CigarCraig's Blog

I was just grabbing random cigars this week, although a bit of a theme seemed to develop.  I had a few cigars with what I would call glassine paper decorative wrapping, and two with names referencing the 1880s. Strictly coincidence, But one of those things I noticed as I went back over the weeks smokes. As I mentioned in Friday’s post highlighting the latest podcast episode, I had the pleasure of meeting up with the professor, José Blanco at Goose’s Montecristo Lounge in Limerick, PA, and smoked  an EP Carillo Seleccion Oscuro Especial No. 6.  The cigar was delicious, and the company was  exceptional as usual. It also snowed this week, too early in my opinion!  We’ve had winter weather in autumn, I have the porch winterized, but I can’t get my propane heaters working, so I have to figure out how to get at least one of those working. I miss summer!  Anyway, allow me to highlight a couple of cigars I smoked this week.

Last year I really enjoyed the La Palina El Año 1896 Oscuro.  Since I last smoke this cigar in 2017 they have moved the production from PDR in the Dominican Republic to Placencia’s factory in Honduras. I believe the original had a San Andrés wrapper and Dominican binder and filler, while the new version has a Costa Rican Oscuro wrapper, Dominican binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. It’s box pressed, and the cigar I smoked, and I smoked two this week, was a 5″ x 50 (maybe 52, hard to tell with a box press) Robusto. Basically this is a different cigar from the original El Año 1896 Oscuro from last year (and allegedly the 120 Anniversary I smoked a week or two ago!) I enjoyed it, it was a very good cigar in its own right, but in my mind I wanted to compare it to the cigar I smoked previously in the same bands and presentation and it wasn’t the same to my recollection, and how could it be? I don’t want to be negative, because this version of the El Año 1896 Oscuro is an exceptional cigar, if you never smoked the former version, you are going to be very happy smoking this cigar. Either way, you can ‘t go wrong with this cigar!

The other cigar with the glassine paper wrap that happened to smoke this week was a BG Meyer Standard Issue Toro.  This was a Camacho “Board of the Bold” line, which was something Davidoff had going with brand ambassadors Mike Ditka, Matt Booth and Rob Weiss, the last of which headed the BG Meyer line. Rob Weiss was the guy behind the HBO show Entourage. There’s some debate over whether this line is even available anymore or not, I tend to believe it’s discontinued,  I’m sure there are still cigars floating around in the wild. This cigar was probably an IPCPR sample from a few years back, and I did smoke this back in 2015 and liked it. This one burned very well, had a nice, savory flavor and was quite enjoyable. I’d say this aged well, if you can find these around snatch them up and smoke them, even better if you find a close out deal. Everything I see points to this being a Nicaraguan Puro made in Honduras.

Friday night I got home from work late and went looking for a short smoke, and spied a short, squat torpedo from Tabacalera Incorporada in the Philippines, an 1881 Perique Torpedito. The 1881 Perique line is really interesting, it uses Philippine and Louisiana Perique tobacco and is rolled in their factory in Manila, not the usual combination one finds in the premium cigar market. Perique is generally used in pipe tobacco, and it’s usually on the strong side by itself. so the combination of the Filipino tobacco and the Perique throws a bunch of red flags for me, but in the case of the 1881 Perique, it comes together to make a really tasty cigar!  Usually when I have a cigar this late, I’m up all night having weird dreams, this time wasn’t the case for whatever reason. I couldn’t find a size listed, but it was probably a 4″ x 54ish torpedo and burned perfectly, and had only spend maybe two hears in the humidor, enough to be properly rested, but not enough that I would consider it “aged”.  It was smooth, had a savoryness, with a hint of a sweetness, and some spice from the Perique. I have some of the Maduro and “Bold” floating around that I need to revisit now that smoking this little Torpedito.  I’m not sure how widely these are distributed in the US, I know that Daughters and Ryan is the distributor, and I also know that Tabacalera sells them directly on their website.  If you are in the mood for something different and interesting, these are worth a try, don’t be scared off by the perique or  Filipino tobaccos, they work well together! Don’t forget to keep an eye on CigarProp.com and Amazon for the new, super-cool CigarProp ashtrays when they become available (as seen in the picture)!

That’s all for today, it’s a day off and the end of the week starts the busy season!  I need to try to line up some goodies to give away for the holidays! Any manufacturers, brand owners or retailers can reach out to me at craig@cigarcraig.com if you’d like to get in on CigarCraig’s annual holiday giveaways! They always generate a lot of interest!  I know the FDA doesn’t allow companies to give away cigars, but I’ve been known to give away my own cigars from time to time! I have workarounds!  Anyway, until the next time,

CigarCraig