Category Archives: Review

by | September 8, 2022 · 8:29 pm

Sancho Panza Double Maduro and Extra Fuerte Cigars

Sunday I talked about the new Sancho Panza “The Original” cigar, newly reimagined with the help of Matt Booth.  I mentioned that I had bought a box of Extra Fuerte a while ago, and I looked it up and it was 2006.  That box is long gone, but I remember it fondly,  I admit I was a little concerned with the new branding, It’s growing on me, I guess.  I was interested in trying the other two new cigars in the line.  I chose the Sancho Panza Double Maduro first.  The wrapper is a dark Ecuadoran Sumatra, with a Nicaraguan Esteli binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Brazil.  I assume it’s “double” maduro because of the oscuro color of the wrapper, there’s no indication that any of the other components are fermented to a maduro. Of course, I could be wrong.  I expected a sweet maduro, but I was quite wrong.  This was a savory, maybe mushroomy, maduro, and I’m not a huge fan of mushrooms! It wasn’t an off-putting flavor, but not what I was expecting, or prefer.  The cigar burned right, and wan’t unenjoyable.  

 

The Sancho Panza Extra Fuerte was next.  Like I said, I liked this cigar a lot it it’s previous iteration. This one has an Ecuadoran wrapper, Honduran Jamastran binder and Dominican Mao, Nicaraguan Esteli fillers. I’ve been to General’s farm in Mao, beautiful place, at least it was in 2011.  When I was there there wasn’t any cigar tobacco growing, but it was still pretty cool.  I wrote about it HERE. The Extra Fuerte was my favorite of the three, with The Original coming in second.  This had some sweet spice that I like, and was very enjoyable. It wasn’t as “furete” as I thought it would be, maybe the Double Maduro seemed stronger to me. All three I smoked were in the Robusto size, I’ll give them a try one day in a toro. I think the ones I had years ago were coronas. Considering these are priced reasonably, hopefully they finally have the success that the brand deserves. 

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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by | September 4, 2022 · 9:39 am

A Cabaiguan, a Mystery Cigar and a Sancho Panza The Original

Once again I’m having a cigar while I write. I don’t usually smoke in the mornings, but I’ve been enjoying it the last few Sundays, because I know that very soon it won’t be a comfortable thing to do.  To be honest, I really don’t like this time of year. When my end of August birthday comes around, I get depressed, because it signals the end of summer.  I love summer, Fall is a major bummer for me.  I know many disagree, like cigars, everyone has their preferences, I prefer to be warm over cold.  So I’m enjoying every last drop of summer I can.  More on the cigar later, I just lit it up, and it’s pretty good!  But I smoked a few other cigar in the last half of the week, starting with a big Tatuaje Cabaiguan.  This is a new shape for this year, the Cabaiguan No.752, which is 7″ x 52 (good name, that worked out well!).  I thought maybe this was in the Guapos series because of the pigtail cap, but I believe I’m wrong.  This has an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper and Nicaraguan fillers and binder.  It was a very nice cigar, toasty with a hint of sweetness.  I definitely lean more toward the maduro in this line, but this was a really nice shade cigar.  

 

Near the end of this month, September 28th, Drew Estate is having another Freestyle Live events to reveal a new brand.  They put together packs with three sizes of the new cigar, as well as a cutter, case and flask set.  It amuses me that people are trying to guess what this cigar is, as if it were a line extension. I smoked the toro size yesterday and was really happy with the cigar.  I want to smoke the robusto and Churchill too, but I want to save one for the event! I am actually toying with the idea of buying another pack, but I don’t need more goodies, although I have a feeling I could probably find a good home for them 😉! The case and cutter are really nice, I have no need for a flask! Anyway, this cigar had a very unique flavor, a sweet spice I can’t identify.  It was, in my opinion, better than any Liga Privada. I was enamoured with it. I’m going to go out on a limb, for the sake of documentation, and say that I think it has a Nicaraguan Broadleaf wrapper.  It’s something very different, whatever it is, and Willy Herrera outdid himself on this one.  I hope it’s not outrageously priced. I love the Undercrown 10, and this was better.  I can’t wait to see what this is!  

 

Sometimes you smoke a cigar on a Saturday evening hoping to write about it on Sunday, and the cigar doesn’t perform the way you’d like. Perhaps it’s super tight until around the band, and  then it’s falling apart from playing with it to loosen it up.  The flavor is good, but it doesn’t end up being a good experience. This is why I’m smoking a new Sancho Panza The Original robusto as I write this. So far, this sup-$7 cigar is outperforming one that was several time the price. Sancho Panza has been around a long time, I remember buying a box of Extra Fuertes nearly 20 years ago for about $35. They recently worked with the new General Cigars Employee, Matt Booth, on the rebrand. The new look is growing on me and I’ve been looking forward to trying them.  This cigar has a Honduran Connecticut Shade wrapper, Mexican San Andrés binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Brazil.  I’m really enjoying this cigar with my morning coffee, it’s silky smooth and rich, not a mild, papery shade cigar.  I look forward to getting into the Super Fuerte and Double Maduro! These are super budget friendly and this one was really quite good.  

 

That’s all for today. It’s a holiday weekend, I guess, I don’t celebrate it as the end of summer, but having Monday off is a reward for my labors through the year, I suppose. Soon I’ll have to put the shorts away and get the hoodies out, something I dread. Anyway, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

 

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by | August 28, 2022 · 9:59 am

A New Rojas and a Couple More PDR Cigars

I smoked a few more new cigars this week, but I’ll revisit them another time because I was less than impressed with them. It’s not that they were bad, it’s just that either they needed more time, or weren’t the ideal size.  I’ll get back to them eventually. I was really impressed with the Rojas Unfinished Business.  I see where Rojas has been celebrating the grand opening of their factory in Esteli, I know a few people that were there.  I’ve really enjoyed the recent Rojas cigars I’ve smoked. The Street Tacos, and the cigars by Stolen Throne have been impressive. There’s a few I need to smoke yet, but, overall, Noel is making great cigars. I night have an old Guayacan cigar in the humidor someplace!  Anyway, I smoked the Unfinished Business Toro this week that Noel gave me at the PCA show and it was really to my liking.  It has an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and fillers from Nicaragua and Mexico. The blend hits a lot of “likes” for me.  It was dark and rich, with all the flavors I like, espresso, a little spice, and some sweetness. I very much enjoyed this cigar.  Definitely a future revisit.  

 

I’m catching up on the PDR cigars, I think I only have one more in the queue for now. I actually need to organize the humidor I put these in to make sure I’m not missing any!  I started with the A. Flores 1975 Serie Privada Maduro in Robusto.  This is a 5″ x 50 robusto, and PDR has done a great job with consistency in branding with the little paper sleeves on each cigar and the name of each cigar on the band.  The look is uniform and quite classy.  This cigar has an Ecuadorian Habano Maduro wrapper, Nicaraguan Habano binder and Nicaraguan Habano and Dominican Corojo fillers. Oddly, this is not a sweet maduro, but more on the savory side.  Burn and draw were acceptable and it was an enjoyable smoke.  In the past few years I’ve gotten away from the Robusto size, but on a Saturday when I am going to smoke two cigars, this fit the bill.  

 

I followed the Serie Privada Maduro with the A. Flores 1975 Gran Reserva Maduro, also in a robusto size, after dinner.  This cigar has a Mexico San Andres Maduro wrapper, with Olor Dominican Republic binder and  Dominican Corojo and Nicaraguan Habano fillers. It seems to go without saying that all of PDR cigars are made in the Dominican Republic. The PDR originally stood for “Pinar del Rio” after that region in Cuba, but they recently changed it to “Puros Dominican Republic” to better reflect the brand and factory. It was still on the savory side for a maduro, but had more spice and a hint of sweetness.  It must be the Dominican Corojo that has the savory component.  I enjoyed it while listening to Will Cooper guest on The Cigar Authority (I think he’s now one appearance behind me!). He gave me a shout-out and I appreciate that!  He referenced my interview with George Hamilton (available here in the archives and still out there on my long defunct podcast, which is one of the few that Coop has never been on!). I always thought Hamilton missed the mark by not having a lighter wrapper under the band, so when you  took the band off it looked like a tan line. The A. Flores 1975 Gran Reserva Maduro was good. 

 

That’s all for today. Tomorrow marks the thirteenth anniversary of CigarCraig.com, looking forward to year 14!  Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

 

 

 

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by | August 21, 2022 · 10:11 am

A Couple PDR Cigars and a Las Calaveras

I’m working on something a little different, should be announced any day now.  I found myself with more gear from the Barnsmoker than I know what to do with, so I’m going to have a fundraiser raffle for a worthy charity. I’m still working out the details, but the prizes are pretty cool.  I felt the need to do something more than just the usual pick a random comment giveaway. We’ll see how it goes, stay tuned. I did manage to smoke some cigars this week, funny that there were several that I just didn’t enjoy, but here are a couple highlights!  Let’s get the Las Calaveras from Crowned Heads out of the way. This was the first Las Calaveras I’ve smoked. A friend commented that he was surprised by this, but I don’t fall all over myself for Crowned Heads in general. I did, however pick one of these up a week or two ago when I saw them, out of curiosity. The one I smoked was the Las Calaveras Edición Limitada 2022 LC46 (5¾” x 46).  It’s a Nicaraguan puro made at the My Father factory in Esteli.  It has a dark Corojo wrapper, I believe, and packs a punch. I enjoyed the rich, espresso flavors, but. I thought it was stronger than I’d have liked, the strength overpowered the flavor at times. Perhaps a few years in the humidor would settle it down, but I’m not inclined to go out of my way to find out. I did enjoy it, and it was not, by far, the worst cigar I had all week. 

 

PDR Cigars has been sending samples to me on a regular basis. They could save a lot on shipping by combining shipments, but that’s their business.  One of the first cigars they sent me, maybe 6 weeks ago now (this summer has gone by far too fast for my liking), was the Flores y Rodriguez 10th Anniversary Reserva Limitada.  I smoked one on or around my wedding anniversary and quite enjoyed it. It’s a beautiful perfecto, 6½” x 52, but it’s also available in a Robusto, Gran Toro and Wide Churchill. it has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, Dominican Olor binder and 7 year old Dominican Seco and Piloto Cubano Ligero, as well as Viso from Jalapa, Nicaragua.  The filler tobaccos aren’t specifically named, but they taste great! The cigar burned perfectly and had nice sweet, nutty flavors.  This may have been the best cigar I smoked all week (starting the week on Monday, of course, the bar was admittedly pretty low!).  It’s a fairly sophisticated cigar, befitting of a milestone anniversary.  

 

Another PDR cigar I smoked was the El Trovador Rosado, in the Corona Gorda (6″ x 46) size.  Again, PDR isn’t very specific with the varietals, but it has an Ecuadorian Rosado wrapper, double binder described as one Nicaraguan and one Nicaragua Corojo, and fillers described as 2 Ligero Nicaragua, 1 ½ Viso Nicaragua. I really loved this cigar, second best of the week.  It was pretty strong, without sacrificing flavor. It had some dark flavors, with some leather and spices.  I dug it, and, like the other PDR cigars I’ve smoked recently, it burned perfectly.  I have a few more to get to, and another package due this week, so watch for more PDR cigars sneaking into my rotation in the coming weeks.  

 

That’s all for today. I need to get to work on that fundraiser thing. Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

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by | August 7, 2022 · 10:21 am

PDR and German Engineered Cigars

Welcome to post number 1601!  I’m not sure if that’s a milestone, but I noticed that I had made 1600 posts over the course of the last 13 years (officially at the end of the month, but close enough!), and that seemed like something worth mentioning.  That’s 123 posts per year, or 10 per month.  I know it’s not Coop or Halfwheel, but I think it must show some level of dedication, right?  Anyway, naturally I celebrated by smoking some cigars.  As I write this I’m smoking a PDR El Criollito (pronunciation tips gladly accepted).  This 5″ x 54 Robusto has an Ecuador Criollo 98 wrapper, San Andrés binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan Criollo 98 fillers.  I’ll preface this by saying that I’m not the biggest Criollo fan. This cigar, however, is darned tasty. It’s a little nutty, but mostly just good, well cared for tobacco.  I also don’t normally smoke in the mornings, but this is going very nicely with coffee. I’m kinda digging it.  

 

I also smoked PDR’s Connecticut Valley Reserve Azul Churchill again this week.  This is an interesting cigar. It has a Connecticut Broadleaf Rosado wrapper, Binder from Jalapa and Dominican Corojo, Condega, Nicaragua Criollo fillers.  More Criollo.  Obviously the wrapper isn’t fermented to maduro like we are used to with Broadleaf, so it’s not quite a sweet as usual, but still has some sweetness, with some drying sensation on the palate. It still was quite good. By the way, the band is gorgeous on this cigar, not that that makes a huge difference.  The construction was exceptional, it burned with a flat ember that always amazes me, getting all the fillers to burn as the exact same rate is impressive. 

 

Also this week I sampled a couple vitolas in the German Engineered Cigars Raumzeit line.  This is what they have to say about it on their website:

 

 

Your first impression of RAUMZEIT is characterized by a light, silky, fragrant wrapper.

Its smoke combines aromas of nuts, cream, honey, stardust, and malt with white pepper, minerals, cloves, flying saucer, and nutmeg into a wondrously sweet and complex experience.

 

Body: light to medium

Wrapper: Nicaragua – Connecticut

Binder: Indonesia – Sumatra

Filler: Nicaragua -Jalapa & Dominican Republic – Piloto

 

First, “Raumzeit” is German for “Spacetime”.  I wasn’t really much of a fan of the flavor of these, I found them rather floral. Perhaps is was just too complex for my palate.  I did note that the construction on these was excellent, and the 3½” x 44 Half Corona was a bit more intense than the 5″ x 54 Robusto. Perhaps I just don’t care for stardust and flying saucer flavors, I guess,  but if you like cigars that I don’t care for, these would probably be a great option to try. I didn’t get a chance to meet the German Engineered Cigars guys at the PCA show, they were busy when I walked by and I didn’t get back to them. I’ll make a point of it if we re in the same place at the same time again.

 

That’ll do it for today.  Next weekend I’ll be going to the Connecticut Barnsmoker (to make up for missing the PA).  Looking forward to seeing everyone there.  Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

 

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