I had a long week! I worked at my second job last weekend, went to a one year old’s birthday party, we went to NYC on Tuesday, and my youngest son graduated from high school Friday night. I still managed to get a few cigars in though!
Going way back to Sunday, I sat down that afternoon with a J. Fuego 777 Zero robusto. Jesus gave me this cigar at the IPCPR show last year, and I’ve been looking forward to smoking it. I’ve really enjoyed the maduro and Corojo in the 777 line, so I was sure I’d like this one. Visually, the cigar is stunning. The wrapper is flawless and the triple cap was very prominent, a certain sign that it was the work of a skilled torcedor. I loved this cigar. Like many Ecuador Connecticut wrapped cigars these days, it leaned more to the side of medium than mild. As I suspected, it burned beautifully and was a perfect smoke for a fine Sunday afternoon after coming home from the birthday party. I can highly recommend the entire 777 line, give them a try.
I dug into the samples of the new Partagas 1845 cigars this week. these arrived just after Memorial Day, so I wanted to let them rest a little after spending the long weekend in the hands of the USPS. I couldn’t resist any longer and selected the robusto, which measures 5½ x 49, as it does in the regular Partagas line. I like the size quite a bit. A quick aside: the Partagas 1845 website is well done. It presents all the information, sizes, blend information, bios of the team, very well done. I was critical of the CAO website and was told it was a work in progress, but they still don’t have any size information and they should take a look at their sister site for some inspiration! The cigar is well done also. It’s a solid, satisfying medium smoke with loads of flavor. It’s reminiscent of the Partagas line, with a little something extra. A fine smoke and I look forward to working through the rest of the sizes.
Friday evening was my son’s graduation ceremony, and before we left I had time for a special smoke. I selected one of the cigars I blended on my Cigar Safari trip last March. I’ve smoked a couple of these and been really happy. For those who don’t recall, the blend was a Mexican Oscuro wrapper Indonesian binder, seco from both Esteli and Dominican Republic, half a leaf of Esteli ligero and filled it out with Brazilian Mata Fina viso. The size is 5×44, and they were rolled by the team that rolls that Liga Privadas. The construction was perfect, the flavor was dark and delicious and it was the perfect cigar to celebrate the end of an era, our participation in the public school system!
Yesterday I went back to Partagas, but this time it was a Partagas Black Magnifico. This is a big, ugly cigar, but boy, is it good! I love the Connecticut broadleaf wrapper, great smoke. I sat on my front porch for nearly 2 hours enjoying this cigar. I can’t actually recall a Partagas cigar I didn’t like, from either manufacturer, they all bring something a little special to the table. It’s an iconic brand, it’s usually reasonably priced and readily available.
News
I’ve received a ton of press releases this week, and everyone else has gotten them published, so here’s a little recap:
CAO Cigars and Two Foot Fred to Rock CMA Music Festival – TheCigarmy.com
Butthead’s Tobacco Presents a Virtual Cigar Workshop – Cigar-Coop.com
Dona Flor Cigars Reaady To Unveil Its “BRAZILIAN BLACK TREASURE” To The U.S. Market – ACigarSmoker.com
Emilio Cigars Upcoming Releases – Halfwheel.com
Thanks to all of my fellow bloggers for taking care of this so I don’t have to! 🙂
Contest!
Today is the day we announce the winner of the contest. The winner will receive a signed copy of the book “Once Upon a Time in Cuba” , by Mitchell Orchant and Micheal Mirecki. I’ll, no doubt, include some other goodies with the book as well. I return to Random.org to select a number between 1 and 31. The number is 28, which corresponds to the 28th comment which was made by “Tonbofrogman”. Please e-
mail me your address so I can get this out to you! Thanks to Mitchell for contributing this great prize and for his support and kindness!
That’s it for now, until the next time,
CigarCraig
Congrats Tonbofrogman!!! Looks like you’ve won yourself a great prize!
Craig, great reviews again. You are right about one thing (well, everything…LOL…but I wanted to write on this particular cigar…), the Partagas Black can be a very ‘ugly’ cigar but they are mighty tasty!
Keep it up BOTL!
Oh neat–I didn’t know Mitchell wrote a book.
Is he still in London?