Author Archives: Craig Vanderslice

We went to a baseball game last night, but more on that later, lets recap a few cigars I smoked earlier in the week. At the Atlantic City Cigar Festival I saw an old friend, Sean Williams, who was handing out Cohiba Rivieras at his booth.  I met Sean back around 2011, I think, at the Delaware Cigar Festival, or the IPCPR show, I forget which. I do remember seeing him at the IPCPR show and he introduced me to his friend Willy Herrera, who was helping him blend some of his cigars at the time. I hadn’t tried this Cohiba Riviera, so Thursday seemed like a good enough day to smoke one.  This is the first Box pressed “red dot” Cohiba, and the first that doesn’t have any Dominican tobacco. It has a San Andrés wrapper (another Cohiba first), Honduran Connecticut binder (broadleaf?) and fillers from Jamastran, and La Entrada in Honduras and Condega and Esteli in Nicaragua. The Robusto I had is 5″ x 52, the box press makes it feel small, which is probably why it took me awhile to get around to smoking it. This smoked very well, as one would expect a $20 cigar to smoke. It tasted much like one would expect a Honduran/Nicaraguan blend with a Mexican wrapper to taste, which, to me, was quite good, with rich, earthy coffee, cocoa, espresso, etc. notes.  I rather enjoyed it. As with most things in the “luxury” segment, be it food, cars, watches, I’m not the target audience. I’m a low frills kind of guy, but I do appreciate it, there’s just more affordable luxuries I appreciate as much. 

I had picked up a HVC Black Friday 2022 a few weeks ago, I had smoked the Firecracker and maybe one other iteration of the Black Friday series ( I think the 2021) and enjoyed it. This is the first of the series that is made in Fábrica de Tabacos HVC S.A. de Reinier Lorenzo as opposed to Aganorsa, although I can’t say I noticed any quality difference.  I would have liked it if my example had been a tad drier, which is the fault of my humidors, I guess. The tobaccos in this may need to be stored with less humidity, or dry boxed, I don’t know, most cigars burn fine out of my humidors, every now and then one is weird. My fault for not being as diligent with my Humidimeter as I should be!  The Black Friday has an Ecuador Habano wrapper and the rest is from Jalapa and Esteli with, apparently, no ligero.  It was on the medium side, with nice, nutty flavors and some syrupy sweetness.  It was a hot and humid evening, which may have added to my issues, also not a great time for a nicotine-heavy cigar for me! I’ll try again with some dry down time. 

I was up obnoxiously early yesterday morning so I pretty much went from bed, to the coffeemaker to the porch and lit up a Reinado Connecticut C29 that Antonio Lam had given me when I saw him at the aforementioned AC Cigar Fest. Before I go on, I’d like to mention that as I type I’m smoking an El Güegüense that was from the original release (probably a 2016 trade show sample) that is simply divine. I don’t think I appreciated this blend as much then as I do at this very moment, whether it’s the age on this cigar, the beautiful morning, or what. It’s creamy, it’s got a hint of light spice, it’s just perfection.  What made my think about that, besides being distracted by the smoke, was that I had the same thought yesterday morning as I sat in the dawning hours of the day, as the sun came up, enjoying the Reinado C29. The details of this. cigar are veiled in secrecy, obviously it has a Connecticut wrapper, Ecuadoran would be my guess, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s made at Aganorsa, like his Grand Apex (which is also exceptional). I have trouble loving a lot of Aganorsa cigars, however, Antonio’s cigars I do love, and if the C29 is made there, it’s one more I really loved.  It was creamy, plenty of flavor, and burned perfectly. It was a great cigar to smoke on a quiet morning unencumbered by distractions. 

Last night some friends treated up to a baseball game in Allentown, PA.  The Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs are the Philadelphia Phillies Triple A farm team, and the upside is that they have a heavy bacon-centric theme.  We snacked on chocolate covered bacon and skewered candied bacon, but sadly they were out of the bacon cannolis. Between innings they had races with people dressed as various pork based meats, and the players uniforms had Bacon emblazoned across the front.  Fred Rewey would have been severely overstimulated. I misunderstood the team name and wore a Flying Pig shirt, and smoked a Kentucky Fire Cured Flying Pig on the ride home, as Coca Cola Stadium is non-smoking. When I first smoked the KFC at Cigar Safari 10 years ago I didn’t like it at all, it was too “campfire” for me. This Flying Pig, and I don’t remember where I got them, or how long I’ve had them, was very good, it had some nice sweet woodiness. I can’t recommend smoking a 4″ x 60 in a dark, stick shift car, though, that was less than ideal, but it was a good smoke, and it was a really fun game, with fireworks after the game. I’m not a baseball fan, and I’m confused by some of the new rules,  but it’s nostalgic, I went to a lot of games as a kid, and I always enjoyed minor league games for the entertainment value. 

There’s a lot coming up this week.  Tonight, if you are in the Limerick, PA area, stop by Goose’s and see my friend Mike Kropp perform at the Goose Pond.  Next Saturday, August 5, at the Leaf Cigar Bar in Easton, PA celebrate Jerry Garcia’s Birthday with live music at 3. Delaware Cigar Week kicks off on Thursday, August 3th with a schedule of events running through Sunday.  Could be a busy weekend!

That’s all for today! Until the next time, 

CigarCraig