Category Archives: Review

by | May 7, 2023 · 9:08 am

Some Illusione and J.C. Newman Cigars

We were going to take a roadtrip this weekend, but decided against it early in the week.  After a week of rain and overcast, it was going to be a beautiful weekend and we had some stuff we needed to get done around the yard. Today my back is feeling it.  Anyway, I figured I’d smoke some cigars this week!  Wednesday I have a regular group therapy session that we call “The Round Panel”, or, sometimes, the “Secret Society”, which is usually good for around 2 hours of hysteria.  I tend to grab a larger cigar, and this week I went with a La Unica #100. This cigar is a beefy 8½” x 52, Connecticut shade wrapper with Dominican fillers, made at the Fuente factory.  Back in the mid-90s, this was the first premium cigar to come in a bundle, or was it the first bundle cigar to be premium? I think they are presented in a box now.  This is a really nice shade cigar. Shade cigars aren’t really my preference, although there are a few that I like.  It’s creamy and mellow, certainly not without flavor.  My only gripe was that it smoked in about an hour and a half, which is my usual smoking time for a Toro, not sure why that it, I’ll have to smoke another one and clock it. La Unicas are great cigars, always have been, at a wallet friendly price. 

 

You’ll recall I had gotten a sampler of Illusione cigars a few weeks back, and decided to finish it off this week.  The Garagiste has been one I’ve been anxious to try since it came out a few years ago.  I had the 6″ x 54 Gordo size (the whole sampler was 6″ x 56, I like the size!). This is a bit of a departure from the usual Illusione range, as it’s a rather strong cigar, with a lot of pepper to start out.  It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper with Criollo 98, Corojo 99 (both Aganorsa staples, with Ligeros from two Nicaraguan regions. Like I said, the Ligero is apparent in the strength of the cigar. I found this to be a very enjoyable cigar, there are certainly more in my future. 

 

The last cigar I had from the Illusione sampler was the Original Documents MJ12. This was another 6″ x 56 cigar, with a Corojo Rosado wrapper from parts unknown, and the Criollo 98 and Corojo 99 in the fillers.  Let me start by expressing my displeasure with the tinfoil wrapper. It was a pain to get off, and the only identification on it was the barcode label.  It’s not big enough to make a hat out of, so why bother, let’s see the beautiful cigar!  The cigar smoked perfectly, and was really a pleasure to smoke.  It had some spice, but more citric than the pepper that the Garagiste had.  I’d certainly smoke this again, but I’m afraid I’d avoid it because of the foil wrapper.  

 

Finally, I smoked the new Angel Cuesta from J.C. Newman in the Toro size.  This is another cigar with a Rosado wrapper, along with what the company describes as tobaccos from three continents. I had the opportunity while I was at the factory last December to see some of these being rolled, ironically, by a gentleman named Angel.  This line is named after Angel Cuesta, who was one of the founders of the Cuesta Rey brand.  I got to see the aging room filled with these cigars as well. I was fortunate enough to get a sampling of all three sizes of this, and started with the 6¼” x 52 Toro with a pigtail cap.  This cigar smoked wonderfully, and I can’t recall, but I’d bet it has some Florida Sungrown tobacco in the blend, it has that tang to me.  It’s not a cheap date, heck, it’s made in the USA, ranging from $18-22.  Definitely worth a try. 

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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by | April 30, 2023 · 9:44 am

Nomad, Cert Maith Bruscar, La Gloria Cubana and Macanudo Cigars

This week was challenging.  I had a tooth pulled on Monday, and I’m not altogether sure that one or more of the medications I’m taking isn’t affecting my palate.  Let’s start out with my pre-procedure cigar, a Nomad SA-17 Shorty, which is 4″ x 56.  I’m unsure of the provenance of these cigars, they were a generous gift from a friend, and I want to say that they are pre-Ezra Zion because they have Fred’s twitter name on the band, but anecdotal evidence would suggest that they were recently purchased.  If I recall, these were made at A.J. Fernandez’ factory, and has a San Andrés wrapper over Nicaraguan guts. Perhaps it’s a bit uncool to smoke a cigar right before going to the oral surgeon, like eating Oreos before going in for a cleaning, but it is what it is.  I knew I was going to be taking a few days off from cigars, nobody wants dry socket!  This is a great cigar, loads of earthy, coffee and cocoa flavors.  Burn was perfect, and this little cigar lasts almost an hour.  Many thanks to Phil for sharing these with me! 

 

On to some new stuff!  Like I said, after a couple days off cigars, and between an antibiotic and a rinse, my palate may be off, or maybe not!  I tested this theory by smoking a cigar from Kevin at Trash Panda Cigars, the Cert Maith Bruscar.  I hope Kevin made sure this name wasn’t already trademarked before using it!  Cert Maith Bruscar is Gaelic for “Real Good Trash”, in keeping with the Trash Panda theme, and is an homage to Kevin’s probably 8th or 9th great grandfather, who came to the US in 1679 from Ireland, around the same time my ancestor came from The Netherlands.  This is a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper cigar that has a Cameroon binder and fillers from Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and US.  I typically like the combination of Broadleaf and Cameroon, this is an interesting blend. The first time I smoked this my wife commented on the aroma, which she characterized as fruity.  This is consistent with what I perceived as the dominant flavor, which I called citrus.  I struggled to gut much else around the citric tang, it was a good cigar, performed well, and certainly was unique. I smoked a couple of these (before and after dental work) and had the same experience.  On paper I’d expect this to be a cigar for me, in practice, while it was a good cigar, I’m just not sure about the dominant citrus flavor. This just might be me, as Kevin said he didn’t get that from this cigar.

 

New from Forged Cigars is the La Gloria Cubana Corojo de Oro.   Last year they had the Criollo de Oro, with a hybrid of Criollo and Pelo de Oro tobaccos. This has a hybrid of Corojo and Pelo de Oro (I think that means “golden hair”, it’s a narrow leaf if I remember correctly from my visit to the Garcia’s farm in 2011).  I’m much more a fan of Corojo than Criollo, and I liked the Corojo de Oro much more than the Criollo de Oro.  This was a 6″ x 50 toro, with a Ecuador Habano wrapper, the hybrid tobacco as the binder, and Brazilian Mata Fina, Dominican Piloto and Nicaraguan Ometepe in the filler blend. I found this to be a well balanced cigar, with some sweet earth, and some spice.  I’m not sure how many La Gloria Cubana marques there are now, I like a lot of them (the Serie S was a miss for me, and I love San Andrés), but it just seems like I don’t see many of them in stores. 

 

Finally, I tried a new Macanudo Inspirado, the Tercio-aged.  Tercio refers to the practice of wrapping the bales in palm bark to age as opposed to burlap.  In this case, the Dominican Piloto Cubano filler component is aged in Tercio, while (because they mention that specifically and omit the rest), the San Andrés wrapper, Indonesian binder and Columbian fillers are aged in burlap bales. For me, this cigar was a great representation of the concept of body vs. strength. The flavors were very interesting, some baking spice, sweet earth (again) and some pepper spice.  The smoke was very thin, not a lot of body, but the flavor was there.  It was a little strange, and I’ll have to revisit this again. Maybe it was just me.  I liked the cigar overall, might me my 4th favorite Inspirado (another line with a lot of extensions!). 

 

That’s more than enough for me today. Next Sunday may be tricky, as we are taking a weekend road trip. Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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by | April 27, 2023 · 6:00 pm

News: Red Meat Lover’s Club Returns to the Battleship New Jersey

We had the pleasure of attending this last year and it was a spectacular evening. The food was fantastic as was the company.  Any night spent on a historic Battleship, overlooking the Philadelphia skyline, surrounded by friends and smoking excellent cigars is a good thing!  The information below was copied from www.battleshipbeef.com.  

 

 

Imagine a night with stations of beef captained by the best chefs in the country for a night of feasting.

This dinner will be on the deck of the Battleship New Jersey. Bigger setting with one purpose…..to create an night that will be spoken about in hushed tones for years to come.

UNIFORMS (RMLC Battleship Beef Hats) WILL BE PROVIDED FOR ALL PATRONS

Dining etiquette will be set aside…. our goal is to over consume.

This one will be a epic scene filled with Red Meat Lovers and BEEF and maybe a few Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust cigars provided by Steve Saka and Casa De Montecristo.

Red Meat Lover’s Club will set up there signature auction , all profits of auction will be donated to Battleship NJ.

 

 

Some menu highlights….(*menu and restaurants subject to change)

Katz’s Deli NYC will be slicing Pastrami on Rye with a smear of mustard

Mission BBQ chopped brisket and pulled pork sliders, cornbread and slaw

Jimmy Buff’s will be serving their iconic Italian Hot Dogs

Full wheel of reggiano parmigiano cheese …making the greatest pasta you have ever had by Marcelli Formaggi

Carved aged meats mountains by Edward’s Aged Meats

Jack Link’s Beef Jerky Tree will be consumed all night

Butter Belly Warm cookie station

and beyond……(you won’t leave hungry)

The cigars will be included with each ticket. Casa De Montecristo will create a pop up cigar sales store.

We have the ability to smoke outside on the deck throughout dinner.

The iconic Steve Saka will be including his cigars into the night…..and will be present and accounted for.

Cash bar with proceeds going to the battleship

 

 

 

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by | April 23, 2023 · 9:10 am

Some Rojas Cigars, Tacos and More

Thursday I had a choice to make, go to the Rojas event at Cigar Mojo (10 minutes away), or go to the Tim Ozgener event at the Wooden Indian (closer to a half hour with traffic). I chose the easier route, and was not rewarded.  I chose poorly.  It turns out that Noel Rojas was stuck in Nicaragua, and wasn’t there as advertised. It was disappointing, but at least I got to meet Albert, the VP of sales, and hang out with Mark Weisenberger, the local broker who reps the line.  Had I known that Noel wasn’t going to be there I would have gone to the Wooden Indian. Anyway, I picked up some Street Tacos and smoked them. I’ve written about the Carnitas before, smoked one last night and it’s a good Connecticut cigar.  At the event I smoked the Barbacoa, the 6″ x 50 Toro, which has a Maduro Ecuador Sumatra wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers. It’s earthy with some cocoa and a little pepper, not a bad smoke.  

 

Since I bought a handful of cigars, I got a couple extras, one of which was the Rojas Unfinished Business, also in a 6″ x 50 toro.  This one has a dark Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and fillers from Nicaragua and Mexico.  It had some dried dark fruit notes and a little citrus tang. It seemed to be well constructed, if not slightly underfilled, giving it a shorter smoking time than I would have liked.  It was a beautiful cigar, and I like the signature closed foot, which makes lighting easy.  I just realized I smoked this last August, sorry about that. It’s getting hard to find new cigars to feature here. This is one of the reasons I only smoke new-to-me cigars at the end of the week.  I like to smoke what I know I like the rest of the week.

 

Finally, yesterday morning I had some time to kill, so it seemed like the perfect time to smoke the little Breakfast Taco, again, with a Sumatra wrapper. This is a 4″ x 44 perfecto, just a wee thing.  Ecuador Sumatra with Nicaraguan binder and fillers.  This little cigar was good for about an hour, but, to me, it was pretty potent. If I hadn’t eaten, cut the front lawn, done some other chores first, it may have been too much.  It’s a strong little guy with excellent construction and a fun shape.  No closed foot on this one, but the “nipple” perfecto end.  I feel compelled to search out he maduro in this shape. The cigar had good favors, not unlike the Barbacoa. You know me, I have a fairly simple palate.  While the shade version doesn’t interest me, I do want to try the Maduro. 

 

I still like the Stolen Throne line made by Rojas better than the Street Tacos line, and am probably more disappointed that Lee Marsh was in the area last week and didn’t reach out than I was that Noel wasn’t at the event.  Noel does make some good cigars, and, if nothing else, I saved some time and money going to this event than if I had gone to the other one!  That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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by | April 16, 2023 · 9:30 am

Some Illusione Cigars: M12, Fume D’Amore and CG-4

Last week I mentioned buying some cigars from Discount Cigar Warehouse, and I dug into the second sampler this week.  This was a selection of 6″ x 56 cigars from Illusione.  I actually went into this sampler blind, as there is no information on the website. It seems to be an exclusive to DCW.  I smoked two of the four this week, starting with the Illusione Maduro M12 Plan MJ-1949. This cigar has a medium dark San Andrés wrapper over Nicaraguan Criollo and Corojo fillers.  The name of the cigar refers to the Majestic 12, and the contingency plan that they put in place should a public announcement be made regarding UFOs. OF course, this all happened before Ancient Aliens was on TV, aliens are no secret now.  As is the case with many of the cigars in the maduro line, I really liked this cigar.  It was rich and dark, with some cocoa sweetness.  The burn was perfect. 

 

Next up was the Fume D’Amore Capistranos. This is a much lighter cigar than the Maduro. The fillers seem to be the same varietals, perhaps lower primings, with a café Corojo wrapper. I struggle to remember if I’ve smoked this blend before, I don’t think I have.  To be honest, there are a lot of the Illusione Line I haven’t smoked. I’m not sure why that is, I’m acquainted with Dion Giolito, we’ve spoken on numerous occasions, but except for the Rothchild, and the occasional lancero, I’ve been negligent.  This Fume D’Amore started out with a tighter draw than I would have liked, which opened up after a while.  This isn’t a good cigar to take for a walk, it’s far too delicate and complex, it’s better sitting quietly. I found this out the hard way.  It’s possible another one of these samplers might be in my next DCW order, it’s a great value.  Next week I’ll get to the other two cigars in the sampler. 

 

Last night I smoked something from the Original Documents line, the CG-4 White Horse.  I bought a bunch of these several years ago, for a specific purpose.  We had a stretch of a few years of going to the Diner En Blanc in Philadelphia, and I always tried to take “white” themed cigars. Macanudo Inspirado White, Montecristo White, my wife smoked a Leccia White one year. You get the jist. The last time we went I somehow forgot my cigars and ran to Holts (the diner was a few blocks away in Rittenhouse Square), and the best I could come up with was some Padron Damaso, which had a white band.  Good cigar.  Anyway, I had gotten the White Horse for the next year and, between the pandemic and losing interest, we stopped going.  This cigar is a classic Corona Gorda, perhaps where the CG in the name comes from?  It’s 5 5/8″ x 46, which, next to the various toro iterations, is probably my favorite size. This also has the Criollo and Corojo fillers, with a Rosado Corojo wrapper.  I’ve smoked a bunch of these, and I really like them. It’s got the dark, rich flavors I like with some subtle spices.  I may need to get my hands on more, or, better yet, smoke some other cigars in this line.  I know I must have smoked a 88 or 888 at some point.  

 

That’s all I have for today. I had planned on getting to one of the Black Label Trading Co. events with James Brown Thursday or Friday, but lacked the energy to get out after work. It’s not so much the drive to these things that dissuades me, it’s the thought of the drive home after.  I’m getting old, smoking on my porch after a long day at work is much more appealing than going out, I’m afraid.  One more thing: I am a customer of Discount Cigar Warehouse, these posts aren’t sponsored in any way. It’s just a place I picked up some good deals on stuff I hadn’t tried before. Anyway, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

  

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