Category Archives: Review

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 appearance at Mojo and gone home to watch hockey. It happened that Fabien Zeigler and Mike King of Aganorsa Leaf Cigars were in the area 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 involved 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 Aganorsa 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 next time,

CigarCraig

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

by Craig Vanderslice | January 14, 2024 · 9:41 am

Belvedere Cigar Lounge Some Epic Cigars, and a Trinidad Espiritu No. 3

Thursday evening my wife had a thing she wanted to go to in New Jersey, and she found a cigar lounge three miles away I could visit! It turned out that Belvedere Cigar Lounge in Lawnside, New Jersey, was hosting Irving Rodriguez of Epic Cigars doing a cut and light event. I know Irv, and I love Epic Cigars, so it was a no brainer. Honestly, it wouldn’t have mattered, the lounge is really nice. It’s 1300 square feet, has seating for a little over 40, and has some massive TVs and a sound system. It has 24 hour member access, with a BYO bar. I would have been happy to buy a couple cigars from their modest, but well curated, retail selection and enjoyed one there. As is was, I spent the better part of an hour enjoying a delicious Epic Habano and talking with Irv. I’ve known about Epic cigars for the better part of ten years, and been a fan of them. They are made in the same factory that Kristoff cigars are made in, are really tasty, and always well made. Dean, who sold the brand to Nat Cicco Cigars a few years back, is a cool dude who I like to call a friend. The Habano should be first on your list of Epic cigars to try, it’s got a nice sweetness I like. It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, a Cameroon binder (this might be the seced sauce!), and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. I had the 5½ x 52 Robusto. I love maduro cigars, but the Habano might be my favorite in the line.

Of course, I bought a handful of cigars while I was there, why wouldn’t I? I was rather hoping they would have the tenth anniversary, but that wasn’t available, so I bought some Habanos and Corojos. Friday I smoked an Epic Corojo in the toro size. The Corojo has an Ecuador Corojo wrapper, Dominican binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. They call the 6″ x 54 toro a Double Corona for some reason. Great cigar, although on the leathery side of the spectrum to my palate. It was much more savory than the Habano, it really lacked any sweetness at all. I enjoyed it before heading in to watch a Flyers game. on a side note, last week’s weather took out our power for 14 hours overnight, and in the process somehow damaged our Verizon set top box. After the customer experience I’ve had trying to get the situation resolved, I think this might be the impetus to “cut the cable” finally, and ditch the TV service. I’ve been hanging on mostly for access to the Flyers games, but I think there’s enough alternatives available now that we can ditch the $100 a month. That’s today’s project.

Yesterday I picked up a couple cigars that I hadn’t smoked before, one of which was the Trinidad Espiritu No. 3. I was really looking forward to trying this one, I loved the No. 2, and the No. 1 was pretty good too. The No. 3 is a tribute to Mexico, with a San Andrés wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and fillers, made by AJ Fernandez in Nicaragua. This was very different from the No.2, now that I’m thinking of it, I’d have swapped the two based on flavor. I thought the 2 tasted more typical of a San Andrés than the 3. There’s an interesting exotic spice flavor present, with an overall savory base flavor. I thought it was really interesting, far more interesting than the La Gloria Cubana TAA 2023 cigar I bought and was severely disappointed by. I love La Glorias, but this one had nothing going for it. It didn’t draw well, it didn’t have much flavor, and just wasn’t good. I thought TAA cigars should be a good representation of a brand? The LGC is a pass for me, but the Trinidad Espiritu line is a winner, and there are not a lot of Altadis cigars that I can say that about (ironically, almost all the Altadis cigars I like are made in one factory).

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Belvedere Cigar Lounge, cigar, cigars, Corojo, Epic Cigars, Espiritu, Espiritu No. 3, Habano, Nat Cicco, trinidad

by Craig Vanderslice | January 7, 2024 · 10:32 am

Gurkha, Adrian Magnus and HVC Cigars, and a Story

Seems like almost a replay of last week, eh? Some of the same brands, different cigars. I smoked the Adrian Magnus XO, which is Cognac infused, and decided it wasn’t for me. Besides the fact that I haven’t touched spirits in over 30 years and have no frame of reference for that flavor palate, it just wasn’t my cup of tea. Less said about it, the better, but if you like that sort of thing, go for it. So I hoped for some redemption with the Gurkha 35th Anniversary Toro. This has a Habano wrapper, Indonesian binder and Criollo 98 Nicaraguan Esteli fillers in a 6″ x 54 format, made at the Artista factory. I don’t usually look up the stats on cigars before smoking them, but I was not at all surprised when I read that this was predominantly Criollo. This is a really nice looking cigar, the Habano wrapper is a nice café au lait brown, and it was well made. Criollo tobacco has a tart bite that I don’t care for, going back many years. So much for redemption. If I smoked cigars I really liked all the time this would be a boring blog. If you like Criollo tobacco, you’ll really like this Gurkha 35th Anniversary, and it’s reasonably priced.

Adrian Magnus does made some really good cigars, and the Supremos is another one that I tried and really enjoyed. Maybe I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the Imperials, but I certainly liked it more than the XO. This is a medium bodied cigar made in the Dominican Republic in a 5″ x 50 format. It boasts seven year aged tobaccos, and to my eye, the only way I could tell it apart from the Imperials is by the color of the band. Again, the company is not forthcoming with blend details. The flavor is different though, so it’s definitely more than just the age statement. This starts with a sourness, not off putting, but like a sourdough bread. Eventually a sugar cane sweetness takes over, not excessive, but enough to be interesting. I enjoyed this one, but find myself wanting to go find an old favorite to smoke.

I have a story to tell that I probably should have told nearly 2 years ago when it happened, but I had some reasons for holding off. Since I just heard that the store has closed, I’m going to put it out there. When Son’s Cigars opened up in late 2020 I was told by the manager that if I ever wanted part time work to let him know. It wasn’t until the winter of ’21 that I was in the position to work some extra hours, and I offered my services for Friday nights. Knowing the manager (who has since moved on to another shop), I trusted that compensation would be handled at some point, I wasn’t looking to get rich, but I wasn’t looking to do volunteer work either. Over the course of three months I put in over 40 hours before I said “enough is enough”, I gotta start seeing a paycheck here, and the fun started. I was told that the owner, who also owned a shop or two in NY, and owns a cigar brand, hadn’t approved my hiring, so I couldn’t be added to the payroll. He offered to compensate me with a store gift card. Then, he came back and reneged on that and said that my purchases using an employee discount was equal to the compensation I was due. I could have made a scene, I only mentioned it to a couple people, and I avoided the owners offer to meet to tell me his side of the story because I really didn’t want to hear it, I’ve heard plenty of stories about this guy and just wanted to chalk it up to experience. It was just better for my sanity to let it go and walk away. I spent a few Friday nights smoking cigars and helping customers select cigars that they might enjoy. In the future, I’ll get some details ironed out up front, I was dealing in good faith, and that was taken advantage of. I think the manager was complicit in this as well, he had to know, as I knew he was getting screwed over by the owner as well. I wish he’d have been a friend enough to cut things off before I had to. I distanced myself from the establishment, I even gave back a sample of the owners cigar to his distributor at the trade show on principle. I’ve left the names out to not be a complete d*ck, but it’s not hard to put things together. It’s a shame that Son’s wasn’t handled better, but there are better places around now. Karma gets you every time. I have Cigar Mojo less than a mile away, which has a much nicer lounge, and the selection is getting there…

Speaking of Cigar Mojo, I stopped in yesterday looking for something that I hadn’t smoked before, but I felt would scratch that itch I was having. I was fortunate to run into Trae, one of the owners, there and we had a nice chat. I ended up getting a couple HVC Black Friday 2023 Petit Gordo that I hadn’t smoked. This turned out to have been a great choice. The Petit Gordo is 4½ x 56, just the right size for a hockey period! It has a Mexican San Andrés wrapper with a Nicaraguan binder and fillers from Nicaragua, which are lower primings. This is a medium bodied cigar, like a larger Black Friday Firecracker, without the kick! It was smooth and chocolaty, not that it didn’t start with some spice, it did, but it was quite good. It scratched my itch and I’m glad I got more than one and there’s a bunch of them a mile away if I want more! I need to sample more of the HVC line as I have always enjoyed the ones I’ve smoked. I haven’t met Renier Lorenzo, but I’ve heard good things about him. I’ll grab some more HVCs.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 35th Anniversary, Adrian Magnus, Black Friday, cigar, cigars, Gurkha, HVC, Supremos

by Craig Vanderslice | December 31, 2023 · 10:43 am

Happy New Year! A Gurkha and an Adrian Magnus Cigar

Another year is in the books! It’s the last day of 2023, and we are participating in our annual tradition of trying to talk ourselves into going to Red Lion, PA for the New Years Raising of the Cigar. Red Lion used to have dozens of cigar factories, I think the last one closed a few years ago. I remember buying very inexpensive bags of cigars at a local farmers market that were made there, Van Slyke & Horton, which closed around 2011. The cigars weren’t premium cigars, they might not have even been natural wrapped cigars, they were something like $5 for a bag of 20, whattaya want? Granted, it’s been 25 years since I bought these, the farmers market is now a Home Depot. Anyway, let’s see if we make it tonight! 2023 was a quiet year here, not a lot of travel, not a lot of excitement. I only smoked maybe 150 new to me cigars or so, which seems like a pretty big number, but it’s down considerably from years past. If I had to pick a standout cigar this year it would be either the Muestra de Saka Krakatoa, or the Red Meat Lovers Club Ribeye, both Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust products. 2024 should have some more activity, I hope to travel some more. Anyway, Happy New Year, be careful, and enjoy some fine cigars!

Gurkha Cigars sent a nice holiday care package this year, consisting of a little humidor with five of their cigars within. It may or may not have been packed in loose tobacco that made what can be best described as a tobacco glitter bomb (hat tip: Kap), I’m not looking any horse in the mouth, let alone a gift one. It’s appreciated, and the little humidor makes a nice “on deck” humidor. It’s not Gurkha over the top like they’ve done in the past, very classy. I selected one of the cigars that I hadn’t smoked before, a Gurkha Grand Age II in the Toro size. I hadn’t heard of this one, but I didn’t get to the TPE show where this was presented. Apparently its a budget cigar, in the $7 range, this was the Habano, it comes in Maduro and Connecticut also, made in Nicaragua. This one had a very floral taste, and I got a hint of a mintiness, much like I got from the East India Classic Havana Blend, which makes sense now. This is probably not a cigar I’d smoke again, although I’d give the Maduro a shot. It performed well, the burn and draw were perfect, and it just wasn’t a flavor profile that I gravitate towards. There are some other cigars that came in that package that I’m looking forward to trying. Thank you to Gurkha for thinking of me.

I had correspondence a while ago with a gentleman from Adrian Magnus Cigars. I hadn’t heard of this brand, do I did some poking around, didn’t find much more info, and kinda tried to talk him out of sending samples. New cigar brands with high price tags aren’t really my thing. I wasn’t successful, and a package from Hungary showed of a week or so ago. I’m working up my courage to try the Cognac infused cigars, as a non-drinker, I have no frame of reference for spirits flavors, but the other two looked good. Adrian Magnus started in 2020 and is based in Spain. The cigars are made in the Dominican Republic, they aren’t forthcoming with too much blend information. The cigars arrived sealed with Boveda packs (60 gram packs for 3 cigars!) and were in good condition. After a few days rest I decided to sample the Imperials in the 5″ x 50 Robusto size (they list the length on the website as 152, which, it that’s millimeters, it’s closer to six inches, and this is definitely 5″). Like I said, $17 cigars aren’t in my wheelhouse, so I have to really think about what makes a cigar that price. Shipping has to figure in, small batches, aged leaf. This has an age statement on the band of 10 years, not sure if that refers to the wrapper or one of the component tobaccos. The cigars (I smoked two yesterday), smoked well, although one has some wrapper damage where I tried to remove the band. I want to say these are blended for the European palate. There’s a (again) floral, fruity component, with a sweetness that starts vert subtle, but builds. If I weren’t such a cynic, I might not be surprised to find out there was Cuban tobacco in this cigar. Of course, export of Cuban tobacco to the DR seems unlikely, and it would be illegal to sell cigars containing it in the US. Anyway, I quite enjoyed this cigar as an afternoon change of pace and look forward to trying the Supremos and XO next. Thanks to Vadim for sending these!

That’s all for now, today, this week, this month, this year! A big thank you to all of you for your support over the last year! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Adrian Magnus, cigar, cigars, Grand Age II, Gurkha, Imperials

by Craig Vanderslice | December 24, 2023 · 9:16 am

Mule Kick, Metropolitan, Maria Lucia and the Contest Winner!

It only just occurred to me that that the last three cigars I smoked started with M, must be fore Merry Christmas! Of course, today is Christmas Eve, so it’s time to start your Christmas Shopping guys! It’s also the day I’m announcing the winner of the contest sponsored by Cigars.com, but I’ll get to that later! In the spirit of the season, I smoked some gifted cigars this week, the first of which was from Steve from Tampa, who was up visiting on business a few weeks ago. He gifted me a Crowned Heads Four Kicks 2023 Mule Kick LE, a 5 7/8″ x 52. Funny, I thought it was a toro, but I was off by an eighth of an inch. This one has an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper over a Dominican binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers, and is made in the Tabacalara La Alianza factory by Ernesto Carillo. I think this is the seventh iteration of the Mule Kick, and probably the first I’ve had, the Crowned Heads stuff isn’t ever really on my radar, I don’t see them in the stores near me that often. This was a great smoke, loaded with dark chocolate and spices. Ernesto has been a master of Sumatra for as long as I can remember, which, in this case, is a long time (my memory is suspect, short-term and names is terrible, long term isn’t so bad). Many thanks to Steve for the opportunity to smoke this, I look forward to your next visit, who knows, I may get to your neck of the woods before you get back here!

Next up were a couple of selections from my Secret Santa this year. Quick bit of housekeeping: If you participated in the CigarCraig Secret Santa (The CCSS moving forward), and have not fulfilled your obligation, please do so. I know of one package that’s in transit. Everyone that’s been involved has done it multiple times, so I don’t worry, and I try to be hands off and just a participant. Feel free to let me know if you have comments of concerns. My CCSS was a fellow Craig and in my area, so much so that I ran into him while out shopping Friday! So I selected the Nat Sherman Metropolitan Host Maduro Hampton, a 7″ x 50 cigar. You might be saying, “Craig, Metropolitan is a Ferio Tego brand now” and I’d say you are correct. You also might not know that Nat Sherman closed their doors in 2021 and Michael Herklots bought the rights to the names and kept the brands alive. This particular cigar is one of the older ones, purchased at the Nat Sherman Townhouse in NYC. I believe it has a Broadleaf wrapper, over Honduran fillers, made by the Eiroas if I’m not mistaken. This was milder than I imagined it would be, but it was loaded with sweet cocoa flavor and very tasty. Perhaps any strength it had was tempered by time, but it was very good. I enjoyed the crap out of this and it’s one that I’ll likely never see again. Thanks for the opportunity Craig!

Another cigar in Craig’s CCSS pack was the Luciano Cigars Maria Lucia, another Broadleaf wrapped cigar. This is a tribute to Luciano Meirelles’ mother, who passed when he was twelve, and has the artwork of his daughter on the band. The cigar is 5¼” x 54 with the Broadleaf wrapper, double binder of Ecuadorian Sumatra and Ecuadorian Habano 92 tobaccos, and a fillers from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Peru. This is going to sound strange, especially given the source, but the flavor was bready to me, like a dark bread, a pumpernickel or the brown bread that comes in a can. It was on the heavy side, which I liked, even though I smoked it before dinner (after a nap). I have met Luciano a couple times, and have enjoyed his cigars. I would like to explore more of his work, I think. Good stuff.

Let’s give some stuff away! You might recall, Cigars.com has provided me with a really nice Montecristo travel humidor, along with a RoMEo cap and a Romeo y Julieta can cozy. I am going to add some cigars to the humidor before I ship it, they will be Cigars.com exclusives from my humidor, more or less. The sponsor doesn’t know I’m doing this, but I can’t send out a package without cigars! Anyway, I’ve consulted the Google Random Number Generator and Tim McCabe is the winner! Please send me your address so that I can get this stuff out to you! Remember if you buy from Cigars.com, or JRCigars.com, please use the affiliate links on the left sidebar, I could use the cash!