Monthly Archives: October 2016

by | October 30, 2016 · 10:32 am

Davidoff, Tatuaje, and Surrogates Cigars and an Event

Davidoff_NicaraguaBox Pressed_robustoTo start of today I have to rewind to last Sunday, when I wrapped up a nice day in the city with a Davidoff Nicaragua Box Pressed Robusto, one of the new cigars in the line this year. If I was impressed with the toro, I was really impressed with the robusto! This one measures 5″ x 48, which feels even smaller with the box press. It features tobaccos from four growing regions in Nicaragua: Condega, Jalapa, Ometepe and Esteli, with the ligero coming from Esteli. As with the Toro, it burned perfectly as one would expect (or, dare I say, demand!), with a great draw, tons of rich, tasty smoke and a firm ash.  This is a special cigar, right up my alley in terms of flavor and strength, but  priced outside my personal comfort range, but for special cigars, my price threshold has been expanding recently. I would certainty recommend this cigar as a special occasion smoke. As I said of the toro, it’s yu

mmy.

 

Tatuaje K222Fast forward to Saturday, when I went back to one of my favorite shops, the Wooden Indian, where they were having a Halloween party of sorts, along with a combined My Father, Tatuaje, L’Atellier, Surogates event with KC Johnson on hand. I introduced myself to KC, apologizing for not having met him before, I saw him at the IPCPR show and I suppose he was with someone at the time or something, I just felt weird for not having met him before. He’s a super nice guy, friendly and knowledgeable and a good fit for the cigar business. While I was there I smoked the Tatuaje Reserva Miami K222, new this year, and an homage to Pete Johnson’s dog Kona, who lost his battle with cancer last year after losing a leg to the disease. I have a soft spot in my heart for three-legged dogs, and offered words of encouragement to Pete when Kona was losing his leg. In our dog’s case, when lost her leg to a bad break, not cancer, but it’s amazing how animals adapt, within days they are getting around fine. Anyway, I felt compelled to smoke the K222, and it’s a fantastic smoke. Take the afore-mentioned Davidoff, kick the strength up a notch, and the sophistication and subtlety down a notch, and you have the Tatuaje. If that sounds like a dig, it’s not, it a different experience but no less satisfying. The K222 is 5 7/8″ x 52 with an Ecuador Habano wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers and is made in the El Rey de los Habanos factory in Doral, Florida. Obviously the “K” stands for Kona, Pete’s Rottweiler, who passed away at 2:22 on April 22, hence the 222 in the name. It’s yet another great cigar from the Tatuaje line.

 

Surrogates_Animal Cracker_AC550While I was at the Wooden Indian, I kind gave Dave, the owner, a little grief about the inappropriateness of his Native American costume, with cultural appropriation being currently out of fashion. PC BS, nobody was insulted back in my childhood when we dressed as hobos, old ladies or banditos, I was even a mafioso once Halloween with a toy machine gun, offensive on several levels in today’s world. I guess if Dave had been standing outside his store with a bundle of cigars in his hand I would have gotten it, but I was slow on the uptake and only “got it” this morning. Anyway, I bought a Tatuaje Monster Series The Krueger, and I’m wondering if I should smoke it tomorrow evening, Halloween, or put it away for a while?  What do you all think?  I also picked up a couple of the Surrogates Animal Cracker AC550, as I’ve enjoyed several cigars in that line and hadn’t tried this one yet. I set one on fire last night and it’s a powerful, full flavored cigar. I loved the closed foot, it feels like it’s plugged on the Cold Draw (one of my favorite podcasts currently, BTW, an unsolicited plug), but upon setting fire to the foot it opens up and is perfect. This one has an Ecuador Habano Oscuro wrapper, burns well, produces lots of smoke and is a great cigar if one likes strong cigars (or needs a little help and doesn’t like taking laxatives, TMI?).  So far I’ve tried and liked the Broadleaf wrapped Skull Breaker and Bone Crusher, so I guess the Tramp Stamp and Crystal Baller are next on my to try list. These are made at the My Father factory in Esteli, and blended by Pete Johnson and the L’Atelier team. These aren’t subtle, the are aggressive, as the names might suggest, but are worth trying f you have a strong constitution!

 

That’s enough for now, I have a busy week, I’ve got a Prime Living Article deadline coming up, a weekend getaway that I need to write and schedule a post for, and various other preparations to make. since I was lazy last week and put off my usual Wednesday post for

Friday, I’m going to make every effort to get back on track this week and not be a slug. So, until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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by | October 28, 2016 · 7:59 pm

Island Lifestyle Aged Reserve Cigars and Tommy Bahama Accessories

Last summer I wandered into a Tommy Bahama store in a local mall because they had a sale, and I was looking for a very specific shirt, which they ended up finding for me and I shelled out what to me is quite a decent sum of money for clothing, something I generally don’t do. I was impressed with the service, the follow up e-mail from the store manager the next day, and especially, the fact that a Island Lifestylemainstream store had a nice selection of cigar accessories prominently displayed. I was excited when I received an e-mail from Ryan Frailing,  the Vice President of Island Lifestyle Importers, the exclusive designer and manufacturers of Tommy Bahama cigar accessories, asking if I would like to try out some of the cigars that they were making, along with their accessories. They are going to be distributing the Tommy Bahama line of accessories to traditional tobacconists as well as the Tommy Bahama stores, and created the Island Lifestyle Aged Reserve cigars to go along with them. The accessories were a large, durable ashtray with chrome, movable rests. The ashtray looks like a fine ceramic, but is actually a melamine so if you drop in on your porch it won’t break. It’s emblazoned with the Tommy Bahama logo and is a very nice piece. The other item was a rugged travel humidor, which will hold five 60 ring cigars, or 10 robustos, so it’s a little wider than a traditional Otterbox type case. The fit and finish are very nice, and it comes with a small bead-based humidifying element. It also has the Tommy Bahama logo on the top. They have a nice selection of cases, humidors, lighters and ashtrays.

 

Island Lifestyle Aged Reserve Maduro ToroThe cigars in the Island Lifestyle Aged Reserve range are Nicaraguan, and while I wasn’t able to find out where they are made, the ones I smoked were nicely constructed, and of the highest quality. They come in three wrappers, a Connecticut, Sun Grown, and Maduro, and in six sizes, Robusto, Corona Grande, Toro, Churchill, Torpedo and Gordo. I had the pleasure of smoking all three wrapper types in the Toro size, which is a 6″ x 54.  Obviously, I started with the Maduro, which was nicely IslandLifestyle_Sungrown_Torobalanced with a touch of the sweetness along with a little coffee bitterness one would expect. I enjoyed it greatly. The next night I went with the Sungrown, which was similar with more earthiness  than the maduro, but still a nice, well balanced smoke. I finished up the trio the next night with the Connecticut (pictured above), which, oddly enough, was my favorite of the bunch. It had a pleasant grassiness typical of that wrapper, and, much like the other two, was a solid medium bodied cigar. There was a little bit of dryness to them, which led me to mistakenly think there was some Dominican in the blend, but the information I got with the cigars says “aged tobaccos from Nicaragua and Connecticut”, so who am I to argue?  I’d smoke these again without hesitation, and, more importantly I think, wouldn’t think twice about sharing these with others. I’m very interested in finding out where these are produced. Thank you to Ryan for allowing me the opportunity to sample your products.

 

I was going to post this on Wednesday as I usually do, but I got lazy, so here is a rare Friday post.  I hope this doesn’t cause anyone any undue stress!  Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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by | October 23, 2016 · 9:01 am

Some Tatuaje Cigars, a Cromagon, an Event and a Disappontment

Killing a little time with a little Tatuaje Verocu at Holts. - @holtscigar @tatuajeincThursday evening my wife and I went into Philly for a show, and stopped into Holts for a quick cigar before hand. I picked out a Tatuaje Verocu No. 5 and we hung out in the lounge and watched the beginning of the Flyers home opener. The Verocu No. 5 is a 4″ x 40 little guy, with tons of flavor. It has an Ecuador wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and filler and is a terrific little treat. It went great with a cup of black coffee, and a relaxing hour in Holt’s lounge. It had that great cocoa and strong, black coffee flavor I love, with a hint of spice. These are very good cigars. Pete Johnson happened to be doing an event at Holt’s other location the same night, and was going to be in the downtown store Friday. I was sorry I didn’t catch up with him, but we had a nice evening anyway.

 

Friday I decided to give a reasonably new cigar a second chance, since to first one had some construction issues. I’m not going to name names in fairness to the cigar, as my experiences may have been atypical, but I will talk about the experience. Clever readers who folow me on social media will be able to connect the dots. This cigar has been resting in the humidor, along with all the other cigars I regularly smoke, since it came home from the IPCPR back in July. Basically, it burned and smoked like it was wet. Perhaps this particular wrapper, which is touted as a new hybrid leaf, just holds a lot of moisture and needs to be dry boxed or stored at a lower humidity. It just seemed wet to me. It wouldn’t stay lit, and when it was it had that steamy quality to Tired of fighting with the last cigar, switching to a Dunhill Aged Maduro - @alfreddunhillthe smoke. It was one of those rare cigars that makes me wish I carried a back-up on my walks.  When I got home I did something I rarely do and abandoned it and lit up a short robusto from Dunhill, their new Aged Maduro.  This just looks like a delicious cigar, but it had a funky flavor that I wasn’t

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expecting. I’m going to give this one a second chance as maybe my palate was out of whack from the first cigar, it’s not fair to make a judgement under those circumstances.

 

At Cigars International in Hamburg smoking an Avion Perfecto at a Drew Estate Event! @drewestatecigar @cigarsinternational @tatuajeinc @jonathandrew1 @drewestatepedro @drewestatedave @herreraesteliYesterday I went up to Cigars International in Hamburg as they were having a big Drew Estate event, and it was a rainy, ugly fall day. The CI

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store there is a destination, and adult Disneyland, and it’s hard not to spend five hours there. I went up with Mike C., and met an old friend there, and said hello to a bunch of my Drew Estate friends. I couldn’t decide on a DE cigar to smoke, it seems I’ve smoked everything I wanted to smoke from them, and had plenty in my humidor at home, so Mike and I went off the menu and picked out a couple Tatuaje Avion 11, a 6¾ x 52 perfecto. This was a beautifully crafted cigar with an Ecuador wrapper again, and Nicaraguan binder and filler much like the aforementioned Verocu. It started off with a blast of spice, settled into a rich Fomorianespresso and cocoa flavor, and finished of with some more spice. I noted that the burn was just about perfect, with a nice, flat ember that I really enjoy, as it shows the care that went into blending a cigar in a way that all the components burn at the same rate, a rare feat. After that I picked up some RoMaCraft Cromagnon Fomorian candela robustos, to finish off the afternoon. While this probably should have come before a full-bodied cigar like the Avion, it still has the horsepower to keep up, and I like the refreshing kind of feeling the candela wrapper gives this cigar. Of course, Jonathan Drew was scheduled to be at this event, and hadn’t shown by the time we left. It was nice to see a lot of my DE friends though, and we had a nice afternoon of conversation and cigars.

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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by | October 19, 2016 · 9:02 pm

Viva Republica Art of War Corona Gorda

Taking a walk with a Viva Republica Art of War 6x47 - @miamicigar @mcc_wood @vivarepublicaThis year at the IPCPR show, Jason Holley’s Viva Republica released the Art Of War, a larger format in the Warfare series. Jason works for Miami Cigar and Co. who distributes his brand, and has (as far as I know) a store in the north-eastern part of Pennsylvania. The sample provided came in a cardboard box and no band, I imagine the bands weren’t ready, or maybe this is how it’s being presented. I’ll be on the hunt for more of these and will update you on what I find. Did I just give away my final thoughts on this cigar?  I smoked the corona gorda, a 6″ x 47, which is a great size, it smokes a little longer than a robusto, but has a comfortable ring gauge. The cigar also has a “bun” style pigtail cap, which didn’t twist off as well as I would have liked, so it got a little help from the Xikar. The wrapper is a stalk cut Connecticut Broadleaf, not sure why they specify “stalk cut” as I was under the impression that all Connecticut Broadleaf was stalk cut. Whatever it’s called, it’s a fairly rustic wrapper, beautiful in it’s ugliness. On the other end is a unique feature, one which sets this cigar apart. The foot is covered, neatly, almost like a cap, not folded like most closed foot cigars. The other difference is that the leaf used on this looks like a Connecticut shade, but is listed as Dominican Candela. It’s beige, not green, so I imagine “claro” would be a better description. The rest of the blend is  Ecuadorian Sumatra binder and fillers of various priming’s from Colombia, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.

 

Ironically, I was deciding between this cigar and the Merlion maduro, both made at the La Aurora factory.  I took flame to the foot without toasting, which I generally do with a closed foot, no reason to waste that added boost of wrapper flavor. I got a blast of that sweet, creamy shade (in this case, “candela”) flavor that was really nice, then the broadleaf kicked in, and it was a great, dark, rich closed footespresso flavor that I love so. I don’t usually notice a “room note”, but two things happened tonight that made me think of it. First, I was walking on the local multi-use trail with Macha, and an approaching cyclist informed me that “we’re trying to breath here”, which I thought was odd since my cigar had been in my hand for a good minute as he was approaching me, not like he was behind me running into my smoke trail, so I have to imagine his spandex suit was inhibiting his  breathing as there’s no way he even smelled my cigar, let alone been effected by its smoke. I just laughed as I wasn’t quick enough to come back with something along the lines of “I’m trying to have a relaxing walk without the interference of a-holes…” or something. Anyway, I finish my cigar after my walk on the back porch and since the weather was nice, the door to the house was open, which usually isn’t a problem, but when I walked in it smelled like smoke drifted in and it smelled pretty bad, stale cigarette bad. So perhaps the “room no

te” on this one wasn’t great, but the flavor was and I’ll be in the market for more. The uniqueness of the flavor on the light up, through the strong, dark flavor intrigued me, and I was satisfied with the experience. One to look out for.

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That’s it for today. Feel free to spread Sunday’s post around if you want. There was some good feedback. Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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by | October 16, 2016 · 10:37 am

The Irony of Friday’s Executive Order Regarding Cuban Cigars

Since I managed to catch a cold, and can neither taste anything, nor even really have a desire to smoke a cigar, I figured today I would write about Friday’s executive order and how I think it’s weird. Let’s go back to January 2015, which is when President Obama, by executive order, made it legal for U.S. citizen, traveling to Cuba directly, to legally bring back $100 in cigars and alcohol. This was a big deal, as it had been illegal to spend money on Cuban goods of any kind, anywhere, for 52 years. I personally know several people who went to Cuba on “people to people” trips (toured cigar factories) and came home with their allotment, and that’s cool. Of course, the general public only read the headlines and deluged cigar retailers with questions about Cuban cigars. Remember, the year prior, the FDA released their deeming documents on regulating cigars that had everyone up in arms about the future of the premium cigar industry. I thought about taking a trip to Cuba, BTW, but for the money it would cost, I could go to Nicaragua twice and have as good a time. I know, it’s Cuba and it will change when the embargo is lifted and not be the back-in-time workers paradise it is now (sorry, my sarcasm filter broke there for a bit),  but I can’t justify the cost. Back to the subject at hand…

 

Starting Monday, October 17, 2016, it will now be perfectly legal to buy and bring into the US, Cuban cigars and rum, and, presumably, other Cuban goods (cite here). The quantities are limited by US Customs, I think there’s an $800 limit before you have to pay duties, and they can only be for personal use, not for resale. No container loads allowed.  That means don’t go calling up your local retailer asking if they are selling Cubans! Believe me, they will get tired of it. So, in a couple of weeks when I am in Reykjavik, Iceland I can buy Cuban cigars and legally bring them back, which I don’t expect to do, as I imagine they will be stupidly expensive. So this news is great for the uneducated, entitled, douchebag who has been smoking his fake Cohibas exclusively because they are the best in the world. Sorry if I offend any of the uneducated, entitled, douchebags reading…actually, no, I’m not.  Remember that 2014 FDA deeming document? Back in May, the FDA ignored all the comments that they were legally bound to read and respond to, ignored all the congressmen and senators who said regulating premium cigars wasn’t their intention in the Tobacco Control act, and went right ahead and imposed worse restrictions on premium cigars that they do on cigarettes! As a result, thousands of Americans will potentially be out of business, many of whom are our friends, not to mention tens of thousands of people in the cigar producing countries in the Caribbean and Central America, people already living in poverty. The president of the Dominican Republic has asked Mr. Obama to do something about the FDA thing, because of the economic harm it will do to his country, and the answer is allowing (and encouraging) the largest cigar market on the planet to buy unregulated, un-taxed cigars (from a communist country with human rights violations out the yingyang, no less)? So lets plunge five or six countries who rely on cigars further into third world country status, so we can normalize Cuban relations by letting people buy their luxury goods? It just makes no logical sense. Now, when it is legal to sell Cuban cigars in the US and they can tax them and subject them to all the FDA fees and regulations that the Cubans won’t pay anyway…wait, it still makes no sense. How else can I point out the absurdity of simultaneously supporting a communist regime, and making it impossible for legitimate businesses who have been legally participating in the American economy to continue? It irritates me that friend’s businesses get destroyed while people lose their shit buying Cuban cigars in other countries. Way to support small business in America!

 

I could keep going, and I realize that premium cigars represent only 0.1% of the tobacco industry in the US, but that’s a 0.1% I happen to care about, and have a lot of friends who put food in their children’s mouths as a result. Please go to CigarRights.org and sent your elected officials a letter, it’s the least you  can do, and might just help and certainly can’t hurt. Remember, you still can’t sell Cuban Cigars in the US, you still can’t order them online, but the customs folks can’t take those five Cuban Montecristos out of your shirt pocket and throw them in the trashcan anymore. The whole situation is offensive to people making better cigars and trying to save their livelihood.

 

On a more pleasant note, if you’re a fan of Sam Leccia, wrestling, or both, check out MarkOutRadio.com (NSFW) tonight, Sunday, October 16, 2016, at 5:00 Eastern where Sam will be a guest on the show.

 

That’s more than enough from me for today, until the next time (when I can taste things and enjoy some fine cigars, maybe I’ll smoke a pre-executive order contraband cigar and be a rebel!),

 

CigarCraig

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