Author Archives: Craig Vanderslice

by Craig Vanderslice | May 4, 2025 · 9:31 am

Aganorsa Supreme Leaf International Guest Craig Post

As some may know, my mother passed this week at the age of 90, after a very difficult month or so. I’m very fortunate to have a good support system, including friends who are willing to help me out maintaining consistency here. I didn’t even have to deputize an honorary Craig, I recruited an actual Craig, Craig Gilpin. Thank you, Craig, for your help. Without further ado:

Aganorsa Supreme Leaf International

cigar dimensions: 5 1/4 x 54.

Prices are $174.95 for a box, $94.75 for a 5-pack, and $18.95 for a single.

My friend Cigar Craig Vanderslice had gotten in touch with me to do a write-up on a cigar, and at first, I thought what a daunting task! Then I thought to myself, I’m honestly honored to be even thought of to do a task to help him out. He explained that his Mother had passed away and he needed a brief hiatus. I know personally that it is almost overwhelming with all the things you have to get done with arrangements and services, family matters, etc.

Well, luckily I had just recently received a 5-pack (Smoke Inn) The Aganorsa Leaf Supreme Leaf, but these happen to be for the international market. These were originally introduced at the InterTabac trade show in Dortmund, Germany back in 2024. I’ve come to grow rather fond of the excellent marketing that Terence Reilly, VP of Sales and Marketing, has been doing for quite some time now. Maybe, I just like to flex? I don’t know, but I do know that I’ve enjoyed greatly some of the past vitolas that I have had from this Supreme Leaf line, which started for me with a blind box purchase of the Supreme Leaf in the 6×54 Toro vitola. This international version is a 5 1/4 x 54 Robusto, which I happened to have purchased from Smoke Inn. I’ve been a fairly active “socialite” in the Facebook Smoke Inn Socialites group, and have not only had a great time with the people from the group, but the owner Abe Dababneh has also become a friend. Many of the people have become my friends, quite a few have become much more than just acquaintances. I’ve branched out from what was my cigar-buying comfort zone, basically from joining the Cigar of the Month club quite a few years back. I’ve gotten to try so many new cigars. Many I’ve never heard of or seen from some of my local cigar places. It ( the COTM) had been a big boost to my journey into the cigar world.

Anyway, onto the cigar! The International Supreme Leaf is a fairly limited release of just 2,024 10-count boxes. It’s a medium-strength Nicaraguan Corojo 99 wrapper, with both Nicaraguan binder and filler, so this is a classic Nicaraguan puro. I found the cigar to not be overly spicy at all. It was subtle, very nice. Decent smoke output although I did get a bit of a wonky burn that I did have a few touch ups but I do blame it more on me not letting it acclimate and get to my normal humidity of 68-69%. I don’t often retrohale but I do a few times during a cigar and this wasn’t what I’d call even remotely spicy. I got an almost raisin bread sweetness to it, which made this cigar right in my wheelhouse. (Am I somewhat biased being The Bread man?)

I felt that it had a bit more flavorful notes than some of the other vitolas of this line that I’ve had. Maybe it’s more complex for me than the others I’ve had, due to it being a more compact cigar. I don’t know. I have found that I’ve been favoring some of the smaller vitolas for a while now lately. I’ve talked with Cigar Craig about this in the past, and that I’m a tad personally perplexed by the love of some of the ginormous vitolas out there. I feel that some, no most, of the flavors and nuances get sort of lost in the airiness of those big ring cigars. Frankly, I also feel somewhat like it’s smoking a big kielbasa, and just seems a tad awkward. The Supreme Leaf, for me, is a very enjoyable cigar, and I will continue to “flex” it in my rotation and “validate” whenever I can. I’ll probably make a few more purchases to keep trying some of the newer releases in the Aganorsa line, since this has been a winner for me.

I thank you, Craig, for letting me do this and temporarily fill those shoes of yours. It was fun but not by any means easy and you make it look so easy!I genuinely send you my heartfelt condolences to all of you in your family during this time. Peace to you my friend, Craig the Bread man.

Once again, thank you brother Craig! I may have to think about offering. him a staff position! I think he’s qualified! Until the next time,

CigarCraig(s)

Aganorsa Signature, The GOAT and Oz Family Cigars

First off I feel the need to point something out. I received the press release for this year’s Punch Father’s Day release, Mr. Punch’s Weiners. I thought the Dad Bod was a terrible concept just about all around, some folks liked it. The band was dumb, packaging them in a can was dumb, overall I thought it sent a bad message: it’s OK to let yourself go. Not that I’m a fitness freak, I have a dad bod, but I don’t embrace it! The Dad’s Home Videos was very good, not a problem. I have a problems with the weiner theme, aside form the obvious, it seems to be a little close to the Fratello Vice-Versa, down to saying it can be smoked from either end. Now, it doesn’t claim to taste different depending on which way one smoked it, but the concept is the same. I know it’s not worth Omar’s time to do anything about it, both are limited editions, and General has deep enough pockets to defend themselves, but it would be a courtesy to look at things in the market and try not to blatantly copy them. At least they put them in packs of 10. I think Kevin (who played a big part in the Vice-Versa, by the way) should get on his 3D printer and make some hot dog roll cigar props and sell them in packs of eight!

That was a long way to get to the punch line, so let’s talk about some new-to-me cigars. In a recent visit to The Wooden Indian I picked up an Aganorsa Leaf Signature Selection Maduro Toro. This is a Nicaraguan Puro, mostly Nicaraguan Corojo with a touch of Nicaraguan Criollo 98 in the filler. I struggle with the Aganorsa lines, some I like, some not so much and I can’t seem to ever remember which ones fall into which category. I know I like the La Validation Maduro, that’s for sure. Will I remember the next time I’m faces with a choice? Who’s to say? I can say that I’m adding this to the list of Aganorsa cigars I like. It started with a dry cocoa powder kinda thing going on, and got sweeter as it went along. Burn and draw were great and it hit the spot. $13.50 well spent.

Next up from my Wooden Indian foray was an A.J. Fernandez cigar that I’ve heard a lot about, The Goat. This started life as a store exclusive for Nasser’s Lounge in Pétion-Ville, Haiti. I’ve never been there. It’s now in wider distribution, and is pricey for an A.J. Fernandez cigar , around $17. Also pricey for me, but I was interested and looking for new things. This has a San Andrés wrapper, Nicaraguan Corojo binder and Nicaraguan fillers. What’s not to like, right? Turns out, I liked it a lot. It was a 6″ x 52 toro, It was heavy, earthy and had some sweet espresso notes. It was very good, but outside my comfort zone price-wise. I’m notoriously frugal.

Finally I picked up an Oz Family Cigars Firsat, in the F54 size. This is a 7″ x 54 cigar, with a higher priming Ecuador Connecticut wrapper that I thought was pretty ugly. Many times ugly wrappers are very tasty. The binder is a Ecuador Habano with Nicaraguan fillers. I believe this is made at Casa Carillo in the DR. It’s a big cigar, and I sat down to watch a movie figuring it was going to take a good two hours to smoke. The flavors were nuts and leather, with a bit of creaminess and built up to a solid medium. This was a light (in weight) cigar, and was done in less than 90 minutes, which was a bit of a disappointment. $14 wasn’t a terrible price, it was a tasty cigar and it might work better in another size, or at least the same for less money.

That’s all I have for today. Don’t forget to check out the Flatbed Cigar Co. Daily Deal, there’s always something good (left sidebar). Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as A.J. Fernandez, Aganorsa Leaf, cigar, Cigar Prop, cigars, Firsat, Fratello, Oz Family Cigars, punch, Signature Selection, The Goat

by Craig Vanderslice | April 20, 2025 · 9:23 am

Some Macanudo and Punch Cigars

I wasn’t even really thinking that I only smoked Macanudo and Punch cigars for this week’s post, it just sort of happened that way! I was really impressed with the Macanudo Emissary España last year, it’s really good, and on the stronger side for a Macanudo. It has tobacco grown in Spain, and the new one, the Emissary France, believe it or not, has tobacco grown in France! The tobacco cultivated in the Mugron River Valley, where it gets an Atlantic sea breeze. Emissary France has an Ecuadorian Habano Wrapper (10-Year Aged), a USA Broadleaf Binder (10-Year Aged), and a filler blend composed of Dominican Piloto (10-Year Aged), USA Broadleaf (8-Year Aged), Brazilian Arapiraca (7-Year Aged) and French (4-Year Aged). This was a really interesting cigar, another Macanudo that’s up my alley. It’s bold, it has a lot of espresso, and a hint of Mesquite. Very interesting and entertaining! The last few weeks cigars have been more therapeutic than usual, and this one, although too short at 5″ x 50, was a hit.

In the spirit of the season, I finally completed an experiment. Back in March of 2020 I found a Macanudo 1968 that had been inadvertently left out and was on the dehydrated side. It measured only 35% on the Humidimeter. I labeled it with the date and humidity, and stashed it in a corner of one of the humidors. I hate to complain, but it actually took me a while to find it, I had forgotten which humidor it was in. This cigar was from a box that I was given in 2011 when I went to tour General Cigar’s operations in Santiago. I might still have one floating around somewhere, I don’t think this was the last one. Anyway, I took a Humidimeter reading and it was right around 60% so I lit it up yesterday while watching a movie. The Macanudo 1968 was probably the first of the stronger Macanudos, so I wasn’t worried it had aged out, more concerned with the dehydration. It actually smoked really well, tasted like an older cigar, mature, with some spice. It shows that resurrecting a cigar is possible, and probably didn’t take 5 years, I just kept forgetting about it!

Let’s move away from Macanudo and on to one of it’s stablemates, Punch. Punch is an old Cuban brand, with roots in the English market. So it stands to reason they would come out with seasonal releases with Chinese themes. It was food for a bit, then fireworks. This year’s is the Bottle Rocket. It comes in a single size , a 4½” x 50 figurado. It has a Mexican San Andrés wrapper, a Nicaraguan Estelí binder, and Nicaraguan, Dominican, and Honduran fillers. I have enjoyed ll of the cigars in Punch’s lunar new year series, and they are priced well. I was in The Wooden Indian Tobacconist yesterday grabbing a few cigars (sadly they were sold out of the WIT60, their 60th anniversary cigar made by Espinosa), and I saw the Bottle Rockets and they really are packed with a stick attached, my samples were sans stick. My notes said “tasty little bugger”, full bodied, loads of cocoa and a deceptively long burn time. I think I got over an hour out of this one. Another winner from Punch.

While at the Wooden Indian I grabbed a Punch Dad’s Home Movies and smoked it last night while not watching home movies. This is another perplexing branding theme for Punch. Every year ahead of Father’s Day they come out with some k

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hy themed cigar, this was last year’s and I’m just now getting around to trying it. I was especially critical of the “Dad Bod”, hated the name, the stupid necktie band, and samples I had were mostly damaged. I had one last week and it about fell apart. This one is more my speed. It’s a 6″ x 50 box pressed toro, made in Honduras with an Ecuador Habano wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and fillers, and not a hint of Honduran tobacco! This one started out with a dry cocoa powder flavor, then sweetened slightly. I’ll tell you what, for under $8 you could do a lot worse, I quite enjoyed this one. The branding is less egregious than the Dad Bod (which won a HalfWheel packaging award, go figure).

That’s all for today. If you’re given to celebrating the holy days this time of year, I hope they are enjoyable! Don’t forget to check the Flatbed Cigars Daily Deal on the left sidebar (or on their page), there’s always a great deal on some great cigars. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

Cuba Aliados, Some New CAO, Cohiba Cigars and an Ashtray Condom

I’m not in New Orleans for the PCA show, it was a combination of not being able to get the flights I wanted, the expense of it all, and having to tend to my mother that made me decide to skip it. I’ll try again next year. I have plenty of friends there now, watch for their content: CigarProp, Cigar Pulpit, Coop and his team, Boston Jimmie, Developing Palates, etc. I’d love to have been there just to hang with friends. I understand Anthony Mackey (Captain America/Falcon) was there and must have said something wrong to Abe Dababneh, because he’s launched a bit of a smear campaign saying he was a dick to everyone. I’d love to know the whole story. Anyway, I managed to get some cigars in this week. I started out with a Cuba Aliados Original Robusto. This came in the bag from the Cigar Circus event. I have had the Aliados that E.P. Carrillo made, but not this one. This one is made by JRE Tobacco Co. in Honduras and is a Honduran Puro. I remember smoking some Cuba Aliados back in the 90s, and I seem to recall it was a favorite of Steve Saka back then. It was originally made by the Reyes family, who also made the Puros Indios brand, which had a 18″ x 64 cigar called the Chief, and was a little bit notorious for having tight draws. True to it’s roots, this example was packed really tight at the head, and the draw was on the firm side. It still smoked OK, and started with a citric sting, and ended with some cane sugar. Nice cigar, I’ll try it again.

I got a few things in the mail this week that were a surprise. General Cigar sent some samples, and I figure while a lot of the folks who would have received this are away, I’d get a head start on this batch. First was the CAO Fasa Sombra. I rather enjoyed the Sol and Noche, I think they are some of the best CAO cigars in the post-Ricky Rodriguez era. This is a Shade wrapped cigar, Ecuadorian shade-grown wrapper, a Cameroon binder and a filler blend of Dominican and Nicaraguan tobaccos. I smoked the 6″ x 50 toro. This was a nice shade cigar, with some bready, nutty notes. It was very pleasant, nothing overly exciting, just a solid shade cigar. Although not my favorite Fasa, It’s a nice addition to the Fasa lineup. I’ve had worse CAOs (Firewalker anyone?).

General was very generous, they provided me with a $30 cigar, the Cohiba Serie M Reserva Azul. This is made at El Titan de Bronze, a factory which the Brand Ambassador for Cohiba, Sean Williams, has a history. When I first met Sean in 2011 he was working with Sandy and Willie Herrera at El Titan making his El Primer Mundo cigars there. The first Cohibas made at ETB were just called the Serie M, and were really quite good (the lonsdale was better than the toro, to me), and I never had the 2024 Reserva Roja. Reserva Azul’s blend is a Dominican Corojo wrapper, Esteli binder and Nicaraguan Jalapa Viso & Ligero, Nicaraguan Estelí and Dominican Piloto Cubano fillers. This is an exceptional cigar! It starts out with some baking spices, and there’s a sweetness that comes and goes, I’m reminded of spiced gumdrops. I really enjoyed the crap out of this cigar while watching hockey. It’s competing with the Cornelius and Anthony Cornelius for my favorite ETB cigar.

An envelope from Kevin at Cigar Prop arrived this week with a strip of Cigar Porn Ashtray Condoms. I feel like he’s pranking me. There have been some incredibly useless “Cigarbage” items I can think of. The Shurikan “cutter”, the Select Draw and Five Star piercing tools, and the Cigar Bib, all silly useless gadgets. Maybe I’m being overly cynical, but an adhesive backed silicon disc to adhere to ashtray stirrups is silly. I think it’s supposed to protect your cigar from germs, I don’t know about you, but I don’t set any part of the cigar that touches my lips on an ashtray. Besides being dumb, it’s a few years too late. Maybe it would be clever if it had your logo on it and you went around to lounges putting it on ashtrays to promote your brand, I don’t know. I wouldn’t do it. Anyway, thanks Kevin! (pictured on a Cigar Prop for irony sake).

I was going to talk about the new Macanudo Emissary, but I think I’ll save that for next week so I can smoke another one. I liked it, I just was distracted and didn’t take notes. I smoked a Panacea Green Label earlier in the week that was delicious, and I can’t stress enough how good the Panacea line is. Check the daily deals on the left sidebar, you can try some cheap, and you’ll be happy you did! That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Ashtray Condoms, CAO, cigar, cigars, cohiba, Cuba Aliados

by Craig Vanderslice | April 6, 2025 · 9:42 am

Platinum Nova, Aganorsa and a Cavalier Cigars

I still have a few new-to-me cigars from the past few month’s travels, one of which was a Platinum Nova Limited Series Torpedo. This is a 5½” x 55 torpedo with a Habano 2000 wrapper and Dominican binder and fillers. My first experience with Leo at Nova was at the 2020 TPE show, where they introduced me to a dizzying array of cigars. This year at the TPE, Leo hooked me up with some that I hadn’t had yet, including this one. This is a pricey cigar, $30 by my figuring, and I always appreciate Leo’s generosity. I’ve had a trying week, with basically forcing my aging mother into the hospital because she wasn’t well. This cigar was a delightful distraction. To me it had a distinct floral flavor, not exactly light, but tasty in a non-overbearing way. It burned well and had a sophisticated way about it. Certainly not something I like every day, but as wonderful change of pace. I may have smoked this before, it had a familiarity abou it

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. If it’s a repeat, I apologize!

Next up was a cigar I got from the Cigar Circus in Clearwater last month. I had no idea what this Aganorsa cigar was, so I asked Terence Reilly and he told me it was a cigar that they make in Miami for events. It was something like 6” x 48 and that’s all I know about it. One would assume it’s all Aganorsa tobacco from Nicaragua. The f

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lavor was interesting, I put it in the wood spectrum, which isn’t normally my cup of tea, but it was good. Burn and draw was awesome and there was plenty of smoke. I may put the mooch on Terence when I see him next month at the Smoke-ones. Terence is one of the nicest guys around.

Some may not appreciate this, but yesterday I went to DC for the “Hands Off” rally. We just wandered around the mall area people watching. It was a good crowd, over two million people, and while people are obviously angry about what the cu

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rrent administration is doing, myself included, it was peaceful. I smoked a couple cigars (a Blackbird Flamingo Lancero and a Julius Caeser Toro, the JC felt appropriate) while walking around and didn’t get so much as a sideways glance. I was prepared to defend my form of protest and exercise of my inalienable rights, but it was never an issue. I’m glad I went, and I hope the large ou

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tpouring around the country opens some eyes.

When we finally got home I turned on the last period of the Flyers game and sat down with a Cavalier Geneve White Series Tempura. This is a smaller cigar, 4″ x 60 perfecto, very much like a Flying Pig, curly pigtail and all. Flying Pig is a standard vitola, not anything exclusive to Drew Estate, Saka reintroduced it after finding it in some literature from the 1890s. The white line was Sebastien’s original blend, starting life at the Plasencia factory, and I’m sure it’s made at their own factory now. This has a Habano wrapper, Connecticut binder and a filler blend from Nicaragua, Paraguay and the Dominican. Republic. Sebastien’s partner, Brian Motola, gave me this at the Cigar Circus event. This was nice way to cap off a long day. It’s medium bodied with some sweet wood and cocoa flavors. My only complaint is that it was too short!