Happy New Year to everyone! I hope everyone stayed safe and enjoyed whatever celebration you chose to partake in. I enjoyed a 5 year old Padrón 1964 Anniversary Exclusivo Natural which was magnificent. It was from a box 
which was a gift from Padrón from my first magazine article which featured them in Prime Living Magazine in 2014, signed by the senior señor Padrón. I’ve heard people say that Padróns don’t age well, but I beg to differ. This cigar smoked just fine. Perhaps it’s because it’s the natural wrapper variety, I’m not sure. I love the Maduros, but these Naturals have been fantastic cigars, and I’ve been savoring them because it’s a special box, ya know? One of these days I’ll get around to trying a 1926 or one of the other anniversary cigars, but the 1964s are so good, and not outrageously priced, how can one go wrong? I was in bed early, but neighborhood fireworks upset the dog.
I went looking for an interesting New Years Day smoke, something to smoke between watching the Mummers Parade, and the NHL Winter Classic. I remembered that I had a couple of Montecristo Le Cigares des Artes 2000 Millennium Edition that had been gifted by a great friend probably 18 or 19 years ago. These originally came in a really neat box with artwork by Michael Delacroix. You still see the Delacroix art in Montecristo branded lounges, so now you know it goes back 20 years. I little useless trivia fr you. Anyway, this was a Churchill sized cigar of Dominican descent, which caused me some concern about how this might have held up over the last 20 years. I chose the one with the broken tube, I don’t know how it broke, it’s been moved around from humidor to humidor 
over the years, I’m not a fan of glass tubes for this reason. I’m far too careless for fragile things that are meant to protect fragile things. There’s a reason egg cartons aren’t made out of glass. Oddly, the cigar had some white spots on it, mold or plume, hard to say. I’d have said it was mold but it seemed unlikely, it dusted right off, and there was no intrusion into the foot. If it was plume, it was the blotchiest plume I’ve seen. Regardless, it had no bearing on the smoking experience, however, I would not have bought a cigar that looked like it looked. The cigar 
started off very mild, as expected, but it built up in flavor as time went on and ended up being a very enjoyable and flavorful cigar. It had the delicate sophistication of a well aged cigar. I’ve smoked plenty of old cigars before, and this was one of the better ones. It held up well. I have smoke a Padrón Millenium in the past few years and it has also held up, but it wasn’t as impactful as it was when it was younger, and, not having smoked the Montecristo in it’s youth, I have nothing to compare it to. I would say that if you have these, smoke one! Why not? It’s fun to smoke a well aged cigar now and then. I still have a Cuban Romeo y Julietta from 1977 someplace that I’ll smoke one day.
I followed up the old Montecristo with a favorite flavor-bomb, the Cornelius and Anthony Señor Esugars Toro. This was made at La Zona by Espinosa. I have asked Steven Bailey directly about the future of Cornelius and Anthony and gotten no response. I’ve talked to high level sources at both factories that made his cigars and pretty much confirmed that he is out of the premium cigar business. Unless the brand is 
bought by someone, and, considering the history and branding were so intimately tied to the Bailey family I don’t see it happening, I fear the brand is dead. It’s a shame. Cornelius and Señor Esugars toros have been two of my favorite cigars over the past 3 years. The Gent, Venganza and Meridian are really good cigars. Daddy Mac never really did it for me, and the Mistress is the only cigar that ever made me barf. I hope that Espinosa recycles the blends and someone lets me know what the Señor Esugars blend becomes, because I absolutely love that cigar! Now I have to ration out the last box I have, as well as the Cornelius Toros and handful of Lonsdales! Adios Cornelius and Anthony! We saw the writing on the wall…stock up while you can.
On to a newer cigar! This week I stopped in to CigarCigars in Downingtown, PA to see Kevin, the manager there. Kevin asked me if I knew anything about the CigarMedics Humidimeter, and, whattayknow, I do happen to know about it! I went over to demonstrate it to him. We talked about the relative merits of the Humidimeter, I shared my experiences and knowledge, and he felt like he could find some good uses for it in the shop and ordered one. This was on a Thursday evening, and he received it the next day! Talk about great service. If you look in the right hand sidebar on this site, you’ll notice that there is now an ad there for CigarMedics, so if you find that you’d like more information, or want to get one for yourself, there’s a quick and easy way to get there! Welcome CigarMedics to the 
CigarCraig family! Like I said, I went to CigarCigars, and I picked up a couple cigars I hadn’t smoked before. One of them was the Warzone, the collaboration between Espinosa and General Cigar Co. I got the 5½” x 52 Robusto. This is made at the La Zona factory with a Cameroon wrapper from General Cigar (who has used amazing Cameroon wrapper on cigars for years, Partagas come immediately to mind), and it being distributed by General. I’ve been anxious to try this cigar, I’m a fan of Cameroon, a lot of the La Zona (see above), and a lot of General, so this cigar had a lot going for it out of the gate. I was encouraged by the Humidimeter readings off the shelf, Kevin does a good job keeping the stock in the store right. It’s a humidified store, no small feat. The Warzone was much as I expected, nutty “Camerooniness”, medium bodied, smooth and delicious. I have another that I’m looking forward to smoking (thank you Kevin!) and really concentrating on, I was busy talking and in a store, one can’t completely concentrate on a cigar that way. I picked up a couple of Black Label Trading Company Morphines while I was there too, a great corona gorda (I smoked one last night, great flavor, the draw got snug, I noticed a gob of tar on the head. Fortunately it didn’t touch my lips or tongue. I wiped it off and the draw opened up! I hate that liquid tar build up. if it hits your mouth you’re done!). The also have some of the Dunbarton Tobacco And Trust line there.
That’s all for today, until the next time,
CigarCraig
I think Padrons are fine when stored properly, no loss in quality after aging.
The natural Padrons has always been my preference. I find it more nuanced and complex, especially on the retrohale. Now that doesn’t mean I don’t like a Maduro from time to time. It’s just if I’m buying, I’ll pick the natural.
And you know I love the darkness, they usually are my first pick of any blend.
But that natural is exquisite and the perfect smoke.
As for the Bailey family dilemma, they didn’t get this industry, expected too much growth, didn’t treat their associates properly. They made a few good blends, but it wasn’t enough.
As you well know this industry is full of these stories. But as long as someone has a desire to be a Player in our industry and has enough money to produce a first production run at someone’s factory, can stumble on a few good blends.
But making that second production run, they have no more fluid cash, because their sales growth and exposure didn’t grow as fast as they expected it to. Then they either bow out, or buy cheaper leaf, and change to lesser known factories. Quality goes in the shitcan, and it’s goodnight Maureen.
I’ve personally have watched a few of these “ PLAYERS’’ over the years, and enjoyed their creations. But this business is a high capital with little initial returns that requires pounding the pavement, and building relationships before success and profits can gain sustainability.
In the C&A case who did have reputation and capital simply didn’t have a clue, figured out their high risk goal, and didn’t have their heart in it to continue.
Of course these are IMHO, derived from 30 years of paying attention when burning a fine hand rolled piece of heaven on earth.
On another topic I’m very jealous Craig that you can drive up to see Kevin. One of the finest botl I’ve known. I would love to live close to his shop, so I could live in it …they would have to drag me out to close.
Life is good