An Ora Vivo, a Macanudo, a Padilla and the Gurkha Cigar Contest Winner!

Wow. Monday was a huge day as far as website traffic and comments went. It actually eclipsed my best day ever, last December when I was giving away a bunch of Drew Estate cigars and swag! I seem to have severely underestimated the Gurkha Nation, they are a force to be reckoned with! We have a crazy number of entries, stay tuned for the winner announcement after we talk about a couple cigars I smoked this week!

Sunday afternoon I took a really long walk with a Ora Vivo Armand Assante 7½” x 58. This is a cigar that was released that the 2013 IPCPR show by Victor Vitale’s Legacy Brands. I published a story and video about it here. This example was a gift from my dear friend Mike Perry up in New York State, and I’ve since purchased a robusto while I was in New Hampshire a few weeks ago. Who would have thought I would smoke this great big cigar before the much more manageable 5” x 54 in October when it’s getting cooler and the days are getting shorter! The one word which comes to mind with this cigar is “elegance”. The band is beautiful, the wrapper is flawless and the smoke is smooth and tasty. It’s an expensive cigar, but I smoked it for two-plus hours and enjoyed every bit of it. Another winner from Victor Vitale. This would be incredible in a lancero!

Monday evening I stepped out of my comfort zone a little and selected an IPCPR sample from the General Cigar booth. Macanudo Estate Reserve is the new ultra-premium offering commemorating the brand’s 45th anniversary.  Most Macanudos have a Mexican binder, this one has a Dominican binder that’s 8-10 years old, covered with a Connecticut Shade wrapper.  The cigar is beautiful to look at and burned perfectly, with an equally perfect draw.  The No. III I smoked was a standard 5″ x 50 with a perfect round head.  It was mild and smooth and not without very nice flavors.  At $14 a piece, it should be perfect, as far as I’m concerned, but I’m a picky bastard. These are presented in boxes of ten in individual coffins at retail.  It would make a spiffy gift for the guy who likes milder cigars, that’s for sure. It’s one of those cigars that I’m thankful to have the opportunity to smoke.

Tuesday afternoon we settled on our old house, which had been on the market for the last year.  To celebrate, after my wife and I went out to a nice dinner, I pulled out a Padilla Studio Tobac Figurado which had been given to me by my favorite local cigar rep, Oliva‘s Mike Staiber.  This is a 6″ x 60 perfecto which was a joint venture between Padilla Cigars and Oliva’s Studio Tobac arm.  It uses an Ecuador Habano wrapper and Nicaraguan fillers.  To be honest, I expected to have my head blown off, but this cigar bordered on mild.  I’m not complaining, mind you, it was great fun to smoke and super tasty.  I never had to touch it up, and really had a hard time putting it down.  It was awesome.  This is another once in a lifetime smoke for me, probably, and it was worth the time spent smoking it for sure.  It was later than I usually go for a smoke, usually in that case I’d pick something smaller, but this was a celebratory smoke and I wanted something special. I got something special, it was delightful down to the tiniest nub (and I think I’m officially allowed to use the word “nub” since I’m talking about a cigar from the same manufacturer of the Nub line!) Thanks Mike!

Contest Winner

OK, I know, everyone just wants to know who won the Gurkha prize pack I put together.  As I said earlier, the turnout was awesome.  We had 193 entries, almost doubling up the previous best showing.  If this is any indication, this Christmas contests is going to be pretty rough (for me!).  Anyway, I plugged 193 into the Random.org random number generator and it spit back the number 65.  Give me a while to figure out who that was…..OK, I’m back.  The winner is Gabriel!
I need you to e-mail me your contact information so I can get this out to you.  I don’t want to have to chase you down!!  Thanks to everyone for entering! Contests are always a lot of fun, which is one of the reasons I torture myself and my family every December for 2 weeks! Many thanks again to Gurkha for making this possible.

That’s enough for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig