I’m on the road, mooching internet connectivity where I can, so this will be a short one! Here’s a video from the road. Please see the end where the winner of the final Hoyo de Monterrey Reposado en Cedros contests is revealed.
FF184, please send your address, I’ll ship your cigars when I return from Florida! Again, thanks to the folks at General Cigar for sponsoring this contest!
Stay tuned for more to come over the next few days!
CigarCraig
Filed under Contest, IPCPR, Stores, Trip Report, Video
I think the combination of the outrageously high heat and humidity and the air conditioning being on in the house has wreaked havoc with a couple cigars this week. I’ve been taking the cigar out of the humidor, getting ready to take it outside, sometimes it hangs out unprotected in the dry air conditioning for 10 minutes or so, then I drag it out into the hot and humid out of doors. I fail to see how these short periods of time have any effect, but I’ve had a few cigars that seem to smoke “wet”, as if they dried out a little inside, then 
soaked up a big drink of water upon going outside! I know this is unreasonable, but I can’t think of anything else. Other cigars from the same humidor are fine. Certainly some tobaccos burn differently at various humidities, or maybe I just got a couple duds! The first cigar to give me a little trouble was the La Gloria Cubana Artesanos de Tabaqueros retro tour edition, the one with the Sumatra and Broadleaf, as opposed to the Connecticut and Sumatra configuration that’s in regular production. I have had a couple of these in the Robusto size and absolutely loved them. It took some work getting the smoke out, having to double and triple draw for the first half to get at that deliciousness. Once it got to the half way point it started working a little better. In my experience, this is a terrific smoke, once you hit the broadleaf wrapper those nice, dark flavors really take off. If you ever get a chance to get to a La Gloria Cubana event and mooch one of these, do it, they are tasty as all get out!
Mondays can sometimes be “experimental” cigar days. I chose a Brun del Re Don Corazza robusto from the couple of cigars left over rom last year’s IPCPR show. I had smoked this cigar in a 4″ x 60 format and was less than impressed, which is one of the reasons I’ve passed over the robusto in my humidor. I figured after a year of age I’d give it another shot. I’m a strong believer in the idea that every cigar is someone’s baby, so this Don Corazza guy must love this cigar. It smoked pretty well, with a little hint of the “smoking wet” feeling I got with the La Gloria. I did enjoy the cigar past the band, it burned evenly and had a pleasing flavor. It may not be something that’s necessarily up my alley, but it’s still a nice smoke. I think I have a Brun del Re Premium Connecticut floating around someplace that I’ll have to try soon.
Tuesday, for some reason, I decided on a La Palina El Diaro Torpedo for my usual walk. This one had been sitting in my Griffin’s humidor for about six months or so, and it was one of those situations where I thought of that cigar for some reason during the day. I felt compelled to smoke it and I don’t know why. I’m glad I did because it was a terrific smoke! This line is one of those that I can’t put a name to any flavors, but I just know I like them and that they are always a high quality smoking experience. The construction is spectacular and they are smooth and rich and tasty. I am so looking forward to the maduro version, you know how much I love the San Andreas maduro wrappers!
It’s time to select a winner for the third week of our Hoyo de Monterrey Reposado en Cedros contests! If you haven’t already, make sure you enter Hoyo’s Box-a-Day contest at HoyodeMonterrey.com. I consulted the random number generator at Random.org once again, and it spit out the number 7. By my figuring, foozer69 left the 7th comment so he’s the winner! Send me your contact info so I can send you cigars. Sunday will be another contest, so you’ll have another chance to win a six-pack of cigars. Many thanks to the fine folks at General Cigar Co. for sponsoring this series of contests!
Finally, as long as you’re leaving comments on Sunday (or on this post), do me a favor and tell me what you’d like me to ask manufacturers and brand owners at the IPCPR show. I’d like to come back with information that you, the readers, want to hear, so I figured it would be easiest to ask! So let me know!
That’s more than enough for today, until Sunday,
CigarCraig
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
Thursday night I took a late walk with a A. Turrent Puro Corojo Robusto. It was another reasonably balmy February evening, and this 4½” x 54 cigar seemed just about the right size for the time allotted. I received this cigar in a sampler from the Altadis booth at the IPCPR show and have been slowly working my way back into those cigars. This cigar had a very nice look, the wrapper was very smooth and without a flaw. The burn was perfect and the draw was easy with just the right amount of resistance. I really enjoyed the flavor of this Corojo cigar, it was rich and satisfying. For years Mexican tobacco has gotten a bad rap, although I never really minded it, heck, I started out smoking TeAmo maduros way back when. Certainly the San Andreas tobacco is a pretty hot tobacco these days, and this cigar has a San Andreas Corojo wrapper and some fillers mixed in with Nicaraguan Corojo. I absolutely LOVE the San Andreas maduro wrappers, I wonder how this cigar would be with that wrapper? Thanks to Enrique Seijas for the tour at the show and for the samples.
Friday night we went to a little coffee house nearby to see my son play with his latest band. Even though the place has “Coffee and Tobacco” on the window, there’s no smoking allowed thanks to our states indoor clean air laws. Considering the size of the place, it’s probably not a bad idea. The area where the band played was an upstairs room with was pretty small. There were probably 50 people in a 20×30 or so room, with limited seating. The band was very good, despite my obvious bias, and I had some time before the show to enjoy a Griffins 500 on the sidewalk in front of the place. I am constantly impressed with the quality of this mild cigar. Burn and draw are outstanding and it’s loaded with flavor. I suppose you have to like a Connecticut shade wrapped cigar to like these, but I think it’s a nice smoke. I was an old guy smoking a cigar among a bunch of teenagers smoking cigarettes, but that’s OK, I was one of them once…
One often asked question I see is regarding beverages to go with cigars, and the question that catches my eye most often is the non-alcoholic beverage question. As one who gave up drinking long before I took up cigars, I’ve made a few conclusions of my own in that area. Of course, coffee is a great cigar companion, but there are times when only a cold beverage will do. I’ve often turned to root beers in this case. I particularly enjoy Stewart’s or IBC, but recently the brewery in town here started bottling their root beer and its phenomenal. Unfortunately, it may only be available in the Victory Brewpub retail store, but if you see it anyplace, give it a try. My absolute favorite cold beverage cigar accompaniment is Reed’s Ginger Brew. It’s a little like Ginger Ale on steroids. I love the “Extra”, but it actually can over power a lighter cigar because it’s so spicy. The Raspberry is quite good, and the Spiced Apple Brew is very refreshing on a hot day as well. I’ve been a fan of these since being introduced to them at a herf in 1999 , and pick up a couple four packs whenever I get a chance. Here’s a Food Network video about the product and the company:
httpv://youtu.be/6sebjdI4aj4
So, if you’re looking for a nice, non-alcoholic drink to go with your cigar, check out some root beers or ginger beers, and if you can find Borgnine’s Coffee Soda, you can’t really go wrong with that, but it’s darned near impossible to find. If anyone does know of a place to get ut, please let me know! It’s really my holy grail of cigar beverages.
That’s it for now, I may try to find a nice cigar and take a Sunday walk.
Until the next time,
CigarCraig
Filed under Editorial, IPCPR, Review, Take a Cigar For a Walk
I seem to be on a square press kick this week. Don’t know why that is really, I like square cigars, but I don’t really go out of my way to select them. They are perfect for my bi-weekly walks to the convenience store, where I usually rest my cigar on the Redbox machine while I go in. I hate it when a cigar rolls off and I find it on the ground when I come out. I had that happen with a Liga Privada last week and I thought someone stole it, but I found it under the machine! Phew! I was scared there for a bit!
Monday evening I had a call from Luis of Oja Cigars and felt inspired to smoke the Oja Anniversary Robusto that he gifted me when I saw him last in Vegas. This is a pretty square pressed robusto with a dark Brazilian Samba wrapper. It’s full of dark and decadent flavors and was perfectly constructed. This cigar was made to celebrate the first anniversary of the brand. The whole line has been a highlight for me this year, all three wrappers in the regular line are very good, and a toro, torpedo and 6″ x 60 gordo are good sizes, although I have to say this robusto fits my cooler weather smoking needs the best.
Tonight I grabbed a G.A.R. White Label Corona Gorda for my walk. This cigar was sent to my by one of my loyal readers, Lloyd, who seems to be very lucky when it comes to winning cigars! As a matter of fact, he won a box of Oja cigars right here a few months back. Here we had a 6″ x 46 cigar with am Ecuador Corojo wrapper, Ecuador Connecticut binder and Nicaraguan Filler. I’ve only had the pleasure of smoking a few cigars from the Gran Habano lines, and they’ve been pretty good so far. This one was perhaps a little light for a chilly evening, but it performed admirably and provided a satisfying smoke. Thanks, Lloyd, for the opportunity to sample this cigar! Best of luck to you in future contests!
Don’t forget to send an e-mail to mailinglist@pipesandcigars.com to get on their mailing list and get a free PipesandCigars.com calendar with special monthly deals. Also, use the “Write to Congress” widget in my sidebar (between the IPCPR and CRA graphics) and e-mail your elected officials asking them to support the bills to keep the FDA out of our humidors!
That’s it for now, until the next time,
CigarCraig
Filed under Editorial, IPCPR, Review, Take a Cigar For a Walk
