by | December 8, 2024 · 11:27 am

Cigars from Nestor Miranda, Joya de Nicaragua, Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust and Foundation

I ended up smoking some pretty great cigars over the last few days!  I started off with the Nestor Miranda Grand Reserve 2024. I have memory of smoking the 2011 and 2012 versions, which were the only other two previously released. The 2024 was released in celebration of Miami Cigar and Company‘s 35th anniversary.  It’s a 6 1/8″ x 52 torpedo, made at the My Father factory in Esteli, and is a Nicaraguan Puro.  This is an absolutely delicious cigar. It started with an interesting spice, maybe like nutmeg, very intriguing. It had a really nice desert cigar feel to it, like smoking a pie. I thought it was really good.  Thanks to Gabe Pińeres for sending me this.  Super-yummy.

 

Next up was the Joya de Nicaragua Cinco de Cinco. I know this one has been around for a while, but one came into my possession at the the Florida Barn Smoker last month.  This was the Corona Extra vitola, 6 ¼” x 46 with a pigtail cap.  Cinco de Cinco seems to translate to “5 out of 5”, but I want to say it has something to do with the company’s 55th anniversary.  I think this is my favorite cigar out of the Obras Maestros collection, and there are some great cigars in that collection.  I have to say that it’s really hard to pick a favorite, Numero Uno, Cinco Decadas, Cuatro Cinco, now this one?  What a line up!  This one  has a San Andrés wrapper, with Nicaraguan fillers and binder.  Burn and draw were outstanding, and it was loaded with dark chocolate flavors, and I loved it.  It’s definitely one I’ll be revisiting.  For someone who loves dark chocolate, but has to severely limit my intake because it triggers migraines for me, this is an acceptable substitute!

 

Yesterday, while watching hockey, I smoked the newest size in Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust‘s Sin Compromiso line, the Selección No. 4, a 5″ x 54 soft box pressed robusto.  This is another San Andrès wrapper, this one Saka calls “Cultivo Tonto” which has the farmer removes all bet the best leaves from the plant so that they get the most nutrients. This make the tobacco more expensive, of course, because there’s no lower quality leaves to subsidise the better leaves.  Saka only ever uses the best and most expensive materials anyway, right?  I absolutely love the No. 5, which is a Toro, so I was excited to try the robusto.  This was a really good cigar, although I felt like it wasn’t quite as sophisticated as the larger size.  Sure, it was better than a lot of cigars, had some earth and black coffee notes, but it just seemed less refined.  If I can afford it, I’ll pick another one up one day. 

 

Finally, I smoked a cigar that Stace Berkland sent me a bit ago.  I may have mentioned before that Stace had sent me some cigars in an unexpected reciprocation for some things I sent him. Here’s the silliness: Stace wanted to purchase one of my 20 year old plastic cutters, the little rectangular ones that Saka’s über expensive Guillotino de Saka is based off of.  I had a few that’s I’ve had for years, used to buy them at my local shop, the guys there called it the “hot knife through butter cutter”. Like I said, I have had three of these for 20+ years, I’ve got a load of cutters, sending one to a friend wasn’t a problem!  He felt the need to retaliate, so he sent some nice cigars.  One of them was this Foundation Cigars Grasshopper, which appears to be from an exclusive box from Small Batch Cigars.  This box had six of the Candella Grasshoppers, six of the Maduro, and one barber pole version.  I had never seen this cigar before, but my first thought was that it was from Foundation, something about the look of the band.  This is a small, box pressed torpedo, 5¼” x 52, with a San Andrés wrapper, Jalapa binder and fillers from Jalapa and Esteli.  This was another great smoke with some spice and dark cocoa.  Burn was excellent and I really dug it. Thanks Stace!  

 

I need to start getting my Secret Santa gift together, names went out and it’s too late to join!  I gave plenty of notice.  I”ve got my work cut out for me this time!  That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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by | December 1, 2024 · 10:27 am

Foxtail Cigars from Fox Cigars

As you can see by the graphic on the left side of my page, Fox Cigar has an exclusive series of cigars in the “economy” space, the Foxtail.  I’ve been working with the folks at Fox for several years, and have featured a few of their exclusives, notably the Araposa Negra and Blanca made by Black Label Trading Co.  These were exceptional, I especially liked the Negra, which, sadly, doesn’t appear to be available any more.  I should pick up some Blancas, if I do, I’ll add another Foxtail sampler.  The Foxtail comes in five varieties, and all of them have a shaggy foot and a foxtail shaped flag on the head.  They come in three sizes, although I have to wonder a little about who came up with the names.  They are Robusto, Toro and Gordo.  I know, you’re thinking “they sound like perfectly reasonable names!”, but the Robusto is 6″x50, the Toro is 7″ x 54 and the Gordo is 7″ x 60. Perhaps they are measuring from where the wrapper starts, as they all have a 1″ unfinished foot.  No problem, I rarely smoke anything shorter than six inches.  Here are some short recaps on each one:

 

I started with the Corojo Toro (the sampler is only offered in the 7″ x 54 “Toro”). This has a Sungrown Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper, over a Nicaraguan binder with Nicaraguan, Costa Rican and Colombian fillers. Where these are made, nor whether these are long or mixed fill was shared with me.  At this price, they almost have to be mixed, but they all burned properly like a long fill cigar.  This Corojo has the hint of white sugar I find lately in cigars tagged as Corojo.  It wasn’t bad, decent tobacco flavor with a bit of a spice.

 

Next up was the Maduro Toro (I know, I usually lead with the maduro, I changed it up this time. Also worth mentioning that I smoked these on different days. Those of you who follow on IG or Facebook will already know this.). This one also has the Sungrown Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper, with a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan and Costa Rican fillers. This one had some subtle cocoa and spice with some tobacco, nothing overpowering, just a nice cigar and a good value.

 

I followed with the Barber Pole, which is, I believe both fermentations of the aforementioned Corojo and Maduro wrappers. Sungrown Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper, with a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan and Costa Rican fillers. Honestly, I don’t know if in a blindfolded scenario I could choose between this and the Corojo, they were remarkably similar.  The aesthetics of the dual wrappers is nice, and doesn’t take anything away from the burn and draw. It lacks the Columbian tobacco that’s in the Corojo, maybe that’s what adds the subtle spice that I didn’t get in this one.

 

I went into the Sweet Tip with some concerns, which ended up to be unfounded. This has an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper, Nicaraguan  binder and Nicaraguan and Columbian fillers. The wrapper is a darker shade than the Connecticut.The sweetness on the cap was minimal, it added nicely to the flavor of the cigar.  Some sweet capped cigars can be too much, not this one. It had the approximate sweetness on the lips as a Sobremesa Brulee.  I say that to be funny, but I hardly noticed that it was there. This might actually be my favorite of the quintet.  It has some bready bakery notes, some spice and that subtle sweetness.  I liked this one.

 

Finally I smoked the Connecticut, which has the exact same makeup as the Sweet Tip. This might be my second favorite of the bunch for me, which is weird if you’ve followed me for any stretch of time and see a pattern of what I like.  It was smooth, with the same bakery, spice and less of the sweetness of the Sweet Tip.  All in all, this is a nice line of cigars. The tail on the head (mine were all lying flat,  looked like a messy cap job until further inspection), the shaggy foot that doesn’t burn holes in your shirt, and all five having different bands to differentiate between them in cases where it’s not fairly evident, sets these apart from other similarly priced offerings. Thanks to the folks at Fox Cigar for sending these, like I said, I have no problem adding some on to my next order. I really need to get to Arizona to visit one of their lounges one of these days.  

 

That’s all for now. I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.  Now it’s time to get ready for Christmas. There’s still time to get in on the CigarCraig.com Secret Santa!  Maybe next week I’ll feature some new lighters that have come into my possession. Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

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by | November 24, 2024 · 8:15 am

Villiger, West Tampa and La Flor de Dulzura Cigars, and Some New Accessories

It’s getting into the busy time of year, and I seem to have a bunch of stuff to write about suddenly! Not a complaint, I’m thankful, as s appropriate this time of year.  Don’t forget to sign up for the CigarCraig.com Secret Santa. There’s a small, but very high quality, group signed up, it’s been a lot of fun in the past.  I smoked some new-to-me cigars this week, a couple of which are new to everyone.  First off is the Villiger TAA 2024.  Villager likes to make their TAA cigars in a different factory every year,  2020 was made by E.P. Carillo, ’21 at La Palma, ’22 at La Zona and 2023 at Aganorsa (the only one of the bunch I haven’t smoked).  This one is made in Honduras at the Maya Selva factory.  Maya Selva is a relatively unknown brand in the U.S., but is huge in Europe.  It’s a shame too, because they are really good cigars! I spoke with Maya at the 2016 IPCPR show and again at the 2020 TPE. This cigar is a Honduran Puro, is a solid medium in strength, and surprised me with a prominent white sugar flavor.  I was impressed to the point where I smoked another one yesterday. I will keep an eye out at my local TAA store for these.  Very nice.

 

When I was in Tampa a couple weeks ago I ran into Ricky Rodriguez of West Tampa Tobacco at the Tampa Corona Cigars location where he was doing an event.  I actually didn’t run into him, I had texted him about meeting up while I was there and he said he was doing an event at the store.  He gave me a couple of his new Circle of Life cigars, which I don’t think are in stores yet.  This is a cigar made by Ernesto Carillo at his Casa Carillo factory in the D.R. Ricky and Ernesto have a history, as Rick was on “Team La Gloria” before he took over CAO at General Cigars. The blend on this is undisclosed.  The wrapper is dark and oily, and not so pretty. I gor a strong, cloying licoricey flavor, it was pungent, and I liked it. I would have enjoyed it more if it had burned better, some more humidor time might help.  This was definitely an interesting cigar, unlike anything else in the WTT portfolio, which is good, I’ll smoke more of these when available.

 

Another cigar I picked up in Tampa was the La Flor de Dulzura Maduro in a toro size. I took a few minutes to walk up and down 7th Street in Ybor and wandered into King Corona, which is one of the more well known shops there.  They had a well appointed humidor, and I picked up one of their house brand cigars. I should have gotten a selection, but I was travelling light, and didn’t have much travel humidor space. If I remember correctly, these are made at Tabacos de Costa Rica, the factory that makes Atabey, Byron, Bandelero, LVH, and I think Vegas de Santiago.  This was a really well made cigar, and had some of the sweet cocoa and subtle spice I expect from a maduro cigar. It was very nice, worth the $12.  If you find yourself in Tampa take a walk through Ybor City and stop in King Corona, I imagine it’s quite the hopping place in the evenings! 

 

I recently corresponded with the folks at Your Elegant Bar about their products. Initially I thought they were just another company selling Prestige Import Group stuff (which is great stuff, I own a cabinet from them, and their retail arm, First Class Humidors was one of my first advertisers), but I was mistaken. They sell a brand called Lubinsky, and sent me a travel humidor, lighter and punch to have a look at. First, there’s the punch they call the Nutzen M1- Cigar Needle And Punch Tool. This handy tool has a 10mm punch which retracts and extends with a twist. It also unscrews to reveal a pair of tines, presumably to skewer your cigar to get the most out of it. I admit to routinely using such a tool, although mine has much shorter tines. These are about 20mm long, which is almost exactly 50 ring gauge, so one must be careful using this on smaller ring cigars.  I find that a 10mm punch is large enough for some smaller ring cigars (under 50), but I prefer my 13mm punch for most cigars.  Actually, I prefer a V or straight cut, but some cigars need to be punched, and it’s a handy thing to have on the key ring.  

 

The lighter they sent was the Margo 3 flame lighter in copper.  This is a nice cylindrical lighter about 4″ long and probably 62 ring gauge.  The jets seem to be slightly pointed inwards to make a pointed flame.  It has a large fuel window in the back, and an 8mm punch in the bottom. The adjustment wheel is fairly easy to move with a fingernail, although I rather use a Swiss Army knife screwdriver. I have had cheap torch lighters for nearly 20 years, and fairly expensive ones that crap out in a year or two, so we’ll see how this holds up. I religiously purge my lighters whenever I refill them, which I believe extends their life.  The one thing I have trouble getting used to on this one is that the ignition button slides up (there’s an arrow!), which is counter to every lighter I’ve ever had. It makes it a little awkward for me.

 

Finally,The Gator-Effect Travel Humidor, also carrying the Lubinsky brand name. This has two spanish cedar trays, with velcro straps to keep your cigars from rolling around. The bottom accommodates longer cigars (there’s a two slot tray that I removed to accomodate a Boveda and a hygrometer for testing), and the top tray will hold up to about a toro.  Total capacity is 18 cigars, eight on the bottom and ten on top. I loaded it up and it’s been holding the right humidity perfectly. I wouldn’t much bother with humidification if I’m travelling, unless I’m going to a very dry location.

This is a fancy looking unit in green alligator, I’ll admit I’m more of a Pelican case kind of guy.  It does work well, although the “hinge” is a little tight, it doesn’t stay open by itself, which is only problematic if you’re going for a cigar in the bottom tray.  Maybe it’ll break in, I’m afraid to force it too much. I have half a dozen travel humidors, and I use them infrequently, although I am going to store some cigars in this one and keep monitoring it. Not sure if it’s something I’d carry with me though.  It works, and if it fits your style, go for it. 

 

That’s way more than enough for today. Happy Thanksgiving to the American readers!  Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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by | November 17, 2024 · 8:50 am

A Quick Florida Trip, Part Two: The Drew Estate Florida Barn Smoker

Last Friday, after finishing up a long and excellent day at J.C. Newman, I hopped in my rented Polstar 2 and made my way to the Orlando area.  Traffic sucked, and I never really got to see what that car could do. It was about the cheapest rental I could find, and I only spent about $22 charging it after driving it around all weekend.  I forgot to mention in my last post about the “lunch” I got from the La Segunda Bakery a short walk from El Reloj.  Not the healthiest choice, but the cinnamon rolls and apple turnovers were delicious, and filled me up for the day. The iced coffee was darned good too. I could do some damage there under different circumstances.  Also notable was the park the Newmans have built across from the factory, the Cigar Workers Park. It was a beautiful place to pre-game before our tour.  Now that I’m caught up, it’s on to the Barn Smoker.  I left the hotel early, and got to the Florida Sun Grown Farm about two hours before the event opened, so I got a good parking spot.  I managed to get in line with some folks who manage two of the CigarCigars shops in Sarasota, so we had some mutual friends. CigarCigars has a bunch of stores in my area. I’ve been to Barnsmokers in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, so I had an idea what to expect, and I’ve toured the FSG farm before.  I went into this one to enjoy myself, and see some old friends.  Amongst the friends I spent some time with were Rebecca and Jason of Ash Quarterly Magazine. I met them at the last PCA show I attended and Jason and I hit it off. I was very happy to be able to hang out with them for a while.  As I’ve done in the past, I smoked the Liga Privada Serie Unico A, as I never have any faith that a cigar that long is going to survive the trip home.  It was excellent, although t didn’t burn particularly well. 

The grounds were set up nicely, with a lot of room to spread out.  Of course, there was a big tent with tables (as per tradition, most of the ashtrays were stolen early).  DJ Eli was playing music, too loud in my opinion. It always mystifies me that companies get 6-800 people together and drown out conversation with loud music.  They had a live band playing later in the day.  I made my way around all te activation stations early before they got crowded. There only seemed to be one educational portion, in the past it was very scheduled, with the crowd broken into several groups who rotated through several stations with various people, WIllie Herrera, Pedro Gomez, Jon Drew and usually the farm owner, giving talks on various aspects of the life cycle of a cigar.  Another thing that was different from other events I’ve attended was the food. There was a buffet/food line after the educational portion in the past, this time they had several food trucks with coupons for each. This was a better way to do it, from my standpoint.  Folks were free to get food at their leisure.  There were also a lot of liquor stations, in which I was not interested. They did have plenty of water and soft drinks available at all times. The food was good, I sampled smash burger and some BBQ pork sliders with mac and cheese. 

 

Only because I know somebody, I snuck in the back of the  “Black Widow Saloon” for the tasting seminar that was going on.  This was an inflatable, air conditioned structure for the VIPs (I was just a P). It was packed with people, and had a nice spread of cookies and brownies and assorted goodies.  Rob Dietrich, the master distiller of the Blackened Whiskey, and JD were leading the tasting.  Again, booze isn’t my thing, but I’m glad I got to see inside the saloon. This would be a nice place to cool off if it wasn’t so crowded. The baked goods were excellent.  

 

I stayed until the end, my flight home wasn’t until 5am Sunday, so I didn’t have anyplace else to be. Traveling alone, I sometimes get bored, this time I knew and met enough people there to  occupy my time.  It was a good time, people were well behaved for the most part, almost surprising given the amount of booze available.  Cigars were plentiful and delicious.  Everyone should go to at least one of these events, remember to bring $10 to “buy” your pack of cigars at entrance.  The swag was very nice (picture above), not over the top.  I did have an interesting experience with the spray can lighter going through TSA, they had never seen anything like it before and it took much examination and scrutiny to get through. I would have surrendered it rather than cause any trouble, but it got through fine (the actual working lighter in my other bag went undetected). It will probably end up in the Christmas Givaway!  Thanks to the folks at Drew Estate for including me. I wish communication would have been better between some parties, that would have made the weekend a 100% success.  I spent the week smoking some of the cigars I got there, it annoys me that I like the 20 Acre Farm as much as I do, and the Blackened S83 has grown on me. There wasn’t a bad cigar in the bunch.  

 

I’ve opened up the annual CigarCraig.com Secret Santa, if you want to join in, here’s the link: CigarCraig’s Secret Santa 2024. We’ve had a small, but high quality, group in the past.  Jump in, it’s a lot of fun sharing your favorite cigars with people! That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

 

 

 

 

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by | November 10, 2024 · 1:42 pm

A Quick Florida Trip, Part One: The J.C. Newman Experience

When I saw that the Flyers were playing the Lightning in Tampa, my wife encouraged me to plan a trip down there to take my buddy Kevin (CigarProp) to his first NHL game. I made some inquiries and managed to secure two club level tickets with access to the Diamond Crown cigar lounge in the Amalie Arena.  We were allowed in 90 minutes before game time, so we went into the lounge for a cigar. Kevin selected some PDM Corojo Robustos, a favorite of us both.  Christina and Nidya work in the lounge, they get the cigars out of the humidor cabinets, ring them up and cut and light. I was wearing my Flyers sweater, I may have felt a little out of place.  We watched the first period from our seats and grabbed  some food, which was a n upgrade from what we would have gotten if I had just bought nosebleed seats off of stub hub!  There was brisket and pork belly, sushi and all manner of delicious desserts. We were definitely spoiled.  We watched the second period from the lounge, where I selected som Fuente 8-5-8 Sungrowns. The humidor in the lounge has a nice selection of J.C. Newman and Fuente cigars, and they weren’t priced bad, a buck or two over what they would be in a shop (in a no tax state!). The lounge has windows overlooking the arena, and several televisions, but it’s hard to watch unless you’re right at the glass, but any time I can watch hockey and smoke a cigar I’m happy.  We returned to our seats for the third period, overtime and the shootout, where the Flyers managed to win.  I enjoyed the game, and I think Kevin had a good time too.  It was a really good time and the ladies working the lounge were outstanding. I think at one point I counted 30 patrons in the lounge, which isn’t huge, and the ventilation was really good.  I have no idea how one would get tickets, but if you are in Tampa and have the opportunity, jump on it! Many thanks again to J.C. Newman for the tickets!

 

Friday we spent the day at the J.C.Newman headquarters and factory, El Reloj (that’s El Relow, no matter how you’ve heard it pronounced).  This is a historic building, and the only major factory left in the country.  There’s a few little cigar factories here and there, but this one is producing millions of cigars using machines from the 1920s and ‘30s. They refer to this as machine assisted and not machine made, as these are not automated and require some human input. This is another tour I recommend if you’re in Tampa. The tour is very educational, there’s a museum aspect, with a lot of J.C. Newman memorabilia, Tampa cigar history, and even the oldest known cigars from the mid-1800s that were found in a shipwreck not all that long ago!  The basement has another museum area, as well as an aging room for the handmade cigars they make, and some tobacco processing areas. The second floor has the machine made production and packaging, and the third floor has a rolling gallery where they make the American, Angel Cuesta and some special cigars.  One of the special cigars they were making was the Tampa Smokers, named after the old baseball team and shaped like a baseball bat.  I always wondered how they made these.  Now I know. 

We would stay on the third floor for the rolling seminar.  This is where they provide bunches and one has to  apply the wrapper. We wrapped five Robustos, and this is harder than you think. I’ve done it a few times before, and I think my results were pretty good, except for applying the cap. I struggle with the cap. The blend they provided is special, I’ll have to reach out to Holden who led the class and find out, but I believe it’s a modified American blend.  I should have paid more attention, but I was trying to finish my darned caps right. 

 

Following the rolling exercise, we embarked upon a tasting seminar. Puritos of various tobacco varietals and primings were supplied, along with a flavor wheel and a sheet for notes. I am better at finishing caps on cigars than I am at this. Regular readers know that I have a fairly limited vocabulary when it comes to tasting cigars, and it’s even worse when one’s had a bunch of cigars the previous day and one’s palate is fatigued.  Cody did I really nice job at leading this, as he did giving the factory tour. Once again, and I can’t stress this enough, if you find yourself in Tampa, set aside an afternoon and experience El Reloj. I’ve taken the tour twice now and seen different things each time. I still haven’t risen in the haunted elevator yet.  Thank you very much to everyone at J.C.Newman, especially Sydney!

 

On Thursday before the game we delivered some cigars to Single Barrel Cigar Co. for a project Kevin is working on, visited Tampero Cigars in Ybor and enjoyed a Tampero Maduro torpedo, and we stopped by Corona Cigars and talked to Ricky Rodriguez for a bit.  It was a great couple of days, I enjoyed spending some time with Kevin and got to see some more of Tampa and Ybor City. 

 

Check out Kevin’s pics and videos, he’s far more talented with that than I am! It was a whirlwind couple of days, but there’s more! I just got home around noon, and I’m working on very little sleep, so excuse any typos please. Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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