CigarCraig's Blog

May 3, 2026 · 9:57 am

Gold Star, Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust and El Titan de Bronze Cigars

First off, go back to my last post and comment to enter the giveaway! These Freshbox humidor starter kits are nice! There’s the humidor, cutter, lighter and 12 cigars from major brands. It’s possible that some additional goodies might fall into the box when packing them for shipping! These take coolerdors to the next level!

That’s all for today…just kidding. I smoked a few cigars this week that I hadn’t smoked before, the first of which is the Gold Star from United Cigars. Oliver at United was kind enough to send me a couple of these a few weeks back, and I was excited to try them. I thought originally these were made to commemorate Gold Star families, families who’ve lost children in the line of duty. Looking at the website, there’s a different story, one of a gold star painted on a tobacco barn. I kinda like the first story better, but maybe there’s excess baggage that goes along with it. Anyway, this toro, 6″ x 54, has a Habano 2000 wrapper, grown in Ecuador. Thirty years ago when the Hanaco 2000 wrapper was developed as a disease resistant strain, one of the byproducts was that it was also flame resistant. You could make kids pajamas out of those wrappers! It’s improved. The binder is an Indonesian Sumatra, and the fillers are Dominican Ligero, Criollo ’98 and Corojo ’98 and Connecticut Broadleaf. The website also mentions some flavor components I don’t know anything about: “Bohea tea, kalamata olive”. I have no reference for these, nore have I ever heard the words (Bohea and kalamata, tea and olive I’m familiar with). Maybe those flavors are there, who knows. I know that I got a bready sweetness, maybe some leather, and the spice built as I smoked. Overall, I liked the cigar, I’d buy these, but I don’t know of any United retailers locally.

Next up is the Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust 10th Jubilee. One of my local shops, CigarCigars in Frazer, PA, has Dunbarton cigars now. I’m happy that the new ownership has brought in Dunbarton, as well as some other brands I like. This cigar was outside of my price comfort zone, but I bit the bullet anyway and justified it by spreading the cost out with some less expensive cigars. OK, I just wanted to try this one. These are dangerously close to $20 in PA. This is a 5 5/8″ x 48 corona gorda with an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper, a Mexican binder and fillers from Condega, Estelí, Jalapa and Ometepe. These are made at the NACSA factory where Mi Querida and Red Meat Lovers Cigars are made. Saka says that he hadn’t used any of these specific tobaccos in his prior blends. While I enjoyed this cigar, I think if I’m going to splurge on a cigar, it’ll be on a Sin Compramiso which better suits my palate. This was a really interesting cigar. It started out with what I think of as umami, with a mild spice. I swear I got a cinnamon flavor around the halfway point. I don’t have a great palate, and sometimes subtleties elude me, but there were some neat flavors in this cigar. No regrets, I might pick up another one if I’m feeling reckless with money (which I rarely am).

The last cigar this week was the new El Titan de Bronze Nicaragua. I have smoked a couple of the new Cohiba M Reserva Plata, which is made at El Titan de Bronze in Miami with some mixed results. I thought it was weird to get Cohibas made in Miami and El Titan de Bronze cigars made in Nicaragua in the same shipment. I’ve smoked and enjoyed El Titan de Bronze cigars from the miami factory before, and had high hopes for the Nicaraguan. These come in in the $8-10 range, which would be impossible for a Miami made cigar, I suppose. Like the Dunbarton 10th Jubilee, these are made at NACSA. I smoked the 5″ x 54 robusto which has a Broadleaf wrapper, Mexican binder and Nicaraguan fillers. On paper I should really like this cigar. My notes are pretty limited on this, I just wrote down meaty…charcoal grill meaty. This was totally savory without a hint of sweetness. I will have to smoke a few more of these, I’m not quite sure how I feel about them. I might also have to dig out some of the El Titan cigars I picked up at the factory when I was there a few years ago (sheesh, 7 or 8 years? , time flies).

That’s all for today, don’t forget to go back and enter the contest! Until the next time (for real this time),

CigarCraig

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3 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as 10th Jubilee, cigar, cigars, Dunbarton, Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust, el titan de bronze, Gold Star, NACSA, Nicaragua, Tenth Jubilee, United Cigars

April 30, 2026 · 6:48 pm

Freshbox Humidors and a Giveaway!

If I ever had any skills making videos, I lost them somewhere! Check out this video and then go check out freshboxcigars.com. A transcription is included below the video for those who would rather read.

Hey, Craig from CigarCraig.com with a rather exciting new product I’ve been presented with. Years ago, back when I first started smoking — 30 years ago — I kept my cigars in coolers, Tupperware, whatever I could find that would hold a seal. Then I came across these guys, Cigar Bros, who were making humidors out of styrofoam. Very cooler‑like, but they’ve stepped it up.

Now they’ve got the Fresh Box, which looks like a nice lacquered humidor, but when you open it up, it’s light, seals very well, and holds humidity nicely. This one is running a little high at 76. I don’t even have a Boveda in here because it comes with one.

They sell these for $99, and it comes with a lighter, a cutter, and 12 cigars of your choosing. They have a whole lot of different choices. This particular one has some My Father, Blackened, Aging Room, and some Flatheads — little three‑packs. The three‑packs each have a Boveda in them, so I lied earlier when I said there wasn’t one; there are actually four. The boxes also have slots for airflow.

So you can buy this with 12 cigars for $100, have a nice humidor, and be ready to go. You’re ready to smoke. It’s pretty cool. I’ve been very impressed. They have a whole lot of different colors — they have a black one, a red one — and they come in these nice bags. This one is right out of the box and has the Boveda in there. It includes some Montecristos, Quesadas, Romeos, and La Auroras. They’re pretty cool. I’m very impressed with them.

So check out freshboxcigars.com and cigarbros.com, and give them a look if you need a humidor, a second humidor, or even three humidors and don’t have a lot of space. They stack up really nicely. They’re pretty cool.

Giveaway!

I’m going to give away two of these FreshBox Starter Kits. The rules are the same as always: leave a comment on this post to enter, not on Facebook, X, Threads, Linkedin or anywhere else! Any comment will do, but something of substance is more fun. I’ll announce the winners in my Sunday, May 10 post. Of course, the winners will need to contact me with their address and some proof that you’re over 21. Good Luck!

That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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22 Comments

Filed under Contest, Review, Video

Tagged as cigar, CigarBros, cigars, Freshbox

April 26, 2026 · 10:19 am

New El Rey del Mundo, Punch and Bolivar Cigars

The Premium Cigar Association trade show happened last weekend, so I figure I’d share my thoughts on a few cigars that were showcased there by General Cigar Co. I wasn’t there, I’ll get back one of these days. It’s a great experience, but it’s a lot of work, and I haven’t been able to justify the expense over the last few years. Fortunately, General sends me samples, so I tried a few of them this week. Sometimes they are really good, sometimes just OK, but the odd thing is that I rarely see them show up on retailers shelves. In the case of the three today, I hope they do. First off, there’s the El Rey del Mundo limited edition King of the World VSOP. I’ve smoked and enjoyed El Rey del Mundo cigars for the last thirty-ish years, they’ve always been really good cigars. This new line was rolled in 2021 and has been resting since then in the STG factory in Esteli. The 6″ x 52 toro has an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, Nicaraguan Habano binder and Nicaraguan and Dominican Habano fillers, and is $11. This cigar was a surprise. It was perfectly constructed and had a nice, white ash. There is an odd sweetness, hard to pin down, but I like is a lot. Some spice sneaks in near the end. While this didn’t really remind me of the ERdMs I remember from the past, it was a very good cigar, elegant and balanced. By the way, El Rey del Mundo King of the World is redundant!

Next up is a new Punch, this one celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Rare Corojo line. The Rare Corojo has been an annual release, and for many years the Corojo was so rare that it didn’t appear in the cigars, just in the name. for the 25th anniversary General Cigar has fixed this, even going so far as to have the cigars produced by the Eiroas at the Aladino factory in Honduras with a Corojo wrapper, binder and Corojo and Habano fillers. Of course, Julio Eiroa is the king of Corojo. These are 6″ x 54 and $11 a cigar. Apparently the regular Rare Corojo is now available year round. As with the ERdM, this burned perfectly. I can only describe the flavor I got as a nice tobacco sweetness, not sugary, but not a savory flavor either, it was just really pleasant to smoke. It’s different from the Rare Corojo, I guess the addition of actual Corojo will do that! It was always curious to me why they called it that when it didn’t have any of the tobacco it was named for in the blend. This is good.

The third cigar in this weeks trilogy was another anniversary cigar, this one from Bolivar celebrating 130 years. It’s called, predictably, the Bolivar Aniversario, and is a limited edition, priced at $10 for a 6″ x 52 toro. I want to take a moment to thank General for sending samples in my favorite size for a change, for years it was robustos, lately it’s been toros. I used to smoke a lot of robustos, but lately they don’t fill enough time for me. I’ll smoke them on the odd occasion that I can have a morning smoke, or when I know I only have an hour. There have been times that a larger cigar burns too fast, doesn’t burn well or taste good and I have that time to fill that a robusto works, but it can’t be something new at that point, it has to be something familiar, because I can’t get the same flavors out of a second cigar. Anyway, this Bolivar has an interesting list of ingredients. The wrapper is Ecuador Habano, that’s not awfully interesting. The binder is Brazilian Arapiraca, with fillers from Paraguay, Argentina, Columbia and Brazil. That’s a wild blend, with the wrapper being the only Central American tobacco, the rest is South American, which is unusual. It’s made in Honduras at the HATSA factory. Some Peruvian and Panamanian tobaccos would have fit with the Bolivar theme, maybe they didn’t work in the blend. I ended up really enjoying this cigar, although it started out kinda weird. My impression was that the flavor was if saccharine was more sour than sweet. This is a weird description, I know, but it was a perplexing melange of flavors that ended up being really interesting and entertaining. Another winner.

That’s enough for today. I’m working on making a video for a new humidor system from the folks at CigarBros that impresses me. Hopefully I get it done for a midweek post. Editing video is not my forte, hopefully I can get it done in one take. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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SP1014 Black, Box Pressed Rebellion and American Bully Cigars

You know how you have some friends that don’t listen? A few weeks back I send a few cigars to my friend Phil who publishes the very creative ComedyCigarsMusic.com. I wanted to get some of the Bariay 1492 cigars into some reviewer’s hands, and Phil came to mind. He posted a review of the Red here. I’ve been really impressed with these cigars and want to get the word out. Anyway, the package I sent came with the instruction that no reciprocity was required, or desired! I’m blessed with an abundance. Phil didn’t listen and sent me some cigars, three of which I’ll discuss today. First up is the SP1014 Black from Sanj Patel. Sanj has a cigar shop in New Jersey, which I need to get around to visiting. Quick warning, links to the cigars posted here may be going to e-commerce sites, which just means that’s where I found the information, shilling is unintended. The SP1014 Black toro is 6″ x 54, blended by Eladio Diaz in the DR. It has a Dominican wrapper, Mexican barrel aged binder, and a “5 blend Dominican” filler, whatever that means. I assume it has tobacco from 5 areas in the DR? Anyway, Eladio Diaz’ blending isn’t always my bag, so I went into this wondering how I’d feel about it. I thought back to last week when I had that feeling about the Davidoff, which proved me wrong. This one started out with a sour umami flavor, and the damp earth sort of continued. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t up my alley either. Burn and draw were perfect and it was and interesting smoke.

The next cigar up was another 6″ x 54 toro which, Phil is undoubtedly aware, is my size of choice. This one was from American Viking Cigars, which is owned by Tim Swanson of Cigars Daily. Like the SP1014, this is another brand owned by a cigars store owner. The Box Pressed Rebellion has Nicaraguan Habano Maduro wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and filler and where it’s made I couldn’t tell you. I would tell you if I knew, but that info wasn’t readily available and I lacked the ambition to research further. As the name would imply, it’s box pressed. It’s got sharp corners, not a soft press. This is a savory cigar again, plenty of leather with some nuts and wood. Once again, the burn and draw were excellent. Nice cigar.

Finally, there was a cigar with a dog on it, which I immediately find appealing. I hadn’t heard of the American Bully cigar before, so I did the bear minimum of research and it appears to be made by A.J. Fernandez for Privada/LCA. This explains why I hadn’t heard of it because I kind of block out Privada stuff. Apparently this is also available at Cigars Daily, I don’t know if other LCA shops cary this, I have to ask my friends at The Wooden Indian if they have it. Of course, I love the big headed dog breeds, and miss my Macha every day. This band has a Handsome American Bully head on it, it’s quite amazing how different an American Bulldog is from and English Bulldog. This cigar is also 6″ x 54, with a Mexican San Andres Maduro wrapper with binder and filler tobaccos from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. It’s made at AJ’s Tabacalera Annex Factory in Esteli, Nicaragua, an area set aside for limited runs. Like the American Bulldog, this is a big, bold cigar. This cigar has some dark molasses, earth and a hint of sweetness. It had a great burn and draw and was pleasurable enough that I might pick a couple up if I saw them locally. I’m still not a big fan of the Privada organization, but this was a really good cigar.

Thanks again to Phil at ComedyCigarsMusic.com for the goodies, totally unnecessary but much appreciated. It’s always fun trying new cigars! In other news, I’m trying to get back into my Instagram account, which came under attack last weekend. I still can’t access my original IG account, it’s been 5 years, and this is proving to be a different challenge. There may be a @CigarCraig2 on IG in the near future. That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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CigarCraig Flashback: IPCPR Show Videos

Since the PCA (nee IPCPR) show is this weekend, I thought I’d share some of the videos I did at past shows. My wife, Jennifer deserves credit for ideas for the questions and camera work in ’13 and ’14, and my son Corey in ’16. I won’t be attending again this year for several reasons, but I hope to get back next year. We’ll have to think up a new question and do another one of these. These are a blast from the past in a lot of cases!

A midweek post is another blast from the past, don’t get use to it! CigarCraig Flashback will be a continuing feature on Wednesdays (sometimes). That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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