Category Archives: Accessories

by | July 3, 2022 · 10:16 am

A Couple Knuckle Sandwich Cigars and The Baller Cutter

I went out shopping this week and picked up some new cigars that I’d been wanting to try. One set I’m going to withhold comment on because there was something off about them and I want to pick up some more and give them another shot. I also want to discuss this with the manufacturer and I’ll probably see him next week.  So yesterday I smoked the Knuckle Sandwich cigars from Guy Fieri and Espinosa Cigars.  Of course, I bought Toros, which may or may not have been the only size they had at the shop, I really don’t recall. Nine times out of ten if there’s a Toro I’m getting it, you know me.  These are made in A.J. Fernandez’ San Lotano factory in Ocotal, Nicaragua, blended by the Espinosa folks with Guy Fieri’s involvement. I think I talked about this with Erik in the interview video I did with him at the TPE (here). I started of with the Habano after lunch.  The wrapper is an Ecuador Habano and the binder and fillers are Nicaraguan. What could go wrong?  Nothing, that’s what.  This was a delicious cigar. I was hoping for some good cigars after a couple days worth of disappointments, and I got them. It was bold and spicy, with some nuttiness. I was impressed. Not surprised, but impressed. 

I moved on to the Knuckle Sandwich Maduro Toro after dinner. Again, this was much anticipated, and we all know how much I like maduros. This one is a Sumatra varietal, grown in Ecuador and fermented to a rich, dark maduro.  I also like Sumatra. This has to be a winner for me, right?  Of course it was. Again, this is a cigar that has some strength, and I imagine Guy Fieri to be someone who is all about flavor.  This, as well as the Habano, had tons of flavor. The Maduro, of course, had more of the rich cocoa/espresso flavor, with a healthy spice.  Both cigars had exceptional burn and draw, and were a pleasure to smoke. A great tasting cigar can be a bad experience if the cigar falls apart or doesn’t draw well, not the case here.  I really enjoyed these two cigars. I understand that Guy may be making an appearance at the PCA show at some point. I doubt I’ll get to actually meet him, but I know some people, I have to see what I can  do. 

I used a new cutter on both of the Knuckle Sandwich cigars, which was a little risky, but I have a lot of faith in the guy that made the cutter, as I know he’s been working on it for a long time and wouldn’t put something on the market that wasn’t perfect. This cutter is called The Baller, from the folks at CigarMedics. and is really unique. It has a curved blade that literally takes a scoop out of the head of the cigar, leaving a hole like a punch, but removing some of the tobacco in the end. This is a bit of a hybrid between a V cut and punch in a way.  So far, the three cigars I’ve used it on have performed well,  and I’m going to use it primarily (except next weekend, I’m not risking losing it to TSA in my travels, my advice is always to not travel with any thing you don’t mind losing) for the foreseeable future. I think it’s neat, although a little heavy in the pocket, fortunately it came with a case that has a belt loop!  Awesome device! I’m looking forward to finally meeting Luigi and his team at the PCA show! I made a little video, check it out!

That’s all for today. Of course, it’s the Fourth of July weekend, as well as my wedding anniversary tomorrow, so I’ll be breaking out the good stuff over the next couple days!  Everyone stay safe and enjoy! Until the next time, 

CigarCraig

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by | May 22, 2022 · 10:20 am

ThermoPro TP393 Hygrometer and Vice-Versa Cigars

Every now and then the folks at Thermopro send me a new gadget to try out. In this case I protested a little, and suggested something else, but they insisted that this was better technology than the older model I asked about, and were rather insistant! I agreed to evaluate the ThermoPro TP393 Hygrometer even though I thought it seemed a little large for most humidors. I set it up in my cabinet humidor for a week or two next to a known accurate hygrometer and left it alone. There are quite a few things I like about this, besides the fact that it appears to be accurate. My old eyes like the large display, in this application, the backlighting, time and date function are

Before you panic about the humidity, the top unit is in my Family Room!

pretty superfluous, but in other applications this are nice to have. It has a rechargeable battery, which should make things easier over time, as saves having to find weird button cell batteries, or keep a stock of AAA batteries around. I’ve noticed no battery power reduction over the two weeks it’s been in use. It interacts with the App seamlessly via bluetooth, one can set alerts easily, and historical data is tracked. I have three devices now in my app and can see the conditions in three humidors at a glance. It may be a little big for a desktop humidor, it’s good for a large cabinet, and would be ideal for a walk-in. It’s a nice unit for a very reasonable price. I also have been using their TP200B Indoor Outdoor Thermometer to monitor the temperature in my enclosed smoking porch. This is a neat thermometer for indoor and outdoor, but doesn’t really have a good application in the humidor without a hygrometer, and it isn’t Bluetooth. The links included are Amazon affiliate links, I get a few pennies if anyone buys one. I recently received an Amazon payment about enough to buy a cigar, and it’s the first one I’ve gotten in a few years, so I’m not getting rich off of affiliate links! Thank you to Thermopro for the promotional consideration.

 

I had an opportunity to try a new cigar this week, two of them, actually. It’s actually the same cigar, smoked two different ways. This is a cigar that Kevin at CigarProp/Trash Panda Cigars has been working on with Omar of Fratello Cigars for the last two years, it’s not a new concept, just maybe one that hasn’t been perfected yet. They have made a cigar that has a different smoking experience depending on which end you light. It’s capped on both ends, one end has a lighter cap, and is about 7″ x 50. I smoked two cigars, one from each end, and did, indeed have a different experience. I know nothing about the blend, but I am guessing it’s got some Dominican tobacco, and strikes me as a cigar rolled in the DR. It appears to have a Habano wrapper. The first one I smoked, lighting the Habano capped end (hint, cut both ends, burning through the cap doesn’t go well!), seemed to start spicier, and built in strength. The second, lighting the shade end, seemed to start smoother. Overall these are on the leather side of the flavor spectrum to my palate. My personal opinion on cigars that are copped on both ends is that they need to be stored at a lower humidity, because once the humidity is inside the cigar there’s nowhere for it to go. I found that both samples needed frequent relights in the last third, although the burn and draw were still pretty good. It’s an interesting concept, there have been a couple cigars in the past that have done similar things, one of which was a blatant SCHIP tax dodge! Check out Kevin and Jess’s video about this cigar. I’ll be interested to see how this project progresses! Thanks for including me in the select group of people allowed to know about this! 

 

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

 

CigarCraig

 

 

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by | September 8, 2021 · 9:02 pm

Accessory Review: ThermoPro TP357 Wireless Thermometer Hygrometer

About six months ago I reviewed the ThermoPro TP59 Wireless Thermometer Hygrometer, and among the downsides of that unit was the large size. The folks at ThermoPro seem to have solved that problem with the smaller ThermoPro TP357 Wireless Thermometer Hygrometer.  I received one of these a few weeks ago and replaced the TP59 in the cabinet and began testing it. For testing purposes it sits on a shelf with a Western Digital Hygrometer and a Govee Model H5179. The pros: It was very easy to connect via bluetooth to the existing app which I already had installed. The app allows alarms to be set for high and low tolerances, and keeps a chart of some historical data. As I said when I reviewed the larger version, I’m more interested in seeing the fluctuations and trends than the actual numbers, I don’t want wild swings, but I don’t want the humidity to get too high or low either.  Comparing the three, they aren’t spot on, but are within an acceptable deviation of a point or two in humidity, and the temperature is within a degree, so I’m OK with the accuracy. the size is a big plus over the other unit, the TP359 is much more versatile, it’s maybe 2¼” square, easy to mount in any humidor. It’s got an easy to read digital display, ,and it actually shows “heat index” on the app, which isn’t important in the humidor so much, but if you were using it outside the humidor it’s handy. Here’s the nice part: it’s on;y $7.99. For a bluetooth hygrometer that’s fairly accurate, that’s not bad.  I have sensors in all of my humidors, between these and the Govee units now, and I kinda like this little guy. I used their picture because I liked the egg comparison! Our chickens lay some eggs that are much larger, but this will do.  Anyway, I think this is a cool budget friendly option and I can’t find fault with it. Like I said, it’s not laboratory grade accurate, but it’s a good guide, and for the price, it does what it needs to do.

 

Full Disclosure, the manufacturer provided me with a sample unit to try, and the link above is an Amazon affiliate link, which if readers make a purchase through, I get a couple cents eventually.

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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by | July 21, 2021 · 10:07 pm

The CigarMedics 3-in-1 Torch Lighter and the Contest Winner

I’ve been testing out some items from CigarMedics, the folks that make the Humidimeter, which is a great device that checks the internal moisture content of your cigars and lets you know that they are ready to smoke.  The genius of this device is that it takes the absolute moisture reading and translates it to a relative humidity number that makes sense to us in relation to the RH of out humidor. For instance, instead of a reading of 12% absolute moisture content, it’ll read 63% RH, read at the foot of the cigar. The RH number seems to make more sense than the absolute moisture number. It’s a cool device which has saved me from smoking cigars that were too wet to smoke, and I really hate smoking wet cigars! CigarMedics has been making some other cigar devises, which I’ve been testing, a cigar cutter, and a couple draw enhancement tools, one of which Luigi made just for me after some discussion. These have a serrated piercer, which is akin to a spiral saw bit. They work very well at opening up those cigars that are sometimes packed a little too tight at the head, or have a twist in the bunch. But nevermind all that, I wanted to talk about the triple flame torch lighter that they offer. I recently came into possession of one of these lighters and have been using it exclusively for the last couple months. 

 

The CigarMedics 3-in-1 Torch Lighter is a hefty triple jet torch with a punch in the bottom and a cigar rest on the top.  You have to manually flip the lid open, which is fine, less mechanism to fail, in my opinion, and the trigger is nice and large. It has a nice fuel window so you can see when it’s running low, and I’ve had no issues with it not lighting when I needed it to. The flames are strong and even, some people think three jets are overkill, I have torch lighters from single to four and really don’t notice too much difference to be honest. I always have my cigar well above the flame anyway. Since I am in the habit of purging my lighters when I fill them, I never have a problem with lighters either (get CigarProp’s purge tool, you won’t be sorry). As far as the punch goes, I haven’t had opportunity to use it yet, it’s small, maybe 7mm, if I use a punch I have an Adorini punch that has 9 and 13mm punches. As with most lighters with built in punches, it’s handy to have in an emergency. The way this one is made it would easily eject the waste when it retracts into the lighter, which is nice. It also securely locks, making ugly pocket accidents unlikely. As far as the size, it’s large, but not bulky, so it fits nicely in the pocket. It’s also reasonably priced, which is a good thing. I like it a lot, and it continues to me my primary lighter, and I have a lot of lighters. 

 

Contest

 

Once again, I consulted the Google Random Number Generator, and Duane Holmes was selected as the winner of the 90+ Rated All-Star Sampler and cutter. I know Duane said he ordered one, but his number came up, so how he’ll have two. I kinda got the impression that many of you ordered them, for which I am appreciative. When people react to my advertisers, it helps me out! Thank you! It also sounds like Duane has a birthday coming up, so Happy Birthday! I know he’s a long time reader, so there might just be a little something extra in the box! 

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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by | March 10, 2021 · 9:53 pm

Accessory Review: ThermoPro TP59 Wireless Thermometer Hygrometer

Recently I was sent a ThermoPro TP59 Wireless Thermometer Hygrometer to test out. I mostly use Govee brand remote hygrometers, along with some Western Digital Hygrometers in my humidors, so they were used as my baseline for testing out his unit. To be honest, I’m not one of these guys who obsesses about my humidors being spot on humidity wise, as long as the cigars are smoking right, I’m happy, but I do want to know when there are wild fluctuations. There are a few things I like about this unit and and a few things I don’t like. Let’s hit the high points first. It’s inexpensive, I think the cost on this is around $17.99 (I can’t tell for sure, which will come up in the “cons” portion). It seems to be reasonably accurate. It matches up within a point or two of my other hygrometers in both temperature and humidity. Any hygrometer at this price isn’t going to be dead-on accurate, the spec is +-2% on the humidity. The display is large and easy to read, backlit, and the overall look is nice enough. It’s Bluetooth, so you don’t need to see it to get a reading. The smartphone app is easy to use and provides plenty of historical data, as well as alerts if the temperature and humidity goes above or below thresholds that you can define. Another plus is that it takes normal AAA batteries, which were included. This is a decent unit for a larger humidor.

 

Now for the downsides. I say that it’s good for a larger humidor because it’s on the large side. The screen itself is 3″ diagonal. It’s going to take up some space in a small humidor, although it can certainly be mounted in the lid. I was going to list the ease of purchase through Amazon as a “pro”, then I looked it up, and see that it’s currently unavailable. I can only assume that this is a brand new model and it will soon be available, but I don’t have a date right now. Other than that, I don’t have anything bad to say about it! It does what it’s meant to do, and looks good doing it, and provides plenty of data and features through the app.  I just need to find a good place to mount it now that I’m done with the side by side testing. 

 

Thanks to the folks at ThermoPro for allowing me to try out their product! that’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

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