Category Archives: Events

by | February 13, 2013 · 6:49 pm

A Room101, an Alec Bradley, a Mucialago, a Nestor Miranda and More Cigar Events

As a follow up to last week’s mention of some of the great cigar events coming up in the next few months, I left out a couple of good ones.  The Western Pennsylvania Cigar Crawl is in May and by this writing is likely sold out.  This is an old fashioned bus crawl run by Rob Heming of the Blowin’ Smoke Podcast. I’ve been on this crawl once in it’s 11 or so years of operation and it’s quite a bit of fun, if you think hanging out with a bunch of guys smoking cigars while you visit cigar shop after cigar shop and eat a lot of great food is fun, which it is.  Another upcoming event is the 1st Annual CATS Cigar Festival. C.A.T.S. is the Cigar Aficionados Trades and Sales Facebook group, which is a very active group of cigar lovers that is closely affiliated with the Op:Cigars for Warriors group that puts cigars in the hands of out active duty soldiers. It’s a weekend long event starting Friday evening, May 24 and ending Sunday, May 26 in San Antonio, TX.  Check their Facebook page for more information.  More great events with great folks.

 

Wednesday evening I got off to a late start so I was looking for something on the smaller side.  I had picked up a Room 101 OSOK Filero a few months back when Gary Griffith opened his Total Tobacco store in nearby Newtown Square, PA.  It was pricey, but I knew it was a cigar I wanted to try.  Under the paper wrapper, and beneath the tissue wrap was a beautiful little perfecto, measuring 4½ x 52.  What a great little smoke. The smoke was thick and loaded with heavy flavors and really was what the doctor ordered to releive the stress of the day.  I absolutely loved this cigar and it’s my second favorite Room 101 cigar now, after the San Andreas (anyone surprised?)  Great smoke, get them while you can.

 

Thursday my wife and I went to the Flyers game and we stopped in the cigar bar again where I smoked a little Punch London Club maduro while we waited for everyone to get out of the parking lot.  The little Punch is a go-to winder smoke for me along with it’s Hoyo de Monterrey sibling, the Sabroso.  Friday I grabbed an Alec Bradley Family Blend VR1, a 5½ x 50 parejo with a fancy pigtail cap.  This is a cigar that probably came from either the trade show or an Alec Bradley event where I bought some cigars. I enjoy quite a few of the Alec Bradley cigars, and this one was very good.  I wish it had burned a little better for me, but cold weather smoking has it’s pitfalls, and one of those is that cigars don’t always burn like they should.  Let’s face it, cigars are tropical critters, and they want to be smoked in warmer weather!  Still a solid smoke with pleasing flavors.

 

Murcielago_Toro_GrandeSaturday evening my wife and I went out to the at Philadelphia Park for an evening of slot machines, and I whipped out a nice Murcialago Churchill.  This is a favorite of mine, and this was the last one of a handful I bought at the 2011 Delaware Cigar Festival.  Rich, meaty, loaded with the nice, dark flavors I love in cigar bearing my favorite wrapper leaf, all together now: San Andreas Maduro!  I haven’t had one of these since they changed production yet, but I’m confident that Eric Espinosa will continue making these with the same flavor and consistency that I love, as other cigars from his La Zona factory in Esteli have been very nice.  I’ll have to re-stock and see!  We had a great time at the casino and didn’t leave broke, so it was a winning night.

 

Finally, this afternoon I took a nice walk with a Nestor Miranda Special Selection Connecticut robusto. This was a pretty 5½ x 54 cigar that while milder than I like, had some nice sweetness that kept me smoking it to a finger burning little nub.  It burned perfectly and had a snug draw, but was perfectly relaxing and a fine way to end the weekend. Of course, Nestor is celebrating his 70th birthday this week, so if you see him, wish him a Happy Birthday!

 

Over the last week, and coming weeks, I have been transitioning CigarCraig.com to a new hosting provider, so there’s a possibility that there may be a few bumps in the road.  I’ve been trying my hardest to make this as seamless as possible, but it’s hard to say what might happen with the domain gets transferred. I currently have CigarCraig.net up and running on the new host, and hope that there aren’t any interruptions.  Please bear with me if there are, I’ll be driving myself crazy to get things restored to some kind of normalcy ASAP.

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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by | December 11, 2012 · 8:30 pm

Special Report: Ned’s Cigars Launches the BSB No. 1 by Bernie Parent Cigar

When I was 10 and 11 years old I had a Flyers T-shirt commemorating their back to back Stanley Cup wins. It was a big deal in the Philadelphia area and nobody was a bigger deal than the man between the pipes, Bernie Parent. I was very excited to be able to attend the launch of a new cigar, the BSB No.1 by Bernie Parent.

 

This particular cigar adventure began with a visit to Ned’s Cigars in Newtown, PA. I was welcomed by Luca, the owner of the store, which has been there for somewhere around 80 years. This is located in a historic building on the main street through the borough and exudes warmth and hospitality. The cigars are housed in cabinets on two walls along with an antique counter/humidor. The facings are limited by the space, but the selection is quite varied and covers all the bases. The Panacea cigars from the Flatbed Cigar Co. are prominently displayed as that company is based nearby. The lounge is a cozy space filled with leather chairs, TVs and a section of humidors for the members. Luca is one of those guys who makes you feel at home and like you’ve known him for years.

 

After a brief visit at the store I tagged along with Luca and his staff the the Green Parrot, which was the venue for the evening’s festivities. The Green Parrot appears to be a very nice bar and restaurant with an enclosed patio area which was where the event was held. The staff at this place was excellent, very efficient and attentive, and the food was delicious. They pride themselves on only using fresh and organic ingredients and claim to not even have a freezer on the premises! It was an excellent venue for a cigar dinner, although if the outside temps had been colder I can see where having most of the vinyl curtains open could get a bit chilly. On the other hand, smoke wasn’t a problem.

 

The reason Luca was able to round up 40 or 50 of his customers and friends (the Mayor of Newtown was there as well) was to celebrate the launch of a special cigar made by Rocky Patel Cigars for the legendary NHL goaltender and local hero Bernie Parent, the BSB No. 1 Rocky Patel, came up with the concept for the packaging, and Nish Patel handled the blending. What they came up with was a box pressed petite robusto with an outer band covering the majority of the cigar which was designed to look like a goalie pad, with an orange band underneath with the “BSB No.1 by Bernie Parent”  in black. The box that these cigars are packaged in is Flyers Orange and Black with gold lettering. The presentation is pretty awesome, at least from the perspective of a hockey fan such as myself. The cigar has an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper which gives it a nice spicy flavor and I was impressed with how long this 4” cigar lasted considering the draw was very loose. It’s a tasty smoke that should age well. Bernie was truly a gentleman and stayed for the whole event. The event was terrific, great food, great cigars and wonderful people. Thank you to Luca for his hospitality, I appreciate the opportunity to attend such a special event.

 

Here is some video from the event with some interviews and pictures:

Contests!

Tomorrow is the day you’ve all been waiting for, the beginning of the 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways. I think you’ll be impressed with the gifts this year, leave a comment to enter each day’s contest and try not to drool all over your keyboards!

 

Until tomorrow,

 

CigarCraig

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by | November 28, 2012 · 7:52 pm

The CAO Concert Event at G & G Cigars

It snowed! It’s not even December yet and we have a blanket of snow on the ground. Last year the only major snow we had was at the end of October 2011, so maybe we get it out of the way again and have a nice, mild, uneventful winter? I can hope. I like cigars too much to limit myself to coronas and petite coronas all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I think a smaller ring cigar is fine, love a lancero and coronas, but variety is the spice of life! Go away snow!

 

Right before it snowed I had an opportunity to attend an event at G & G Cigars in West Chester PA. This is a nice little shop in the downtown area in what was once the Warner theater and is now the Warner Hotel. The hotel is a new addition and just looking into the lobby from the street (what was once the movie theater lobby, I think I saw the Muppet Movie there! back when you could smoke during the movie and you d didn’t think twice about rats running over your feet…you know, the good old days!) it looks like a very nice place. G & G Cigar Co. has been here for 13 years and is capably run by Doug and Jan, who I run into at the trade shows more than I see in the shop. Admittedly, I don’t get to this shop as much as I’d like, but that’s because I really don’t frequent any one shop over another in my area. I end up going to cigar events wherever they may happen to be and am not one to just go hang out at any one shop. If I were and lived a little closer, this shop would be the place. They work things a little differently here, the lounge and their events are for their members and not open to the public. I was lucky enough to weasel and invite out of Doug because my buddy Rick Rodriquez was bringing his CAO Concert tour to my home town. Rick is the man when it comes to the new blends coming out of CAO and I was fortunate to get to know him a bit when I visited General Cigar Co. in the Dominican Republic last year. He has studied the blending arts with Benji Menendez among others and knows his stuff and is a heck of a cool dude too.  A big thank you to Doug and Jan for extending me their hospitality and Ricky and his crew as well.  As you can see in one of the pictures, they even had a cake for Ricky’s birthday that’s this week, Happy Birthday Bro!

 

I enjoyed a CAO Concert Roadie while enjoying the company of several of the members. I have to say that many shops, membership or not, can be a little intimidating at first. I have been a guest of Doug’s in his lounge on two occasions and was welcomed and treated as a friend both times. This says something for the clientele at this shop and after talking to several members, they all seem to drive past one shop or another to come to this one. I wasn’t a fan of the members only lounge and events model but it’s working quite well here and if I were closer and would spend more time hanging around I would gladly pay the membership. Good group of folks for sure. As far as the CAO Concert goes, it’s a nice smoke. Medium bodied with a nice sweetness here and there that probably comes from the broad-leaf binder.  I enjoyed the heck out of the cigar as well as the time I spent talking to all the folks at the event.  It was a fun time.  If you get a chance to meet Rick on one of his tour stops do it, he’s a great guy and really knows his art.

 

Since it’s cold and there’s still stinkin snow on the ground I grabbed a short smoke for my walk, a CAO OSA Sol Lot T.  This 4 ½” x 50 box pressed torpedo is quite a neat little smoke.  It was loaded with  flavor and burned perfectly.  It’s a different experience from the Concert, it’s got refreshing, bright flavors that will be even better on a 80 degree summer afternoon by the pool than a cold evening with the moon and Venus lighting up the snow.  It was perfect for my walk.  I picked up a few of these at  Cigars International when I was at the new super store and they were in the $5 range, quite reasonable.

 

That’s it for this installment, enjoy the rest of your week and take some time to relax with a fine cigar, whether it’s at home in your favorite smoking spot, or in a nice lounge like G & G Cigars has.

 

Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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by | November 25, 2012 · 9:49 am

A Turkeyday Liga Privada T52 and an Alec Bradley Event at Old Havana

After a fine Thanksgiving turkey dinner with my family I figured something a special cigar was in order. I was in a Liga Privada mood, so I was riffling through the Drew Estate box and came across a 6″x 60 Liga Privada T52. Now tell me, what could be better than more of a good thing? Probably just about every other size of the T52! Not that it wasn’t a spectacular cigar, it certainly was! It was loaded with flavor, just not quite the concentration of flavor that the narrower ring gauge T52s present. I enjoyed every last bit of this cigar, but couldn’t help to think that the wrapper to filer ratio just isn’t quite right to showcase the wrapper on the T52 line. I think this came from a goodie bag at a blogger party Drew Estate threw in Vegas at the 2011 IPCPR show. Great cigar, but I’m not really surprised that it isn’t in regular production, but it’s always fun to see how blends translate into different sizes. It’s a cigar I’m glad to have had the chance to try in this format to see the impact that the wrapper has on a blend.

 

Friday evening I took a drive down to Old Havana Cigar Co. just south of West Chester, PA. for an Alec Bradley event.  This shop always has good events and they have a really nice lounge as well as a huge, well stocked humidor.  They have food in the lounge and always have quite a crowd. I picked up a couple of American Sun Grown robustos and lit one up. For right around $5 these cant be beat. I think I prefer them over some of the pricier lines. I had a nice time talking with “the Player”, Jonathan Lipson, and hanging out and enjoying my smoke. Since I moved a few months ago I’m a lot farther away from this shop than I used to be, but I’ll make the trip occasionally to catch an event. I ended up with new Connecticut offering from Alec Bradley which I’ll smoke in the not too distant future (maybe today).

 

Last night, after a two day battle with a migraine, I went for a favorite, a Gurkha Seduction Robusto.  This is an excellent smoke that I really like and didn’t have to think to hard about, I could just enjoy it .  A year ago I don’t think I’d even had a Gurkha cigar, and now I find that I have a handful floating around the humidors.  So far the Seduction is my favorite, but I have a bunch more to sample.  I’ll wait until the weather is nicer though as the all seem to be toro sized!

 

I hope everyone had a fine Thanksgiving and is ready for the start of my 12 Days of Spectacular Giveaways coming up in a few short weeks!  It’s looking like it’s going to be even better than last year!   I’m going to go string some more lights outside after I send a few e-mails lining up stuff for the contests.

 

Until the next time,

CigarCriag

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by | November 14, 2012 · 7:04 pm

A 1502 Black Gold, an East India Trading Co. Red Witch and a Visit to Goose’s Lounge

It’s a special treat when I get to smoke two spectacular cigars in a row. I thought Saturday’s La Aurora Cameroon was as good as it got, and it was a fantastic smoke. Sunday afternoon was stunningly gorgeous so I grabbed a larger cigar, which turned out to be a 1502 Black Gold Torpedo that Gary Griffith had recently sent my way. Somehow I managed to miss this booth at the Delaware Cigar Festival, which is a great disappointment to me. The 1502 line is named for the year that Nicaragua was founded officially, and the cigars are all Nicaraguan puros. The cigar is visually beautiful, the maduro wrapper glistens with oils. The wrapper is cut a little long and folded over the end of the cigar, giving a nice burst of wrapper on the light-up. I spent the afternoon sitting in the sun thoroughly enjoying this cigar.’s deep dark, rich flavors. As I was smoking it I kept thinking that I am very happy that Gary sent me two of these torpedos and I really am looking forward to trying the other lines in the 1502 portfolio. Another darned yummy cigar!

 

Monday evening I ran across the Red Witch from the East India Trading Company arm of Gurkha. I find myself with a growing collection of Gurkha cigars where my experience with them is limited to a few lines, the Seduction being a personal favorite. I still haven’t tried the Wicked Indie, perhaps I’ll grab a couple the next time I see them. This toro sized cigar was very handsome, the Habano wrapper was quite nice. For a cigar that should set you back right around $5, this was an enjoyable smoke. the first few inches give you the impression that it’s going to be a butt-kicker, but it mellows out into a nice, smooth smoke. Gurkha has so many lines it’s dizzying, which is one of the reasons I’ve tended to steer clear, just because I can’t wrap feeble head around all the variety (much the way I feel about Rocky Patel’s cigars). I am going to make a conscious effort to pick up more of their cigars as they have proven to be well made, beautifully presented and generally tasty. Any suggestions?

 

Tuesday I got wind of an event going on at a local shop that I’ve been meaning to visit. Goose’s Tobacco Outlet is only about 15 miles from home, and I found out through the grapevine that Willy Herrera and Chris Stone from Drew Estate were doing an event there. I like to catch the Drew Estate events when I can. It gives me the opportunity to catch up with the local rep and usually score a good deal on some smokes I like. This time I was able to score another Joya de NicaraguaCabinetta lancero! I picked up a few of the Antaño Dark Corojo El Martillos and couldn’t get one lit fast enough. Delicious cigar! I ran into a couple of guys I had met at another recent event who are members, as well as Rob and Mike (?) the two DE ambassadors, one from New Jersey and one from Ohio. These guys travel considerable distances to help spread the word about cigars they love, it’s a pretty cool thing. Anyway, I got to hang out with Willy Herrera a little bit, but I got there too late, he had already stopped rolling his new Hererra Estelli cigars. I look forward to trying one when they come out in January.  The store is huge, I actually drove past it Herrera Esteli Box from the IPCPR Showonce because I was looking for a smaller place.  They have a neat walk in humidor that’s “U” shaped, and I look forward to going back to explore it further  as I said, I was late and wanted to get a cigar lit, but it looks to be well stocked.  The lounge is a Montecristo Lounge and is probably the same size as the retail area, which is enormous. I spoke with John Sr., the owner, and he gave me the grand tour, and his son, John Jr. provided excellent service in the humidor.  If you find yourself in the shadow of the Limerick Nuclear plant’s cooling towers in PA, stop in and pay Goose’s a visit.  It’s a really nice place to sit and relax with a smoke.

 

That’s all I have for this episode.  I’m off to find a good cigar to smoke while I walk the dog, or she walks me, as the case may be.  So, Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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