Cigars, Whiskey, & Winning
With ‘The Don’ Vick Shah
Norwood Royal Cigars
Chicago, Illinois
The Cigar
‘The Don’ of the cigar industry, Vick Shah, owner of Chicago-based Norwood Royal Cigars, brings us a new lancero version of his popular Don V Maduro. With this lancero, we get a more concentrated, perfectly spiced draw of those sweet leathery and savory chocolate truffle notes, from the same incredible blend of Nicaraguan Jalapa Maduro, over Nicaraguan binder and Honduran fillers. From a cigar enthusiast’s and business perspective, it simply makes sense.
We all love that Don V Maduro!
Thank you Vick, and congratulations on winning the 2024 PCA ‘Midwest Region Cigar Shop, Best in Leaf Award.’ With over twenty years of experience in the cigar industry, Vick’s expert management of the Midwest’s largest must-see 1,800-square-foot humidor, is admired by many. The consistent professional, educational, and fun Norwood Royal Cigars experience, absolutely confirms why Vick and his partner, Asmita Kamdar, earned every bit of this amazing recognition.
Just ask any of their ‘Loyal Royals.’
The Whisky
Jay Roberts, Navy veteran and co-founder of The Whiskey Lab, jokes that he celebrated 11 years of sobriety, until he turned 12 and discovered cask strength whisky. His Whispering Waters label pays tribute to his ‘silent service’ on the USS Oklahoma City SSN-723 nuclear submarine and to Scottish Selkies. These mythological mermaids, unlike some cultures believed, were a sign of beauty, good luck, and benevolence.
I stumbled upon Jay’s Whiskey Lab table at the 2024 WhiskyFest in Chicago. Jay served up the event’s most unique whiskies, including this awesome nine-year-old, Pedro Ximenez sherry cask strength expression, from The Braeval Distillery.
I was blown away by it!
This distillery was built by the Chivas Brothers in 1973 to supply malt for blends such as Chivas Regal. So this single malt expression from Braeval is a rarity.
Braeval was built on a mountain ridge at Chapeltown in the heart of Speyside. It is the highest altitude distillery in Scotland at 350 metres above mean sea level.
Tasting Notes From: TheWhiskeyLab.com
Nose: Dark, jammy fruits intertwine with herbaceous berries, unveiling layers of sherried sweetness complemented by rich cherry chocolate and sun-dried fruits.
Palate: Silky dark chocolate envelops the taste buds, enriched with stewed blackberries and currants, woven together with honeyed dates. A robust undertone of dense oak, chili, and candied ginger on a velvety finish.
The Whiskey Lab is a new independent bottler (Est. 2024) that homes in on extraordinary and rare whiskies, such as this extremely rare single malt from Braeval:
“Setting out to solve the lack of access to unique, independently-bottled Scotch for the U.S. market. The Whiskey Lab was founded to bridge the gap between bespoke Scotch brands and curious American consumers by offering engaging education and fast, affordable delivery.” ~ TheWhiskeyLab.Com
There’s definitely something special about the way a nice chocolatey Maduro pairs with a nice sherried Scotch. Here I anticipate some unique and unusually awesome flavors to reveal themselves through the pairing, especially with the concentrated chocolate notes from this Jalapa Maduro wrapper and 61.2% ABV sherry bomb.
Yes! It’s time for another trip to the chocolate factory.
Don V Maduro Lancero
Produced By: Oscar Valladares Tobacco Co.
Blended By: Vick Shah, Norwood Royal Cigars
Vitola: Lancero 7×38
Tripa (Filler): Honduras
Capa (Wrapper): Jalapa Maduro, Nicaragua
Capote (Binder): Nicaragua
Body: Medium Plus
Price: $10
Visual/Pre-light Draw
She’s tall, dark, skinny, and pretty. This beautifully constructed lancero version of the Don V Maduro is extremely oily and smooth to the touch, with curvy looking veins in all the right places. Its classy black and gold trimmed band displays DON over V, superimposed over a golden tobacco leaf, with a slick streak of dark blue on the sides. The front of the band also acknowledges its producer: “By Oscar Valladares.” Vick mentioned the blue streak acknowledges the Police, while the dark red streak on his original DON V Corojo, our Whiskey Network 2022 Cigar of the Year, represents FireFighters and Paramedics.
The side sniff is chocolatey with nice hints of classic Honduran fresh hay. The dry foot odor has bolder notes of candied chocolate and fresh, wet hay. There is no spice on the palate when prepping the head for a nice straight guillotine cut. This cut is ideal for the smaller ring gauge of a lancero, to maximize flavor potential from the smaller draw.
The dry draw is actually moist and packed with notes of mixed berries over vanilla oats.
First Third
Lighting her fire gives us delicious dark chocolate cake-battered baking spices on the foot smoke odor. At last, a taste. We have an insanely perfect draw and delivery of sweet leathery, chocolate notes to the palate. Immediately she’s got me hooked, there’s no “looking back” now. Those familiar Don V Maduro cardamom-infused and cake-battered notes arrive on the palate, and man, she’s creamier than ever.
The retro-hale packs a punch with the perfect amount of leathery spice up front, which tapers off to creamy, yellow cake and white chocolate notes on the finish. We have a perfect burn and incredible white ash that holds…and holds.
Cigar to the whisky: Everything melts to liquid fudge on the palate, overlaid with nice hints of red sherry wine, more cardamom spice, and everything real nice!
Second Third
Those awesome chocolatey and leathery silky tannins are amplified, making each puff even more enjoyable than the last. The retro-hale settles down a bit to creamier yellow bundt cake notes, with a seductive kiss of spice on finish. Kyle Jesso ‘Lancero,’ from The Great Cigar & Pipe Show, said it’s the best lancero he’s had in a long time. The draw and burn remain perfect. Here all the credit goes to the artist/rollers at The Oscar Valladares Tobacco Factory, as lanceros are one of the trickiest vitolas to roll.
Cheers to those amazing, hard working people!
Whisky to the cigar: The chocolatey, creamy, and spicy red sherry wine notes of the whisky ignite into creamier notes of that incredible yellow bundt cake flavor from the cigar. This is definitely my favorite direction of this pairing.
For this Don V Maduro Lancero, I absolutely love “This Version of You” by Odesza and Julianna Barwick, Remixed by Joseph Ray:
Final Third
“And you’re right here with this version of you.” This cigar is consistent in both draw and flavor, as those incredible leathery and chocolatey cake-battered cardamom notes interweave back and forth for the smoker. The retro-hale has completely smoothed out with creamier leathery and chocolate notes of oats, that coat the entire sinus. The burn slows, and I am totally loving this cigar as “this version of you simply becomes real.”
Cigar smoked whisky: We get an explosion of creamy marshmallows, doused in those awesome sherry wine notes of the whisky. Then everything mellows as it lingers on the palate, before melting in your mouth. Superb!
Overall, this pairing is a chocolate and wine lover’s heaven. Without a doubt, this is a very special dessert-like pairing, the kind you savor and take your time with.
Smoke it! Sip it! Love it!
Acknowledgment & Live Pairing
Thank you Vick Shah and Asmita Kamdar for acknowledging our hard working First Responders. Cheers to you guys, your leadership, and continued success in the cigar retail industry. Thank you Jay Roberts, for your ‘silent service’ with The United States Navy, and for bringing us these incredible ‘undiscovered gems.’
Check out the live pairing of these amazing low-priced products, and hear directly from Vick and Jay, as they bring this perfect pairing to life on The Great Cigar & Pipe Show:
Photography by: James Archie
