Author Archives: Craig Vanderslice

by Craig Vanderslice | December 18, 2023 · 7:00 am

Contest! Travel Humidor, Cap and Coozy from Cigars.com

It’s that time of year, and thanks to the folks at Cigars.com, we have a cool giveaway for you! They have provided me with a Montecristo Travel Humidor, a RoMEo Cap, and a Romeo y Julieta Can Coozy. I have seen a lot of travel humidors, but I was surprised when I opened this one up and it had wood inside instead of foam! This is a really nice item. I think everyone knows me well enough by now, I’ll be adding a few surprises to the humidor before I send it to the lucky winner! I can’t send out packages without cigars! Don’t worry, they will be consistent with the theme of the contest! This should make someone’s holiday a little brighter!

The usual process applies: Leave a comment on this post to enter. One entry per person, you must be of legal age in your jurisdiction, and the winner must contact me with your shipping details. I’ll announce the winner on Sunday, December 24, 2023. I might be able to find a little something to give away next week too!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, CIgars.com, Contest, Montecristo, Rome y Julieta, Romeo

by Craig Vanderslice | December 17, 2023 · 10:05 am

A Micallef and Some New Cigars from Cayman Cigar Co.

Before I get into a couple cigars, check in here tomorrow morning for a special giveaway. I keep remembering back a decade ago when I was doing the 12+ days of giveaways and thinking about how much fun that was, but how many hours I spent on it! It consumed me! I have a few good giveaways up my sleeve yet, I can’t let this time of year pass without giving some stuff away! Stop by any time during the week and leave a comment on the contest post to enter! Along the holiday festive spirit lines, my Secret Santa was local and dropped off a generous package to me this week. I had a problem that I was able to solve Friday evening so I dug right into the cigars and selected the Micallef Gomez/Sanchez Family 1934 Reserva Churchill. This is a beautiful 7″ x 52 double corona, and I believe this is a the Limitada Privada that was among the first Micallef cigars to come out, carrying a higher price tag. I’m not sure if knowing this was a super expensive cigar would have changed my decision to smoke it when I did or not, I was feeling pretty celebratory, having the kitchen sink clogged all week and fixing it without calling a plumber felt pretty good. This cigar had what I call bright tobacco flavors, with some floral, almost perfuminess especially in the second half. It was medium bodied and sophisticated and complex. Quite a nice smoke, and I thank my friend with the excellent first name for the special gift. He managed to present me with a selection of cigars that were almost all new to me, no easy feat.

Last week I heard from an old friend, Anthony, who I met back in 2011 on a trip to the Dominican Republic. He was a blogger then, and has since been a broker and done some other work in the cigar industry. I feel bad that I didn’t get a chance to catch up with him during a brief time when he was living up this way, but it was during that odd time in history around 2020 when things were weird and some of us didn’t get out much. Apparently he’s working with the guys at Cayman Cigar Co. in the Cayman Islands and had them send a couple of their newest blends. Yesterday seemed like a good day for aquatic themed cigars, since I managed to break a pipe in an upstairs bathroom sink that had always been really slow to drain. It resulted in cutting out wet drywall in a downstairs ceiling to find a hole in the pipe, and a bit of a mess. My project for today is fixing that problem. I love plumbing problems…so while I was trying to get a plan together I smoked the Mariner. This cigar has a Corojo wrapper, and is 5¼ x 50. Best I can figure, this is rolled in the factory in the Cayman Islands, by Maria Delvis Hernandez, their master roller who learned her craft in the Partagas factory in Havana. This had an interesting and different tobacco flavor. I don’t often get “salty”, but I think this one had it. Maybe that was the Mariner imagery in my head, or maybe it really was salty, but it was good, and it help prepare me for wet ceiling drywall and leaky drain pipes.

The other new cigar from Cayman, and one Anthony worked with them on developing, is the Caravel. Another 5¼” x 50, this one is made at Tabacalera la Isla, Hostos Quesada’s factory, in the Dominican Republic. One of my favorite cigars, the La Sirena Mexican Mermaid is made at this factory. This Robusto has an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper which is on the darker side, it could almost be confused for a Habano. It has fillers from the DR and Nicaragua. To me, this one was loaded with a citrus tang, I found it very refreshing. I may smoke another today after I fix the plumbing. Aside: the guy at Home Depot gave me a perfect setup last night: he asked if I was handy with a torch. I said, “sure, if I’m lighting a cigar!” For the record, I shy away from sweating pipes, using a torch in proximity to 60 year old rafters and waste pipes with possibly volatile gasses gives me the willies. I digress. I suppose I smoke enough cigars to be considered jaded when it comes to deciding whether a cigar is full bodied or not, this is described as full bodied, I found it pleasantly medium. This line is a bit more financially approachable than some of their others, I suspect the manufacturing costs are higher in the Cayman Islands thank in the DR. I’d love to visit some winter and see the factory ;-).

That’s all for today. Next Sunday will be Christmas Eve, so I’ll have to write a short post, announce the contest winner, and go shopping! Just kidding. Maybe. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

Comments Off on A Micallef and Some New Cigars from Cayman Cigar Co.

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Tagged as Caravel, Cayman Cigar Co., Gomez/Sanchez, Mariner, Micallef

by Craig Vanderslice | December 10, 2023 · 11:01 am

Boliche Blvd, Some Classic Fuentes and a 1502 Cigar

This week I found myself out and about more than usual! Monday I met up with my friend Steve Tabak from Tampa at the Cigar Mojo location nearest to me. I stopped into the Cigar Mojo original location on Thursday for their Fuente event, then was back at The Grove location Friday for a 1502 event. That’s enough running around for me for this month! Anyway, Monday I picked up a few of the new Boliche Blvd by West Tampa Tobacco. I had smoked a pre-release sample several months ago before I knew exactly what it was, and was looking forward to trying it again. This is made at the NACSA factory, which is the same factory that makes Dunbarton’s Mi Querida and Red Meat Lovers cigars, among others. This is a 6″ x 60 and is presented in boxes of 50, it’s a big box, and they only made 500 boxes. The blend has not been disclosed, all that is said is that the tobacco is sourced from the Oliva Tobacco Co., who owns part of the NACSA factory, so it could come from anywhere. It’s a medium to full bodied cigar, and I’m standing by my original impression that it’s more on the savory side than sweet. I smoked two this week and enjoyed them, not as much as I enjoy the Attic, Red or even the Black, I’m afraid, but I like that sweetness for the most part. Definitely a high quality cigar and worth a try! I wish I had gotten a chance to catch up with Ricky while he was in the area this weekend, but I hung out with Steve, which is always cool!

I stopped in to the King of Prussia Cigar Mojo location (King of Prussia is the name of the “town” in PA, home of one of the largest shopping malls in the country), because one doesn’t often come across Fuente events, and I wanted to see what was up. By the time I got there, maybe two hours after the event started, a lot of the selection was picked over. They had some nice sampler packs though, but I couldn’t justify the spend this time of year, I have a good many Fuente cigars in the humidor as it is. I did pick up some Hemingway Maduros, Short Story, Best Seller and a Classic, as they are few and far between. In my opinion, Fuente does some great work with Broadleaf, putting it on the Opus bunch to make the Ańejo made a better Opus, in my opinion. I think the Ańejo is about my favorite in the Fuente line. Don Carlos and Hemingways are a close second, and putting the Broadleaf on the Hemingway is a treat. The lounge was full at Mojo Thursday, so instead of sitting on their heated outdoor patio, I opted to go home and enjoy the Classic Maduro in my own heated patio. I love the over-roasted coffee flavor of this cigar, it’s not subtle or complex, it’s just good, and it’s fairly priced. I smoked the Best Seller yesterday and it’s more of the same, or I guess it’s less of the same, because it’s a smaller format! The neat thing about the Best Seller is that it has a really tight draw until it burns past the “nipple”, then it opens up and is perfect. The Classic is basically a Churchill in a perfecto shape, 7″ x 48, while the Best Seller is 5″ x 55. I’ve been smoking the Hemingway line for over 25 years and they never fail to disappoint.

Friday I stopped back into the Cigar Mojo The Grove location, with is close to home, to see an old friend, Enrique Sanchez of Global Premium Cigars. He was there with Ron Melendi, who is brokering the 1502 line in the Northeast. It’s been years since I have hung out with Enrique, it was great to be able to relax and enjoy a 1502 Ruby Toro with him and Ron. The 1502 Ruby Toro is a 6″ x 50 with a box press, and is made by Plasencia in Nicaragua. The wrapper is Ecuador Habano and the fillers are from Esteli and Jalapa in Nicaragua. As much as I love the Black Gold (the Maduro in the 1502 line), this Ruby really does it for me. This isn’t a new cigar, if you searched it on my site you’d find that I mentioned it back in 2012, back when 1502 was part of the House of Emilio distribution group. A lot has changed over the years, but this cigar remains consistent, it’s really good! There’s some spice and some citrus sweetness. I arrived fairly late at the shop, hung with the guys until closing, then went home and finished the cigar. I did, indeed relax and enjoy this cigar. I enjoyed catching up with my old friend, and finally meeting Ron, whom I’ve known of for years, I used to visit his shop in New York City, De La Concha from time to time.

I never said this was a new cigar blog, but a blog about my smoking experiences, although I do try to smoke newer stuff. This week was some oldies, but goodies! There are a lot of classic cigars that are worth smoking. I like to have certain Fuente cigars in my humidor all the time, I just love smoking them, and sometimes I don’t get around to them as much as I’d like. In other news, Secret Santa names have been selected and I’ll be working on putting my SS package together today. Don’t delay! Finally, stay tuned for a giveaway or two in the coming weeks! Tis the season! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Events, Review, Stores

Tagged as 1502 Cigars, Arturo Fuente, Best Seller, Boliche Blvd, cigar, cigars, Classic, Global Premium Cigars, Hemingway, Ruby, West Tampa Tobacco Co.

by Craig Vanderslice | December 3, 2023 · 9:43 am

Lampert Cigars 1675 Series and an Alec Bradley Fine and Rare

Last week I talked about the Dominican and Costa Rican Lampert cigars, this week I smoked their Nicaraguan selections. All three of these are made at the AgroIndustrial Nicaraguense de Tabacos S.A. in Condega, Nicaragua, which is owned by the Ortiz family of Omar and Indiana Ortiz fame. We have been hearing about Indiana Ortiz for a few years, She did some work with the Psycho Seven folks when they were around, and was then doing some things with Mombacho. Fingers crossed for Lampert Cigars! I was presented with the three cigars in the range, the Azul and Rojo in Robusto and the Morado in Toro. Now, one would think I’d smoke the Morado first, its a toro and it’s Maduro, but I bucked convention and went with the Edición Azul first. It was Thursday evening, I was getting started later than usual, and a 5″ x 50 rubusto fit the time best. Picking the right size cigar for the time at hand is an important skill to develop, I’m always available for consultation. Best advice is not to be in a position to need a smoke! Anyway, the Azul is not blue at all, it has an Ecuador wrapper (no further information, but it’s probably a Habano), Nicaraguan binder and fillers from Nicaragua and Peru. I do love a little Peruvian tobacco in the filler! This had a sweet cane flavor throughout, with that little twinge of peruvian spice. It was a thoroughly enjoyable cigar all the way through, and I’d love to sample the toro, and even their short robusto at 3¾” x 52 is very intriguing. So far, so good with the Lampert Nicaraguans!

Friday night was maduro toro time, so the Lampert Edición Morado. I joked that Morado was a misspelling of Maduro, of course it’s Spanish for Purple, This one was 6″ x 52, has a Mexican wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers. It’s listed as full strength, I found it to be medium personally, but I’m old and jaded. This was a good maduro cigar, it had some dark coffee, bittersweet chocolate, and maybe some dried black cherry notes, fairly typical of the genré. I enjoyed it immensely and, once again, am intrigued by that short robusto size. As much as I like Toros, Churchills, even Gordos from time to time, sometimes a short smoke is warranted! Maybe it’s a second smoke, maybe you aren’t sure if you are going to be interrupted, who knows? I know a guy who knows a guy, there has to be a shop that sells singles or 5ers.

Finally, yesterday afternoon (late morning, really), between running some errands, I decided to tackle the Edición Rojo. This one also lists the wrapper as Ecuador, but I’m going to say it’s a Connecticut Shade varietal. I’ve come to realize that the names of the cigars match up to the bands color, not the wrapper, so this doesn’t have a rosado wrapper, it’s on the dirty blond side, much like an Ecuador Connecticut would be. This was the 5″ x 50 Robusto size, and, while I really liked this cigar, I don’t know if the smaller size interests me as much. I found that this cigar had a lot in common with the Azul, that sugar cane sweetness, which I really like. instead of the spice the Azul had, it had a more nutty undertone, perhaps smoother and milder. I liked it, it was quite good. One think I found that the three cigars had in common was that they all smoked really well. I don’t know that I ‘ve smoke many cigars from this factory, but I look forward to seeing more. Thanks to Andrew for getting me the samples, and to Kap for making the introduction.

Last night I decided to smoke something new to me, but several years old, that I’ll probably never have a chance to smoke again. I was watching hockey, and watching the Flyers play the Penguins always gives me anxiety. I guess it’s because I really hate the Penguins and I hate it even more if the Flyers lose to the Penguins. So I went with a cigar that came from my Secret Santa (time is running out to sign up, BTW!) last year, Mitch, an Alec Bradley Fine and Rare HOF / 506. This was the 2019 Fine and Rare release if my research is correct, and was a tribute to David Rubin, Alan Rubin’s father. The Fine and Rare line typically uses ten types of tobacco. The nuts and bolts of this one are a Honduran Trojes wrapper, and undisclosed binder, and Honduran and Nicaraguan fillers. By the way, I used the term “nuts and bolts” because Alan Rubin’s father was in the fastener business, and it seems appropriate. This was a really spectacular cigar. There were a range of baking spice type of flavors, it was really quit a treat. It burned well, lasted well into the third period (it’s 6¼” x 54 with a box press), and was good to the last drop. The Flyers won in a shootout, which gives me anxiety against any team, when it’s the Penguins I don’t breath until it ends! I don’t have another Fine and Rare to smoke Monday night when the two team play again, but I think I’ll be meeting up with an out of town visitor at a local shop anyway, so I’ll find something else.

Four great cigars in a row, what can I get into today? That’s all for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Azul, cigar, cigars, Fine and Rare, HOF / 506, Lampert, Morado, Rojo

by Craig Vanderslice | November 26, 2023 · 9:57 am

A Drew Estate Nightshade and a Few Lampert Cigars

Thanksgiving is behind us and we have Christmas and Hanukkah to look forward to, then New Years and we can start this whole mess all over again! As we’ve done for the past few years, I’ve started a CigarCraig Secret Santa through Elfster. You can go HERE to sign up. It’s a simple $40 minimum, send what you like. I send without expectation, it isn’t a trade, I look at it as gifting, I don’t worry about getting! I think that’s the most healthy way to go into these things. So far there are 7 people signed up, let’s get a bunch of people this year! I also have some of the usual holiday giveaways planned, so stay tuned! I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend!

I smoked a few new cigars this weekend, one wasn’t new but new to me. I’ve been hearing about the JR Cigars Exclusive Drew Estate Nightshade for quite a while and never got around to trying it, so I ordered a five pack recently. Don’t forget to click through the JR Cigars and Cigars.com affiliate links on the left sidebar if you order from either place! I got the 5″ x 52 robusto because that’s what was available in a fiver at the time, of course I would rather have had the toro. This cigar has a maduro Connecticut Habano wrapper, Indonesian binder and Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers. I think this falls somewhere near a Nica Rustica and an Undercrown Maduro for me, which both have Broadleaf wrappers, so are sweeter. This is a little earthier than those, but it has a nice flavor, for a reasonable price, it’s an interesting cigar. I think if you like the Liga Privada T52, you’ll enjoy this. I think you can get a box of 20 for around a c-note. That moves it well into the great cigar for the price category.

I’ve recently gotten a sampler of cigar courtesy of Lampert cigars, a company I’ve heard of, but haven’t really seen on local shelves. I tried three this week and will attache the other three next week. I tried to arrange them logically, next weeks will be the three in the Nicaraguan 1675 line, this week I smoked the cigars made in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. The first one was the Lampert 1593 Oscura. Lampert is another company that devotes one size per blend apparently, with this one coming in a 6″ x 52 toro. Is it any wonder I was drawn to it first? It’s listed as having a Mexican wrapper, Indonesian binder and Dominican filers. The factory is called El Maestro, which is the smaller William Ventura factory, the one that didn’t burn down. I don’t have a track record of liking cigars from this factory, however this one is an exception, it was really good. I questioned the wrapper seed varietal, which is listed simply as “Mexican”. It clearly isn’t San Andrés to my palate, it was more reminiscent of Sumatra, and I was told that it was Indonesian grown in Mexico, and since Sumatra is in Indonesia, I’m going to go with that. It’s good. It has some of that cane sweetness I like, along with just good tobacco. It’s a really nice cigar.

Next up was the Lampert Ocean Breeze. This is a 5″ x 54 Robusto with an Ecuador wrapper and binder and “undisclosed” fillers. I’m told that some tobaccos in this blend are aged near the ocean, hence the name, and I’m not sure about that, and the name sounds more like a cologne than a cigar, but what do I know, I’m just some cynical old jackass who smokes cigars. I do know that this cigar, along with the next one, is made at the Tobaccos de Costa Rica factory, the same factory that makes Atabey, Byron, Bandelero, Alphonso, apparently some El Septimos, used to make Mbombay Cigars, and, as far as I know, still makes Vegas de Santiago. I go back 20 years with Vegas de Santiago, they made some great, affordable cigars back then. Last I heard, they got rollers from Cuba on special work visas and sorta rotated them in and out as the visa allowed. It’s rumored that they use some Cuban tobacco in the blends, but Villiger tells me there’s some in the Exports too, so believe what you want. Back to the Ocean Breeze, this was a really well made cigar, and was very interesting. I found it to be bright and a bit floral, perhaps that’s the saltiness from the ocean? My compadre Kaplowitz likes this cigar, he likes stuff that isn’t necessarily in my wheelhouse.

Finally, the other cigar made a the Costa Rican factory is the Lampert Oro Don Patron. The band has a top hat wearing, bearded gent who should probably have a monocle, but does not. This is the mild line, with an Ecuador wrapper (obviously a Connecticut Shade variety), an Ecuador binder and Dominican and Peruvian fillers. This is a really well crafted cigar with a perfect burn and a well formed ash, and when I lead with construction, most of my regular readers know that I’m not excited about the flavors. True, this isn’t my style of cigar, it’s light, creamy, with some herbal and gassiness. It’s very good, if that’s what you’re looking for. I had just had Thanksgiving redux for dinner (day three!), something with more weight would have been better, but I’m not doing this for me, readers…I’d say if you are a fan of the Atabey, this will probably be a good fit for you. No idea what they cost, gotta think it’s less than the Atabey! So far, the Lampert line is impressing me.