Announcement! CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways (and a Los Regalos)

It’s that time of year again folks, it’s time to officially announce the 2012 CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways!  Last year’s contests were pretty spectacular, but this years will be better!  We’ve  got an abundance of samplers, boxes, accessories from all of your favorite companies, and maybe a couple new and interesting items that you haven’t heard of yet.  The rules are simple.  Every day starting Wednesday, December 12, 2012, around 7 AM Eastern Standard Time I will post that days present.  You’re job will be to leave a comment which will serve as your entry.  Feel free to Tweet about it, Post it on Facebook, post it in whatever groups or forums you like, but only the comment counts as an entry.  Also, I can see your IP address on your comments so no stuffing the ballot box please!  One entry per person per day.  My usual contest rules exclude winners from previous contests  for 6 months, this rule is suspended so everyone starts fresh.  However, once you’ve won a present in the 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways you are no longer eligible to win.  I know everyone will behave.  Some gifts are being shipped directly from their contributors, and some are being shipped by me.  I will ship items when I get the chance, please remember it’s a busy time of year for all of us!  If you’ve won, it will be announced the next day, so be sure to check back.  The winner will need to e-mail me their name and address at their earliest convenience.

Many thanks to the generous sponsors of this event!  I always say, sure, I could do this without them, but it would cost me a FORTUNE!

They are (in alphabetical order):

AJ Fernandez Cigars

CAO Cigars/General Cigar Co.

Drew Estate

Emilio Cigars

Foundry Cigars/General Cigar Co.

NewestCigars.com

Oliva Cigars 

StogieBoys.com 

The Cigar Agency 

Tobaccos Mata Fina USA

Toraño Family Cigars

United Cigar Retailers

Villiger Cigars North America

These folks all went above and beyond as you will see over the coming two weeks.  I get excited about this all year long, and even though it’s a lot of work, it’s so much fun!  Stay tuned for Day 1 on Wednesday and good luck to everyone who participates!

One Last Cigar recap:

As much as running contests for 12 consecutive days is almost a full time job (and thanks in advance to my wife for all her help) it allows me to just grab a cigar from the humidor to smoke and enjoy without having to take pictures or really worry about all the particulars.  However, I need to slip  in one last cigar before my hiatus (although I will be reporting on a cigar event I’m attending tomorrow evening).  This week I fired up a Los Regalos Quetzal from Emilio Cigars.  The cigar was a toro size, and had a little firmer draw than I’d have liked.  It was also much milder than I expected.  Other folks whose, palates I respect, have called this medium to full, and I didn’t get that at all.  Perhaps the firm draw caused me to perceive it as mild.  That’s not a complaint, mind you, but illustration of how preconceived notions can color perception.  The cigar burned well and had a pleasing flavor, with little, delicate flavors popping in and out from time to time that kept me on my toes.  Does the draw effect flavor? Absolutely!  Is everyone’s palate different?  Once again, absolutely.  This is a cigar I will revisit, I know a shop not far from here that’s sure to carry them!  I’ll hold off until conditions are better as I didn’t think this was an ideal cold weather cigar. Thanks to Gary Griffith for sending a sample of this cigar for me to try.  He’s been loading me up with samples of the lines he’s distributing and they all seem to have one thing in common:  I love them!

And finally, I’ll leave you with the video I closed last year’s contest series with, Alan Bernhoft’s Christmas Classic, Imagine Christmas.

httpv://youtu.be/AioTRzrMlBw

Until the next time,

CigarCraig