CigarCraig's Blog

by CigarCraig | October 13, 2013 · 2:49 pm

La Gloria Cubana, Cuenca 5 Anniversary, Arandoza White and a Velvet Rat Cigar

Friday evening I dove into the Adorini Cedro – Deluxe humidor and came out with a La Gloria Cubana Serie N GSB, which is a nice chunky robusto size at 5½”x 54. I haven’t smoked one of these in a long time and I really enjoyed them. Unlike the new Serie R Black and Esteli, these are a heavily Nicaraguan blend rolled in the El Credito Portion of the General Cigar factory in Santiago, Dominican Republic. This is the nice, dark maduro with the little “N” of lighter colored leaf pasted on the cigar. I’ll never forget seeing the bench in the factory where they painstakingly apply each one perfectly. The have a hand punch that makes

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the “N”s and they are scattered all over the place. It’s a wonder they can sell these as inexpensively as they do. I picked this particular one up at my birthday party at CI in August along with a couple of the Serie R Black. I love the rich, hearty flavor of the Serie N, although this one burned a little funky through the first half until it evened out. It happens. It was a lovely smoke and I seriously need to get more of these. The humidor is still 90% La Gloria Cubana, and holds humidity like a champ. I’ve said before that this is a solid box, and out-performs the Griffins humidor I have. BTW, the Griffins humidor does a nice job too, except I have to lock it to keep the lid fully closed. The Adorini’s lid drops with a soft whoosh and doesn’t need to be locked to stay closed. That’s the only real complaint I have with the Griffin’s box, it’s truly a great looking humidor. It’s the humidor in which I keep all my Liga Privadas and cigars I blended on my trips to Cigar Safari.

Saturday I took a pre-dinner walk with a Cuenca 5 Anniversary Robusto, one I was looking for and couldn’t find the other night. This is made for the Cuenca Cigars shop in Florida by A.J. Fernandez. I smoked the original earlier in the year, a large torpedo, and have smoked a couple of this new robusto size and must say that it’s a very nice cigar. Full, rich flavor and an excellent burn. They did a very nice job with this cigar. These run $8.00 a piece, which is pricey, and the much ;larger torpedo is only $.50 more per cigar. This is consistent with how I understand the costs of producing a cigar (there’s not a very great difference between the cost of making a corona and a Churchill), but not very consistent with normal retail pricing. Price aside, both sizes are good tasting, good performing cigars that I wouldn’t hesitate to smoke or recommend. They have a shop in Florida somewhere, but if the address is listed on the website, I couldn’t find it and gave up looking after a while.

After dinner I took another walk and selected an Arandoza White robusto. This is the second release from Arandoza and is made in Eric Espinosa’s La Zona factory in Esteli. I’ve been trying to recall if I’ve had a bad cigar from this factory, and I don’t think I have. This cigar is a Nicaraguan puro with a Dar

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k Habano wrapper. Really a nice looking cigar. It also burned very nicely, which is a quality I obviously enjoy. I like seeing a cigar burn evenly, and when you tap the ash it’s perfectly flat. That, my friends, is one sign of a great blend in my book. Getting multiple varieties of tobacco with multiple rates of combustion to burn at the same rate is astounding to me. This was such a cigar. This has a nice sweet tobacco flavor with some pepper and was quite enjoyable. I have one of re-banded Blue label cigars that I’ve enjoyed in the past. They really fancied up the bands adding a foot band. Nice presentation, nice cigars.

As I’ve been writing this, I’ve been enjoying a cigar from the Griffins humidor which returned with me from my last Cigar Safari trip. It’s one of those unreleased cigars that I may get one or two more chances to smoke again. It’s the Velvet Rat, a smoothed out, stretched out variation of the Liga Privada Serie Unico Dirty Rat. This one has a band on it that says “pre-release sample blend”, and I’m not sure if this is on the market or not. It’s 6¼” x 46, which is a terrific size for me, and I believe the same size as the “Ratzilla”, which I haven’t had grace my humidors. This is a cigar that I’m glad that I’m enjoying on the deck and not out taking a walk. It’s smooth and rich, not a real heavy smoke like it’s smaller sibling. It’s sweet and full of flavor and I’m about ready to publish this post right now and just sit and enjoy the rest of the cigar sitting in the sun on a beautiful fall afternoon. It’s no secret that the majority of the Liga Privada blends suit my palate pretty well, and this is a tasty treat for sure.

That’s enough from me, until the next time,

CigarCraig

3 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as Arandoza, cigar, cigars, Cuenca, La Gloria Cubana, liga privada, Velvet Rat

by CigarCraig | October 9, 2013 · 9:21 pm

A Cuban Stock Triumph and a Tortuga 215 Reserva, a Philly Connection

This week I smoked a couple cigars with a Philadelphia connection. This was purely by accident, as I had planned a different cigar for tonight’s walk, with a completely different tie in, but I couldn’t find the cigars I was looking for. This could indicate a problem, I’m not sure. Seems like I need to do some organizational work in the humidors, which are still a bit of a mess after returning from the IPCPR show. I’ll get it worked out eventually, I promise.

Last night’s cigar was a Cuban Stock Triumph Torpedo which was sent to me by Will at SJ Cigars. SJ Cigars is a chain of shops in the Philadelphia area that I have yet to visit. They’ve been around quite a while, and my son has been to the one on South Street, and I’ve been past the one in Bala Cynwyd, but I haven’t had the chance to stop in. My first exposure to the Cuban Stock brand was a dozen or so years ago when I guy I worked with smoked them exclusively (he still does, actually, I ran into him a year or two ago). He gave me one all those years ago and I remember it being a nice, mild cigar. This Triumph is made in the Dominican Republic and has a jet black wrapper, referred to on the website as DMS, and I don’t know what that means. Elsewhere it says it’s from Ecuador. The tobaccos are reported to be 10 years old and aged in oak barrels. Whatever the makeup is, it’e a really tasty maduro smoke. I had a strong espresso quality and burned well. I really enjoyed this cigar, and they appear to be reasonably priced. I do recall seeing a Cuban Stock booth at the trade show so they may be available nationally. I need to try getting to one of the stores one of these days!

Tonight’s cigar was a Tortuga 215 Reserva Alma, which is a 5″ x 52 robusto. I picked up a couple of these last weekend in New Hampshire. My friend Mike Perry sent me one of these in the 7½” x 58 Diplomatico size, but I haven’t had the time to smoke that one yet. Of course, I’ve enjoyed many of the 215 Edición Limitada 2011 in the past, and the new Reserva is a notch better to my palate. It is medium bodied, and except for a little slanted burn half way through, it performed well considering I bought it Saturday and got it into the humidor Monday morning. Oddly, this robusto is named after my paternal grandmother, which is a little unusual. This is a nice smoke, like all of the Tortugas. Mike also sent me a 1950 Natural Aged Maduro, which I really look forward to since I enjoyed the torpedo so much a couple years ago. I forget what I paid for the robusto, but I want to say it was in the $7 range in tax free New Hampshire. Now that Victor Vitale lives in Philadelphia again (there’s the connection!), maybe I’ll get to see him once in a while!

I received an e-mail this week from Jon Fontane at Metal Shop introducing me to a cigar ashtray they are making. Here’s the blurb from the website:

A simple yet elegant piece perfect for the gentleman cigar smoker. Our Cigar Stand with Ashtray is made from solid brass and weighs in out over 7 pounds. The interior of the ashtray is blasted with quartz crystal to contrast the machined brass and the entire piece is finished in lacquer. The piece is 4.5″ long, 2″ tall and 2.5″ wide.

Pretty cool, eh? Check it out here.

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

CigarCraig

4 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Cuban Stock, SJ Cigars, Tortuga, Victor Vitale

by CigarCraig | October 7, 2013 · 12:53 am

2 Guys Smoke Shop and The Cigar Authority

Editor’s Note: I warned you last time that today’s post might be late! I was writing this on my tablet on the road, and somehow, I inadvertently posted the first paragraph last night. Sorry for the false start! It’s not quite as easy posting from the tablet. So here’s the real deal, better late than never.

This weekend my wife and I got in the car and drove north to New Hampshire for a weekend getaway. One of the destinations on our list was the 2 Guys Smoke Shop in Nashua. I’ve been hearing about this chain of shops for years through various channels, it was about time I paid a visit. Dave Garofalo just celebrated his 28th year in business. As well as running the three stores in New Hampshire, he has a mail order business and sits on the boards of the IPCPR, the TAA, and the CANH (Cigar Association of New Hampshire). The store in Nashua is impressive. They have 1100 open boxes in display cases surrounding the shop, a huge walk-in humidor filled with boxes, and a Diamond Crown Lounge. The pricing is excellent considering there is no cigar tax in New Hampshire, and they do my home state of Pennsylvania one better by not having sales tax. I bought a handful of cigars and settled in with a Bandolero Traviesos robusto and chatted with Dave. The Bandolero is an exceptional smoke. It was sweet, smooth and had a curious little twang in the background. This cigar is made by Nelson Alfonso, the guy behind a lot of Haban

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os S.A.’s packaging like the ceramic jars and such. The packaging for these is equally as cool. These are offered in tin “jars” each of which has a picture and the story (in Spanish) of the Bandolero, who was someone who kind of black marketed tobacco in the days when Spain had a monopoly on cigar production. The tins even have a humidifying element in the lid. It’s a terrific cigar with great presentation.

One of the things Dave does in his free time is a two hour radio show every Saturday called The Cigar Authority. I’ve been listening to the podcasted version of the show for a couple years and have corresponded with Dave several times about things that have come up. I was excited when Dave invited me on the show, clearly it was a slow week for them. The first cigar we smoked was a Psyko 7 from Ventura Cigars, which was very nice. It was medium bodied and had a nice sweetness. It was quite enjoyable. I’m not going to go into what was discussed, you can listen yourself at TheCigarAuthority.com or find it on iTunes. I ended up sitting in on the rest of the show. In the second half we smoked one of Dave’s own brands, La Gianna Havana, in honor of his daughter’s birthday. He gave me a Maduro which was a really nice, tasty mild cigar. While I was sorry to put the Psyko 7 down, this was a suitable replacement. It was a great time, an I was honored to ba able to participate. My one regret was that I wasn’t able to follow the chat-room or Facebook and failed to give a shout out to my old friends Mike Perry and Mark Williams (and maybe Dan Po

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e). Sorry guys! Jenn was trying to type it in a large enough font on her tablet for me to see but the show was over by then. Next time, I promise. I also had the pleasure of meeting a Facebook friend, Charlie Pitarys, who has a cigar lounge in Tennessee. He was there celebrating his birthday. Many thanks to Dave and Mr. Jonathan for their generosity! They made us feel like family and that we belonged there.

I’m not sure when I’ll visit New Hampshire again, but you better believe I’ll be visiting one of the three 2 Guys shops while I’m there. In a funny coincidence, we ran into Johnny Brooke, the PR guy for Drew Estate, who just moved to the Boston area from Miami. He was there with Derek Stewart from the reddit.com/r/cigars forum. I had no idea John had moved north and it was a bit of a “what the f*** are you doing here” moment for both of us! Small world. Jenn and I said our goodbyes and headed to Maine for a lobstah dinnah, and passed the 2 Guys Seabrook store on the way. Today we headed to Burlington, Vermont, then home to PA. We had a whirlwind weekend, covering eight states! Lots of fun and lots of great friends and cigars.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

4 Comments

Filed under Review, Stores, Trip Report

Tagged as 2 Guys, Bandolero, cigar, cigar store, cigars, La Gianna Havana, Psyko 7, The Cigar Authority

by CigarCraig | October 2, 2013 · 9:15 pm

Aging Room, Alec Bradley, Debonaire, Viaje Cigars and an Upcoming Trip

We’ve had some nice weather here in southeast PA, so it’s been a pleasure taking my evening walks. I’ve managed to get some nice cigars in (so whats new?)

Sunday evening I grabbed an Aging Room Small Batch M-356 toro that Rafael Nodal gave me at the Cigarnival last June. This is a cigar that is new to me, sure I’ve heard about them over the years, but never had a chance to try one. This is a Dominican cigar with a Habano wrapper which I approached with anticipation. I found it to be enjoyable, but I had a heck of a time keeping it burning right. I had to really pay a lot of attention to it or it would go out. I smoked this while walking with the dog and my oldest son, who enjoyed a Diesel Unholy Cocktail. I would love to smoke another one to see if the burn characteristics were an anomaly. It had a really nice, sweet flavor that I enjoyed.

Monday night I grabbed an AlecBradley Tempus Maduro Robusto. I believe this cigar came from the pack that they handed out at the party Alec Bradly Cigars threw at the Palms Hotel pool at the IPCPR show in Vegas. They had three or four cigars packaged like a Wonka bar (almost appropriate since Tuesday was International Willy Wonka Day!), of which I smoked the Nica Puro while there. The Tempus Maduro has my favorite San Andrés wrapper, so I figured I was in for a treat. It was a treat, although different from what I generally expect from this wrapper. This cigar had a pretty aggressive flavor reminiscent of the Mexican tobacco of the 90s. It burned well and had a nice, long finish. This is a cigar that after you’ve smoked it, you know you smoked a cigar. I’m getting old, I prefer a smoother, creamier maduro these days, but this was an enjoyable smoke. There are so many great smokes in the Alec Bradley range.

Tuesday I, once again, dug into the IPCPR samples and pulled out a Debonaire Robusto. This is a Dominican cigar that is made by Phil Zanghi, who is the guy who originally made the Indian Tabak line in the 90s and sold it to Rocky Patel. There’s not a lot of information out there about this cigar, and I failed to make it back to the Debonaire booth at the IPCPR show to talk to Phil. In doing a little quick research, it looks like this is a pricey smoke, running in the $13 range. It was a good smoke, perfectly rolled and pleasing. Honestly, this is just me, but If I were faced with the choice of this cigar or a Liga Privada of just about any variety in the same price range, the Ligas suit my palate much more. Certainly a cigar to try.

Tonight I took my nightly walk with a recent gift I received from Will Cooper of Cigar-Coop.com. This is the first Viaje cigar I’ve smoked, and I’ve stayed away from the line largely because the selection is dizzying, there are so many small batch lines that I can’t keep them straight. This cigar was the 5″x52 Friends and Family Le Joueur, and there’s no information about this cigar on the Viaje website (there’s no information about any of the cigars on the website). Since Will gave me this cigar, see what he had to say at Cigar-Coop.com. I have to say that it was a very enjoyable smoke. The burn meandered a bit for me, but it drew perfectly with a V-cut and ended up straightening out in the last half. I thought it was pretty savory and satisfying, and I wan to thank my friend Will for sharing this with me and giving me my first glimpse into the world of Viaje. I can’t say I haven’t been curious about the line, and after smoking one, I may have to sample some more at some point.

This weekend we are driving up to New Hampshire and plan to pay a visit to the 2 Guys Smoke Shop in Nashua. While there I hope to weasel my way into their Cigar Authority radio show, so if you are bored, tune into the Cigar Authority website to watch the live video feed, or listen to it via podcast. I’ve long been a fan of the show and am looking forward to the visit. In other news, this in from my friend Barry Stein at Miami Cigar and Company:

Come celebrate National 107 Day, by smoking a La Aurora 107 on 10/7. Share with us your images on social media with the hashtag #LaAurora107 and you could win an all inclusive trip to the La Aurora Cigar factory.

That’s it for now. Sunday’s post may be a little late, or early and short, I’m not sure which yet. Either way, it’ll be the usual nonsense you’ve come to expect.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

1 Comment

Filed under IPCPR, Review, Take a Cigar For a Walk

Tagged as Aging Room, Alec Bradley, cigar, cigar store, Cigar-Coop, cigars, Debonaire, IPCPR, La Aurora, Viaje

by CigarCraig | September 29, 2013 · 11:09 am

Three Stooges Cigar Band Magnet Last night we attended the very first Stooges and Stogies© event hosted by Chester County, PA author Jim Breslin. Jim had his friend Chris set up an outdoor screen and a projector (the old fashioned kind with reels and film!), set out a spread and had some kegs of microbrews on tap, and we watched Three Stooges shorts all night. I thought this was a great idea and took along some cigars to share. Of course, Stogies

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and Stooges go together, there were stogies present in several of the episodes we watched, which ranged from the early original Moe, Larry, Curly line up, wartime Moe, Larry, Shemp editions, to some later episodes featuring Moe, Larry and Joe Besser. Hilarity ensued. I lit up a Casa Toraño Maduro Lancero for the pre-screening meet and greet and it was perfect. The Lancero size needs to me smoked slowly, so it’s almost the perfect size for socializing. Of course, I really enjoy the flavor of this maduro, lots of chocolate and espresso and it couldn’t have burned better. I was almost tempted to light up another one when I came across an Undercrown Corona Viva in my case. This may be my number one repeat cigar, I’ve smoked a bunch of these over the past year and they never are a disappointment. They are terrific dark, rich cigars that suit my palate. I paired both cigars with a frosty bottle of Reeds Extra Ginger Brew and laughter.

Here are a few pictures from the event:

This was a great idea for an event, thank you to Jim and his wife for hosting it and inviting us to enjoy it along with you. Well done!

Rewinding a little, earlier in the week I took a walk with a nice Dignidad Del Hombre Orudam X Torpedo from Dignity Cigars. I first met Don Juan Gross at the 2011 IPCPR show. It’s funny the things that stick in your head, it was at the General Cigar reception at a nightclub called Lavo, I think, when I walked up to the bar to get a Coke and Don Juan introduced himself. I talked to him at his booth the next day, and have seen him at the shows for the last two years, but we never managed to get time for an interview (one of several regrets I have from this past year’s show). Don Juan makes some fine cigars in Costa Rica, and is based out of California. Super nice guy. Anyway, he laid this Torpedo on me in Vegas and I just got around to smoking it. It started off with a really nice sweetness and burned arrow straight. about half way through there was a flavor change, and I don’t often pick up on those. I’m sure they happen all the time, but I’m either not paying attention or don’t have the palate to discern them. Anyway, I picked up a distinct bitter flavor, not a bad flavor, it just amused me that it switched from sweet to bitter that quick

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. I think I have a couple more specimens from the Dignity line floating around, so I’ll be looking forward

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to revisiting it. I know I have an enormous Diadema measuring 9 ¼” x 55 from his SMOKE OF ART series that he gave me last year that I just haven’t found the time to smoke. If you run across the Dignity line, give it a try, and if you have a chance to meet Don Juan Gross, take advantage of it, he’s a super nice guy.