Author Archives: Craig Vanderslice

Aragón, Krakatoa, and Ozgener Cigars

It was another weird week for me at the day job, but that’s another story.  I also finally smoked some of the Aganorsa Connoisseur Club Over-runs from 2021 that Trash Panda had that had finally dried out enough to smoke, and they were really quite good, but, sadly, are now sold out, so  I’m not even going to mention them. It amazed me that it took three full weeks outside of the humidor for them to dry out. you could almost wring them out when you took them out of the “freshpack” they were so wet.  Very good though, and I’m hit or miss on Aganorsa cigars.  Anyway, enough about something that doesn’t exist, before I move on to cigars that do, there’s a little Pennsylvania legislative news that I’d like to touch on.  Recently the industry groups like PCA and CRA have sent their members emails to contact legislators about a bill regarding indoor smoking that would close certain loopholes.  The last bill left exemptions for certain situations. Apparently, in their great wisdom, they have decided to exempt cigar stores, lounges and cigar bars from this round of prohibition, which I suppose is a win.  I don’t know that private clubs fares as well, which confuses me, as the are, uh….private? Anyway, keep on your legislators whenever these things come up, they have a responsibility to at least listen to you. 

 

I have a co-worker who enjoys cigars, and I give him a few here and there.  I was surprised when he handed me a cigar, because that not usually the way it works!  I was even more surprised when it was something I hadn’t heard of, as was he.  The cigar was called Aragón, and is a collaboration between three gentlemen (the “about” page is lacking in details), Carlos Abreu, Gregg Zahour (my co-worker’s connection), and Seth Joyner (some sort of football player or something like that). I smoked the Toro San Andrés, a 6″ x 52 cigar with a San Andrés wrapper and what they describe as a Dominican with a Special Blend of exotic tobacco for both the binder and the filler. I believe these are made in the Dominican Republic.  This was a nice cigar, although it started out on the sharp side, but mellowed slightly.  It retained some spice and earth throughout, whatever that “exotic” tobacco was, it was noticeable, almost reminded me of perique. It was a very interesting cigar, and these aren’t priced outrageously like a lot of small companies almost have to be. $11 a cigar really isn’t out of line for what is probably a pretty small production.  Nice work, I need to do some more research on this as there’s a few local connections.

 

Friday was a physically taxing day, and I just wanted to relax when I got home. I should have dragged my ass a mile down the road to Cigar Mojo to hang out with Micky Pegg again, but my comfy chair and a Muestra de Saka Krakatoa called to me. Parking is a bitch over there on Friday nights and it’s not a great walk, not that I was up to it. Sorry, Micky, I’m a slug.  Anyway, I settled in with the Krakatoa, the 6th cigar in the Muestra series. This is a 6″ x 48 with a cool pigtail cap.  Saka calls it a “unique “volcano” spiral colita”, kind of pretentious, don’t ya think?  It’s too pretty to cut off, though, but it must be done. This cigar was just what I needed after the day I had, it was perfection. It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper,  a Sungrown Nicaraguan binder, and a blend of Nicaraguan Grown Broadleaf, Cuban Seed Criollo and a potent Corojo ligero in the filler.  It’s great.  Expect to see this, whatever your feelings on the matter, place highly on the Halfwheel Consensus, along with the Papa Saka and Red Meat Lovers, for two reasons. They are great cigars, and Saka time his media sample kits to encourage their inclusion.  He knows what he’s doing.  There’s a sweet spice at work throughout the cigar, with a hint of sugar cane near the end.  This cigar made me happy, I’d probably even drop $18 on one. Maybe my favorite MdS to date.  

 

Finally, a few weeks back while visiting the aforementioned Cigar Mojo location, I picked up an Ozgener Family Cigars Aramas A52.  I had planned to smoke this earlier, but stuff came up and it got back-burnered.  Last night I got to it.  For those unaware, Ozgener is Tim Ozgener, son of  Cano A. Ozgener, who founded CAO.  Tim was running CAO when it sold, and took a decade off to pursue some other entrepreneurial interests. This Aramas is his second line in the Oz family series, after the Bosphorus, and is made at the Alianza factory under the supervision of Ernesto Carillo. I’ve always liked Ernesto’s stuff.  This is another San Andrés wrapped cigar, with a Ecuador Sumatra binder and Dominican, Nicaraguan and Connecticut Broadleaf fillers. Hat tip to Developing Palates for the details, the Ozgener website is under construction. Minor criticism: it’s been over a year since Oz family launched and a functional website can be put together in a few hours?  Remind me what year it is? Anyway, The cigar was great, lots of chocolaty, coffee flavors as one might expect. There was a hint of a licorice sort of flavor near the end that amused me. The draw was a bit snug, I might have liked it to have been a little more free with the smoke, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable smoke. 

 

That’s all for today. I hope everyone who celebrates has a good Thanksgiving. Enjoy some great smokes after the gluttony, I know I will.  Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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Trash Panda Connoisseur Club Over-Runs, All Saints and Micallef Cigars

I had a little different idea about how this week’s smoking was going to go.  I got one each of the Connoisseur Club Over-Runs from TrashPanda, which are on sale for a ridiculously low price, by the way.  These came with the caveat that they needed to be dryboxwd, as they had been sealed in the humidibags for several years.  I opened them out and left them on the desk for a week (I think the house has been around 52% RH this week) thinking they would dry down sufficiently. The Foundation Lonsdales did, the Aganorsa Robustos did not, so you’ll have to wait until next week to read about that cigar and how there;s some left!  I can tell you that the  is quite a treat, and if you don’t go to TrashPanda.com and pick some up you’re foolish (and there’s nothing in it for me, at $25 each and buy one, get one, there’s probably not much in it for Kevin either!). the cigar is  6¼” x 46, has a Habano Nicaraguan grown wrapper, Habano Ecuador binder and fillers from Estelí and Jalapa. This is going to be a great cigar for the holiday season, because it has some really interesting warm spices, kinda like mulling spices.  I thought it was very unique and delicious, and quite different from what Nick usually does.  Maybe it’s close to something he’s come out with in the past two years that I haven’t gotten around to smoking? For $2.50 each you can’t go wrong, you might need to beat me to the checkout.  I might note that TrashPanda is transitioning away from selling the rare and vintage cigars, and moving toward selling their own branded lines, so there are some great deals to be had all over the site. Again, nothing in it for me! (I just placed an order…as if I need more cigars…)

 

I’ve probably said this before, but I find that I have to talk myself into going out after a long day at work.  I get home, eat dinner, and I just want to grab a cigar and retreat to the peace and quiet of my porch and enjoy that cigar for an hour and a half or thereabouts. Friday evening I had some choices to make, and I talked myself into heading to the Wooden Indian to celebrate All Saints Cigars 4th anniversary with Micky Pegg. When I arrived, Jim from Great Cigar Reviews was several hours in to his live podcast, which I assume was streaming on Youtube?  Micky threw me to the wolves and sat me in front of the mic and Jim and I had a nice chat for a while. I had decided early in the day that I was in the mood for a Saint Francis Churchill, which was a motivating factor in going, I’ll admit.  The cigar, as always, was delicious, it’s probably my favorite in the line.  I came to be in possession of the new Solamente, which is going to be an annual release. I think I have one of the originals still in the humidor someplace.  This is a 5″ x 58 cigar in the round, where the majority of the All Saints line is pressed.  The Solamente comes in a box of 23, next year’s will be in a box of 24, and so on. How’s that going to work going into 2030?  This is a $20 cigar, box buying is going to get a little cost prohibitive as the years progress.  Anyway, I smoked it yesterday as I wanted to smoke it on a fresh palate. This. has an Ecuadorian Habano oscuro wrapper with Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers.  I found this to be on the leathery side of the flavor spectrum, with some coffee notes, with a nice burn and draw.  It was a fine cigar, but I’m in love with the Saint Francis and it’s hard to get me off that one right now, it suits me perfectly.  It was fun hanging with Micky, I look forward to smoking the All Saints Collection Plate (my suggestion, doubt he’ll remember!).  The Wooden Indian always has great events, they have a great staff and Dave, the owner is among the best guys around.

 

Of course, Micky Pegg wears two hats, when he isn’t a co-owner of All Saints, he’s the president of sales for Micallef Cigars, and I picked up a couple of their new  toros as I’d been hearing good things about them. When it turned out that the Aganorsa Connoisseur Club  cigars were still too wet to smoke, I grabbed one of the Micallef Black Toros to smoke last night.  The first thing I notice when doing some background research on their website is that the have the measurements goofed up on this cigar. It’s 6″ x 52, not at all 5″ x 62 like the website says. Perhaps they should fix this.  This has a San Andrés wrapper, Ecuador Habano binder and Nicaraguan fillers.  This is a cigar that appeals to me.  The construction was perfect, it was a good, solid maduro cigar with a nice chocolaty flavor, and it was just a good cigar at a great price. I don’t know what more to say about this that hasn’t already been said by others, I’m late to the game, but it’s good, and at $8 it’s great, can’t go wrong if you like nice, medium bodied, sweet, earthy maduro cigars. 

 

That’s all for today.  I figure I should get the temperature i n the room about doing a Secret Santa again this year.  I’m fairly sure I know one person who will be interested, but who else would like to get in on a cigar exchange?  Let me know in the comments.  Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

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A Powstanie Connecticut and a Few More RoMaCraft Cigars

This week I finished off the cigars that Mitch very generously shared with me (except for one, which is a favorite which may get smoked today!). Before that I’d like to share a little experience I had Tuesday.  We went to New York City to see a show, a revival of Spamalot, for which my wife got tickets for the preview for my birthday.  When she mentioned finding a cigar spot, the only place I had any interest in visiting was Paley Park, which is a private park on 53rd Street, between 5th Avenue and Madison Avenue. It’s owned my the Paley family and is dedicated to Samuel Paley, the father of  William Paley, who founded CBS, mostly to promote his father’s cigar business.  I had always been under the impression that this was a safe haven for cigar smoking, however, I was to find out that smoking is only allowed there from 4pm to 8pm.  Sadly, I was told this, very nicely and politely by the attendant there, by the way, after I lit up a La Palina Mr. Sam. This is a cigar that is also dedicated to the same Samuel Paley as the park.  There was a sign, but apparently one has to check the rules on the website now days before doing anything. I’ve officially reached the “get off my lawn” stage of life, I guess.  Just put the rules on the sign, don’t make me check a webpage. Anyway, we walked up a few blocks and I finished my Mr. Sam, which was very good, in front of Tiffany’s while my wife went in and got the tour. I BS’d a bit with Tony, the greeter who was a super cool dude.   Good dinner at Havana Central, good show, good little trip.

 

Back to Mitch’s cigars!  Several of the cigars he sent me were on a list I had of cigars I wanted to smoke. One of them might have been the Powstanie Connecticut, and I don’t often seek out Connecticut wrapped cigars to try.  I’ll smoke them if I have to, and there are some that I like, and more often than not I like them when I smoke then, if that makes sense. It probably doesn’t, I just have a mental thing about shade wrapper cigars. I gotta tell ya, whatever your taste preference is, you have to try this Powstanie Connecticut.  It’s made at Nica Sueño, I smoked the 5″ x 50 robusto, and it was one of the most unique and interesting cigars of any variety I’ve smoked.  It started with a lot of spice, and I realized that is seemed to me like a heavy citrus, it was tangy and sweet.  It was really a fascinating cigar from start to finish. This is a cigar I want more of, and will be on the hunt for some locally, if I can’t find some, I know of a place to get them! 

 

The number one on my wishlist that Mitch included was the Quinqaungenario, another 5″ x 50 cigar from RoMaCraft. This one is a little different, as Skip Martin worked with Ernesto Carillo to make a special cigar to celebrate his 50th birthday.  I felt funny smoking this, as I am no longer a Quinqgangenarian, I moved into Sexagenarian a few months ago (and I find that tern cruelly ironic).  I suppose if Skip had come out with the Quinquangenario on time it would I would have smoked it while I was still in my fifties. This cigar is made by Ernesto in his factory in the Dominican Republic, has an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper over Dominican binder and fillers.  This was a really good cigar, which shouldn’t be a surprise considering who’s involved.  I personally am a fan of both parties, one for a dozen years, the other for a lot longer. Call me crazy, but I was reminded of really old El Rico Habano a little bit, the ones that were made in Miami probably and were really strong.  This had that citrus tang again, and loads of spice. There was a lot going on, but not so much as to overwhelm, it was perfectly balanced.  Great, another $15 cigar I need buy!  Thanks Mitch!  No, I’m serious, thank you Mitch for sharing the cigars with me, They’ve been some of the best I’ve had recently.  But wait, there’s more!

 

There were a couple of RoMaCraft shop exclusives included in Mitch’s selection.  First up was the Abaddon.  This is an exclusive to Chicago’s Blue Havana.  I like the size, 6¼” x 52, and it has a hybrid criollo/corojo wrapper of some sort which is fairly nondescript. This one has a sweet leather kind of flavor, It was a good cigar, I suppose I was a bit spoiled by the previous two being so very interesting.  This would have been a good choice thematically to smoke on Thursday, as I tossed around the notion of smoking either something from All Saints, or something with a dia de los muertos theme, as Abaddon has some basis in Hebrew as a pit of the dead or something related to death.  I screwed up there. This one wasn’t as “up my alley” as most of the other RoMa cigars, for some reason, but still a good cigar.  

 

Last night I smoked the first cigar in the CRAFT Maquette series, a small batch series that will use some limited quantity tobaccos that aren’t available in large enough quantities to produce sustainable lines.  This one called the Il Nonno, is in honor of Skip’s first grandchild, apparently he shares grandparentage with the owner of Riverside Cigars in Kentucky who has exclusive distribution on this cigar.  I’ve got a couple granddaughters, it’s a very cool thing. It’s got a simple bronze ribbon on the foot. and was a 5″ x 52 robusto.  It has some sort of hybrid wrapper, Brazilian binder and DOminican and Brazilian fillers.  This was an interesting cigar.  I thought it was more “RoMaCraft” than the Abaddon, but certainly not as heavy as the core lines.  It had some subtle cocoas and coffees, and was a very tasty and interesting cigar. It was quite a treat, as was the Abaddon, for someone who doesn’t go chasing a lot of shop exclusives, so a big thanks again to Mitch for sharing.  I’ll be rummaging around for some of my favorites to send your way, I know you said it wasn’t necessary, but you also said that the sharing was fun and I agree.  

 

Enough for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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A Powstanie Wojtek and a Few RoMaCraft Cigars

It’s been a difficult week for me for some reason, physically and mentally. Among other things, our coffee maker crapped out, then the replacement arrived broken, so that added to the general malaise I’ve been feeling. This time of year bugs me. Fortunately, through the kindness of a dear reader, I have been provided with some solace in the form of some new-to-me cigars for me to enjoy and write about.  I need to refrain from mentioning that I’m running out of material, it reeks of mooching.  Mitch was very generous and shared some of his favorites with me, it’s not the first time I’ve been the recipient of his generosity, he was my Secret Santa last year (do we want to do that again this year?), and went over the top.  There were a few cigars that were on a list I had made of cigars I wanted to try, first among them was this year’s Powstanie War Bear, or Wojtek, in a 5¾” x 46 box pressed corona gorda shape.  The War Bear is a Habano/San Andrés barber pole wrapped cigar, although both wrappers are on the dark side and it’s hard to tell it’s a dos capos cigar without really looking closely at it.  It’s made at Nica Sueno, which will be a theme of today’s post. This starts off with a kick, and settled into a chocolaty spice. I’ve had previous Warbears, I think it was a perfecto, and I didn’t like it as much as I liked this one, it was really good. 

 

The next one that was on my to-try list was the RoMaCraft Intemperance Volstead VO 1920 in the Noble Experiment size. This is another box press, this time a 5″ x 56 robusto.  Oddly, I’m a big fan of the Intemperance EC XVIII, I’ve smoked a ton of the Virtue size. The Volstead is interesting in that it uses an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper that is genetically similar to a Cameroon leaf, which is different, over a San Andrés binder and Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers. I’m going to just say “wow” about this cigar.  It’s a really tasty cigar.  I got some creamy coffee, a little nuttiness and cinnamon, and around the halfway point there were some neat exotic spice flavors that I couldn’t put a finger on.  This was a fascinating cigar, and will be a buy the next time I see them in a shop. While I’m thinking about this, please do me a favor, if you happen to shop at JRs or Cigars.com, please click through the links on the left side of my page when you make a purchase.  Someone was kind enough to make a large purchase, but it’s $.05 under the amount needed to cash out the commission! Don’t go out of your way or anything, but it would help me out!  Anyway, the Volstead is probably the best new cigar I’ve smoked in a long time, it was really good. 

 

Yesterday I should have gone to Best Cigar Pub to meet up with the folks from The Cigar Hacks podcast and Mike Weinstein, but it was another one of those situations where I couldn’t mentally or physically handle driving an hour and a half each way, I just wanted to sit at home and spent time alone. It was 80 degrees on the last weekend in October here, and while I regret missing the opportunity to  Visit BCP and see the Hacks and finally meet Mike face to face, I’ll get around to it when I break out of my funk. The Intemperance BA XXI Contempt I smoked while watching a Flyers losing effort helped. This is another corona gorda, I believe it was from the 2022 El Catador de Las Gran Coronas, and is 5¾” x 46. I call it a Corona Gorda, they call it a Gran Corona, I think the difference is an eighth of an inch. Either are a great size, one of my favorites behind the Toro and Churchill. Earlier when I said I was a big fan of the Intemperance EC XVIII, that happened a bit by accident. I had my sights set on a box of the BA Avarice size and the box was damaged, so I grabbed another box blindly and when I got home I realized it was the EC. Not at all disappointed, although I would have been happy either way.  The BA stands for Brazilian Arapiraca, which is the wrapper, of course, and I’m pretty sure the rest is Nicaraguan. This is a chocolaty cigar with a hint of a citrus tang. It was super-good even though the game, and my mood, were not. 

 

My last cigar of the day yesterday was a Neanderthal HoxD, which is a cigar I’ve had before, but is always a treat. I got to this later than usual, so a small cigar fit in nicely, this is 4″ x 46 with a flat cap. These give me a chance to use my Adorini punch, with a 13mm punch that makes a large opening. This blend has all my favorites, a San Andrés wrapper, Broadleaf binder and Dominican, Nicaraguan and Pennsylvania fillers. Mitch tells me that this is his favorite morning with coffee cigar, which gives me an insight into his psyche. I can immediately tell he’s someone who craves flavor, perhaps enjoys a good hot sauce, probably on everything.  No judgement. This 4″ cigar burned for an hour. This is a nutty/leathery cigar with some sweet earth and coffee. It’s delicious, and it’s strong. I taste the Pennsylvania ligero, but I’m born and raised here in PA. I’m not going to say it contributed to my having a restless night sleep, but it might have. Great cigar, and a big thank you to Mitch for sharing these four cigars with me. Look forward to seeing what else he shared next week.  

 

That’s all for today, until the next time, 

CigarCraig

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Some Tatuaje Cigars and a Visit to Legacy Cigar Lounge

This week was a week of events, I didn’t necessarily smoke any new cigars, but some that were new to me.  Nothing in my contract says I have to write about new to the market cigars every week, although I do try to stay current. Fortunately, due to the generosity of a long time reader, I have some new stuff coming up, so stay tuned!  This week was the tenth anniversary of Cigar Mojo, a local shop which I have been friendly with since the beginning.  I was there for the soft launch and have watched their progression from their first shop and lounge, to their current location, to a second location.  I really wanted to make the trip to the flagship location, only 10 miles down the road in King of Prussia, PA, but I had a physically exhausting day, and didn’t have it in me to deal with the traffic, and, honestly, be social.  I just wanted to relax at home and watch hockey. So I went to the new location (which is a mile from my house), and picked up a couple of Tatuaje 10th Anniversary cigars, which seemed appropriate. I got the Bon Chasseur size, because the 5 3/8″ x 52 shape appeals to me, in both the original and the Tuxtla blends, and smoked one Thursday and one Friday.  I started with the original. I should have adjusted my expectations going into this cigar. I was rather expecting a heavier cigar, but it was much more subtle, refined, I guess with a name like Bon Chasseur, it’s going to be a little hoity-toity. It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper over Nicaragua binder and filler.  They have a closed foot, and the wrapper has a lot of citrus tang in it, so that is apparent on lighting. It remains citrusy and sweet throughout,  and was a really delicious cigar.  I suppose I always grab the broadleaf Tatuajes, so this one surprised me, it was quite different.

 

Maybe the citrus wasn’t all in the Ecuador Habano wrapper of original Bon Chasseur,  because I sensed it in the Tuxtla version as well. This is the same size and blend, with the difference being the Mexican San Andrés wrapper. Again, I had a preconceived notion going into this one, having smoked tons of Mexican wrapped cigars over the years.  Oddly, the wrapper didn’t overwhelm the rest of the blend, it literally was like smoking the same cigar I had smoked the night before with a subtle difference.  What was that difference, you ask?  Oddly, it was an almost cloying earthy sweetness, not unpleasant, but noticeable. Oddly, as much of a fan I am of the San Andrés, I’d probably give the nod to the Ecuador Habano in this match up, for me. I liked the balance and elegance of the original blend, adding the Tuxtla wrapper while interesting, detracted from the sophistication a little for me.  But that’s just me, I’ve enjoyed the other Tuxtla versions, I guess my next back to back experiment will have to be the Belle Encre.  I look forward to walking over to the Cigar Mojo shop by me in ten years to celebrate that anniversary!

 

Last night my wife and I took a ride to Reading, PA (think Reading Railroad in your Monopoly game), and visited the new Legacy CIgar Lounge in West Reading. Rick and Adrean, a husband and wife team, opened in August and have a really nice spot. A lot of places in the country have full service cigar bar setups, PA isn’t really one of them, in my experience. There are cigar stores with lounges all over the place, but there aren’t a lot of full bar, kitchen, humidor establishments around.  Legacy fits that niche.  It was a 45 minute drive, and I know I just balked about going 10 miles to an event Thursday, let me explain.  It could literally take me the same 45 minutes to make the ten mile trip to Mojo at 5:30 on a Thursday as it did to go 40 miles to Legacy on a Saturday at the same time. Combine that with the Saturday afternoon nap, and I think you see my point.  We had been reading about Legacy for a few weeks, they have been active on social media promoting the business with videos, and seemed engaging enough, so we figured a visit was in order. I’m not a bar guy, but they appeared to have a well appointed bar, and we had seen something on the menu on the website and were disappointed when it wasn’t on the printed menu we were given. We asked, and they were happy to make us the Bacon Jams Grilled Cheese, which was delicious. 

 

It didn’t hurt that they were having a Protocol Cigars cut and light event there, so there would be at least one familiar face present! Kevin Keithan was there, with a selection, and I got the impression that this was a trial for the brand and they were thinking about bringing them into the humidor. I bought some Protocol cigars and enjoyed a Cyber Crimes unit. This is a box pressed Churchill, with a Nicaraguan Rosado Habano wrapper, and Nicaraguan binder and filler, made at the La Zona Factory. This cigar was on the cedary side with some spice and a creamy quality, quite different from the Blue and Red label Protocol cigars. We did miss seeing Juan, I wonder if he took part in the Karaoke, that might have been worth staying for!

 

 Obviously, it takes time (and money) to stock up the humidor, but they had a reasonable selection.  My wife, who hasn’t had a cigar in years, decided to have a Tatiana of some sort, which she enjoyed. Rick told us that they already had over 80 members signed up for their members lounge, and are working on a rooftop area, and downstairs event space as well. They have a nice setup, have live music quite frequently, and diverse collection of events, including Karaoke and Chess.  We exited before the Karaoke started, I wanted to get home in time for the hockey game, where I enjoyed a Protocol Probable Cause Corona Gorda, perhaps my favorite in the line. We had noticed several billboards for Legacy along the highway  so they are promoting this bigtime, and if they continue to provide a quality product, they will be successful. I suspect we’ll be paying a visit again.

 

That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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