Tag Archives: 2 Guys Smokeshop

by Craig Vanderslice | April 2, 2021 · 8:57 pm

News: CigarProp and United Cigar Team Up With a Secret Cigar Pack

Here’s some news from my friend Kevin at CigarProp. I’ve known Kevin for several years now, he’s a great friend of mine. He’s been to my house. Stop buy 2Guys and pick up this pack and check out his video at the end of the month. His videos are always entertaining!

CigarProp and United Cigar have joined forces with the Sticks and Stones Cigar 5 Pack, available exclusively at 2GuysCigars.com. This secret five pack of cigars is on sale, and comes with the request that it not be opened until CigarProp releases a video presentation on their platform (YouTube, Facebook and CigarProp.com) on April 30th. The Five pack of cigars is available for sale now at 2GuysCigars.com for $14.99 while supplies last.

You can pick up the Sticks and Stones Cigar prop/United Cigar 5 Pack here →https://www.2guyscigars.com/cigar-prop/

About CigarProp

CigarProp is a cigar accessory and multimedia company owned by Kevin Shahan born out of necessity. Machined cigar stands were the start, lighter bleed tools followed, and spawned a popular weekly YouTube show, I’d Tap That, as well as several spin-off shows. Kevin has appeared at many events and on an assortment of podcasts and media outlets.

About 2 Guys Cigars and United Cigars

2 Guys Smokeshop was founded in 1985 by David Garofalo in Massachusetts and later moved to New Hampshire where it has grown to be one of the largest cigar stores in the country, with the second oldest e-commerce cigar store. United Cigar Group is the distributor of the Atabey, Byron and Bandolero lines, Firecracker, Garofalo and La Gianna, among others.

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Tagged as 2 Guys Smokeshop, cigar, CigarProp, cigars, Sticks and Stones, United Cigars

by Craig Vanderslice | June 28, 2020 · 10:30 am

Perdomo Firecracker, La Palina and JSK Nuggs Cigars

Last Saturday, 2 Guys Smoke Shop had their annual Firecracker release, and this year it was the Perdomo Firecracker. I typically pick up a couple to sample, and this year was no different. I was on the site at 10am with my order, and it seems like that was a god plan, because by early afternoon they had just about sold through the 1000 boxes that they had allotted. That’s a pretty big sales day! I also picked up a couple of the original Firecrackers, because I never tried one. I’ve just about got a complete set, I’m missing an LFD, and one from Tatuaje, I guess. One day I’ll sit down and smoke them all. My most memorable was still the Fratello Firecracker on the Spanish Steps in Rome. A cigar with an Italian name, made by a Spanish speaking guy, in a Spanish speaking country, sold by an Italian American, smoked in Italy on the Spanish Steps. Just too much irony for me to pass up. So I sat on the porch Friday evening with this wee Perdomo cigar for nearly an hour, pretty amazing for a 3½” x 50 cigar. This is based off the 20th Anniversary Sungrown blend, which I tolerate pretty well, although my favorite Perdomo cigar, hands down, is the 20th Anniversary Maduro. There is some spice and strength to this smoke, befitting the Firecracker line, although maybe not the boldest one of the bunch. Clearly Perdomo added a bit of ligero to the blend to punch it up, as he should have. It’s a tasty little smoke, I dig it!

As I’ve been doing lately, I dug out an older cigar from the humidor and revisited a La Palina LP 01 yesterday. When the LP 01 and 02 came out a few years ago the design was such a diversion from the norm for the company that I think many found it off putting. The cigars were good, however, I really enjoyed the LP 01. It was the Robusto, 5″ x 50, and has an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, Costa Rican binder and Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers. If I remember correctly, these are made in Honduras ar Raices Cubanas. After two years in the humidor, the cigar smokes very well, with a good draw and even burn all he was through. It had a nice sweetness from the Sumatra wrapper, and I’m partial to Sumatra wrappers lately. I typically enjoy the Maduro LP 02 more, but this one was very, very good. It’s still listed on the La Palina webpage, so I ASSume it’s still in their portfolio.

I’ve had a rough several days as far as migraines go, something in the atmosphere, I guess. I’ve been popping Imetrex like TicTacs, and the whole process wears on me. I figured this might be as good a time as any to try out the JSK Nuggs Natural cigar that Riste Riatevski gave me when I met him at the TPE show. Why do I see Riste’s last name spelt two different ways? I went with his Facebook profile, but some sources spell it Ristevski. I’m confused and will ask him when I see him again unless he chimes in here. Anyway, I would like to try this in the maduro, and will pick up some more when I get the chance. I’m not sure I felt any effects of the 20mg of CBD oil infused in this cigar. to be honest, I’m not entirely sure what I’m supposed to feel, but I did awake with another migraine today (day 4, very upsetting to have a streak like that!), so that isn’t the answer to that issue! The cigar has a Habano wrapper, Indonesian binder, and Nicaraguan fillers and is infused, like I said, with 20mg of CBD oil. There is also a 100mg version available with something like a $25 price tag. The cigar had decent enough flavor, although there was something a little different, was it the CBD? If it was, then I’d be worried about the flavor of the 100mg version personally. Perhaps someone who has smoked it can chime in? It was smooth and nutty, woody and earthy with that odd flavor I mentioned. I supposed I hoped for a more noticeable”feeling”, but I didn’t quite know what to look for, I suppose. Worth trying, for sure, and something I’ll look to try again.

That’s about al for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 2 Guys Smokeshop, cigar, cigars, Firecracker, Jas Sum Kral, JSK, La Palina, LP 01, Nuggs, Perdomo

by Craig Vanderslice | July 7, 2019 · 9:53 am

A Couple of Shop Visit, a Couple of Cigars and a Contest Winner!

Happy Sunday! I suppose it’s the end of a holiday weekend for a lot of people, I had Thursday off, and stopped into the CigarCigars shop in the King of Prussia Mall and picked up a couple cigars, one of which I smoked later to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Sure, I have plenty of natural Padron 1964 Anniversary Exclusivos, but I hadn’t had a Maduro in quite some time, so I picked one up. My wife spied a Foundry Compounds, Elements and Musings Uranium box with two cigars left in it, so I bought them and got the box. I’m pretty sure I’ve smoked Uranium before, although I don’t smoke many 7″ x 70s. The artwork is cool and I’ll rig a light in the box and it’ll be a nice shelf piece. Gotta give Mike Giannini credit for creative design! So my wife got a ring from Tiffany, and I got some cigars, it was a good day. The Exclusivo was exceptional, of course. I remember smoking my first one probably 20 years ago and they haven’t changed.

Friday evening I took a ride up to Suburban Cigar Lounge in Mount Penn, PA, which is near Reading. This is a really nice lounge run by Gary, over top of what is, by all reports, a very nice restaurant, which, if I’m not mistaken, his wife runs. I went to meet up with Boston Jimmie, of Stogie Press fame, who took his sweet time showing up. If you advertise that you’re going to be someplace from 7-10, showing up at 8:30 is not acceptable, I don’t care how things are done in Florida. 😜Anyway, Gary has a nice lounge with a friendly clientele, and his humidor has a modest but diverse selection from which I purchased some Alec Bradley Magic Toast Gordos, and RoMaCraft Aquitaine Mode 5s, and lit up a Magic Toast. I love this Magic Toast, it’s my kinda smoke. The dark, oily Honduran wrapper is beautiful, and the flavor is equally dark and lush. I smoked a Mode 5 next, and while I prefer the CroMagnon, the Aquitaine is damn tasty. This is a great example of how the wrapper can completely change the flavor of a cigar, as the wrapper is the only difference between the CroMagnon and Aquitaine lines. Jimmie finally showed up and hung out for a while. I hadn’t seen him since the 2017 IPCPR show, so it was nice seeing him again. Suburban Cigar Lounge is a great place to hang out of you find yourself in the area. I’m sorry I didn’t let long time reader Corey know I was going!

Last night I smoked the 2Guys Smokeshop exclusive Pistoff Kristoff Firecracker. Every year they do a special Firecracker release, last year it was the Mi Querida, prior to that it was the Fratello. I’ve managed to smoke a bunch of them, except for the original ones. It’s a small format, 3½ x 50, in a stronger blend. This was the second Pistoff Firecracker I smoked and I thought it was very good. I’m OK with the Pistoff blend to begin with, so I figured I’d be OK with this, and if I wasn’t, it wasn’t going to be a large time commitment. I do, generally, get an hour out of the Firecrackers, smoking them slowly. Because of the closed foot, a trademark of Kristoff, and usually a Firecracker trait, it starts with a blast of wrapper flavor, and some concern that the draw will be tight, once the wrapper burns, this one opens up to a perfect draw and has a good, bold flavor. It was strong, but well balanced. It looks like these are sold out, as is the case with most of the limited Firecrackers, but often the have second runs, and I would recommend these and others if you like small, strong cigars. They have all been exceptional in my opinion.

Contest

It’s time to select a winner in last weeks contest. To recap, I am giving away some great, in my opinion, Don Juan Calavera cigars from Danli Honduras Tabaco (from my own humidor, to protect the innocent), a Herics Cigar Tape, and a Cigar Prop and Light Bleed Tool from CigarProp.com. It’s possible some other goodies could fall into the box while I’m packing it up. There were 42 entries, and according to the random number generator, the winner is Bob Langmaid! I seems like Bob wins everything all the time, but I could only find one instance of him winning one of my contests, and that was almost 4 years ago. I’d rather have someone who hasn’t won before win, but Bob’s name came up, and he’s been fanatically religious about entering my contests for many years, so fair is fair! Please send me your address Bob!

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

CigarCraig

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Filed under Contest, Review, Stores

Tagged as 2 Guys Smokeshop, Alec Bradley, cigar, Cigar Prop, cigar store, CigarCigars, cigars, Contest, DOn Juan Calavera, Firecracker, Foundry, Kristoff, padron, Pistof, RoMaCraft, Suburban Cigar Lounge, Uranium

by CigarCraig | November 26, 2017 · 7:15 am

The Cigar Authority’s 400th Show Quick Trip

I’ve been listening to The Cigar Authority podcast for several years now, actually, I had been listening for a few years since being a guest on the show in October of 2013. Since it was a holiday weekend and nobody travels on Thanksgiving weekend, so my wife and Macha and I decided to take a little road trip to Salem, New Hampshire to crash she show. The show is recorded and webcast live from the new Studio 21 Podcast Cafe in 2 Guys Smokeshop. This was my first visit to this shop, I’d visited the Nashua store before. The shop is huge, with a nice downstairs lounge, an upstairs lounge, and the cafe. The walls of the shop are lined with humidors for singles, and, like the Nashua store only smaller in scale, there’s a large humidor stacked with unopened boxes. The selection is excellent, as is the staff. I picked up a couple Todos las Dias and The Wise Man Maduro and lit up a Wise Man while watching the show. I also picked up the 2 Guys Cigar of the Year Contenders pack, consisting of the eight cigars that are in the running for that honor. I plan to smoke them and cast my vote. Check it out on their site, it’s a hell of a deal and I have only smoke one of the cigars of the eight (actually two after today, that Wise Man Maduro was excellent). I’m looking forward to taking a week and smoking through the set.

We brought some special cookies for the guys from our friends at Farmhouse Bakery in PA. We know what these guys like. Beautiful and delicious cookies and gluten free! Thanks to my wife, Jenn, for making that happen!

Sean, the barista makes impressive coffee creations, I kinda wish I’d tried the nitro, but the Cuban coffee was amazing. Some highlights of the visit personally was getting to catch up with Ed Sullivan, who I hadn’t seen since 1999, as well as Dave Garofalo, Mr. Jonathan and Barry Stein. Also met Dave from Cigar Hacks, another podcast that’s coming out. Macha was well behaved, you can hear here bark a couple of times if you listen to the show. I was surprised and honored to have been invited to join the show for the last segment, although I pretty much froze up on a couple of questions. If I’d have been smart I would have mentioned the CigarCraig’s Secret Santa. There’s still plenty of time to get in on it, by the way, email me your name and address if you want to join the fun. I smoked the Garofalo Maduro also which was very good, made by Perdomo, although time constraints and distractions left me unable to really concentrate on it. It was a good time, and I heartily recommend paying 2 Guys a visit if you find yourself in southern New Hampshire.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Sorry I skipped my usual Wednesday post, I spent the week smoking some of my favorite cigars, a Mi Querida, an Undercrown Sungrown, a Davidoff Winston Churchill The Late Hour, and following my Thursday feast with a Cornelius and Anthony Cornelius toro. All great cigars, I just had a hankering for some favs last week! Next week I’ll get adventurous again. So that’s all for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 2 Guys Smokeshop, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Studio 21 Podcast Cafe, The Cigar Authority

by CigarCraig | July 9, 2017 · 8:42 am

IPCPR Prep and a Few Cigars Leftover From Last Year

I realize I missed Wednesday’s post. I had a busy week trying to prepare for taking the coming week off and I didn’t take the time to write anything. I’ve been busy making appointments and trying to plan my short time at the show. I also need to test out YouTube live today at some point so I can use that to share some interviews and give people an idea of what the show is like. This will be my 8th show, and I still have no idea what to expect. I also just added an iPad to my technical arsenal, leaving the laptop home (and actually writing today’s post on it while enjoying coffee on my back porch, I already love it!) I’ve written posts on my iPhone before, but my eyes aren’t what they used to be, this is much better. So today I’ll be packing clothes and cigars for the trip and continuing to binge watch Game Of Thrones, which has had zero cigar content so far. So, let me tell you a little something about a few cigars I smoked this week.

It seems like it was so long ago now, but Tuesday was the Fourth of July and I smoked the new Fratello Firecracker from 2Guys Smokeshop‘s annual Firecracker line. The Firecracker is a 3 1/2″ x 50 short robustly with a long tail like a fuse. The last few years have given us the LFD Double Ligero Firecracker, the RoMaCraft Cromagnon Firecracker and several iterations made by Don Pepin Garcia, including the original which is a regular production. I’m a fan of Fratello cigar which is well documented, so when these hit the market I quickly ordered a fiver, pity I didn’t spring for a box. This little bugger has everything I like about the Fratello with some punch. The special little something that the Peruvian leaf brings is there, this is a great little cigar. My only wish is for this in the Bianco blend! I finished the day with a Padron 1964 Exclusivo, skipping my annual civil disobedience Havana since that’s not any big deal anymore!

I came across a few cigars leftover from last year’s IPCPR show and figured I’d better smoke them already, one was from a company called , which has a retail and wholesale operation in south Florida. They have a wide range of cigar made in Nicaragua and the few I’ve sampled have been quite good. I started getting emails with their specials a few years back and finally met them at the show last year. It was one of those things where they just happened to be next to someone I knew, otherwise I might have missed them. I smoker their Especial Maduro box pressed corona yesterday and liked it a lot. It claims to have “long leaf Nicaraguan tobacco from the regions of San Andres, Esteli, and Honduras”, which I find a bit confusing, but good cigar makers can’t always be good writers. This cigar is called corona, but it’s 5″x 48, quite close to their 5″x50 robust. If they were mixed in a bundle nobody would notice, and at a very reasonable $6 price, nobody would care. Honestly, this was my kind of cigar with all the great dark, rich flavors I like and it’s priced well.

I smoked a cigar from Crossfire Cigars, their Platinum in a Gordo size that was pretty good, and I have enjoyed a lot of their cigars in the past, but when I went to do some research I found the website to be “forbidden” and there hasn’t been any social media activity from them recently. Crossfire was a faith-based company, using the proceeds from the cigar sales to do mission work in the Dominican Republic, so I can imagine jumping through all the regulatory BS wouldn’t be attractive to them. It was a good cigar, nothing particularly special, just not a waste of two hours. Enjoyable and tasty, just not mind blowing. I feel like there are so many cigars it really takes a lot for a cigar to be distinctive and memorable sometimes. I guess I’m getting jaded in my old age.