CigarCraig's Blog

by CigarCraig | November 13, 2013 · 7:36 pm

UF-13, Villiger and La Palina Lanceros and an OSOK Cigar

We’ve had a bit of a cold snap here in Pennsylvania. I don’t like it one bit! Not only is it dark when I get home, but it’s cold too! It gives new meaning to taking a brisk walk! I still need the exercise and so does the dog, so I grab a cigar and go! As I said last time, I’ve gotten the ball rolling for this years Christmas contests and am already 75% there with boxes of cigars already starting to roll in! Last year is going to be tough to top, but I’m certainly going to try! I smoked a Drew Estate Liga Privada Serie Unico UF-13 Dark to celebrate a productive and entertaining Sunday and it was darned good! This came from a box I received for my birthday. Every time I see the box in the humidor I hear a dozen little voices singing “smoke me”. The next time there will only be eleven voices! This is a nice smoke, and had plenty of horsepower for a brisk evening. I love the closed foot and the fancy fan/pigtail. This is probably my favorite of the Serie Unicos so far, although there are several I’ve yet to sample. Awesome smoke and I’m looking forward to further reducing the voices coming from that box!

Monday I came across a Villiger Talanga Selecto Lancero from the IPCPR show. I’ve been really looking forward to smoking this special take on the Talanga line. I’m a fan of the Villiger premium line. They do things right, and they make good cigars. Don’t base your opinion on their machine made lines, although the Export is a really nice little smoke. The premium lines are tasty and this lancero was no different. At one time the Lancero size could be counted on to have a hard draw, but I’ve smoked a bunch in recent years and never had a problem. This one has a beautiful Honduran grown Connecticut wrapper with a Jalapa Habano binder and Esteli Corojo, Ometepe Habano & Condega Habano fillers. It’s perhaps a little more refined than the regular Talanga line, which isn’t to say that line is unrefined, it’s very tasty. This Selecto line is a little more complex, perhaps. I’ve had both vitolas now (the other is a corona gorda, both excellent sizes) and enjoyed them fully. The Lancero was smooth, sweet and burned very well. It dropped the ash on it’s own, sometimes unexpectedly, but that’s not so big a deal since I was outside walking. I will certainly look for some of these to add to my growing selection of Lancero sized cigars.

Tuesday I celebrated, well….Tuesday, with another Lancero, this one a La Palina Classic that arrived in my mailbox last week. I think I saw that Cigar Aficionado gave this a 92 rating, and I think after some more humidor time I would agree. I was impatient with this one, I’m afraid. It was a great smoke, but could have burned better. Granted it was a breezy evening, but I had some burn issues that felt like it needed more rest, if only from it’s time in transit, Again, it’s a classic size, and a great way to really taste how much the wrapper brings to the table. This cigar is made in the PDR factory in the Dominican Republic with a Brazilian wrapper, Ecuador binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. This works out to be a smooth and flavorful cigar that was quite nice to smoke. I’ve not tried any of the top tier La Palina cigars, but the El Diario and Classic lines are quite nice, with, of course, the maduro in the El Diario line being my favorite in the range. The Classic line is on the low end of the price scale, but still runs from $6.75 to $8.50 per cigar. Nice stuff.

Prior to sitting down to write this post I pulled out a little cigar that was gifted to me last spring by my friend Alex Martiniez, the Stogiecop, the weekend I spent herfing around North Joisey. Alex gave me an Edgar Hoill OSOK Cultura which was in a white sleeve. This is probably one of the first cigars produced in Christian Eiroa’s Fábricas Únidas. It’s a Nicaraguan cigar and is a neat 4 ½” x 54 shaped cigar. Since it was cold and I had a lot to do tonight, I thought this would be a good time to light it up. This was a lot lighter in body than I imagined it would be, and really only approached the high side of medium when it got too short to smoke any more. It had enjoyable flavors, and I’ll have to revisit this cigar either on a warm day or indoors, as I’m afraid the cold air didn’t allow this cigar to shine for me. It could be that the cigar just doesn’t suit my preferences, but I like to give cigars a fair shot. I hate to say it, because I go back a long way with Christian, but his CLE cigars didn’t really hit me right either, so maybe it’s me. Either way, I’ll still keep trying, because that’s just the kind of open minded guy I am! Thanks to Alex for sharing this cigar with me.

That’s it for now. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, drew estate, Edgar Hoill, La Palina, Villiger

by CigarCraig | November 10, 2013 · 6:10 pm

A Man O’War, A Joya de Nicaragua and a New Nomad Cigar

As the evenings get colder, my desire to smoke fuller bodied cigars increases. Normally I’ll smoke just about any strength cigar, but I lose milder cigars in the cold air. I have a beautiful Connecticut Shade wrapped cigar that the folks at Custom Tobacco sent me, complete with a personalized band, that I’ve been putting off smoking for this reason. I really want to be able to give this cigar my complete attention and smoke it in daylight and relative warmth! Hopefully I can get that done soon, because I like what those folks do and I’m anxious to see how the cigars smoke!

So Thursday evening I picked out a Man O’ War Dark Aged Maduro Robusto. This was a sample from the Meier and Dutch booth at the IPCPR show. I noted when I took a sniff of the cigar that it reminded me of some jalapeño dark chocolate I once had, and once I lit it up I got that nice spice right off the bat. The spice continued either until it mellowed out of my palate got used to it, I’m not sure which. That brings up an interesting point. Do the flavors in a cigar actually change, or do our taste perceptions change during the time we are smoking a cigar? I’ve seen cigars made, I understand how tobaccos can be placed in a bunch in various ways to effect the burn and flavor, but it’s hard for me to imagine someone sitting at a bench eight hours a day, five days a week placing the exact leaves in the exact place every time to make a specific flavor transition. It’s certainly plausible, but the cynical side of me just wonders if it’s more of a physiological change in our mouths than a physical change in the tobaccos. The comment section is open for your thoughts on this, the more expert opinions the better! I digress. The Man O’ War was a fantastic cigar, right in my wheelhouse, up my alley and was just about perfect for the time and situation. If you don’t see these listed on Cigars International’s website, it’s because it’s a brick and mortar exclusive. I’ll look for these the next time I stop in one of the Cigars International stores, or look in local B&Ms.

Friday I’m known to smoke a sure thing, something I know, or strongly suspect, will be a great, satisfying smoke. I had a Joya de Nicaragua Antaño 1970 Consul floating around the humidor that suffered a little head damage. I think it got pinched in a travel humidor somewhere along the line, resulting in a perfect split in the middle of the cap and a tapered on two sides, not unlike a La Flor Dominicana Chisel. Of course, because I’m borderline CDO (OCD in alpha

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betical order, as it should be!), and the taper was up and down instead of side to side, I had to remove the band. I was going to just turn the band the right way, but I figured it had to come off eventually anyway. Apart from the damage, it smoked perfectly, and the tapered head actually made it a little more interesting so smoke. Fortunately I was alone and in the dark, my vanity wouldn’t allow me to smoke this in public. (Those who know me know I’m joking about this….not he CDO part, but the vanity part!). Great, full flavor, full strength cigar that’s been a favorite of mine since they came out. I have a soft spot for just about any cigar that was made in a factory I’ve visited, having some personal connection seems to make a difference in a lot of cases.

Saturday evening I chose a new cigar from Nomad Cigars to accompany me on my evening walk. This S-307 box pressed toro is made for Fred Rewey by A.J.Fernandez. Here’s a blurb from the press release:

Estelí, Nicaragua (November 4, 2013) – Nomad Cigar Company is pleased to announce the release of the much-anticipated Nomad S-307.

Nomad’s first full production cigar in Nicaragua, the S-307 is a box pressed Sumatra wrapped cigar blended and rolled at the AJ Fernandez factory in Estelí, Nicaragua.

Nam

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e: Nomad S-307

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra

Binder: Ecuadorian Habano

Filler: Nicaraguan

Factory: AJ Fernandez

Notable: 21 count, Box Pressed

Sizes / Pricing

Toro (6×50) – $7.95 MSRP

Robusto (5×50) – $7.75 MSRP

Torpedo (6.5×52) – $7.95 MSRP

In keeping with his trend, Rewey gave meaning to the name of his new cigar as well. The “S” stands for Sumatra. The “307” pays homage to the approximate square miles of the Estelì area.

I’ve not met many cigars made by A.J. Fernandez that I didn’t like, including the above mentioned Man O’ War. This cigar was no different. It was full of flavor and left me quite satisfied and wishing it were a little bit longer. The construction was perfect and it was quite enjoyable. So far, Fred’s Nicaraguan offerings have hit the spot for me more than his Dominican cigars, but both are excellent and they deserve to be tried if you are presented with the opportunity.

I’ve started the ball rolling on the upcoming 12 Days of Spectacular Giveaways! So far I’m one third of the way there, with 4 companies on board, and I just sent the e-mail out yesterday! I expect to hear from more tomorrow when people get back to work and have my 12 sponsors lined up by the end of the week. Then it’s the arduous task of finding humidor room, taking pictures and writing up posts. Tune in on December 12 when we start the madness for 2013!

Once again, I didn’t smoke any crappy cigars this week! It’s time for my walk now, I wonder what I should grab? Something new that I may not care for, or a tried and true cigar that will cap off the weekend nicely. It’s getting hard to “take one for the team” when the humidor is filled with such great smokes! I’m feeling like a lancero (I don’t look like one!). Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 12 days, cigar, cigars, joya de nicaragua, Man O' War, Nomad

by CigarCraig | November 6, 2013 · 7:46 pm

A Tortuga, a Nica Rustica and a Pair of Casa Fernandez Cigars

I was just thinking how I really haven’t had a bad cigar, or even one I didn’t care for, in a very long time! I hope I don’t jinx myself having said that. I still have a bunch of IPCPR samples to get into, so all hope isn’t lost. 🙂

Saturday I was gifted a new size of the Tortuga 215 Reserva by Victor Vitale. This is a 5” x 48 cigar with a cedar sleeve and is yet to appear on retailers shelves. The Tortuga line is a limited edition, boutique line made in Honduras. In the past I’ve enjoyed the 215 Edition Limitada, and 1948 Connecticut, and my favorite, the 1950 Maduro, as well as a few of the new 215 Reserva which was released at the 2013 IPCPR show. The Cedro is a Nicaraguan puro that starts out with a delicious cedar flavor, no doubt a result of being wrapped in cedar! It’s a very savory, woody smoke with a little sweetness thrown in. I love the size. IF you can find these treat yourself to one.

Any time we have to change the clocks it causes a disturbance in The Force, but it’s hard to pick up on the first day. When the work week begins and you get a full appreciation of it being almost dark on the way home, it sinks in. I prefer not to smoke in the dark. I’m weird, but I get as much enjoyment out of watching my cigar burn as I do enjoying the flavor. It also makes it easier to know when you’re going to burn your fingers! Anyway, I needed a Monday sure thing, so I took a gamble on an IPCPR sample of the Drew Estate Nica Rustica which shipped this week. I loved the pre-release sample I brought back from Nicaragua last May, it was something special. It seems that they removed the “wild” Esteli leaf from the production blend (ironic that this “jungle” leaf was used in the above mentioned Tortuga 1950 Maduro, or something very similar). The production Nica Rustica is still an excellent smoke. It’s rustic, but it burns arrow straight, and the flavor isn’t what I’d call refined, but it’s heavy and right up my alley. If the Undercrown is the poor man’s Liga Privada, then this is the poorer man’s Undercrown, and I’ll probably get in trouble for that comparison. At around $6 for a Toro if you like fuller bodied cigars you really can’t go wrong. This is a cigar I could smoke every day. Even without that special “wild” tobacco, it’s another winner. It even has a pigtail cap and a closed foot!

A couple weeks ago I received some samples from the folks at Casa Fernandez Cigars. My experience with this line was previously limited to an Aganorsa Leaf Toro, which I loved, and a similar cigar with the secondary CRA bad which I didn’t love so much. The cigars I received were both similar in size to the Tortuga Cedro, the Casa Fernandez Reserva Maduro Corona Extra 5” x 46 and the Aganorsa Leaf Maduro ‘Ilustre’ 5 x 48. Once again, these are a perfect size for my evening walks now that the weather is colder and it’s dark early. Both cigars are made in the Miami factory, and both carry a retail price of $8.90. I smoked the Reserva Maduro last night after a nice steak, and it shared the savor, meaty flavors and was a really nice cigar. The performance was perfect, it burned well, it drew well and, as much as I like the size, I ended up wishing is was longer! Same with the Ilustre. This one has my favorite wrapper, the San Andrés, and it was reminiscent of strong, black coffee. It also was constructed perfectly and also left me yearning for more. Both fit the time I had allotted though, I hate it when I have a nice cigar that I can’t finish. I certainly have smoked cigar that contained some of the Aganorsa leaf, and I will need to seek out some more of the Casa Fernandez lines to sample. I’ll state publicly that I don’t care for their website, and I said that privately as well, and was assured that they are working on it. Flash sites are impossible to link directly to various pages, and I couldn’t view it at all on my Android tablet. I think more and more people are using devices that don’t work with Flash these days, and it doesn’t seem wise to alienate that large an audience.

I’d like to thank all of my readers and visitors. Alexa is a site that tracks the relative popularity of websites around the world, and I’m pleased to see that I’ve broken the top one million websites worldwide, and have what I consider a pretty respectable ranking in the US. So thanks for reading, and as your reward I will have a couple contests in December (regular readers will know that I’ve been having pretty terrific contests for the last couple Decembers!). Stay tuned.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Casa Fernandez, cigar, cigars, drew estate, Nica Rustica, Tortuga

by CigarCraig | November 3, 2013 · 12:54 pm

Ora Vivo Armand Assante Cigar Dinner

Last night my wife, Jennifer, and I drove up to Matawan, New Jersey to attend a cigar dinner hosted by the Smoker’s Haven stores, Victor Vitale, Gary Macchione, with special guest Armand Assante. The dinner was held at Sterling Gardens, a banquet hall. Since smoking is forbidden indoors in New Jersey, they had set up tables outside on the patio in front of the building for smoking. Our $65 tickets covered a four course meal and two of the new Ora Vivo Armand Assante cigars, a 5 x 54 Robusto and a 7.5 x 58 Double Corona. I chose the Robusto for a pre-dinner smoke, which was spent talking to Victor about the cigars, as well as his Tortuga line. The 5×54 was a nice smoke. It’s on the milder side for a Nicaragua

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n puro, and the burn was perfect. I always marvel at a nice, flat ember on a cigar, it’s a testament to the blending and rolling art. It’s a sophisticated, complex blend that’s quite satisfying.

We sat down at our table with a non-smoking retired teacher with a screenplay he wanted to give to Armand, and three women. It turns out that two of these women were there because it was a cigar dinner primarily! We ended up making some new friends, I think. We had interesting convers

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ations about all topics including cigars. We lucked out with excellent company. While we were enjoying the first course, which was a nice fruit plate with melon, pineapple, grapes and kiwi, Victor got up and talked about the Ora Vivo cigars, and answered cigar related questions from the crowd. He then introduced Armand Assante who shared his involvement and experience with the cigars. After a Caesar Salad, the main course was served. Jenn had the salmon, and I had beef and it was very good. Armand took questions about his career and films from the crowd after the main course was served. Several of us were chomping at the bit to get out to the smoking area for a cigar, this was, after all, a cigar dinner. I, much to my regret, missed the dessert, which was cheese cake. I love cheese cake.

I lit up the Double Corona which I’ve smoked before and didn’t regret missing the dessert quite as much. I think this larger size displays more sweet tobacco flavor than the smaller size I smoked earlier. It’s larger than I normally prefer, but it was a pleasant evening and I was among friendly and interesting company. The burn was also not as razor straight as the Robusto, but that hardly impacted the experience negatively. We ended up standing there outside until after 11 PM talking with Victor and Gary after everyone left. I admit that my biggest disappointment of the evening was that Armand didn’t hang around and have a cigar with us. My second disappointment was that they only took cash for box sales (Armand was autographing boxes. Not that I’m a sucker for celebrity autographs, but it would have been pretty cool, and the prices were decent for New Jersey). I know several people who would have bought a box if they had taken credit cards, and it’s very easy to do on modern phones these days. Other than that, it was a great evening out. We met some super people, smoked some tasty cigars and had a good time. It’s very fortunate that it was a relatively warm evening for early November in northern New Jersey. Thanks to the folks at Smoker’s Haven, Victor, Gary and Armand for the great evening.

We took a bunch of picture, none of which came out very well due to the lighting and lack of experience with a different camera. Fortunately Victor shared a few pictures with us. Click on one of the pictures for a slideshow. I’ll try to mooch more pictures and add them to the slide show.

That’s all for now. I think I may have to take a Tortuga for a walk this afternoon! Somewhere I came into possession of a yet to be released Tortuga 215 Reserva En Cedro in a rally nice classic corona gorda size. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Boutique Brands, cigar, Cigar Dinner, cigars, Ora Vivo Armand Assante, Smoker's Haven, Tortuga, Victor Vitale

by CigarCraig | November 1, 2013 · 5:30 pm

Cigar Mojo – New Shop and Lounge in Suburban Philly

Wednesday evening I stopped into a new shop and lounge in the King of Prussia area outside Philadelphia, PA. Cigar Mojo is a joint venture between father and son, Wade and Trae Roberts. I first met Trae a couple months ago at the Wooden Indian in nearby Havertown, PA. They finally opened for business on Wednesday, so I stopped in to see the place. I’ve been following their progress on their Facebook page with interest, and had been invited to a pre-opening event they held back in early September but was unable to attend. It was worth the wait, the shop is beautiful. They have a large walk-in humidor that has all Spanish Cedar walls and shelves which is in the process of being stocked. They have a large shop area with plenty of room for accessories and some seating. The most impressive part is the lounge. The space is beautifully done with reclining leather chairs and TVs on either end. The lounge is open to patrons during business hours, and they have a membership program that offers 24 hour access. They also have a bank of humidor lockers for members. The membership options are outlined on their website. I’m impressed so far. Wade and Trae are passionate about cigars, and they seem to have the right idea about how to serve their customers. I purchased a couple of the new Saint Luis Rey Gen 2 Toros and enjoyed one of them thoroughly while chatting with Ryan, the local Altadis rep. The SLR was a tasty, medium bodied cigar, very nice. It’s one I’ve been wanting to try but haven’t managed to until it jumped out at me in the humidor. Great combination of flavor, construction and price point (around $6). Both the Saint Luis Rey and Cigar Mojo are highly recommended. The photos don’t do it justice. Click on any picture for a slideshow.