Category Archives: Review

by | April 8, 2012 · 7:08 am

Cigar Lounge Visit: Kutztown Tobacconist and Lounge, a JdN, a Nub and a Gurkha

I took Friday off to take my youngest son to Kutztown University for a tour, and my wife suggested we seek out a cigar shop for a pre-tour smoke.  I had recently bought the CigarPlaces app for my iPod Touch and it came up with Kutztown Tobacconist and Lounge, a few blocks from the campus.   We were greeted by Todd, the owner, a very nice guy. One of those people you can talk to and you feel like you’ve known them for a while.  He is just getting started with this, and he has a nice space, adjacent to a restaurant specializing in Bar-b-Que.  I’d call the furnishing “unpretentious” to be diplomatic, but he seems to be concentrating on service, the fancy furnishings will come.  As it is, it’s comfortable.  He’s in the process of getting ready to build a walk-in humidor. Currently his stock is in a large display unit that he got from Kensington Tobacconist in Reading, PA when they closed.  His stock is meager, maybe 15 or so boxes of assorted Joya de Nicaragua, Acid and Gran Habano, but he certainly has plans to expand that selection.  He sells what he likes, can’t fault him for that.  He needs to invest in some sort of signage for the outside of the building as it wasn’t readily apparent that we were in the right place (the sign in the picture was not there when we visited).

 

We had 2 hours to kill, so I picked up a Joya de Nicaragua Antaño Dark Corojo, a pair of Cabinetta robustos, a Gran Habano Reserva #3 on Todd’s recommendation, as well as a couple of Acid Blondies for my son and his friend.  It’s no secret that I love the JdN Cabinetta, for me it’s a delicious any-time-of-the-day cigar.  The construction is always perfect and I always anticipate getting down to that criollo part of the wrapper, and am always a little disappointed when it doesn’t want to stay lit!  Still, a great smoke and it was nice to hang out and talk to the guys at the lounge.  Todd has a great thing going, and I’m confident that he will grow and improve over time.

 

I usually take a walk down to the local convenience store on Fridays to get my Mega Millions ticket, so I grabbed a Nub Habano 460 for the walk.  I wasn’t really too impressed with these at first, but they have grown on me.  Great flavor in this one, and a perfect burn.  It fit into the allotted time perfectly. I got a couple of these at an Oliva event with the purchase of a handful of assorted Oliva cigars.  Good cigars for a walk, not a huge time commitment.

 

Saturday was another beautiful day, and after a day of yard work, and a less than ideal Flyers/Penguins game, I sat down with a Gurkha Seduction.  I really enjoy this 5″ x 55 robusto, with it’s Habano wrapper.  I think the Colombian filler gives it a little something special.  It’s a really nice cigar, try some if you come across them.  This particular specimen seemed to want to burn up one side, and required frequent corrections, but that’s the first one I can recall having a bad burn.

 

To all who celebrate, Happy Easter and Passover.  I’ll be taking some cigars along to share with family today.  It looks like the weather is going to be as spectacular today as it has been for the last couple.

 

That’s it for now. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

 

 

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by | April 4, 2012 · 7:03 pm

A Monte Pascoal, a New Room 101 Cigar and News from CAO

Monday evening I was in the mood for something interesting, so I grabbed a Monte Pascoal Belicoso. This Brazilian puro came to me from Wesley Genzel who is the US distributor for the brand, and a really cool guy. I first made his acquaintance at the 2010 IPCPR show where I found myself standing in the wrong registration line with him (I was in the wrong line, he was fine) . I was also privileged to be present at the Cigar Journal awards ceremony where Monte Pascoal was awarded the best cigar from Brazil. Now, most of us probably associate Brazilian tobacco with nice, dark maduro wrappers like one finds on the CAO Brazilia, or Toraño Exodus 1959 50 years, but the Monte Pascoal has what I would call a Natural wrapper. It doesn’t have the heavy flavors I associate with the maduro wrappers, of course, and is a really nice, smooth, well balanced cigar. It’s interesting to smoke different sizes of this line and see the differences presented in each vitola, the Minuto is decidedly stronger than the robusto or belicoso. It’s a very cool line, if you can get your hands on some, I’d recommend trying them.

 

Since I visited with Matt Booth last week, I didn’t want to waste any time trying out his soon to be released Room101 San Andreas. I have a real weakness for Mexican San Andreas wrapper, so it was all I could do to leave this in the humidor for a couple days. I had a short amount of time between dinner (General Tso’s Chicken, Beef and Broccoli) and the Flyers game, so I set out on my evening walk with this little puppy. The sample I received was the same size as the Papi Chulo, 4″ x 42. I’m actually guessing, I was too excited to smoke it so I forgot to measure it. I punched it, and got a blast of flavor on the cold draw. At this point I know I’m in for a treat. And a treat it was! This is a cigar one needs a beverage with, it’s one of a few cigars that makes me salivate, I bee-lined it to the root beer when I got home from my walk. I so enjoyed this little cigar, and too soon it was gone! I generally smoke a cigar to a finger-burning nub, but when I got to that point, it was still delicious. I had no choice but to impale the little bastard with a toothpick and suck the last little bits of goodness from it. I look forward to these being released, I believe the band on this, and I like the band, it clearly states it’s a pre-release sample, says it’s coming out mid-April. I heard someplace that the robusto is the real gem in this line.

 

News

 

I’m not one to re-print every press release that comes through my e-mail box, I feel compelled to share this one with you, as I think it’s really cool.

CAO SAYS JUDGMENT DAY IS COMING

Promotion Gives Fans a Chance to Choose New Blend

Richmond, VA—When their fans talk, the team at CAO listens. From now (April 3, 2012) through June 30, 2012, cigar smokers will have a chance to select an upcoming CAO blend, as part of the brand’s “Last Stick Standing” promotion.

CAO’s senior brand manager Ed McKenna explains, “Rick Rodriguez has been developing blends with our team in Nicaragua and has come up with three which w

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e think are all great. So we’re calling on CAO fans to help us pick the blend that will ultimately be launched as a new CAO collection, to be released late this year, or in early 2013.”

A special three-pack tin called the Last Stick Standing is now available for free with the purchase of any six CAO cigars at participating cigar shops across the U.S. Each tin contains three distinct blends, aptly named C, A and O. The cigars all measure 5 1/2” x 54, which is what Rick Rodriguez considers to be the ideal size for allowing consumers to truly evaluate each blend.

A dedicated website (www.lss.caocigars.com) will serve as a virtual voting booth, allowing cigar smokers to rate each cigar on certain criteria, such as flavor, body, construction and overall experience.

For every rating submitted, consumers will be entered to win a box of the winning CAO blend before it’s available for purchase, or the grand prize, an all-expense paid trip for the winner and a guest to the CAO factory in Nicaragua. Sharing entries on the Last Stick Standing Facebook page will provide consumers with multiple entries to win.

Last Stick Standing, AKA “Judgment Day” events will be held at select tobacco shops across the country, with special event-exclusive offers featuring CAO OSA Sol “Lot T” (4 ½” x 50) and “Lot 46” (5 ¼” x 46 ) which will be released later this year as the first new additions to CAO OSA Sol since its debut last September. In addition, a handpicked group of preferred CAO retailers will host guided Last Stick Standing tastings by Rick Rodriguez who will share his insight on the three blends.

General cigar did something similar quite a while ago in the Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur line, where they sent samples and had consumers choose the favorite of the two. This resulted in what many of us always wanted, an Excalibur with a Cameroon wrapper, the 1066. I had the pleas

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ure of participating in a similar exercise last fall when visiting General Cigar on the DR. We were given three cigars and asked for our input.  It’s always fun to smoke cigar blind, and to be able to have a voice in the selection of a new cigar is pretty cool.

 

That’s it for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | April 1, 2012 · 9:51 am

Room 101 Cigars Event at Old Havana Cigar Co.

Friday evening Matt Booth from Room 101 was making an appearance at a local shop, Old Havana Cigar Co. in West Chester, PA.  I frequently attend events there and it’s always really busy, Friday being no exception.  I purchased a handful of singles and lit up a Room 101 ‘305’, which is the robusto in the line.  I enjoyed the cigar, probably not surprising since I’ve long been a fan of Camacho cigars.  I had the great pleasure of talking to Tom Smith, the Davidoff representative, who doesn’t like bloggers.  I can see his point, which is that particularly popular bloggers can cause damage to a brand or shop by giving a bad review.  I suspect that the number of cigar smokers who are influenced by blogs is reasonably small, as I haven’t  run into too many people hanging around in cigar stores that use the Internet for any kind of cigar stuff, be it forums, blogs or whatever.  Certainly we need to be responsible and not pretend we are experts and tell people what they may or may not like.  The 305 was a really nice cigar, very Honduran and perfectly made.

 

I followed the 305 with a Namakubi Papi Chulo (is it a coincidence that “Papi Chulo” and “petite corona” share the same initials?).  This is a nice little 4″ x 42 with a reddish Habano wrapper.  It took a little work getting it to light right, but ended up being packed with flavor and smoking very nicely.  I was going to leave after the 305, but I got to talking to a gentleman who came in and was lighting up a Papi Chulo, so I decided to join him. He was an interesting gentleman, he had taken the opportunity in college to study abroad in H

avana, which was interesting.  He had a sincere interest in cigars and was really refreshing to talk to.  The Papi Chulo was terrific, but short, so I was soon done and decided to head home.  I took a few minutes to talk to Matt on my way out.  If you have a chance to meet him, take it, because he’s a nut, but one of the nicest nuts out there.  We had a little back and forth on zipper up vs. zipper down (on my jacket, what were you thinking?), all I can say is: Matt, you worry about your CDO, I’ll worry about mine, K?.  Very cool guy.  Also cool was Tom Smith of Davidoff, even though he hates bloggers.  A wealth of information on all things cigar. I appreciate the chance to meet and hang out with both of these gents.

 

Summary: Room 101 cigars good, although priced a little higher than I’m comfortable with.  Sometimes one has to factor in the overall experience and it makes it worthwhile.  On a side note, I got to thinking about petite coronas vs. larger cigars.  Certainly petite coronas offer a different, often more flavorful smoke, and when it comes to variety, you can smoke several vastly different small cigars in the time it takes to smoke one large one.  However, this is a tough sell for me when the price is close: do I pay $5 or$6 for a PC, or $6 or $7 for a Churchill?  I usually choose cigars based upon the time I have to smoke them, so this isn’t generally something I worry about.  Another little item rattling around in my head: I was once told that it costs nearly as much to make a small cigar as it does to make a big on

e.  Manufacturers can’t price the coronas and PCs that close to the larger vitolas, so you are actually getting a good deal on the smaller cigars, as the larger cigar sales basically subsidize the smaller ones.  Not really relevant to anything, just something that comes up in my head from time to time…

 

That’s it for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | March 26, 2012 · 9:21 pm

A La Palina, a Liga Privada, a CAO and a La Gloria and More Editorializing…

I have to go back to last Thursday when I smoked a lovely little cigar, the La Palina El Diario KB.  This is a pretty little petite corona, 4½”x40 with a Honduran Corojo wrapper and Nicaraguan Corojo and Criollo filler, and a double Honduran Criollo binder.  I only had about 45 minutes until the hockey game was coming on so I selected this cigar, which I receive

d from the company as a sample.  It’s a tasty cigar, many cigars from the Raices Cubana factory are, and it’s maybe a little stronger than its line-mates due to its diminutive size.  It was perfect for two laps around the neighborhood, and finished up just after the puck dropped.  It’s a really nice little cigar, but I have trouble with the price tag, which is $35 for a 4 pack.  It’s a pricey little smoke, however the rest of the line I consider pricey as well.  For me it’s not a daily smoke, but the line

is delicious and refined and a very good special cigar.

 

Friday night I decided to treat myself, and selected an original Liga Privada No. 9 from March, 2007.  This had a pre-oroduction band with Saka’s name on it as these were originally rolled as his personal cigar.  This was given to me by a former member of the staff at the time.  I initially thought that it’s time had passed, it was off to a slow start.  After about an inch it kicked in, producing the lush, savory flavors that one would expect.  It had a perfect burn and I wasn’t going to put it down. I finally did when it reached the half-inch mark and was too small to hold any more.  The Liga Privada series remains a favorite special cigar, one I don’t smoke often, and one of the few I will pay the high price for (although not frequently).  I actually did see some Feral Flying Pigs in the shop I mentioned a few posts ago, but couldn’t talk myself into paying the $15+ price tag.

 

Sunday my wife and I took a ride to Atlantic City in a vain attempt to win a bunch of money.  While there we came across a Cigar themed slot machine, and I’ve NEVER played a $2 slot before, but I had to, ya know?  I put my $20 in the slot, and within a few pulls I was actually up $22.  Normally I would cash that out and walk, but I let it ride, right down to $0.  Oh well, the machine was in a smoking section, so I managed to enjoy a wonderful CAO OSA Sol Lot 50.  Nice, bright flavors, a really smooth and tasty smoke.  Well behaved, I only dropped ash on the floor a few times!   When we got home we found that the power was out in the neighborhood, so I sat on the front porch until it got dark smoking a cousin to the OSA, a La Gloria Cubana Retro Especial Cubano.  Nice, big cigar, similar to the CAO in that it’s medium bodied and bright.  I love both cigars for different reasons.  The power came back on around 4:30 am, so it was out for around 12 hours.

 

Editorial

If you read my last post about the IPCPR‘s Internet Media Membership, you will see that there were a ton of great comments from my fellow “new media” types, as well as a response from Bill Spann, CEO of the IPCPR asking for a proposal and promising to re-think their current policy.   I plan on bouncing this off of the Internet Media Members to see where improvements can be made.  I suppose we can call this group Brothers Of The Online Media, or BOTOM. :-).

 

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | March 21, 2012 · 8:59 pm

A Tortuga, a Berger and Argenti, a Little Rant and a Macanudo

Sunday afternoon I grabbed a Tortuga 1948 Connecticut Torpedo that Victor Vitale had sent me a couple months ago.  This is a 6½ x 52 torpedo with a flawless Connecticut shade wrapper rolled in the Dominican Republic.  This might have been one of the best shade wrapped cigars I’ve smoked.  There’s a trend toward stronger blends with an Ecuador wrapper, and it’s becoming a little cliche, in my opinion,  that everyone states that theirs is not like the rest of the mild Connecticut cigars out there.  Anyway, I don’t have anything against the cigars, I always enjoyed the flavor of a nice Connecticut wrapper, USA, Ecuador or whatever.  The Tortuga is an extremely smooth and flavorful cigar.  I had trouble putting it down and smoked it to about a half an inch nub, burned my fingers, it was that good. After smoking the 1950 Maduro, and this 1948 Connecticut, I can’t wait to smoke the  Edicion Limitada.

 

Monday night I lit up a Berger and Argenti Entubar v32 Rogue Rothschild.  I’ve enjoyed many of the cigars in the Berger and Argenti line, so I had an expectation that I’d like this one too.  I was expecting a super strong cigar, but this one wasn’t, it was very much a medium bodies cigar with a great flavor.  This 5 5/8″ x 54 cigar has the same little tube of ligero protruding from the foot that the regular Entubar line has, and the same warning band cautioning you to toast the entire foot, not just the ligero part.  It’s also a good idea to remove that band before lighting, which I almost forgot to do.  It’s a fun cigar to smoke, and tasty and well behaved.  I have a couple of the Khilla Korona size that Al Argenti sent me to try to, I’m sure they will be just as good.

 

The Rant

I had to take a little detour on the way home from work tonight and it took me past a cigar shop that I don’t get to very often. My wife had instructed me not to stop in but I defied her instructions and stopped in to see if they had the new Ortega line. This shop is a “premier” smoke shop, and is supposed to be the flagship store of the five store chain. I asked the young guy if they had the new Ortega line and he said “oh yeah, the Omar Ortega is over here” and I said ” no, that’s Omar Ortez. I’m looking for Ortega, you know, Eddie Ortega? 601? Murcielago?”.  Blank stare.  I say “they are distributed by Rocky Patel”. He says “the only Rocky Patel we have is the Edge, right here”. I thanked him and left. OK, I know I’m a cigar geek, and probably know more than the average person about cigars, but don’t you think if you worked in a cigar shop you’d keep up on what’s going on in the industry? It’s just hard for me to wrap my head around! I guess the owner doesn’t really worry about the new stuff and this is one of the reasons I don’t go to this shop too often. The moral of the story is that I should have listened to my wife!

 

Tonight I smoked the new 6″ x 60 size of the regular Macanudo Cafe line.  I was pretty impressed with the flavor of this classic Connecticut cigar.  I’ve smoked dozens of this cigar in various sizes and I forgot that they aren’t necessarily the bland, tasteless cigar everyone thinks they are.  Smooth and flavorful, if you like that sort of thing, I guess!  The first premium cigar I ever smoked was a Macanudo and I was underwhelmed, but I’ve come to appreciate the flavors of a really broad range of cigars.

 

That’s it for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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