Monthly Archives: April 2010

by | April 14, 2010 · 6:02 pm

Mid-week Cigar musings, Hoyo de Tradicion – Wednesday April 14, 2010

Last week I received an e-mail out of the blue from Victoria McKee Jaworski, the Director of Public Relations for General Cigar, asking me if she could put me on her mailing list.  Of course I said “heck yeah”, and sent her the requested information.  Monday a package shows up containing a very nice box of Hoyo de Tradicion Toros.  I smoked one last night and it was a fine cigar, burned straight, didn’t give me any trouble, and had some very nice flavors. Here’s some information from the press release:

Hoyo de Tradición™ pays homage to Hoyo de Monterrey’s time-honored taste in a new expression made of proprietary tobaccos from the world’s most revered growing regions.

According to Modesta Fondeur, executive vice president of tobacco and operations, “Born of volcanic soil into a pedigree of tobacco exclusive to General Cigar, Hoyo de Tradición’s blend consists of hand-selected Honduran San Agustin, and Dominican Piloto Cubano leaves, which are married to Nicaraguan tobacco from the remote island of Ometepe.  Bound with a robust Habano leaf from Connecticut, Hoyo de Tradición is adorned with a Honduran Jamastran Viso Rosado wrapper.”

Rick Chandler, the brand’s director of marketing remarks, “In Hoyo de Tradición, we have developed a cigar that respects Hoyo de Monterrey’s inherent natural sweetness and aroma, while creating a unique new tradition unto its own.  A medium-bodied offering that emphasizes and embellishes Hoyo’s traditional taste profile, Hoyo de Tradición is poised to take its place among the most established cigar brands. We feel that the line will be readily adopted into the smoking repertoires of today’s aficionado.”

I don’t typically smoke a cigar right off the truck, but these looked so good I had to try one.  These will, no doubt, improve with age.  Keep an eye out for these in future contests, I want to spread the wealth!

In the News:

Last time I pointed out the article in Parade Magazine, this time I’m pointing you toward an article on Forbes site that actually takes the stance that other tobacco products, while not safe, are safer alternatives to cigarettes and should be promoted as such.  It’s refreshing to see a major media outlet defending non-cigarette tobacco products.  Here’s the link:  http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0426/opinions-steve-forbes-fact-comment-what-are-zealots-inhaling.html?partner=email.

Also, for the Pennsylvania readers, I just received an e-mail from Dave Mayer,  the proprietor of Wooden Indian Tobacco Shop in Havertown, PA,  announcing that their new store will include one of two Liga Privada lounges. The other Lounge will be across the state at Leaning House Fine Cigars in the Pittsburgh area.  I look forward to visiting the new store when it opens and seeing the new lounge.  I’m sure it will be as good as it’s namesake.

Speaking of Drew Estate, the current contest closes Saturday, and I’ll be announcing the winner on Sunday.  If you haven’t entered already, leave a reply to the contest posts (here) to enter to win a cool DE cap and a Liga Privada cutter.

Until the next cigar,

CigarCraig

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by | April 11, 2010 · 8:21 pm

Weekend Cigar Post: Romeo y Julieta, Padron – Sunday April 11, 2010

Beautiful weather this weekend, I managed to get in a couple cigars.  Last night, after spending all day putting down hardwood flooring on a staircase landing, I fired up a Romeo y Julieta Reserve Maduro Robusto.  This was a well made  cigar that was fairly mild, with flavor reminiscent of  bitter chocolate.  The afternoon’s worth of sawdust didn’t exactly compliment the cigar. Nice cigar for a beginner.  I don’t understand the wording on the website about the wrapper, they call it a “Blackened Connecticut Broadleaf”, what does “blackened” mean?  Could it be that the largest cigar company in the world takes shortcuts with their maduro wrapper?

Today, after going to a local restaurant with my son to watch the Flyers game, which was a “do or die” game, I felt the need to celebrate with a very old Padron Anniversario Principe.  This cigar must have been in my humidor for close to 10 years.  It burned perfectly and tasted great.  It had a really nice long finish that just clung to the tongue. I smoked it down to about a half an inch.  The Flyers game was quite exciting, it ended in the shoot-out, and if they hadn’t won it would have been the end of the season.  Now they move on the the play-offs.  It was fun to see the game with my son in a restaurant with a crowd of enthusiastic fans.

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by | April 8, 2010 · 9:55 pm

Slow Cigar Week – Pollen Kills The Urge – Thursday April 8, 2010

My nice new black Toyota Yaris is dusted yellow from the pollen and my sinuses are a mess.  I managed to revisit a cigar on Monday that I really didn’t enjoy the first time around, but this time it wasn’t all that bad.  The cigar was a Rebel’s Choice corona that I had picked up at CigarCigars in Phoenixville, PA last October.  I can’t imagine that 6 months of age made any difference, I attribute the bad experience I had previously to a flue shot I had received.  This wasn’t a bad cigar, fairly mild, but well behaved and inoffensive. Not a bad $1.95 cigar, I retract my previous opinion that I wouldn’t recommend this at any price. Next time I get a flue shot I won’t waste five perfectly good cigars!

The current issue of Smoke Magazine arrived today and, while I haven’t had the chance to peruse it yet, I did notice an interview with Steve Saka of Drew Estate by noted cigar author Frank  Seltzer.  Like I said, haven’t read past the first page, but there’s a nice photo of Steve in the Gran Fabrica.  Cigar Safari is on my list of future vacation spots!

Don’t forget to enter the current contest!  The cats are looking forward to selecting the winner, and, if you have ever had a cat, you know how ridiculous a statement that is! Anyway, it’s a great Drew Estate hat and a really cool Liga Privada cutter, so get your name in the ring!

Until the next cigar, which will hopefully be soon,

CigarCraig

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by | April 4, 2010 · 8:20 pm

Sunday Cigar: CAO Black Bengal and a Contest! – Sunday April 4, 2010

It’s been a strange couple of days.  Friday morning the transmission on my 2002 Connecticut Shade PT Cruiser went out while my wife was driving it, so Saturday we went out and bought a brand new Toyota Yaris.  The PT has been a good car, but after it was involved in it’s second accident and probably got wet, once the weather warmed up it developed a mildew odor that we couldn’t get rid of, I even tried multiple cigars and the smell wouldn’t go away!  It stank!  The Yaris gets much better gas mileage than the PT, and using less gas is something that’s important to me.  I only use the car when the weather is bad as I prefer to ride my Yamaha Majesty to go to work or if I have to go someplace by myself.  The PT is being donated to the Purple Heart Car Donation Program, which benefits wounded and disabled veterans.

After we got home from a great Flyers game today, I lit up a CAO Black Bengal (6″ x 50) and took a short walk and finished up on my front porch listening to the latest  Stogiefresh podcast.  The cigar was pretty nice, however there were a couple of wrapper defects at the head that, while not effecting the performance of the cigar, the splitting wrapper detracted slightly from the experience.  It was a smooth cigar, with what I would call a woody flavor.  Certainly a decent cigar that burned well and tasted nice, despite the wrapper flaws.

Contest time!

I’ll return to having the cats choose the next winner, but this time we’ll place the cards with the names face down because I think some of the cats can actually read.  I want to make every effort to have the selection of the winner as fair and impartial as possible.  The winner will be selected from those who leave a comment on this blog post.  This months prize is a really cool Drew Estate Hat and a Liga Privada cutter, courtesy of my friends at Drew Estate.  So leave some comments and win some stuff!

**Late note:  it occurred to me that I forgot to set an end date for for this month’s contest.  The cut off is midnight on Saturday, April 17.  I’ll put the cats to work the following day and post the winner in my Sunday post.**

That’s all for now, until the next cigar,

CigarCraig

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by | April 1, 2010 · 9:17 pm

Thursday Cigar Ramblings: Maria Mancini, CAO Italia, Montecristo – April 1, 2010

Monday night, in celebration of re-stocking my Maria Mancini selection, I lit up a Magic Mountain that I’ve had in my humidor for quite a few years. It smoked great, tasted great, and was, over all,  more than I expect from a $2.00 cigar!  There is one more old one left that I may have to smoke back to back with a new one just for kicks. I’ve smoked many, many cigars in this line over the years and the flavor has been remarkably consistent, aged or new. I don’t know if this is good or bad, I just know that I like the cigars!

I’ve been wanting to smoke a Cain F, but I also wanted to smoke something that isn’t receiving a lot of buzz lately and the Cain seems to be talked about quite frequently. So for Wednesday’s cigar I chose a CAO Italia Box Press that I got at the 2008 IPCPR show. These may not be for everyone, but I enjoy the sharp flavors the Italian tobacco adds to the blend from time to time.  This particular example was plagued with burn problems.  The wrapper wouldn’t burn…it was like the original H2000 leaf when it first came out (which, ironically, the Maria Mancini uses, and always burns well).  I had noticed a small tear in the wrapper just above the cap, but I don’t know that that was the whole problem as I was able to cover the tear with my lips. I emptied one lighter trying to keep it burning, and when it finally did get going with about 2 inches to go I probably got a little overzealous with it and ended up curled up on the couch in a fetal position for the rest of the evening.  It’s not often that a cigar gets the best of me, but this one did.  I have a few more Italias in the humidor that I hope are better smokes than this one was. It was quite a disappointing experience.

Another reasonably disappointing cigar was tonight’s Montecristo.  It was a small cigar, not even sure where it came from or how long it’s been floating around the coolerdor, but it was about 4″ x 42 or 44.  It had a bit of a sour taste about half way through.  It fit the time I had allotted just fine, so that was a plus, but it just wasn’t all that good.

I noticed that the Romeo y Julieta Habana Reserve deal is still out there at http://www.ryjhabanareserveoffer.com/promo0828.html.  Nice cigars for $2 each delivered!  I gotta think anytime you can get a cigar that’s smokable for $2-$3 it’s a deal, let alone a name brand premium. The RyJ is a nice cigar, and even if it’s not your cup of tea, it’s nice to have on hand to gift to someone.

It’s a new month, so keep an eye out for this month’s contest coming soon. Also, remember you can subscribe to receive e-mails when this page is updated, and you can follow me on Twitter (@cigarcraig).  Also, I’m working on a new front page for CigarCraig.com.  Stay Tuned!

Finally, here’s a short video that my wife and son put together for me a bit ago:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYk3-5Hivfs

Until the next cigar,

Cigar Craig
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