Category Archives: Trip Report

by | March 9, 2025 · 10:15 am

Tobacco Queen Super A, Timeless Supreme and a Couple Cigars at Smoke Inn

A few weeks ago I featured some cigars from Cigar Ambassador in the Tobacco Queen line.  This is a company that has been a major leaf supplier to the Asian market out of the DR.  I was waiting for the right time to tackle the Tobacco Queen Super A, a 9¼” x 48 actual A size cigar, and that time presented itself this week.  Set aside a hair over two hours for this one.  I was surprised that this started out with a lot of flavor, many times A size cigars start mild, this one had some spice and cinnamon to start.  For such a long cigar, it burned perfectly, and had a reasonable consistent flavor all the way through.  It was a fun smoke, it kept my interest throughout, and I’d smoke it again.  As long as it keeps my interest, I like a long smoke.  

 

I had picked up a Ferio Tego Timeless Supreme 660 recently because I hadn’t yet smoked anything Ferio Tego branded yet.  I don’t know how this happened, I just know that I need to fix it.  The Timeless Supreme is a box-pressed Nicaraguan puro, made by Placencia.  The 6″ x 60 box pressed doesn’t feel too large, and it smoked perfectly.  This cigar was chocolaty with a hint of spice tingle, and I really liked it. Why haven’t I smoked this before? It could easily be a go-to cigar for me, it’s fits my preferences just right.  I will need to further explore the Timeless series. 

 

Friday morning I decided to make a Saturday visit to the Smoke Inn Casa de Montecristo in West Palm Beach, Florida.  I know, you’re saying “CigarCraig, you live in Pennsylvania, how can this be?”  Well, my wife got me a Frontier Airlines Go-pass that allows unlimited flights at short notice.  All I have to pay is the taxes, which in the last three trips to Florida are about $30 round trip. Of course, there are limitations: blackout dates, limited destinations and times, stuff like that.  One must also be willing to endure the discomfort of a budget airline, and I’ll put up with a lot to save a buck.  Anyway I booked flights to Palm Beach International Airport and picked the closest Smoke Inn location to the airport, not realizing that the Headquarters store wasn’t too much further away.  That’s how I ended up hanging out at Smoke Inn West Palm Beach for the day yesterday. 

This is a beautiful shop, with a complete bar, well stocked humidor and helpful staff. Considering it’s been winter here, and was sunny and 80 there, I sat out on the lanai, as the Floridians like to call a patio.  The patio had three TVs, and the music at a barely audible level so one doesn’t have to yell to converse, which I like a lot.  The regulars engaged in the ball busting that seems to happen in every lounge I visit. I picked up a handful of cigars I hadn’t seen before and lit up a Micallef Black Box Pressed Toro, a Smoke Inn exclusive.  This is a 6½” x 54 with a San Andrés wrapper, Ecuadorian Habano binder, and Nicaraguan fillers. I’m interested to see what Micallef does with this blend in the firecracker format, this is a much better value!  I regret not bringing some back with me. It’s about $9, with some spice and cocoa, just the way I like it.  I know that next weekend is the Great Smoke, and the stores there are going to be super busy.  Would it have been better to go then?  Perhaps, but the dates were blacked out and I was happy to hang out there with an old friend from the alt.smokers.cigars usenet days, Don Payne. It was great catching up with him.  I was home in bed before midnight.  This is two weekends in a row I’ve taken day trips to Florida, next weekend I’m staying home! 

 

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

 

CigarCraig

Share

Comments Off on Tobacco Queen Super A, Timeless Supreme and a Couple Cigars at Smoke Inn

Filed under Review, Stores, Trip Report

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

by | March 2, 2025 · 11:06 am

Cigar Circus Grand Opening in Clearwater, Florida

Yesterday I took a little day trip to Florida!  I left the house around 4:30 am and got a flight out of BWI in Maryland because I couldn’t get the flight I wanted out of Philly.  Got to Tampa around 11 and had a Diamond Crown Robusto No. 4 while I waited for Kevin (CigarProp, Trash Panda) and Jessica, to pick me up.  Many thanks to them for the ride and friendship!  Additional thanks to Keith for the ride to the airport and keeping me company! Cigar Circus is a new business in Clearwater, Florida.  It’s spearheaded by Ryan Gallimore, formerly of Drew Estate and before that Swinger Cigars.  This is a Cigar Distribution operation, E-Commerce operation with a large retail showroom and a lounge. Yesterday they held their grand opening celebration, which is why I flew down. In addition to the 150 or so attendees, there were 20 or more cigar company representatives, none of whom were there selling, they were there interacting with the attendees. Generally at multi vendor events there are lines and not a lot of time to just hang out with the, in many cases, faces of companies. This was one of my favorite parts of this event. Every attendee got a cool bag with an ashtray, mug, lighter, cap and a bunch of cigars. Ryan used to buy the swag for Drew Estate, so it was all top notch.  There were a bunch of circus performers on hand. Ironically (or maybe not), that part of Florida has a rich circus history.  They also had food!  Brisket, pulled pork, two different sausages, slaw and potato salad, and there were more than enough coolers with water and soft drinks, and a substantial bottle collection (don’t drink, didn’t look into it any further). This was a really well done event, although one thing Ryan learned from Drew Estate was to have a very loud DJ. I’m old, I don’t want to have to yell at people, unless they deserve it!

 

I smoked a few cigars over the course of the day, I didn’t smoke anything I hadn’t smoked before because at this kind of event one doesn’t have a chance to think too much about what one’s smoking!  I had an AJ Fernandez New World Dorado Corona and a Diesel Vintage, both very satisfying!  After the event I met up with my friend Keith and we went over to Corona for a quick little Tatuaje Cojonu before he dropped me a the airport.  It was a great day, glad to see a lot of old friends and meet some new ones. 

 

I have two months left on my Frontier Go-Pass, so if anyone has a suggestion on where I can go for a quick visit, within a couple hours flight from Philadelphia,  let me know! That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

Share

Comments Off on Cigar Circus Grand Opening in Clearwater, Florida

Filed under Events, Trip Report

Tagged as , ,

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

buy ventolin online https://bondchc.com/language/overrides/html/ventolin.html no prescription pharmacy

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

buy tadapox online https://bondchc.com/language/overrides/html/tadapox.html no prescription pharmacy

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

 

 

 

Share

2 Comments

Filed under Events, Review, TPE, Trip Report

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

by | November 17, 2024 · 8:50 am

A Quick Florida Trip, Part Two: The Drew Estate Florida Barn Smoker

Last Friday, after finishing up a long and excellent day at J.C. Newman, I hopped in my rented Polstar 2 and made my way to the Orlando area.  Traffic sucked, and I never really got to see what that car could do. It was about the cheapest rental I could find, and I only spent about $22 charging it after driving it around all weekend.  I forgot to mention in my last post about the “lunch” I got from the La Segunda Bakery a short walk from El Reloj.  Not the healthiest choice, but the cinnamon rolls and apple turnovers were delicious, and filled me up for the day. The iced coffee was darned good too. I could do some damage there under different circumstances.  Also notable was the park the Newmans have built across from the factory, the Cigar Workers Park. It was a beautiful place to pre-game before our tour.  Now that I’m caught up, it’s on to the Barn Smoker.  I left the hotel early, and got to the Florida Sun Grown Farm about two hours before the event opened, so I got a good parking spot.  I managed to get in line with some folks who manage two of the CigarCigars shops in Sarasota, so we had some mutual friends. CigarCigars has a bunch of stores in my

buy elavil online https://bvhpr.org/golfevent/assets/images/png/elavil.html no prescription pharmacy

area. I’ve been to Barnsmokers in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, so I had an idea what to expect, and I’ve toured the FSG farm before.  I went into this one to enjoy myself, and see some old friends.  Amongst the friends I spent some time with were Rebecca and Jason of Ash Quarterly Magazine. I met them at the last PCA show I attended and Jason and I hit it off. I was very happy to be able to hang out with them for a while.  As I’ve done in the past, I smoked the Liga Privada Serie Unico A, as I never have any faith that a cigar that long is going to survive the trip home.  It was excellent, although t didn’t burn particularly well. 

The grounds were set up nicely, with a lot of room to spread out.  Of course, there was a big tent with tables (as per tradition, most of the ashtrays were stolen early).  DJ Eli was playing music, too loud in my opinion. It always mystifies me that companies get 6-800 people together and drown out conversation with loud music.  They had a live band playing later in the day.  I made my way around all te activation stations early before they got crowded. There only seemed to be one educational portion, in the past it was very scheduled, with the crowd broken into several groups who rotated through several stations with various people, WIllie Herrera, Pedro Gomez, Jon Drew and usually the farm owner, giving talks on various aspects of the life cycle of a cigar.  Another thing that was different from other events I’ve attended was the food. There was a buffet/food line after the educational portion in the past, this time they had several food trucks with coupons for each. This was a better way to do it, from my standpoint.  Folks were free to get food at their leisure.  There were also a lot of liquor stations, in which I was not interested. They did have plenty of water and soft drinks available at all times. The food was good, I sampled smash burger and some BBQ pork sliders with mac and cheese. 

 

Only because I know somebody, I snuck in the back of the  “Black Widow Saloon” for the tasting seminar that was going on.  This was an inflatable, air conditioned structure for the VIPs (I was just a P). It was packed with people, and had a nice spread of cookies and brownies and assorted goodies.  Rob Dietrich, the master distiller of the Blackened Whiskey, and JD were leading the tasting.  Again, booze isn’t my thing, but I’m g

buy tizanidine online https://bvhpr.org/golfevent/assets/images/png/tizanidine.html no prescription pharmacy

lad I got to see inside the saloon. This would be a nice place to cool off if it wasn’t so crowded. The baked goods were excellent.  

 

I stayed until the end, my flight home wasn’t until 5am Sunday, so I didn’t have anyplace else to be. Traveling alone, I sometimes get bored, this time I knew and met enough people there to  occupy my time.  It was a good time, people were well behaved for the most part, almost surprising given the amount of booze available.  Cigars were plentiful and delicious.  Everyone should go to at least one of these events, remember to bring $10 to “buy” your pack of cigars at entrance.  The swag was very nice (picture above), not over the top.  I did have an interesting experience with the spray can lighter going through TSA, they had never seen anything like it before and it took much examination and scrutiny to get through. I would have surrendered it rather than cause any trouble, but it got through fine (the actual working lighter in my other bag went undetected). It will probably end up in the Christmas Givaway!  Thanks to the folks at Drew Estate for including me. I wish communication would have been better between some parties, that would have made the weekend a 100% success.  I spent the week smoking some of the cigars I got there, it annoys me that I like the 20 Acre Farm as much as I do, and the Blackened S83 has grown on me. There wasn’t a bad cigar in the bunch.  

 

I’ve opened up the annual CigarCraig.com Secret Santa, if you want to join in, here’s the link: CigarCraig’s Secret Santa 2024. We’ve had a small, but high quality, group in the past.  Jump in, it’s a lot of fun sharing your favorite cigars with people! That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

 

 

 

 

Share

1 Comment

Filed under Events, Trip Report

Tagged as , , , , , ,

by | November 10, 2024 · 1:42 pm

A Quick Florida Trip, Part One: The J.C. Newman Experience

When I saw that the Flyers were playing the Lightning in Tampa, my wife encouraged me to plan a trip down there to take my buddy Kevin (CigarProp) to his first NHL game. I made some inquiries and managed to secure two club level tickets with access to the Diamond Crown cigar lounge in the Amalie Arena.  We were allowed in 90 minutes before game time, so we went into the lounge for a cigar. Kevin selected some PDM Corojo Robustos, a favorite of us both.  Christina and Nidya work in the lounge, they get the cigars out of the humidor cabinets, ring them up and cut and light. I was wearing my Flyers sweater, I may have felt a little out of place.  We watched the first period from our seats and grabbed  some food, which was a n upgrade from what we would have gotten if I had just bought nosebleed seats off of stub hub!  There was brisket and pork belly, sushi and all manner of delicious desserts. We were definitely spoiled.  We watched the second period from the lounge, where I selected som Fuente 8-5-8 Sungrowns. The humidor in the lounge has a nice selection of J.C. Newman and Fuente cigars, and they weren’t priced bad, a buck or two over what they would be in a shop (in a no tax state!). The lounge has windows overlooking the arena, and several televisions, but it’s hard to watch unless you’re right at the glass, but any time I can watch hockey and smoke a cigar I’m happy.  We returned to our seats for the third period, overtime and the shootout, where the Flyers managed to win.  I enjoyed the game, and I think Kevin had a good time too.  It was a really good time and the ladies working the lounge were outstanding. I think at one point I counted 30 patrons in the lounge, which isn’t huge, and the ventilation was really good.  I have no idea how one would get tickets, but if you are in Tampa and have the opportunity, jump on it! Many thanks again to J.C. Newman for the tickets!

 

Friday we spent the day at the J.C.Newman headquarters and factory, El Reloj (that’s El Relow, no matter how you’ve heard it pronounced).  This is a historic building, and the only major factory left in the country.  There’s a few little cigar factories here and there, but this one is producing millions of cigars using machines from the 1920s and ‘30s. They refer to this as machine assisted and not machine made, as these are not automated and require some human input. This is another tour I recommend if you’re in Tampa. The tour is very educational, there’s a museum aspect, with a lot of J.C. Newman memorabilia, Tampa cigar history, and even the oldest known cigars from the mid-1800s that were found in a shipwreck not all that long ago!  The basement has another museum area, as well as an aging room for the handmade cigars they make, and some tobacco processing areas. The second floor has the machine made production and packaging, and the third floor has a rolling gallery where they make the American, Angel Cuesta and some special cigars.  One of the special cigars they were making was the Tampa Smokers, named after the old baseball team and shaped like a baseball bat.  I always wondered how they made these.  Now I know. 

We would stay on the third floor for the rolling seminar.  This is where they provide bunches and one has to  apply the wrapper. We wrapped five Robustos, and this is harder than you think. I’ve done it a few times before, and I think my results were pretty good, except for applying the cap. I struggle with the cap. The blend they provided is special, I’ll have to reach out to Holden who led the class and find out, but I believe it’s a modified American blend.  I should have paid more attention, but I was trying to finish my darned caps right. 

 

Following the rolling exercise, we embarked upon a tasting seminar. Puritos of various tobacco varietals and primings were supplied, along with a flavor wheel and a sheet for notes. I am better at finishing caps on cigars than I am at this. Regular readers know that I have a fairly limited vocabulary when it comes to tasting cigars, and it’s even worse when one’s had a bunch of cigars the previous day and one’s palate is fatigued.  Cody did I really nice job at leading this, as he did giving the factory tour. Once again, and I can’t stress this enough, if you find yourself in Tampa, set aside an afternoon and experience El Reloj. I’ve taken the tour twice now and seen different things each time. I still haven’t risen in the haunted elevator yet.  Thank you very much to everyone at J.C.Newman, especially Sydney!

 

On Thursday before the game we delivered some cigars to Single Barrel Cigar Co. for a project Kevin is working on, visited Tampero Cigars in Ybor and enjoyed a Tampero Maduro torpedo, and we stopped by Corona Cigars and talked to Ricky Rodriguez for a bit.  It was a great couple of days, I enjoyed spending some time with Kevin and got to see some more of Tampa and Ybor City. 

 

Check out Kevin’s pics and videos, he’s far more talented with that than I am! It was a whirlwind couple of days, but there’s more! I just got home around noon, and I’m working on very little sleep, so excuse any typos please. Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

Share

2 Comments

Filed under Trip Report

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , ,