Category Archives: Editorial

by | April 1, 2012 · 9:51 am

Room 101 Cigars Event at Old Havana Cigar Co.

Friday evening Matt Booth from Room 101 was making an appearance at a local shop, Old Havana Cigar Co. in West Chester, PA.  I frequently attend events there and it’s always really busy, Friday being no exception.  I purchased a handful of singles and lit up a Room 101 ‘305’, which is the robusto in the line.  I enjoyed the cigar, probably not surprising since I’ve long been a fan of Camacho cigars.  I had the great pleasure of talking to Tom Smith, the Davidoff representative, who doesn’t like bloggers.  I can see his point, which is that particularly popular bloggers can cause damage to a brand or shop by giving a bad review.  I suspect that the number of cigar smokers who are influenced by blogs is reasonably small, as I haven’t  run into too many people hanging around in cigar stores that use the Internet for any kind of cigar stuff, be it forums, blogs or whatever.  Certainly we need to be responsible and not pretend we are experts and tell people what they may or may not like.  The 305 was a really nice cigar, very Honduran and perfectly made.

 

I followed the 305 with a Namakubi Papi Chulo (is it a coincidence that “Papi Chulo” and “petite corona” share the same initials?).  This is a nice little 4″ x 42 with a reddish Habano wrapper.  It took a little work getting it to light right, but ended up being packed with flavor and smoking very nicely.  I was going to leave after the 305, but I got to talking to a gentleman who came in and was lighting up a Papi Chulo, so I decided to join him. He was an interesting gentleman, he had taken the opportunity in college to study abroad in Havana, which was interesting.  He had a sincere interest in cigars and was really refreshing to talk to.  The Papi Chulo was terrific, but short, so I was soon done and decided to head home.  I took a few minutes to talk to Matt on my way out.  If you have a chance to meet him, take it, because he’s a nut, but one of the nicest nuts out there.  We had a little back and forth on zipper up vs. zipper down (on my jacket, what were you thinking?), all I can say is: Matt, you worry about your CDO, I’ll worry about mine, K?.  Very cool guy.  Also cool was Tom Smith of Davidoff, even though he hates bloggers.  A wealth of information on all things cigar. I appreciate the chance to meet and hang out with both of these gents.

 

Summary: Room 101 cigars good, although priced a little higher than I’m comfortable with.  Sometimes one has to factor in the overall experience and it makes it worthwhile.  On a side note, I got to thinking about petite coronas vs. larger cigars.  Certainly petite coronas offer a different, often more flavorful smoke, and when it comes to variety, you can smoke several vastly different small cigars in the time it takes to smoke one large one.  However, this is a tough sell for me when the price is close: do I pay $5 or$6 for a PC, or $6 or $7 for a Churchill?  I usually choose cigars based upon the time I have to smoke them, so this isn’t generally something I worry about.  Another little item rattling around in my head: I was once told that it costs nearly as much to make a small cigar as it does to make a big one.  Manufacturers can’t price the coronas and PCs that close to the larger vitolas, so you are actually getting a good deal on the smaller cigars, as the larger cigar sales basically subsidize the smaller ones.  Not really relevant to anything, just something that comes up in my head from time to time…

 

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

CigarCraig

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by | March 26, 2012 · 9:21 pm

A La Palina, a Liga Privada, a CAO and a La Gloria and More Editorializing…

I have to go back to last Thursday when I smoked a lovely little cigar, the La Palina El Diario KB.  This is a pretty little petite corona, 4½”x40 with a Honduran Corojo wrapper and Nicaraguan Corojo and Criollo filler, and a double Honduran Criollo binder.  I only had about 45 minutes until the hockey game was coming on so I selected this cigar, which I received from the company as a sample.  It’s a tasty cigar, many cigars from the Raices Cubana factory are, and it’s maybe a little stronger than its line-mates due to its diminutive size.  It was perfect for two laps around the neighborhood, and finished up just after the puck dropped.  It’s a really nice little cigar, but I have trouble with the price tag, which is $35 for a 4 pack.  It’s a pricey little smoke, however the rest of the line I consider pricey as well.  For me it’s not a daily smoke, but the line is delicious and refined and a very good special cigar.

 

Friday night I decided to treat myself, and selected an original Liga Privada No. 9 from March, 2007.  This had a pre-oroduction band with Saka’s name on it as these were originally rolled as his personal cigar.  This was given to me by a former member of the staff at the time.  I initially thought that it’s time had passed, it was off to a slow start.  After about an inch it kicked in, producing the lush, savory flavors that one would expect.  It had a perfect burn and I wasn’t going to put it down. I finally did when it reached the half-inch mark and was too small to hold any more.  The Liga Privada series remains a favorite special cigar, one I don’t smoke often, and one of the few I will pay the high price for (although not frequently).  I actually did see some Feral Flying Pigs in the shop I mentioned a few posts ago, but couldn’t talk myself into paying the $15+ price tag.

 

Sunday my wife and I took a ride to Atlantic City in a vain attempt to win a bunch of money.  While there we came across a Cigar themed slot machine, and I’ve NEVER played a $2 slot before, but I had to, ya know?  I put my $20 in the slot, and within a few pulls I was actually up $22.  Normally I would cash that out and walk, but I let it ride, right down to $0.  Oh well, the machine was in a smoking section, so I managed to enjoy a wonderful CAO OSA Sol Lot 50.  Nice, bright flavors, a really smooth and tasty smoke.  Well behaved, I only dropped ash on the floor a few times!   When we got home we found that the power was out in the neighborhood, so I sat on the front porch until it got dark smoking a cousin to the OSA, a La Gloria Cubana Retro Especial Cubano.  Nice, big cigar, similar to the CAO in that it’s medium bodied and bright.  I love both cigars for different reasons.  The power came back on around 4:30 am, so it was out for around 12 hours.

 

Editorial

If you read my last post about the IPCPR‘s Internet Media Membership, you will see that there were a ton of great comments from my fellow “new media” types, as well as a response from Bill Spann, CEO of the IPCPR asking for a proposal and promising to re-think their current policy.   I plan on bouncing this off of the Internet Media Members to see where improvements can be made.  I suppose we can call this group Brothers Of The Online Media, or BOTOM. :-).

 

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | March 24, 2012 · 9:12 am

IPCPR: I Want You To Want Me

I’m conflicted. Last year, the IPCPR decided to try out having a membership level for members of the internet media, such as myself. They published a fairly stringent series of guidelines, had an application process, as well as a fee that was fair in comparison to the other levels of membership that they offer. I mailed in my application along with my check, and felt honored to have passed their vetting process. I attended the trade show, which certainly cost me quite a bit out of my own pocket to fly to Vegas, eat and get a room.

 

If I may digress a moment and offer some disclosures: I do this for the love of cigars. I have a full time job in an unrelated industry. I have a part time job that I use to fund my blog and cigar adventures. I spend several hours a week on my blog, and a good bit of money on hosting my site and related expenses. CigarCriag.com operates in the red. I’m not complaining, I defy you to introduce me to a cigar blogger who is making money from this. The advertisements I do have are a flat rate and not tied to traffic, although I’m sure my advertisers want to see that I have a readership.  I’m not saying there aren’t side benefits, and not trying to be altruistic, just saying that I’m not in this for the money. I do it to promote an industry that I find interesting and truly enjoy. All that being said, it recently came to my attention that the IPCPR increased their membership fee for the Internet Media (basically doubled) to the same level as the retail, distributor, broker, etc. while maintaining the level of benefits (less than half) of last years.

 

Without getting into specifics, the other levels of membership get two passes to the show and access to the Tobacconist University certification. Media members get one pass to the show and would have to pay for a Tobacconist U. course if they so desired. Media members are expressly forbidden to ask for samples. If I want to be really petty, retailers get lunch at the show, media members don’t. Bottom line, a media membership enjoys less than half that of the other memberships at the same cost.  Bill Spann, the CEO of the IPCPR, was kind enough to give me a call this week to explain the reasoning, which I appreciate. He said that this was in response to the membership (retailers, manufacturers, etc.). They want to eliminate the “trick or treat” that has gone on in the past with consumers and, I guess, some bloggers, as well as reduce the distraction of interviews going on during the show.  These are issues I fully understand and appreciate.

 

Here’s my take, and I have been known to be cynical.  I can certainly see that the venders are there to sell to the retailers, the retailers are there to buy from the venders, and this is not a consumer show. I get that. I also think that maybe the professional media, the magazines both on and off-line, may see little guys like me as some sort of competition. Bill Spann himself made the point that the annual membership fee is a drop in the bucket to those guys, whereas for me, it represents nearly half of my blog’s annual “income”. As an independent blogger, I feel as if I support the industry, provide basically free publicity, and in the worst case, offer my opinions of how things could be better.  Allow me to make a comparison: Currently 47 states have taxes on cigars that are, ostensibly, meant to discourage the use of those products. Is the IPCPR taxing me in an effort to discourage me from attending the show? Bill said that it was the membership that requested this. Nobody asked my opinion. Am I not a member? I feel honored and validated being a member, but I’m also feeling some resentment. They will happily accept my money, but really don’t want me as a member. The IPCPR does great things to protect our rights to enjoy cigars, and I do my best to support them with my wallet as well as my time and voice.  I really don’t know how much longer I can afford to pay top dollar to be a member of an organization that doesn’t want me around.

 

I’m going to ask my readers, my “membership”  if you will:

[poll id=”3″]

 

I invite you to leave your thoughts in the comments, I know that Mr. Spann as well as others in the industry read this and I’m sure they are interested it your thoughts.

 

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | March 21, 2012 · 8:59 pm

A Tortuga, a Berger and Argenti, a Little Rant and a Macanudo

Sunday afternoon I grabbed a Tortuga 1948 Connecticut Torpedo that Victor Vitale had sent me a couple months ago.  This is a 6½ x 52 torpedo with a flawless Connecticut shade wrapper rolled in the Dominican Republic.  This might have been one of the best shade wrapped cigars I’ve smoked.  There’s a trend toward stronger blends with an Ecuador wrapper, and it’s becoming a little cliche, in my opinion,  that everyone states that theirs is not like the rest of the mild Connecticut cigars out there.  Anyway, I don’t have anything against the cigars, I always enjoyed the flavor of a nice Connecticut wrapper, USA, Ecuador or whatever.  The Tortuga is an extremely smooth and flavorful cigar.  I had trouble putting it down and smoked it to about a half an inch nub, burned my fingers, it was that good. After smoking the 1950 Maduro, and this 1948 Connecticut, I can’t wait to smoke the  Edicion Limitada.

 

Monday night I lit up a Berger and Argenti Entubar v32 Rogue Rothschild.  I’ve enjoyed many of the cigars in the Berger and Argenti line, so I had an expectation that I’d like this one too.  I was expecting a super strong cigar, but this one wasn’t, it was very much a medium bodies cigar with a great flavor.  This 5 5/8″ x 54 cigar has the same little tube of ligero protruding from the foot that the regular Entubar line has, and the same warning band cautioning you to toast the entire foot, not just the ligero part.  It’s also a good idea to remove that band before lighting, which I almost forgot to do.  It’s a fun cigar to smoke, and tasty and well behaved.  I have a couple of the Khilla Korona size that Al Argenti sent me to try to, I’m sure they will be just as good.

 

The Rant

I had to take a little detour on the way home from work tonight and it took me past a cigar shop that I don’t get to very often. My wife had instructed me not to stop in but I defied her instructions and stopped in to see if they had the new Ortega line. This shop is a “premier” smoke shop, and is supposed to be the flagship store of the five store chain. I asked the young guy if they had the new Ortega line and he said “oh yeah, the Omar Ortega is over here” and I said ” no, that’s Omar Ortez. I’m looking for Ortega, you know, Eddie Ortega? 601? Murcielago?”.  Blank stare.  I say “they are distributed by Rocky Patel”. He says “the only Rocky Patel we have is the Edge, right here”. I thanked him and left. OK, I know I’m a cigar geek, and probably know more than the average person about cigars, but don’t you think if you worked in a cigar shop you’d keep up on what’s going on in the industry? It’s just hard for me to wrap my head around! I guess the owner doesn’t really worry about the new stuff and this is one of the reasons I don’t go to this shop too often. The moral of the story is that I should have listened to my wife!

 

Tonight I smoked the new 6″ x 60 size of the regular Macanudo Cafe line.  I was pretty impressed with the flavor of this classic Connecticut cigar.  I’ve smoked dozens of this cigar in various sizes and I forgot that they aren’t necessarily the bland, tasteless cigar everyone thinks they are.  Smooth and flavorful, if you like that sort of thing, I guess!  The first premium cigar I ever smoked was a Macanudo and I was underwhelmed, but I’ve come to appreciate the flavors of a really broad range of cigars.

 

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

CigarCraig

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by | March 17, 2012 · 8:56 am

Making Plans For The August IPCPR Show – Special Edition

My wife came across this deal this morning and I promptly purchased it.  A Four-Night Stay for Four, Daily Buffet Breakfast, and Daily Shuttle to Theme Parks Radisson Resort Orlando-Celebration through Living Social.com.  While it’s 9 miles from the convention center, it allows for family to come along and go to the theme parks while you hit the show.  With car rental it still should be a pretty good deal, and if someone else takes advantage of this we can certainly work out carpooling.

From the Website:

Embark to the city of theme parks with this week’s Escape to Radisson Resort Orlando-Celebration from Orlando Vacation Packages USA, and revel in a four-night stay for four in a room with a standard king-size bed or two double beds for $386, including a daily breakfast buffet and other complimentary amenities like a daily shuttle to the theme parks, parking, and high-speed Internet access.

Have a field day at Walt Disney World®, where four theme parks and two water parks hold endless thrills and special events like the Epcot® International Flower & Garden Festival and Epcot® International Food & Wine Festival. Or venture to Universal Studios® and the other amusement parks for the roller coasters and the live performances.

 

As of this writing there are 6 days to take advantage of this offer, and it’s good through December 21, 2012 if you don’t want to use it for the show.  I’ll  be right upfront in telling you that if three people buy it through my link, I get it for free (and if three of your friends buy it, you get it for free too!), so that, along with passing on a good deal, is my motivation for posting this.  It doesn’t appear that there are any conditions or blackouts around the date of the show.

 

Now, I’m off to find that Camacho Corojo Candela to smoke for St. Patrick’s day today! I like St. Patrick, he was a fellow snake hater, right? (I hate snakes, which is probably why I’ve never smoked a culebra!).

 

Until tomorrrow,

CigarCraig

 

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