Category Archives: Events

by | September 1, 2022 · 10:03 pm

Celebrating CGars Ltd’s 25th Anniversary

Tuesday evening we went to Brooklyn, NY to help Mitchell Orchant celebrate 25 years in business with CGars Ltd, a London based purveyor of fine cigars. You may be asking: CigarCraig, you don’t smoke a lot of Cuban cigars, how did you end up on the guest list for such an exclusive event?  Let me tell you a little story.  Sometime around 1997 I received an e-mail from Mitchell, who I knew as “SmokeyMO” on the alt.smokers.cigars Usenet group. It was asking me to have a look at his new website an offer any advice. I told Mitchell that “Montecristo” was one word, not two. I ended up meeting Mitchell in 1999 at an event in Las Vegas. We’ve been friends ever since, my wife and I even attended his wedding in London back in 2006, which led to my only appearance in Cigar Aficionado magazine (December 2006 with Dennis Haysbert on the cover).  So, even though I’ve been a very infrequent customer of his over the years, we’ve maintained a friendship. So that’s how we ended up in Brooklyn on a Tuesday evening, smoking great cigars with some old friends.  

 

The event was held at The Liberty Warehouse, overlooking the Statue of Liberty and New York Harbor.  The food and deserts were amazing, and we saw several old friends. There was a great latin band playing throughout the evening.  If it hadn’t been so windy, we would have spent more time outside watching the ships in the harbor, but cigars don’t deal with the wind well, and the cigars provided were the best of the best. It was a fantastic evening, celebrating a milestone for a great business and family, with great friends. One of these days I hope to get back to the U.K. and visit some of Mitchell’s shops!  

 

I smoked one of the cigars last night from the party, the La Gloria Cubana Exclusivo Andino, which is exclusive to the Andes in South America. I haven’t had a Cuban La Gloria in 20-some years, and I have been off of Havanas for the most part over the last decade or so.  This was an excellent cigar, rich and buttery with some spice.  I quite enjoyed it, thank you, Mitchell for it and for an incredible evening. 

 

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

 

CigarCraig

 

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by | August 14, 2022 · 11:33 am

2022 Connecticut Barnsmoker and Pre-Party

I got back late last night from another great Drew Estate Event, the Connecticut Barnsmoker.  I would have just gone to the PA Barnsmoker last month, but testing positive for Covid after the PCA show made that sound like a bad idea.  Fortunately Connecticut is only 4½ hours away (6 with traffic), so we drove up Friday to go to the VIP Pre-event event.  I can tell you, and my wife, who accompanied me and took a lot of the pictures will attest, this event alone would have been worth the trip! First, the SWAG and cigars are ridiculous.  Great food and a band from Minnesota called Viva Knievel who played all the hits! The event was held at the New England Air Museum, and we were treated to a walk through two hangars loaded with vintage aircraft.  There were large planes outside which provided an amazing backdrop.  The food was very good (I passed on the alligator), and many fine cigars were smoked. I ran into a bunch of old friends, and we had a great time! 

As if all of this wasn’t enough, Saturday we arrive bright and early at the Foster Farm for the first of the two day event.  I’m guessing that they split it up over two days because of the number of attendees, as the group there was smaller than I remember from past Barnsmokers.  The day started with presentations at three stations, with Jonathan Drew, Pedro Gomez and Willie Herrera, accompanied by the principles of the farm, telling us about the planting, cultivating and processing of the various tobaccos grown on the farm.  The backdrop here, among several curing barns, was a large field of tobacco destined to me Liga Privada T52 wrapper.  After this was another great meal of barbecue, there was chicken and pork, as well as brisket, slaw and mac and cheese, and apple crisp.  All very delicious! Then there were all of the activation stations! This was a bit of a Trick or Treat, with coupons for each station and activities, in some cases revolving around the brand. Besides the ten great DE cigars we got upon entry, along with more neat SWAG, we collected more cigars.  I also got a haircut at one of the two barbers there, I got a new look from the Barber and Cigar Company (@the_barber_and_cigar_company on IG) and nobody seemed to notice! I passed on the cigar rolling at the Undercrown activation, although I wish I had dragged my wife there to see how she’d do! 🙂 (she took a lot of the great pictures here). I’ve done it plenty of times and wanted to give others a chance! The event ended with raffle prizes, one dude won BOTH of the barrel shaped bars! I hope he didn’t fly in, but he was very excited about it.  I got the spend some time with some great friends who I hadn’t seen much, and I’m sure I missed a few people.  I think Op: Cigars For Warriors raised about $32k over the three day event!

 

 

The Barnsmokers are events I heartily recommend, you certainly get a lot out of it, in education, in cigars and SWAG, and in joining friends for a great time! I really missed the PA event in my backyard, but this one was well worth the trip.  Thanks to Joe and the whole DE crew for  a great experience!  

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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by | June 19, 2022 · 9:10 am

Red Meat Lovers Battleship New Jersey Meat and Cigars Event

Happy Father’s Day to everyone! Later today I will smoke an Esperanza Para Los Niños torpedo, a cigar which was my traditional Father’s Day cigar for the better part of 20 years, until I smoked the last cigar out of the box I bought in June of 2000. An old friend sent me the better part of a box earlier this year so I could continue the tradition, after taking last year off.  For those unfamiliar, this cigar was made by Christian Eiroa with the help of some members of the alt.smokers.cigars Usenet group back in 1999 and sold to benefit children orphaned by hurricane Mitch. It’s a maduro cigar, and the last one’s I smoked had held up well over the 20 years, we’ll see how they’ve continued to mature later today!  Thanks Roger Farnsworth!  

 

Thursday evening we had the great fortune of attending the Red Meat Lover’s Club “meating” on the Battleship New Jersey, which is docked right across the river from Philadelphia in Camden, NJ. I’ve seen it, but never been aboard, one day I would love to go back and take the tour.  It’s a big ship, and we dined on the fantail. The event was a benefit for the ship, and it’s my hope that a substantial sum was raised, I know that we contributed through the silent auction (my wife purchased a Beatles piece). We arrived early and hung out with Steve Saka (my wife now refers to him as “SquishySquatch”), who was also early, so that was nice. The food was amazing and abundant. Guys were walking around sucking on tomahawk bones, we had cheese steaks, smashburgers, delicious ribeye, and “macaroni and cheese” from an outfit from my wife’s ancestral home of Abruzzo, Italy.  I was trying to steer (😉) clear of carbs and stick to proteins at this event, but the pasta was outrageously good. I also got sucked into some rolls, as the cheesesteak and smashburgers seemed to be a bad idea without them. I consumed a satisfying amount, and they had cookies too!  I skipped the pig, and there was something salad-like I saw (that’s what food eats!) Evan Darnell, the secretary of steak, the head cheese, the ringleader of this whole thing, put on an amazing event. We even got to hang out with some old and new friends! Kevin and Jessica from CigarProp were there, and I finally got to meat and hang out with Lee McClain, LeeMack912 on Youtube.  Lee was one of those guys who, even though you’ve never met, you feel like you know, and you’re instant friends, great dude. We also met some other great folks there, and saw other old friends, it was a good time. I highly recommend attending a Red Meat Lovers Club event if one comes to your area.  Since Saka was the cigar sponsor, of course the cigars were outstanding, everyone got a bag with a Sobremesa Brulee, a Mi Querida and a Sin Compromiso, all top notch smokes. Casa de Montecristo was there selling Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust cigars as well. Let me tell you, there’s not many things better than a Sin Compromiso after a smorgasbord of meat!  Thanks Evan!

 

 

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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by | June 5, 2022 · 9:12 am

Liga Privada H99, Villiger San D’Oro and Nica Rustica Adobe Cigars

Monday was Memorial Day and that called for some special smokes. I pulled out the Liga Privada H99 that Joe Gro of Drew Estate gave me back in January at the TPE show. I’m not sure why I had been waiting to smoke this, but I figured a nice afternoon off was a great time to light it up.  According to the Drew Estate Website:  “Maintaining the core tenants of the Liga firebrand, the H99 features a Corojo capa from the heart of the Connecticut River Valley, where we grow the mighty leaf that graces Liga Privada with a San Andres Otapan Negro Último Corte capote over a core blend of well-aged Nicaraguan and Honduran tripa leaf.”  I like how this is written, it’s an obvious nod to the original creator of the Liga Privada line, who else uses terms like “capa”, “capote”, and “tripa” instead of wrapper, binder and filler? 😀.  This cigar burned very nicely, and was less like a Liga Privada cigar than I expected. I suppose it was more on the T52 end, obviously, it wasn’t as heavy as it’s broadleaf counterparts. I found it has a bit of spice, some salty, savoriness, and a hint of sweetness. It was very good, certainly worthy of the occasion.  As I often do, I finished the holiday weekend off with an old favorite, this time it was a Fuente Hemingway Classic, as aptly named as a cigar could be. 

 

I slacked off this week and didn’t write a midweek post. Pure laziness on my part, I have no excuse.  I did smoke some cigars I really like though, a Stolen Throne Three Kingdoms, an Undercrown 10, and a new Perla Del Mar Maduro (more on that another time). Another one I revisited was the Villiger San’Doro toro. I found a three pack in the humidor and decided to smoke one and had forgotten how much I liked this cigar. This one is the Colorado, with a ruddy brown Ecuador wrapper, and Nicaraguan binder and filler. I’m not sure how old this three pack is, but I think it’s newer, which means these were made at Joya de Nicaragua.  I probably have an old one around that was made at Placencia if I dive into the humidor a little deeper. I really enjoyed the flavor of this cigar, it had a cane sugar sweetness that I like a lot, but it was intermittent, so it didn’t get boring. I know Villiger premium cigars don’t get a ton of traction, but they tend to be pretty good, as far as I’m concerned. 

 

Yesterday I stopped in to the Wooden Indian where they were having a Drew Estate event featuring the new Nica Rustica Adobe, which they had in limited supply.  I picked up five toros and smoked one there in the Liga Privada Lounge, while catching up with Dave, Dan and their excellent staff, as well as Ray from Drew Estate and Matty Rock, famous for being Matty Rock. I had my choice of the three vitolas the Adobe is available in, and stuck with the Toro, even though I haven’t had the robusto yet, but I didn’t really like the gordo I tried inthe Freestyle pack. I’ve smoked a ton of Nica Rusticas, I really like them. We even went to the Belly launch event in Kentucky back in 2015. This was the third Adobe I’ve smoked and it’s growing on me, I’m liking the smoothness and balance. It has a bit of a creaminess, the Habano wrapper instead of Broadleaf makes a big difference. When this was the Freestyle live mystery cigar I had no idea this was what it was going to be, although I know one person in particular nailed it. you can’t beat the price, both versions are going to have a place in my humidor I think.

 

That’s all for today! It’s been a beautiful weekend, and I need to get out and get some things done, maybe smoke some more cigars!  Don’t forget to check out www.battleshipbeef.com and come out to the Battleship, Beef and Bourbon for the Ship Red Meat Lovers Club event. It should prove to be an orgiastic feast of the senses! Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig 

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by | December 1, 2021 · 9:27 pm

CigarCraig Secret Santa

I’ve had several people express an interest in participating in a Secret Santa exchange, so I decided to try out the Elfster app to administer the program. I’ve participated in exchanges through this before and it seems to work well.  I set it up with a last day to sign up as next Wednesday, December 8, 2021, with exchanges to be done by the 20th. Hopefully that’s enough time, I know it’s a small window, but I know we can get it done, and I think we all are adults here!  I made the spending limit fairly low, $40, but I know how folks can be, this is about giving, not receiving. Click on the link below to sign up. 

 

https://www.elfster.com/gift-exchanges/e1496f09-98db-491c-9e29-8acdcec6dd80/?join=zte0

 

Let’s have fun with this! I can’t wait to send out some goodies!  Stay tuned for some holiday contests coming up! That’s all for today, until the next time, 

CigarCraig

 

 

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