It’s kind of rare when I post about a single cigar, but I do like to mix things up a bit, and I have been slacking on original content lately. Considering I smoked a new-to-me cigar this week that impressed me I figured it was deserving of a post. My friends at Gran Habano recently sent along some of their new cigars for me to try, and the Gran Habano Persian King Maduro Rajah stood out to me and demanded smoking right away.… Continue reading
ReviewCategory Archives
An Epic Maduro, A Cohiba and a Couple of Joyas and a Rant
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and had plenty to eat and adequate cigars! I took some along to the feast I attended, but it was too windy and cold to enjoy one, so I waited until I got home and enjoyed an Ashton VSG on the porch. I usually reach for a classic cigar of some sort on days such as this, and after spending over five hours in the car and a long day of eating, the VSG was a delightful end to a long day. Because of the holiday it was a slow news week, and I was lazy about a midweek post, so I slacked off this week. Let’s make up for it today. Early in the week I dug deep in the humidor and pulled out one of the original Epic Maduro Double Coronas from my stash of
Epic cigars. I knew it was an old one because it only had the Epic band, no second band with the “maduro” designation.… Continue reading
A Trinitas, a Couple of Southern Draw and a Couple of Joya de Nicaragua Cigars

I had had some plans this week that didn’t come together, more on that later, but I wanted to highlight a few cigars I smoked during the week, as I normally do on Sundays. First one that was really the standout of the week was the Providencia Trinitas Corona. This is a new size, adding to the 6″ x 52 perfecto (read about it here), with the same San Andrés wrapper, Indonesian binder and Nicaraguan Ligero fillers. In my February 2018 post I pointed out that
they misspelled “lijero” twice in the description, and they still haven’t fixed it, I’m insulted that they don’t read . Anyway, of course I’m a sucker for the San Andrés wrapper, and I’m not afraid of ligero, however it’s spelled, and despite my love of the toro, there’s something about a corona gorda that always appeals to me. I believe this one might be a little shy of a corona gorda, and a little more than a corona, listed at 5¾” x 44, it falls squarely in between the two.… Continue reading
Gran Habano, El Primer Mundo and Joya de Nicaragua Cigars
I’ve been all over the place this week with cigars, follow my Instagram, Twitter or Facebook to seem my dailies. I had some cigars I really like trying to buoy my spirits, an EPC Inch Ringmaster, a Diesel Whiskey Row Cherry Cask and a CAO Flathead V19, all really great cigars! But I wanted to talk about three other cigars for some reason. … Continue reading
Villiger Cuellar Black Forrest and Assorted Cigars
I’ve been smoking some random favorites this week, along with revisiting some cigars to re-evaluate my opinions on them. I spent a while with my web host’s support folks trying to iron out some back-end issues I’ve been having and I think something got fixed with the RSS feed and Google indexing. The e-mails seem to be going out again and searches don’t seem to be coming up in Chinese anymore! That was annoying! Spending ten years creating content, I’d like my legacy to be properly preserved in google searches! So it’s all sorted out, I think. I’ve been looking at new WordPress themes too, I’ve been using the same site design since 2012, and it might be time to refresh it a bit. When I find the right layout, you’ll know it! Anyway, Here’s some of my thoughts on some cigars I smoked
this week.
Southern Draw Jacob’s Ladder Brimstone – I love the shape, it’s perfectly constructed, and I really want to love the cigar, and it’s great, but I think I like the regular Jacob’s Ladder better. There’s something about the regular line that is richer, maybe the added strength of the Brimstone overpowers he blend for me. If I had smoked this before the regular line I might have had a different opinion, but I feel a little disappointed when I smoke these. I want it to be a better Jacob’s Ladder, and for me it just isn’t, something gets lost.
Cornelius and Anthony Daddy Mac – As everyone
should be aware, I have a fondness for everything in the Cornelius and Anthony line, except, maybe the Daddy Mac. I’ve always said I liked it, but it was my least favorite in the line, and the second half of that statement id certainly always been true, but it’s time to stop sugar coating it and just give up on the Daddy Mac. The cigar just doesn’t appeal to me. That’s not to say it isn’t a good cigar, and there are plenty of people who love it, it’s got that leathery, earthy profile that I don’t personally dig. I need to reach out to Steven Bailey and ask him what the future of Cornelius and Anthony looks like. I’ve been seeing a lot of posts from this weekend’s LaZonaPalooza and the name C&A hasn’t come up. Inquiries at a recent visit to El Titan de Bronze, where my favorite Cornelius is made were not exactly positive. I need to know how I should ration my existing stock.
Speaking of cigars made at LaZona, I also smoked a La Sirena King Poseidon, the brand’s 6″ x 60 vitola. This is another small brand that I’ve had a long time affinity for. The 6″ x 60 siz
e was an experiment, and I like it a lot, but I think I like the Trident, the Churchill size, better for a large vitola in this line. I love the Trident and Devine (belicoso) sizes the best in this line. I still have a couple of the Tridents from a box that was made in the My Father factory, they are Devine…no that’s the Belicoso…you know what I mean. La Sirena’s family of brands, including Merloin, Oceano, and the 10th Anniversary, have a little something for everyone, and I enjoy the heck out of them.
Let’s talk about this new cigar from Villiger, the Cuellar Black Forrest. This is made at the Tabacalera Palma in the Dominican Republic, which is where the Cuellar Krēmē is made, as well as one of my favorite Villiger cigars, the long gone and poorly named Trill. It’t box pressed and has a San Andrés wrapper and Dominican binder and filler and has a really interesting aroma out of the box. They often send samples in really nice little boxes of two or three, and while the presentation is top notch, one can’t help but think they might be better served saving that expense. Just a thought. This is a
beautiful smoke, and everyone has been smoking this and raving about it. It was different from what most think of San Andrés wrapped cigars. It didn’t have the heavy earth that is associated with Mexican leaf, but would still qualify as earthy I guess. It was solidly in the medium category and smooth, consistent with it’s Cuellar Krēmē sibling, it compliments it well as the maduro counterpart if that is the intent. I can recall smoking a Krēmē at the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival in 2014 and really enjoying it, and I might have one of similar vintage someplace in the humidor. This was a nice smoke that I’ll look forward to smoking again.
That’s all for today. until the next time,
CigarCraig




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