Category Archives: Trip Report

by CigarCraig | August 20, 2014 · 9:58 pm

Visiting Chicago – Casa de Montecristo and a Camacho Ecuador

When we left off I was in Chicago and I mentioned I was going to visit Casa de Montecristo in Countryside, IL. I set the GPS in the car, which, for some reason, didn’t take the street number for me. I decided to wing it, and set off anyway. I got about ten miles down I-294 and the GPS had lost it. The lady in the dashboard kept telling me to take the next left, then recalculated, take the next left….I was on a highway with no left turns! She didn’t know what she was doing! I pulled off the next exit and parked in a McDonalds and turned the crazy lady off and see if the iPhone Google Maps app would help me out. I apparently had gotten of at the right exit, because in a few turns I pulled into the Casa de Montecristo lot.

To everyone who told me Casa de Montecristo was a must visit on my Chicago visit, thank you! The store is beautiful, and the staff is very attentive. Fred showed me around and introduced me to one of the regulars, Conor. Oddly, a gentleman named Justin who I had met the day before at TESA was there making a purchase on his way out of town, he had come in from St. Louis for the previous day’s event and to celebrate his birthday. Strange walking into a strange shop 750 miles from home and seeing a familiar face, but I shouldn’t really be surprised by now, it happens more times than not, it seems. The store has cabinet humidors lining the walls for singles, an glass excaparate with bins of unbanded cigars, a walk-in humidor for boxes, and a “vintage room” off the walk-in humidor. After a tour of the facilities, I picked out a couple cigars I hadn’t smoked before and had been looking for, the Camacho Ecuador in the Figurado size and the Matilde Renacer in the Robusto size. I could have shopped for hours, but I neither need more cigars, nor do I have the budget for Illinois prices.

I was ushered downstairs in the only cigar-friendly elevator in the country to the VIP lounge. Apparently they allow out of towners in the lounge, not that there aren’t nice, comfy chairs upstairs in the store area. The VIP Lounge is quite luxurious. In addition to the comfy leather chairs, there are booths and a bar, where members can store their own libations and have access to complimentary coffee, sodas and water. I pulled up a stool next to Conor and we had a wonderful time swapping stories. He had had a cigar brand and we knew a lot of the same people and had visited a lot of the same places. Once again, you can walk into a strange cigar shop just about anywhere and meet a friend you didn’t know. As an aside, Conor is hosting a charity event next month, check out www.chicigarmeetup.com for all the information if you are in the Chicago area or plan to be there. I lit up the Camacho Ecuador which was a very nice cigar. It burned perfectly and had a great draw and the flavor was very enjoyable. Conor kindly gifted me a cigar out of the escaparate, a Pete Johnson blend that he said was the original blend of the Black Jar release. This was a nice smoke as well, however I had to finish it in the car on the way back to the hotel. The VIP lounge also includes a theater and a meeting room, along with a bunch of TVs and lockers for not only cigars but booze. I can’t recommend the Casa de Montecristo enough if you find yourself in the Chicago area. I’m sure glad I decided to seek it out and spend my afternoon there. Great company, great smokes and great facility.

Tonight I took a walk with a Diesel Unlimited d.5 that I think came from last year’s IPCPR. This cigar is made by A.J. Fernandez for Meier and Dutch and has been on the market for several years. Oddly, I don’t think I’ve sampled this line extension before, but it kind of jumped into my hand as I was looking for tonight’s cigar. The Unlimited has an oily Honduran ligero wrapper and the filler is Nicaraguan tobaccos from Esteli and Condega and Mexican San Andrés. This cigar was rich and heavy in flavor and quite satisfying. I would reach for this often, it’s a solid cigar.

I need to get ready to travel again, I’m really looking forward to attending the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival in Colorado, and will attempt to report from the event, or shortly after. Until then,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Review, Stores, Trip Report

Tagged as Camacho, Casa de Montecristo, Chicago, cigar, cigars, tatuaje

by CigarCraig | August 17, 2014 · 1:51 pm

Visiting Chicago – Smokey Bear Cigars and TESA Cigars

Here I am in the windy city and I’ve been enjoying the camaraderie and hanging out with some great cigar friends. I know I said I was going to try posting from the field, but the places and events were not conducive to getting any good video, and frankly I was having too much fun smoking and socializing. You’ll have to put up with my normal style Sunday post, I guess! I have been fortunate to find some local cigar events here in Chicago that I managed to impose myself upon. Today I may venture out to the Casa de Montecristo, which everyone tells me I have to visit. We’ll see, driving around here is a serious time and patience investment, but the people here seem very nice. We are here for the Fest for Beatles Fans, and my wife is working at the show with her clients who are all Beatles related authors. It’s a rather interesting cross-section of people, but the passion they have for the Beatles is similar to the passion we have for cigars, and both passions bring people together.

Friday after helping my wife get her booth set up, I headed to Smokey Bear Cigars in Evergreen Park. The GPS said it would take about an hour, but with traffic it was closer to two. I was certainly ready for a cigar when I got there. They were having a Toraño event, and Jack Toraño, who grew up in the Chicago area before going to Miami, was there with his wife Cecelia. Of course, I bought some Toraño cigars and lit up a Master Maduro Toro Gordo. The shop has a generous walk in humidor with a really good selection. I saw some cigars that I haven’t seen in shops before. They were loaded for bear (ha) and had a good amount of traffic too. they also have a nice lounge where I sat down with Jack and his wife and caught up a little. The cigar was a beautiful rich, dark and tasty. I followed it with an Exodus 1959 Gold robusto, which has been a favorite for about ten years. The Toroaños have been making great cigars for a long time, and continue to do so. I love being in a strange city and visiting a shop I’ve never been to before and hanging out with friends. I’m pretty sure if Jack hadn’t been there I would have had a good time, as Pam, the owner, is running a good lounge and shop. Too bad it’s so hard to get to from Pennsylvania!

Saturday I left the car parked and embarked on the Chicago Transit Authorities Blue line to go to TESA Cigars. I’ve heard of this shop, I’ve ridden past their factory in Esteli, and I’ve also heard of a third (or first, as he tells it) Chris Kelly in the cigar business. The other two are Chris Kelly and Chris Kelly, in case you are wondering. Anyway, after navigating the “L” I arrived at the shop, which is in an odd, area. It’s about a block away from Oprah’s studios, but there isn’t really much around from what I could tell. It’s a nice shop though. Their own brand dominates the humidor, along with a nice selection of other cigars, including an impressive selection of Drew Estate products. Tom Navarro, whom I’ve know for a few years, helped arrange a herf there and about 20 people were there, many from the Tatuaje Saints and Sinners message board, and the BOTL message board. I purchased, and smoked a TESA Cabinet 315 Robusto, which was a nice, well balanced cigar that had a load of rich flavor without a lot of spice. The 315 has a Habano wrapper and fillers from Jalapa and Esteli, and is finished off with a curled pigtail cap. Taxes are a bit crazy in the Chicago area, so this PA, no cigar tax, guy was pretty sticker shocked. Chris does a nice job blending the cigars to be smooth and delicious, which was further evidenced by a corona he gave me that he had recently brought back from Nicaragua and wasn’t saying much about the blend. I’ll be interested in smoking more from this line, as the sample he gave me was very tasty and well made. It was great meeting everyone, and, as always, a stranger walks into a group and finds new friends instantly, it’s a special thing. I was also privileged to meet a Facebook friend, C.W. Harris, who Jose Blanco was kind enough connect me with, and is how I found out this event was going on. I had TESA on my list anyway, but it was extra special to meet up with Tom, C.W., Chris and the rest of the gang there (and I’m terrible with names, there was Justin and Scott, and Ed, David and a raft of others….they need name tags at these things!)

Well, I think I’m going to see if I can find Casa de Montecristo and go have a cigar or two there this afternoon, then we drive back to PA tomorrow, work three days, then fly to Colorado for the Rocky Mountain Cigar Fest. Let me know if you’re going to that event, which I’m looking forward to. I’ll try doing the “Live blog” thing from there, but I can’t make any guarantees. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Review, Stores, Trip Report

Tagged as Beatles, Chicago, cigar, cigars, Smokey Bear, TESA, Toraño

by CigarCraig | May 28, 2014 · 8:42 pm

On The Water With Compounds, Elements and Musings H2O Cigars

We had a really beautiful Memorial Day weekend here in South-East PA, so we did some fun stuff. Sunday my wife and I took a ride out to Valley Forge National Park and walked around for a few hours, giving me time to enjoy a couple robustos, a Perdomo 10th Anniversary Maduro and an Illusione Rothschild, both really good smokes, and, surprisingly, not a comment or sideways glance from any of the people we passed. I expected someone to make a snide remark, but I was left along to enjoy my walk and smokes. I smoked a nice Rocky Patel Olde World Maduro Lancero after dinner to top off the day. I don’t smoke a lot of Rocky Patel cigars, but I enjoy this one. The burn and draw were good and it had a nice flavor.

Monday we decided to take a family trip to Cape May, NJ for lunch via Lewes, DE. There’s a ferry that runs regularly from Lewes to Cape May, and we thought it would be fun to spend some time out on the water on a beautiful day. Of course, I formulated a cigar plan. Since I had just picked up a set of the Foundry Compounds, Elements and Musings H2O cigars on Saturday, it seemed appropriate that these be smoked on the water. The H, 2 and O are small perfectos, 4″ x 48ish, closely resembling the iconic Arturo Fuente Hemingway Short Story, or the more obscure El Titan de Bronze Hemingway. They come in a box of thirty-six, with twelve cigars in each blend. Consistent with the rest of the line, which I’ve been doing my best to find and sample, there is little information about the wrapper, binder and fillers. Sadly, these were on a buy one/get one free table, and I’ll have to get back to that shop and pick up some more!

Being that I have borderline CDO (that’s OCD in alphabetical order like it should be), I started with the “H”. The “H” had a chocolate brown, almost rosado wrapper. This was my first cigar of the day, before lunch even, and was very tasty. I quite enjoyed the sweet and leathery flavor. The cigar was perfectly formed, easy to light, and burned well. It had a little bit of a tunnel issue about half way thorough, but re-lit well and wasn’t a problem. Obviously, being out at sea, it was a bit windy, which may have been a contributing factor. We saw a bunch of dolphins frolicking, which was pretty cool. This is a cigar I’d like to have a few more of. It had a very nice, unique flavor.

We drove into the town of Cape May, NJ for lunch, and settled on a little place called Angelo’s Restaurant, which used to be Beach House. It was right on the beach so we sat in the covered outside deck area and had fish and chips (my son had a pizza burger, has to be different!). We did a little shopping and headed back to the ferry terminal. The trip back was a lot windier than the trip over, but I was undeterred. I lit up the “2” cigar for the ride. This one had a dark chocolate colored maduro wrapper. It also had the semi-sweet chocolate flavor to go along with it. This turned out to be my favorite of the trio, with the “H” being a close second. It also had the same burn problem, tunneling about half way through, but, again, I attribute that to the wind. I saw a couple dolphins again, a treat for me as I had never seen them in the wild before. They seemed to be having fun.

Who would have thought there’d be traffic from the shore inland on the last day of a holiday weekend? It took us three hours to get home when it only took two hours to get there with no traffic. By the time we got home I was ready to sit out on the deck with the “O” cigar and relax. This cigar had the lightest wrapper of the bunch, but only slightly lighter than the “H”. It had finer veins and was very nice looking. This cigar burned perfectly and didn’t have the tunneling problem I had with the other two, although the conditions were far more conducive to relaxing with a smoke. I found it to be a dry smoke, not quite as rich in flavor as the previous two. This was my least favorite, although still quite good. As I said, I’ll have to try to get some more of these, at $2.50 a piece they were a bargain. It’s too bad the shop is 50 minutes away or I’d grab some more.

I amused myself (and probably annoyed others) by taking some video documenting this trip and the cigars smoked.

httpv://youtu.be/mW9esQNkEtA

Of the Compounds, Elements and Musings line, this selection is a limited release, so I imagine they will be hard to find. I know they sold out at last years IPCPR show. There’s a few in the line that are regular production, the Carbon and Uranium. I really liked the Carbon, and I haven’t smoked the Uranium yet because it’s 7″ x 70, but I do have one in the humidor. These are fun to try because they aren’t really very expensive, and they use some very unique tobaccos and have flavors that you don’t get in other cigars. Of course, the packaging is over the top and pretty neat. You’ll recall I bought a box of the Vanadium because of the V shaped box, which sits on the top of the bookcase, good thing I enjoy the cigars!

Contest

You may recall we had another contest in the last post, that was two in a row! Far from my record of 13, but not bad having two in a row. We had 55 entries….no, wait, 54, Brian Impson left two, but I only count him as one. It makes things a little harder for me, but I’ll figure it out. I consulted Random.org once again, and it gave me the number 17. Steve McHenry, please send me your address so I can ship this stuff out to you. Stay tuned for more contests coming up!

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

CigarCraig

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Filed under Contest, Review, Trip Report

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Compounds Elements and Musings, Contest, Foundry, H2O

by CigarCraig | February 12, 2014 · 9:35 am

My Sunday Visit to The Cigar Inn in New York City

Sunday I found myself in New York City with a few hours to kill and made my way to The Cigar Inn on 2nd Avenue around 54th street. This place came highly recommended and I hadn’t been there before, so it seemed like the right choice. I arrived at about 9:30 which was about an hour and a half early, so I wandered to a nearby McDonalds and had breakfast and sat down to fix Sunday’s post that I goofed up! That’s what happens when I deviate from my schedule and pre-write a post. I got it fixed for the most part, apologies to those who had to suffer through the less than optimally formatted post. Anyway, I headed back to The Cigar Inn right on time for their 11:00 opening time. If I have one complaint about this shop it was that it was late opening. It’s kind of a pet peeve of mine, if your sign says you open at a certain time, you should be open! I understand stuff happens, and the weather lately has not been exactly cooperating. I sucked it up and was happy to come in out of the cold when one of the owners arrived to open shop. As I had some time to look at the storefront while I waited, I noted that there was a small cigar store Indian, some shaving equipment, and some hats and shirts, no real evidence of cigars present, except for the name on the awning. Is this how the future may be?

Once inside, the store is really beautiful, lots of dark wood and leather. There’s a generously stocked walk in humidor to the left, and the counter on the right. Just past the humidor there is a fully appointed barbershop with two antique barber chairs and sinks. Just beyond that there’s a shoeshine stand on a raised platform. From there back there is a large bank of humidor lockers with tables and stools in front of them. The Cigar Aficionado branded lounge takes up the back of the store with comfy leather seating and several TVs. The back of the store has an atrium kind of feel with floor to ceiling windows looking out on a garden sort of area. Classical music is quietly playing in the background lending even more class to the place.

I bought my day’s supply of cigar from Bacz (I believe that was his name), who recommended their house brand and offered me the Brooklyn size to try. This is a 6″x60 with Nicaraguan fillers, a Honduran binder and a wrapper from Peru. This is a very nice smoke. It had a unique flavor, not your typical house blend, I think that the Peruvian wrapper really adds a flavor that sets it apart. It reminded me a little of the C-Gars Ltd. Inka Secret Blend from the UK. It was obviously my first cigar of the day and it wasn’t too heavy, but it wasn’t mild either. Loads of pleasant flavors, smokes very well with perfect construction and burn (I gave it a V-cut). I ended up going back and buying another Brooklyn and the 5″ x 60 Bronx. They were out of the smaller ring gauge sizes. At $9 in NYC, you have to try it if you find yourself in a Cigar Inn Shop.

I smoked a La Aroma de Cuba Monarch next, followed by the new Camacho Corojo Maduro toro, both I found to be pretty reasonable by NYC standards at around $8 each. Oddly, and I have to wonder if the first cigar may have had something to do with this, but both cigars had an “ashy” taste to them. I will need to revisit both of these because neither were very enjoyable, and they should have been. It’s a Winston cigarette kind of taste, which certainly may not be something everyone can relate to, but that’s how it struck me. I get the same sensation from Cuban Cuaba and Victor Sinclair cigars. I will say that it didn’t detract from the ambiance of the lounge, and I smoked the Camacho in the company of Matthias Clock, who writes the FineTobaccoNYC site. I had corresponded with him in the past and dropped him a note that I’d be in town. He was gracious enough to take some time to meet up with me and hang out for an hour or so. I always enjoy meeting peers in this endeavor of cigar smoking. Matthias organizes cigar events in New York City, so if you’re in the area check his site for the latest goings on. All in all, I had a nice, relaxing day in the big city, just hanging out and smoking cigars. If it hadn’t been so frigidly cold I might have been tempted to break some laws and have a cigar in Times Square or Central Park!

On a related note, last night I smoked an Inferno Flashpoint, a Famous Smoke Shop exclusive made for them by Oliva. From the website:

Inferno Flashpoint cigars are the sister act to the original Inferno by Oliva. The core blend consists of perfectly fermented, estate-grown Nicaraguan ligero longfillers balanced by a healthy dose of sweeter Jalapa-grown leaves, deftly wrapped in an exquisite Sumatra leaf. Expect a medium start that blooms into a creamy, complex, full-bodied flavor bomb. Order a box now, or test drive a 5-pack and discover this affordably-priced selection that will spread like wildfire among cigar lovers.

This cigar is a winner. The flavor was very clean, that’s what kept coming to mind. I really enjoyed the creamy flavor and smoked it until I could no longer tolerate the juxtaposition of freezing/burning fingers. As it says above, it’s smooth and creamy, but loaded with flavor. The burn was perfect and I never had to touch flame to it after the initial lighting. From the name you might think this would be a knock your head off spice bomb, but it’s not. It’s a rich, satisfying experience. Thanks to Travis at Famous for allowing me to experience these!

That’s plenty for now. Heading out to NYC again tonight to attend “The Official Memorial Tribute To Sid Bernstein – Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of “The Beatles’ Historic First Concerts at Carnegie Hall” Presented by The Bernstein Family and Sid Bernstein Presents…” at The Cutting Room. Won’t be a cigar journey this time, but will be pretty incredible anyway. Hopefully the impending snow storm tomorrow doesn’t get in the way! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Review, Stores, Trip Report

Tagged as Camacho, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Famous Smoke Shop, Flashpoint, Inferno, La Aroma de Cuba, oliva, The Cigar Inn

by CigarCraig | October 7, 2013 · 12:53 am

2 Guys Smoke Shop and The Cigar Authority

Editor’s Note: I warned you last time that today’s post might be late! I was writing this on my tablet on the road, and somehow, I inadvertently posted the first paragraph last night. Sorry for the false start! It’s not quite as easy posting from the tablet. So here’s the real deal, better late than never.

This weekend my wife and I got in the car and drove north to New Hampshire for a weekend getaway. One of the destinations on our list was the 2 Guys Smoke Shop in Nashua. I’ve been hearing about this chain of shops for years through various channels, it was about time I paid a visit. Dave Garofalo just celebrated his 28th year in business. As well as running the three stores in New Hampshire, he has a mail order business and sits on the boards of the IPCPR, the TAA, and the CANH (Cigar Association of New Hampshire). The store in Nashua is impressive. They have 1100 open boxes in display cases surrounding the shop, a huge walk-in humidor filled with boxes, and a Diamond Crown Lounge. The pricing is excellent considering there is no cigar tax in New Hampshire, and they do my home state of Pennsylvania one better by not having sales tax. I bought a handful of cigars and settled in with a Bandolero Traviesos robusto and chatted with Dave. The Bandolero is an exceptional smoke. It was sweet, smooth and had a curious little twang in the background. This cigar is made by Nelson Alfonso, the guy behind a lot of Habanos S.A.’s packaging like the ceramic jars and such. The packaging for these is equally as cool. These are offered in tin “jars” each of which has a picture and the story (in Spanish) of the Bandolero, who was someone who kind of black marketed tobacco in the days when Spain had a monopoly on cigar production. The tins even have a humidifying element in the lid. It’s a terrific cigar with great presentation.

One of the things Dave does in his free time is a two hour radio show every Saturday called The Cigar Authority. I’ve been listening to the podcasted version of the show for a couple years and have corresponded with Dave several times about things that have come up. I was excited when Dave invited me on the show, clearly it was a slow week for them. The first cigar we smoked was a Psyko 7 from Ventura Cigars, which was very nice. It was medium bodied and had a nice sweetness. It was quite enjoyable. I’m not going to go into what was discussed, you can listen yourself at TheCigarAuthority.com or find it on iTunes. I ended up sitting in on the rest of the show. In the second half we smoked one of Dave’s own brands, La Gianna Havana, in honor of his daughter’s birthday. He gave me a Maduro which was a really nice, tasty mild cigar. While I was sorry to put the Psyko 7 down, this was a suitable replacement. It was a great time, an I was honored to ba able to participate. My one regret was that I wasn’t able to follow the chat-room or Facebook and failed to give a shout out to my old friends Mike Perry and Mark Williams (and maybe Dan Poe). Sorry guys! Jenn was trying to type it in a large enough font on her tablet for me to see but the show was over by then. Next time, I promise. I also had the pleasure of meeting a Facebook friend, Charlie Pitarys, who has a cigar lounge in Tennessee. He was there celebrating his birthday. Many thanks to Dave and Mr. Jonathan for their generosity! They made us feel like family and that we belonged there.

I’m not sure when I’ll visit New Hampshire again, but you better believe I’ll be visiting one of the three 2 Guys shops while I’m there. In a funny coincidence, we ran into Johnny Brooke, the PR guy for Drew Estate, who just moved to the Boston area from Miami. He was there with Derek Stewart from the reddit.com/r/cigars forum. I had no idea John had moved north and it was a bit of a “what the f*** are you doing here” moment for both of us! Small world. Jenn and I said our goodbyes and headed to Maine for a lobstah dinnah, and passed the 2 Guys Seabrook store on the way. Today we headed to Burlington, Vermont, then home to PA. We had a whirlwind weekend, covering eight states! Lots of fun and lots of great friends and cigars.