We left off on Sunday having had a nice Camacho Havana with my son and brother-in-law, and it seemed like a 2 cigar day, so I selected a La Gloria Cubana Artesanos de Tabaqueros Rothschild that I got last December when I went up to Famous Smoke Shop in Easton, PA to hang out with Michael Giannini. This was the version that starts our with a delicious Connecticut shade wrapper, then transitions to the Ecuador Sumatra wrapper. These are tasty little buggers, and I like them. This is a size that I believe is only available at their events, and it’s a shame, because it’s a great size and fit the time I had available perfectly. This unusual presentation really highlights the effect the wrapper has on the flavor of a cigar. I normally wait to remove the band, but with this one I took it off before I started, since it’s located so close to the foot. Expertly crafted, perfect burn, great smoke!
Monday evening I grabbed a few year old CAO Brazilia Gol. A few years back my wife got me several samplers of CAO cigars, and this is about the last of them. Really nice, dark, oily, sweet Brazilian wrapper surrounding tasty Nicaraguan fillers. There’s a handful of CAO cigars that I have enjoyed over the years, and this is one of them. Smoked this to a finger-burning nub. This one pre-dated the acquisition of CAO by General, but I’m sure that the current offerings are just as tasty, something I will explore the next time I see these in the shop.
Today we had temperatures in the 60s, making for a fine evening to smoke a cigar without gloves, cold toes or shivering. It was a very pleasant night for a walk with a nice, big cigar. A few months back I won a beautiful Griffin’s humidor from a Facebook contest that I either forgot, or didn’t realize I had entered. This is a lovely box, and I recently loaded it up for convenient upstairs storage, mostly with gifts, samples or singles purchases. I had pretty much been smoking out of the coolerdors for the last bunch of years, which are kept in the basement. I’m now fortunate enough to have two gorgeous desktop humidors, the first of which my wife had made for me for our tenth wedding anniversary, and it holds all those “special” cigars and doesn’t get opened very often. I’m rather enjoying going to this new humidor to pick a cigar, and will keep rotating singles out of the coolers for daily smoking. Tonight I selected a Murcielago Toro Grande that was basically a gift from my amigo Barry Stein on the DR trip last October. I had given Barry a Hoyo de Monterrey when he was without a cigar, and he later responded with this cigar. It’s among my favorite maduro cigars. I can’t think of a San Andreas Maduro wrapped cigar I don’t enjoy, and this one has all the components that I enjoy, a little bit of strength, sweet where it needs to be sweet, with a fine balance. Perfectly made, a great cigar. I know this is one of Eddie Ortega‘s favorites, which is the reason I so look forward to trying his new Serie D line. The Murcielago is a cigar well worth sampling.
In the News
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Just for fun, here’s another clipping from the archives of the Philadelphia Inquirer. This article is from the June 28, 1835 edition. It’s not easy to read, so click on the image to make it a little bigger. If only this attitude continued today!
That’s it for now, until the next time,
CigarCraig
Craig,
I really love the LGC Tabaqueros it is one of my favorite smokes and I always try to keep a couple in my humidor. I am so looking foward to some warm weather. Hate smoking outside in the cold. I have only smoked a large handfull of cigars this whole winter. I nedd some warm weather !!!
George
Craig,
I just enjoyed the “Gramalkin” you sent it was fabulous as was the weather today. My wife even took a few drags ! She actually enjoyed it and was able to discern many flavors. She sometimes will come out and smell my cigar smoke and give a Smell review. I trust her smell if the smoke offends her I will not buy another.. Just wanted to say thanx again for the cigars and I will be smoking that one again..If I can find them..
George..The Pacific Northwest..
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Craig, I am dealing with the opposite here. Our cool weather out here on the boat is long gone and now when we go out for an evening smoke (7pm-10pm), we return sweaty from the heat and humidity. I will have to get some more LGC’s. I still have one more of the Series N I received from you last year that I will save for a nice pool side day in port somewhere. Thanks again for the reviews, i enjoy reading them and broadening my cigar knowledge.
Allen….where the hell are you? Besides “out here on the boat”
I am in the waters around the middle eastern conflicts, about all I can say due to Operational Security.
And a big Thanks from me for defending our right to enjoy all those freedoms we often take for granted! Your sacrifices are deeply appreciated.
Craig,
I just polished off the “Gramalkin” you sent it was fabulous. I even talked the wife inot taking a couple of puffs. She actually enjoyed it. Sometimes she will come out and do a smell test of my stogies and if it offends her I will not buy more. Just wanted to say thanx for the cigars and the mugs. And I will be smoking that cigar again if I can find them..
George / The Pacific Northwest..