Category Archives: Events

by Craig Vanderslice | May 19, 2024 · 10:05 am

The Smoke-onos Event at Best Cigar Prices in Drums PA

Yesterday I made the one and a half hour drive north to Drums, Pennsylvania to attend the inaugural Smoke-onos cigar event put on by Best Cigar Prices/Best Cigar Pub. I remember when New Global Marketing, the predecessor to BCP took up about three quarters of the Fujipub Listserve. This was a weekly e-mail full of specials from a dozen or so retailers back in the days before social media. I haven’t known what the weather is in the Puget Sound area since it’s demise. I’m sure there’s a couple of my long time readers that will get a chuckle out of this, but it won’t mean anything to most of you. The fact that at least of my advertisers appeared on that e-mail regularly says something about their success. Back

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to 2024, Best Cigar Prices decides to fill a void in cigar events in the region and puts on Smokonos, which is an amalgamation of Smoke and Poconos for those not keeping up. This was a three day event with a dinner Friday night, the main event Saturday, and a brunch on Sunday. If you find

They sold out of these 20″ x 200 cigars…I didn’t buy one.

yourself in the northeast PA area, you have to stop at the Best Cigar Pub for a meal and a cigar, it’s a great place. I

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attended the main event only, and it was very well done. Despite a steady drizzle, 600 attendees enjoyed themselves. They had tents set up in such a way that it was possible to avoid any rain if you wanted to. I think there were 25 or so cigar companies represented, and most of the principle people were there. I was pleased to catch up with many old friends, and even finally met Justin Andrews, who I probably should have met years ago! In addition to all of the cigar brands offering discounted purchases and deals, there was food, beer and live music on hand throughout the day. The attendees received a backpack and travel humidor with their ticket price, along with a coupon book for a cigar (or cutter in the case of Quality Importers) from each vendor.

The one moment I was turned off was when someone, and I don’t know who it was, took the stage to sing the National Anthem (which had been done already at the start of it on electric guitar), and made some editorial remarks that were political in nature. I didn’t see the need to repeat the National Anthem (for the record, the performance of our National Anthem is a pet peeve of mine, perform it as written, or not at all. It’s not a piece that requires personal interpretation. I’d be happy if anything but performance by a military band were outlawed!). This was a place for cigar lovers to get together and smoke cigars and commune and catch up, not a political rally. I don’t attend those for a reason, and I don’t like it when people feel the need to inject their agenda where it doesn’t belong. I feel the same way about religion, just so you don’t think I’m singling out the political zealots! Apart from that incident, it was a great event. Laura Barlau did a great job organizing it. I will share this with her directly, but I saw a lot of people paging through their coupon books for the coupon they needed, and there’s an easy fix. When they print the coupons, they need to put the company logo on the outs

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ide instead of the spine of the booklet. A small thing, but would make things easier for everyone. I skipped out before the bonfire, I hope the rain stopped and they managed to get that going! I ran into the owner of another large retailer who used to put on a festival like this. He mentioned that his big mistake was leaving his retail store open and apparently there was quite a lot of shoplifting. Best Cigar Prices/Pub was closed over the three days of the event so they didn’t have this problem. All in all. it was a well executed event, the attendees seemed happ

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y, the vendors seemed happy, it appeared to be a win! Thanks to the folks at BCP for including me.

That’s all for today, sorry the pictures aren’t better. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Best Cigar Prices, Best Cigar Pub, cigar, cigars, Multi-vendor, Smoke-onos, Smokonos

by Craig Vanderslice | February 4, 2024 · 9:52 am

Dunbarton Famous 80th New Sizes and a Visit to the Leaf

This is going to be a relatively short post today, and a little different than the usual Sunday post. Friday evening we went up to The Leaf/Famous Smoke Shop in Easton, PA for a cigar. They were launching two new sizes in their Dunbarton Famous 80th line, a Corona Larga and a Gordo. I’m not entirely sure why they are continuing with the 80th theme on

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these, as the original release in a box pressed toro was in 2019 (read about it here), they could easily call these the 85th Anniversary. They came out with a Robusto in 2021 (I was there as well, read about it here, please forgive the mention of the other store which has since closed). Since I went to the prior two events, I felt obligated to go to this one, and I like to catch up with Steve and Dave Lafferty, two people I’ve known for a very long time. I picked up a handful of each of the new sizes and lit up a Corona Larga and looked for a place to sit. The place was packed, not sure if it was a Friday night thing, or a Saka thing, maybe a l

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ittle of both. We sat at a wobbly hightop in the bar area. The Corona Larga is 6½” x 48, which is a really nice size as far as I’m concerned, probably about perfect for me. They call this a maduro, but it’s really a Sun Grown Nicaraguan H2000 wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers. It’s a beautiful cigar. Earlier in the week I smoked one of the original release Toros and it smoked really well, needed a touch up here and there, but I rather expect that with the H2000, but there was an umami funky flavor that was unique and interesting. I didn’t get too much of that, in the Corona Larga, maybe a little bit. I think this strikes me as kind of a cross between the Mi Querida and the Todos Las Dias. I really liked the Corona Larga, almost regret not splurging on a box, but I ain’t made of money! We ended up leaving after one cigar as the wobbly table was annoying, the place was too crowded and we accomplished what we intended. We probably missed seeing some people, but we’ll catch them the next time.

Yesterday I smoked the Gordo, which is a box pressed 6″ x 60, kind of an odd size for Dunbarton. It’s probably better classified as trunk pressed, as it’s not a cuadrado, or sharp box press like a CAO Flathead or the like. It’s pressed enough to make it feel like it’s closer to a 56 ring than a 60. I liked this one a lot too, although it had some of the funk that the toro had that I didn’t really get in the Corona Larga. While we were at the event, Saka was making the rounds and stopped by to catch up. Of course, we catch up on personal, family stuff, as we’ve known Steve for 25 years. He holds court for a while, but he gets up and works the room, recognizing that people are there to see him, and if he’s in the same spot all night the people around him aren’t going to move to let other people hang out for a while. I usually say that I go to these events to see Dave (and I forgot to tell Dave something…damn…). Back to the Gordo: Like the other cigars in this shop exclusive line, it’s really good. I imagine if you like Dunbarton cigars you’ll like these. Another funny thing is that the Famous 80th line is really the only Dunbarton store exclusive I’ve gotten my hands on (except for the Great Smoke exclusive I had last week). I don’t chase stuff down, if I happen across something I’ll pick it up. I do wonder if they will still be coming out with Famous 80th cigars fifteen years from now!

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

CigarCraig

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by Craig Vanderslice | January 21, 2024 · 10:38 am

Some Aganorsa Rare Leaf and Statesman Cigars

Thursday evening I found myself faced with a dilemma, go to an event at the Cigar Mojo shop a mile from home, or a pop-up event at the Wooden Indian 15 miles from home. The subject matter of the Wooden Indian event was far more appealing to me, so it made the choice easy, otherwise I’d have made a token appea

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rance at Mojo and gone home to watch hockey. It happen

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ed that Fabien Zeigler and Mike King of Aganorsa Leaf Cigars were in the a

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rea and were hanging out at the Indian, so I went, picked up some cigars, and hung out. Now, I’m hit or miss with the Aganorsa line, but there are a lot more hits than the event going on a the other place, and liking the people i

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nvolved means more than liking the cigars in some cases. I hadn’t seen Fabien since he left Drew Estate, and it’s always nice hanging out with Mike King and I feel right at home at the Wooden Indian. I bought a selection and lit a Rare Leaf Maduro, it the Toro shape. Their Toro’s are 6″ x 54, which suits me fine, and the wrapper is a San Andrés over Nicaraguan Aganorsa tobaccos. I managed to pay attention to this one enough while conversating to know that it’s not one of the Aganorsa cigars that I don’t care for, it’s a perfectly decent, earthy mexican maduro with some rich cocoa and a little spice. I’d definitely smoke this again, although it’s not replacing any favorites.

I decided to follow it the next night with the Rare Leaf Corojo, also in the 6″ x 54 Toro size. This has what they call a Nicaragua Café wrapper, Aganorsa Corojo 99 binder and Aganor

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sa fillers, sounds like a Nicaraguan Puro to me. My impression of this one was that the flavor was largely on the wood end of the spectrum. It was a good smoke, performed well, had some interesting flavors, a little citrus tingle here, some pepper there. When it comes to the woody and leathery cigars, I tolerate them, but it’s not something I’m going back to, unless I forget and buy one again (which is becoming more and more likely!). I grabbed a couple more toros, and I’m pretty sure I smoked them before, and maybe even liked them! I’m still way ahead of the game if I had gone to the event at the other shop. There will be plenty of people coming to the shop by my house, I can miss one here and there.

I received an email from Tommy Allen of Statesman Cigars in California asking about getting some exposure for his brand, I was intrigued. Any time someone decides to start a cigar business in California I get curious. Is this guy nuts? I need to know more. So I figured he might be a good subject for the next video interview, which I’ll work on arranging, my “studio” is on the cool side this time of year. He sent me a couple cigars to sample, which I smoked yesterday. The cigars arrived in individual sealed pouches, and he shipped them separately in USPS Priority Mail boxes, which was unnecessary and overy costly. He said it had to do with making sure the recipient got “as excellent an experience as possible”, which is a good thing. Still could have put two cigars in one box, I’ve personally gotten ten in one of those! Who am I to criticize though? Taking care of the customer is job number one, and it’s becoming less and less of a thing. I started with what I believed to be the Bella Donna, their Habano blend. Their cigars are all figurados, this was a 6″ x 56ish perfecto. I should have measured the ring gauge, but I did measure the length. This size isn’t listed on their site, which was a little confusing. Regardless, or irregardless, depending on where you fall on that linguistic debate, it was a really nice smoke. It burned well, once getting past the nipple, and had a perfect draw. This had the cane sugar sweetness I like, but it was pretty subtle, not at all cloying or overpowering. Nice.

The Maduro offering in the Statesman line they call the Nightcap, probably because one would smoke it in the evening, not because it looks like a hat one would wear to bed. This is another perfecto, this one was 5 3/8″×52, not small, but smaller than the previous Habano cigar. I definitely have to get into a video interview with Mr. Allen, I have a ton of questions. They do say that the cigars are made in Esteli, nothing about who makes them, or any real info about the tobaccos. The quality is good, the cigars are a little on the rustic side, but I not poorly priced at $11 for a figurado. I’ve had a lot of more expensive cigars that weren’t as good. The Maduro was a cocoa/coffee maduro with a little bit of strength, although approachable. Good smoke. Like I said, I have lots of questions, stay tuned for more on Statesman.

I’m to understand that there will be a multi vendor event on Saturday, May 4 at Goose’s in Limerick, PA. I’m looking forward to this event, I’ll have more information as it becomes available.

That’s all for today, until the n

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ext time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Aganorsa, Aganorsa Leaf, Bella Donna, cigar, cigars, Nightcap, Rare Leaf, Statesman, Statesman Cigars

by Craig Vanderslice | December 10, 2023 · 11:01 am

Boliche Blvd, Some Classic Fuentes and a 1502 Cigar

This week I found myself out and about more than usual! Monday I met up with my friend Steve Tabak from Tampa at the Cigar Mojo location nearest to me. I stopped into the Cigar Mojo original location on Thursday for their Fuente event, then was back at The Grove location Friday for a 1502 event. That’s enough running around for me for this month! Anyway, Monday I picked up a few of the new Boliche Blvd by West Tampa Tobacco. I had smoked a pre-release sample several months ago before I knew exactly what it was, and was looking forward to trying it again. This is made at the NACSA factory, which is the same factory that makes Dunbarton’s Mi Querida and Red Meat Lovers cigars, among others. This is a 6″ x 60 and is presented in boxes of 50, it’s a big box, and they only made 500 boxes. The blend has not been disclosed, all that is said is that the tobacco is sourced from the Oliva Tobacco Co., who owns part of the NACSA factory, so it could come from anywhere. It’s a medium to full bodied cigar, and I’m standing by my original impression that it’s more on the savory side than sweet. I smoked two this week and enjoyed them, not as much as I enjoy the Attic, Red or even the Black, I’m afraid, but I like that sweetness for the most part. Definitely a high quality cigar and worth a try! I wish I had gotten a chance to catch up with Ricky while he was in the area this weekend, but I hung out with Steve, which is always cool!

I stopped in to the King of Prussia Cigar Mojo location (King of Prussia is the name of the “town” in PA, home of one of the largest shopping malls in the country), because one doesn’t often come across Fuente events, and I wanted to see what was up. By the time I got there, maybe two hours after the event started, a lot of the selection was picked over. They had some nice sampler packs though, but I couldn’t justify the spend this time of year, I have a good many Fuente cigars in the humidor as it is. I did pick up some Hemingway Maduros, Short Story, Best Seller and a Classic, as they are few and far between. In my opinion, Fuente does some great work with Broadleaf, putting it on the Opus bunch to make the Ańejo made a better Opus, in my opinion. I think the Ańejo is about my favorite in the Fuente line. Don Carlos and Hemingways are a close second, and putting the Broadleaf on the Hemingway is a treat. The lounge was full at Mojo Thursday, so instead of sitting on their heated outdoor patio, I opted to go home and enjoy the Classic Maduro in my own heated patio. I love the over-roasted coffee flavor of this cigar, it’s not subtle or complex, it’s just good, and it’s fairly priced. I smoked the Best Seller yesterday and it’s more of the same, or I guess it’s less of the same, because it’s a smaller format! The neat thing about the Best Seller is that it has a really tight draw until it burns past the “nipple”, then it opens up and is perfect. The Classic is basically a Churchill in a perfecto shape, 7″ x 48, while the Best Seller is 5″ x 55. I’ve been smoking the Hemingway line for over 25 years and they never fail to disappoint.

Friday I stopped back into the Cigar Mojo The Grove location, with is close to home, to see an old friend, Enrique Sanchez of Global Premium Cigars. He was there with Ron Melendi, who is brokering the 1502 line in the Northeast. It’s been years since I have hung out with Enrique, it was great to be able to relax and enjoy a 1502 Ruby Toro with him and Ron. The 1502 Ruby Toro is a 6″ x 50 with a box press, and is made by Plasencia in Nicaragua. The wrapper is Ecuador Habano and the fillers are from Esteli and Jalapa in Nicaragua. As much as I love the Black Gold (the Maduro in the 1502 line), this Ruby really does it for me. This isn’t a new cigar, if you searched it on my site you’d find that I mentioned it back in 2012, back when 1502 was part of the House of Emilio distribution group. A lot has changed over the years, but this cigar remains consistent, it’s really good! There’s some spice and some citrus sweetness. I arrived fairly late at the shop, hung with the guys until closing, then went home and finished the cigar. I did, indeed relax and enjoy this cigar. I enjoyed catching up with my old friend, and finally meeting Ron, whom I’ve known of for years, I used to visit his shop in New York City, De La Concha from time to time.

I never said this was a new cigar blog, but a blog about my smoking experiences, although I do try to smoke newer stuff. This week was some oldies, but goodies! There are a lot of classic cigars that are worth smoking. I like to have certain Fuente cigars in my humidor all the time, I just love smoking them, and sometimes I don’t get around to them as much as I’d like. In other news, Secret Santa names have been selected and I’ll be working on putting my SS package together today. Don’t delay! Finally, stay tuned for a giveaway or two in the coming weeks! Tis the season! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by Craig Vanderslice | October 22, 2023 · 10:38 am

Some Tatuaje Cigars and a Visit to Legacy Cigar Lounge

This week was a week of events, I didn’t necessarily smoke any new cigars, but some that were new to me. Nothing in my contract says I have to write about new to the market cigars every week, although I do try to stay current. Fortunately, due to the generosity of a long time reader, I have some new stuff coming up, so stay tuned! This week was the tenth anniversary of Cigar Mojo, a local shop which I have been friendly with since the beginning. I was there for the soft launch and have watched their progression from their first shop and lounge, to their current location, to a second location. I really wanted to make the trip to the flagship location, only 10 miles down the road in King of Prussia, PA, but I had a physically exhausting day, and didn’t have it in me to deal with the traffic, and, honestly, be social. I just wanted to relax at home and watch hockey. So I went to the new location (which is a mile from my house), and picked up a couple of Tatuaje 10th Anniversary cigars, which seemed appropriate. I got the Bon Chasseur size, because the 5 3/8″ x 52 shape appeals to me, in both the original and the Tuxtla blends, and smoked one Thursday and one Friday. I started with the original. I should have adjusted my expectations going into this cigar. I was rather expecting a heavier cigar, but it was much more subtle, refined, I guess with a name like Bon Chasseur, it’s going to be a little hoity-toity. It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper over Nicaragua binder and filler. They have a closed foot, and the wrapper has a lot of citrus tang in it, so that is apparent on lighting. It remains citrusy and sweet throughout, and was a really delicious cigar. I suppose I always grab the broadleaf Tatuajes, so this one surprised me, it was quite different.

Maybe the citrus wasn’t all in the Ecuador Habano wrapper of original Bon Chasseur, because I sensed it in the Tuxtla version as well. This is the same size and blend, with the difference being the Mexican San Andrés wrapper. Again, I had a preconceived notion going into this one, having smoked tons of Mexican wrapped cigars over the years. Oddly, the wrapper didn’t overwhelm the rest of the blend, it literally was like smoking the same cigar I had smoked the night before with a subtle difference. What was that difference, you ask? Oddly, it was an almost cloying earthy sweetness, not unpleasant, but noticeable. Oddly, as much of a fan I am of the San Andrés, I’d probably give the nod to the Ecuador Habano in this match up, for me. I liked the balance and elegance of the original blend, adding the Tuxtla wrapper while interesting, detracted from the sophistication a little for me. But that’s just me, I’ve enjoyed the other Tuxtla versions, I guess my next back to back experiment will have to be the Belle Encre. I look forward to walking over to the Cigar Mojo shop by me in ten years to celebrate that anniversary!

Last night my wife and I took a ride to Reading, PA (think Reading Railroad in your Monopoly game), and visited the new Legacy CIgar Lounge in West Reading. Rick and Adrean, a husband and wife team, opened in August and have a really nice spot. A lot of places in the country have full service cigar bar setups, PA isn’t really one of them, in my experience. There are cigar stores with lounges all over the place, but there aren’t a lot of full bar, kitchen, humidor establishments around. Legacy fits that niche. It was a 45 minute drive, and I know I just balked about going 10 miles to an event Thursday, let me explain. It could literally take me the same 45 minutes to make the ten mile trip to Mojo at 5:30 on a Thursday as it did to go 40 miles to Legacy on a Saturday at the same time. Combine that with the Saturday afternoon nap, and I think you see my point. We had been reading about Legacy for a few weeks, they have been active on social media promoting the business with videos, and seemed engaging enough, so we figured a visit was in order. I’m not a bar guy, but they appeared to have a well appointed bar, and we had seen something on the menu on the website and were disappointed when it wasn’t on the printed menu we were given. We asked, and they were happy to make us the Bacon Jams Grilled Cheese, which was delicious.

It didn’t hurt that they were having a Protocol Cigars cut and light event there, so there would be at least one familiar face present! Kevin Keithan was there, with a selection, and I got the impression that this was a trial for the brand and they were thinking about bringing them into the humidor. I bought some Protocol cigars and enjoyed a Cyber Crimes unit. This is a box pressed Churchill, with a Nicaraguan Rosado Habano wrapper, and Nicaraguan binder and filler, made at the La Zona Factory. This cigar was on the cedary side with some spice and a creamy quality, quite different from the Blue and Red label Protocol cigars. We did miss seeing Juan, I wonder if he took part in the Karaoke, that might have been worth staying for!

Obviously, it takes time (and money) to stock up the humidor, but they had a reasonable selection. My wife, who hasn’t had a cigar in years, decided to have a Tatiana of some sort, which she enjoyed. Rick told us that they already had over 80 members signed up for their members lounge, and are working on a rooftop area, and downstairs event space as well. They have a nice setup, have live music quite frequently, and diverse collection of events, including Karaoke and Chess. We exited before the Karaoke started, I wanted to get home in time for the hockey game, where I enjoyed a Protocol Probable Cause Corona Gorda, perhaps my favorite in the line. We had noticed several billboards for Legacy along the highway so they are promoting this bigtime, and if they continue to provide a quality product, they will be successful. I suspect we’ll be paying a visit again.