We just returned from a brief getaway to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where we spent a few days sitting on the beach and doing nothing else. I really had no plans to visit any cigar shops as I took plenty to smoke, but I ran across a couple shops and, of course, had to stop in. When I vacation my modus operandi is to take favorite cigars that I know I enjoy and I’m confident that will perform well, I’m there to relax and I don’t want any surprises or disappointments! So if you follow my Instagram or Facebook feeds you’ll see my smoking relatively run of the mill (for me) cigars, but I love them and they bring me joy. As we were wondering around our “neighborhood of Isla Verde, we came across a little cigar shop in a strip mall (http://www.cigarit.com/). It had a small walk in humidor with some classic selections, good stuff, reasonable prices, and the guy working there was very nice and knowledgeable. I made a courtesy buy of a Joya de Nicaragua Antaño Belicoso, which is in the humidor now. Yesterday, as we were walking around Old San Juan after having lunch, we happened across The Cigar House. I literally smelled it walking by, as the road was narrow and I didn’t see the sign, nor was I looking for it. It was a happy accident. This place had been recommended to me, and for good reason. The humidor is enormous and well stocked. If our trip had been a week later, we would have caught Erik Espinosa and Guy Fieri there for the Knuckle Dragger launch! I bought a Tatuaje T111 Broadleaf and enjoyed it in their comfortable lounge. It was a very relaxing trip, the weather was perfect, we got some sun, and had some great cigars on the beach.
Contest
We arrived home to a find package on the porch from my friends at Drew Estate. It had just been delivered, people were home, it’s not like it sat there all week! Anyway, it seems like the sort of thing that someone may need more than I do, so let’s have a giveaway! This is a neat 20 Acre Farm leather cigar case with five 20 Acre Farm cigars. The case has pockets for accessories and cigars, wrapped in embossed white leather. It’s nifty.
So, you know the drill! Leave a comment on this blog post, no where else, to enter. I’ll pick a winner next Sunday, March, 6, 2022. Must be of legal age to win, and the winner will need to email me with their details (that’s the internet equivalent of “must be present to win”, I guess, meaning don’t make me work too hard to give you stuff!). I might add some other goodies in as well! Thanks to the folks at Drew Estate for making this possible!
That’s all for now, I have some stuff to catch up on. Until the next time,
Yesterday I found myself wandering much further north in PA than I usually find myself. There was a seminar on Bees and Chickens that my wife and I attended, and I snuck off during the second half to do some of my own research. Twenty minutes away from the venue where the seminar was held happened to be the brand new Best Cigar Pub, and Best Cigar Prices headquarters. I figured this would be a good place to visit. Fortunately, the purchasing manager, Chris O’Neill, managed to arrange a tour for me. Katie (Katy? I forgot to clarify), the Finance/HR director, gave me a tour of the entire facility. Why do small companies always saddle the Finance director with HR responsibilities? Like they don’t have enough to worry about? I digress. I had already given myself a tour of the retail humidor, which has a very nice selection and courteous service. Katie showed me the bar, pointed out many of the little things like custom tables with actual tobacco leaves under acrylic, art on the wall done by a local artist, all of the ashtrays made by a local craftsman. She pointed out the excellent menu as well. She then waled me through the Best Cigar Prices operations, all of the offices, warehouse, shipping and all of the stuff I enjoy seeing as a guy who’s spent his professional career in operations. They run a very clean and efficient pick, pack, and ship operation from what I can see. All of the marketing, customer service, web design is all done there in Pennsylvania. I was quite impressed with the operation. I’ll get back to the Pub, which was even more impressive. Upstairs is a lounge with TVs and comfy chairs, wait-staff is attentive and the air handlers replace all the air in the place every three minutes, so it’s not smokey at all. They even have a coat closet in the entry that has an ozone generator so that your coat doesn’t smell smokey. They’ve really thought of everything to make this not just a place to come have a cigar, but a place that smokers and non-smokers alike can enjoy a meal or a beverage together. I enjoyed a 601 Pennsylvania Edition, which is an Espinosa exclusive for BCP. Chris happened to join me and interrupted me while I was taking in the museum portion of the upstairs lounge, which is an educational feature they’ve added. It has the origin story of cigars with a timeline and facts about cigars, infographics about the tobacco plant, how cigars are made, every conceivable detail. Chris tells me they plan to have monitors with video loops of various processes playing included in the wall as well. Best Cigar Pub is a beautiful place, it’s easy enough to find, although not exactly in the middle of anything. I can see it being amazing in the summer with the outdoor patios and putting green and nobody around to really complain! Certainly worth a visit if you are anywhere near north-east PA.
I had heard of Blackbird Cigar Company, but hadn’t seen the cigars any where. When I walked past the booth and they weren’t busy, it seemed like a great time to stop in and see what it they were all about. Imagine my surprise when the owner and founder of the company, Jonas Santana, looked at me and said “I know who you are”. It seems he used to work for another company, and struck out on his own to start Blackbird. I think it was on CigarProp’s youtube channel that I remember hearing about the brand. Anyway, I asked Jonas to share the story of the brand with me on camera. have a look:
Over the course of the past several days I smoked a few of the Blackbird cigars offerings. I would have lined to have smoked them all, but I just couldn’t get to them. They have six cigars in the portfolio, and I can’t run down my smoking experience for six cigars in one post. They very cleverly make the bands on the cigars easy to remove, which is good because they are large bands and doo need to be removed to fully enjoy the cigar! They have two Sumatra wrapped offerings, and, as I’ve been on a Sumatra kick lately, and I smoked the Sumatra Rook with them at the TPE and really enjoyed it, I smoked the Finch this week. This was another excellent Sumatra wrapped cigar. It had the nice, sweet Sumatra wrapper flavor and a well-balanced core of tobacco goodness withinThis has an Indonesian binder, and Dominican and USA fillers. It was solidly medium bodied and a very nice cigar. Next I went with what you’d expect from me, the San Andrés wrapped Crow. It was Valentines Day, and I figured the red band would be appropriate. This cigar had a closed foot, and a dark, oily wrapper. The flavors were earthy and bakers chocolate, perhaps espresso, without sweetness. The internals on this one include a Habano binder and Nicaraguan, Pennsylvanian, and Corojo and Criollo 98 fillers. Very enjoyable. Finally, last night after a long day trip, I unwound with the Unkind, a Brazilian Cubra wrapped cigar. This was also a maduro cigar, and, like the rest, a 5″ x 50 robusto. The binder on this one is from the DR, with Criollo 09, HBA (not sure what this means), Corojo and Pennsylvania. One thing I can say about all of the Blackbird cigars I smoked was that that all were well made and burned right, an important consideration. It’s possible that the PA tobacco was a common flavor component that I picked up though the few cigar I smoked this week. You’ll see if you watch the video that some thought went into the brand, and the same attention went into the quality of materials and manufacture as well. The Unkind had a unique flavor, also an earthy maduro, not really sweet. It was very good though, I enjoyed it completely. I still have the Connecticut Jackdaw and Criollo Cuco yet to smoke, I kind of like those two wrapper varieties more in warmer weather for some reason. I’ll get to them and let you know.
Contest!
OK, so after a lot of money and aggravation, my site is clean. It’s time to pick a winner of the sampler of some of my favorite cigars, Don Juan Calavera, Flor Maya and Marchetti cigars from Danli Hondura Tabaco, and I had to collect entries from two different places. After collecting all of the names, and putting them into a bowl (OK, I put them into a spreadsheet and randomized the list to mix them up and assign them numbers), the random number generator picked Anthony C as the winner. Please email me your coordinates and proof that you are 21 or older so I can get these goodies to you. I have a KMA Talk Radio hat and shirt and a Stage V Clinger cigar holder to add as well (it’s a big shirt, do with it what you will, I take no responsibility. If it fits, great!).
That’s all for today, and way more than I had planned! Until the next time,
I don’t get away much, but when an opportunity comes up to take a quick vacation and slip in some cigar stops, we have to take it! I’ve wanted to have a vacation where we just spend some time doing nothing but relaxing on a beach for years, and we spent a few days doing just that. Having a cigar on the beach in the morning was nice, although it was windy, which created some challenges! We stayed a block from the beach in Miami Beach, so it was a quick walk, and the water was warm! I really enjoyed a DOn Juan Calavera Connecticut and n Umbagog on the beach! Friday we took a drive and dropped in on Joe Gro at Drew Estate‘s offices, which had an “out for lunch” sign on the door, which was initially disappointing, although we did just drop by. We were hoping to surprise CigarProp Kevin and Jessica there, but they ran ahead of schedule and left just before we arrived. We finally gained access and caught up with Joe, who gave us the tour. The warehouse there is enormous, loaded with racks of pallets of cigars. The offices are as you’d expect, decorated with all of the great DE swag, and the places where all the creative magic happens. As I said, many were out to lunch, so it wasn’t buzzing with activity, but there were a few familiar faces there! Thanks Joe!
We left Drew Estate to try to catch up with Kevin And Jessica in Little Havana. I know that I could spend a week in Miami and not visit all of the cigar places I would like to see, or see all of the people I want, but this was a short trip. If there was one place to visit in Little Havana, I figured it would be El Titan de Bronze. We arranged to meet up with the CigarProps there. This is where one of my favorite cigars is (was?) made, and many great cigars are made. It’s amazing how many amazing cigars this little factory makes, considering they have eight rollers. We were fortunate to gain audience with Sandy Cobas, who gave us a tour. What a wonderful woman! She welcomed us and treated us like family and we couldn’t have been more fortunate. She showed us the aging rooms, introduced us to her mother, who was working packaging cigars and was very funny. They recommended a wonderful restaurant where we went to a late lunch/early dinner which was very good and we had a nice stroll along Calle Ocho. I always enjoy the times I can spend with my friends Kevin and Jessica. Even though we didn’t get around to enjoying a cigar together this time, it’s always a treat to catch up.
Photo: Jessica
Photo: Jennifer
Photo: Jennifer
Photo: Jennifer
Quick aside, because I know Kevin is a Fan of the Govee sensors too, Amazon’s Deal of the Day next Wednesday, September 18th is the following two Govee thermometers. They will be 30% OFF directly without coupon code that day.
I actually really like the Mini Bluetooth one a lot, I have two now and might pick up another one at this price. I have to replace the battery in the WiFi one, I’ve been lazy. They just work. I get nothing out of this, just passing it along. IF you ever want me to get something out of an amazon purchase, there’s a link on the right sidebar, but the next purchase through an affiliate link will be the first!
Friday evening I had the honor and pleasure of meeting up with a couple of great friends that I hadn’t met yet at a lounge close to where I was staying called Cigar Cigar (which is funny, because the chain of stores near my house is called Cigar Cigars). I enjoyed the company of PJ and René and several of their friends while smoking a cigar that I was able to light and smoke without being blown all over the place in the wind! PJ has been a long time reader and I’m sure you’ve seen his comments here and on other popular sites! He was overly generous and it was the highlight of my trip meeting him and René and Juan Nuñez and enjoying a cigar with them in that comfortable lounge. Thank you, PJ, for setting that up! I see, perhaps, some mermaids in your future…
Before leaving, we took a drive up to West Palm Beach, which, by the way, is not at all on the way to the Miami Airport from Miami Beach! That’s OK, it was worth the drive to visit with my friends Abe, Adam and Paul and be a guest on KMA Talk Radio again. I was also happy to finally meet Rich Otero of PDR Cigars, who was the special guest on the episode. I was glad to talk to Coop briefly too, he was kind in the lies he told about me 😆. I always get nervous doing these shows, and I hope for the best when I put myself out there. It was fun, I probably didn’t get close enough to the mic most of the time, and, as usual, I had trouble getting a word in edgewise. Hopefully I said what I needed to say and didn’t sound too ridiculous. If you want to laugh, listen to last week’s episode with Jack Toraño, that was the funniest episode I’ve heard in a long time! That guy is a real man of genius! Anyway, I really appreciated Abe and Paul letting me weasel my way onto the show, they were very accommodating!
Today is a recovery day and then it’s back to work tomorrow! Thanks to everyone, especially my wife, for making it a great vacation! That’s all for today, until the next time,
My wife and I took a couple of days and are seeing the sights in Rome, Italy. This is going to be a short post, we still have some things to do and gelato to eat! I’ve smoked a few cigars whilst wandering around. I figured a Fratello Firecracker would be appropriate while at the Spanish Steps for several reasons. It was awesome, by the way. I look forward to trying Saka’s Mi Querida Firecracker when it comes out.
Any way, we hit all the tourist sights, Trevi Fountain (apparently all the fountains in Rome have potable water!) Colosseum, the Vatican, the Pantheon, incredible all the ancient ruins and buildings mixed in amongst the city. I tried to visit Fincato, the La Casa Del Habanos store in Rome, but it’s closed Sunday! I picked up some Toscano Cigars at another little tobacco shop along with a Cuban Montecristo Open Regalo Tubo which I smoked walking back from the Colosseum and Roman Forum tour. I should have given it some humidor time at home since it burned crappy. Good flavor, just a nuisance to smoke. Fairly priced at 11,40 Euros I guess.
A couple of observations: many of what we would think are sidewalks are roads. If you’re a fan of scooters and small cars, and I am, this is the place for you. Finally, every Sunday at noon the Pope pokes his head out his window to bless the cigars, at least that’s the way I translated it. There were even cosplayers in St Peters Square for the blessing, we stood next to three guys in brown robes tied with rope at the waist!
Having fun in Rome, until the next time,
CigarCraig
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I’ve been listening to The Cigar Authority podcast for several years now, actually, I had been listening for a few years since being a guest on the show in October of 2013. Since it was a holiday weekend and nobody travels on Thanksgiving weekend, so my wife and Macha and I decided to take a little road trip to Salem, New Hampshire to crash she show. The show is recorded and webcast live from the new Studio 21 Podcast Cafe in 2 Guys Smokeshop. This was my first visit to this shop, I’d visited the Nashua store before. The shop is huge, with a nice downstairs lounge, an upstairs lounge, and the cafe. The walls of the shop are lined with humidors for singles, and, like the Nashua store only smaller in scale, there’s a large humidor stacked with unopened boxes. The selection is excellent, as is the staff. I picked up a couple Todos las Dias and The Wise Man Maduro and lit up a Wise Man while watching the show. I also picked up the 2 Guys Cigar of the Year Contenders pack, consisting of the eight cigars that are in the running for that honor. I plan to smoke them and cast my vote. Check it out on their site, it’s a hell of a deal and I have only smoke one of the cigars of the eight (actually two after today, that Wise Man Maduro was excellent). I’m looking forward to taking a week and smoking through the set.
We brought some special cookies for the guys from our friends at Farmhouse Bakery in PA. We know what these guys like. Beautiful and delicious cookies and gluten free! Thanks to my wife, Jenn, for making that happen!
Sean, the barista makes impressive coffee creations, I kinda wish I’d tried the nitro, but the Cuban coffee was amazing. Some highlights of the visit personally was getting to catch up with Ed Sullivan, who I hadn’t seen since 1999, as well as Dave Garofalo, Mr. Jonathan and Barry Stein. Also met Dave from Cigar Hacks, another podcast that’s coming out. Macha was well behaved, you can hear here bark a couple of times if you listen to the show. I was surprised and honored to have been invited to join the show for the last segment, although I pretty much froze up on a couple of questions. If I’d have been smart I would have mentioned the CigarCraig’s Secret Santa. There’s still plenty of time to get in on it, by the way, email me your name and address if you want to join the fun. I smoked the Garofalo Maduro also which was very good, made by Perdomo, although time constraints and distractions left me unable to really concentrate on it. It was a good time, and I heartily recommend paying 2 Guys a visit if you find yourself in southern New Hampshire.
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Sorry I skipped my usual Wednesday post, I spent the week smoking some of my favorite cigars, a Mi Querida, an Undercrown Sungrown, a Davidoff Winston Churchill The Late Hour, and following my Thursday feast with a Cornelius and Anthony Cornelius toro. All great cigars, I just had a hankering for some favs last week! Next week I’ll get adventurous again. So that’s all for now, until the next time,
operandi is to take favorite cigars that I know I enjoy and I’m confident that will perform well, I’m there to relax and I don’t want any surprises or disappointments! So if you follow my Instagram or Facebook feeds you’ll see my smoking relatively run of the mill (for me) cigars, but I love them and they bring me joy. As we were wondering around our “neighborhood of Isla Verde, we came across a little cigar shop in a strip mall (http://www.cigarit.com/). It had a small walk in humidor with some classic selections, good stuff, reasonable prices, and the guy working there was very nice and knowledgeable. I made a courtesy buy of a Joya de Nicaragua Antaño Belicoso, which is in the humidor now. Yesterday, as we were walking around Old San Juan after having lunch, we happened 
across The Cigar House. I literally smelled it walking by, as the road was narrow and I didn’t see the sign, nor was I looking for it. It was a happy accident. This place had been recommended to me, and for good reason. The humidor is enormous and well stocked. If our trip had been a week later, we would have caught Erik Espinosa and Guy Fieri there for the Knuckle Dragger launch! I bought a Tatuaje T111 Broadleaf and enjoyed it in their comfortable lounge. It was a very relaxing trip, the weather was perfect, we got some sun, and had some great cigars on the beach.
