Category Archives: Editorial

by | June 25, 2014 · 9:22 pm

Tatuaje Tattoo, Surrogates Bone Crusher and a Six-Zero Cigar

I don’t know if it’s the change of seasons or what, but I’ve been having some cigar troubles lately. I had some cigars that should have been great, but were underwhelming to me. This is frustrating, because I only have a limited amount of time each day to enjoy a cigar, so It annoys me when I get a dud.  It could be that I’ve been munching on licorice for the last week or two, as my boys both gave me some nice black licorice for Father’s Day.

 

SixZero_RoboloI had to test my palate, so I went to a cigar I’ve smoked several of recently and really enjoyed.  The Six-Zero line is a proprietary brand from Best Cigar Prices made by Boutique Blends in The Dominican Republic. The Robolo is a 4½” x 60, and Best Cigar Prices had a whole range of “house blends” in this size. Oddly, I find the size rather appealing.  This is also a very inexpensive cigar, coming in around $3 each or less.  I love the San Andrés wrapper on this cigar and it burns perfectly. This was the first really satisfying cigar I’ve smoked in a few days, the whole experience, from burn to the flavor, was very good. I’ve only smoked this size in the line, but I like it a lot.  This confirmed to me that my palate isn’t that far off.

 

Tattoo_CaballeroMonday evening I selected a Tattoo Caballero, the new line from Tatuaje. I picked up a few of these last week and they are in the $5 range, making this a budget line in the brand.  These are made by Pepin Garcia, not in the My Father factory, but his TACUBA factory in Esteli. It’s got a pretty Ecuador Habano wrapper and Nicaraguan fillers.  It starts with a nice dose of pepper, as you might expect.  Mine had a bit of a crooked burn which required some touch ups, but was a very nice smoke. I judge it to be medium bodied. I’ll be interested to see how this smoked after a longer rest in the humidor.

 

Another cigar I picked up last week was the Surrogates Bone Crusher. I had a really good experience with its sibling the Skull Breaker, so I wanted to give this chunky 5¼”x 55 robusto a try.  Maybe my palate is fatigued a little, because it seems like I’m finding the stronger cigars more fulfilling. This is a strong cigar, but well balanced. It was loaded with dark flavors, no doubt attributed to the Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. I’m sure this has a slightly different blend than the Skull Breaker, but I found it to be very entertaining.  I was wishing it was a longer cigar by the time I was finished, and maybe left a half inch nub in the ashtray. If you like strong cigars, this line is worth a look.  I’ve been quite impressed with everything from the L’Atelier line that I’ve smoked, which is admittedly few.

 

Editorial

 

I listen to a lot of cigar podcasts, and I recently ran across a very entertaining bunch this week. First, give The Cigar Authority a listen, the latest episode features Victor Vitale, whom I had the good fortune to spend some time with last week. Of course, Dave and Mr. Jonathan are friends too, and I’ve been entertained by their brand of entertainment for some time. I even had the pleasure to be a guest on the show once.  Next up was Kiss My Ash Radio, hosted by another major retailer, Abe of Smoke Inn.  This week’s installment featured several short vignettes with Matt Booth of Room 101 reciting poetry. I laughed out loud at each one. Last, but not least, and on a serious note, The Stogie Geeks this week featured by buddy Will Cooper interviewing Glynn Loope, the executive director of Cigar Rights of America about the pending FDA regulation. I’ve heard Glynn on several other shows, but this one concentrated on the issue at hand for a good hour or more, and was very in depth. Give this a listen as I found it very educational.  Broken record time, support the CRA, make sure you follow the links on their site and comment on the FDA site following their recommendations. It’s quite important that we convince the FDA to leave hand made, premium cigars alone. There have been some positives in the last few days, such as an extension of the comment period and The White House’s Office of Management and Budget acknowledging that there would be a major economic impact if the FDA has their way. Educate yourselves and make your voice heard, or this glorious industry will cease to exist as we know it.

 

I almost forgot, my son spent the last two days making a cigar box guitar out of a La Gloria Cubana Retro Especiale box.

 

 

Nice job! I sounds pretty good too

 

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

 

Cigar Craig

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by | May 14, 2014 · 8:42 pm

JdN Quatro Cinco, Casa Fernandez Miami Reserva and the Nomad Connecticut Fuerte

I’m going to lead off with the usual reminder to head on over to  http://cigarrights.org/fda-response.php  and make sure you make an educated comment on the FDA deeming document. This is scary stuff, folks. Nuff said.  I also wanted to make a bit of a policy statement.  Rest assured that when I receive products they are either for evaluation or for contest prizes. At no time will I ever sell, raffle, or otherwise profit from any items I receive from vendors or manufacturers.  I feel that the purpose of these items being in my possession is for the promotion of said products. If you’ve been reading long, you’ve seen me pass along my good fortune more times than not.  Stay tuned for a contest coming soon, it’s been a while since I had one and I have some cigars I want to share.  Enough ranting for now, lets talk cigars!

 

JDN_QuatroCincoSunday I decided to celebrate Mother’s Day with my last Joya de Nicaragua Quatro Cinco.We had the kids over, then did some running around, so I was ready to relax with a really nice cigar. As you might recall, this cigar celebrates 45 years of the Joya de Nicaragua factory in Esteli, a factory I’ve had the privilege to visit twice and is one of my favorites. I can’t think of a cigar from that factory that I don’t enjoy. This is the top of the line smoke and is really quite tasty.  It’s smoother and more refined than the excellent Antaño Dark Corojo and 1970s.  I love both of those, but the Quatro Cinco really takes it up a notch in flavor and sophistication. This is a wonderful treat.   It’s only available in one vitola, a 6″ x 54 slightly pressed toro with a dark and oily wrapper with filers aged in oak barrels and even some 5 year old ligero. The burn was perfect and it was a terribly satisfying cigar from start to finish. These are pricey, in the $12 range, but certainly worth a try if you like big, bold Nicaraguan flavor. I can’t wait to see what they do in five years if they put this much love and effort into a 45th anniversary cigar! Thanks to JB at DE for sending this to me last year.

 

CasaFernandez_ReservaMaduroMonday I revisited the Casa Fernandez Miami Reserva Maduro Corona Extra. I got a late start, so the smaller 5” x 46 size worked well with my schedule.  This has been in the humidor since last October or November and came from the folks at Casa Fernandez.  This is a Nicaraguan puro rolled in Miami, with Aganorsa tobacco grown in the three growing regions, Jalapa, Condega and Esteli.  The size is really nice, it’s a little bigger than a corona, and smaller than a robusto. It smoked for over an hour though, and was very flavorful. I have enjoyed the cigars I’ve smoked from Casa Fernandez, I just don’t seem to see them around much.  I think I like the Aganorsa Maduro the best, it’s like a chocolate bar. I’ve got to dig around and see if I can find one in the humidors.

 

Nomad_CTFuerte_ToroLast night I smoked the new Nomad Connecticut Fuerte from Fred Rewey’s Nomad Cigar Co.  This one came in a goodie bag from Gary Griffith of The House of Emilio which distributes the brand. The tag line “Not you father’s Connecticut cigar” is a little over used, but in this case, the cigar has some horsepower.   I really enjoyed the contrast of the spice and relative strength of the filler with the creamy and slightly bitterness of the wrapper.  I appreciate the Connecticut wrapper on a cigar, but it’s not one I reach for first, probably because I worry that the cigar will be too mild for my tastes.  This one has enough flavor and strength to be satisfying at any time of the day.  In the Nomad portfolio, while the original Dominican line is good, and the Nicaraguan blends are really good, this one is my new favorite of the line.  It’s different from anything else out there. I liked it.

 

That’s it for now. I’ll work on putting a contest together, I already have a pretty good selection set aside from various vendors and my own humidors. It may not be Twelve Days of Giveaways spectacular, but it’ll be worthwhile.

 

Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

 

 

 

 

 

 

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by | May 11, 2014 · 10:16 am

Cigar Rights and Some Alec Bradley Cigars

I usually present the cigars I’ve smoked over the last few days, but I had a weird experience this week, and I’m going to hold off on talking about those cigars until I give them some more humidor time and revisit them. All I’ll say is I smoked two cigars that had a really odd finish, and while they were from the same company,  they were made in completely different factories. Unless they had a common component that had a flavor that just didn’t play well with my chemistry,  I’m going to give them a do-over in a couple weeks. It was weird and had me second guessing myself! In other news, Cigar Rights of America has published a response to the FDA’s deeming document with excellent recommendations on how to respond, and we MUST respond in numbers, or life will change negatively for many thousands of people. Glynn Loope, the director of the CRA made a comment that no cigar related anything should be published without including a link to http://cigarrights.org/fda-response.php. I created a simple animated 125×125 graphic and included it at the top of the right-hand column on this site (scroll down for mobile users), I don’t think my advertisers will mind being bumped down a spot for this. Anyone who wants to use it is free to to so, and if someone with talent in creating graphics (I have none) wants to improve upon it, please do. We need to make an intelligent and unified response to the FDA’s proposed destruction of cigars as we know them.

 

JMs_AB_JLYesterday was Saturday, and I had received an email earlier in the week that one of my long time favorite local shops was having an Alec Bradley event. I’ve been begging to get email notices about JM Cigars events for years, and finally got on the list! I figured it would be rude if I didn’t stop in. Jonathan “The Player” Lipson, the local Alec Bradley rep, is a good guy and I like Alec Bradley cigars. I smoked a Nica Puro robusto, of course, one of my go-tos, mostly to see if that odd taste I was getting was me or not. It wasn’t, as the cigar was excellent as usual. The event was well attended for a spring Saturday afternoon. I’m not sure if it’s just that Jonathan does a lot of events or what, but I find myself going whenever I see one pop up, and, as a result, I seem to have quite a few Alec Bradley cigars in my humidors. I picked up a few American Sungrown torpedos too, for five bucks these are impossible to pass up!

 
AB_Maxx_RoboloAfter a blustery storm blew through,  I decided to keep with the Alec Bradley theme, and took a walk with an Alec Bradley MAXX Connecticut Robolo, which is a BestCigarPrices.com exclusive (the size, not the blend It turns out the Maxx Connecticut line is a BCP exclusive, thanks to Jason there for the update).  Something about the 4½x60 size appeals to me, not sure why that is.  This cigar has fillers from Nicaraguan, Colombian, Mexican, and Honduras, with a Connecticut wrapper, which I assume is Ecuador Connecticut judging by the flavor and the price point, however both BestCigarPrices and Alec Bradley’s sites just say Connecticut, so I could well be wrong. These can be had in the five dollar range. I found this to be a really nice, milder smoke with great flavors. The burn and draw were very good, and I burned my fingers a little finishing it up. It probably smoked for over an hour, not bad for a four and a half inch cigar. In the Maxx range, I’ve only had the Brazilian wrapped version, which is exclusive to another retailer, and I really liked that cigar. This one was tasty, perhaps a better choice for earlier in the day than I smoked it, but a very nice cigar. Thanks to Jason at BCP for providing this sample.

 

That’s all for now.  It’s Mother’s Day, so if you have one in your life, try to do something a little special for her today.  Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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by | May 5, 2014 · 5:44 pm

In Memory of Our Dog Pooch

This is a hard post to write. This morning, my cigar walk companion was struck and killed by a car in front of our house. Puccio was a four year old Pitbull/Lab mix with a lot of love and spirit.  We got her from the shelter as a gift to my youngest son, Christian, for graduating high school. After we got her housebroken and some training, we found out that she had seizures, and had to give her medication twice a day to control them. She loved everyone, especially our little granddaughters (although she wasn’t fond of our female cats)..  I’m going to miss her terribly, but knowing that my son, who loved the dog, had to watch her get hit, and go through the pain of such a loss, hurts me the most. Everyone loved Pooch, and she loved everyone back. I will certainly miss her companionship on my evening walks. She was stubborn and didn’t always want to walk the route I wanted to walk, which was good sometimes as it broke up the routine. We gave her two years of love and caring, perhaps more than she would have had. Rest easy, poor Pooch, I wish you would have spent longer with us. I’m going to take a walk tonight along with a great cigar that won’t be for discussion in Wednesday’s post, Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook, just in memory of a friend.  We will all miss you terribly, there’s a hole in my heart where you you used to be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for indulging me this post. I needed to get it out. She didn’t realize it, but she was a part of my cigar smoking over the last couple years. It’s going to take some getting use to not having her around.  She was a special dog.

 

Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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by | April 30, 2014 · 6:54 pm

A Post-Flyers-Loss Liga Privada UF-13, a Toraño and a Pre-Flyers-Win Kings Cigar

UF-13 DarkCigars are funny things, they can be a celebration, or they can pick you up when you’re down. Sunday I needed a pick-up cigar after the Flyers lost to the Rangers in a playoff game they needed to win.  I went for one of the best cigars I have in my humidors, a Drew Estate Liga Privada Serie Unico UF-13 Dark. I’ve had the good fortune to have smoked a bunch of these and, I have to say, I like them. The size (5½” x 52) works very well, its perfectly balanced and satisfying. It’s consistent in flavor and always burns perfectly. UF stands for Unico Fuerte, and I suppose these are a strong cigar, but I don’t take them as much stronger than any of the other Unicos, or Liga Privadas for that matter. These aren’t inexpensive, but they certainly are a nice treat every now and then. I give it a 98, but very close to a 99.

 

Torano_1916_ToroMonday I chose a cigar from the Toraño 90+ sampler that I broke into a couple months back after giving it a one year rest.  This cigar was the 1916 Cameroon toro, a traditional 6 x 50 wrapped in a cedar sleeve. As I joked on my Instagram picture, one is to remove the cedar sleeve before lighting.  You think it’s funny until you’ve seen someone try to do it. Not cool.  This cigar commemorates the year Santiago Toraño moved to Cuba and got into the tobacco business.  I’m personally glad he made this move, as the Toraño company is one of my favorites.  This cigar is really tasty! It’s sweet and medium to mild, and maybe even creamy. I enjoyed the heck out of this cigar, if I had one complaint it would be that the ash didn’t hang on too long, but that’s a very minor complaint. It had the Camerooniness that I really like. I should smoke more Cameroon wrapped cigars! It’s another 98 on my rating scale.

 

Kings_Baron_RobustoLast night, before the Flyers staved off playoff elimination, I sat out in the garage and smoked a Kings Cigars Baron, which is their Ecuador Connecticut wrapped cigar. I had the robusto size, and this either came from the IPCPR show, or from a package I received from them just before the  show. I really like the Conde, which is the San Andres maduro offering, and the Habano wrapped enormous King of Kings is tasty. The guys behind the brand are fun guys to be around too. Anyway, this was a nice, mild smoke that was up the middle for me. The flavor was good, but didn’t really distinguish itself from other cigars in the Connecticut category, which I admit I pass over more times than not. It was very well made, burned well and wasn’t offensive at all, and it was satisfying. While my personal preference is for something different,  I think this is a good example of a Connecticut cigar. I give the Baron 96, but the website gets a 91. I love these guys and they are innovative and creative, but the website is a pain in the butt to get any information from, and not being able to silence the audio turns me off (warning to those who click the links here).  Flashy isn’t always better, at least in my opinion.

 

This is going to get old fast, but it’s important that we make our voices heard with the FDA.  I have to say that Halfwheel.com published and excellent piece on why $10 is a ridiculous reference point for the FDA to deem a cigar to be “Premium” and, therefore, exempt from regulation.  FIVE REASONS WHY THE FDA’S $10 PRICE EXEMPTION WON’T SURVIVE

 

Here’s the link again to voice your opinions on how they define “Premium” Cigars.  http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=FDA-2014-N-0189-0001

 

I can’t stress the importance of convincing the FDA to exclude cigars from regulation (at least for now) by letting them know that the price and weight of cigars is irrelevant in determining that they are “Premium”, that they are hand made from all natural ingredients (and that can include ‘flavoring’ as far as I’m concerned) is all the criteria needed. As Charlie Minato at Halfwheel properly points out, the state of New Hampshire has a recognized definition of a premium cigar, it being: “Premium cigars are cigars made entirely by hand of all natural tobacco leaf, hand constructed and hand wrapped, wholesaling for $2 or more, weighing more than 3 pounds per 1000 cigars, and kept in a humidor at the proper humidity.” (Thanks to Dave Garofalo and Victor Vitale and all those who worked to write this definition! It’s close enough).  Anyway, hit the link above and let them know what you think.

 

Well, tonight is Game 7 of the Rangers and Flyers and I hope the Flyers play like they did last night!  I’m not quite ready for hockey season to be over, although it does free up my schedule to smoke larger cigars!

 

Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig 

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