First a couple housekeeping items! I sent Tim his prize from the ScrewPop contest yesterday, but I haven’t heard from Jeff Ketcham yet! Jeff was a prize winner in the 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways in 2011 and 2012, so I probably have an address someplace, but I hate to ship without verifying addresses. I suppose I’ll drop him a note if I don’t hear from him soon. I sure hate having to chase people :-). Speaking of the 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways, it’s on pace to commence on December 12, and if I had to start today I could pull off a 8 Crazy Days of Cigar Giveaways (don’t think it hasn’t crossed my mind, 12 days is a long stretch at an already busy time of year!) thanks to the generosity and expedience of several of this year’s sponsors! The prize coolerdor is filling up and it’s likely to be another exciting couple of weeks! If you aren’t already, subscribe to the e-mail list (on the left sidebar) so you get a reminder when I update, which in the case of the 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways will be daily! So get ready to join in the fun, I already have some great cigars lined up.
Thursday evening called for a short smoke. Last year when we went up to New Hampshire for a weekend we paid a visit to 2 Guys Smokeshop in Nashua to spend some time with David and Mr. Jonathan and I picked up a couple of David’s Hand Rolled Cigars that he had for Halloween. As you can see in the picture, this is about a 4″ x 50ish cigar wrapped in a paper wrapper similar to a Tootsie Roll candy wrapper made at the Camacho factory. I cant find any information on this cigar as it was a limited release, but remember them coming in jars. I think it’s a risky play packaging cigars to look like candy in this day and age, but I understand that it’s Dave’s bit of a middle finger to the nannies. Anyway, the cigar was pretty good, nothing really memorable or outstanding, just a nice, solid half hour smoke that behaved itself and was satisfying. I’m still stuck on using the Screwpop punch, which worked very well on this cigar (and the rest of the cigars I smoked this week, so I don’t have to repeat myself!) I have one left from last year, but I kinda wished I had bought more, as I can see that it would be fun to have a pocket full of these to share, perhaps on Halloween night while the dad’s are walking around with their kids. I’m sure that’s politically incorrect, but the heck with it!
Friday evening I wanted another shorter smoke, so I went with a Chillin’ Moose Corona from Foundry Tobacco. This is a budget cigar, comes in under $3.00 here in PA and is from the mind of Michael Giannini. I like the size of this corona, 5 ½” x 45, and features a blend of Nicaraguan, Dominican, US Broadleaf, and Mexican San Andres tobacco with an Ecuador Sumatra binder and a Connecticut Habano Rosado wrapper. That’s an impressive list of tobacco for a very inexpensive cigar. It is a very good cigar for the money, but, once again, it’s not particularly interesting, but it served its propose in being a good companion on my evening walk and giving me some entertainment. I’m a moose fan from way back so the packaging appeals to me, it’s a Chillin’ Moose! I also am a fan of the Foundry line in general, I enjoy the innovation and know I’m in for something unique and different when I light up a Foundry cigar.
Saturday after a nice steak dinner out with my wife, I came home to a La Antiqudad from My Father Cigars. This one was the Toro size, which is 5.6″ x 55, which is very close to the size of the Robusto in that line, which is 5.2″ x 52. This is a box pressed cigar with an Ecuador Habano Rosado wrapper surrounding a double binder of Nicaraguan Criollo and Corojo and Nicaraguan fillers from Esteli, Condega and Jalapa. I really enjoyed the rich, thick flavors that this cigar started out with. It had the “Pepin” spice to start out that seems to be a hallmark, and mellowed out about half way though. The burn was perfect, with one exception. At one point I noticed it flattened out in the flavor department, and the wrapper had stopped burning. I relit it and the flavor came right back, which tell you how much the wrapper contributes to the flavor. Good cigar, I’m glad I have a robusto in the humidor for another time. One other thing about this cigar is the band, which is absolutely beautiful and classic.
That’s it for today. Off to the new house to cut down some more shrubbery to make way for a fence that’s going in on Wednesday. Good fences make good neighbors and Macha need a safe place to run around when we aren’t taking our walks! So until the next time,
CigarCraig
Hmm, second attempt to leave a comment – maybe I have a bad connection. Anyway, I was saying how much I appreciate the novelty of the Tootsie Roll wrapper cigars, but you are right in pointing out the potential fro problems. Not only might the nannies not find the humor in it, but also there most certainly could be copy write and trademark issues.
Craig,
I’ve had the Chillin Moose, and I thought it was a very good cigar for the price too. Sometimes all you want something more than a yard gar but still an inexpensive cigar that you can enjoy at half attention as you’re doing something else but is still good. This cigar was like that – good not great, inexpensive so a very good value.
I always look forward to your 12 Days of Christmas! Its very generous of your sponsors — and you & your wife for your time!
Take care!
Wow! Nothing like a huge run-on sentence. Back away from the keyboard and drink your coffee first! Good rule – coffee first, then type.
I guess I’ll have to try the Moose since I enjoyed the 2014 and the 1968 so much. I certainly agree with you about the impressive array of tobacco in a $3 cigar.
Your friend with the Tootsie Roll cigar wrappers is probably treading on thin ice. Too bad we live is such a litigious society. You are dead on about one thing, though: they WOULD be good for hand outs to fathers that are out with their kids on Halloween. A great idea in spite of the potential problems.
Craig, thanks for chasing me down and thanks for the contest!