by | April 24, 2019 · 1:00 pm

News: Diesel Whiskey Row Sherry Cask Launching in June

Here’s some news from General Cigar Co. I admit that the first Diesel Whiskey Row wasn’t for me, I tried several times, but it just wasn’t up my alley. As much as people who’s tastes I respect raved about it, I just don’t get it. That’s OK, not every cigar is right for everyone! I am looking forward to giving this a whirl, Broadleaf and Arapiraca? what can go wrong?

 

DIESEL TO LAUNCH WHISKEY ROW SHERRY CASK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH RABBIT HOLE

New Collection Marks the Second Collaboration between Two Maverick Brands

Diesel Cigars and Rabbit Hole Bourbon have reignited their partnership with Diesel Whiskey Row Sherry Cask, a new, three-cigar collection shipping to all channels on June 3, 2019.

Diesel Whiskey Row Sherry Cask is a cigar with epic depth and sublime flavor. Developed by Justin Andrews, blended by AJ Fernandez and handcrafted at Tabacalera AJ Fernandez in Esteli, Diesel Whiskey Row Sherry Cask features Nicaraguan-aged tobaccos cultivated on three continents. This exciting new collection once again calls upon a proprietary aging process developed by AJ to deepen the complexity of the smoking experience by barrel-aging the binder leaves.

 

Diesel Whiskey Row Sherry Cask is centered around a rare Arapiraca leaf from Central Brazil’s Alagoas region. This binder leaf was selected for aging in Rabbit Hole’s Pedro Ximénez Sherry barrels to bring forth subtle notes of honey, vanilla and molasses. When blended with spicy Nicaraguan Habano and crowned with a lustrous Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, this Maduro cigar is a study in contrast, as cigar meets bourbon, salty meets sweet and earth meets spice.

 

Justin Andrews, senior brand manager for Diesel cigars said, “With Diesel Whiskey Row Sherry Cask, we set out to expand the Diesel portfolio by offering cigar and spirits lovers a deeper sensory experience and I believe we have delivered that in spades. This new blend is perfectly suited to pairing with a fine spirit, stands up equally well on its own, and has all the makings of another runaway success for Diesel.”

 

Kaveh Zamanian, founder and whiskey maker of Rabbit Hole said, “For our second collaboration with Diesel, we selected our rich and aromatic Pedro Ximénez sherry casks for AJ to use in the tobacco aging process because we knew they would lend a stunning complexity to the blend. ‘Sherry Cask’ speaks to the power of our partnership with Diesel and our collective focus on combining heritage technique and refined innovation to heighten the experience of fine cigars and spirits.”

 

Diesel Whiskey Row Sherry Cask will be available in three sizes, each presented in 20-count wooden boxes that give a nod to Rabbit Hole’s unique branding.

 

Robusto (5” x 52); SRP per cigar is $8.49

Toro (6” x 50); SRP per cigar is $8.99

Gigante (6” x 58); SRP per cigar is $9.49

 

Diesel Whiskey Row debuted in June 2018 and marked the first collaboration between Diesel and Rabbit Hole. It was the first cigar to feature a binder leaf aged in Rabbit Hole’s bourbon barrels and generated a significant following among cigar lovers nationwide.

 

About Diesel

Handcrafted by artisans in Esteli, Nicaragua, Diesel cigars are “bold by design.” The brand challenges the current conventions of the handmade cigar category through the bold, unapologetic style of its Cigar Master, AJ Fernandez. Diesel cigars are unified by their deeply complex flavor which is achieved through AJ’s steadfast adherence to time honored cigar making techniques. Whiskey Row is the second brand in the Diesel portfolio, joining Diesel Grind which debuted in 2017. Follow Diesel on Facebook and Instagram @Dieselcigars.

 

About Rabbit Hole

Diversifying the spirits landscape with a modern approach to whiskey is Kentucky-based Rabbit Hole. Established in 2012 by Founder and Whiskey Maker Kaveh Zamanian in the heart of Louisville’s urban Bourbon Trail, Rabbit Hole unifies heritage techniques with innovative mash bills, creating unique expressions of American whiskey. With four signature bottlings – Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey, Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in PX Sherry Casks – Fingerprint Edition and London Dry Gin Kentucky Rye Barrel Finish – Fingerprint Edition – Rabbit Hole turns the whiskey world on its tail, inviting imbibers to take a sip and dive down the rabbit hole, where “there’s no going back™.” The brand’s 55,000 square foot, awe-inspiring distillery opened May 2018 and showcases the tradition and legacy of bourbon making in an all-encompassing experience, unlike any other distillery in the country. Having been inducted to full proof membership in February, 2019, Rabbit Hole is the newest member of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Follow Rabbit Hole on Instagram @Rabbit Hole and Facebook @ Rabbit Hole Distillery.

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by | · 9:43 am

Camacho American Barrel Aged and Corojo Maduro Cigars

I went into the Camacho stash fir the first couple of cigars this week, and the first one that caught my eye was an American Barrel Aged Perfecto Gorda. This was in a Sampler from the IPCPR a few years ago, so I’m not entirely sure it’s a regular production size, hang on, let me go look. OK, It’s available, and it’s a terrific size. It’s a hair under 6” x 52, and lit easily and opened up to a perfect burn and draw. This is an all US Broadleaf blend, PA Broadleaf wrapper with broadleaf fillers, aged in bourbon barrels and made in Davidoff’s Dominican factory.  I found myself mesmerized by the sweet, medium-bodied flavor of this cigar. I’ve smoked this blend before, but I don’t recall enjoying it as much as I did in this shape. Perhaps it was the several years of additional age? As my regular readers know, if there’s any bourbo

n flavor from the barrel aging, it’s lost on me. If I ever even had bourbon it’s been over 30 years, and it wasn’t good, I’ll tell you that.

 

Last night was another late start, and I was tempted to go

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with the Nicaraguan Barrel Aged, but a Toro was more cigar than I wanted. I happened across a lonely leftover from a Camacho event I attended back in maybe 2011. It was a Camacho Corojo Maduro in the Monarca (robusto) size. Camacho Monarca is actually one of the first documented cigar reviews I did back in 1997 in Steve Saka’s Monthly Officious Taste Test, which can be found through some searching through CigarNexus.com via archive.org. It wasn’t even close to this cigar, except in name, but interesting to me at least.  The Corojo Maduro came out of an amber cellophane sleeve, and was not the powerhouse it once was. It was still quite rich in flavor, with some punch, but had mellowed. Oddly, I always regretted not just sticking with the natural Corojo as opposed to the Maduro in this line, as I think the darker wrapper somehow overshadowed the great flavor of the original Corojo line. I’ll likely never see another one of these old Corojo Maduros anyway, and it was an enjoyable smoke. Maybe the Nicaraguan Barrel Aged will be on the mine today.

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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by | April 21, 2019 · 8:04 am

Sobremesa Brulee and an Elegante En Cedro ReRun

Busy day ahead, so I’m going to give a quick rundown on a new and exciting cigar I smoked this week and re-run a piece I wrote for Prime Living Magazine back in 2016 which doesn’t appear to be on their website any longer. I haven’t been asked to write a Cigar Notes column for them for quite a while, and I think that’s because they haven’t published an issue in quite a while! It’s a shame, that was a fun gig, and I’m proud to have contributed articles to 21 issues of that magazine. How many other bloggers can say that? Anyway, A couple of weeks back when I  hung out with Steve Saka at Famous Smoke Shop I got a sample of his new creation, the Sobremesa Brulee. This is his entry into the Connecticut shade market. Steve goes into great detail in the CigarCraig Podcast episode, so please give that a listen, but his intention was to make a Connecticut shade cigar that was like the cigars he remembered from the 80s and 90s. I smoked the Brulee this week and I was thoroughly impressed (shocker!). It just might have been my father’s Connecticut! It has an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper, so in that way it differs from the Connecticut shade cigars of 30 years ago, but it was smooth with a nutty/grassy flavor, but still had the richness one expects a cigar with the Sobremesa name to have. This is going to be a hit, I nubbed it, despite Steve’s concerns about the nubability, and, yes, it did start to turn a little beyond the band as he said, but it was a flavorful and satisfying cigar that I will add to my selection when it becomes available.

 

This is the  text of my submis

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sion for the Nov/Dec 2016 Issue of Prime Living Magazine’s Cigar Notes feature:

 

“Puros Sin Compromiso, cigars without compromise, is the philosophy behind Steve Saka’s family company, New Hampshire based Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust” 

 

I first met Steve Saka, the master blender and catador de puros (cigar taster) of Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust, in 1997 in front of Cleopatra’s Barge in Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Steve had yet to work in the cigar industry at that point, but was the predecessor of we now know as a cigar blogger by co-founding an online magazine and in

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formation source, CigarNexus, along with a prolific amount of postings on a Usenet cigar group. He later contributed articles to Cigar Magazine, took an executive position with retailer JR Cigars, and eventually became the president of Drew Estate Cigar company, where he was responsible for the introduction of the Liga Privada line of cigars. After his retirement from Drew Estate in 2013, he launched Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust, and released Sobremesa in 2015 to critical acclaim. If you ever have the chance to sit and talk tobacco with Steve, set aside several hours, he is a wealth of information on all things tobacco. Sobremesa is an idiom used among the Latin culture to describe the leisurely time spent tableside after you have finished dining, but before you rise.

The Sobremesa line is manufactured at the Joya de Nicaragua factory in Esteli, Nicaragua, in eleven sizes, the newest of which is the Sobremesa Elegante en Cedro, a cedar wrapped Churchill sized cigar. The original blend was tweaked to make for a little stronger cigar, but it retains the elegance and sophistication found in the original shapes. The cedar sleeve lends a little more woody flavor, with some pepper spices and a thick, creamy smoke. Allow a good two hours to fully savor this outstanding cigar, and reflect upon the time and expertise required to create a cigar of this calibre. The Sobremesa Elegante en Cedro is an exceptional cigar which is easily on a par with the best cigars in the world.

 

Sobremesa Elegante en Cedros
7.00 x 50 Parejo
Wrapper: Ecuador Habano
Binder: Mexico
Filler: Nicaragua and USA

 

That’s all for today, until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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by | April 17, 2019 · 8:40 am

NewAir CC-300H Climate Controlled Cigar Humidor Review

Back in July of 2015 I became the proud owner of a Newair CC-100 Thermoelectric Humidor, and it’s been functioning wonderfully ever since. It quickly reached capacity, becoming the home for many of my most prized cigars. I stored all of the various coffins, odd boxes and whatnot in it that get lost in the large cabinet, and don’t really fit in a desktop humidor. It also was decorated by Wineadorart.com with some great looking decals. Recently, the folks at NewAir offered me an upgrade to their CC-300H model, not only an upgrade in size but in features as well.  Let’s take a look at the list of features that the CC-300 has before I tell you what I think of it!

KEY FEATURES

  • Opti-Temp™ heats and cools to maintain consistent temperature year-round
  • Holds up to 400 individually wrapped or boxed cigars for serious collectors
  • Pin-point accurate thermostat lets you adjust the temperature in 1 degree increments
  • Removable, adjustable Spanish Cedar shelves and drawers enhance flavors and aromas
  • Lock and key helps you protect your collection

 

It’s quite a bit larger than the CC-100, has heating as well as cooling, where the CC-100 only cools. It has a lock and key, which the CC-100 doesn’t. It also has two drawers, and they skipped the dial hygrometer mounted in the drawer which is in the CC-100. Like many dial hygrometers, it isn’t worth a darned anyway, it’s strictly decorative. I had taken a shelf out of the CC-100 to accommodate an additional box, which I won’t have to do with the CC-300H for some time, as it will easily accommodate ten dress boxes if needed. Cabinet boxes will prove to be a challenge and would require removing shelves to make room. I allowed a week or so at elevated humidity for the shelves and drawers to absorb moisture so they wouldn’t be drawing humidity out of my cigars when I moved them in. There’s not a lot of wood, so this isn’t as important a step as it is with a wood humidor. Wineadors aren’t too much more than a fancy coolerdor anyway, it’s just a sealed plastic box with added electronics. I have the same Cigar Oasis Excel that I used in the smaller unit that I rarely ever had to refill and it seems to be settling in right where I want it to be, and I have one of my Govee remote sensors in there so I can monitor things. The room I have this in is the one room in the house that has the wildest temperature swings, so the heating part will be handy in the winter, although my cigars getting chilly is less of a concern than them getting too warm. With all of these units there’s a limit to how far below the ambient temperature it will cool, if the room is 80, it’s not going to get much below 75, but it’s better than 80! Those are the upsides as I see them.

 

 

Downsides, minor as they are, would be the placement of the lock. The way is engineered, it’s the most logical way to do it, I get it. It’s on the bottom, and it’s pretty simple, but if you need to keep small children out it’s effective. It isn’t going to keep anyone older than the age of 4 out,  but by then you should have taught your child about what are adult things and what are child things. There’s no handle, which looks good and doesn’t really affect anything at all. I like that they no longer highlight the fact that they include a “moisture container”, which they still do, as using that as the source of humidity is just asking for trouble. Of course, as with any humidor, time will tell, but first impressions of the Newair CC-300H are very favorable, and, based on the last 3+ years experience with the smaller predecessor, I have no cause to believe this isn’t a sound investment.

 

NewAir has provided my readers with a 20% discount off the purchase of a CC-300H!  Use code 20CRAIG for 20% off at https://www.newair.com/products/newair-400-cigar-humidor-climate-controlled-heating-and-cooling-with-lock?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=CraigVanderslice&utm_campaign=CC300H .Thanks to NewAir for the oportunity to test drive their humidors! 

 

That’s all for today, until the next time, 

CigarCraig

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by | · 8:31 am

News: Drew Estate Flying Pigs Soar into Humidors for their Seasonal Release

Gotta love the Piggies!  There’s a pub in my town called the Flying Pig Saloon that is decorated with every kind of flying pig toy ot statue imaginable. I’m sure they have no idea what the Flying Pig cigar shape is, what Drew Estate has done with it, or what it’s place in history is.  This is another one of Steve Saka’s many contributions to the Drew Estate portfolio, part of his legacy with the company. 

 

Drew Estate announces today the seasonal release of their Flying Pig vitola, including Liga Privada No. 9 and T52, Undercrown Maduro, Shade and Sun Grown, as well as Kentucky Fire Cured.

The Flying Pig is one of the most desired vitolas in the company’s portfolio, presented in a 100mm x 60 ring gauge vitola, and is a favorite amongst

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cigar enthusiasts worldwide. The shape is based on  a photograph of an 1895 cigar salesman’s size selection case. It is one of the most complicated vitolas to manufacture due to the unique size and signature pig-tail, which requires specialized training of the buncheros and rolleras at the factory.

From the Wynwood Safehouse, Jonathan Drew President and Founder of Drew Estate notes, “The Flying Pig franchise has become an iconic Drew Estate vitola. In addition to the flavor, taste and aroma, there’s something unexplainably exciting about smoking a DE pig… it simply commands your attention when you open your humidor at home and makes your mouth water. It’s psychological warfare, the pig versus everybody. We are changing the distribution process to release piggies twice a year, Spring and Late Fall.”

Kicking off this seasonal release is the Kentucky Fire Cured Flying Pig, featuring a Kentucky seed tobacco, grown and fire cured in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, along with Nicaraguan and Brazilian fillers. The cigar is wrapped with a Mexican San Andres wrapper to round out the blend profile. Packaged in 12 count boxes with an MSRP of $115.17.

The Undercrown Maduro, Undercrown Shade, and Undercrown Sun Grown Flying pigs are packaged in 12 count boxes with an MSRP of $153.17, with Undercrown Shade and Undercrown Sun Grown Flying Pigs exclusive to Drew Diplomat Retailers. The Undercrown Maduro features a Mexican San Andres Maduro wrapper, Connecticut Stalk Cut and Sun Cured Habano binder, and Brazilian Mata Fina and Nicaraguan Habano filler leaves. The Undercrown Shade Flying Pig features an Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade wrapper over a Sumatra binder with Dominican and Nicaraguan Filler leaves. The Undercrown Sun Grown features a Sun Grown Sumatra wrapper with a Connecticut River Valley Stalk Cut and Sun Cured Habano binder with fillers from Nicaragua.

Rounding out the release, the Liga Privada No. 9 and Liga Privada T52 Flying Pigs are packaged in 12 count boxes with an MSRP of $181.17 and are exclusive to Drew Diplomat retailers. The No. 9 features a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Plantation Grown Brazilian Mata Fina Binder and filler leaves from Nicaragua and Honduras. The Liga Privada T52 features a Connecticut River Valley Stalk Cut and Sun Cured Habano Wrapper, Plantation Grown B

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razilian Mata Fina Binder and filler leaves from Nicaragua and Honduras.

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