Category Archives: Stores

by CigarCraig | June 4, 2018 · 9:58 am

Podcast: CigarCraig Podcast Episode Two

Last Friday I had the opportunity to visit one of my favorite local cigar shops, The Wooden Indian in Havertown, PA. They were having an event featuring Epic Cigars, with Dean Parsons on hand. I met Dean at the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival in2014 and make an effort to hang out with him whenever he’s nearby. I’m a fan of the Epic Cigars line, which includes La Rubia, Habano, Corojo, Maduro, Maduro Fuerte, Project E and Smoking Shields, a special project benefiting law enforcement. While at the event I smoked the Maduro in a box pressed torpedo vitola which was recommended by Wooden Indian owner Dave Mayer and it exceeded expectations. I was able to mic up Dean and I for a bit in the shop, during the event, and Dave Mayer makes an appearance at the end.

I really enjoy the Epic Cigars line, while the maduro is my favorite, there isn’t one I don’t like. The Wooden Indian is an exceptional shop in the Philadelphia area, if you were in the area and could only visit one shop, this is the one I’d recommend. I hope you enjoyed this edition of the CigarCraig Podcast, I’m still finding my way in this medium, so bear with me. The podcast is now available in iTunes, Google Play Music and Stitcher.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as @cigarcraig, cigar, cigars, Dean Parsons, Epic, wooden indian

by CigarCraig | June 3, 2018 · 7:52 am

La Flor Dominicana Event at CigarCigars in Downingtown

Wednesday evening I went to my former hometown of Downingtown, PA (beer lovers may know this is as the home of Victory Brewery, which used to allow cigars at their brew pub, I miss that! They had a great root beer too) to the CigarCigars store there for a La Flor Dominicana event. The store is fairly new, it’s only been open there a few years, and is one of twelve (soon to be thirteen) stores in the chain which recently joined the Tobacconists Association of America (TAA), which you read about here a few weeks ago. This shop has greatly improved under the direction of the store manager, Kevin. I think once they put a drop ceiling in the lounge, which is a re-purposed garage bay, the acoustics will be much better and it will have a more intimate feel. Otherwise, the selection is good, although when there is an event I pretty much focus on the brand doing the event. I started off with a La Flor Dominicana Airbender Maduro Chisel, which has an Ecuador Habano Maduro wrapper and fillers grown on their La Canela farm. It’s in the patented Chisel shape, which is a torpedo with a flattened head, measuring 6″ x 54. The fun thing about this shape is that you don’t need a cutter! Squeezing the head makes the cap pop right off, which Lito Gomez himself showed me several years ago when I asked him what his preferred cut was on this vitola. The Airbender Chisel burned for an astounding two hours.

Kyle Shackelton is our local LFD rep, and does an excellent presentation over a video showing the cigar making process, this time in reverse, from cigar to seed. He explains a lot of the processes in detail, but not so much as to overwhelm his audience. Many consumers don’t understand the extent of the time and care that goes into the cigars we love. A picture of the aging room at the factory blew me away, they had cabinets with all the wheels stored inside, many aging rooms I’ve seen just have shelves. Their facility in the DR is beautiful, one day maybe I’ll visit.

Here’s where I goofed up, or somebody did! I bought a TAA exclusive La Flor Dominicana, and the “Buy x, get one” special cigar was banded exactly the same, with the TAA secondary band. I smoked one of them, not sure which, but while it started out a little woodier than I like, it developed into a very nice smoke. I didn’t find it as rich as the Airbender Maduro, but it was good. The former event exclusive cigar they had was fantastic, I have one someplace…anyway, it was a great event, Kevin and his staff at CigarCigars Downingtown were excellent hosts, and Kyle put on a good tutorial. Catch an LFD event if you can, I don’t know if all the reps do events as good as Kyle does, but I wouldn’t be surprised! Let me know if you’ve experienced these in other markets.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Air Bender, Chisel, cigar, cigar store, CigarCigars, cigars, La Flor Dominicana

by CigarCraig | May 31, 2018 · 5:42 pm

Liberty Smokes in Philadelphia and a New Ora Vivo Gold Edition

I’ve been meaning to visit Liberty Smokes in South Philadelphia for a long time, I just today managed to get down there. It’s easy enough to get to, it’s right of I-95 fairly close to the stadium complex. It’s owned by Mike Vitale and in addition to knowing his son, Victor, for many years, I also exchanged e-mails with him back in the summer of 2000 when he was the Senior VP of Sales at a little company called Holt’s. I was there when Brian opened the shop at 10 am, and bought some cigars and was invited to smoke one in their members lounge. The lounge is warm and cozy with a large TV, a bar area and nice leather seating. It wasn’t long before I was joined by one of the regulars, Charlie, and we had a nice dialog for the two hours I spent smoking the cigar. On my way out I finally met Mike Vitale, who had been busy, and chatted with him for a good half an hour. The store has been there for 15 years and from what I heard from the lounge, does a brisk walk-in business. the humidor is spacious and has an excellent selection, including all the staples you’d expect to find . Oddly, there were only a few facings of Tortuga, but they did have the new Ora Vivo Armand Assante cigars, the Gold Edition, as well as some of the World Edition. these were the cigars I bought. In better times I would have bought a couple of each size, but I’m trying to exercise some fiscal restraint. I defaulted to the toro, which is called the Emmy and is 6″ x 56. They also have the Oscar at 6″ x 60 and the Tony robusto at 5″ x 54. The blend is as follows: wrapper: Ecuador , binder: Nicaraguan , and fillers: Nicaraguan and Honduran, made at the Tabacalera Aguilar factory in Honduras. These were released in July 2017 quietly to a very select group of their top retailers.

The smoking time on the 6″ x 56 Ora Vivo Armand Assante Gold Edition Emmy was right around two hours, which worked great for my allotted time. I think anyone reading this site for any period of time knows my affinity for Victor Vitale’s cigars. I don’t think I ‘ve met a Tortuga I didn’t love, and the Ora Vivo Armand Assante line is very special. I think I have a couple of the original release floating around, as well as a World Edition European release corona, and I love them. I always regretted not buying a box at a dinner we went to in New Jersey with Armand and Victor, the vendor lacked the foresight to be able to accept credit cards at the event or I would have. Not saying there would be any left several years later, but it’s a regret none the same. This new Ora Vivo Gold Edition (Ora Oro?) was maybe the best cigar in the Legacy Brands line-up! I found it to be very rich, with the great espresso flavors I like, with some sweetness and, I swear, a hint of anise about two-thirds of the way in. It was as if I took a break and had a pizzelle. Awesome cigar, very consistent with what I understand to be Armand Assante’s vision for his cigars, that they are an expression of his life, and the quality and flavor are of the highest quality and excellence. Another great cigar from Macchione, Assante and Vitale. I bought a couple, but not nearly enough!

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigar store, cigars, Liberty Smokes, Ora Vivo Armand Assante

by CigarCraig | May 20, 2018 · 10:17 am

An Evening at A Little Taste of Cuba and Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Cigars

The last month or so I’ve been resisting going out to cigar shops. I’ve been antisocial, careful with dollars, and busy hunting for the next opportunity. I still get my daily walks in with a cigar, but have been laying low as far as cigar events go. Last night my wife and I took a drive to Princeton, NJ to A Little Taste of Cuba. You may recall last year we visited the A Little Taste of Cuba in New Hope, PA to meet up with Kevin of CigarProp fame. A Little Taste of Cuba is owned by Jorge Armenteros, who is the guy behind Tobacconist University, which is a course that teaches about everything cigar, pipe and tobacco. Jorge describes the Princeton store the flagship store, and it’s a very nice shop. It’s New Jersey, so I had a little sticker shock being used to PA prices, but they offered a Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust sampler with a Sobremesa Short Churchill (which I smoked first), Mi Querida Ancho Corto (smoked second) and Gordito, Todos Las Dias Double Wide Belicoso and an Umbagog Short and Fat. Honestly, I would have bought a handful of Umbagogs and been happy, but the price of the sampler versus the price of the Umbagogs made the sampler a better value. Of course, the two cigars I smoked were fantastic. Unlike the New Hope shop, the Princeton store has a lounge a half a flight up from the store area. The seating was comfortable, and the smoke eaters were noisy, but effective. There were a dozen to 15 people in there smoking over the course of the evening and it wasn’t that bad.

Did I mention Steve Saka and his wife, Cindy, were there? It was a casual non-event event, they were just there to hang out and we decided to run out there and hang out with them. Steve was losing his voice, which made it hard for me to hear all the nuggets of wisdom emanating from him, but a lot of it I’ve heard before. My hearing is impaired, so the combination of the drone from the air cleaner and Steve’s gravely voice made it hard to follow any one conversation, but I was enjoying the crap out of the cigars I was smoking, so it didn’t much matter. It’s always great to spend a little time with Steve and Cindy, terrific people. I also ran into my old friend Alex Martinez, who I met back in 2013 when I was up in the Lyndhurst, NJ area for a few days. Always nice to reconnect.

Two more quick little things n my mind: First, we were out at a fabric store yesterday with one of our granddaughters getting her some patterns and fabric for projects, and I came across some interesting fabric. Fabric stores make me anxious since childhood, not sure why, maybe it’s the overwhelming variety, or the cluttered feeling, but I’m uncomfortable in them. So I wasn’t just pacing around with my hands in my pockets, my wife told me to go look for some cigar fabric, and don’t you know I found some, and bought the whole bolt! Oddly, there’s a billion patterns for women’s clothes, but only like seven for men. I guess we buy our clothes as opposed to making them! Second, I once again found that smoking a strong cigar late at night gives me some weird-ass dreams and isn’t good for my sleep! No cigars after 9pm, I guess! Crazy!

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as A Little Taste of Cuba, cigar, cigars, Dunbarton, Mi Querida, Sobremesa, Todos Las Dias, Umbagog

by CigarCraig | April 8, 2018 · 8:18 am

CAO Event at Tobacco Field Cigars in Delaware and the CAO Zócalo

Friday I took a drive south to New Castle, Delaware to visit the new Tobacco Fields Cigars location where they were hosting Ricky Rodriguez and Rami Dakko of CAO Cigars. I was familiar with their store closer to home, in the Concord area, north of Wilmington, and just over the Pennsylvania border. I remember the area fondly as the site of the Brandywine Raceway, where I used to go watch the harness racing, and near where I used to go buy beer when I was underage. That’s not at all important to the story. I stopped in to the old store because I didn’t read the announcement and didn’t know about the new store. Apparently the new location opened in December of 2015, so I’m woefully out of touch! Twenty-five minutes later I arrived at the new store and went in to buy some CAO cigars. Ricky was in the lounge talking about cigars and tobacco. Due to the indoor smoking laws in Delaware, the lounge is membership based, and I assume that my purchase granted me a temporary membership, as I was welcomed by both the owners. The store is well appointed, with loads of cigars, as well as other tobacco products, and the lounge, although small, is augmented by a large, enclosed outside patio. Fortunately, the weather was cooperative. I smoked a CAO Colombia, in the Magdalena torpedo size, a 6¼” x 54 size. This cigar has a Jamastran (Honduran) wrapper, Cameroon binder and Brazilian and Colombian fillers. It’s super smooth and has a very pleasant flavor. It’s on the milder side, and is a very nice cigar, one of my favorites in their “World” range of cigars. I bought a few of these, a couple Consigliere in the toro size and a Brazilia and America. They had all three of the Amazon lines, including the Amazon Basin, but since I have some Fuma Em Corda and Anacondas, and am not really that fond of the Amazon Basin, I opted not to pick any up. There was a good crowd present, and I enjoyed catching up with Ricky and Rami, great folks if you ever have a chance to meet them, and the shop is great if you find yourself in the New Castle Delaware area.

CAO had two announcements this week, which other sites covered, one being the Pan-Am Tour, an online journey down the Pan American Highway highlighting the various growing regions where tobacco used in the CAO line is grown. There is a game on the CAO website where you can win prizes and follow along. From the press release:

In true CAO fashion, Rick’s virtual journey has an in-store component. His Pan American Tour will be mirrored by an interstate highway tour of sorts, as Rick will be visiting cigar shops across the U.S. for a deeper dive on the tobaccos that make up CAO’s unique blends. Events will take place between April and December, 2018 and at each event, cigar lovers can win CAO branded items like lighters, tee shirts and duffle bags, and have the opportunity to smoke special Pan Am Tour-exclusive cigars blended by Rick and the CAO team.

As I was driving to the event I received the press release about the newest offering from CAO, the limited edition CAO Zócalo San Andrés. This cigar kicks off the Pan Am tour and represents the first CAO cigar to use the San Andrés Morron wrapper, with a Cameroon binder and Nicaraguan fillers, offered in only the 6″ x 60 size. They have an attractive $8.49 MSRP and are due in stores before May 5, (Cinco de Mayo). I happen to know someone, so I had the opportunity to smoke the CAO Zócalo San Andrés last night, and I was thoroughly impressed. I am personally a fan of both Broadleaf and San Andrés, especially when it’s over a Cameroon binder, that combination makes me happy. The cigar was impressive. It had a perfect burn and draw, as all good cigars should, and the ash was a solid white, which took some effort to knock off in 1″ chunks. It started with a pepper spice and coffee, with an earthiness and some sweetness from the Cameroon. I got that same sweet sensation in the Colombia, which also has the Cameroon binder. Halfway through I was surprised by a new flavor, an interesting almost burnt caramel flavor. Earlier in the day I smoked another Macanudo Inspirado Red, which I thought was my favorite new cigar, and I smoked a CAO Fuma Em Corda this week that I really like, but this gives them a run for their money, and I can’t wait for these to hit the shelves, I’ll be putting a handful in my humidor. I was very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to score a sample of this great new cigar, thanks to Rick and Rami! It’s a big cigar, and maybe 6″ x 60s aren’t your bag, but give them a try. Yummy, a fiesta in your mouth!