Black Label Trading Company is pleased to announce the shipment of Super Deluxe to select retailers. Super Deluxe is handcrafted in Esteli, Nicaragua at Fabrica Oveja Negra.This is the first official release of this cigar in the US market and will be extremely limited.… Continue reading
Craig VandersliceAuthor Archives
Labor Day Cigars and a Macanudo Inspirado Green
Labor Day was my first paid holiday since January 1st of 2018! A combination of two streaks of unemployment and a year of working in retail for a company that didn’t believe in paid holidays (something I had trouble wrapping my head around!), I was quite excited about this small luxury! My wife wanted to get away and do something, anything, so we took a drive to Lewes, Delaware, Parked the car at the ferry terminal, and rode the ferry over to Cape May and
walked on the beach for a while. I took the opportunity to smoke one of the cigars in the Cigar Prop sampler in the Smoke Inn Battle of the Bands promo that’s going on. I selected the Alec Bradley Black Market Esteli Punk, a little 4¼” x 42 petite corona.… Continue reading
Saka’s Taste For U’rself !!! Sobremesa Brulee Cigar Sampler Recap
For those who haven’t been following this particular cigar industry soap opera, let me set the scene for you. First, as the card included in this five cigar sampler explains, these are five Sobremesa Brulee toros. Soon after they came out there were allegations that they were sweet capped, much like a Baccarat, or many of the Acid cigars. This was flatly denied, and explained away as a natural sweetness in the Connecticut shade wrapper. I smoked an early version of the Brulee and never got the saccharine sweetness that I associate with a sweetened cap. If you go back to my very last podcast episode, Steve talks about the Brulee, I think it’s pretty interesting. So Steve was bored during the COVID pandemic, he decided to have some fun and put together this Brulee sampler and mess everyone with the whole sweet vs. not debate.… Continue reading
Byron 19th Century, Undercrown ShadyXX and Micallef Grande Bold Sumatra Cigars
I smoked a bunch of great cigars on my birthday weekend. After the Padron and the Unicorn on Saturday, I had to step down gradually! Sunday afternoon I selected a Byron 19th Century Grand Poemas that had spent a few years in the humidor. This cigar was a gift from David Garofalo at an IPCPR show a few years back, it had to have been 2017, as that was the last show I attended. This cigar was 6″ x 56 and I don’t believe it’s even available any more. It’s listed as a 2013 limited edition, and the blend is undisclosed. I know that it’s made in Costa Rica under the supervision of Nelson Alphonso.… Continue reading
A Couple More Cigar Bundles of Miami Cigars, a Padron 1926 and a Unicorn
In the later part of the week I smoked a few more cigars from Cigar Bundles of Miami, both from the Tampa Blend line. The first was the Candela. I approach all candela cigars with some curiosity, they can go one of several ways, they can be quite good, mild to the point of flavorless, or grassy to the point of being nasty. I really enjoyed this one. It was flavorful, not overly grassy, but refreshing, which is a characteristic I look for in a good candela cigar, and medium bodied. It was a pleasure to smoke, something I’d keep on hand for a change of pace, or a nice cigar for a hot day, which it was the day I smoked this one. I think these are around $20 for a fiver, so they are quite reasonable. I think this is a great value, and definitely worthwhile if your curious about candelas, or like them and want some good ones to add to your rotation. This one was a 6″ x 50 toro.… Continue reading
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