by | August 20, 2014 · 9:58 pm

Visiting Chicago – Casa de Montecristo and a Camacho Ecuador

When we left off I was in Chicago and I mentioned I was going to visit Casa de Montecristo in Countryside, IL.  I set the GPS in the car, which, for some reason, didn’t take the street number for me. I decided to wing it, and set off anyway. I got about ten miles down I-294 and the GPS had lost it. The lady in the dashboard kept telling me to take the next left, then recalculated, take the next left….I was on a highway with no left turns!  She didn’t know what she was doing! I pulled off the next exit and parked in a McDonalds and turned the crazy lady off and see if the iPhone Google Maps app would help me out.  I apparently had gotten of at the right exit, because in a few turns I pulled into the Casa de Montecrist

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o lot.

CasadeMontecristo1

To everyone who told me Casa de

Montecristo was a must visit on my Chicago visit, thank you! The store is beautiful, and the staff is very attentive. Fred showed me around and introduced me to one of the regulars, Conor. Oddly, a gentleman named Justin who I had met the day before at TESA was there making a purchase on his way out of town, he had come in from St. Louis for the previous day’s event and to celebrate his birthday.  Strange walking into a strange shop 750 miles from home and seeing a familiar face, but I shouldn’t really be surprised by now, it happens more times than not, it seems.  The store has cabinet humidors lining the walls for singles, an glass excaparate with  bins of unbanded cigars, a walk-in humidor for boxes, and a “vintage room” off the walk-in humidor.  After a tour of the facilities, I picked out a couple cigars I hadn’t smoked before and had been looking for, the Camacho Ecuador in the Figurado size and the Matilde Renacer in the Robusto size.  I could have shopped for hours, but I neither need more cigars, nor do I have the budget for Illinois prices.

 

I was ushered downstairs in the only cigar-friendly elevator in the country to the VIP lounge.  Apparently they allow out of towners in the lounge, not that there aren’t nice, comfy chairs upstairs in the store area.  The VIP Lounge is quite luxurious. In addition to the comfy leather chairs, there are booths and a bar, where members can store their own libations and have access to complimentary coffee, sodas and water.  I pulled up a stool next to Conor and we had a wonderful time swapping stories. He had had a cigar brand and we knew a lot of the same people and had visited a lot of the same places.  Once again, you can walk into a strange cigar shop just about anywhere and meet a friend you didn’t know.  As an aside, Conor is hosting a charity event next month,  check out www.chicigarmeetup.com for all the information if you are in the Chicago area or plan to be there.  I lit up the Camacho Ecuador which was a very nice cigar. It burned perfectly and had a great draw and the flavor was very enjoyable.  Conor kindly gifted me a cigar out of the escaparate, a Pete Johnson blend that he said was the original blend of the Black Jar release.  This was a nice smoke as well, however I had to finish it in the car on the way back to the hotel.  The VIP lounge also includes a theater and a meeting room, along with a bunch of TVs and lockers for not only cigars but booze.  I can’t recommend the Casa de Montecristo enough if you find yourself in the Chicago area. I’m sure glad I decided to seek it out and spend my afternoon there.  Great company, great smokes and great facility.

 

Diesel_Unlimited_d5Tonight I took a walk with a Diesel Unlimited d.5 that I think came from last year’s IPCPR. This cigar is made by A.J. Fernandez for Meier and Dutch and has been on the market for several years. Oddly, I don’t think I’ve sampled this line extension before, but it kind of jumped into my hand as I was looking for tonight’s cigar.  The Unlimited has an oily Honduran ligero wrapper and the filler is Nicaraguan tobaccos from Esteli and Condega and Mexican San Andrés.  This cigar was rich and heavy in flavor and quite satisfying. I would reach for this often, it’s a solid cigar.

 

I need to get ready to travel again, I’m really looking forward to attending the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival in Colorado, and will attempt to report from the event, or shortly after. Until then,

 

CigarCraig

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by | August 17, 2014 · 1:51 pm

Visiting Chicago – Smokey Bear Cigars and TESA Cigars

2014-08-17 11.10.10Here I am in the windy city and I’ve been enjoying the camaraderie and hanging out with some great cigar friends.  I know I said I was going to try posting from the field, but the places and events were not conducive to getting any good video, and frankly I was having too much fun smoking and socializing. You’ll have to put up with my normal style Sunday post, I guess!  I have been fortunate to find some local cigar events here in Chicago that I managed to impose myself upon.  Today I may venture out to the Casa de Montecristo, which everyone tells me I have to visit. We’ll see, driving around here is a serious time and patience investment, but the people here seem very nice. We are here for the Fest for Beatles Fans, and my wife is working at the show with her clients who are all Beatles related authors. It’s a rather interesting cross-section of people, but the passion they have for the Beatles is similar to the passion we have for cigars, and both passions bring people together.

 

Friday after helping my wife get her booth set up, I headed to Smokey Bear Cigars in Evergreen Park. The GPS said it would take about an hour, but with traffic it was closer to two.  I was certainly ready for a cigar when I got there.  They were having a Toraño event, and Jack Toraño, who grew up in the Chicago area before going to Miami, was there with his wife Cecelia.  Of course, I bought some Toraño cigars and lit up a Master Maduro Toro Gordo.  The shop has a generous walk in humidor with a really good selection. I saw some cigars that I haven’t seen in shops before.  They were loaded for bear (ha) and had a good amount of traffic too. they also have a nice lounge where I sat down with Jack and his wife and caught up a little.  The cigar was a beautiful rich, dark and tasty. I followed it with an Exodus 1959 Gold robusto, which has been a favorite for about ten years. The Toroaños have been making great cigars for a long time, and continue to do so.  I love being in a strange city and visiting a shop I’ve never been to before and hanging out with friends.  I’m pretty sure if Jack hadn’t been there I would have had a good time, as Pam, the owner, is running a good lounge and shop.  Too bad it’s so hard to get to from Pennsylvania!

 

 

Saturday I left the car parked and embarked on the Chicago Transit Authorities Blue line to go to TESA Cigars. I’ve heard of this shop, I’ve ridden past their factory in Esteli, and I’ve also heard of a third (or first, as he tells it) Chris Kelly in the cigar business.  The other two are Chris Kelly and Chris Kelly, in case you are wondering.  Anyway, after navigating the “L” I arrived at the shop, which is in an odd, area. It’s about a block away from Oprah’s studios, but there isn’t really much around from what I could tell.  It’s a nice shop though. Their own brand dominates the humidor, along with a nice selection of other cigars, including an impressive selection of Drew Estate products.  Tom Navarro, whom I’ve know for a few years, helped arrange a herf there and about 20 people were there, many from the Tatuaje Saints and Sinners message board, and the BOTL message board.  I purchased, and smoked a TESA Cabinet 315 Robusto, which was a nice, well balanced cigar that had a load of rich flavor without a lot of spice. The 315 has a Habano wrapper and fillers from Jalapa and Esteli, and is finished off with a curled pigtail cap. Taxes are a bit crazy in the Chicago area, so this PA, no cigar tax, guy was pretty sticker shocked.  Chris does a nice job blending the cigars to be smooth and delicious, which was further evidenced by a corona he gave me that he had recently brought back from Nicaragua and wasn’t saying much about the blend. I’ll be interested in smoking more from this line, as the sample he gave me was very tasty and well made.  It was great meeting everyone, and, as always, a stranger walks into a group and finds new friends instantly, it’s a special thing.  I was also privileged to meet a Facebook friend, C.W. Harris, who Jose Blanco was kind enough connect me with, and is how I found out this event was going on.  I had TESA on my list anyway, but it was extra special to meet up with Tom, C.W., Chris and the rest of the gang there (and I’m terrible with names, there was Justin and Scott, and Ed, David and a raft of others….they need name tags at these things!)

 

 

Well, I think I’m going to see if I can find Casa de Montecristo and go have a cigar or two there this afternoon, then we drive back to  PA tomorrow, work three days, then fly to Colorado for the Rocky Mountain Cigar Fest.  Let me know if you’re going to that event, which I’m looking forward to.  I’ll try doing the “Live blog” thing from there, but I can’t make any guarantees. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | August 13, 2014 · 11:08 pm

A CAO Flathead, an MBombay, and Some La Flor Dominicana Cigars at Cigar Mojo

We’re getting ready to take a road trip to Chicago for the weekend. My wife’s working the Fest for Beatles Fans and I’m going to explore some cigar shops.  Again, if you are in the area, let me know and we’ll try to connect! I’m already planning to get to Smokey Bear in Evergreen Park on Friday, and TESA Cigars on Saturday afternoon for some events.  I’m going to try something new for me, posting “live” blog posts, so there may be several posts instead of one big one on S

unday.  Since ditching my dumb phone for an iPhone, I’m going to experiment a little with it. We’ll see how it goes and I beg your indulgence.

 

CAO_Flathead_BigBlockSunday was a spectacular day, and after a very busy morning of yard work I decided to spend the afternoon in the pool with a big cigar.  I picked up a CAO Flathead Big Block a while ago, the square pressed 7″ x 70 monster. I generally feel quite uncomfortable with the 70 ring gauge, but I like the Flatheads, so I thought I should try them all.  I gave this a couple punches with my Screwpop punch (by the way, I’m really looking forward to seeing the next generation of this punch. It looks like they took my advice in the redesign. Yeah, I’m taking credit, you heard it here first!  They also have another cigar cutter coming out that looks like it could be interesting) and just about emptied my lighter lighting that monster.  I spent close to two hours reading in the pool, smoking that big Flathead, and enjoying it quite a bit. The enormous size tempers the blend quite a bit, it lacked the punch of the smaller sizes, and needed a few corrections. I got out of the pool and smoked the cigar for another forty-five minutes, until I just plain got tired of it.  Great smoke, but I’ll stick to the smaller sizes.

 

MBombay_BrazilMataFinaMaduro_RobustoAfter a little Sunday afternoon nap and some dinner, I needed to take the dog for a walk, so I grabbed an MBombay Brazil Mata Fina Maduro robusto. The beautiful band dominates thi

s cigar, and it needs to be removed very soon after lighting. this is a super little smoke, smooth and sweet, with a little extra something from the Peruvian tobacco in the blend.  I have been really impressed with cigars from the same factory in Costa Rico, which also makes the Atabey (which I have yet to sample, but we gave away some in the December contests courtesy of Dave Garofalo), the Byron and the Bandolero, all exceptional cigars. The MBombay burned perfectly, nice flat and even burn and a perfect draw. I am very excited to hear that a local shop is trying to bring these in, I’m quite taken with them.

 

LaFlorDominicana_DblLigeroMaduro_ChiselTuesday my youngest son and I went down to Cigar Mojo in King of Prussia, PA, for their La Flor Dominicana event. I’ve not smoked a lot of La Flor Dominicana cigars.  Not for any particular reason, I always liked them, I just never managed to pick any up.  Litto Gomez was on hand for the event, along with the local rep, Kyle.  I picked up a couple Double Ligero Maduros in the chisel shape, and some Colorado Oscuro No.3s (and a couple others I can’t bring to ind at the moment and am too lazy to go to the humidor to check) and lit up one of the Chisels.  I asked Litto what the best cutting method was and he suggested just giving it a squeeze which worked well. This is a formidable cigar, loaded with rich, dark flavor. I ended up giving it a bit of a scissor cut afterwhile to open the draw up a little, but other than that, it was a terrific smoke. I was able to have a really nice discussion with Litto, in spite of the fact that the place was packed, impressive for a Tuesday night. I’ve said it before, but the guys at Mojo do a great job. In less than a year they have built a really good shop and have excellent events. It was nice to run into Shaun, the proprietor of D&S Cigar Lounge in Lancaster,PA and Arline, who I met the first time I visited Cigar Mojo before they officially opened, there’s always a good bunch of folks there.  My son seemed to thoroughly the Colorado Oscuro he smoked, and he only smoked cigars occasionally.

 

LaFlorDominicana_ColoradoOscuro_No3

 

Since Christian (my son) enjoyed the La Flor Dominacana Colorado Oscuro last night, I figured I had better see what it was all about tonight. Since I had bought two, I took the second one for a walk and enjoyed the heck out of it.  I didn’t find it to be as strong as the Double Ligero Maduro Chisel, but the burn was much better and it was totally satisfying, and since I had a lot of stuff to do to get ready to go away, the 5″ x 50 size worked into my schedule perfectly. I have been remiss over the last few years where this brand is concerned, but I will work on sampling through the line in the future.  Nice smoke. La Flor Dominicana is one of the great survivors of the cigar boom of the ’90s.

 

That’s it for now, I have twelve hours of driving ahead of me tomorrow, so I need to get some rest! Stay tuned for my experimental posts over the next few days. Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

 

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by | August 10, 2014 · 9:14 am

Three More Gurkha Cigars, Crest, Beauty and Cellar Reserve Limitada

Gurkha_Crest_ToroWhen we left off on Wednesday, I was working my way through a tin of Gurkha Toros. I had the Crest and the Beauty remaining, so I selected the Crest for my Thursday evening smoke.  I first noticed a small slit near the foot, and hoped I didn’t have another situation like I did with the Beast, explosion city. Fortunately the cigar burned past the split without  incident. I think this cigar may end up being my second favorite of the selection, behind the Shaggy, at least in terms of overall experience. The flavor was savory and a bit sweet owing to what I can only deduce is a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper.  The construction was fine, apart from the previously mentioned split, and the burn and draw were perfect.  These are nice and seem to be available inexpensively via catalog retailer.

 

Gurkha_CellarReserve_LimitadaFriday came along and I couldn’t bring myself to smoke the Beauty. I needed a guaranteed great cigar to cap off the week, so, in keeping with the week’s theme, I selected a Gurkha Cellar Reserve Limitada from last year’s IPCPR show. Looking around, I see that this size, which was another 6″x 50ish toro, does not seem to be a regular production size.  They are now available in 5″ and 6″x58 perfectos and a 6″ x 60 XO.  I’ve had several in the 6″ x 50 size and have really enjoyed them. The curly-cue pigtail bun cap is very cool aesthetically and they’ve consistently had good construction. This has a Brazilian Arapiraca maduro wrapper that ads a nice sweetness to the purportedly 15 year old Dominican filler. I guess I need to try this in the current;y available sizes, as I don’t think I’ll see this in the toro again.  This may be my favorite Gurkha cigar, edging out the Seduction, but not by much.

 

Gurkha_Beauty_ToroSaturday afternoon I sat down to relax outside with the Gurkha Beauty Toro.  I’ve smoked the Beauty before, and figured it would be a good selection for an after lunch smoke, mild and flavorful. While this wasn’t the worst cigar I’ve smoked, it wasn’t terrific. the burn and draw were problematic in that it was a little bit tighter than I’d like, making me feel like it may have had a little too much humidity, and causing me to over draw it to get smoke.  The burn was erratic but nothing a lighter couldn’t fix.  I suppose it should have been a nice, creamy Connecticut shade cigar, but this example was not.  That’s not to say that it prevented me from an hour or so of relaxation with a book (Rush FAQ by Max Mobley. I’ve been a fan since discovering them in the late 70s!), I just would have probably enjoyed the afternoon more with a better cigar choice.  One must take the good with the bad, as with anything.

 

Gurkha_Crest MetalI’ve come to some possible conclusions and advice about cigars presented in this manner.  I received this in the fall of 2012, and placed it in the bottom of one of the coolers where it stayed until this week. I wonder if I had removed the cigars from the metal box if they would have been better. While I know that the tin case isn’t air tight, it certainly lacks something over a wooden box in my mind. I have seen a couple other cigars sold in metal boxes, but I have no experience with any aging in those boxes, but hundreds of years of storing cigars in wooden boxes would lead one to the conclusion that wood is the way to go (assuming it’s not an aromatic or sappy wood!) My other conclusion is that while the presentation is pretty, these aren’t $10 cigar

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in my opinion. This is still available several places (I noticed Famous put it on sale this week, coincidence?). I have a nice decoration for when and if I have a man cave or office I can decorate in c

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igar-chic. Still, it was entertaining smoking through the selection contiguously, or almost, there were defiantly some tasty and satisfying cigars that I probably wouldn’t have tried otherwise.

 

News

Every year one of my reasonably local shops, The Wooden Indian, in Havertown, PA,  has a Drew Estate Charity event around this time of year, and this year it’s next Friday, August 15, 2014. Unfortunately, I’ll be in Chicago, so I won’t be able to attend as I have in the past.

 

Drew Estate Charity Pig Roast

Friday August 15th, 2014  11:00 am – 8:00 pm

 Online Bidding  Now Available

 Special Guest Pedro Gomez, Factory Spokesperson

 Tickets Now Available $20

Includes

Sandwich & Drink

1 Raffle Ticket For $700 TV

$5 In Drew Spending Money

Loads of in store specials and raffles

  They will be auctioning off three very special items from the creative mind of Drew Estate’s Jessi Flores: Undercrown and Flying Pig paintings and a presentation case which includes all 19 of the Liga Privada cigars.  In the past the auction has been held at the event, but this time they’ve set up an online auction so  everyone can have a chance.  All proceeds go to TECHO, the charity which builds houses for deserving families in Esteli, and one which Drew Estate Charities supports wholeheartedly.

In other news, as I mentioned before, I’ll be wandering around Chicago next weekend smoking cigars, but the following weekend I’ll be attending the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival in Broomfield, Colorado.  I’ve heard great things about this event and am looking forward to seeing everyone there! Let me know if you’ll be there so we can enjoy a smoke together!

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

CigarCraig

 

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by | August 6, 2014 · 10:04 pm

Working Through the Gurkha Crest Metal Sampler Cigars and a Buena Vista Piramide

Buena Vista_PiramideBefore I get into the Gurkha tin, Sunday evening I felt compelled to smoke the Piramide from the Buena Vista Reserva 2008 sampler I recently received. At the risk of repeating myself, the presentation of this sampler was pretty outstanding, and I was quite impressed with the Prominente, or double corona, size I smoked.  The Piramide size was just as impressive. I really enjoyed the clean, refreshing and almost minty sensation I got while smoking this cigar.  I’m told that these should be shipping to shops soon, but I’ve seen these online for under $25, and even more reasonable in boxes of ten.  I’d like to keep these around because I really enjoy them from time to time and they are a nice cigar to share.  I remain impressed, especially over the Buena Vistas I sampled three years ago.  This is a really nice smoke, and I now have a really nice three cigar travel humidor too!

 

Gurkha_Crest Metal Gurkha_Crest Metal SamplerMonday I was digging through one of the coolerdors and came across a Gurkha Crest Metal Sampler that my wife had gotten me through a Groupon or Living Social deal, I seem to remember it being around $50, which puts the cigars at $10 each. I must have had this for two or three years, I see that Famous has this same or similar sampler on their website.  I decided now was as good a time as any to dig in, and I may as well smoke all five cigars in succession over the course of this week. Maybe I should have waited and put them all in one post, Gurkha_Shaggy_Torobut I don’t have that kind of patience.  I started with the Gurkha Shaggy toro. I felt like these were all 6″ x 50, but the description at Famous says they are 6″ x 53, who am I to argue (and I was too lazy to measure them!).  The Shaggy is characterize by about ¾” of the foot of the cigar left without wrapper and binder.  It smoked really well and was enjoyable, with lots of smoke. I didn’t really sense a huge change when the wrapper started burning, but it was smooth and rich.  I don’t even know if these are still produced, but I know they’ve been around a while, and this is the first one I’ve smoked.  I’ll admit that I was attracted to the copper colored band, not sure why that appealed to me so much. Nice cigar.

 

Gurkha_Beast_ToroTuesday I chose the Gurkha Beast, which was a dark chocolate brown wrapped cigar. This is the counterpoint to the Gurkha Beauty, with a Connecticut shade wrapped cigar which I’ll get to later in the week.  Since I love maduros, I was excited about this one.  The flavor was nice, it was chocolaty and smooth, with a hint of spice.  About half way through there must have been a void in the filler because it got a bit stingy with the smoke, much unlike the Shaggy which almost smoked itself.  then the wrapper started to split and at about the two-thirds mark the wrapper started coming off. At that point it started smoking better, and the flavor was fine, but I was a little miffed that a $10 cigar would behave this way.  All in all, a less than satisfying experience.

 

Gurkha_Titan_ToroTonight I went with the last maduro in the collection, the Gurkha Titan.  This has a similar Costa Rican maduro wrapper to the Beast, and, honestly, I didn’t really taste a lot of difference, except that the Titan didn’t explode on me.  Perhaps it was a bit smoother, it didn’t seem to have the spice that the Beast had.  It burned very well, and had a smooth chocolaty flavor.  Of the first three I smoked, I think the Shaggy was my favorite, but none of them were really up to the price point, and while the tin case is nice, and potentially usable as a five finger carry case, I don’t count packaging into the price. They were all good cigars for a couple bucks each, and I apologize to my friends at Gurkha for saying that. Despite the reputation they’ve had in the past for making tons of cigars for the catalogs with a lot of hype, lately they’ve really been making some great smokes, the Cellar Reserves, the Seduction, the 125th anniversary are all very high quality smokes, and their lower priced East India trading Company lines are also pretty enjoyable.

 

I’ll finish out the week with the Crest and the Beauty, then see what I can scrounge up for the weekend. I’ll be in Chicago next weekend, so if anyone is available to meet for a smoke, please let me know. Also, Friday is the last day to comment on the FDA deeming document, so get to it!  Go HERE to link to the regulations.gov site to let them know you don’t want premium cigars regulated out of existence!  Also, go to Gran Habano’s website and help them fight the US Trademark Office, who have decided that using “Habano” in the name (which they’ve had for how many years?) is confusing to the public.  Another case of a government office sticking their noses in where it doesn’t belong.  Morons.

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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