Category Archives: Trip Report

by CigarCraig | May 5, 2013 · 1:26 pm

Trip Report: Drew Estate Cigar Safari – Part 1

On April 28 I began what would be my second Drew Estate Cigar Safari. This time was a little different than the last time, as this was a trip composed entirely of the media, bloggers and print media. I was fortunate to have already known all but 2 of my fellow Safarians, and it didn’t take long to get to know them. Present on this trip were Will of Cigar-Coop.com, Stace of LeafandGrape.com, Tony of CasasFumando.com, Brian and Ben from StogieReview.com, Jay and Dan from Cigar Press Magazine and Steve from Tobacconist Magazine and myself. After an uneventful couple of plane rides, we landed in Managua and got through immigration without issue. Pedro was, of course, waiting for us with the bus to take us on our journey. Because this was a media trip, we skipped the sightseeing portion usually present on the Cigar Safari, and, after a delicious lunch, headed to Esteli. Sunday evening was pretty laid back and after dinner we just kind of sat around socializing over cigars.

Monday we arose bright and early to an excellent breakfast, then loaded onto the bus to visit the Oliva Tobacco Company‘s farm in Esteli, Finca La Joya. This late in the season most of the crop has already been harvested, but there were still some crops coming in and being hung in the massive curing barns. It’s here where one really starts to appreciate all the steps that go into making a premium cigar. On the farm the plants are raised from a seed, tended, weeded and thinned out, then planted in the field, then tended, weeded and thinned out. After several months they start methodically taking the leaves from the bottom of the plant, and hanging them in the barns. But they aren’t just randomly hung, they are paired and hung over sticks back to back and handled in such a way as to prevent damage and promote even coloration. The conditions in the barn are carefully monitored, the floor is soaked with water if it gets too dry, and charcoal is burned if it gets too humid. This is all just the first leg in the journey the tobacco takes on it’s way to becoming a cigar that we will spend an hour or so enjoying.

Fast forward about 6 months from when that tiny little seed is planted, and the tobacco is sorted for texture and size. They make bundles of leaves called “hands” and build very well organized piles called “pilons”. These pilons weigh about 5000 pounds and are closely monitored for temperature. When they reach a certain temperature for a certain amount of time they are taken apart and rearranged so the hands in the middle are on the outside, the top on the bottom and so forth. This takes a great deal of manpower and enough room to move 5000 pounds of tobacco around. This can be done several times over a course of months before the tobacco has properly fermented. I took a bunch of pictures while there, here’s the slideshow for your viewing pleasure. I’ll try to get some captions in there at some point, but please ask any questions you may have in the comments.

httpv://youtu.be/MtjxWS2IEXw

When the leaves are done doing their thing in the pilons, they are sorted once again for size, texture and color and compressed into more manageable bales which will be stored, typically by whomever purchased the tobacco, for several years. The tobacco continues to rest in these bales until it’s time to make cigars, at which time it’s sorted again. a few hundred hands have already touched each leaf and it’s not even close to being a cigar yet. There’s no way I can cover every aspect of the process, so these have just been the highpoints. It definitely illustrates the care and expense that goes into a bundle of leaves to which we set fire!!

Here’s a little video with Steve Saka and Nicholas Melillo of Drew Estate discussing some ways that conditions are maintained in a curing barn.

httpv://youtu.be/3HdpyCY–Rs

It’s at this point that we broke for lunch, and it’s a logical stopping point for today. Next time we will visit one of my favorite places, the Joya de Nicaragua factory. It’s a beautiful Sunday here in PA and I intend to make the best of it before having to go back to the office tomorrow after a week off.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, Cigar Safari, cigars, curing barn, drew estate, farms, oliva, sorting

by CigarCraig | May 1, 2013 · 5:00 am

Drew Estate Cigar Safari Quick Video

I’m actually still in Nicaragua enjoying the final hours of my trip to Cigar Safari. It’s been an incredibly informative trip and reinforces what I already knew: there’s a LOT of work that goes into a premium cigar! Many thanks to everyone at Drew Estate for having me! Because I’ll be spending all of Wednesday travelling, here’s a little video of some Liga Privadas being bunched and rolled.

That’s it for now, there will be plenty of pictures and videos in the coming weeks attempting to share this experience.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, drew estate

by CigarCraig | April 24, 2013 · 8:33 pm

C-Gars Ltd., Club Macanudo, the New Palio Lighter, the La Palina Maduro Toro and a Cain F Cigar

Sunday my wife and I drove up to Manhattan to meet up with our good friend Mitchell and his wife, along with some of his other friends at Club Macanudo. We got into the city early, so we wandered around Central Park a bit, even rode the Merry Go Round, visited Tiffany’s and just enjoyed a nice spring day. For those who don’t know, Mitchell operates C.Gars Ltd., the mail order division of Turmeaus Tobacconists established 1817, along with Robert Graham, Global Whisky Shop, Agedcubans, Humidorsonline, Havana Samplers, LCDH Hamburg, Great Gifts Etc. Mitchell is also the international distributor outside of the US for Palio, as well as several other brands that he sells in the UK and the rest of the world. We settled into Club Macanudo to smoke some cigars and socialize. The club is a beautiful space with a bar, private lockers and a full restaurant, serving a Sunday brunch menu until 7 pm. Jenn and I shared a delicious french toast and fruit bowl after I finished my first cigar, a Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No. 2, which Mitchell had handed me when we arrived. This was a delicious cigar, on the milder side for a Havana, but full of flavor and perfectly constructed. I don’t smoke many Havanas any more, as much as I enjoy that distinctive little flavor that only a fine Havana has, a twang, if you will. I think the cigars coming from Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Honduras are more interesting and superior in many ways. This was an exemplary smoke though, very nice. Looking at the cigar menu there was a bit startling. New York cigar prices are already high, but the prices there were more than double NY retail prices. I was going to joke that their prices were higher than Mitchell’s, but I try to avoid insulting my host if I can manage it! I didn’t take detailed notes, but I recall seeing a cigar that is $6.00 here in PA being $25. As I said, shocking. Fortunately, I had cigars with me, but Mitchell shoved a Partagas Serie D No. 4 in my paw so I had to smoke that. He mentioned that it was young and possibly quite strong, but I’m a fan of the Cuban Partagas line and found this to me a nice smoke. On the fuller side of medium with a very nice flavor. Perhaps with five years of age this will be a stellar smoke, but it was pretty darned tasty now. It’s always a great time hanging out with Mitchell, his lovely wife and his group of friends, and it’s nice to get a day away with my wife!

As if these special cigars weren’t a treat enough, Mitchell gifted me the new Palio Lighter in matte black, with “Seleccion Orchant 2013” inscribed on it. I’ve been lusting after this lighter since I spoke with Marc Aub of BOTL, LLC at the IPCPR show last August and he was showing it off (video here). This is a substantial lighter with a large fuel capacity, a fuel window and covers over the jet, as well as the filler hole. They’ve made it very easy to adjust the flame height with a little drop down turny thing on the adjustment screw (pardon the technical jargon). This is a brilliant lighter which I’m proud to have in my possession. It lights a cigar very nicely too. I’ll use it non-stop (except when I travel) and report on how it performs, but I have no doubt it will be flawless.

The first cigar I lit with the Palio lighter was a La Palina Maduro toro. I fell in love with the Robusto in this line last year when it was released, although I only smoked a few samples. Its everything I desire in a San Andreas wrapped cigar: smooth, chocolaty, and delicious. Of course it’s well made, although the draw could have been a little bit better. I enjoy the heck out of most of the La Palina cigars I’ve smoked, but this maduro is my favorite hands down (who among you who reads regularly is surprised?).

Tonight I grabbed a Cain F 5.75×50 that probably came from the IPCPR show last year. This turned out to be a poor choice for me, not because it wasn’t a great smoke, it was, but it was just too strong for me tonight. I’m tired and it kind of kicked me in the butt. It made it more difficult to sit down and write this post! I should have chosen something milder! Still a nice smoke, but strong. I think I like the tubed lancero best in this line.

News

I came across this in my inbox today and thought I’d pass it along since it struck me as a unique promotion that I’ve never seen before:

On Thursday, April 25th, cigar superstar Rocky Patel will be here at BestCigarPrices taking your calls!* Order any in-stock box of Rocky Patel cigars between 4-5pm ET for a chance to talk to Rocky LIVE while he personally hand-signs your box of cigars. CALL TOLL FREE 1-888-41-CIGAR.

Sunday’s post will be a rare guest post, since I will be travelling to Nicaragua for Cigar Safari. I’ll be touring the Drew Estate operation along with several of my blogging brethren (and some real journalists :-)). Expect another full report akin to my last report from March of 2011. Many thanks to the folks at Drew Estate for this opportunity! So stay tuned, I’ll try to get something posted while I’m there, internet access willing!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under News, Review, Stores, Trip Report

Tagged as Best Cigar Prices, cain, Central Park, cigar, Cigar Safari, cigars, Club Macanudo, drew estate, hoyo de monterrey, La Palina, macanudo, NYC, palio, Partagas, rocky patel

by CigarCraig | April 7, 2013 · 9:53 am

A Weekend In North Joisey: Casa Hispaniola in Englewood and Cigar Emporium in Lyndhurst

This weekend I’ve been in Secaucus, New Jersey hanging out with my wife while she helps some of her clients out at the New York Metro Fest For Beatles Fans. This festival takes over the entire Empire Meadowlands Hotel, and let me tell you, it’s an interesting group of folks. I’ve been Tweeting short videos via Keek here and there. I love the Beatles, don’t get me wrong, but there’s a reason one of my wife’s sites is Beatles-Freaks.com! There’s no shortage of loonies here. I’ve been poking fun via Keek and Twitter, but it’s probably not that much different than a herf or cigar festival is to the outside observer (OK, maybe there aren’t too many people dressed as their favorite cigar maker at cigar fests..). It’s certainly something to be experienced. Fortunately, while my wife was busy with her duties at the show, I was able to visit a few cigar shops and smoke some cigars.

Friday evening I ventured north to Englewood, NJ to seek out Casa Hispaniola. This is the retail/lounge arm of Hispaniola Cigars. Through a series of Tweets I had the great pleasure of meeting with Hugo Melo, one of the owners of the company. This is a nice little shop and lounge in what appears to be an upscale suburb of New York City. The shop has cabinet humidors lining two walls, plenty of comfy seating and quite a relaxing atmosphere. The selection was reasonable and certainly included the Hispaniola line of cigars, of which I smoked a Tres Carabelas, a name which refers to the three ships that Columbus sailed to explore the new world. This 5″ x 50 rubusto was smooth and tasty, and I found it to be fairly strong, on the high side of medium to me. It’s a Dominican puro, wrapped with a ruddy wrapper which is described as a “Havano Oscuro Vuelta Arriba”. Hugo mentioned that it contained several leaves of ligero, which was evident in the burn, it required some touch ups, but nethier the draw or flavor seemed to be compromised. In short, it was a tasty treat. Prior to Hugo’s arrival at the shop I enjoyed a La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor robusto, and, as I stated in my previous article’s comments, I can be reasonably certain that this is the same as the UK/Europe market’s La Aroma del Caribe Mi Amor. It was a stellar smoke, spice at the start and nice cocoa/coffee flavors throughout. It was a great way to spend and evening and reinforces the theory that a cigar shop is a safe haven for any traveler, one feels at home and a stranger can sit down and join in on the conversation and feel at home.

Saturday, after a very surreal late Friday night, seeing everything from people with Beatles t-shirts, to a Jake Blues impersonator (?), and after a decent continental breakfast at the hotel, I managed to make my way a few miles to Cigar Emporium in Lyndhurst, NJ. I had put out some correspondence to some of the locals, and Alex Martinez (Stogiecop.com), Matt Ross (@MattSRoss81) and Antonio Lam (Reinado Cigars) were kind enough to take time out of their Saturday and bring some friends along as well to smoke a few cigars with an out-of-towner. The shop is very nice. The walk-in humidor is expansive and I like the fact that it’s down a few steps from the lounge area. I don’t know why I liked that, but it was different and sets it apart from other shops. The selection was quite good, and the prices were typical New Jersey prices. I selected an EP Carillo Core Maduro Club 52 to get started. This was a very nice cigar, not strong at all, but very well balanced and flavorful. I followed that with an enormous San Lotano Oval Gordo, a 6½” x 60. The “oval” presentation makes this easier to handle, and it’s a tremendous smoke. This lasted me close to two hours. I was there for about 5 hours, and it went by in a flash. I appreciate these guys coming out, it was great to see Antonio again and actually get to talk to him as opposed to interviewing him at the IPCPR show, and I look forward to smoking his Grand Empire Reserve again (stay tuned). I was also quite happy to finally meet Alex and Matt after having corresponded with them both over the years. Thanks for a great afternoon, and thanks to the staff of Cigar Emporium for their hospitality.

I have a few hours to kill this afternoon, maybe I’ll head back to Cigar Emporium since it was so close and so good. It’s been a great weekend. Don’t forget to go back to Wednesday’s post and enter the contest to win some excellent Recluse Kanu No. 1 cigars. I’ll select a winner in next Sunday’s post, so leave a comment answering the question: “What do you know about Recluse Cigars?”

Also, don’t forget the promo codes that are currently available for your use:

You can use the code “MPCGRS10” on CigarFromBrazil.com to get %10 off any purchase on the site. The Monte Pascoal cigars are very nice.

ItalianSmokes.com has a special offer code for you, it’s CIGCRAIG10 and will get you 10% off your purchase of their selection of Toscano style cigars.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Review, Stores, Trip Report

Tagged as Casa Hispaniola, cigar, Cigar Emporium, cigar store, cigars, Contest, EP Carillo, Hispaniola, La Aroma de Cuba, New Jersey, san lotano

by CigarCraig | March 21, 2013 · 2:07 am

A Non-Cigar West Coast Swing – A San Lotano at Bo’s and a La Atelier at Old Oaks

I was going to wait until I got home to post, but I hate to miss a Wednesday post (it’s still Wednesday on the west coast) so I thought I’d share a couple experiences I managed to have on my business trip to the Los Angeles area.Â My trip’s focus was to visit a couple of the venders I buy from and visit my company’s home office.Â Fortunately, my boss likes a cigar, so Monday evening when we got into town we located Bo’s Cigar Lounge.Â I was expecting sticker shock in California, and I wasn’t disapointed.Â However, this lounge was very nice.Â They have plenty of TVs which had the Flyers game on, and very comfortable seating. There was even a TV in the loo!Â There are two locations, the one closest to us was in Torrance.Â One of the highlights was that one on my longest and most loyal readers, DB, came down to meet and have a cigar or two with us.Â It’s always a treat to meet a cigar friend whomÂ I had only corresponded with electronically, and I’ve done it hundreds of times.Â I really appreciate DB taking the time to make the trip down, it was great to finally have a cigar with him in person.Â The lounge patrons were very friendly and we didn’t feel out of place at all.Â The selection was excellent, but, as I said, the prices were roughly double what I see inÂ Pennsylvania, which was shocking.Â Given that we were hanging out in the lounge, the price was justifiable, as one would spend more than that hanging at a bar or something.Â I picked out a San Lotano Maduro that was a terrific smoke.Â I think I like this better than the Oval line, theÂ Mexican Maduro is loaded with sweet coffee/cocoa flavors and burned perfectly.Â We ended up being joined by one of the venders we were meeting later in the week who also is a cigar lover, and ended up having a fine Mexican dinner before parting ways.

Wednesday, after all of the meetings and tours and whatnot, our host took us to his local cigar shop, Old Oaks Cigar Co. in Thousand Oaks, CA.Â First, I was blown away by the prices in this shop as they were only a dollar or two more than PA prices.Â How do they do this.Â They also had a gentleman in the humidor rolling cigars that were also well priced.Â I really should have picked a couple up in retrospect.Â I seleceted a La Atelier LAT 56 as I hadn’t smoked one of them before.Â It should be noted that the cigars I smoked on this trip were not paid forÂ by me.Â Kevin, our host is a regular at this shop, and introduced me to the owner, Albert, who has an amazing operation.Â In addition to cigars, theyÂ have what my boss described as an unbeliveable selectionÂ of Scotches, as well as wine, and a very busyÂ lounge.Â Â Kevin directed us to the enclosed patio area in the rear where we enjoyed our smokes and watched some hockey.Â The LAT 56Â was a very nice cigar.Â Not mild or strong, yet very flavorful and interesting.Â This was a great shop, exceptional selection and the pricing wasn’t rediculous!Â Highly recommended.

These couple cigars over the course of a few days really helped relieve the stress I had about this trip.Â It’s always nice to visit a strange place (and I think we can agree that LA fits that description) and find friendly cigar folks to spend an hour or two communing with.Â I appreciate everyone’s hospitality.Â This post was brief, but it’s late andÂ I’m away from home.Â I didn’t even mention having gone to Cigars International last Sunday and smoking an Alec Bradley Filthy Hooligan, which was delicious, by the way. If you have been scared off of the candela wrappers, give this one a try.Â The blend takes the grassy, chlorophyll flavor out of the wrapper, and the wrapper mellows out the filler blend a bit.Â I think it’s a fine smoke.