CigarCraig's Blog

by CigarCraig | March 18, 2018 · 9:54 am

A Camacho, EP Carillo Encore and a La Palina Candela Cigar

First, if you haven’t already, go back to my last post and enter to win a great selection of La Sirena cigars and a Stage V Clinger. I smoked a La Sirena King Poseidon this week that was awesome, I should have included notes about that in the post, as was pointed out by one reader. Sorry for the laziness! Depending how I’m feeling Wednesday, maybe there will be a runner up! Thank you to all of you who shared the link on social media! Anyway, smoked a few great cigars this week I thought I’d share thoughts and info on, first of which was a Camacho Nicaraguan Barrel Aged Robusto. This was an IPCPR sample, Davidoff does a great job with providing samples to the media, and they had a special media event at the trade show which included their “Golden Band Awards” for retailers. Am I surprised to not find the Nicaraguan Barrel Aged line listed on the Camacho website? On one hand, you’d think a big company like Davidoff would have the resources to keep their website up to date, on the other hand, it seems to be the norm to have an outdated site. It’s befuddling. Anyway, the Camacho Nicaraguan Barrel Aged Robusto is a 5″ x 50, with an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, Mexican binder and, Dominican Piloto Cubano, Honduran Corojo Ligero & Nicaraguan Corojo, with the Nicaraguan filler aged in Flor de Caña rum barrels for five months. It’s common knowledge that I’m not a drinker (quick rant: If you e-mail me saying you’ve been reading my site a long time and LOVE my work, following up with saying you know I’m a big whiskey and cigar fan makes me question your sincerity) , the last time I had rum it was Bacardi and Coke, so I wouldn’t be the one to ask about flavors from the barrel, but it is a pleasing cigar, with some interesting flavors that aren’t typical. There’s a nice sweet flavor along with some coffee and chocolate. I decided to smoke this because I had been on the hunt for the new Camacho Candela (and came up dry), as I’d smoked a box of the old Camacho Candela and wanted to see how it compared (I still have one in the humidor, close to 10 years old). Anyway, I liked the Nicaraguan Barrel Aged better, if memory serves, than the American Barrel Aged.

This week was the long awaited release of the E.P. Carillo Encore. This is a Nicaraguan Puro, and I was lucky enough to get one of these from Jose Blanco last week, with the suggestion that I let it rest a few days. This was an obvious ploy to keep me from posting about it too far in advance of the release :-). I also received a sample from the company a few days before the release. My schedule didn’t allow me to smoke it before the March 15 release date anyway, I lit it up on the 15th and boy is it a great cigar. I smoked the Majestic, the Robusto measuring 5-3/8″ x 52. It was medium bodied, and suave and elegant. It had some buttery sweetness that I really enjoyed. instead of taking this cigar on my evening walk, I waited until I got back to light this one up, and I’m glad that I was able to give it my full attention. I have been a slacker when it comes to smoking E.P.C. cigars for the most part, there’s a lot I haven’t smoked over the last 9 years since the company started, but I like this one the best. Granted, this is based on one sample from Jose Blanco, who probably doesn’t carry crappy cigars with him, but I was very pleased. The cigar has a nice box press, and is presented with a ribbon on the foot. I missed the first few minutes of the Flyers game to finish this cigar. I’m working on catching up on this brand’s portfolio, I have an Elite Series Seleccion Oscuro (I think, there are a dizzying array of cigars in the EPC line) lined up for today. Good stuff from a true master.

Yesterday I smoked a candela cigar, as seems to be the St Patrick’s Day tradition. As I said earlier, I still have a Camacho Candela from when Christian Eiroa owned the brand, but I’m leaving that one sit until I can find the new ones to compare to, and I have some Filthy Hooligans and RoMaCraft Fomorians around too, but I decided to give the La Palina Fuego Verde a try. Before I even look into this cigar, I have to say it was made at General Cigar’s factory based on the round head alone. I just checked and I was right, definitely manufactured at General, along with the La Palina Classic line. The candela wrapper on this cigar is from Honduras, with a Honduran binder and Nicaraguan fillers. It’s bright green, and has that grassy candela flavor one would expect, with some sweet tobacco flavors to balance it out. I thoroughly enjoyed this “Green Fire” offering, which is only available in one size, the 5″ x 50 robusto. I have a pretty high tolerance for candela, I like it once in a while as a change of pace and palate reset, but I personally put this in my top five easily. It had a satisfying flavor, was medium bodied, and was enjoyable. I still need to get my hands on the La Flor Dominicana and Illusione candelas, the chain of shops near me (6 of their 12 stores are within a ten mile radius of my house) won’t carry candelas because they don’t sell. I’ll keep looking. Hopefully me smoking a green cigar on St. Patrick’s day isn’t some sort of cultural appropriation or something that’s not politically correct. By all accounts, St. Patrick was anti-snake, and that makes him OK in my book.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Barrel Aged, Camacho, cigar, cigars, Contest, E.P. Carillo, Encore, Fuego Verde, La Palina

by CigarCraig | March 14, 2018 · 8:16 pm

Contest! Win Some La Sirena Cigars and a Stage V Clinger!

It’s contest time! I’ve scrounged around the humidor and put together a sampler of cigars from La Sirena Cigars. I’ve included a sampling of cigars from the line, among my favorites. Included in the sampler are a La Sirena Trident and King Poseidon made at the La Zona Factory, an aged La Sirena Dubloon Salomon made at the My Father Factory, a La Sirena Anchor Toro, which, admittedly, I don’t know much about. An Oceano Atlantic and Southern made at the Quesada Factory, and a Merlion Robusto, Merlion Maduro Toro and the exclusive Sea Lion, all made at the La Aurora factory. All well aged and maintained in my humidor for up to four years in some cases. I may come across something else to throw in along the way.

Also, there’s an Orange Stage V Clinger cigar holder, which either magnetically, or with a velcro strap, will gently hold your cigar when you need a free hand.

Rules are simple, leave a comment here to enter, one entry per person, and I’ll pick a winner next Wednesday, March 21, 2018. Many thanks to La Sirena cigars for their support of CigarCraig.com over the years and to Charlie at Stage V Clinger!

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Contest, La Sirena, Merlion, Oceano, Stage V Clinger

by CigarCraig | March 11, 2018 · 11:04 am

Jose Blanco at Goose’s Montecristo Lounge & a Cross Street Tobacco Visit

Friday evening I was privileged to attend one of José Blanco’s (of E.P. Carillo Cigars) educational tasting events at Goose’s Montecristo Lounge and Tobacconist in Limerick, PA. José has done over 900 of these events around the world, and they are unique. My first experience with his seminar was at an IPCPR show in 2011 in a room with several hundred people. It involved four separate cigars, if memory serves, not the single toro cigar with four stripes of different wrappers applied. This time there were fifteen in attendance, I dragged my amigo Mike along for the ride, I’ve gone to many events with Mike, but this is the first with an educational component. Mike has been smoking cigars longer than I have, and met a couple years ago when he was a winner of one of my holiday contests and we met at another local shop. I always enjoy smoking cigars with Mike. I don’t think I’ve had a bad time smoking cigars with José Blanco either, he’s never ruined a great cigar for me (if you’ve ever been to one of his events, or read just about anything about them, José’s theory is that a perfect cigar can be ruined by smoking it next to an asshole, so that’s my way of saying he’s not an asshole). Not to brag or anything, but I was able to partially identify three of the four wrappers presented on the special cigar, they were mostly educated guesses, or just luck. The one I missed was embarrassing, as it was probably a tobacco I’ve smoked as much of in my life as any. I’m intentionally leaving out specifics so José doesn’t have to have the factory change up the cigars, which he said the rollers only are able to make 50 or 60 of a day, and they would be very expensive if they were regular production. The base cigar was very good on its own, however, being able to taste the subtle differences each wrapper presents is neat and educational. Any time spent with Jose is educational and enjoyable, the attendees at the event were friendly and engaged in the event, a couple of them even claimed to be readers of this site! It was a fun evening complete with great cigars, and they even had a photographer, Brian Miller of http://www.chorusphotography.com there taking photos! He took a great photo of me, no easy task since I usually look like a deer in headlights in pictures. Find me on Facebook as I’ made it my profile picture. I wrapped the evening up with the Broadleaf wrapped EP Carillo Dusk in the toro size. I love the Broadleaf, and this one wears it well. It’s rich and had that cocoa/espresso thing going on which I gravitate toward.

Yesterday, all my troubles….nevermind, although the reference is appropriate since I was supposed to drop my wife off at the Fest for Beatles Fans in Jersey City yesterday and go visit Hoboken Cigars. Plans changed and we decided to head the other direction and go to Baltimore in search of Beatles books, my wife reviews books on her blog, Beatles-Freak’s Reviews, so we went to The Book Thing, went to Philip’s at the Inner Harbor for lunch (Crab Mac & Cheese!), then found another little used book store on the way to Cross Street Tobacco for an after lunch cigar. There was a cigar lounge closer to the Inner Harbor, but it was in Larry Flynt’s Hussler Club, which didn’t sound like a family friendly place. Cross Street Tobacco is a great little shop with a very well stocked humidor and a lively clientele. There were about 20 chairs in the shop, and they brought out some folding chairs at one point. Sanford was working, he’s been working there Saturdays since they opened in 1996. They had a great selection, it was hard for me to choose what I wanted to smoke. Of course, since I’m in Pennsylvania, the land of no cigar tax, I’m often sticker-shocked when I shop in other states. That being said, their prices weren’t terrible, I picked up a couple of Inch Maduro No. 62, at 5″ x 62 with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. I really like Connecticut Broadleaf! It had occurred to me the night before that I hadn’t smoked the Inch line at all, don’t know why, just never managed to pick any up. It’s not like I’m averse to large ring gauges, and I’m certainly a fan of Ernesto Carillo‘s work, and it had come up in conversation last night. We ended up talking to a patron who was a music fan who told us we had to visit Protean Books & Records, which is in the shadow of Camden Yards, a couple blocks away, which we ended up doing. I can’t recommend Cross Street Tobacco in Baltimore more highly. Although small, it’s a classic shop with a great selection and staff and a lively customer base. The cigar was great, as was the overall experience.

I got home late last night and needed to get Macha out for a walk, so I was thinking about what cigar might fit in with the theme of the weekend. I could smoke another E.P. Carillo cigar, I’ve accumulated a few here and there, or a La Gloria Cubana. Then I came across a Señorial Maduro El Cuadro by José Blanco. A corona gorda measuring 5¾” x 46, actually one of my favorite sizes, was perfect for a short walk and unwinding from a two-hour drive. Señorial is getting hard to find around here, although, and it pains me to say, a local shop had these on their clearance shelf. The Señorial Maduro has a Mexican San Andrés Negro wrapper, with Dominican binder and filler. This vitola was presented at the 2016 IPCPR show, and might have been the last domestic release of the brand. It was a lovely cigar with a sweet earthy flavor that made me happy. The cigar was neither too big or too short, it was just right. I linked to the Señorial Facebook page because the Las Cumbres Tobaco site seems to now be about make-up, fitness and breast enhancement, I have no idea what that’s all about. Anyway, the Señorial was great, buy them up if you can find them. Maybe I’ll smoke a Freya today, I haven’t smoked on of those since I was in Iceland, where it seemed like the appropriate cigar to smoke.

It was a great weekend, even if it’s an hour shorter than 50 other weekends in the year. The payoff for the shortened weekend is more daylight in the evening hours, which I like. That’s all for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Baltimore, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Cross Street Tobacco, Dusk, EP Carillo, Goose's, Inch, Jose Blanco, Seminar, Senorial

by CigarCraig | March 7, 2018 · 4:41 pm

Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Muestra de Saka Nacatamale

Today was a snowy day here in PA, so I decided to take the afternoon off of work so I didn’t have to risk the drive home in rush hour. This turned out to be anticlimactic, as the snow tapered off, but, after clearing the slop off the driveway, I decided to hang out on the porch with Macha and a Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Muestra de Saka Nacatamale. I’ve had a couple of these in the humidor for a few months now, waiting for the right time to spark one up, and decided this was it. Last year I smoked a Muestra de Saka Exclusivo with a couple of friends, and really enjoyed it, although it was a milder cigar, with loads of flavor and complexity, and last week I gave the Todos Las Dias another try, and I’m still looking forward to smoking one that draws well, it seems like those really need to be stored at a lower humidity. I went into the Nacatamale with no expectations, except to have a high quality smoking experience. I was not disappointed. This is a perfect sized cigar, 6″ x 48, with a nice pigtail cap. These are made at the Joya de Nicaragua factory in Esteli, which celebrates its 50th year this year, and is one of my very favorite factories (I’ve had the good fortune of visiting the factory on two occasions). Blend information is elusive, some outlets say there are tobaccos from all of the tobacco-growing regions of Nicaragua and it’s a puro, others state that the fillers are all from a single farm, with and Ecuador Habano wrapper and Nicaraguan binder. Perhaps there’s some confusion with the Exclusivo, perhaps the confusion is my own. It hardly matters to me, it’s a great cigar and I lean toward the single farm origin. The Nacatamale is a full flavored cigar, it has some punch to it, and strong, rich flavors of wood and chocolate with some subtle spice. While I think the Exclusivo was closer in character to the Sobremesa, I likened the Nctamaale more to the Mi Querida, not the same, just closer in general. I loved it, I’d happily purchase these, as I did with the Exclusivos (the Nacatamales were gifted to me by the company), but as Steve Saka would tell you himself, I like cheap cigars, hence my enjoyment of the Umbagog. The presentation is outstanding with the individual coffins and ribbon on the foot. Thanks to Steve and Cindy for the opportunity to smoke this cigar on a rare afternoon off.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Muestra De Saka, Nacatamale

by CigarCraig | March 4, 2018 · 10:45 am

Saint Luis Rey, Mark Twain and Debonaire Cigars

I have a co-worker who likes cigars and we’ve been trading smokes back and forth over the last few months. he lives in the Allentown, PA area, so he’s in the CI stores pretty often. When I say trading, it started with one of the guys telling him I liked cigars, and him gifting me a couple as a welcome to the company kind of thing. I responded in kind, as I’m the one who’s supposed to be giving cigars to people, ya know? Over the last year or so he still doesn’t get it. So it’s become a thing, the same bag being passed back and forth ever other Monday. Oddly, he seems to find cigars I haven’t tried. One of which was a Saint Luis Rey Titan. He gave me one of these last year and I had the unfortunate experience of literally falling on my face in the street with the cigar in my mouth. I was digging it too, and it smashed, probably saving my teeth and nose form damage. So I had an opportunity to give it another go this week, and I really enjoyed it. It’s made in Honduras with a Nicaraguan wrapper and binder, and fillers from Honduras, Nicaragua and Peru. When I look at the Altadis portfolio and think that there are only a select few cigar in it I like, I forget about the Saint Luis Rey. I really liked think in the 90s when I believe they were made by Julio Eiroa, but my recollection could be flawed. ck to the cigar, I really like these, it probably has to do with that peruvian tobacco, I love what that does to a blend. There’s an interesting and unique spice the it brings. The cigar burned well, I didn’t fall on my face, and life was good. The size is 5½” x 60, and I found that it was a good size. I don’t mind a 6×60, or 4½x60, or 4×60 even, so this was good. These are a very good value.

Next from my coworker, we’ll call him “Stan” so I don’t have to keep typing “coworker”, was a 6″x60 Mark Twain Memoir No.2. He gave this to me a while ago, and I sat on it a while. I remember that Mark Twain smoked terrible cigars to keep the moochers from mooching his cigars, so maybe not a great branding idea? So with a bit of trepidation I lit it up. Not bad at all! There’s not a lot of information about this line out there, it seems to be Nicaraguan in make-up, which seems right and has a Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper, which is very intriguing. It’s a Meier and Dutch distributed brand, so it would be available to B&Ms, but most of the outlets that seem to have it online are in the CI Family. These are under $4, which makes them a tremendous value I think, because it was a solid cigar. It had a pleasing flavor, there were more interesting flavors than in some pricier cigars. I don’t know where this is made, but it was of good quality, which probably would have put it out of Samuel Clemens’ wheelhouse. Nothing to fear there, I’d smoke them again, and I like what the PA Broadleaf adds

“Stan” also gave me a RoMEo 505, which I’ve enjoyed before, and the one I smoked this week came from a purchase a few months ago. I also had a yearning for a Hemingway Short Story, b

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ut I came across a Maduro Best Seller first and had to smoke it, what a special little smoke! I also grabbed a Herrera Esteli TAA edition. Oddly, the Herrera Esteli line doesn’t excite me as much as it does others. I love the Norteño, and I happily smoke the Herrera Estelis and think Willie is a great guy, but I’m afraid it’s not a cigar I go out of my way for. I do keep trying though. So I’ll wrap this up with the Debonaire Maduro Sagita. I

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forget the circumstance, but Friday I wanted a smaller cigar, I remember, it was snowing like crazy, I dropped my wife off at a job, got home t find out it was canceled, and headed back out to get her. So when I got home I was more than ready for a smoke, if only to calm my shattered nerves. I am well familiar with the Debonaire Maduro, as well as the Habano, but I haven’t tried the Daybreak yet. Anyway, The Sagita is a 5½” x 38 petite lancero. It has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper over Dominican and “Central American” fillers. Interesting fact about the Debonaire line: only the wrappers change, the blend stays the same, and it’s a tasty blend. Phil Zanghi uses what he calls an alchemy process to turn his tobacco into gold, and I do enjoy the cigars. The Maduro adds a sweetness to the savory blend that I find appealing. Thanks to Drew Estate, who distributes the line, for sending these along.

That’s about all I have for today. I’m happy that Spring seems to be close, and Daylight Savings time closer. Hopefully I can get back on the two posts a week schedule soon. I had a thought about supplementing with some sort of video, although I’m not entirely sure about that… Until the next time,

CigarCraig