CigarCraig's Blog

by CigarCraig | October 5, 2016 · 10:17 pm

CroMagnon Firecracker, Mi Querida, Belstaff Bond, CAO Flathead and Cigar Prop

I had a long day Sunday with my brother-in-law framing out two walls in my living room. I guess in the late 50’s when the house was built heating was cheap and insulation wasn’t a big concern, so putting drywall right over brick and block walls was OK. Over the years people also thought it was a good idea to wallpaper, then after wallpaper was out of fashion it was OK to paint the wall paper. We’ve been systematically removing old drywall and insulating the outside walls. This is all irrelevant except that it was a long day, and by the time I got to a cigar, I wanted something short, but satisfying. At the IPCPR I finally met an old friend, Dave Payne, and he generously shared with me some cigars, one of which was a RoMaCraft CroMagnon Firecracker, this years Two Guys Smoke Shop special edition. In years passed they have had the Firecracker vitola made by La Flor Dominicana and Tatuaje (I think?). It’s a 3″ x 50 with a closed foot and a long pigtail “Fuse”. I have to think this is a goosed up version of the CroMagnon blend, it’s a power

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ful little cigar and was just what I needed to wrap up a productive day. While it was strong, it was loaded with those deep, dark flavors that I love in the CroMagnon blend. Of course, I wanted it to be longer, but it was a great little smoke. Thanks to Dave for sharing it with me, Skip for making it, and Dave Garofalo for dreaming up this vitola. I have a suspicion that this will be a very hard cigar to find.

Monday I figured it was time to give Steve Saka’s Mi Querida another try, dubbing the occasion “Mi Querida Monday”. Maybe we can make this a thing, #miqueridamonday needs to enter the lexicon. Anyway, I smoked one of these at the show and saw the potential, trade show samples smoked in the Las Vegas environment is rarely a good way to sample a cigar. I found another one in my samples, and had been salivating over it waiting for the right time to smoke it. Monday was the night. I’m anxiously awaiting these showing up in one of my local shops so I can put some more in my humidor. This cigar had everything I love about cigars, great construction, perfect draw and the Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper was delicious. This could become one of tho

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se “goto” cigars that always satisfies. I obviously have a bias, I’ve known Steve for 20 years, but I know him well enough to be honest with him if I don’t like something he made, but I would like this cigar no matter who was behind it. Another winner from Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust.

Tuesday I came across a cigar that came from the Bugatti Cigars booth, which was within the Meier and Dutch booth (the distribution arm of Cigars International). This was a toro called Belstaff Bond, and is made in General Cigar’s Santiago, DR factory. This cigar had a nice, dark Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, and was quite a good smoke. I have smoked several cigars from the Bugatti line, and found them to be quite nice. This reminds me that I’ve been using the new Xikar Xidris lighter pretty exclusively for the last few weeks and am finding it to be an excellent lighter. It holds a lot of fuel and lights every time. It has a solid, hefty feel, and Xikar says that it has super car styling (see the tie in?). It’s a classy lighter, I just have to make sure I have it oriented the right way or I’ll burn my palm one of these days. It’s a very nice lighter.

Tonight I got a hankering for a “goto” cigar, and opted for the CAO Flat Head Steel Horse Apehanger, a 5½” x 58 cigar with a Connecticut Habano wrapper. I really love the Flathead line, the Steel Horse series is round instead of square pressed, but still has the flat cap, which is best approached with a large-bore punch. The released two new sizes this year at the show, and I’ve yet to get my hands on either one (the Handbrake and the Roadkill, both in the robusto range at 4½ x 50 and 5½ x 54 respectively), and as soon as I come across some I’ll be picking them up, but the Apehanger does it for me. I once joked about putting Apehanger handlebars on my Yamaha Majesty 400 scooter…

Finally, you’ll recall a year or so back I mentioned some nice cigar tubes that Kevin Shahan was making in his Florida machine shop, and he’s moved into making another useful cigar product, the Cigar Prop. This is a machined aluminum cigar stand that is very handy. I tried to make a poor man’s version of this a few years ago out of a piece of bamboo and a 1″ hole saw. I would walk to the local convenience store, set my cigar on the ice cooler outside (or the top of the Red Box machine) while I went into the store. One day a Liga Privada number nine rolled off and I had to reach under the machine to retrieve it and it had been damaged in the six-foot drop and just wasn’t the same after that. That’s when I started carrying the bamboo stand with me. Not that I have too much of a need for that anymore, but this Cigar Prop is a handy addition to the collection of cigar tools. It’s very nicely machined, cradles the cigar nicely and is attractive. You can see it in use in two of the photos above. Give Kevin’s Cigar Prop site a look, and for you bearded guys, he also has a line of beard products called Irish Beard Balm.

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

CigarCraig

9 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as Belstaff, CAO, cigar, Cigar Prop, cigars, CroMagnon, Dunbarton, Firecracker, Flathead, Mi Querida, RoMaCraft, Two Guys Smoke Shop

by CigarCraig | October 2, 2016 · 9:24 am

Another Bobalu Cigar, a Tabak Especiale, New Fonseca and Crossfire Cigars

We’re getting into my least favorite time of year, autumn. People can argue with me all they want, but I don’t like the cool crisp fall days and the leaves turning. Summer is too short, at least it goes by too fast, I’m not a big fan of winter, but at least you know spring is coming, Autumn gets me down. The only upside is that it’s not quite as cold on the cigar porch as winter is, so that’s something. I still prefer sweating over shivering. Anyway, the seasons don’t much effect my consumption, I might smoke more robustos and coronas in the winter, but I always like my evening cigar, and the cooler weather has always made me want more maduros. I smoked a couple this week that didn’t taste too maduro to me, not that they were bad cigars, just not what I expected. First was a Bobalu Box Pressed Maduro toro with a Brazilian Mata Fina wrapper. As you know I’ve been working my way through some cigars I purchased from this US-based factory located in Austin, Texas. So far I’ve found the construction has been pretty darned good in all the cigars I’ve smoked from them and the service has been excellent. While this maduro wasn’t what I expected it to be, it was better in that it surprised me with some interesting flavors. The box press is very square, making the 52 ring gauge f

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eel much smaller, it was very comfortable. Besides the Mata Fina wrapper, the rest of the cigar is aged Piloto Cubano (Dom Rep.) Ligero, Nicaragua Viso, Olor Viso (Dom. Rep.) Nicaraguan Ligero and Habana seed (Dom. Rep.)ligero. Considering the three Ligeros in the blend I found this to be medium in strength at best. I’m liking the offerings of this cigar factory, once again, it’s on my list of places to visit.

Thursday was some kind of coffee appreciation day, our regionally popular convenience store chain, Wawa, was giving away their coffee, so I figured it was a good excuse to smoke the Drew Estate Tabak Esp

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ecial Negra Box Pressed toro, an Exclusivamente Drew Estate Lounge cigar. Drew Estate has several lounges, one at the Wooden Indian that I frequent, so they made a series of box pressed toros just for sale at those lounges. I want to say that they were originally just for the Drew Estate lounge at Corona Cigars in Orlando, but I think they’ve filtered out to the others. Two of the offerings are the Tabak Especial in the Negra (maduro) and Dulce (Connecticut). Of course, I chose the Negra, and I’ve occasionally enjoyed these coffee infused cigars over the past six or seven years, truth be told, I really like them. They have a sweet cap (something I could take or leave), and the coffee flavor that I really like in a cigar is there in abundance. What more can I say about this cigar but that it’s a good smoke with a sweet coffee flavor. I don’t like too many infused cigars, but I’ll smo

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ke these all day long.

Friday’s treat was a cigar that I smoked on the IPCPR show floor (one of the few), and was really impressed with. New from Quesada Cigars this year is the Fonseca Nicaragua, made in Esteli by the Placencia factory with Nicaraguan tobacco from Ometepe, Jalapa and Esteli. This is a very reasonably priced cigar to start with, in the $6-7 range, and is really quite tasty. It’s got a nice spice and some good coffee/cocoa flavors. This actually made a Robb Report piece in early August of the five Nicaraguan cigars you have to smoke. While I don’t necessarily agree with all five I think this new Fonseca is a must try. I was impressed at the show, and I am impressed at home. It’s a yummy smoke.

Finally, yesterday I was looking through the dwindling supply of trade show samples that I consider interesting, and I came across a sampler from Crossfire Cigars. These guys have an interesting story, and do a lot of good things in the Dominican Republic with the proceeds of the brand’s sales. I should probably keep this to myself, but I have a cynical opinion when it comes to “faith-based” charities, I think doing good for the sake of doing good is the thing to do, which I always hope is the case. I guess some things feel like “I’ll do something good for you if you follow my way of thinking”. I could devote an entire site to this discussion, but if I were to start another site it would center around something way more entertaining than my religious opinions. Bottom line, there’s nothing wrong with helping people less fortunate, which is what this cigar is based around, and as long as they keep making good cigars, I’ll promote their brand. Off of my soapbox, let’s get back to the cigar. I really appreciate the new bands on these which actually say what the cigar line is, rather than their old bands that had a secondary band. I selected the Crossfire Maduro first, in the 6″ x 60 Magnum size. This was another maduro that was not a typical maduro. The Ecuador Habano sun grown wrapper was not very dark, but it did look like an Ecuador Habano sun grown, which is probably too much to put on the band. The smoke was smooth as silk and seemed like a very mild cigar to me, but it did build up in strength near the end. It has a bit of that sourdough bready flavor I get once in a while, which I find interesting. Binder and filler are Dominican, which I suppose explains the mildness a bit. This was a really nice smoke, I look forward to trying the other four varieties, especially the San Andrés.

That’s all I have for now, in fact, I’ve probably said too much. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

3 Comments

Filed under IPCPR, Review

Tagged as Bobalu, cigar, cigars, Crossfire, drew estate, Fonseca, Quesada, Tabak Especial

by CigarCraig | September 28, 2016 · 9:19 pm

A Room 101 Event and a Cavalier Geneva White Series Cigar

Sunday I had mentioned that we were going to Cigars International‘s Downtown Bethlehem store where Matt Booth was having a Room 101 event. We got there (it’s about an hour and a half drive), to find out there was a Celtic festival going on, making it difficult to find a place to park! After driving around for another thirty minutes we finely found a place to park and made our way to the store. The Downtown store is a a small shop with a couple of chairs but a rather large selection. Fortunately, it was a nice day, and they had tables and chairs on the sidewalk. There was a lot of foot traffic, mostly oddly costumed folks in kilts and whatnot. They even had Celtic music playing on street side speakers. And then there was Matt Booth. This was a cool event, as there weren’t lines of people there for the event, so there was a lot of good one on one time with Matt. He even had his attorney there, which, if you follow him on social media, is what he calls his young son, who is about as cute as can be. I bought a hand full of cigars and lit up a Room 101 Big Payback Connecticut Hueso, the 6″ x 60 gordo in the line. This was a very good cigar, and to my surprise, Matt was smoking one as well, in the robusto size, and said that it’s his recent go-to cigar. It was a nice, smooth and very flavorful cigar, quite a nice smoke for a beautiful afternoon in good company. I had gotten some of the Nicaraguan wrapped Big Paybacks too and almost regretted not getting more of the Connecticut, although I like the original Big Payback as well. If you ever have occasion to spend some time with Matt Booth, jump on it, he’s one of the more interesting gentlemen in the cigar industry!

When I got home I lit up a Room 101 Uncle Lee, a cigar Matt made to pay tribute to his uncle who introduced him to cigars. I only bought a couple of these as they only had a couple left, I would have bought a 10 count box if they hadn’t already sold out. The Uncle Lee is only made in the Ranfla size, the 6½ x 50 perfecto size that you find in Room 101’s Johnny Tobbaconaut line, the new Chief Cool Arrow, and the Namakubi line. This was a really interesting cigar with an Ecuador Habano wrapper, Nicaraguan Corojo binder and Honduran and Dominican Corojo fillers, so lots of Corojo. There was a flavor sensation akin to mint that wound it’s way through the smoke. This was a really nice cigar, I enjoyed the crap out of it, and may have to pick up a box. Matt mentioned that CI bought the remaining inventory, so they might be the only game in town for that cigar. It was a really nice cigar day.

Last night I went into the IPCPR sample humidor and pulled out an interesting cigar from a booth we just happened upon on our last day at the show. Cavalier of Geneva is a Swiss cigar company, and their cigars feature a 24 carat gold diamond on the wrapper. I smoked the Cavalier of Geneva White Series Diplomate, a 5½ x 56 with a pigtail cap. the cigars feature a five country blend, Habano wrapper, Connecticut binder and fillers from Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Paraguay. The cigar was a nice, well-balanced smoke, on the milder side in strength, but medium in flavor. It burned well, and the gold embellishment on the wrapper had no effect in flavor or burn, but it was kind of neat to watch it burn. These were supposed to be available in the US as of August 1, and are being distributed by Dallas Texas-based CigarArt. I’m very interested in trying the maduro in this line, and I should have smoked it tonight, but, for whatever reason, I decided against it. The San Andrés Negra wrapper over Arapiraca binder sounds quite intriguing.

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

CigarCraig

4 Comments

Filed under Events, IPCPR, Review, Stores

Tagged as Cavalier, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Cigars International, Room 101

by CigarCraig | September 25, 2016 · 10:18 am

Foundry, Montecristo, Civil Disobedience and Matilde Cigars from IPCPR

Earlier this week the news came out that Michael Giannini, the creative director and General Cigar, and the mastermind behind the Foundry cigar line, had left the company after 17 years. I met Michael back in 2010 at the IPCPR show, when got to spend a few days with him at the factory in the Dominican Republic which was really educational. He’s one of my favorite people in the business, and it’s hard to imagine General Cigar without him. So to honor him on Thursday I broke out the IPCPR samples and lit up the new offering from Foundry Tobacco Co., and a cigar Michael worked on with AJ Fernandez, the new Foundry Time Flies. The samples provided are robustos, 5″ x 50, and has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, and binder and fillers from Nicaragua’s Quilali region, cultivated by AJ Fernandez and his farmers collective. Quilali is about halfway between Esteli and Jalapa, I looked it up as I hadn’t heard of it before (still haven’t found the famed Jalapeño Valley yet). I dare say, this cigar was the best cigar of the week. It was just what I have been enjoying in cigars recently, smooth, a little sweet, not too strong with some interesting spice flavors. The branding on this is interesting, it features a stylized skull on a prism kind of band, and the boxes are another example of something I noticed at the trade show, bright colors. Each size s in a different colored box, and the are not subtle colors. It’s a very well made, great tasting cigar.

Another IPCPR sample was a new one from Montecristo, the Montecristo Pilotico Pepe Mendez in the Toro size. This toro is a 6¼” x 52, and has an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, Dominican binder, and both Nicaraguan and Dominican Pilotico fillers. The Pilotico varietal is an old seed that Pepe Mendez brought from Cuba in the ’60s and revitalized in the Cibao Valley in the DR. There was some of this tobacco in the Montecristo 80th anniversary cigar that was out last year. It was hard to find anything bad to say about this cigar, it burned right, it had nice flavors along the leathery lines, with a hint of sweetness. It’s one of those cigars that is, no doubt, I very good cigar, but not in line with my preferred flavors. There are a few Montecristos I really like, most on the mild end of the spectrum. The box is cool with an old-timey suitcase motif, paying homage to Pepe Mendez’ traverls in the 60s to find the right area to plant his prized seeds.

Saturday afternoon I sat down with a Moya Ruiz Civil Disobedience. While they had this cigar at the IPCPR show, and have moved it from “event only” to regular production, this sample came to me through the generosity of a gentleman named Dave Payne. I met Dave at the show in July, he has a PR firm, but I first started corresponding with him when he had a cigar blog called The Cigar Sage. We had started around the same time, and compared notes from time to time. Dave was kind enough to send me some goodies that I didn’t have access to, and I am overdue in returning his generosity. Anyway, this is another well made cigar from the La Zona factory, with an Ecuador Habano wrapper and Nicaraguan filler and binder. It’s only available in a 5″ x 50 robusto, and proceeds from the sales goes to Cigar Rights of America. Once again, it’s a great smoke from La Zona, with that leathery profile that isn’t particularly my favorite, but it certainly wasn’t offensive. I was more in awe of the perfect burn and draw than that flavor. This is another cigar that did “wow” me, but was still very good, and I appreciate Dave sharing it with me. There are a couple more he sent that will be featured here in the very near future. I need to get to work on that reciprocal package!

Saturday evening i sat down with one more IPCPR sample, the Matilde Renacer Quadrata, a box pressed 6″ x 52 torpedo. I first sampled the Matilde Renacer after it was released, and had some issues with the burn on the samples I had, they had a core of tobacco that refused to burn, making smoking it a very messy affair (especially in the car!). I didn’t get a very good feel for the cigar which I really wanted to like. However, when I finally got around to smoking the Matilde Oscura, I thought it was fantastic, right in my wheelhouse. All that being said, I was looking forward to smoking this new box pressed iteration of the original Renacer blend. I’m happy to report that this box pressed torpedo had none of the burn problems I initially experienced and was a really god cigar. I still lean toward the Osucura in this brand (heavily), but the Quadrata is a really good smoke. Jose Seijas and his son Enrique are outstanding people, and they make some darned good cigars.

That’s enough for now, my wife is pressuring me to get out the door to go up to Cigars International’s Downtown Bethlehem store for the afternoon, so I better get moving! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

4 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as cigar, cigar rights, cigars, Foundry, IPCPR, Matilde, Montecristo, Moya Ruiz

by CigarCraig | September 21, 2016 · 9:23 pm

La Flor Dominicana Event at CigarCigars in Frazer, PA

Monday evening I stopped by my local CigarCigars shop which is only about two miles from hom

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e. This shop usually has early events, typically from noon to three on a weekday, making it hard for those of us with day jobs to attend. Steve does a fine job of running this shop, which is a free-standing former convenience store. They were having a La Flor Dominicana event and were staying open later than usual for the Eagles NFL game. I picked up a handful of LFDs, which I typically enjoy. I opted for some cigars I hadn’t smoked yet, a few of the 6″ x 64 LFD Ligero L- Granú, and some of the 4½” x 60 Double Ligero DL660. Since free samples is a thing of the past, I did receive one of LFDs event only toros with the $10 I paid to attend the event, which also took $10 off my purchase. It worked out to be a good deal. Kyle, the local LFD rep was there and gave an excellent video presentation in the lounge, which is a Montecristo lounge and is quite comfortable. The video, and Kyle’s talk along with it, told the story of how cigars are made, and the care and dedication that goes into them. I’m a little jaded, of course, but it’s always fun seeing others who haven’t had the privileges

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I’ve enjoyed learning about all the work and time that goes into these tubes of tobacco we love so much. I’ll admit to being critical of some of the stores in the CigarCigars chain, which has 10 or 12 stores in the area, with six within about 10 miles of home, but the Frazer store ain’t bad, I just wish they’d have more evening events!

While there I smoked one of the L- Granús, and I smoked another one tonight. This is a big cigar, as I mentioned, it’s 6″ x 64 and comes in a huge box of 100 cigars. While I don’t see dropping $800 on a box, these are a tasty smoke with a lot of strength. I thought the larger ring gauge would temper the blend, but on both occasions I had to put the cigar down with an inch and a half to go (a reasonable time to put a cigar down, but I tend to go a little farther) because it was starting to get to me! Not a lot of cigars do that to me anymore. The draw was fairly open, but the smoke production could have been better. Still, a tasty treat that smoked for a good two hours on both occasions. Last night I smoked the 4½x 60 Double Ligero DL660 (shouldnt it be a 460?), which was also a heavy smoke, although it didn’t get to me like the L-Granu. Perhaps the shorter format was a little more nicotine friendly, despite it being the heavier Double Ligero blend. It can’t be a bad week when it starts off smoking La Flor Dominicanas, I’ve been a fan of these for twenty years, they are almost always a special occasion.