I decided to take a drive back down to Light’n Up Cigars in Frazer, PA to use my last LivingSocial Coupon that I got from my daughter for Father’s Day. My sons had some stops they wanted to make, so we made the cigar shop one of our stops. The shelves were nearly bare. They had gotten some boxes of Art Decos in, from the looks of the full tin boxes, so I grabbed one of those, as well as a La Traviata natural (which I still haven’t tried, I had the Maduro and wasn’t impressed), and an Alec Bradley American Classic, probably for next July 4th. Another three new inmates in the asylum.
I have a couple of traditions when Independence Day comes along. As the 4th is my wedding anniversary, as well as our nation’s birthday, I always like to exercise some civil disobedience and smoke a fine Havana cigar. This year I went with a very old Partagas Short. While not a huge cigar, it’s got enormous flavor. I love these little guys and this one had been sitting around the humidors for the better part of the last decade. It burned great and was a very nice companion while the grill got fired up. Nice little cigar.
After burgers and hot dogs while waiting around for fireworks to start, I decided on a CAO America Constitution that I had received at the CAO party at the IPCPR show in 2008. High marks for presentation on this dos capas cigar, with a nice Connecticut Broadleaf over a Connecticut shade wrapper, only revealing a pinstripe of the shade wrapper, a very nice spin on the barber pole wrapper. The cigar was very nice, although not really overly distinctive. It was a good cigar, no question, but not one I’d go out of my way for particularly. Love the band and, in this case, I’ll even tolerate the foot band.
Take A Cigar For A Walk
Tuesday I felt the need to take a power walk. Some people will take hand weights on their walk. I decided to take a heavy cigar. A couple weeks back I received a package from Jonathan Drew with two of his new cigar, My Uzi Weighs A Ton in the 5″ x 60 and 7″ x 60 sizes, along with a really cool Liga Privada cap, which matches my hair color in black and silver. This new line is from Jonathan’s Subculture Studios and Joya de Nicaragua, using tobacco from both Drew Estate and Joya de Nicaragua and rolled at the Joya de Nicaragua factory. I opted for the 5″ x 60 for my walk, which took me almost 3 miles. Based on the description of the blend of this cigar, I must admit I was expecting a little richer flavor. The burn was perfect, which is to be expected from cigars rolled at the Joya de Nicaragua factory, and has Jonathan’s hand in it. The Mexican wrapper wasn’t as flavorful as I would have thought, and I expected more from the Brazilian filler. I still really enjoyed this cigar, and I can’t wait to smoke the 7″ monster. I think I’ll use a stopwatch with that and a 7″ lancero and see if my theory that length is the biggest factor in smoking time holds true. Many thanks to Jonathan for sending me these goodies!
In The News
The Monday Philadelphia Inquirer ran an article on a new shop in town, Xhale Lounge. I dropped Brad, the owner a note and hope to catch up with him in Vegas, and eventually visit his shop. Here’s a link to the story: http://articles.philly.com/2011-07-04/business/29736221_1_cigar-shop-cigar-industry-cigar-smokers It was nice to see an article about something so un-PC as a cigar shop! The paper had large, color photos and everything!
That’s it for now. Don’t forget to go back and enter the contest that ends this Saturday. Leave a comment with a link to a patriotic picture on any post since the contest started back on June 19th. Since there were some technical difficulties on my provider’s end, I felt like I should loosen up the rules. There have been three very cool entries and it will be hard to pick a winner so far. Please make it even harder with more entries!
Until next time,
CigarCraig
First, I’d like to thank Luis Garcia, owner of Oja Cigars, for generously providing this box of his Oja Mestizo Artefacto cigars for this contest. I’d also like to thank everyone who voted for helping me select a winner. There’s no way I could have decided on my own. The poll says it all, winning with 42% of the vote is Lloyd Ladrillono! Congrats Lloyd! I know you will enjoy these cigars and thanks for being a loyal reader!
