Category Archives: Editorial

by Craig Vanderslice | August 29, 2021 · 10:37 am

A Zeus Churchill Cigar and CigarCraig.com’s 12th Anniversary

It was on this day in 2009 that CigarCraig.com was born, a birthday present from my wife. As I’ve told the story before, I had no idea what I would do with the URL, really didn’t much know what a blog or blogger was, so I had to figure something out. I had spent time on USENET, and the thought of trying to build yet another informational site seemed daunting and redundant. So there was this blog thing. I never was much of a writer, so it started pretty abysmally, but I figured I’d just start writing about some cigars I smoked and places I went and stuff I did, just like I used to do on USENET. Eventually I got off of the free WordPress blog, figured out how to use the technology better and booked myself a trip to Cigar Safari. It seems like my travelogue from that trip legitimized my site and my numbers increased exponentially. I joined the IPCPR as a media member and started going to the trade shows. I’ve seen a lot of stuff over twelve years, some people don’t know, or maybe forget, some of the stuff I was involved in with the IPCPR early on for internet media, fighting for certain things whether we won or not. I like to think I am one of the few blog purist left, Casasfumando.com is another that comes to mind. We stick to our strengths. So to all those who’ve been around longer than I have, congrats and thanks for the inspiration, to those who’ve been around as long, or almost as long, thanks for the friendship and camaraderie, and to the newer generation who are killing it with different platforms, keep up the great work!

Last week I wrote about the great experience I had at the Humidour Cigar Shoppe in Cockeysville, MD. While there, I picked up one of their exclusive cigars, the Zeus in the Churchill size. After smoking it, I’m kicking myself for not getting more. More on that in a bit. When I saw the name of this cigar I was a little confused, you see, my friend Kosta, who owns SMōKE Manayunk in the Philadelphia area, has (or had, it’s been a bit) his own house brand called Zeus. I’ve included. picture of me smoking one several years ago in the store in front of a mural of Zeus, which has, sadly, been remodeled out of existence. I still have a Lancero in the humidor. It turns out that Chris Helmuth, one of the owners, is friends with Kosta, and the conspired to share the Zeus blend and name, which connected the dots. So the Zeus is a nice looking cigar with an Ecuador Habano Oscuro wrapper (I’m either making that up or I read that somewhere, but I just tried to fact check it and can’t find a reference, perhaps someone will correct me). The filler blend is four different Ligeros, so it’s a bit of a powerhouse. These are made by Rocky Patel, although I’m uncertain whether its made in Nicaragua or Honduras. Like I said, I should have bought a couple more, but I think Kosta might sell these at SMōKE so I might not have to drive an hour and a half after all, and I owe Kosta a visit. This isn’t the strongest cigar I’ve smoked, but it’s no slouch (Don’t sell yourself short, Judge, you’re a tremendous slouch!). It was a very much to my liking when it comes to strong cigars, espresso, rich tobacco, some spice, but not too much. It’s been too long since I smoked the lancero, and it would be silly to compare it to the aged lancero I have on hand, so I wasn’t going to try. If you find yourself at The Humidour (or SMōKE, I imagine), give these a try if you like a stronger smoke.

As I write this I’m smoking a La Gloria Cubana Retro Especiale Cubano, the 6½” x 58, which is 10 years old. This came from a box that came back with me from my visit to the factory in 2011. I selected it for the ring gauge, which is significant today. It’s aged remarkably well, it’s outstanding actually. I wish I had the foresight to save more than the two I had left in the humidor. It makes me think of one more thing before I wrap this up. Yesterday I posted a few news items, and I omitted one from General Cigar Co., I got sidetracked and didn’t get to it. It was about the new Partagas Cortado, I’m sure other outlets have posted about it, I encourage you to check it out elsewhere. The Partagas Cortado is a Connecticut shade wrapped Partagas, and I just have to wonder why we needed that? With the exception of the Black, which is Broadleaf, and awesome, Partagas has been Cameroon wrapped, and Cameroon is pretty hot right now. Why deviate from that? Why not let Macanudo be the flagship Connecticut? I just wonder why dilute the brand? Is a Connecticut CAO Flathead next? I realize there are Macanudos in all wrapper varieties, maybe that screws up my argument, what do I know? Anyway, that’s all for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, La Gloria Cubana, retro especiale, Zeus

by Craig Vanderslice | July 11, 2021 · 10:26 am

La Alianza Rosado, 1881 Perique, Murder Hornet and LCA Thoughts, and Ortega Serie D Connecticut Cigars

While roughly half of the cigar industry is in Las Vegas at the PCA show, I’m here maintaining the status quo. I have my reasons for not going, ranging from not being ready to travel, to being unwilling to commit resources to something that has failed to appreciate it in the past. I hope everyone has a great show and enjoys themselves, and there’s a lot of folks I miss seeing and meeting. I have been scounging to find new cigars to smoke, so one that was new, to me, at least, was a La Alianza Rosado which was gifted to me by my friend Patrick. I’m not sure if this is a catalog exclusive or what, but it was the Churchill Extra at 7″ x 54, and has Nicaraguan binder and filler with an Ecuador Sungrown (?) Rosado wrapper. Of course, this wrapper description doesn’t really tell us much. Rosado is a color, Ecuador is known for its cloud cover so the sungrown part is sketchy, unless it’s grown in a sunny part of Ecuador, which is could be, I suppose. I don’t know Ecuador very well. It’s made by Ernesto Carillo, so that’s good enough for me. A little shopping around tells me it’s a reasonably priced cigar, at around $7, and I’d have to say this is an outstanding value. I really enjoyed the cigar, it burned well, and reminded me a little bit of the third iteration of the El Rico Habanos, the ones Holts sold in the paper bundles around 2000. They weren’t like the strong ones in the mid ’90s, they were more medium bodied, and had a nice, sweet flavor. This was a nice smoke! Thanks PJ!

My next selection goes back about five years into the humidor. Since Saka is going on and on about making cigars with pipe tobacco, I thought I’d smoke a cigar with some Perique in the blend. I wrote this in 2016 about the 1881 Perique Maduro by Tabacalera Incorporada: “The cigar has a Dominican maduro wrapper, binder form the Philippines (from a 1997 crop), and the filler is 18% Perique from a farm in Louisiana owned by Daughters & Ryan and Philippine leaf. Perique is typically a pipe tobacco, it’s usually blended because it’s very strong, and has a distinctive flavor. This type of tobacco was being cultivated in Louisiana by the local Native American tribes when Europeans wandered into the area in the 1700s.” At that time Daughters & Ryan was distributing this line in the U.S., but I don’t think that’s the case any longer. After five years in the humidor, the cigar is still very good. The fruitiness and sweetness I noted five years ago are still there, it’s still a unique cigar, although the flavors are less distinct, they’ve melded a little over time. It was a very enjoyable smoke, and that’s not something I thought I’d ever have said about a cigar from the Philippines!

While I was at the LouLiga Lounge last week I picked up a Room 101 Murder Hornet, which is a Limited Cigar Association release. The LCA is part of the Privada Cigar Club, which is directly associated with the LouLiga Lounge, I would venture to guess they are partners in some manner. That’s irrelevant to this. I’m going to be a little controversial. The LCA is the company that put out cigars like the Cigarbon, Cookie Monster, Death Bucket, etc. They create a stir, always sell out, in kind of a hit and run sort of fashion. I assume it’s the same model as Caldwell’s Lost and Found and a lot of Cigar Federation’s cigars, short runs that they pick up in factories and repackage. I’m sure there’s great margine and these are really good for retailers. I personally don’t care for the branding, especially the stuff which could potentially be perceived as having appeal to children. Hate groups like Tobacco Free Kids would be all over the Cookie Monster and you could explain it until you’re blue in the face (yeah, I know), and it wouldn’t matter, you’ may as well be injecting babies with heroin. Anyway, I’m not a fan of the whole thing, I’m sure the Privada Cigar Club is great, and I’m sure retailers love the LCA, but as a consumer, and a fairly traditional old dude, I’m not feeling it. that being said, the Murder Hornet was excellent. It’s 5 ½” x 44 corona and is made at the Raíces Cubanas factory in Honduras. It’s a bit of a throwback (sic) to the old Room 101 cigars, I suppose, as it’s Honduran, at least I suspect some of it is. It wasn’t killer strong, it was well balanced, some sweet leather and nuts, and enjoyable. Not a huge corona fan, but I smoked it slow and rather enjoyed it.

Finally, I had forgotten to smoke the Ortega Serie D Connecticut that I had bought a while ago in the sampler. I corrected that problem last evening. This was new to me, I don’t think Eddie had a Connecticut in his original Serie D line up. This one has an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper, Ometepe binder (that’s interesting!) and Nicaraguan fillers. I would recommend going on the Ortega website and buying these, because they are very good. I have a few shade cigars I really like, but most of them are on the lower tier and I put off smoking them, as evidenced by this one. Ones I like a lot, coincidentally, are made in Honduras. This one is rich and creamy. It is smooth with no bitterness or grassy flavors. It’s like a good coffee with cream and sugar (I drink mine black, so call it an iced coffee with cream and sugar). I really enjoyed it and ordered more. Eddie’s cigars are really good!

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 1881 Perique Maduro, cigar, cigars, La Alianza, LCA, Murder Hornet, Ortega, Privada, Room 101, Serie D, Tabacalera Incorporada

by Craig Vanderslice | May 2, 2021 · 10:15 am

Some Blackbird Cigars and a Cigar Auction

I had some other cigars I was going to talk about besides the two or three Blackbird cigars, but I think I’ll save them for another day, as it looks like it’s going to be nice weather and I don’t want to be typing all day! So let’s get right to it! Wednesday evening I went to Cigar Mojo in nearby King Of Prussia, PA to an event featuring Jonas Santana of Blackbird Cigars. I had met Jonas last year at the TPE show and felt like we hit it off, so I wanted to hang out with him again and show my support. I’ve been impressed with the Blackbird line overall, and picked up a few of my favorites, this time in the Gran Toro size. I smoked The Crow in the toro size, as a matter of fact, I bought the last three they had. The Crow is their San Andrés offering, with a habano binder, and Nicaraguan, Pennsylvanian, Corojo and Criollo 98 fillers (before you ask, I’m not clear on where the Corojo and Criollo 98 come from, or what varietals the Nicaraguan and Pennsylvanian are. It’s odd that they mix it up that way in the description but it happens in multilingual scenarios). This is a bold and relatively strong cigar, I like it. The one I smoked had a wrapper split, which was noticed by Wade, one of CigarMojo’s owners, who, despite my protestations, had Mark Weissenberger, who’s the broker for Blackbird Cigars, stick a corona in my pocket to compensate. The wrapper problem turned out to not be an issue at all, it burned right through. I’ll admit that if I were a “normal” consumer I can see where a cracked cigar would be a replaceable event for a retailer, I give more leeway personally. Now, I’m not going to be taken advantage of, if I see a sales clerk drop a cigar I’m going to ask for another one, but I can live with life’s little inconveniences. As I was preparing to leave the event, I went to the table where Jonas and Mark were sitting and they happened to have been live with John Remer of Johnny Smokes Uncut of the Facebook group of the same name. We hadn’t met before, but had been on a Zoom event together recently. He didn’t recognize me, had me on real quick, I left a comment on the live stream which he read eventually, then it dawned on him who I was, and hilarity ensued. It was one of a handful of events I’ve been to over the last year-plus, and it was nice to hang out and meet some people.

I smoked that Blackbird The Crow Corona yesterday. I generally avoid coronas unless I have some specific time constraints, it’s situational. What I like about this “corona” is that it’s more a Lonsdale or Cervantes than corona, at 6″ x 44. This is a great size, in my opinion, two more ring gauge and it would be perfect. Of course, because it burns a little hotter, it seems a little sharper in flavor than the 6″ x 54 Gran Toro, and it occurs to me that I forgot to mention the size of the Gran Toro above, so here it is. I needn’t repeat the wrapper/binder/filler, because it’s the same as above. I had some interruptions and smoke this cigar basically in two sittings and it was as good on the relight after two hours as it was initially, which is something, I guess. I think I almost liked this one better in the Corona, I will have to do more research.

I smoked The Rook later last night in the 6″ x 54 Gran Toro (I wanted to get the size in early before I forgot again, even though it’s the same as the Gran Toro in all the lines). I picked up some Rooks because I’m a Sumatra fan and I had smoked and enjoyed this in the Robusto size before. Like I said, this has a Sumatra Wrapper with a Habano binder and Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers. This is a milder cigar than the Crow, which is probably the strongest cigar in their portfolio, but it’s definitely medium bodied. It has a nice sweetness with some creaminess, with a little earthiness too. It’s really very nice. I only bought these in the Gran Toro, and now I’m wondering about the Corona, I’m feeling a little regret. Not too much regret as the Toro is very nice. If you are a Sumatra fan, this is a good one.

Editorial

I’m not generally one to get into cigar auctions, but I recently sold an item (not cigar related) at auction and I thought I’d have a look at Scotty’s Cigars Auctions. Full disclosure: Scotty’s is an advertiser, but this is unsolicited, and I took part in this auction 100% as a consumer without their prior knowledge. I actually did it out of curiosity to see if people were looking at this feature, and, sadly, I don’t think people are! So I’m here (now that I won and got a great deal 😁) to tell you to go there and keep an eye out for their auctions! There were a couple great deal that have been missed out on already, I would have loved to have grabbed a box of H.Upmann AF Fernandez for $99. I got a fiver of Sin Compromiso for $51 with a few dollars shipping, which I’m happy with, heck, I almost feel like a criminal. Like I said, I know they advertise with me, but they didn’t ask me to do this, it was totally a secret shopper kind of thing. I wanted there to be some action on the auction! By the way, I’m told that the website’s inventory is accurate, so if you see it’s in stock, it should be in stock!

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Blackbird, Blackbird Cigar Co., cigar, Cigar Mojo, cigars, Crow, Rook, Scotty's

by Craig Vanderslice | March 21, 2021 · 9:32 am

CAO Arcana Mortal Coil and Some Random Thoughts

Before I get to the cigar, let me get some stuff off my chest. Little things get under my skin that maybe shouldn’t. but they do. Simple misuse of cigar terminology, for instance. Call it a pet peeve. One that came up recently was while listening to a podcast that I don’t often listen to, and the host is a large reason why. I firmly believe that if you are hosting a cigar podcast, and consider yourself experienced in the cigar industry, you should have a good grasp on simple terminology. For instance, if someone says they take the wrapper off a cigar and put it in their wallet, I’m picturing peeling the outer leaf off and it making a big mess in someone’s billfold, leaving an ugly cigar with just the binder, basically ruining the cigar and changing the flavor dramatically. I try to correct this when I see the mistake made in forums by laymen, I pretty much correct those who refer to either cello or the band as the wrapper. Generally the question is something like: “should I remove the wrappers from my cigars when I put them in the humidor” and my response is :“ No! The wrapper is the most expensive leaf and takes skill to apply, and adds flavor to the cigar! You probably mean the cellophane” or something similarly smart ass. But I don’t expect this mistake from someone hosting a podcast, writing a cigar blog, or otherwise in cigar media. In talking to other people, this isn’t this individual’s only flaw by any stretch. I find his interviewing style egregius and he’s unentertaining. I’ve gone as far as to remove the link to the show from my site as it’s no longer worth having any association with. This is actually one of the kind of cigar media guys who could give the rest of us a bad name in the industry. That’s the end of my rant, before I go any further down a rabbit hole. I smoked cigars this week, let’s talk about that!

I smoked a few cigars this week that I can’t talk about that were really interesting, and a couple that I want to smoke more of before writing about, but the one standout was the new CAO Arcana Mortal Coil. With Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) coming to their senses and hiring back their PR director recently, samples have begun showing up in my mailbox again, and I haven’t had to journey out looking for this cigar, which I would have done anyway, because it sounded amazing. The Mortal Coil has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, with a Connecticut Shade binder and Dominican Andullo, Honduran Jamastran, Nicaraguan Esteli and Dominican Piloto Cubano fillers. It’s 6 1/8″ x 50 and they only made 5000 boxes (I think they left out how many per box!). I found this to be a powerhouse cigar, and I loved it. It was rich and spicy, with some nice sweet flavors, and I really enjoyed it. I wan’t enamoured with the band though, it’s about 7½” long when unfurled. I get it, it coiled around the cigar, but it’s a lot of band to deal with, and must irritate the folks in the STG factory in Esteli who have to apply it to the cigars, as it’s totally different that banding any other cigar. That being said, it’s not a cord of tobacco, so there’s that. Overall, it’s a really good cigar for my palate, and I’ll be picking up some if I see them in the shops, just to have on hand for a treat. I appreciate the interplay of the Broadleaf and shade wrapper/binder combo, the CAO Bones has the same combo and I really like that.

Speaking of bands, my wife is working on another cigar band table project and needs yellow bands! What cigars have yellow bands? Leave comments with suggestions, or if you have some, let me know and we can come to an arrangement (wink, wink).

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Arcana, CAO, cigar, cigars, Mortal Coil

by Craig Vanderslice | January 13, 2021 · 8:50 pm

Another Don Lino Africa and Some Housekeeping

I realised that I failed to set an end date for the contest I have running for the Groovy Guy Gifts Good To Go Cigar Case. I was going to announce the winner tonight, but in light of my oversight, I’ll announce the winner on Sunday. Everyone has an opportunity to enter to win a nice case and some of my cigars. I’d also like to take this opportunity to welcome a couple of new partners to CigarCraig.com. Best Cigar Prices is back after a hiatus. I’m pleased to have this Pennsylvania-based retailer back. I’ve visited their facility and lounge a couple times and it’s very nice, and I’ve been following them since they sent an e-mail list with their specials some 20 years ago when they operated under New Global Marketing. They have a nice Alec Bradley Special running now for our readers. See the ad on the right sidebar on most browsers. Also, new to the family is Scotty’s Cigars. “Scotty” used to have another shop that he sold to a large company, and recently re-emerged into the market. they have some great offerings and will offer exceptional service. Again, check the ad on the right sidebar. As with all of the ads presented on my site, they are all companies that meet my standards, if I’m not a fan of their work, or don’t have a personal connection, they don’t appear on the site which carries my name. I’m not just a whore for cash here, I have some integrity! I use, smoke, and purchase from every company represented.

I’m a happy camper tonight, as the NHL season started, and the Flyers started off with a convincing win over the cross state rival Penguins. I watched some of the game while enjoying anther Don Lino Africa, this time in the Toro size. This Toro os 5½” x 54, not quite the 6″ toro I prefer, but it’ll do. When I picked these up at Top Shelf a week or so ago, Jim, the owner, mentioned that this was his favorite size. I smoked the Robusto at the time, and it was good, but I see what he means about this being the better size. The Cameroon binder comes through a little more in the toro, as it has a bit more sweet nuttiness than the robusto presented. It was a really tasty smoke. Funny thing, when I smoked that first one, it was after I stopped for a Covid test (which came back negative, thank you), and today I had the first course of the Covid vaccine. I suppose now I need to grab another size to smoke in 28 days when I go back for the second shot of the vaccine, just to remain consistent. It’s part of my CDO (that’s OCD in alphabetical order, as it should be). I screwed up and now I’m stuck. So far, no real side effects other than feeling like I got punched in the arm, but that’s no different than a flu shot or tetanus shot, I guess. Since I work in a health-care related area, and one of our employees was positive, I decided to get tested, and they offered us the vaccine through the VA, with whom we contract. It’ll be interesting to see how it all goes.