Category Archives: Review

by Craig Vanderslice | October 9, 2022 · 10:02 am

Epic, La Sirena and Brickhouse Cigars

There was a lot of news last week, and I didn’t get to most of them, but one I wanted to touch on was from Scandinavian Tobacco Group, STG, owner of General and Forged Cigars and. Cigars International. The press release was announcing an exclusive with Southern Draw, but what I found interesting was that this was the first time I had heard of Cigora, as explained below:

About Cigora
Launched in August 2022, Cigora is an exclusive cigar community and ecommerce site that represents the future of cigars online. With a clean, modern aesthetic, the site includes a robust online forum with informative content, unique discussion boards, and an ecommerce section that features top-shelf cigars as well as rare, limited-edition releases from brands including but not limited to Davidoff, Ashton, Tatuaje, Viaje and others. A rewards program, invitation-only virtual events and exclusive members-only content round out the site’s wide range of offerings.Cigora is open to all consumers of legal smoking age.

I don’t have a problem with this, I just find it curious that I hadn’t heard about it. Maybe it’s all over the Cigarworld forums, which is General’s online presence. Does Cigora replace Cigarworld? It’s hard to tell. I see some familiar names in the forum, so I’m not sure how this escaped my notice. That being said, I’m terrible about participating in website based forums! Still, it’s something I’ll explore.

Let’s get to the cigars! After a couple of trade show samples that I just didn’t like, I tried a new-to-me cigar from Dean Parsons’ Epic Cigars. Dean gave me this one at the TPE show, it’s the Epic Police 299, which is an homage to his police service in Canada. The 299 is his regimental number in the department. The cigar is made inthe DR, has a Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper, Cameroon binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. It’s a 6½” x 54 cigar. I like that size, it’s a wonder it lasted this long in the humidor. This was a terrific cigar. I am a fan of the Epic Maduros, and the San Andrés, and this was a nice addition to the line. I got some espresso, and dark fruits, and it burned very well. It was a nice recovery from a couple not-so-good cigars the night before.

I finally had the right amount of time yesterday to smoke the new addition to the La Sirena Mexican Mermaid line, the 4×54. Any guesses what size it is? They skipped the large band on this one, going with just the small band that they usually put under the big one. I really like the Mexican Mermaid blend, it suits my palate perfectly. It’s unlike other San Andrés blends in that it’s a little meatier I think. I liked this new size, better than the “Lancero”, which is more of a lonsdale, but not quite as much as the Toro. That might change as I will certainly try to sample more of these in the future. It’s a nice little size.

Finally, it’s Bricktoberfest this month, and J.C. Newman has come out with a special Bricktoberfest 2022 Brick House cigar, a pigtailed 6″ x 52 cigar, a limited edition with a Nicaraguan wrapper from Jalapa and dual binders from Estelí and Condega over Nicaraguan fillers. The are running a promotion where if you buy 7 cigars you get a boot-shaped beer glass, which they erroneously call “Das Boot”. Of course, in German, Das Boot means “The Boat”. It should be “der Stiefel”, but the boot shaped glasses have a long history for some reason. Some stories about military hazings involving drinking beer out of an actual boot or something. The cigar was quite good, and I like the Brick House line, especially the maduro. I found it quite enjoyable, it’s a fairly straightforward cigar, but what it has tastes good to the end.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Brickhouse, Bricktoberfest, cigar, cigars, Cigora, Epic, J.C.Newman, JC, La Sirena, Mexican Mermaid, Police 299

by Craig Vanderslice | October 2, 2022 · 10:41 am

Villiger Miami and Exclusivo USA and an Abuelo Cigar

It’s raining, 54 degrees and I’m not having a cigar on the porch as I type this. Autumn is here. Soon I’ll have to close in the porch for the winter, because, you know, I need to have a comfortable place to smoke! Over the last few days I’ve enjoyed some cigars, let’s talk about them a bit. When I was at the PCA show I talked to my old friend Rene Castenada, who is the president of Villiger North America. Rene gave me a pair of their Villiger Miami Laguito No. 1 cigars, and I received another pair in the mail later. This blend originated as Rene’s special cigar to gift people, and is being released as a limited edition. in this Lancero size (7½” x 38) and a Robusto, made in the ABAM factory in Santo Domingo, DR. The wrapper is Ecuador (Connecticut Desflorado), and the fillers and binder are Dominican. I shouldn’t really care for this blend, but I really enjoyed it. It was kind of nutty with some sweetness. Like the Joya de Nicaragua Numero Uno, it’s a really good cigar that is accessible to most palates. I smoke Lanceros very slowly, so as not to overheat them, which brings up a point I often make about the small ring myth. Small ring cigars taste different because they burn hotter, it has nothing to do with some magical ratio. Tobacco flavor is dependant on varietal and primings, wrapper tobacco isn’t some special leaf with loads more flavor than the rest of the components of a cigar. Small ring cigars can taste sharper and be perceived differently because of the temperature of the combustion. I get so tired of the myth of the wrapper to filler ratio. Watch the ash on this one, it’s a bit messy!

This week I got another new cigar from Villiger. This one, the Villiger Exclusivo USA, is made at La Zona, like their TAA release. This was a box pressed toro, and it also comes in a box pressed torpedo. I like the sizes, 6″ x 52 and 54 respectively. The make-up of this one is a Nicaraguan Habano Rosado wrapper, Jalapa Binder and Esteli, Jalapa and Condega fillers, making it a Nicaraguan Puro. I’m a fan of a lot of Espinosa’s La Zona offerings, this one is no different. It’s a really good tasting Nicaraguan cigar, with some Espresso notes and sweetness. I liked it, maybe not as much as the TAA cigar, but it was really quite good. I’m not real sure of Villiger’s presence around the world in the premium cigar space, obviously they are huge in the “mass market” cigars internationally. I kind of thought a lot of their premium cigars were US exclusives!

Yesterday I smoked an Abuelo Nieto, which I had been looking forward to trying for quite some time. This is a cigar from United Cigar Group, made by Julio Eiroa celebrating Dave Garofalo’s grandparenthood. It’s funny to see guys my age and older becoming grandparents for the first time, I’ve been at it for eleven years! Anyway, I’ve heard rave reviews of this cigar, I was anticipating a great experience. It’s a good cigar, well made, good flavors. It didn’t bowl me over, it was just very nice. I think I’d opt for any number of Aladino cigars over this, but I like the branding, and appreciate the sentiment!

That’s all for today. I’m hoping that this week is a little bit lighter on the news than last week was. There were a ew items I didn’t post, some because I didn’t find them interesting, and some that I just didn’t get around to. I’m not dedicated to news, so I pick and choose. Anyway, I’ve got some stuff to do on this rainy Sunday, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Abuelo, cigar, cigars, Exclusivo USA, miami, United Cigars, Villiger

by Craig Vanderslice | September 25, 2022 · 9:50 am

NeverAsh and La Mezcla Cubana Cigars

I’m out on the porch again this week, typing away and smoking a La Mezcla Cubana with my coffee. This week it’s Autumn, and I have to wear pants and a long sleeve shirt. It could be a lot worse! I’m going to work backwards this time and talk about this cigar I’m smoking. I want to say close to ten years ago Victor Vitale sold his portfolio to Dave Garofalo, which included ORTSAC, La Mezcla Cubana and another brand I can’t think of right now. Victor went on to make Tortuga Cigars, which were great, then moved into other businesses and has, sadly, vanished from the cigar industry. I miss Victor, and Tortuga cigars (I have a small collection in the humidor). Anyway, one of the cigars that United Cigar Co. had at the PCA show this year was the new La Mezcla Cubana, offered in one vitola, a 4½ x 54 Rothschild with what appears to be a shade grown wrapper. The box says Connecticut, but the description says it’s a Nicaraguan puro, made in the Dominican Republic. The cigar is good, and it retails for $6, hard to beat. It has a sugar cane sweetness here and there, with some nuttiness. I never had the original, but this one is very nice.

I bought some Casa Cuevas Sangre Nueva Double Perfectos this week (TY BL Luxuries, great service!) and smoked one and it was really good. I’m digging this blend! I was talking to Luigi of CigarMedics this week and he reminded me that I had talked to his friends at Neverash Cigars at the PCA show, so I dug out the sample they gave me to smoke yesterday. This cigar was the Torpedo, a box pressed 6″ x 52 cigar with a San Andrés wrapper, Dominican fillers and a Sumatra binder, made at the WIlliam Ventura factory. I have to admit, I haven’t had a lot of cigars made at that factory that I really liked. This one was an exception. I quite enjoyed this, it was different for a San Andrés wrapped cigar, more leathery and earthy than sweet. I used the Cigar Medics The Baller cutter on this, a torpedo takes two or three cuts, but does a nice job on a torpedo. I’ve been using thi cutter non-stop since I got it several months ago and it’s really cool. I have a lot of cutters, this is the coolest. Anyway, NeverAsh is small, I don’t think they have gotten into retail yet, but they sell direct (which may be a stumbling block). They are $12 cigars, the one I smoked was pretty good.

Not a lot this week, hopefully I’ll smoke some interesting cigars this week. Honestly, I find myself wanting to smoke cigars I’m familiar with recently, maybe it’s to get through this time of year, or I’m just getting old. Some days I don’t want to have to wonder if I’m going to have a positive experience or not! Believe me, there are cigars I don’t bother to write about. Follow my Instagram, draw conclusions! That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by Craig Vanderslice | September 18, 2022 · 9:56 am

El Baton Cigars and a Macanudo Inspirado Jamao

I’m, once again, writing from the back porch while I enjoy a new Macanudo cigar. I’m desperately hanging on to summer! It’s technically the last weekend of summer, cigars are one of the coping mechanisms I have to avoid slipping into depression. I’ll stop whining about this eventually! I had a few cigars this week, one that I planned to feature today, but burned so badly it was a pain in the ass and I decided to see if I can get another to try. It’s a shame too, because I really was looking forward to the cigar. I did smoke two cigars last night that I wanted to talk about. J.C. Newman Cigars was kind enough to share a couple of the new El Baton Belicosos with me. This is a cigar that’s been around for a while, so I dug out one of the old ones and smoked both to compare. The Belicoso is 5″ x 56, with an Ecuador “Havana” wrapper, and Nicaraguan binder and fillers. These are supposed to retail in the $8-9 range, I want to say that they were more of a budget brand in previous iterations, but maybe this is the new budget range? I won’t begrudge them the price, as this new offering is really quite good. It has a pleasing flavor, not too mild, nor too strong, with some nice sweet wood and spice. I followed it with an older robusto. I can’t recall how long I’ve had this cigar, but it has to be close to 7 or 8 years. The old version was nowhere near as refined as the new. There were similarities, but, even after years in the humidor, there were rough edges. I might even say there were some “off” flavors, but it’s so hard to really judge a cigar when it’s the second cigar of the evening. It seems to me that the new version is far superior, and well worth the money.

I’m smoking the Macadudo Inspirado Jamao as I type. Clearly I’m not writing with the cigar, as another writer pointed out on my Instagram post. It was semantics, and I’m anti-semantic. This is something like the sixth cigar in the Inspirado line. I really like the White, Black, and Red, with the Green being pretty good and I never took a shine to the Orange. There’s another Connecticut in the lineup too, the Brazilian Shade, with was pretty good. This Jamao is pretty good, especially first thing in the morning. The wrapper is the interesting part, being a hybrid of Handuran (Jamatran) and Dominican (Mao) tobacco, a Habano varietal. It’s very good, but to my very basic palate, isn’t every distinctive. It’s a good tasting cigar, on my ranking of Inspirados it’s right above the Orange. I feel like the should have put “Jamao” on the band somewhere. Good smoke, don’t avoid trying it! Inspirados are generally reasonably priced. As I sit here smoking it, it’s definitely good way to start a Sunday.

That’s all for today, I hope we have a few more nice Sunday mornings before I have to get the heater out and close in the porch. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, EL Baton, Inspirado, J.C.Newman, Jamao, macanudo

by Craig Vanderslice | September 11, 2022 · 9:59 am

Nat Cicco Aniversario, Particulares and Casa Cuevas Cigars

I’m taking advantage of every Sunday that it’s warm enough to enjoy a cigar as I write my Sunday post. Soon enough it will be too chilly. So I lit up something special from the PCA show, the new Sangre Nueva from Casa Cuevas, but more on that later. So far it’s amazing. Friday evening I was in the mood for a larger cigar, so I grabbed the Nat Cicco Aniversario 1965 Liga No. 4 Churchill. This is a square pressed, 7″ x 54 cigar with a pigtail cap. I picked up a few of these last month when I met up with Dean Parsons at Cigar Mojo. I like this blend, which has a dark Ecuador wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers. I hadn’t ever smoked any Nat Cicco cigars until Dean sold his company, Epic Cigars, to them and joined their team. This cigar performed well and was delicious, with some earthy, sweet flavors. I think I prefer the smaller sizes though, they seem to have more pronounced flavors.

Last night I smoked a Particulares Deliciosos, from Sindicato, distributed by Gurkha. Sindicato and Gurkha share CEOs in Jim Colucci, who had retired from Altadis several years ago. I only include that factoid in case anyone wondered how Sindicato came to be distributed by Gurkha. Particulares is a really old brand name, going back to the late 1800s, and the branding reflects that heritage. The cigar is a Nicaraguan puro, and is 6″ x 52 and is made at TABSA, the Aganorsa Leaf factory. For me, the cigar started off unnecessarily strong, it was really spicy and peppery. I regretted selecting it, to be honest, but I figured it would settle down, and it did, a little. It remained a powerhouse, spicy cigar throughout. It was pretty good, despite the rough start. I might try it again, but it’s not going to be a priority.

Now, the Casa Cuevas Sangre Nueva. I’ve said before what genuinely nice people the Cuevas folks are. Luis, and his son, Alex are instant friends, one feels like one has known them forever. This cigar was blended by Alex, who is 24, I think. I have shoes older than him, heck, all of my children are older than him! I regret not taking time to interview him at the show, but the two days I was there they were pretty busy. This cigar has a Cameroon-seed wrapper grown in Ecuador, a Honduran Corojo binder and Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Pennsylvania fillers. I don’t want to start anything, but I was under the impression that African Cameroon tobacco is a Sumatra seed, but I suppose if they got the seeds from the African Cameroon plants it could be called Cameroon seed. They weren’t handing out samples of this at the show, but I have connections! This is a SPECTACULAR cigar! I want more. I’m smoking this early in the morning (for me), with coffee, and it has been distracting me from writing the whole time. It’s on the fuller side of medium, with some of the nutty Cameroon flavors, and earthy cocoa. Alex, his father and grandfather can be very proud of this cigar, the new blood is on the right track! I have to get my hands on more.