Category Archives: Review

by | February 2, 2025 · 9:52 am

Total Products Expo 2025 Recap

I got back yesterday from a Vegas were I had the good fortune of attending the Total Products Expo, formerly the Tobacco Products Expo.  This year was a little different for me, as I spent the first two days helping out my friends at CigarMedics as a product ambassador, or evangelist, whichever works.  It was interesting working that side of the table for a change, and I got to meet some new folks from around the country and educate a lot of folks on the Humidimeter and their other products.  I continue to be a big fan of CigarMedics products, and watch for some new items in the future! 

 

The TPE is a huge show, spanning two floors of the south hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Id guess that premium cigars and related items is less than 5% of the exhibitors. Most of it was vape, both nicotine and cannabis, nicotine pouches, “glassware”, and other items that are in smoke shops and convenience stores (we used to call Smoke Shops “head shops” years ago).  The vape vendors seemed to have the most elaborate booths, and they seem to have incorporated digital screens and lights in to the devices for some reason. The pouches were a big thing it seemed.  Lots of cannabis related stuff too, in which I’m neither familiar nor interested.  I ventured off the red carpet (the cigar portion

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is designated by red carpeting) and was very uncomfortable.  There were some interesting marketing tools and there was plenty of wild stuff to see.  The cigar side was more traditional, although since there really weren’t a lot of premium cigar brands there (I counted around 20), there were some large lighter displays and some various accessory companies.  Drew Estate’s booth was modest, J.C. Newman, Altadis , Davidoff and Perdomo had sizable booths, but the rest were reasonably simple. It didn’t seem like there were a lot of traditional cigar merchants there doing business, I ran into a few, but not like it’s been in years past that I’ve been to the TPE.  Besides it being a more affordable overall trip, I’m not sure I’d go again, if I do it’ll be for one day, and the rest will be personal vacation.  

 

I decided this year I was going to do something a little different from collecting video interviews with cigar brands, I interviewed some of the media in attendance.  If you want to hear from the brands, check out these guys, they were all interviewing exhib

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itors, and no doubt, have the same content I would have gotten.  My first one was with Patrick from Halfwheel. I’ve known Patrick since 2011, and I chatted with him for a few minutes. I later saw Charlie there and he passed on being interviewed say Patrick was a better interview anyway.  

 

 

I also ran into Matthew Tabacco (his real name) who was there with his mother, who is also a cigar fan.  Check out the Smokin Tabacco podcast and website, they have a good team and are very nice people. Keep an eye open for their annual raffle event benefiting the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation.  I always enter, but never win! That’s OK, I have plenty, and the money goes to a great charity!

 

 

I met Cigar Show Tim at the 2020 TPE. and run in to him from time to time.  He has the luxury of being able to drive the Vegas from California and has quite the professional rig. It’s tough doing video as a one man team, as evidenced be my own, Tim has a tripod on wheels and does a great job. Check out his YouTube channel.

 

 

I met Darrell of the Cigars Liquor and More podcast in the media lounge and found him to be a likable guy, and have subscribed to his podcast, but, admittedly, haven’t listened yet.  They concentrate on pairings, and tech talk, so except for the booze part, I’m looking forward to adding this podcast into my rotation. 

 

 

Finally I managed to meet Nick, the Bishop of the Burn, from the Cigar Pulpit Podcast. I’ve been enjoying this show for a few years now, and somehow managed to miss meeting Nick at previous TPE shows.  Nick was joined by Noah at the show, a listener and frequent contributor to the show.   

 

 

Hopefully you enjoy my slightly unusual coverage of the TPE show, thank you to CigarMedics for sponsoring this year’s coverage.  If you don’t have a Humidimeter, what are you thinking?  Get one!  Anyway, it was fun, I’m pretty boring and was pretty much either in my hotel room, ar at the airport whenever I wasn’t on the show floor.  Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

 

 

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by | January 26, 2025 · 10:12 am

Some Viaje Cigars, an HVC and an Espinosa Rerun

I try to include new (to me, or actually new) cigars in my Sunday posts, if nothing else but to create a searchable database of sorts for myself.  This is a blog, with is short for “Web Log”, and I write it for my own benefit and it’s a happy accident that other people choose to spend their time reading it.  This is something for which I am grateful, by the way!  Once in a while I smoke a cigar that I’ve written about in the past that I feel deserves mentioning again.  In this case it was the Espinosa Laranja Azulejo. This week I smoked both the Robusto Extra (5½” x 52) and the Gordo (6″ x 60) and enjoyed them very much!  This has a sungrown Sumatra wrapper,  a Brazilian Arapiraca Binder and Nicaraguan fillers and is made at the San Lotano factory in Ocotal, Nicaragua.  I smoked this back in 2021, and loved it, a recent mention somewhere put it back on my radar, and I picked up a few when I visited a shop in the area that has some Espinosa cigars.  Oddly, not a lot of my local shops have them for some reason. Anyway, I smoked the robusto in the shop on Monday evening, one of the friendliest visits I’ve had to that particular shop in quite some time, and it was an excellent smoke. I picked up the Gordo on the way out because I was so impressed. The gordo is box pressed, so it smoked more like a toro, both shapes have deep, rich espresso and spice flavors, all my favorite flavors. This is a supre good cigar, if you like the cigars I like, you’ll like this one.

 

On to the “new to me” cigars!  On that same visit to a shop on Monday I picked up a Viaje Birthday Blend Collector’s Edition. This shop has a pretty “classic” selection, it was hard for me to find a cigar I hadn’t smoked before.  By the way, Viaje’s website sucks, it’s just a landing page with rudimentary contact info. I got information from Cigara, which is owned by Scandinavian Tobacco. This is a 6¼” x 52 classic torpedo, which comes with a birthday wrapping paper sleeve.  I admit that I don’t know what year this cigar is from, they seem to change every year, and I am not familiar enough with Viaje to know to look. I’m guessing it’s the latest, based on wrapper color and flavor alone, which is Criollo, not one of my favorite tobaccos.  Anyway, I found this to be an interesting cigar, with some mild spice and a somewhat floral quality.  It performed very well and while I wouldn’t seek this out again (unless I find myself in the same shop in the near future and can go look at the box!), but I wouldn’t pass one up if offered.  

 

Smoking the Viaje prompted me to visit Cigar Mojo close to home here knowing that they had some Viaje cigars in stock. I selected a Satori Nirvana, which is the 6″ x 50 toro in the line.  When I see “Satori” I’m reminded of a song off one of my favorite albums, King Crimson’s Beat from 1982, “Sartori in Tangier”.  I know, Satori is different from SaNtori, but my mind goes there.  This has a rather ugly, mottled wrapper, bu that usually means it’s going to taste great. It’s listed as San Andrés wrapper with Nicaraguan binder and filler, made at the Raices Cubanas factory in Honduras. There were some earthy flavors and some chocolaty flavors, and I rather enjoyed the cigar.  They had a couple other Viaje cigars at Mojo, but they were on the smaller side, maybe I’ll pick them up for the future. 

 

Finally, I got around to picking up an HVC Hotcakes Golden Age in the Laguito No 5 vitola, 6″x 54.  I probably have passed this by in the past because it’s Connecticut wrapped, but I think I’ve worked my way through the HVC line, and had to try this one. I’ve heard good things. This reportedly has some “Corojo 2006 Maduro” in the Nicaraguan filler blend.  This cigar combines the bready, sweet grassy Connecticut Shade flavors with some gutsy sweetness from the fillers.  I like this, and it was very nice smoking this on the porch watching a movie last night, amongst my favorite activities (or lack thereof).

 

I’m not sure what next Sunday’s post will be, it will probably be TPE heavy, as that’s where I’ll be Wednesday thru Friday. So, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

 

 

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by | January 19, 2025 · 9:54 am

A Couple Tobacco Queen Cigars from Cigar Ambassador

I recently received a sampler of Tobacco Queen cigars from Cigar Ambassador.  I’m guessing many of us hadn’t heard of this company, but a

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pparently they have been big in the Asian market for some time, working out of the Dominican Republic.  They are entering the U.S. Market with distribution with City of Palms Cigar Distribution Services.  City of Palms is operated by Kevin and Anne Dinkins, formerly of Sutliff Tobacco.  I’ve known Anne since she was with Villiger North America probably a dozen years ago.  Cigar Ambassador has a factory in Tamboril and has been in the tobacco business there for 20 years.  They sent a media sampler out, so you’ll be seeing these reviewed all over t

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he place, it included a nice leather case and a cigar rest.  I’ve included a video of it below.

 

 

I managed to get a couple of the cigars smoked for today’s post.  I know I usually present more diversity, but to day it’s just these two cigars, the Lancero and the Salomon.  Those who follow closely on Facebook, Instagram and Threads may have questions, I’ll be happy to answer those privately. The Lancero is  7″ x 38 with a pigtail cap (size is incorrect on the website, BTW).  I was going to say that this is the best cigar I’ve smoke this year, but that’s too small a sample size, so I’ll say it’s one of the best I’ve smoked in the past year.  This was an exceptional cigar. The wrapper is Ecuadorian Habano, the binder is Dominican Corojo, and the filler blend is Nicaraguan Jalapa, Dominican Criollo 98. The burn and draw were perfect, and I had concerns going in.  This had really interesting flavors, some sweet tobacco and some exotic spices. I enjoyed this down to the tiniest nub, and it took nearly two hours to do that. This was a very impressive cigar, if not for the $20+ price tag, I’d look to add these to the humidor.  

 

I had high hopes for the Salomon based on my experience with the Lancero!  This is a 7¼” x 57 figurado with a neat flagged cap.  I

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t’s a very attractive cigar, and I’m a sucker for a Salomon. It’s a sizable cigar.  The blen

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d is an Ecuadorian Habano Rosado Maduro wrapper, Dominican San Vicente binder and Nicaraguan Jalapa, Dominican Corojo & Criollo 98 fillers.  It started slow, as cigars this shape do, but it opened up nicely after burning through the nipple.  It started mild and built to medium with some nice sweet and floral flavors.  It was well crafted, although I did have to catch up a couple uneven burns here and there.  I watched two periods of hockey with this cigar and had some left for the post game show.  While this wasn’t the masterpiece that the Lancero was for me, it was still a good smoke with interesting and engaging flavors.  Still out of my price range personally, it was a good smoke. The bands on this line are absolutely beautiful, very traditional and high quality.  No complaints about the presentation, and they got these two hard to roll shapes right. 

 

Thanks to Gabriel Pińeres for sending this sampler out. I still have the “A” and Robusto sizes to try, I’m not sure when I’ll get to them, I may let the rest for a while, I want to have a great experience with them.  I have finalized plans to attend the TPE show, look for content sponsored by CigarMedics in the coming weeks.  Until the  next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

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by | January 12, 2025 · 10:11 am

Flatbed Cigar VLI, Don Pepin Garcia and Plasencia Cigars

I’m working on plans to get to the TPE (Total Products Expo) in Vegas at the end of the month, it’ll either be a one day, quick in and out, or the whole three days. It’s an interesting show, as I’ve chronicled before here, I’m not sure what comes out of it, but I hope to see some old friends. If you’re going, let me know, I’ll tell you where to find me.  Anyway, I’ve been rummaging for new things to smoke, there’s some stuff in the pipeline, and I came up with a few for today.  First up is the Flatbed Cigar Co. VLI from their Homestead series.  Flatbed Cigar Co. makes their cigars in the Dominican Republic, the factory is a closely held secret.  I’ve been quite impressed by the majority of their offerings, especially their value.  Please note their Daily Deal on the left sidebar, always something good at a great price.  It was one of these daily deals where I ended up with the VLI.  The VLI, and I can’t seem to find out what that stands for, is a 5½ x 52 with a Pennsylvania wrapper (presumably broadleaf), Dominican binder and Pennsylvania and Nicaragua fillers.  Let me tell you, this is right up my alley.  This is a bold cigar, with rich, dark flavors, along with some spice, but not overwhelmingly so. There’s a dry cocoa component, and it’s perfectly constructed.  I really enjoyed this and I recommend it highly.  Check out this small, boutique company based right here in PA., the cigars are very good.

 

I was looking for something new and interesting and came across a Don Pepin Garcia cigar I hadn’t seen before. It turns out it’s a TAA exclusive, for now, called the Don Pepin Garcia E.R.H., comes in three sizes (robusto, toro and gordo) and is priced in the $8-9 range.  I had to grab a 6″ x 52 Toro to try.  E.R.H. refers to José Garcia’s first factory in Little Havana, El Rey de los Habanos.  This has a striking red band and foot ribbon, I was surprised to see this, and didn’t realize it was a TAA cigar until I looked it up. It has a Sumatra Oscuro wrapper, over Nicaraguan binder and fillers.  It was a really nice looking cigar. I got some sweet woody kinds of flavors, and I really enjoyed it. It’s an oasis in a desert of $15 TAA cigars, it’s quite a good value and one I wouldn’t hesitate to buy again.

 

I had heard some good things about the Plasencia Cosecha 151 recently and decided since the DPG was so affordable I would pop for the more expensive Plasencia. This is one of the more reasonably priced cigars in their offering, running around $16.  The 151 refers to the Plasencia family’s 151st harvest,dating back to 1865.  So when the US was wrapping up the Civil War, a Plasencia was planting tobacco in Cuba. Wild!  This is another Toro, called the La Tradicion, and is listed at 5.9″ x 54. This has a Honduran wrapper, binder and fillers.  This was a very good cigar.  It had some woody, nutty, coffee flavors and while not 100% my flavor preference, it was very nice, nothing objectionable. I found that the strength crept up on me, and I put it down probably where most people put cigars down, instead of smoking it under an inch like I do with most cigars. I liked it, glad I tried it, given the choice between this and the Don Pepin, I’d probably get two of the DPGs. While pricey, I’ve generally had good experiences with Plasencia cigars.

 

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

CigarCraig

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by | January 5, 2025 · 10:26 am

A Pair of Single Barrel Cigar Co. Cigars and the Big Giveaway Winner!

Before I get into the giveaway winner business, I’d like to talk about a a couple cigars that were given to me when I visited Single Barrel Cigar Co.‘s Clearwater, Florida aging facility with Kevin last November.  My first disclaimer, most of you know already, is that I don’t drink, haven’t since about 1990. I’m not a “friend of Bill’s”, but I know who he is.  Therefore, I have no frame of reference for booze related flavors.  Second disclaimer is that I don’t regularly partake in flavored cigars. There are a couple of infused/flavored cigars I enjoy, but on a semi-annual basis. I might pick up a Tabak, Deadwood, or an Acid Kuba Arte once or twice a year.  There are more traditional cigars that I enjoy that the altered cigars take a back seat.  I have to kinda talk myself into smoking something like this, and the booze thing is a double whammy. I’m going to give my thoughts, and those of you in the know can comment.  Anyway, We talked to Nick there, and he gave me two cigars to try.  These aren’t necessarily flavored, the cigars are placed in bourbon barrels, the barrels are “mixed” every so often so the cigars get equal access to the wood. I don’t know how cigars aren’t damaged in this process. The first one was a Blanton’s Gold Maduro Robusto.  The aroma once the tube was opened was pungent, had me worried for a bit. I admit, I really enjoyed this cigar.  It had a honey sweetness, very satisfying.  I was concerned that the cigar was wet, it wasn’t, the burn and draw were perfect.  I definitely could taste what I assume was the bourbon, and it was pleasant.  Thumbs up on this one.

 

One of the trademarks of Single Barrel Cigar Co. is that they put a pinch of the barrel char in the bottom of each glass tube.  I asked if they scraped the barrels themselves, which seemed like a lot of work, but they get it from the distillery. This might have been the reason that this second one I smoked put off some interesting colors when I toasted the foot.  The second one was the Weller 107 Maduro Robusto.  I’m to understand that Weller and Blanton’s come from the same parent company.  This one was noticeably different from the Blanton’s version.  It seemed more savory than sweet.  It burned great, draw was good, but this one didn’t appeal to me. If I had smoke this one first, I may not have been keen to try the Blanton’s, which, again, I really enjoyed. Like everything, taste is subjective, but this Weller didn’t do it for me. It’s not that it tasted bad, but I think it failed in comparison to the first one.  That’s on me, not the cigars. Kevin is working on something with Single Barrel for his Trash Panda store, although I’m not at liberty to say any more. Not that I signed an NDA or anything, just going to let Kevin talk about that.  I thought I’d taken more pictures, but the only ones I took are of Kevin’s barrel and that would be a giveaway, although if you know Kevin, you’ll probab;y be able to figure it out. I’ll say that if you find yourself in the Tampa area, and come across these cigars, give them a try.  

 

Some of you may have scrolled down to this point already, please go back and read the rest! I’ll wait… OK, it’s time to announce the winner of the huge batch of goodies.  To recap,  there’s the better part of the DE25 Barnsmoker backpack full of goodies. Some neat stuff from Miami Cigar and Co. Villiger, and Dunbarton, as well as a selection of cigar from my humidor, which will be a surprise.  Basically I’m going to fill the travel humidor and cigar case, but who knows what falls into the box when I pack it.  Shipping is going to cost me a fortune on this one!  Anyway, there were 32 entries, and I used Google’s random number generator to pick a number, and numbered the submissions from first to last.  The winner is a long-time reader and supporter, Tim McCabe!  Please email me your details so I can get this package shipped!  Thank you all for your comments!  I’ve been doing this blog thing for 15 years, and it’s nice to know people appreciate it!  

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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