Monthly Archives: May 2013

by CigarCraig | May 12, 2013 · 10:54 am

Trip Report: Drew Estate Cigar Safari – Part 3 (And a Contest, AGAIN!)

In the last installment (http://www.cigarcraig.com/?p=5594) I offered two five-packs of My Uzi Weighs a Ton Baitfish and some other gooddies (including surprises!) to whomever could guess how many banded cigars I smoked and noone got the right number! So, go back an look at all the numbers and try again! Rules are simple: guess a number (your best path to success is to NOT guess a number that was previously guessed, as we know that they are all wrong!) I understand that this makes it a little harder, but that’s the deal, so there! I’ll attempt to select a winner on Wednesday! Remember, the wrong answers are here. Good luck!

We left off on Monday, April 29, having visited both the Oliva Tobacco operations and the Joya de Nicaragua factories, having had a ton of knowledge dropped on us at every turn. Tuesday evening was spent hanging out after dinner and socializing and smoking cigars. It had been a good day. Tuesday morning we awoke bright and early in anticipation of touring Drew Estate’s pre-industry operations, their new construction, as well as the factory and Subculture Studio (which I’ll cover on Wednesday). I was looking for a “start the day” smoke, a rare treat for me, as I hung around with Will Cooper and Stace Berkland waiting for breakfast. When one has to choose a cigar from the likes of Liga Privada T52, No.9 and Dirty Rats, Joya de Nicaragua Antaño 1970, MUWAT 7×60 and Undercrown first thing in the morning it’s tough, you know? Fortunately there was also a box of Hererra Esteli there which would server quite well as a morning smoke (sure, I could have been cliché and smoked a Tabak Especiale, not that there’s anything wrong with that). Anyway, the Hererra Esteli is a terrific smoke, Willy was with us the whole trip, and I am sorry I couldn’t manage to see him last week when he visited a shop about 20 miles away. We boarded the bus and headed to one of the Drew Estate tobacco bodegas in town, of which they have several. Here they were storing tobacco in pilons, carefully monitoring them and turning them as needed. They also had storage in bales and more sorting operations. Steve and Nicholas walked us through the entire operation. They use different colored string to tie the hands of tobacco together when they sort it to identify the priming and are very conscientious about what goes where. Once again, I’m in awe of the detail that goes into these things we burn up in an hour or so. After this we returned to the Drew Estate factory and donned hardhats and took a tour of the new construction going on across the street of the building that will consolidate all of these little bodegas around town into one building. This is a 70,000 square foot warehouse which will be state of the art, have storage and sorting operations and they anticipate it will be at capacity within 18 months! In the slideshow below you will see some pictures. After walking through the new construction (which includes a new cafeteria and healthcare clinic as well) we returned for lunch.

Here’s the slideshow:

httpv://youtu.be/QvyJm03UOmU

I’m going to cut it short here because it’s Mother’s Day and it’s beautiful out. Don’t forget, leave some more comments here with your gueses of how many banded cigars I smoked on the trip, and have a great day! Also, please join me in welcoming Tobacco Specialists to the CigarCraig.com family. They carry a wide range of tobacco products and accessories.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

29 Comments

Filed under Contest, Trip Report

Tagged as cigar, Cigar Safari, cigars, Contest, drew estate

by CigarCraig | May 8, 2013 · 6:56 pm

Trip Report: Drew Estate Cigar Safari – Part 2 (And a Contest!)

After visiting the Oliva Tobacco operations, we returned to the Drew Estate compound for a delicious lunch. The food is always great on the Cigar Safari, no need to worry about going hungry. I’ve evolved over the years, instead of having a cigar in my hand the entire time, I’ve begun waiting until down time to enjoy a smoke. There just seems to be too much to take in on these tours to be concerned with a cigar, and I’m juggling cameras as well. I’ve lost track of what I smoked when, but all the cigars smoked there were good! More on that later…

Since Will Cooper (cigar-coop.com) recently posted an excellent article on the Joya de Nicaragua factory history, direction and the presentation that we were given, in today’s installment I’ll focus on an exercise administered by José Blanco, a gentleman who is a legend in the industry and whom we had the great privilege to spend quite a bit of time with on this trip. In the past we took part in a blending session consisting of wrapper, binder and filler tobaccos from the Esteli, Condega and Jalapa tobacco growing regions of Nicaragua. I must say that I still enjoy the cigars I blended at Joya de Nicaragua on my last visit in March of 2011, I have 2 left. Since we had all done that before, José Blanco and the group there decided that we should do something different. We were given an exercise. We would be given three little cigars that Jose called “Grado Puro”, which were made entirely of one leaf variety, binder, wrapper and filler. These were different than the fumas style cigars I’ve had in the past for tasting tobaccos in that they were very nicely rolled little petit coronas. We were tasked with trying to determine the country of origin, the priming (Seco, Viso or Ligero) and list what we liked and disliked about each variety. Of course, this was a disaster for me, as well as many of my media compadres. I was fairly adept at mis-identifying each tobacco, and I probably didn’t even get my likes and dislikes right! I don’t think any of us expected one of the puros to be Peruvian tobacco! I had a Peruvian puro not too long ago and I missed that completely. After we fried our palates on the Grado Puros, we were asked to evaluate a 6″ x 60 unbanded cigar that we assumed may be a new offering, fully appreciating the folly of trying to taste anything at that point in the afternoon! Many bailed after the first inch or two, but I stuck with it for a while and while it started out a little slow, it built into a nice tasting smoke by the middle. I’ll be interested to see what this was, I suspect it was NOT a Nicaraguan puro, but what do I know?

Here is a slideshow of some photos I took while we were there:

Of course, The folks at Joya de Nicaragua were excellent hosts. Mario Perez is always a very knowledgeable and articulate host, and they have some younger folks working to update their image through social media and the like. The renovations they have done to the building, inside and out, are major improvements. The natural light and brightly painted walls make for a pleasant working environment inside, and the renovation to the facade of the building is both updated and an homage to the past simultaneously. Juan Martinez, Dr. Cuenca’s eldest son, is the new president of the company, and he’s obviously got his head on straight because he’s got a great group of folks and a terrific product to work with. I smoked an Antaño 1970 Consul last night and it was a terrific smoke, dense, rich and delicious!

You can see in the above before and after pictures the dramatic difference that they’ve made! Thank you to everyone at Joya de Nicaragua for rolling out the red carpet to us last week. I never tire of visiting your lovely factory!

Contest!

What the heck, I have some extra goodies laying around here that are relevant to the subject matter described herein, so let’s give stuff away! I have two 5-packs of My Uzi Weighs a Ton Baitfish, I MUWAT trucker cap, an Acid Bulletproof cutter, and some assorted surprise odds and ends I’ll scare up! I’m going to make you work this time. While I was at Cigar Safari I saved all of the bands from the cigars I smoked. Some were regular production, some had factory ID bands, but I have them here, and I need you to guess how many I have. The winner is whoever guesses correctly, or is closest by Sunday, May 12, 2013. Ties will be decided by the timestamp on the comment, so pay attention! Good luck, it may not be as easy as it sounds!

Here’s Will Cooper’s video of the presentation I mentioned earlier. Thanks, Will, for saving me the trouble of editing mine!

httpv://youtu.be/FNz9m8SlNco

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

CigarCraig

27 Comments

Filed under Contest, Trip Report

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Contest, drew estate, joya de nicaragua, My Uzi Weighs a Ton

by CigarCraig | May 5, 2013 · 1:26 pm

Trip Report: Drew Estate Cigar Safari – Part 1

On April 28 I began what would be my second Drew Estate Cigar Safari. This time was a little different than the last time, as this was a trip composed entirely of the media, bloggers and print media. I was fortunate to have already known all but 2 of my fellow Safarians, and it didn’t take long to get to know them. Present on this trip were Will of Cigar-Coop.com, Stace of LeafandGrape.com, Tony of CasasFumando.com, Brian and Ben from StogieReview.com, Jay and Dan from Cigar Press Magazine and Steve from Tobacconist Magazine and myself. After an uneventful couple of plane rides, we landed in Managua and got through immigration without issue. Pedro was, of course, waiting for us with the bus to take us on our journey. Because this was a media trip, we skipped the sightseeing portion usually present on the Cigar Safari, and, after a delicious lunch, headed to Esteli. Sunday evening was pretty laid back and after dinner we just kind of sat around socializing over cigars.

Monday we arose bright and early to an excellent breakfast, then loaded onto the bus to visit the Oliva Tobacco Company‘s farm in Esteli, Finca La Joya. This late in the season most of the crop has already been harvested, but there were still some crops coming in and being hung in the massive curing barns. It’s here where one really starts to appreciate all the steps that go into making a premium cigar. On the farm the plants are raised from a seed, tended, weeded and thinned out, then planted in the field, then tended, weeded and thinned out. After several months they start methodically taking the leaves from the bottom of the plant, and hanging them in the barns. But they aren’t just randomly hung, they are paired and hung over sticks back to back and handled in such a way as to prevent damage and promote even coloration. The conditions in the barn are carefully monitored, the floor is soaked with water if it gets too dry, and charcoal is burned if it gets too humid. This is all just the first leg in the journey the tobacco takes on it’s way to becoming a cigar that we will spend an hour or so enjoying.

Fast forward about 6 months from when that tiny little seed is planted, and the tobacco is sorted for texture and size. They make bundles of leaves called “hands” and build very well organized piles called “pilons”. These pilons weigh about 5000 pounds and are closely monitored for temperature. When they reach a certain temperature for a certain amount of time they are taken apart and rearranged so the hands in the middle are on the outside, the top on the bottom and so forth. This takes a great deal of manpower and enough room to move 5000 pounds of tobacco around. This can be done several times over a course of months before the tobacco has properly fermented. I took a bunch of pictures while there, here’s the slideshow for your viewing pleasure. I’ll try to get some captions in there at some point, but please ask any questions you may have in the comments.

httpv://youtu.be/MtjxWS2IEXw

When the leaves are done doing their thing in the pilons, they are sorted once again for size, texture and color and compressed into more manageable bales which will be stored, typically by whomever purchased the tobacco, for several years. The tobacco continues to rest in these bales until it’s time to make cigars, at which time it’s sorted again. a few hundred hands have already touched each leaf and it’s not even close to being a cigar yet. There’s no way I can cover every aspect of the process, so these have just been the highpoints. It definitely illustrates the care and expense that goes into a bundle of leaves to which we set fire!!

Here’s a little video with Steve Saka and Nicholas Melillo of Drew Estate discussing some ways that conditions are maintained in a curing barn.

httpv://youtu.be/3HdpyCY–Rs

It’s at this point that we broke for lunch, and it’s a logical stopping point for today. Next time we will visit one of my favorite places, the Joya de Nicaragua factory. It’s a beautiful Sunday here in PA and I intend to make the best of it before having to go back to the office tomorrow after a week off.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Trip Report

Tagged as cigar, Cigar Safari, cigars, curing barn, drew estate, farms, oliva, sorting

by CigarCraig | May 4, 2013 · 10:10 am

Hanging Out With Ezra Zion Cigars, Nate McIntyre and Fred Rewey at the Wooden Indian

Friday afternoon my wife came across a tweet from Fred Rewey (@godfadr of Nomad Cigars) saying that he was going to be at an Ezra Zion event at the Wooden Indian Tobacconist in nearby Havertown. I had seen an e-mail about the event, and had no idea that the entire Ezra Zion contingent would be on hand, as well as Fred and Nate McIntyre, the national sales manager for Emilio Cigars, who distributes both the Ezra Zion and Nomad brands. I visit the Wooden Indian about as often as I visit any local shops, and Dave, the owner, is always friendly and hospitable. If I lived closer that 45 minutes away I would be there more often, but it’s worth the drive (and my daughter lives in the same town!) Dave’s selection is outstanding and he has the first Liga Privada Lounge, which has been covered on these pages in the past. We walked into the shop and were surprised to see Chris Kelly of Ezra Zion, as well Alan Fonseca and Kyle Hoover. Warm greetings all around what an unexpected surprise. Then Nate made an appearance and I finally got to meet Fred of Nomad.

I took a spin through the humidor and picked up a sampling of Fred’s Nomad line, as well as a few of the Ezra Zion Inception (now called Jamais Vu) in the new Tantrum size as well as the Gran Robusto. A Gran Robusto was the first lit, and it was terrific. The tobacco in these cigars is very well aged and top of the top quality. As much as it hurts me to spend $9+ on a cigar, these cigars are worth the occasional extravagance. When it looked like we’d be hanging out a little longer, I decided to try the Tantrum, which is a 4.44″ x 44 petite corona that they were referring to as a fire cracker. Obviously my tastebuds are still compromised from my experiences earlier in the week, because I found it to be a well balanced, full flavored little smoke, but I didn’t really get the strength. Like I said, I had a busy cigar week, your mileage may vary. If you get a chance to try any of the Ezra Zion offerings, loosen the purse strings and give them a try. They are pricey but worth it, and cheap SOB CigarCraig don’t say that about many cigars! I always enjoy seeing my many cigar friends and it was a great pleasure to finally meet Fred. Cigar people are so much fun!

Stay tuned for a series of posts about my recent trip to Drew Estate‘s Cigar Safari beginning mañana, Sunday May 5. There was so much information to report on, I barely will be able to do it justice. Needless to say, the work that goes into turning a tiny little seed into a premium cigar is tremendous! I’ll do my best, and I took a lot of pictures and video which I will share. Also, be sure to check out Cigar Federation, which is run by the same great guys at Ezra Zion Cigars. It’s a growing community that I will try to be more a part of.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Events, Stores

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Emilio, Ezra Zion, Nomad, wooden indian

by CigarCraig | May 1, 2013 · 5:00 am

Drew Estate Cigar Safari Quick Video

I’m actually still in Nicaragua enjoying the final hours of my trip to Cigar Safari. It’s been an incredibly informative trip and reinforces what I already knew: there’s a LOT of work that goes into a premium cigar! Many thanks to everyone at Drew Estate for having me! Because I’ll be spending all of Wednesday travelling, here’s a little video of some Liga Privadas being bunched and rolled.