I’m going to try out a different posting schedule starting this week. I’m cutting my regular posts back to Sundays only, which will be the usual recap of notable (to me) cigars I smoked that week. I’ll post here and there during the week as something comes up, an event, an interesting cigar, or a news item, or not, however I feel. I’ve been putting a lot of pressure on myself to keep the Sunday/Wednesday schedule going, and I have to admit, posting from my dying father’s hospital room put things into perspective for me. It may result in more posts that are focused on one thing, or I may take a week off, we’ll see how it goes. I’m also happy to post “Honorary Craig for a Day” posts if they come my way. I mainly want to avoid burning out, especially as the site continues to gain popularity. This plan should be better for everyone all the way around.
Last July I was in Chicago herfing around town for a few days, and I was given a Room 101 Daruna Mutante Lancero. I managed to stumble into a herf at Tesa Cigars, there were folks there from the BOTL and Saints and Sinners groups, and they welcomed me into their event. I gave someone a cigar that they mentioned they hadn’t tried, it might have been a Leccia Luchador, and they reciprocated with this lancero, employing the time honored excuse of having to make room in the traveldor. It was not necessary, but much appreciated. This one had managed to migrate to the top of the lancero shelf in the humidor, so it caught my eye I needed to be smoked. The cigar is a beautiful classic pigtailed lancero measuring 7″ x 38, and smoked very well. The Screwpop 2.0 punch is about 10mm in diameter which made a perfect hole in the cap, no burn or draw issues were experienced. It had a nice little kick with a hint of sweetness from the Brazilian Mata Fina used as the binder. It was an elegant smoke, both in shape and flavor. I’m reminded that I haven’t smoked this cigar’s cousins, Camacho, in quite a while and will have to scare one up. Thank you to the gentleman who gave me this fine cigar.
Friday happened to me Bernie Parent’s 70th birthday, In his honor I smoked the Lord Stanley from the BSB 40th Anniversary by Bernie Parent sampler. Of course, Bernie Parent is the legendary goalie who led the Philadelphia Flyers to back to back Stanley Cup wins in 1974 and 1975, winning the Vezina and Conn Smyth trophies in the same years. The sampler commemorates the never before and never since winning of all three trophies in back to back years. Bernie is a great story teller and truly loves cigars, so much so that Rocky Patel created this line. I decided to smoke the Lord Stanley, the box pressed Sumatra wrapped cigar that’s about 6½” x 50 (I could grab another out of the box to measure, but the humidor is all the way across the house. Sadly nobody mentions the sizes of these online, more on that later). The cigar was good, very pleasant flavors, but nothing so spectacular as to warrant the $12 price tag in my opinion. I don’t regret the purchase though, I bought a 
single of each and the box containing four each of the three cigars and an autographed puck, and I had Bernie sign the box in front of me (and I got to spend a great evening listening to his stories), so it was worth it. I just have to decide if I will regret smoking through the box one day or if I should keep it intact. Not being a collector, I’m inclined to smoke them, maybe the Flyers will win another Cup in my lifetime, at which time I’ll have a great box of cigars to break out!
I often link back to the manufacturers websites in my posts as a reference to myself and so my readers can get more information if they desire. I get frustrated by companies not having information on their sites about the cigars, as is the case with Room 101 and the BSB (I really searched through Rocky’s site, saw the HR500 listed, but no BSB, and there are a lot of lines to sift through!). It takes so little effort and expense to include information about the cigars, I don’t understand why in 2015 companies cant get the most up to day information on their sites in an easy to find manner. For this reason, I link to a sponsor’s retail website, or reputable information and review sites such as Halfwheel or Cigar-Coop, to fill in the blanks.
Yesterday I took a nice long walk with a La Gloria Cubana Artesanos Retro Especiale Cubano. I was given a box of these back in 2011 when I had the great pleasure of visiting General Cigar’s operations in Santiago, DR, and am down to the last few from that box. It’s a big cigar at 6½” x 58. The cellophane is now a nice amber color, and, all things considered, these have aged nicely. The concept behind this line originally was to downplay the contribution of the wrapper to the flavor of the cigar and let the filler blend shine. I can’t really comment on this without trying it with other wrappers, but the wrapper is a hybrid Connecticut seed grown in Honduras, so I can understand where it would theoretically be a very mild flavored wrapper. I’ve smoked a bunch of these over the years and have always enjoyed the balance and medium bodied strength and flavor this cigar has. It’s right up there with my favorite LGCs, and I’ve been smoking La Glorias for almost 20 years. It’s a cigar that can be smoked at any time of the say and enjoyed, and they hold up over time, while it hasn’t gotten markedly better, it hasn’t lost anything either.
Happy Easter and Passover everyone! I’m off to load up yet another rental truck with furniture to move from the old house to the new one…one step closer to getting that job done!
Until the next time,
CigarCraig
Thanks for the shoutout and Happy Easter. I know this has been a difficult week for you.
The cigar industry really doesn’t do a good job at leveraging part of the online media spectrum. I’m not calling out Rocky Patel specifically, but in general they seem more complacent to put teasers out on social media, send a letter to retailers with the new products and be done with it. They have a tough time realizing the opportunity by getting the information into the media’s hands. In some ways, getting a product sample is easier than getting press information. And as you said, it could be as simple as putting it out on a website and sending the URL!
Typically with shop exclusives and regionals, I’ve noticed companies dont want to invest in marketing and tend to push this down to the retailer level. Bernie Parent’s line has been an enigma. For the past two years its been really more of a regional release, but I would think the marketing investment in doing a website and some simple press releases would help grow the brand. I love the concept, I love the cigars, but its been an unheard cigar in North Carolina.
The dividends I think pay back as you said – even with you linking back to the information.
Craig, I fully agree with you in regard to your frustration in trying to glean information from manufacturers. It seems that I often spend a lot more time trying to find out about a cigar than I do smoking and reviewing it. It seems useless to put up a website if they don’t update or provide viable info, and it’s also a pain when they don’t even bother to answer your (multiple) emails or queries using their contact page. Thankfully, there are sources such as Will and Halfwheel who seem to care more about disseminating information than the cigar companies themselves.
I hope that things are settling down for you now, and I look forward to seeing how the blog will evolve from here.
My birthday is Tuesday. I have a couple smaller Ancient Warriors I hope to have time to smoke then. Not my favorite, but it’s what I have left, and they have some age on them, it will be interesting to see how they have developed.
Happy Birthday to you buddy!
I certainly can understand how putting out a document such as this one twice weekly would tend to burn a person out. It is not made easier when manufacturers bury information about the products you want to write about. Combine that with the fact that CigarCraig is an avocation, it becomes less a labor of love and more just another job. Good luck. I know it will lighten the load.
Craig, Take care of yourself!!! I think taking a week off to just relax would do you wonders bro!