Category Archives: Stores

by | July 4, 2021 · 10:07 am

A Plasencia Cigars Sampler and the LouLiga Lounge Grand Opening

At the end of last year when everyone was posting their top ten cigars of the year, I, being the rebel, posted my top cigars I hadn’t smoked yet. A little bit of me did it to test Halfwheel’s Consensus process, to see how closely they paid attention, and it appears they either do, or I’m just that far under the radar any more, I have made appearances on the consensus in the past though when I’ve done a list. Anyway, I had said that I hadn’t smoked any of the Plasencia Alma series last year, so I ordered a nice sampler from my friends at Fox Cigars, and smoked them this passed week. I had smoked the AlmaFuerte Sixto II not long ago and was thrilled to get my hands on another one. Somehow getting one as a part of a sampler felt better than buying one at

the store for $22, and I don’t see the sampler listed anymore, and I forget what I paid for it. It was five cigars, the Alma Fuerte in Robustus I and Sixto II, Alma Del Fuego in Concepciòn Toro and Candente Robusto, and an Alma Del Campo Tribu Robusto.  I always joke that these are named after my grandmother, Alma Vanderslice, but I’m sure that’s not the case. I quite enjoyed the flavors in all of these, although I thought the Alma Fuego was just too darned strong for me, that is to say I became tired of it being so strong by the end. The Del Campo seemed to be to more medium bodied to me, and all three were excellent examples of Nicaraguan cigars.  They all had rich dark tobacco flavors, with the Fuerte especially having a slight sweetness on the lips pre-light. The weird thing was that, and it might have been the weather or something unrelated, but I got migraines each night after I smoked one of these. Probably a coincidence, as I’ve smoked plenty of Nicaraguan puros before without issue, and gotten plenty of migraines before without having smoked Plasencia cigars! Anyway, Thumbs up on both Plasencia cigars and Fox Cigars for exceptional customer service! 

 

Yesterday I took a drive into the Fishtown section of Philadelphia to visit the grand opening of the LouLiga Cigar Lounge. If you follow cigars on social media, I’m not sure how you could avoid having heard about this place, or at least it’s owner, Luis Rodriguez. Luis has been a long time cigar ambassador, and had realized his dream with this new lounge in a very cool area in the city. It’s in the same block of buildings as The Fillmore, which is a music venue, The Punch Line comedy club, and Philadelphia Distilling, with the Rivers Casino and Convention Center more or less across the street. When I arrived, the place was packed. To be honest, if I hadn’t seen my old friend Antonio Lam (Reinado Cigars, watch for his new cigar, the Grand Apex), I probably would have bought a handful of cigars, snapped some pics and gone home. However, I lit up a Stolen Throne Crook of the Crown Toro and hung out with Antonio and his fiancé for a few hours.

The Lounge is nice. The air handlers work well, it has an industrial feel which is consistent with the building. The furniture is comfortable, there’s plenty of TVs and the humidor is huge. While the humidor shelves were fairly sparsely stocked, what was there was very high quality and fairly pried for a city location. Luis knows his stuff and is very in tune with the boutique brands. I’m not sure how this will relate to the casual, fresh out of the concert, distillery, comedy club, etc, patron who is stopping in for a cigar and know Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta and Cohiba and that’s about it, but it’s going to be a great place for cigar geeks. Luis was an excellent host, greeting everyone who came in warmly. When I got home I tried one of Luis’ own cigars, from an undisclosed, yet prominent, factory. It was quite good, a robusto with some spice in the beginning, and some floral near the end. It’s certainly a place to visit if you find yourself in Philadelphia. 

 

That’s all for today. It’s the Fourth of July, so, as with every year, it’s also my wedding anniversary (34), so I’ll be finding something good to smoke. Be careful out there!  Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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by | May 16, 2021 · 10:37 am

Black Lion Luxuries Cigar of the Month Club for March

First off, I noticed that my e-mail notifications suddenly started working again, something that’s been screwed up since I updated my site to SSL. I still have some work to do with my host, I think, I just need to get on the phone with them and fight, the people I’ve talked to don’t seem to know what an RSS feed is, and it’s a little important in the blogging business. I will need to find a new e-mail service in the near future anyway and I need to have the RSS stuff working right. Enough of the technical details that you don’t care about, let’s talk about some cigars.  I’ve recently been re-introduced to the Cigar of the Month Club business model, and the folks at Black Lion Luxuries shared theirs with me and I wanted to tell you all about my experience. First, I’m a little behind, so I opened the March pack, which included five cigars. I’m led to believe that the reasonable expectation is four cigars, and for $30 ($about $38 delivered, depending on where you live), that’s a pretty darned good value for the cigars I’m seeing in these packs. I went through the pack this week, and let me tell a little about them.

 

I’m not going to do a paragraph on each cigar, I smoked them at my leisure, for my own enjoyment, concentrating on the overall experience of the cigars as delivered by the vendor if that makes sense. I do have to some comments though. Regarding the Eiroa cigars: I’ve actually known Christian Eiroa for a long time, we go back to the Usenet days like Saka, and I know him personally, but he’s never, in 20 years, handed me a cigar. I’ve bought a bunch of his cigars, I used to love Camachos, but I haven’t loved the CLEs I’ve bought for some reason. These two Eiroa First 20 Years are a different story, with a nod going to the 646, which was truly exceptional. I haven’t had a cigar this good from Christian Eiroa ever. I believe Will Cooper gave the 550 a number one cigar of the year a few years ago, and I can’t find fault with that assessment. There have been times I’ve spent $30 on 2 cigars and not enjoyed them as much as these two, and there were three more really good cigars left in the pack! 

 

OK, one more paragraph. I happened to work out that Mel Shah of MBombay cigars had a birthday this week, so I smoked the MBombay Classic Torpedo in his honor. I’ve lost touch with Mel, and I’m not sure what’s going on with the brand, but they are really good cigars. This is another cigar which which I have some history, first, the factory that makes these makes Vegas de Santiago in Costa Rica, and that name probably doesn’t mean much to most people, but it’s a brand that I’ve smoked a bunch of years ago. It’s also the same factory that makes the Byron and Atabey cigars. It’s a delicious Connecticut Shade cigar that deserves a try, it’s one I’ll gravitate towards if I crave a shade. If the Eiroa 646 wasn’t the best cigar in the bunch, the Todos Las Dias was. I’ll admit it took me a few cigars to warm up to this blend, but it’s delicious, and my favorite size, the 6″ x 52 toro too. Finally, the Punch Rare Corojo Pita, another Toro, which is the only sub-$10 cigar in the pack, and a really tasty smoke in my opinion. I’ve always liked the Rare Corojo, despite it not being Corojo, and hardly being rare. 

 

I have to say, pick any three cigars in the Black Lion Luxuries Cigar of the Month pack, and you’ve got your money’s worth, the other two are gravy. All of the cigars smoked perfectly, and arrived in pristine condition. I realize they are only making a short trip from Harrisburg, PA to my home in suburban Philadelphia, but with today’s USPS, that potentially could be a long trip! These five cigars made for a great week of smoking for me, first impressions are extremely good for Black Lion Luxuries Cigars, and they seem to have other good deals on the website as well! I look forward to getting into the April selection! By the way, Check out RonRealTV, Ron helps in the selection of the Cigar of the Month Club cigars, and has a popular YouTube Channel! Thank you to Black Lion Luxuries Cigars for sharing their CIgar of the Month Club with me.  

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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by | April 11, 2021 · 10:49 am

Baracoa Cigars The Voyage Release Event at Son’s Cigars & Lounge

I’m fortunate that Son’s Cigars & Lounge is opening just a few miles away from me in Exton, PA, and was the location of the launch of Baracoa Cigar Company‘s re-release of The Voyage. This is my backyard, I’ve lived in this area my whole life, so I’m happy to have this lounge coming to the area. It’s not open yet, the buildout isn’t even complete, but they held the event there anyway and 30 or so people were there. A few words about the lounge, it’s going to be awesome. The humidor is going to be huge, with 2000 facings, many of which will be boutiques. The lounge will be equally impressive. I’m told it will be modelled after it’s parent, literally, Mom’s in Scarsdale, NY, as Mitul Shah is a co-owner. The store is conveniently located smack dab between two cigar stores when have been in the area for many years (I state with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek). It’ll be a destination. They are hoping for a May opening, and are shooting for two events a month, the former seems optimistic looking at the skeleton of metal studs, but things can progress quickly I suppose. I look forward to covering the opening. On a side note, two of the longest running cigar blogs in the industry were represented there, as Walt White of Stogie Review made an appearance (yours truly was the other 😁  ). 

 

I had not had the pleasure of meeting Danny Vasquez prior to yesterday’s event. He launched Baracoa Cigars and The Voyage a few years back, having the cigars made at La Aurora ( and I think he’ll agree with the way I worded that), and kind of shut it down when the FDA deeming regs came down. He took a job with RoMaCraft for a few years and then decided to relaunch his brand, taking a more hands on approach with the blending with Henderson Ventura in the DR. I picked up a sampler of the cigars, three sizes, a corona, Robusto and Toro, I assume the three sizes available, although I was negligent in verifying the details. While I was there, I smoked the Corona, 5″ x 46, and Robusto Extra, 5¼” x 52, (the Toro was really tempting!, maybe today) and found them to be outstanding. There was a cleanness to the smoke, with a bit of a citric tang, more in the Corona than the Robusto, I thought. I thought they were really very good cigars, not at all heavy on the palate, but bright, if that makes sense. I’m excited to try the Toro. I’m pleased to have met Danny finally, having heard him on various podcasts and such. He did a nice job with this cigar. 

 

Many thanks to Mitul, Vince and Brian for the hospitality. It was nice to see some old friends again, and meet some new ones. In person events have become so few and far between, I think this has been the third, maybe fourth, one I’ve been to in a year. I do recommend trying The Voyage if you can get your hands on it, great cigars!

 

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

 

CigarCraig

 

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by | March 28, 2021 · 10:06 am

Altadis Know Your Wrapper Series Event at Goose’s Montecristo Lounge

Friday evening I attended an event, sort of. Goose’s Montecristo Lounge in Limerick, PA hosted the Altadis USA Know Your Wrapper Series event, both in their lounge and virtually. They probably had 15 or so people there in the lounge, which is spacious, no worries there, and a few of us attending virtually, including myself, Tom Stroud, the Altadis USA territory Manager and his wife, John Remer, who host the Facebook Group and show Johnny Smokes Uncut, and a few others.  In this event, each attendee purchased a box which contained seven corona size cigars that were puros of seven different wrapper varieties. The event was led by Travis Pappenheim, the National Education Manager at Altadis USA. He guided us through the tasting of the first couple of the puritos, presenting information on the growing regions and some of the cigars that used the various wrappers. This event was interactive, as Travis, even though he was located in south Florida, was taking questions from the lounge at Gooses, as well as interacting with the rest of the guests.

 

A few geeky thoughts on the puros:  The first one was the USA Connecticut: It had some natural sweetness on the lips at first, but I thought it was fairly sour with some bitterness. It smoothed out after a while. The Cameroon was surprising, as a wrapper only it is very distinctive, when the entire cigar is Cameroon it runs over itself and that sweet, nutty Camerooniness I love is overwhelming and exhausting. The Ecuador Connecticut is smoother and creamier than the than the USA version. In my mind, it worked better as a cigar. I don’t care much for Criollo, and a 100% criollo cigar doesn’t thrill me, the saving grace was that it was the fourth cigar in a little over an hour. Travis gave some great advice, which was to smoke the Sumatra on a fresh palate, and since that is one of, if not my favorite, wrapper varitals, I smoked this one last night. Once again, it tasted like Sumatra should taste, but too much of a good thing. HAlf way in, I switched to the Broadleaf, another favorite wrapper. This was the only one in the selection that wasn’t a puro, because, Travis said, getting the Broadleaf puro to burnright wasn’t happening. Not surprisingly, this was the best smoking experience of the bunch as a cigar, as far as balance and flavor went, with sweet cocoa and coffee notes that I love. I saved the Habano for another time, maybe today, as I was worn out.

 

As a cigar geek, I found this to be a really entertaining experience, as I always do. I’ve done these sorts of things before and I always learn something, and it reinforces things I knew, and reminds me of things I forgot. My main takeaway is that there’s a reason that these are wrapper leaves and there aren’t puros made from the various leaves. First, they’d be really expensive cigars, and mostly, they aren’t balanced and just don’t really taste good. There was one (the US Connecticut) that Travis mentioned a surprise at the halfway point and suspect he had the leaf tips thee or something and I got a cinnamon sensation somewhere thereabouts, but that was about the only thing close to complexity I got. I also have had indigestion and a sour stomach for the last two days, and it might have something to do with the tobaccos, not sure. I haven’t eaten anything strange. I wouldn’t trade the experience though,  Travis did a great job presenting and Goose was a wonderful host as always. I would have enjoyed being there in person, he has a great lounge, but between the time and “the times”, joining over Zoom was ideal. Thank you John for having me!

 

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

 

CigarCraig

https://www.altadisusa.com/

 

 

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by | November 15, 2020 · 10:04 am

All Saints Dedicación Cigars

Thursday evening I went to Cigar Mojo in King of Prussia, PA where they were having a cigar event revolving around the Masters. There was chipping and putting involved in a tournament with brackets and everything. The winner received a bottle of booze and a box of cigars. This was all sponsored by All Saints Cigars, and Mickey Pegg was there for the event. The cost of the event was $25 which included two cigars and food, but I decided instead to buy a bunch more cigars and pass on the food., I showed up two hours late anyway and had no intention of participating in the event really anyway, apart from smoking the featured cigars and meeting Mickey finally. It’s been months that we’ve been trying to connect. Of course, the several months that I was unemployed and had tons of time on my hands would have been ideal, but but there is this pandemic going on limiting contact and stores being open and all. Now that I am gainfully employed, my time is limited, and we still have the limitations of the pandemic. Fortunately, Cigar Mojo has a large outdoor area, and a large enough lounge and is responsible about occupancy and masks and cleanliness. I felt like it was a good opportunity to venture out. I bought a selection of All Saints Dedicación cigars, along with a couple other new cigars and went and met Mickey.

 

I smoked the 6” x 60 “Huge” while there. The Dedicación has a San Andrés wrapper, which does not appear to be fermented to a Maduro to me, and Nicaraguan binder and filler. I also bought some of the 6 1/2 x 52 Commandant and Mickey hooked me up with a 5 1/2 x 50 Berkey. the later of the two being box pressed. I’m not going to break each one down individually, the Huge was smoked at an event while I was talking and distracted, but it was a really nice smoke. I smoked the Commandant on Friday. It smoked well and had flavors similar to the Huge, which were earthy for the most part. I found the Berkey to be the best of the three. It had a spice and sweetness that the other two didn’t seem to have. I also felt like the larger two burned faster than I would like, I think the smoking time on the smaller Berkey was darned near the same as the larger two. If I recall, Mickey said that the 6” x 60 would be the outlier flavor wise, I suppose I’ll give them all some humidor time and revisit them at a future date. I certainly won’t hesitate to buy more of this brand though, either front mark, the Dedicación of Solamente, both are excellent. Both are made at Rocky Patel’s Nicaraguan factory, but they are blended by Mickey Pegg. I wrote about his backstory in my Solamente post on September 30.

 

Reader’s Poll!

 

Instead of me selecting a cigar of the year this year, I thought I’d do something different. Let’s have a CigarCraig’s 2020 Reader’s Poll! E-mail me at craig@cigarcraig.com with your choice for the 2020 cigar of the year. I’ll compile the results and post them on December 31. Please be as specific as possible. It’ll be fun!

 

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

CigarCraig

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