to legitimately call it an oscuro. It also has a dark maduro binder, and this is where the “double maduro” name comes from, not from the color of the cigar. The wrapper and binder leaves are selected from the richest, full-sun-tops of Connecticut Broadleaf tobacco plants and then aged for four years before rolling. The filler is a flavorful mix of Cuban-seed Honduran, Nicaraguan and Dominican tobacco. Crafted by Honduran cigar master Estelo Padrón at Honduras American Tabaco S. A., for Villazon & Co., a subsidiary of General Cigar Co.

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Ever since I saw the four photos released today in Cuba that show Fidel Castro alive and recovering and are alleged to have been taken yesterday — right down to the hostage-like photo of Fidel holding up a newspaper to display the headline and pinpoint the date — several things have been bothering me.

And one of them has definitely…bugged me. But more on that below the fold.

Mis-match of red logo and title color in actual Saturday edition of Cuba newspaper Granma
and black logo and title in newspaper Castro is shown holding in an 80th birthday photo

First, notice in the photo above that the Granma newspaper that Fidel Castro is shown displaying has a black logo and a black headline. The problem is that Granma uses a bright red logo, and often uses color in other places on the front page.

The second photo, to the right, shows the actual front page of yesterday’s Granma, with a red logo and a bright red headline.

Why the discrepancy?

Perhaps the copied red text did not show up as well in the photo when Photoshopped onto the newspaper Fidel was actually holding in this picture. Perhaps the red color of the headline and logo were more difficult to match in with Fidel’s hand at the top where his thumb was overlapping the page. Perhaps the Cuban government hired freelancer Adnan Hajj to prepare the photo.

I don’t know why they would have changed the color of the headline and logo. I only know that the color is different from that in yesterday’s actual edition of the newspaper.

Part two of the problem with the newspaper. Even if the color of the headline and logo were explainable, the size of the Cuban newspaper is not the same as the size of the newspaper Castro is shown holding.

Size mis-match of Granma newspaper and newspaper Castro shown holding in photo.
Overlay shows Granma to be wider and shorter than newspaper Castro holding

In the photo above, the actual Granma newspaper frontpage from Saturday, August 12, 2006 is overlaid on the photo released today purportedly showing Fidel Castro holding the same edition of the newspaper. The overlay is partially transparent to show the underlying Castro image.

Note that the black Granma logo on the Castro photo matches the red Granma logo overlaid on it in size. Note that the picture of Castro illustrating the story matches in size in both the birthday photo and the overlay photo (although they are slightly out of register). Note also that the text columns at the bottom of the newspaper page in the overlay match in height and width the text columns in the paper Castro is show holding.

Now notice the headline. In the overlay, it stretches far beyond the width of the newspaper page that Castro is holding. The color is not the only thing that is different. The headline on the newspaper Castro is holding has been reduced in size so that it will fit.

The columns of text which end above Castro’s right hand, holding the bottom of the newspaper, appear to be at the actual bottom of the page on the real Granma front page. This would explain the large amount of white space at the bottom of the newspaper in the birthday photo.

The hands of the woman holding the real Granma newspaper, when overlaid on the Castro birthday photo, also appear quite large in comparison to Castro’s hands. This also indicates that parts of the front page of Granma were enlarged and manipulated in order to fit the size of the newspaper Castro was holding in the photo.

That isn’t all.

The story continues on the next page.

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A closer examination of the photos released this morning from Cuba purportedly showing Fidel Castro after his surgery reveal some discrepancies that raise questions about their authenticity. Facial details do not match up with the most recent photos of the Cuban dictator before his recent hospitalization.

Age Spot on Fidel Castro’s Face in July 26, 2006 Photos Missing in
Purported Post-Surgery Photos Released on Cuban Leader’s Birthday

In the photo above, a large “age spot” on Castro’s right cheek near the cheekbone shown in a photo taken on July 26, 2006, at his last public appearance before his recent illness is missing in the photo alleged to have been taken yesterday. This raises questions about whether the photos released to the media this morning were actually taken weeks, or even months, in the past.

This is not the only discrepancy in the four photos released today.

Evidence of deliberate manipulation of one of the photos is below the fold.

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