Last December I picked up the Foundation Cigar Co. Olmec in Madur and Claro. I had smoked the Maduro, and gifted he Claro. I happened to be shopping at The Wooden Indian a few weeks back and picked up another Claro, because I wanted to smoke it! I really enjoyed the Maduro, and I’ve enjoyed so many cigars made by Nick Melillo over the years. Of course, this is a cigar that is an homage to the original cigar smokers, the Olmec, and has a San Andres Claro wrapper, a double binder of Nicaraguan Esteli and Jalapa, and undisclosed fillers. Odd the undisclosed part, must be something interesting in there, although, upon reading the website description, there seems to be some some confusion, the filler may be Esteli and Jalapa, it says two different things! Anyway, this was a really good smoking cigar. I liked the Maduro more, but that’s not unusual for me, but this had some nice creamy coffee flavor and was very rich in flavor. I may not drop $15 on these regularly, but it’s a nice treat.
On the same trip to the Wooden Indian I picked up an Espinosa 601 La Bomba Warhead VII, just because it looked so tasty. The La Bomba line has been a favorite since the EO Brands days, when it was made at the My Father factory. This one is made at AJ Fernandez’ San Lotano factory in Nicaragua, has a Nicaraguan Broadleaf wrapper, and Nicaraguan binder and fillers. It’s a 7″ x 50 Churchill, and it lacks the La Bomba “fuse” cap treatment. I actually haven’t smoked enough of the Warhead series to know if that’s a thing or not. I really liked this cigar. The box press makes it feel like a smaller ring than it is, and it’s really reasonably priced at around $10. It was loaded with dark coffee/espresso flavors. This was a really good smoke, burn and draw were perfect. I’m a fan.
Yesterday we attended the AC Cigar Social in Atlantic City, and I did a quick video interview with Jon Henderson (I had Jon Anderson on the brain for some reason…). I’ll write a more indepth post this week about the event, but in the meantime, here is the video:
It was a really nice event, hopefully it’s one that can continue!
That’s all for today, until the next time,
CigarCraig
Comments Off on An Olmec Claro, a 601 La Bomba Warhead and a Video
Yesterday I found myself wandering much further north in PA than I usually find myself. There was a seminar on Bees and Chickens that my wife and I attended, and I snuck off during the second half to do some of my own research. Twenty minutes away from the venue where the seminar was held happened to be the brand new Best Cigar Pub, and Best Cigar Prices headquarters. I figured this would be a good place to visit. Fortunately, the purchasing manager, Chris O’Neill, managed to arrange a tour for me. Katie (Katy? I forgot to clarify), the Finance/HR director, gave me a tour of the entire facility. Why do small companies always saddle the Finance director with HR responsibilities? Like they don’t have enough to worry about? I digress. I had already given myself a tour of the retail humidor, which has a very nice selection and courteous service. Katie showed me the bar, pointed out many of the little things like custom tables with actual tobacco leaves under acrylic, art on the wall done by a local artist, all of the ashtrays made by a local craftsman. She pointed out the excellent menu as well. She then waled me through the Best Cigar Prices operations, all of the offices, warehouse, shipping and all of the stuff I enjoy seeing as a guy who’s spent his professional career in operations. They run a very clean and efficient pick, pack, and ship operation from what I can see. All of the marketing, customer service, web design is all done there in Pennsylvania. I was quite impressed with the operation. I’ll get back to the Pub, which was even more impressive. Upstairs is a lounge with TVs and comfy chairs, wait-staff is attentive and the air handlers replace all the air in the place every three minutes, so it’s not smokey at all. They even have a coat closet in the entry that has an ozone generator so that your coat doesn’t smell smokey. They’ve really thought of everything to make this not just a place to come have a cigar, but a place that smokers and non-smokers alike can enjoy a meal or a beverage together. I enjoyed a 601 Pennsylvania Edition, which is an Espinosa exclusive for BCP. Chris happened to join me and interrupted me while I was taking in the museum portion of the upstairs lounge, which is an educational feature they’ve added. It has the origin story of cigars with a timeline and facts about cigars, infographics about the tobacco plant, how cigars are made, every conceivable detail. Chris tells me they plan to have monitors with video loops of various processes playing included in the wall as well. Best Cigar Pub is a beautiful place, it’s easy enough to find, although not exactly in the middle of anything. I can see it being amazing in the summer with the outdoor patios and putting green and nobody around to really complain! Certainly worth a visit if you are anywhere near north-east PA.
I had heard of Blackbird Cigar Company, but hadn’t seen the cigars any where. When I walked past the booth and they weren’t busy, it seemed like a great time to stop in and see what it they were all about. Imagine my surprise when the owner and founder of the company, Jonas Santana, looked at me and said “I know who you are”. It seems he used to work for another company, and struck out on his own to start Blackbird. I think it was on CigarProp’s youtube channel that I remember hearing about the brand. Anyway, I asked Jonas to share the story of the brand with me on camera. have a look:
Over the course of the past several days I smoked a few of the Blackbird cigars offerings. I would have lined to have smoked them all, but I just couldn’t get to them. They have six cigars in the portfolio, and I can’t run down my smoking experience for six cigars in one post. They very cleverly make the bands on the cigars easy to remove, which is good because they are large bands and doo need to be removed to fully enjoy the cigar! They have two Sumatra wrapped offerings, and, as I’ve been on a Sumatra kick lately, and I smoked the Sumatra Rook with them at the TPE and really enjoyed it, I smoked the Finch this week. This was another excellent Sumatra wrapped cigar. It had the nice, sweet Sumatra wrapper flavor and a well-balanced core of tobacco goodness withinThis has an Indonesian binder, and Dominican and USA fillers. It was solidly medium bodied and a very nice cigar. Next I went with what you’d expect from me, the San Andrés wrapped Crow. It was Valentines Day, and I figured the red band would be appropriate. This cigar had a closed foot, and a dark, oily wrapper. The flavors were earthy and bakers chocolate, perhaps espresso, without sweetness. The internals on this one include a Habano binder and Nicaraguan, Pennsylvanian, and Corojo and Criollo 98 fillers. Very enjoyable. Finally, last night after a long day trip, I unwound with the Unkind, a Brazilian Cubra wrapped cigar. This was also a maduro cigar, and, like the rest, a 5″ x 50 robusto. The binder on this one is from the DR, with Criollo 09, HBA (not sure what this means), Corojo and Pennsylvania. One thing I can say about all of the Blackbird cigars I smoked was that that all were well made and burned right, an important consideration. It’s possible that the PA tobacco was a common flavor component that I picked up though the few cigar I smoked this week. You’ll see if you watch the video that some thought went into the brand, and the same attention went into the quality of materials and manufacture as well. The Unkind had a unique flavor, also an earthy maduro, not really sweet. It was very good though, I enjoyed it completely. I still have the Connecticut Jackdaw and Criollo Cuco yet to smoke, I kind of like those two wrapper varieties more in warmer weather for some reason. I’ll get to them and let you know.
Contest!
OK, so after a lot of money and aggravation, my site is clean. It’s time to pick a winner of the sampler of some of my favorite cigars, Don Juan Calavera, Flor Maya and Marchetti cigars from Danli Hondura Tabaco, and I had to collect entries from two different places. After collecting all of the names, and putting them into a bowl (OK, I put them into a spreadsheet and randomized the list to mix them up and assign them numbers), the random number generator picked Anthony C as the winner. Please email me your coordinates and proof that you are 21 or older so I can get these goodies to you. I have a KMA Talk Radio hat and shirt and a Stage V Clinger cigar holder to add as well (it’s a big shirt, do with it what you will, I take no responsibility. If it fits, great!).
That’s all for today, and way more than I had planned! Until the next time,
Yesterday was a big day at the Cigars International Superstore in Hamburg, PA. Erik Espinosa was on hand all day selling his cigars there, and there was a line wrapping around the building of people waiting to but their CigarFest tickets. I understand that tickets sold out in under a minute on-line, and I also was told that people started lining up at 4pm Friday! The crazy part of this (or one of them) was that it was brutally cold out, the very crowded CI store looked like a ski lodge with all the people bundled up. I understand that CigarFest is a big event, something like 3000 people per day over two days, with many making a weekend of it, but that kind of crowd isn’t my bag. But a lot of people dig it, so more power to them! I made for a crowded store, it was hard to find a seat, what with people leaving their coats and stuff on seats and tables and socializing elsewhere, which is in very bad form, in my opinion. Some patrons like to sit and relax, some like to wander and socialize, but you can’t have it both ways. We found a table by the door, which was constantly opening so it wasn’t very comfortable. I had bought a selection of Espinosa cigars, and lit up a CI exclusive that was recommended to be by a CI staff member called Comfortably Numb Vo,. 1. The band on this is in the classic Bob Masse ’60s concert poster style, very psychedelic. This 6″ x 52 Toro has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, Corojo binder and Nicaraguan fillers. The wrapper is milk-chocolate-brown with very fine veins, it’s an attractive cigar. I was very surprised with this cigar, pleasantly so. It was perfect for early in the day, the flavors were smooth and creamy, with some sweetness akin to a coffee with cream and sugar (which paired nicely with the cup of black coffee I enjoyed). I really should have grabbed another handful of these, but I had spent too much there already! Great cigar.
Erik Espinosa is one of those guys in the cigar industry that I don’t know as well as some, however, when I walked into the store he walked up behind me and greeted me like an old friend, as did Juan Cancel from Cubariqueno Cigar Co. and Jose Galvez, our local Espinosa sales guy. While I haven’t smoked a ton of Espinosa branded cigars, Some brands made at his La Zona factory in Esteli are among my favorites. Cornelius & Anthony, La Sirena are in my list of go tos, and I’ve enjoyed my fair share of Arandoza cigars too, and I’ve bought plenty of 601 La Bombas in the past, going back to EO brands days. One of the cigars I bought was the 601 Steel, which was an exclusive for Famous Smoke Shop, oddly enough. At some point that exclusivity agreement ended, and CI took on the line. Considering CI is headquartered in Bethlehem, PA, which was known for it’s steel mills, it makes sense for CI to carry it. It’s a reasonably priced cigar, and while it’s billed as full-bodied, I didn’t find it to be that at all. It struck me as medium at best, but what do I know. It’s listed as having a dark Habano Oscuro wrapper and Nicaraguan fillers and binder. I didn’t find the wrapper to be all that dark. It had a nice flavor, burned a little off, but OK, and was a perfectly nice smoke. I also picked up some Murciualago (with red bands and silver, a Dread, and another event exclusive that looks like an Ecuador Connecticut wrapped cigar. I’ll get to some of them in the near future. We left the shop after the one cigar, it was just to noisy and crowded for my liking. It was nice of Matt Cook, who’s the Director of Retail Operations, to stop by and say hello. I probably wouldn’t know Matt if we didn’t have a mutual friend.
In related news, it was announced this week that Thompson Cigars has been acquired by the parent company of Cigars International.
Scandinavian Tobacco Group today signed an agreement to acquire the business of Thompson and Co. of Tampa, Inc. “Thompson”). The purchase price amounts to USD 62 million and the acquisition will be financed by existing cash at hand. The closing of the deal is expected to take place by the end of March 2018.
There’s a lot more to the press release, which is at many of my colleague’s sites, but I’m going to offer my unsolicited $0.02. Over the last year or so Cigars International’s mail order division had a major problem with a new computer system, which damaged their brand significantly in the eyes of the consumer. I’m sure many retailers in both the brick and mortar and mail order spaces rejoiced. Thompson has been selling cigars for over 100 years, I ordered a special out of a magazine add in 1996 and am still on the mailing list, and have gotten plenty of phone calls from them (I wrote about their auction site back in 2012, the story is here), and never was a fan of dealing with them. Other’s have had great experiences, and, given the history, many must like them. So from my biased perspective, a company that had big problems buys a company with a questionable marketing reputation? I don’t get it, but the people spending the $62 million are much smarter than I am. I’ve never had an issue with CI, granted I live close by, and it’s nice to visit their stores, but I like visiting most stores (see last weeks post!). With plans to also open a superstore in Texas announced by CI, and Altadis’ parent company and Davidoff buying and opening stores all over the place, clearly the trend is to go direct to consumer. Will Swisher be looking to go this route? What’s the future hold for the mom & pop shops? Kinda sounds like how Walmart killed small business a little, doesn’t it?
That’s all for now. To those afflicted, enjoy Super Bowl Sunday! I know as a resident of the Philadelphia are I should be excited, but I’m not a football fan. The Flyers better get their shit together though! I have some of Bernie Parent’s cigars that I want to smoke in honor of a Stanley Cup win one of these days! Until the next time,
Since taking most of December off from my regular schedule, I decided that this year I’m going to try something a little different for me, the occasional post dedicated to one cigar. I’ve got a bit of a backlog of review samples, and I wanted to start out with one which hits close to home, in a couple of ways. Best Cigar Prices, a valued sponsor and fellow Pennsylvanians, recently launched a the 601 Pennsylvania Edition, available in Robusto, Toro and Gordo, and was kind enough to allow me to be among the first to smoke it. Here is their information on the cigar:
Blended in honor one of America’s top cigar states (and our home base), the 601 Pennsylvania Editioncombines the finest of Nicaraguan tobaccos to bring you a fantastic full-flavored salute to PA. Showcasing a hearty Habano Oscuro wrapper over specially-selected Esteli & Condega leaves, each 601 Pennsylvania Edition cigar includes a single PA Broadleaf in the filler to ensure an authentic taste of Pennsylvania in every stick.
Handcrafted under the careful eye of Erik Espinosa at La Zona Cigars in Esteli, the 601 PA welcomes you in with a wave of peppery spice before introducing it’s dense and layered profile with tones of smoky wood, subtle sweetness, toasted bread, and almond. A bold, complex cigar with medium-full body, these special edition smokes present a wealth of rich character that’s right in line with the cigar excellence that 601 is known for.
I’ve been a fan of the 601 line for many years, and Erik Espinoza’s La Zona factory has been creating some great cigars since their inception. As it says above, the Pennsylvania Edition is an homage to my home state, and the band is modeled after the PA license plate. That reminds me, I handed down my vanity plate to my son recently, I had C-SLICE for 30 years, and I need to find a new one. I wonder if 601 is available? (One time I was travelling through New Jersey and got home to an e-mail from someone on the alt.smokers.cigars USENET group asking if it was me they saw! Maybe a little creepy, as this was in the late 90s, and quite a bit off the topic of this post.) I digress. I smoked two of the Robustos in this line, generously provided by Best Cigar Prices, over the last two evenings and was most impressed. While both examples had a looser draw than I would like, the flavor and strength was very much to my liking. This cigar has a different flavor, there’s a twang in there which is uncommon. There have been quite a few cigars recently utilizing leaf from the next county over from where I live, but this one is quite different from those. The smokiness is the predominant flavor to my palate, and it’s not a cigar that I would smoke on an empty stomach. I can see this aging well, and I, admittedly, smoked these relatively soon after receiving them. It was hard to resist the urge to try them out. I would, and will, buy these cigars to have in the humidor, and I look forward to trying the other sizes. My only real complaint with this cigar was that the band was quite hard to remove, a minor issue.
I’m getting back into my normal routine after the excitement of the holidays and the contests and all. I’m back to my “take a cigar for a walk” thing on a regular basis. Lucky it hasn’t been bitter cold yet, too many degrees below 30 Fahrenheit and it isn’t good for the cigars or me. That doesn’t mean I won’t do it, it just means I’m a bit more selective in the size and makeup of the cigar. Smaller maduros are my usual choice for super cold walks. Enough about the cold, I prefer to think about warmer weather.
Monday evening I was in the mood for something a little out of the norm so I grabbed a La Aurora Fernando Leon Family Reserve from the IPCPR show samples. I smoked one of these at the Miami Cigar and Co./La Aurora after party at the show, but by that point I had developed quite a head cold and along with everything else going on I really couldn’t enjoy it as much as I would have liked. This was Fernando Leon’s personal blend which was released at the show last summer and has a Dominican Corojo wrapper and binder and fillers from Brazil, Dominican Republic and Peru. This cigar burned nicely and had an enjoyable flavor. It’s a fine smoke that I wouldn’t mind revisiting on a nice, balmy evening.
Tuesday I got home a little later than normal due to inventory at work, and needed something short, yet awesome. I had a couple sample Liga Privada Papas Fritas from the show that have been burning a hole in my humidor, so it seemed like the perfect occasion to fire one up. The Papas Fritas (French Fries in Spanish) is a super premium mixed filler cigar from Drew Estate, using the cuttings from the Liga Privada production. They collect up these cuttings and re-sort them and make these little guys up. It’s a 4½” x 44 cigar with a dark broadleaf wrapper. This is like smoking a miniature No. 9 and it’s impossible to tell its not a long filler cigar. These come in tins of four, and the tins are modeled after tins that Cuban petite coronas used to be packaged in that I believe, and I could be wrong, they used to give out on trans-Atlantic flights back in the good old days when you could smoke on planes. I have an old Romeo y Julieta tin around someplace that I picked up many years ago because I though it was cool. If I wasn’t so lazy I’d have dug it out and taken a picture, but it’s buried in the basement someplace. These aren’t cheap at around $24 for the tin of four, but boy is it a satisfying little smoke.
Tonight I took the dog for a walk with a 601 La Bomba Atom. This is a powerful smoke, but loaded with flavor. I picked this example up back in November of 2011 and age hasn’t hurt it. Maybe it wasn’t quite as super strong as it was back then, but still packs a punch. The Atom is just about my favorite size cigar, a 5½” x 46 Cuban Corona with a long, fuse-like, pigtail cap. The Habano wrapper is quite tasty and the cigar starts with a tingly spicy blast and never really calms down too much. It was a terrific companion on my walk and was hard to put down. This is a terrific smoke if you like them strong, it’s a flavor bomb.
ESPINOSA PREMIUM CIGARS PRESENTS THE 601 LA BOMBA CHALLENGE
Miami, Florida (January 9, 2013) – Can you handle the STRONGEST cigar around? Think so? Well take the 601 La Bomba Challenge today!
Espinosa Premium Cigars announces the promotion for the 601 La Bomba Challenge, where cigar enthusiasts take a BEFORE and AFTER picture of their smoking experience with the 601 La Bomba cigar and share it on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. The contest will run for 6 weeks and a different winner will be selected each week [6 winners in total]. The winners will be announced on the following 2013 dates 1/18, 1/25, 2/1, 2/8, 2/15 & 2/22. Each winner will receive a 601 La Bomba Ashtray and a 601 LA BOMBA SQUAD t-shirt.
The 601 La Bomba is a full bodied and full flavored BOMB! Handcrafted in Esteli, Nicaragua with 100% Nicaraguan tobacco. WARNING: Extremely full bodied cigar. Not recommended for novice smokers.
…Not that I am a fan of contests or anything :-)! Check it out, get your hands on some La Bombas and take a shot at winning some cool goodies! It’s really hard to go wrong with anything from Eric Espinosa in my opinion. He makes some great smokes and is a heck of a nice guy.
Last December I picked up the Foundation Cigar Co. Olmec in Madur and Claro. I had smoked the Maduro, and gifted he Claro. I happened to be shopping at The Wooden Indian a few weeks back and picked up another Claro, because I wanted to smoke it! I really enjoyed the Maduro, and I’ve enjoyed so many cigars made by Nick Melillo over the years. Of course, this is a cigar that is an homage to the original cigar smokers, the Olmec, and has a San Andres Claro wrapper, a double binder of Nicaraguan Esteli and Jalapa, and undisclosed fillers. Odd the undisclosed part, must be something interesting in there, although, upon reading the website description, there seems to be some some confusion, the filler may be Esteli and Jalapa, it says two different things! Anyway, this was a really good smoking cigar. I liked the Maduro more, but that’s not unusual for me, but this had some nice creamy coffee flavor and was very rich in flavor. I may not drop $15 on these regularly, but it’s a nice treat. 
On the same trip to the Wooden Indian I picked up an Espinosa 601 La Bomba Warhead VII, just because it looked so tasty. The La Bomba line has been a favorite since the EO Brands days, when it was made at the My Father factory. This one is made at AJ Fernandez’ San Lotano factory in Nicaragua, has a Nicaraguan Broadleaf wrapper, and Nicaraguan binder and fillers. It’s a 7″ x 50 Churchill, and it lacks the La Bomba “fuse” cap treatment. I actually haven’t smoked enough of the Warhead series to know if that’s a thing or not. I really liked this cigar. The box press makes it feel like a smaller ring than it is, and it’s really reasonably priced at around $10. It was loaded with dark coffee/espresso flavors. This was a really good smoke, burn and draw were perfect. I’m a fan.
