Tag Archives: 10th Anniversary

by Craig Vanderslice | October 22, 2023 · 10:38 am

Some Tatuaje Cigars and a Visit to Legacy Cigar Lounge

This week was a week of events, I didn’t necessarily smoke any new cigars, but some that were new to me. Nothing in my contract says I have to write about new to the market cigars every week, although I do try to stay current. Fortunately, due to the generosity of a long time reader, I have some new stuff coming up, so stay tuned! This week was the tenth anniversary of Cigar Mojo, a local shop which I have been friendly with since the beginning. I was there for the soft launch and have watched their progression from their first shop and lounge, to their current location, to a second location. I really wanted to make the trip to the flagship location, only 10 miles down the road in King of Prussia, PA, but I had a physically exhausting day, and didn’t have it in me to deal with the traffic, and, honestly, be social. I just wanted to relax at home and watch hockey. So I went to the new location (which is a mile from my house), and picked up a couple of Tatuaje 10th Anniversary cigars, which seemed appropriate. I got the Bon Chasseur size, because the 5 3/8″ x 52 shape appeals to me, in both the original and the Tuxtla blends, and smoked one Thursday and one Friday. I started with the original. I should have adjusted my expectations going into this cigar. I was rather expecting a heavier cigar, but it was much more subtle, refined, I guess with a name like Bon Chasseur, it’s going to be a little hoity-toity. It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper over Nicaragua binder and filler. They have a closed foot, and the wrapper has a lot of citrus tang in it, so that is apparent on lighting. It remains citrusy and sweet throughout, and was a really delicious cigar. I suppose I always grab the broadleaf Tatuajes, so this one surprised me, it was quite different.

Maybe the citrus wasn’t all in the Ecuador Habano wrapper of original Bon Chasseur, because I sensed it in the Tuxtla version as well. This is the same size and blend, with the difference being the Mexican San Andrés wrapper. Again, I had a preconceived notion going into this one, having smoked tons of Mexican wrapped cigars over the years. Oddly, the wrapper didn’t overwhelm the rest of the blend, it literally was like smoking the same cigar I had smoked the night before with a subtle difference. What was that difference, you ask? Oddly, it was an almost cloying earthy sweetness, not unpleasant, but noticeable. Oddly, as much of a fan I am of the San Andrés, I’d probably give the nod to the Ecuador Habano in this match up, for me. I liked the balance and elegance of the original blend, adding the Tuxtla wrapper while interesting, detracted from the sophistication a little for me. But that’s just me, I’ve enjoyed the other Tuxtla versions, I guess my next back to back experiment will have to be the Belle Encre. I look forward to walking over to the Cigar Mojo shop by me in ten years to celebrate that anniversary!

Last night my wife and I took a ride to Reading, PA (think Reading Railroad in your Monopoly game), and visited the new Legacy CIgar Lounge in West Reading. Rick and Adrean, a husband and wife team, opened in August and have a really nice spot. A lot of places in the country have full service cigar bar setups, PA isn’t really one of them, in my experience. There are cigar stores with lounges all over the place, but there aren’t a lot of full bar, kitchen, humidor establishments around. Legacy fits that niche. It was a 45 minute drive, and I know I just balked about going 10 miles to an event Thursday, let me explain. It could literally take me the same 45 minutes to make the ten mile trip to Mojo at 5:30 on a Thursday as it did to go 40 miles to Legacy on a Saturday at the same time. Combine that with the Saturday afternoon nap, and I think you see my point. We had been reading about Legacy for a few weeks, they have been active on social media promoting the business with videos, and seemed engaging enough, so we figured a visit was in order. I’m not a bar guy, but they appeared to have a well appointed bar, and we had seen something on the menu on the website and were disappointed when it wasn’t on the printed menu we were given. We asked, and they were happy to make us the Bacon Jams Grilled Cheese, which was delicious.

It didn’t hurt that they were having a Protocol Cigars cut and light event there, so there would be at least one familiar face present! Kevin Keithan was there, with a selection, and I got the impression that this was a trial for the brand and they were thinking about bringing them into the humidor. I bought some Protocol cigars and enjoyed a Cyber Crimes unit. This is a box pressed Churchill, with a Nicaraguan Rosado Habano wrapper, and Nicaraguan binder and filler, made at the La Zona Factory. This cigar was on the cedary side with some spice and a creamy quality, quite different from the Blue and Red label Protocol cigars. We did miss seeing Juan, I wonder if he took part in the Karaoke, that might have been worth staying for!

Obviously, it takes time (and money) to stock up the humidor, but they had a reasonable selection. My wife, who hasn’t had a cigar in years, decided to have a Tatiana of some sort, which she enjoyed. Rick told us that they already had over 80 members signed up for their members lounge, and are working on a rooftop area, and downstairs event space as well. They have a nice setup, have live music quite frequently, and diverse collection of events, including Karaoke and Chess. We exited before the Karaoke started, I wanted to get home in time for the hockey game, where I enjoyed a Protocol Probable Cause Corona Gorda, perhaps my favorite in the line. We had noticed several billboards for Legacy along the highway so they are promoting this bigtime, and if they continue to provide a quality product, they will be successful. I suspect we’ll be paying a visit again.

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

CigarCraig

3 Comments

Filed under Events, Review, Stores

Tagged as 10th Anniversary, Bon Chasseur, cigar, Cigar Mojo, cigars, Cyber Crimes Unit, Legacy Cigar Lounge, Probable Cause, Protocol, tatuaje, Tuxtla

by Craig Vanderslice | October 31, 2021 · 10:37 am

An HVC 10th Anniversary Cigar and a New Govee WiFi Thermometer Hygrometer Set

I had a few days off this week to take care of some things, so as I was out running some errands on Friday I stopped in to Son’s Cigars to see Vince for a few minutes and see what was new. Of course, I made some impulse buys, and bought some new cigars, one of which was a recommendation by Vince, the HVC 10th Anniversary. I’ve enjoyed the HVC cigars I’ve smoked, as well as most of the Aganorsa cigars, from which factory this cigar is produced. Sidebar: I told Vince when I was there that there were cigars that I wanted to pick up and couldn’t remember, and I should make a list…and I just now remembered what they were. Now the trick is remembering to make a list. Hang on, let me make a note…OK, I’m back. I would have forgotten again and it would have driven me nuts. Now, maybe, I have a chance, I just have to remember I have the list! Back to the HVC 10th. This is a cigar that comes in one size, and it’s a good size for my preference, 6 ½” x 50. I like it, it’s a little longer than a toro, not quite a Churchill, very nice, as long as it tastes good! It’s a Nicaraguan Puro with Corojo wrapper grown in Jalapa, and a few different varietals of Corojo in the filler. It started out with a pretty heavy pepper, which settled into a collection of sweet spices and some cedar, while maintaining the strength. It mellowed slightly in the second half, but was still a formidable cigar. I have one complaint, and it’s directed at Vince: why did you only sell me one? Great smoke!

I have recently been testing the new Govee WiFi Digital Hygrometer Thermometer 3 Pack, which I purchased from Amazon for $69.99. I’ll make some disclosures at this point. The links to this here are affiliate links, if you make a purchase using them I’ll get a few cents, and it won’t cost you anything. You’ll have my gratitude, but no pressure. Secondly, I purchased this with the understanding that the manufacturer would reimburse me, as they have in the past, and I have no reason to believe that they won’t. that being said, I’m really not going to lose sleep if they don’t come through, let me explain. I have Govee remote Temperature Hygrometers deployed in all of my humidors. Most are just Bluetooth, which is fine, but I’m finding more value in having WiFi connected units. I was excited to try this set-up with the WiFi Hub. This product comes with three sensors and the hub. The sensors work independently via Bluetooth, but the Hub connects them to your home WiFi network, so you can see them through the app wherever you happen to be. Pretty cool. I’ve been testing them for accuracy side by side and they are all pretty close one another, as well as another Govee WiFi unit. My plan is to spread the three sensors out in my cabinet, top, middle and bottom, although I could put them in three different humidors if I wanted, as long as they were reasonably close to the Hub, which plugs into an AC outlet. One piece of advice when setting up the system: pull the plastic tabs that cover the batteries in the sensors as you set each one up, then put the number stickers on them, if you pull the tabs all at once (like I did, duh), you have a hard time telling one from another in the app. I looked like a moron blowing on them to get the humidity to change so I could tell one from the other and rename it in the app (Edit: I’m told that if you bring one of the sensors close to the phone the corresponding one in the app will blonk to identify it). I guess what I’m trying to say is if you have a large humidor, or three humidors, this is a pretty cool way to monitor your temperature and humidity, and the app, just like with the other Govee products I’ve reviewed here before, tracks something like a year’s worth of historical data. You can set alarms and cool stuff like that as well. The only unknown is the battery life on the sensors, and I didn’t look to see what kind of batteries they take, but they are probably easily sourced button cells of some sort (Edit: they are standard AAA).

Don’t forget to go enter the contest in the last post! I’m going to add a few cigars to the bag before all is said and done. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

5 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as 10th Anniversary, Accessory, Bluetooth, Govee, HVC, Hygrometer, Thermometer, WiFi

by Craig Vanderslice | August 9, 2020 · 10:23 am

Archetype Sacred Scales, New Onyx Bold and Perdomo Reserve Cigars

I’m still coming across a cigar here and there from last January’s TPE show, this time it was an Archetype Sacred Scales robusto that Ventura Cigar‘s Michael Giannini handed me on one of our visits at the Phillips and King booth. The P&K booth was one of the largest and busiest at the show, not a big surprise since their parent company owns the show. Oddly, they seemed to feature more of other companies cigar brands than their own, at least more prominently. The Sacred Scales is a San Andrés wrapped cigar made by Ernesto Carrillo, who Michael worked with for quite a while with La Gloria Cubana. It has an Ecuador binder and fillers from Nicaragua. I absolutely loved this cigar. It checked all the boxes for me, dark earth, sweetness and spice. This is a cigar I’ll be looking to smoke again, a definite winner. The Archetype line bounces around from factory to factory, one is made at Drew Estate, one by EPC, and others by Davidoff, etc. It’s a little confusing, but when you find one you like, run with it!

I was out running some errands and stopped in a shop on the way and picked up a few new cigars I wanted to try. The first one was the new Onyx Bold Nicaragua. I believe that the CigarCigars chain may have had the exclusive initial release on these, which is where I got this cigar. I can’t say I’ve actually smoked an Onyx cigar before, not sure why, but it’s my understanding that this iteration really wouldn’t compare to the Dominican version anyway. The Onyx Bold Nicaraguan has a San Andrés wrapper Nicaraguan binder and fillers and is made by A.J. Fernandez. I, of course, got the toro size, which is 6” x 54. This cigar smoked really well, burn and draw were perfect, it was a real pleasure to smoke. While it didn’t have the pungency of the Sacred Scales, it still had the dark earth, spice and sweetness I like, although it was smoother and more refined in this cigar. I thought it was quite a nice smoke! Like I said, I have no idea how it compared to other Onyx cigars, I always considered them to be very mild, which is why I passed them over.

The other two cigars I picked up were the new Perdomo Reserve 10 Year Anniversary in Sungrown and Maduro. I picked these up in the Epicure size, which is the 6” x 54 Toro. I’ve been oddly intrigued by this release. I really like the 20th Anniversary line, I like some of the other line OK, and tolerate others. I actually dislike the Champagne, which is in the line these cigars are now under, and there are few cigars I actively dislike. The Maduro, I believe, directly replaces the Champagne Noir, whether it’s the same blend, I couldn’t say. I do know that the Noir fell in to the “like” category. I started with the Sungrown, with the anticipation that the Maduro would give the 20th Maduro a run for it’s money. I took a walk before settling in to watch the Flyers game on the big screen on the porch. This 10th Anniversary Sungrown was a delicious cigar. The Nicaraguan Wrapper is Bourbon barrel aged, and I think most of Perdomo’s wrappers are at this point, with Nicaraguan binder and fillers. I thought it was a great, medium-bodied cigar, with rich, smooth flavors. It had sweetness, some nuttiness and some wordiness. It was very good. It got me well into the first period of the hockey game. After a palate cleansing bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream, I lit up the Maduro for the second and third periods. I suppose my expectations were a little high, or the ice cream didn’t cleanse my palate enough, but the Maduro didn’t delight me as much as I had hoped. It was a decent smoke, make no mistake, and it made it through two solid periods of outstanding hockey, where the Flyers clinched the number one seed in the eastern conference! In a normal year that would result in a trophy, I think! It means nothing if they don’t continue on the the Stanley Cup Finals, for which I have some special cigars set aside. Anyway, the Maduro had some of the maduroey flavors one expects, cocoa, coffee, etc., although they seemed to be muted to me. Perhaps it was the hour, or the fact that it was the third cigar of the day. I’ll try another on a clean palate, however, it seemed consistent with my feelings on the Champagne Noir. It was a good smoke, it just wasn’t the the 20th Anniversary, and the fault lies with me for setting unrealistic goals expectations. Once again, I’ll smoke it again, but as of this sitting, I preferred the Sungrown over the Maduro. It happens!