Category Archives: Review

by CigarCraig | October 23, 2016 · 9:01 am

Some Tatuaje Cigars, a Cromagon, an Event and a Disappontment

Thursday evening my wife and I went into Philly for a show, and stopped into Holts for a quick cigar before hand. I picked out a Tatuaje Verocu No. 5 and we hung out in the lounge and watched the beginning of the Flyers home opener. The Verocu No. 5 is a 4″ x 40 little guy, with tons of flavor. It has an Ecuador wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and filler and is a terrific little treat. It went great with a cup of black coffee, and a relaxing hour in Holt’s lounge. It had that great cocoa and strong, black coffee flavor I love, with a hint of spice. These are very good cigars. Pete Johnson happened to be doing an event at Holt’s other location the same night, and was going to be in the downtown store Friday. I was sorry I didn’t catch up with him, but we had a nice evening anyway.

Friday I decided to give a reasonably new cigar a second chance, since to first one had some construction issues. I’m not going to name names in fairness to the cigar, as my experiences may have been atypical, but I will talk about the experience. Clever readers who folow me on social media will be able to connect the dots. This cigar has been resting in the humidor, along with all the other cigars I regularly smoke, since it came home from the IPCPR back in July. Basically, it burned and smoked like it was wet. Perhaps this particular wrapper, which is touted as a new hybrid leaf, just holds a lot of moisture and needs to be dry boxed or stored at a lower humidity. It just seemed wet to me. It wouldn’t stay lit, and when it was it had that steamy quality to the smoke. It was one of those rare cigars that makes me wish I carried a back-up on my walks. When I got home I did something I rarely do and abandoned it and lit up a short robusto from Dunhill, their new Aged Maduro. This just looks like a delicious cigar, but it had a funky flavor that I wasn’t

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expecting. I’m going to give this one a second chance as maybe my palate was out of whack from the first cigar, it’s not fair to make a judgement under those circumstances.

Yesterday I went up to Cigars International in Hamburg as they were having a big Drew Estate event, and it was a rainy, ugly fall day. The CI

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store there is a destination, and adult Disneyland, and it’s hard not to spend five hours there. I went up with Mike C., and met an old friend there, and said hello to a bunch of my Drew Estate friends. I couldn’t decide on a DE cigar to smoke, it seems I’ve smoked everything I wanted to smoke from them, and had plenty in my humidor at home, so Mike and I went off the menu and picked out a couple Tatuaje Avion 11, a 6¾ x 52 perfecto. This was a beautifully crafted cigar with an Ecuador wrapper again, and Nicaraguan binder and filler much like the aforementioned Verocu. It started off with a blast of spice, settled into a rich espresso and cocoa flavor, and finished of with some more spice. I noted that the burn was just about perfect, with a nice, flat ember that I really enjoy, as it shows the care that went into blending a cigar in a way that all the components burn at the same rate, a rare feat. After that I picked up some RoMaCraft Cromagnon Fomorian candela robustos, to finish off the afternoon. While this probably should have come before a full-bodied cigar like the Avion, it still has the horsepower to keep up, and I like the refreshing kind of feeling the candela wrapper gives this cigar. Of course, Jonathan Drew was scheduled to be at this event, and hadn’t shown by the time we left. It was nice to see a lot of my DE friends though, and we had a nice afternoon of conversation and cigars.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Avion, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Cigars International, Cromagn, drew estate, Dunhill, Fomorian, holt's, tatuaje, Verocu

by CigarCraig | October 19, 2016 · 9:02 pm

Viva Republica Art of War Corona Gorda

This year at the IPCPR show, Jason Holley’s Viva Republica released the Art Of War, a larger format in the Warfare series. Jason works for Miami Cigar and Co. who distributes his brand, and has (as far as I know) a store in the north-eastern part of Pennsylvania. The sample provided came in a cardboard box and no band, I imagine the bands weren’t ready, or maybe this is how it’s being presented. I’ll be on the hunt for more of these and will update you on what I find. Did I just give away my final thoughts on this cigar? Â I smoked the corona gorda, a 6″ x 47, which is a great size, it smokes a little longer than a robusto, but has a comfortable ring gauge. The cigar also has a “bun” style pigtail cap, which didn’t twist off as well as I would have liked, so it got a little help from the Xikar. The wrapper is a stalk cut Connecticut Broadleaf, not sure why they specify “stalk cut” as I was under the impression that all Connecticut Broadleaf was stalk cut. Whatever it’s called, it’s a fairly rustic wrapper, beautiful in it’s ugliness. On the other end is a unique feature, one which sets this cigar apart. The foot is covered, neatly, almost like a cap, not folded like most closed foot cigars. The other difference is that the leaf used on this looks like a Connecticut shade, but is listed as Dominican Candela. It’s beige, not green, so I imagine “claro” would be a better description. The rest of the blend isÂ Ecuadorian Sumatra binder and fillers of various primingâ€™s from Colombia, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.

Ironically, I was deciding between this cigar and the Merlion maduro, both made at the La Aurora factory. Â I took flame to the foot without toasting, which I generally do with a closed foot, no reason to waste that added boost of wrapper flavor. I got a blast of that sweet, creamy shade (in this case, “candela”) flavor that was really nice, then the broadleaf kicked in, and it was a great, dark, rich espresso flavor that I love so. I don’t usually notice a “room note”, but two things happened tonight that made me think of it. First, I was walking on the local multi-use trail with Macha, and an approaching cyclist informed me that “we’re trying to breath here”, which I thought was odd since my cigar had been in my hand for a good minute as he was approaching me, not like he was behind me running into my smoke trail, so I have to imagine his spandex suit was inhibiting his Â breathing as there’s no way he even smelled my cigar, let alone been effected by its smoke. I just laughed as I wasn’t quick enough to come back with something along the lines of “I’m trying to have a relaxing walk without the interference of a-holes…” or something. Anyway, I finish my cigar after my walk on the back porch and since the weather was nice, the door to the house was open, which usually isn’t a problem, but when I walked in it smelled like smoke drifted in and it smelled pretty bad, stale cigarette bad. So perhaps the “room no

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te” on this one wasn’t great, but the flavor was and I’ll be in the market for more. The uniqueness of the flavor on the light up, through the strong, dark flavor intrigued me, and I was satisfied with the experience. One to look out for.

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That’s it for today. Feel free to spread Sunday’s post around if you want. There was some good feedback. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under IPCPR, Review

Tagged as Art Of War, cigar, cigars, IPCPR, Viva Republica

by CigarCraig | October 12, 2016 · 5:56 pm

Lavida Habana and the NINETY Degree Cigar Holder

Nick Syris is the guy behind LH Cigars, the maker of the Lavida Habana cigar line. Nick wears many hats, he owned cigar lounges in the middle east, co-hosts the Smooth Draws radio show out of Atlanta, and developed the Lavida Habana line to compete with Cuban cigars. I met Nick at the IPCPR show briefly, although I never did get to the LH Cigars booth, but I ran into Ron Arellano, who’s SmokinFly Cigar Brokerage reps the brand and he gave me a Lavida Habana Churchill. I’m going to say this was the Claro version, the line is available in Sungrown and Maduro, and has tobacco from Nicaragua, Brasil, and Peru. The cigar I smoked had an Ecuador Connecticut shade wrapper, with a closed foot. The typical Ecuador Connecticut flavor was very muted, it was a solidly medium cigar with a good burn and draw, with some nice light spice and a hint of coffee with cream. Nice rich smoke.

Another booth I stopped at while at the

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IPCPR show was the NINETY Degree cigar holder. I admit, I stopped to look at what appeared to me to be a PVC elbow with magnets attached, I had a bit of the “here’s another silly gadget. This is marketed to to the golfer as a place to put your cigar. After having it sit on my desk for the last couple months, I figured it was time to open it up and give it a try. I think the premise is that it won’t damage a cigar like many of the clip type holders might do, by putting the head of the cigar in the holder whil

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e you’re otherwise occupied. The magnets are very strong and hold it firmly on a steel surface, I placed it on the arm of my porch chair and it held firm. If you have any qualms about putting the same end of your cigar that touches your lips in the PVC cup, this probably isn’t a device for you, and for me it’s a little awkward placing it in there. Also, if you’er a chewer, this might get gross pretty quick. I have to say, I’m still a little cynical about this, but I am open minded, and I appreciate the chance to check it out.

That’s all for now, until the nest time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, Cigar Holder, cigars, Lavida Habana, The Ninety Degree

by CigarCraig | October 9, 2016 · 1:23 pm

Another Crossfire, a New Toraño, a Cordoba & Morales and a New Hoyo

I’m off to a late start today, my apologies. I typically get up early on Sundays, but I had a late nap last night that kept me up in to the wee hours, then a migraine put me down for a few more hours. Not that anyone is likely siting around on a Sunday morning waiting me to post this nonsense. I selected another Crossfire cigar this week, this one was the San Andrés in a toro format. Sadly, I can find very little info on these new offerings, the card that was in the bag with the samples has background info and outdated pictures, and the website is behind the times as well. The only thing I can say is that this has a dark, Mexican San Andrés wrapper, at least that’s what the name on the band would imply. I tend to believe it, as this was a tasty smoke, although it started out a bit differently than I’m used to a San Andrés wrapped cigar

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starting. This cigar was nice, smooth and medium bodied, and I’m accustomed to a “dirtier” start. About halfway through the cigar I had to stop and remind myself I wasn’t smoking a Padrón of some sort, but it took some time to get to that point. Damn fine cigar, I think I’ll get to the one banded Arapiraca next, it looks tasty.

Friday evening I took a walk with a Toraño Exodus Robusto, the new iteration of the Exodus from General Cigar Co. Exodus has been around a long time. I can remember enjoying Toraño Exodus cigar in the early part of the 2000s, and especially enjoyed the Exodus 50 years which came out a few years back (was it ’09?). The new versi

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on has some interesting components. The wrapper is a lower priming Honduran leaf from the San Agustin Valley, reminding me of the CAO OSA Sol s little, although darker. The binder is Connecticut Broadleaf, and the filler blend is Mexican, Dominican and Honduran. There is a lot going on in the blend, and the cigar is quite nice. It’s got some nutty, leathery qualities and a bit of pepper. It was quite interesting. I haven’t had a chance to try the colorfully packaged Vault line yet, it shares the same easily-mistaken-for-another-brand bands and bright colors as this new Exodus. Good cigar despite the band, which would have been a brilliant idea if someone hadn’t come out with it a couple of years ago.

Yesterday I spent the morning putting insulation in our living room, an unpleasant job, but far less unpleasant than tearing down drywall (I am NOT looking forward to taking the ceiling down…). After getting cleaned up from that, and getting everything back in place, I sat down with another cigar from the IPCPR show, the Cordoba & Morales Clave Cubana Etiqueta Blanca robusto. This was a great looking little box pressed robusto, with a dark San Andrés wrapper (another one! Yay!). I wasn’t expecting this to be as strong as it was, perhaps the “white label” name associates with mild to me, I don’t know, but it was a strong cigar for a before dinner cigar. No bother, I loved this cigar. It had a great black coffee kind of flavor, which I love, and it really hit my palate the right way. Great box press, and a wonderful little cigar. Besides the Mexican wrapper, the rest of the cigar is Nicaraguan, with Jalapa, Esteli and Ometepe represented in the blend.

After dinner yesterday I just had to try the new Hoyo La Amistad, another IPCPR show sample. This is another interesting new offering from General Cigar, and another collaboration with AJ Fernandez. Hoyo was traditionally a Honduran cigar, this one is made in Nicaragua. The wrapper is Ecuadoran Habano, binder is a Nicaraguan leaf cultivated by AJ Fernandez in Esteli. The filler blend features tobacco from Esteli, Ometepe, Condega and Jalapa. A pre-light sniff of the 5″ x 54 robusto had that distinctive “barnyard” aroma, and the flavors were very unique and interesting. This was another cigar I really enjoyed, it had some “bright” flavors and was almost full bodied. It did have some dried fruit sweetness and a little spice. This is a winner cigar for me, It’s different from what I usually like, but very tasty. If you’re wondering why there were a couple of collaborations with General Cigar and AJ Fernandez this year, think about who AJ Fernandez has been making a ton of cigar for over the last few years, Cigars International, right? Now, think of who owns Cigar International, Swedish Match/Scandinavian Tobacco, which also happens to be the parent company of General Cigar. Its more complicated than that, but you get the jist. It doesn’t hurt that Abdel Fernandez grew up near the Hoyo de Monterrey farm in Cuba, so he has that connection to the brand. So far, out of the new releases from General Cigar this year, I haven’t found one I don’t like yet, Foundry Time files is a winner, Partagas Ramon y Ramon is a winner, and the Toraño Exodus and Hoyo La Amistad are also winners.

That’s plenty from me today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Clave Cubana, Cordoba & Morales, Crossfire, Exodus, general cigars, Hoyo, La Amistad, Toraño

by CigarCraig | October 5, 2016 · 10:17 pm

CroMagnon Firecracker, Mi Querida, Belstaff Bond, CAO Flathead and Cigar Prop

I had a long day Sunday with my brother-in-law framing out two walls in my living room. I guess in the late 50’s when the house was built heating was cheap and insulation wasn’t a big concern, so putting drywall right over brick and block walls was OK. Over the years people also thought it was a good idea to wallpaper, then after wallpaper was out of fashion it was OK to paint the wall paper. We’ve been systematically removing old drywall and insulating the outside walls. This is all irrelevant except that it was a long day, and by the time I got to a cigar, I wanted something short, but satisfying. At the IPCPR I finally met an old friend, Dave Payne, and he generously shared with me some cigars, one of which was a RoMaCraft CroMagnon Firecracker, this years Two Guys Smoke Shop special edition. In years passed they have had the Firecracker vitola made by La Flor Dominicana and Tatuaje (I think?). It’s a 3″ x 50 with a closed foot and a long pigtail “Fuse”. I have to think this is a goosed up version of the CroMagnon blend, it’s a power

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ful little cigar and was just what I needed to wrap up a productive day. While it was strong, it was loaded with those deep, dark flavors that I love in the CroMagnon blend. Of course, I wanted it to be longer, but it was a great little smoke. Thanks to Dave for sharing it with me, Skip for making it, and Dave Garofalo for dreaming up this vitola. I have a suspicion that this will be a very hard cigar to find.

Monday I figured it was time to give Steve Saka’s Mi Querida another try, dubbing the occasion “Mi Querida Monday”. Maybe we can make this a thing, #miqueridamonday needs to enter the lexicon. Anyway, I smoked one of these at the show and saw the potential, trade show samples smoked in the Las Vegas environment is rarely a good way to sample a cigar. I found another one in my samples, and had been salivating over it waiting for the right time to smoke it. Monday was the night. I’m anxiously awaiting these showing up in one of my local shops so I can put some more in my humidor. This cigar had everything I love about cigars, great construction, perfect draw and the Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper was delicious. This could become one of tho

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se “goto” cigars that always satisfies. I obviously have a bias, I’ve known Steve for 20 years, but I know him well enough to be honest with him if I don’t like something he made, but I would like this cigar no matter who was behind it. Another winner from Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust.

Tuesday I came across a cigar that came from the Bugatti Cigars booth, which was within the Meier and Dutch booth (the distribution arm of Cigars International). This was a toro called Belstaff Bond, and is made in General Cigar’s Santiago, DR factory. This cigar had a nice, dark Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, and was quite a good smoke. I have smoked several cigars from the Bugatti line, and found them to be quite nice. This reminds me that I’ve been using the new Xikar Xidris lighter pretty exclusively for the last few weeks and am finding it to be an excellent lighter. It holds a lot of fuel and lights every time. It has a solid, hefty feel, and Xikar says that it has super car styling (see the tie in?). It’s a classy lighter, I just have to make sure I have it oriented the right way or I’ll burn my palm one of these days. It’s a very nice lighter.

Tonight I got a hankering for a “goto” cigar, and opted for the CAO Flat Head Steel Horse Apehanger, a 5½” x 58 cigar with a Connecticut Habano wrapper. I really love the Flathead line, the Steel Horse series is round instead of square pressed, but still has the flat cap, which is best approached with a large-bore punch. The released two new sizes this year at the show, and I’ve yet to get my hands on either one (the Handbrake and the Roadkill, both in the robusto range at 4½ x 50 and 5½ x 54 respectively), and as soon as I come across some I’ll be picking them up, but the Apehanger does it for me. I once joked about putting Apehanger handlebars on my Yamaha Majesty 400 scooter…

Finally, you’ll recall a year or so back I mentioned some nice cigar tubes that Kevin Shahan was making in his Florida machine shop, and he’s moved into making another useful cigar product, the Cigar Prop. This is a machined aluminum cigar stand that is very handy. I tried to make a poor man’s version of this a few years ago out of a piece of bamboo and a 1″ hole saw. I would walk to the local convenience store, set my cigar on the ice cooler outside (or the top of the Red Box machine) while I went into the store. One day a Liga Privada number nine rolled off and I had to reach under the machine to retrieve it and it had been damaged in the six-foot drop and just wasn’t the same after that. That’s when I started carrying the bamboo stand with me. Not that I have too much of a need for that anymore, but this Cigar Prop is a handy addition to the collection of cigar tools. It’s very nicely machined, cradles the cigar nicely and is attractive. You can see it in use in two of the photos above. Give Kevin’s Cigar Prop site a look, and for you bearded guys, he also has a line of beard products called Irish Beard Balm.