CigarCraig's Blog

by CigarCraig | September 4, 2013 · 6:24 pm

The Sport of Kings with Kings Cigars, a UF-13 and a Reinado Grand Empire Reserve

OK, it’s time to get back on track! Monday was Labor Day, the last Monday holiday that most of us get off for the year, and the unofficial end of summer. Of course, those of us who are in massive denial will swear to you that September 21st is the end of summer, so there’s still 3 weeks left! Personally, since August was unseasonably cool, I think we need at least another month of summer! What can I say, I like summer!

Monday my wife, her dad and I went to Delaware Park. I don’t mind dropping a couple buck playing the ponies from time to time, especially when I can enjoy a fine cigar in the process. I selected a King’s Cigars King of Kings, which is their box pressed, 6” x 60, Habano wrapped beauty that Anwar and Pete said I should let rest for a while as they weren’t quite ready yet. I figured it had been six or seven weeks since I received the cigars, so it was time to try one. If you recall, we enjoyed spending some time with the guys from Kings at the IPCPR show, and I really enjoyed the Conde Churchill, which has my favorite San Andreas wrapper. This cigar has a Habano wrapper, Habano Criollo binder and their proprietary filler blend. I had a heck of a time getting this sucker lit, as it was pretty breezy at the track, and once I finally did get it burning well it started to rain! It rained off and on while we were there, so we spent a few races sitting in the grandstand under the roof. My main complaint about this cigar, it’s one major failing, was that it failed to discourage a couple with two small crying children from sitting directly behind us. I don’t understand, since the cigar produced copious amounts of smoke, and there were plenty of empty seats in places where crying children wouldn’t be so much of a bother. It’s not like I walked up and parked myself in front of them with my cigar. A smoke billowing cigar should create a buffer zone around oneself in a place like that! I guess there’s the old fart in me coming out…anyway, great smoke, looking forward to revisiting this in another month or two, and the Barons and Condes remaining in the humidor are calling my name. Nice smokes, nice guys, have no idea what the price points on these are as I haven’t seen them on any local store shelves. My IPCPR interview with the guys from Kings Cigars is here.

When I got home I took the dog for a walk with a Drew Estate Liga Privada Serie Unico UF-13 Dark which came back with me from Nicaragua last May. I may be able to confidently state that this is my favorite among the Unico series, I think I like it a little better than the Dirty Rat, however my sample sizes have been pretty small on the other sizes. It’s a happenin smoke, thats for sure. I always seem to lose the fancy fantail when I pull the cigar from the cello, but that’s OK since it’s coming off anyway. I appreciate the work that goes into these special cap treatments, but it seems a shame since they get lopped off anyway. Darned yummy friggin cigar!

Tuesday I grabbed a Reinado Grand Empire Reserve Corona Gorda, which is a new size in the line which was released at the IPCPR show along with the Toro and the Petite Lancero. This is one of my favorite sizes at 5 5/8” x 46 and punched perfectly with my Screwpop punch. This dark and oily, rich flavored cigar is described by brand owner Antonio Lam as a flavor bomb, and I couldn’t agree more. I really love the cigars in this line, they really have everything I look for as far as flavor and construction. I just wish I could get them cheaper! These are fantastic smokes and if you like the dark side (heavy, dark espresso/cocoa flavors) like I do, seek them out and give them a try. Here’s a video with Antonio from the IPCPR show:

That’s it for now. I’m going to hunt down something interesting for tonight’s walk and start getting ready for another weekend! I would love it if every week was a 3 day weekend and a four day work week. I have to try to find a situation like that.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

2 Comments

Filed under IPCPR, Review, Video

Tagged as cigar, cigars, drew estate, Grand Empire Reserve, IPCPR, Kings, liga privada, Reinado

by CigarCraig | September 1, 2013 · 10:28 pm

Birthday Cigars, a Contest Winner and Random Sunday Nonsense

I’ve been a slug this week. We’ve had a busy week here with our youngest going to the National Outdoor Leadership School for 3 weeks, my birthday, along with my wife planning my party on Saturday, as well as it being a holiday weekend. Autumn bums me out a little too, so the specter of summer ending is tough for me. I’ve been just grabbing smokes without concern for writing about them and just enjoying them. I’m old. You kids get the hell off my lawn! Anyway, I’ll get back on track this week.

Thursday was my birthday, and I wanted to smoke something special. I couldn’t really decide what I wanted to smoke, so I went with one of the cigars I blended at Cigar Safari last May. This is the third one of these I’ve smoked, and it’s an enjoyable smoke for me. I used a San Andreas maduro wrapper over a Cameroon binder, along with fillers from Brazil and Nicaragua. Obviously a cigar of your own blending is special, and there’s only seven of these left on the planet, so they are quite rare. I enjoyed the heck out of the cigar, although if I were to do it again I would’t have selected the 6″ x 54 size. The 5×44 size I made two years ago was nice, I shouldn’t have gone quite so much larger. I still love them and they are a special cigar to me. It was a great way to celebrate my 50th birthday.

Saturday we went up to Cigars International in Hamburg, PA to have some cigars with some friends for a few hours. I tried the newish La Gloria Cubana Serie R Black for the first time. The La Gloria Serie R Esteli is a brick and mortar only, while the Black is just for online and catalog sales. Buying this in a brick and mortar location of a major catalog merchant blurs the lines a little bit, but at least it gave me the chance to try this without springing for a five pack and shipping. It was a fine cigar. I think the Esteli version is a richer cigar, a little deeper in flavor than the black. Granted, this was smoked off the sales floor and hasn’t had the advantage of aging, but the Esteli samples haven’t really either. Of course, I’m a La Gloria Cubana fan, and pretty much enjoy everything from the line. I picked up some more of the Rabitos de Cocina and Serie Ns while there.I also smoked a Don Pepin Garcia Original Lancero, a gift from Graham of Over a Cigar podcast and The Cigar Lounger magazine. This is a fantastic smoke. I love the Lancero shape, it’s a perfect format for a social situation. It needs to be smoked slowly, and a good one can be a distraction from conversation. We had a great time at the Hamburg CI, managed to be the last people out of there sometime after 11. I had friends from high school, as well as friends from the cigar world there and everyone had a great time. Thanks to everyone who made it out.

Wednesday I offered a contest featuring The Bacon Jams from my friend Bruce at www.TheBaconJams.com. I’m going to send a taster with the three flavors to the winner, and a couple cigars could fall into the box too, it’s happened before. This seemed appropriate since yesterday was International Bacon Day. I don’t know about you, but every day is a good day for bacon, and this Bacon Jam makes it easy to enjoy it’s bacony goodness. The odds are better than most of my contests, and I have to say I’m a little disappointed in the response. I consulted Random.org, and the random number generator gave me the number 2. So I am the winner….no that’s not right….jjo is the winner! Please send me your address and I’ll get this out as soon as I meet up with Bruce for a cigar or two this week.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

4 Comments

Filed under Contest, Events, Review, Stores

Tagged as Bacon, cigar, Cigar Safari, cigar store, cigars, Cigars International, drew estate, La Gloria Cubana

by CigarCraig | August 28, 2013 · 6:34 pm

New La Glorias and CAOs, a La Zona, a Culebra, and Another Contest!

I’ve smoked a couple of La Gloria Cubana Serie R Esteli No. 54 and, for me, it’s a winner. It was exactly what I was looking for Sunday afternoon in the pool. Of course, I’m a La Gloria fan, heck, I’ve dedicated the Adorini Cedro Deluxe humidor I got from Humidor Discount to the brand (OK, I may put a cigar in there for a while when I’m too lazy to put it in the proper humidor…there’s that CDO again!). I always seem to have a collection of “LGCs” of various lines, shapes and sizes. Anyway, this new addition to the Serie R line is the first La Gloria Cubana made in Nicaragua. The Serie N, which I also enjoyed, is made in the Dominican Republic with Nicaraguan tobaccos. The Serie R Esteli is a dark, cocoa/coffee beauty with a hint of sweetness. The Esteli is a Brick and Mortar exclusive, however they also released the Serie R Black which is an online exclusive. I look forward to trying that one too, and they are all fairly priced. Good stuff.

Sunday evening I grabbed a La Zona robusto I had bought a few weeks ago for a very reasonable sub-$5 price. This is made by Erik Espinosa in his La Zona factory in Esteli, and has a Nicaraguan grown Habano wrapper. It was a great tasting cigar, although the burn meandered a bit. For the price these are hard to beat. It was medium bodied and full of flavor, well worth the money and something to have on hand for sure. Sadly, every time I went by the Espinosa booth at the trade show it was busy. This cigar comes in a Connecticut version too.

Contests

Want a chance to win some cigars? I’m not giving them away this time, but head over to The Hoyo de Monterrey website and check out the contest they are running. The Hoyo Rothschild is a solid smoke in my book, I’ve smoked plenty of them, but haven’t had one in quite a while. I don’t know how they pair with beer, but they go great with a nice premium root beer or ginger brew! They are giving away a box a week, so head over and enter!

BACON!

Want a chance to win something from my site again? My good friend Bruce makes these awesome Bacon Jams, and he gave me a tasting sampler to give away to one of you lucky readers. Yes, I said Bacon. Bacon, bacon, bacon! Spread some on your ham sandwich if you want, everything goes with bacon! They have a Kickstarter campaign running right now to get this product to market. The website is www.TheBaconJams.com. Leave a comment for a chance to win a sampler of the Original, Red Chile and Garlic and Black Pepper and Honey flavors and I’ll pick a winner on Sunday! These are high quality Bacon Preserves that are awful good, they’d have to be right? They’re made with bacon! Leave a comment here to enter.

Monday night we went out to dinner with Bruce, of The Bacon Jams fame, and his wife, and afterwards retired to our deck for cigars afterward. Bruce very generously gifted me a Partagas Culebra from the ‘90s. Oddly, I’ve never smoked a culebra, I got my 24 year old son to join us and the three of us fired these bad boys up. I enjoy the Havana Partagas line quite a bit, and this was an excellent example of the fine flavors found in the brand. It burned as straight as a bent up, crooked cigar could be expected to, and the draw was perfect. These are awful neat cigars to share with two friends. It was a great smoking experience with great company.

Another IPCPR show release I smoked a few of this week was the CAO Flathead 554 Camshaft, the most recent of which I enjoyed Tuesday night. This cigar is square pressed and has a flat head. If you’ve ever noticed, just about every cigar made by General Cigar Company has a round head. It’s one of their hallmarks, this flat headed Flat Head is unique. The first one I smoked I tried to V-cut, which didn’t work out very well. The cap popped off completely when I cut it, which I’ve heard reported by others. The second example I used my Screwpop™ Cigar Punch, which has about a 7 millimeter diameter. This worked perfectly and provided a perfect draw and everything stayed where it belonged. This is a dark and rich smoke with some strength to it. I like it. I really look forward to trying the rest of the sizes in the line, as the smaller sizes were blended for strength and the larger sizes (maybe the 7”x70 is a little big, but the box press should make it feel more manageable) were blended for flavor. An odd approach, but Ricky Rodriguez and his staff are creative guys and I’m impressed with this Camshaft size. The packaging is really quite neat too.

Well, I was all over the place this week. Lots packed into this post. It’s time to find a cigar to celebrate the last couple hours in my 40s, perhaps something with a 49 ring gauge would be appropriate. I’ll smoke something with a 50 ring tomorrow.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

8 Comments

Filed under Contest, IPCPR, Review

Tagged as CAO, cigar, cigars, Contest, Culebra, Eric Espinosa, hoyo de monterrey, La Gloria Cubana, La Zona, Partagas

by CigarCraig | August 25, 2013 · 2:00 pm

IPCRP 2013 – Guayacan Cigars, and Other Cigars That Start With G

As we were working our way through the House of Emilio booth at the IPCPR show we were introduced to Noel Rojas, the man behind Guayacan Cigars. Noel has an amazing story, which he shares in the video below. His cigars are top notch, I smoked a torpedo this week that I’ve had in the humidor since last December and it was fantastic. I found it to be complex, medium bodied, and had a really nice hint of citrus that I liked. I really look forward to trying his maduro when it becomes available. Don’t miss this short video interview with Noel. Fascinating story!

http://youtu.be/Fonjk9rKtz8

Friday evening I grabbed a Gurkha Ghost from the humidor and took a walk. I’ve smoked a few of these since hey came out and as much as I wanted to like them, they didn’t WOW me. Maybe it’s a few more months of age (mine or the cigar?), but this one hit me right. It was what I expected from the others but didn’t get. Nice, sweet, lush flavors that I expect from a Brazilian Arapiraca wrapped cigar. The band and packaging are pretty cool too. I’m glad I have finally come to like these, and I have no idea why I felt the desire to enjoy this particular cigar.

Yesterday I was thinking about what to smoke, and working on today’s post in my head, and the CDO (that’s OCD in alphabetical order, as it should be) in me decided I needed another cigar with a name that started with G. It turns out there’s not a lot of them! Fortunately I found a Gran Habano Gran Reserva No. 3 2008 Churchill that I had bought well over a year ago. The wrapper is a beautiful milk chocolate brown, and is from Columbia, which you don’t see very often. The cigar burned perfectly and was smooth and delicious. I actually haven’t smoked more than a handful of Gran Habano products, but the couple cigars in this line have really impressed me. Another medium bodied smooth and flavorful smoke to round out my week.

That’s it for today, after doing some yard work this morning it’s time to grab a cigar or two and relax in the pool. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

Comments Off on IPCRP 2013 – Guayacan Cigars, and Other Cigars That Start With G

Filed under IPCPR, Review, Video

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Emilio, Gran Habano, Guayacan, Gurkha, IPCPR

by CigarCraig | August 21, 2013 · 6:11 pm

IPCPR 2013 – 1502 Cigars, the Black Gold and News

I have a weakness for the 1502 Black Gold, a beautiful Nicaraguan puro with a maduro wrapper. When I have these in my humidors it’s all I can do to not smoke them up right away. Something just hits me right about that cigar, and my only option is to smoke them. Both vitolas, box pressed Toro and Torpedo, have a partially closed foot, which gives a blast of tasty wrapper flavor right off the light. The Ruby and Emerald are great smokes too, but the Black Gold is my favorite! I smoked one the other night and enjoyed the heck out of it. Rich, dark, bold flavors in a full bodied cigar that doesn’t strike me as strong like the website would suggest, but well balanced and tasty.

Here’s a video from last month’s IPCPR show with Enrique Sanchez of Global Premium Cigars telling us about his 1502 line. It was tough to get time with Enrique, as the entire House of Emilio booth was mobbed the whole show. I actually somehow missed meeting him at last year’s Delaware Cigar Festival, an obvious oversight on my part. Enrique is a great guy, and quite passionate about his homeland.

News

Cigar Federation, the cigar-centric social media site, which you should all check out by the way, is partnering with Brian Berman (Cigar Rights of America) to hold a raffle to raise money for Brian’s Project Mañana. Project Mañana is a charity Brian set up to help the impoverished in The Dominican Republic. Cigar Federation hopes to raise as much money as possible for this organization, and is holding a raffle to this end. You will get a raffle ticket for every $10 you donate, and some of the prizes are pretty darned good. Head over to their page and see. Give them a few bucks, you’d just spend it on cigars anyway, right? Did you miss the link? Here is is again.