Author Archives: Craig Vanderslice

by Craig Vanderslice | September 24, 2023 · 10:36 am

E.P. Carillo, Cavalier Geneve, Macanudo Vintage and Punch Golden Era Cigars

I split up the work week this week with a day trip to Atlantic City to sit on the beach one last time, do you know they don’t allow smoking on the beach in New Jersey? That sucks! Having a cigar is about the one thing I enjoy about going to the beach! The stupid thing about the smoking ban is that we all know it’s really another litter law, because a certain group of smokers can’t seem to pick up after themselves! There’s already litter laws, how about enforcing them! Anyway, I had picked up a few new to me cigars last week and smoked them this week! The first one was the E.P.Carrillo Allegiance in the Confidant size. This is a 6″ x 52 toro with a box press, and has a pretty Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and fillers which all come from, and is manufactured by, Oliva Cigars. It’s kinda funny that when Ernesto started his factory, I think he was more interested in making cigars for other people, then he had success with his own brand (again), and now he’s having other people make his brand! I’ve loved Ernesto’s cigars since the mid ’90s anyway. This one was a surprise, or maybe not. I got a large dose of the cane sugar sweetness I often get from Sumatra, and it stuck around through the cigar. I liked it a lot, it was a nice change. I definitely want to smoke this again, I’d like to smoke this with a friend to compare notes, I think that would be interesting. Great smoke in my opinion.

Next up was another cigar I picked up on the same shopping foray, a Cavalier Geneve Inner Circle Toro. This is made at the company’s factory in Honduras, Fábrica Centroamericana de Tabaco S.A., and does not have the signature gold leaf diamond applied to the wrapper. The wrapper is Nicaraguan Habano, Honduran Habano binder and fillers from Dominican Republic, Honduras , Nicaragua and Pennsylvania. Considering the blend, especially the presence of Pennsylvania leaf in the filler blend, I was surprised that this was as mild as it was. Oddly, I got a hint of white sugar on this one, maybe I have a sweet tooth lately. It was very nice, mellow, with subtle sweet tobacco notes throughout, some light coffee perhaps. Whenever I see PA tobacco in the blend I buckle my seatbelt, not needed in this case. I couldn’t have been happier with the gracefulness of this cigar, it was a delight.

A few weeks ago I mentioned picking up a Captain America Invicta case to repurpose as a travel humidor, and this week I put some foam trays in it. I bought a pack of 12″ x 12″ acoustic foam “tiles” from Temu for a little over $10 delivered. I cut four of them to fit the case, and, if I’m being anal retentive, can put 24 large cigars in the case. Of course, it’ll fit way more than that if I cram cigars in. So if you picked up a case at Harbor Freight, or a Pelican case if your well off, or got your hands on one of these Invicta watch cases, and were wondering where to get foam trays to lovingly cradle your precious cigars for safe travel, here’s your solution! I chose red because I thought it looked cool with the case, they have other colors. I suppose now I’m going to be expected to show up toting this case with me whenever I go to events now…

I had a few cigars from General Cigar Co. left to smoke that I had been saving for the right time, and yesterday was the time. I say that because they are robustos, and I often like to take longer to smoke than a robusto will give me. I know, it’s a hard problem to have. I took the afternoon yesterday, since it was rainy, to work on starting to winterize my porch, which is my smoking lounge. This was a great time to light up a Macanudo Vintage Maduro 2013 Robusto. I’ve always liked the Macanudo Vintage Maduro offerings, this one was a surprise. The wrapper is a ten year old Connecticut Broadleaf, the binder is Honduran Olancho San Agustin, and the fillers are Dominican Piloto Cubano (two different primings), Nicaraguan Jalapa and Brazilian Mata Fina. This was a very bold cigar, surprisingly so for a Macanudo. A pleasant surprise, for someone who can be frustrated by a mild cigar. The cigar started with a shot of espresso, and didn’t let off too much from there. It had loads of roch coffee and cocoa with some spice and we really quite heavy. It frequently distracted me from my project, and reduced the profanity level significantly. I may remove the cedar from a few of these for long term aging, I’d hate to see these become too woody. That reminds me, I have a side by side experiment with some Diesel Esteli Puros I need to do one of these days.

Finally, a cigar I’ve been looking forward to trying is the Punch Golden Era. Like the EPC Allegiance, this is another partnership, this time General Cigar worked with Justo and Julio Eiroa and made this cigar at Fabrica Puros de Aladino SA in Honduras. You know the Punch Rare Corojo that doesn’t actually have any Corojo in the blend? This cigar does actually have Corojo, and it’s Corojo from the undisputed masters of Corojo. Funny enough, this and the Macanudo were switched for me, where I expected this to be a powerhouse and the Macanudo to be milder, this was the mild cigar. The Punch Golden er

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a was bready, creamy and maybe a little nutty, not at all what I expected. It wasn’t anything like an Aladino, or an old Camacho, or any Punch I can think of. It was quite nice, but very surprising for an all Corojo cigar. If you like Corojo, and you want a different (in my opinion) take on it, give this a try. If you like smooth, creamy, elegant cigars, also give this a try! It’s certainly a tasty cigar, but ch

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allenged my expectations.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Allegiance, Cavalier, Cavalier Geneve, cigar, cigars, E.P. Carrillo, Golden Era, Inner CIrcle, macanudo, Macanudo Vintage 2013, punch

by Craig Vanderslice | September 17, 2023 · 10:22 am

More Big Sky Cigars, a Cuesta Rey and an Artista

I’ve been working my way through the Big Sky portfolio, this week I sampled the Madison and Bitterroot in the river series. The four cigars in this series, which include the Blackfoot and Bighorn that I discussed last week, are homages to to brandowners love of fishing those Montana rivers. I don’t fish, if I did I’d be happy just sitting, smoking a cigar and holding a pole, no need to be inconvenienced by actually catching anything. Seems like that would interrupt a good time! I was in a Habano mood Friday, so I lit up the Habano wrapped Madison. Big Sky doesn’t waste time on multiple vitolas, this one is a 6¼” x 52 toro, I like that for the most part, mostly because most of them are toros and I like toros. I don’t have to wonder how another size might be different or if I might like it better, that’s already

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been worked out for me, it is what it is. In the case of the Madison, it has a Habano wrapper, San Andrés binder and Nicaraguan fillers (Ometepe, Japlapa, Esteli and Condega, did they miss any?), made in the TACASA factory I’m guessing. I was pleasantly surprised by the flavor of this cigar. It was heavy on the cane sugar sweetness that I enjoy from time to time, and it mellowed, but never went away, as some subtle spice snuck in near the end. I thoroughly enjoyed this cigar. For a guy who prefers heavy cocoa maduros, this was a really nice change and I could see keeping these around.

I had a couple Cuesta Rey Centenario No. 60 Toros this week, a few weeks late as this would have been an appropriate cigar to smoke during my birthday week. Perhaps that’s why the folks at J.C. Newman sent them out! The Centenario blend is one that is nostalgic to me. Many years ago, late 90s, maybe 2000, I was at a big cigar crawl in North Carolina, and a friend who’s since departed won a box of the Pyramid No. 9 and gave them to me. It was a very special gift at the time, and became more cherished after his untimely passing. This is a Fuente made cigar, a darker Connecticut shade wrapper, with Dominican binder and fillers. Funny enough, it doesn’t have the classic shade wrapper flavor that one would expect, it’s more earthy and leathery. I actually don’t think I’ve ever had the Broadleaf version of this, and I want to try it. I enjoy the Centenario, it brings back a lot of memories.

I stopped in to a local CigarCigars shop yesterday to make a small Cigars for Warriors donation, and picked up a few new-to-me cigars, one of which was an Artista Midnight. I haven’t had anything from Artista since they rebranded from El Artista. I’m a fan of the Buffalo TEN series, but I never really loved the Exactus or Puros Ambar lines they made. The Artista branding looked sharp, and I figured the Midnight was worth a shot, I like those guys and have had a good rapport with them in the past. Heck, if it wasn’t for El Artista, I wouldn’t know Jonas at Blackbird and enjoy his cigars. I picked up the Midnight in the Box Pressed Toro, of course, 6″ x 50, which has a Dark Ecuador Habano wrapper, Ecuador Connecticut shade binder and Nicaraguan, Dominican, and USA filler tobaccos. The wrapper had a mottled appearance, and expressed some nice oils as is heated up. It was a tasty smoke, dark and rich, with a unique and interesting spice, most likely that USA tobacco, tasted like some PA seedleaf to me. I liked this one, it’s a winner, and I’m going to have to pick. up the Sumatra wrapped Harvest the next time.

Finally, as I’m typing this morning, I’m smoking the Big Sky Bitterroot, named for another river in Montana. This is a 6″ x 54 toro, with a Habano wrapper, San Andrés binder and Nicaraguan fillers. On paper, it looks like the same blend as the Madison, but it sure is a different cigar! The Madison had just the green Big Sky band, where this Bitterroot has a cream colored band with a secondary band with the cigar’s name. Maybe this was the first one in the line and they decided it wasn’t cost effective to continue with secondary bands? Different colored bands is a fine alte

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rnative. Of course, having the secondary band helps differentiate the cigars one they are out of the box. The Bitterroot is on the woody/nutty end of the spectrum, with a hint of sweetness. It’s medium bodied, has been a fine morning cigar for me, with a perfect burn and draw, like all of the samples I’ve enjoyed from this company. Stay tuned for a few more in next week’s edition. I’ve been impressed with the line.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Artista, Big Sky Cigar Co., Bitterroot, Centenario, Cuesta Rey, Madison, Midnight

by Craig Vanderslice | September 10, 2023 · 11:07 am

Meeting George Hamilton, a New Travel Humidor and Some Big Sky Cigars

Yesterday we took a ride south to Maryland and went to the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention pretty much with one goal. George Hamilton was there signing autographs. Since he has a bit of history in the cigar world, and on CigarCraig.com, I wanted to finally meet him.

I had visited his cigar bar, Hamilton’s, in the New York, New York Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, and smoked his H.Upmann cigars in 1998, long before I had the opportunity to interview him (September of 2010, with the audio released in podcast form in May of 2018), He’s a longtime cigar smoker. When I talked to him in 2010 I realized how much he actually knew about cigars.

I made up a pack of some of my favorite cigars, a Fuente Don Carlos No. 2, a Diamond Crown Maximus, a Cohiba Red Dot and a Sobremesa Short Churchill (largely due to an anecdote Steve Saka recently shared about George asking him his thoughts on his cigar at an RTDA show in the ’90s). George was very excited by the gift, and said he was going to share them with his son who was in the Peace Corps. Also, we had a copy of his book, “Don’t Mind if I Do” which we had him sign while we were there. All in all, it was a very nice interaction, although he didn’t remember our conversation we had, not that I expected him to, heck, it was 13 years ago, and he’s a big movie star! I’d have fallen over if he had remembered. I would have loved to have been able to sit down and have a cigar with him. I imagine he’d have some great stories from his long Hollywood career!

While we were wandering through to Nostalgia Convention marketplace, and I was commenting on just how much ridiculous “stuff” there was, I saw an item that looked like it could be useful in our world, and bought it for $20. Some of you might say, Craig, you idiot, that’s a watch case, and I’d say, sheesh, who needs a military grade, crush proof, waterproof box for a couple watches? Hey, I have watches, I have a nice Seiko (an anniversary gift from an old job), and a few Timexes, all with dead batteries (except the Timex I got for my 15th birthday that works perfectly if I wind it up, they really do take a licking!), and I guess if you spend thousands on a watch you want to protect your investment. On the other hand, some might make the same statement about needing a case like this for cigars, and I have a half a dozen or so travel humidors of various sizes. I digress, this caught my eye because of the geek factor, it was white with a Captain America shield on it! It’s branded to go with Invicta’s line of Marvel watches, which, if I were wearing something other than a very expensive Fitbit that I get calls and texts on and provides me with various biometric feedback, which my 45 year old Timex does not, I might be into. I ordered some acoustic foam panels to cut to fit, but in the interim, the trays from my 20 year old Pelican travel humidor fit nicely. This thing will hold a crapload of cigars, easily 30, and, I’ll probably set it up as an overflow desktop humidor, because it looks frickin cool! Sure, you can go to Harbor Freight and get a nice case cheap, but it won’t look this good at the next herf, where you’ll either be revered or ridiculed. You can find them on Ebay!

I smoked some cigars this week from Big Sky Cigar Co., they generously sent me a bunch, thanks to their west coast regional, Kap, for the referral! More to come, but I got to two of them this week that I wanted to talk about. I started with the Big Sky Blackfoot. This is a 6″ x 54 toro with a San Andrés wrapper and Dominican binder and fillers. Big Sky works with Chico Rivas in the DR, a name I’ve been hearing a lot lately. This cigar didn’t taste at all like I expected it would, it had more of that dark fruit sort of taste, less of the coffee and earth I would have thought. This is a the fourth and last in the series of cigars based on rivers in Montana, and was just released at the PCA show in July. It was a neat cigar, certainly something different. Thumbs up.

Next I smoked the Bighorn 2.0, another San Andrés wrapped cigar, this time over Nicaraguan binder and filler. This one seems to be made in Esteli, at the TACASA factory, which, if memory serves, is the factory that makes, or made, Ortega cigars most recently. This cigar was much more along the line of what I expect from a San Andrés wrapped cigar. Loads of dark roast coffee and rich soil. It had a nice construction and was thoroughly enjoyable. I have several more cigars in the Big Sky line to sample, and am looking forward to them. This is a small brand that seems to have some legs.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Big Sky Cigar Co., Bighorn, Blackfoot, cigar, cigars, George Hamilton, travel humidor

by Craig Vanderslice | September 5, 2023 · 8:30 pm

Havoc by A.J. Fernandez Toro Cigars

This is another Cigars.com/JR Cigars exclusive, Havoc, made by A.J. Fernandez. This is a Nicaraguan Puro, made in four sizes, a Robusto, Toro, Belicoso and Gordo sold in boxes of eleven at a very reasonable price. The imagery is of gladiators, which ties into the eleven cigars, as it was said that if a gladiator won eleven times he’d gain his freedom. The toro can be had for under $7 a cigar when bought by the box (even cheaper if you use CCRAIG10 on Cigars.com!). If you are a fan of A.J. Fernandez cigars, and like strong cigars, this might be a great cigar for you! This cigar starts out with a spicy punch. It’s realy well made with a perfect draw and burn. I really have been enjoying these, I especially like the 6½” x 52 format, it’s a half inch better than a classic 6″ toro. After the initial punch, it settles into to a sweet, yet still fairly heavy coffee flavor, with some cocoa. While the large band is a little much, it comes off without issue, and the colors and design are visually appealing. I find myself enjoying the heck out of this cigar, if you enjoy a lot of the same cigars I do, this is a great option.

As with previous Cigars.com/JR Cigars exclusives featured here, the cigars were supplied by the vendor, and the links are affiliate links, so purchase made through them, or the links in the left sidebar, potentially help me out a little financially. Thank you. That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by Craig Vanderslice | September 3, 2023 · 10:51 am

Rocky Patel Sixty, La Gloria Cubana Serie S, Wooden Indian’s Pig Roast and Crux Cigars

It was a busy week, I celebrated a birthday and my daughter took us all out to a Brazilian Steakhouse for dinner. That was a lot of fun, it was a tremendous parade of meat, and I dined on plenty of steer and swine. I think Evan Darnell of Red Meat Lover’s Club would have been proud. I had a lot of great cigar choices available to celebrate, but my son got me a couple of Rocky Patel Sixty Toros, which was an absolutely appropriate choice to celebrate this particular birthday. This cigar came out two years ago to celebrate Rocky’s 60th, it has a San Andrés wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers, and is made in Rocky’s Nicaraguan factory. I’m fortunate that Rocky made a cigar for his birthday that exactly aligns with my palate, where a lot of Rocky Patel cigars really don’t. This is a luscious, dark, rich, cigar with heavy espresso and earthiness in the second half. This was a great gift, my son has been to Nicaragua and an IPCPR show with me, so he’s no stranger to the leaf, he did well, although this one was a no-brainer. Recommended regardless of your age (within reason, you know what I mean!).

I smoked a few of the new Maduro cigars over the last couple of weeks, with some trepidation. I was so tremendously underwhelmed with the “natural” version of the Serie S, it just made me wonder how it actually got past the decision makers, I’ll give it another try in the future, maybe it needs age, but I remain dubious. Regular readers will know I’m a big La Gloria fan, it hurts my heart when I don’t like a release. I was hoping the Maduro version would offer some redemption. This was the Robusto Gordo size, 5½” x 56, which is a perfectly acceptable size. It has a San Andrés Maduro wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers, made in the El Credito sub-factory within STG’s Santiago factory. This reminds me a little of the Serie N in strength and earthiness. It’s better than it’s natural counterpart, however I don’t know that, for me, it competes favorably with the like of the Serie R Esteli Maduro. Additional samples will be put to rest for later evaluation in the LGC humidor.

Yesterday I stopped by the Wooden Indian Tobacconist in Havertown, PA where they were having their annual Drew Estate Charity Pig Roast. I may have missed dropping by one or two of these over the last decade or so, but I try to stop in, it’s always an amazing event. Dave Mayer and his staff put on a great spread, Pedro Gomez has replaced Marvin Samel as the face of Drew Estate, Matty Rock, and of course several levels of sales staff were on hand. I don’t remember it being on Labor Day weekend in the past, but I could be wrong, but the usual gang of DE loyal weren’t there, although some people came from Maryland and New York to attend. There was a good crowd for the few hours I was there (long enough to enjoy a Blackened M81 Toro, about 2 hours or so), and I enjoyed fellowship with some old and new friends. I assume a significant sum was raised for Operation: Cigars for Warriors. Wooden Indian is amongst the best shops around and they are one of two Liga Privada lounges, and, therefore, one of the only stores that has an exclusive Laga Privada, the Pancetta.

I happened to come by some Crux Epicure Habano cigars this week, in Toro and Robusto, and couldn’t wait to light one up. It’s been years since I had Crux cigar, maybe the only ones I’ve smoked are the Ninfamaniacs going back maybe a decade. They just don’t seem to be present on the shelves around here, or I don’t notice them. The line has somehow avoided my notice one way or the other. This one has a Nicaraguan Habano seco wrapper, over Nicaraguan binder and fillers made at the Plasencia factory in Nicaragua. This is a really nice, well balanced smoke, there’s a sweet spice that makes it a little brighter than the darker cigars I like, making it a pleasant change of pace. I’m actually smoking the Robusto as I type and it’s very nice with coffee, and my wife just set a plate of home fries in front of me…be right back…shit, they are hot, I’ll get back to them. Now I have a problem, because I want to try the Maduro in this blend, going to have to hunt around.