Tag Archives: Aging Room

by CigarCraig | September 18, 2016 · 11:21 am

A Bobalu Oscuro, a New Nestor Miranda Cigar and an Oliveros All Stars

After the crazy first half of the week, I settled down a bit. I actually took Thursday off as we went up to Bethlehem PA to see the new movie “Eight Days A Week”. It was a very good documentary about The Beatles touring years, you can read my wife’s review on her blog Beatles-Freak’s Reviews . Friday evening’s cigar was another cigar from the selection I picked up from Bobalu Cigars. This cigar was from the Oscuro line which features a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Nicaraguan Ligero, Honduran Criollo 98 and Dominican Piloto and Olor. You can imagine what my expectations were for this one. This is a good example of how expectations can lead to disappointment. I got these in the Gordo size, because they only come in robusto and Gordo and I have too damn many robustos in my humidors. The cigar was well made, but instead of the heavy, coffee/cocoa flavor I expected, I got more of a medium sour flavor. It was a good cigar, I smoked it for a good two hours, but the sour flavor isn’t one I particularly enjoy. There were plenty of good points, and certainly there are people who appreciate the flavors in that cigar more than I do. I remain amazed that a factory in Austin, Texas is cranking out handmade cigars of excellent quality for a reasonable price. It’s a place I must visit one day when I finally make that Texas visit I need to make. Bobalu is still offering a special deal for my readers, click here to check that out.

Yesterday was a three cigar day. I started off in the afternoon, after getting some things done around the house and yard, with a new line extension to the Nestor Miranda Collection, the Corojo in the 4½ x 50 robusto size. In the past I’ve really enjoyed the Nestor Miranda Collection in this size, the Connecticut, Maduro and Habano are all exceptional, and this Corojo is a great addition to the portfolio. I was blown away by the abundance of a cinnamon spice quality throughout the cigar, it was quite delicious. I think the most memorable cigars I’ve smoked from the trade show for me this year have been cigars with unique flavors that I don’t often get in a cigar, which is what makes them memorable. There was another one, but I can’t remember it :-). I highly recommend trying the Nestor Miranda Collection, and especially this new Corojo. One minor complaint: Miami Cigar and Co. desperately needs to update their website!

I moved on to another trade show sample, the Oliveros Allstars Small Batch No. 5 Basso. Thankfully, Aging Room Cigar’s website IS up to date, as I had forgotten the story behind this cigar from the show, there was a lot of information given at once and the info on this one slipped through the ever-widening cracks. Oliveros All Stars is a collaboration between Rafael Nodal and Ernesto P. Carillo, it’s got a dark US grown broadleaf wrapper and Dominican fillers. The Basso is a 6″ x 54 toro (remember when Toros were 6″ x 50?) and they also have the Aria at 4½ x 48, the Fugue at 5½ x 52 and the Chord at 6½ x 52 Torpedo. The naming conventions are consistent with Rafael’s Music background. This is the sort of flavors I look for in a broadleaf cigar! It was dark and lush with the heavy espresso flavors I like, with some cocoa sweetness. It was a wonderful smoke. Collaborations are a funny thing in the cigar world, some say that the rarely work, I’ve had pretty good luck smoking collaborative efforts, but I think this one was a “win”. As an old friend came over for a while, I finished off the evening with a Last Call from AJ Fernandez, which seemed appropriate as it was getting late and was the last cigar of the day. Having just finished a fairly powerful cigar, I had low hopes for this cigar, it had some foot damage and looked bad in the humidor, so this was a perfect occasion to get rid of it in a humane way. About a quarter of the way in I couple really taste the wonderful flavors that this little cigar offers, and I was sad when it became too short to smoke any longer. I can’ wait to try the maduro version, although the Habano is fantastic.

Just Bitching…

Here’s a couple quick gripes about things I hear on podcasts that annoy me, stupid things, but things, and I’m naming names! On the Kiss My Ash podcast, they have a couple of commercials that bug me. First is a Joya de Nicaragua commercial that claims that the Quatro Cinco Reserva has tobacco from the Jalapeño valley, and I don’t know of a Jalapeño Valley in Nicaragua. Another is an ad that mentions what sounds to me like they are saying “Cigar Aprecianado” instead of Aficionado. may that one’s just me, my hearing isn’t great. I still love the KMA folks, it’s one of the podcasts I look forward to all week. The last one for today is from CigarDave‘s show last Saturday, where, in an attempt to be patriotic, he played one of the worst renditions of our nations national anthem I’ve ever heard. Admittedly, I’m a purist when it comes to the National Anthem, I don’t believe it should be embellished or artistically interpreted at all, just performed straight, as written. Nothing annoys me more than a performer adding his or her own spin to our nations anthem. That’s my opinion, I cringe when I hear poorly performed anthems, and that’s just the way it is. I was also in the car driving when I listened to CigarDave, and I didn’t feel like I need to stand, as what I was listening to was barely the piece of music that represents our nation. CigarDave, I’m deeply disappointed in that selection. Again, my opinion, I’m open to any criticism.

That’s about all I have for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Aging Room, aj fernandez, Bobalu, cigar, cigars, EP Carillo, Nestor Miranda, Oliveros

by CigarCraig | February 21, 2016 · 10:42 am

La Boheme, Nomad Therapy and a Quesada Cigar from Casa de Montecristo

Since we last spoke, which was only Friday, I’ve not had the chance to smoke too many cigars, but I did try to smoke good ones! I’ll have to rewind to Thursday, when I selected a La Boheme Pittore (5 1/8″ x 52) from a prior month’s Cigar Authority Care Package, to smoke while I listened to last week’s show. I should have smoked the Eiroa Classic Prensado, which I really look forward to smoking, but it was a 4″ x 48 size that I knew wouldn’t fit into the time allotted, it would leave me wanting. I’ll get to the Eiroa eventually, but I had the La Boheme that I missed previously, and I was looking forward to smoking Rafael Nodal’s latest creation too. The La Boheme, named after the famous Puccini opera (and I didn’t have to look that up, just so you know!) with sizes are named after characters in the opera, attempts to blend Rafael’s passions of cigars, music and Cuba, and I felt a little bad that I was listening to a cigar podcast while smoking this instead of listening to the opera. This is yet another cigar that I will be smoking again, it was very good, with a hint of that twang that’s a signature of most Havana cigars. Burn and draw were outstanding and it was a very enjoyable smoke. Another job well done from the folks at Aging Room Cigars.

Friday evening I celebrated the end of another week, as well as my youngest son’s 22nd birthday, with the Nomad Therapy Maduro Toro. This line is made at Tabacalera Fernandez in Nicaragua, and the maduro uses a Pennsylvania broadleaf wrapper, which Abdel Fernandez is reasonable famous for working with. Besides the PA wrapper, which I like a lot and it’s grown right down the road from where I live, this cigar had a Habano binder grown in Jalapa, and Nicaraguan filers. One can’t buy boxes of these, they are presented in trays that retailers can refill with bundles, lowering the cost. That’s not to take anything away from the premium nature if the cigar, it’s not a cheap bundle offering. I had no issues with the burn and draw, and the flavor was awesome! A little sweet, a little spice, a lot of flavor, and it’s right up my alley. Great, another cigar I need to buy…thank you to Fred for including this and it’s Connecticut Shade and Habano siblings with the 12SDOCG offering back in December!

Yesterday we had an odd February day with temps in the 50s, so I grabbed a big cigar and took Macha for a nice long walk, 3.1 miles to be exact. The cigar came in a selection of cigar sent to me by the online arm of Casa de Montecristo in Chicago, CDMCigars.com. I’ve been to the Casa de Montecristo in the Chicago area and it’s spectacular, and the members lounge which I weaseled my way into is just about as good as it gets. The cigar I selected was the Quesada Sellecion España Fabulosos, a 7″ x 54 corona doble. This line was originally blended for the Spanish market to offer an alternative to Cuban cigars, and was a bit of a unicorn for a while, now they are available in the US, although not widely. The blend consists of a Ecuador grown Arapiraca wrapper, Dominican binder and fillers from Connecticut (broadleaf), the DR and Nicaragua. Here’s wear my general laziness bites me in the ass. The cigar could have been a little dryer, and that’s my fault, as I placed the bag of samples, along with the Boveda pack, in the bottom of the cabinet. I’ve found before that this is a bad idea, and I didn’t learn. So I’ve removed the Boveda pack and put the rest of the cigars on the top shelf to lose a little moisture. While this cigar didn’t smoke as well as I’d have liked, it still was a terrific tasting cigar and smoked for over two hours. It was rich and creamy with hints of spice. I only have the H-Town lancero to compare this to, and it’s quite different, as the lancero is a lot more potent as one would expect. The folks at CDMCigars.com also included the Beli-Lance, a 7″ x 40 with a belicoso head, along with a bunch of other exclusive cigars that I look forward to smoking. If you find yourself in the Chicago area make Casa de Montecristo a destination.

That’s it for now, it’s supposed to be milder temperatures again today, but we may get more snow and winter stuff this week. Until the next time,

Cigar Craig

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Tagged as Aging Room, Casa de Montecristo, CDMCigars, cigar, cigars, La Boheme, Nomad, Quesada, The Cigar Authority, Therapy

by CigarCraig | July 23, 2015 · 10:35 pm

IPCPR Thoughts and Highlights – Part One

We got back from the IPCPR show yesterday, and it was a whirlwind 3 days at the show. I didn’t do the video interviews like I’ve done in the past, I figure other people are doing them and I don’t do what everyone else does. The only one I did I posted Sunday, and I’ll try to fix the audio when I get a chance. I will have a video montage of the “secret question” which I did for fun. Two years ago I put together the montage (here), and when I get the video put together I’ll post it. It’s a bit of fun and something different. I encourage you to visit my colleagues sites who did run around interviewing everyone, I just didn’t have it in me this time around. Obviously when I got Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust‘s Steve Saka alone at the end of the first day, and was the first blogger type to have talked to him, I had to scoop the competition. I’m not proud of my competitiveness in that regard, but I am proud to have gotten the first interview with Steve out. I asked some questions I’m sure nobody else did. I’ve known Steve for nearly 20 years, which might have given me a little advantage. I’ve gt samples, and you’ll hear more about them as I smoke them. They are taking a rest in the humidor, and I even shipped a box back that’s due tomorrow. Anyway, here’s the quick day by day recap.

Friday we drove two hours to Newark, NJ for a 5am flight which took us through Chicago then finally to New Orleans. Once checked into our hotel, the Hilton Riverside, which is next to the convention center, more or less, we walked to get our badges. This convention center had to have been nearly a mile long, it’s one enormous building, and the IPCPR was on the far end. We went to our hotel and took about a three-hour nap before heading back to the convention center for the gala grand opening reception, which followed the Government Affairs Briefing. This has been poorly attended in the past, and it was quite important to those who make a living in the cigar industry, so it was a stroke of genius offering cocktails to the attendees. The gala offered food and a cash bar, which was exorbitantly expensive. We caught up with quite a few old friends here, spending some time with the Two Guys Smoke Shop crew, as well as many others. I had run into Scott Weeks of Recluse Cigars, who handed me a Recluse Amadeus in Connecticut and the new Habano, and I smoked the Connecticut at the event, which is a great Connecticut shade cigar, lots of flavor. I can’t wait to try the Habano version, as I’ve been a Recluse fan since their release. I also smoked something else, but I can’t recall what it was. The evening was sponsored by Fratello Cigars. It was a fun evening, but even after the nap we were running at a sleep deficit, and wanted to be awake for the opening of the show.

Saturday morning we arose refreshed and went to the opening breakfast at the convention center. Smoking is allowed at the breakfast, but I was holding off until we got to the show. There is a business meeting that takes place, with recognition of the outgoing and incoming presidents and the introduction of the new IPCPR CEO, as well as some industry awards. All quite uninteresting to the consumer, but the officers and board of directors do this in their spare time on a volunteer basis, so there behind the scenes work deserves recognition. They always have a keynote speaker, and this year it was Larry Winget, a motivational speaker who was quite insightful and entertaining. I bought his book. He and I have a similar sense of humor, and many of his observations were quite funny. Breakfast was good, the coffee was great and it was a nice way to spend the morning. The show floor opened to the masses at 10:30 and we ran into quite a few old friends on what seemed like a half mile walk to the entrance of the show. Upon entering, Drew Estate‘s elaborate and expansive booth is straight ahead, so it was mobbed. We had a couple of appointments in the afternoon, so we went to the far end of the show floor and wandered, saying hello to friends, meeting up with fellow bloggers and media types, and getting the lay of the land ( taking note of where the food court was, bathrooms, etc. The first appointment was with Victor Vitale of Tortuga and Legacy brands, where I was reintroduced to the new Tortuga Connecticut, which was my first cigar of the show. This is a very smooth, creamy cigar with great flavor. I have smoked it before, and it’s a very enjoyable Connecticut, not to be missed. You may begin to notice a trend, I do’t smoke a great many milder cigars, but I’ve been to enough events and trade shows that I know how much it can suck if you blow out your palate early with strong cigars. I typically don’t go through a ton of cigars on the show floor as it’s awkward talking to one manufacturer about his cigar with another manufacturers cigar in your mouth (in the interview with Steve Saka I was smoking the new Leccia Luchadore, more on that later, but I couldn’t put it down and Steve didn’t have any samples of the Sobremesa). Victor was struggling with having his display cases broken and not having the right furniture, so it was a rough show for him, but he kept a smile on his face. This is another trend we saw: broken displays and what appeared to be poor service by whoever was in charge of moving things around with at least one booth never receiving a couch or chairs. I attended a media briefing at Rafael Nodal’s Boutique Blends/Aging Room booth with was informative, with Rafael telling us about his current selections. This factory continues to put out some great cigars, I just enjoyed the joint venture between Rafael and Altadis, the Romeo by Romeo y Julieta Aging Room Small Batch F25 in the Cantoar belicoso size and it was very nice. Not a show sample, by the way. After visiting with Rafael and his boys we went to the General Cigar booth for our traditional 3:00 on the first day of the show tour. General always rolls out the red carpet for us, and we saw some great looking new products including new branding on the Macanudo line, a Partagas Aniversario which looks really tasty, Bolivar and Ramon Allones reboots from the Foundry division as well as the Leccia Luchador El Gringo line extension (I mentioned before that I smoked it and really liked it, despite the example I smoked being a 70 ring). CAO has the Pilon, Margaritaville and added a round cigar to their Flathead line, the Steel Horse, paying homage to the motorcycles as opposed to the automobile reference in the previous five sizes. More about all of these as I smoke them after the samples have a chance to rest. Cohiba has a new very expensive Luxury Selection No. 2, which is beautiful, and Dunhill has the Heritage and Seleccion Suprema. Finishing off the tour was the Toraño line with the repackaged Brick bundle brand. I like a lot of cigars in the General Cigar portfolio, so I am looking forward to trying a bunch of the new cigars. Stay tuned for a giveaway here in the near future so you too can try some!

We free-ranged around the show floor some more until getting to sit down with Steve Saka after the show closed. I had to get the video interview out, which meant napping in between video processing, editing, and uploading over hotel WiFi so I could publish it for you first thing Sunday morning. Needless to say, the first day was fun, exciting and tiring, and I’m going to Post about days three and four on Sunday. Lots of great cigars and great people.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig`

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Filed under Events, IPCPR

Tagged as 20 Minutes in Detroit, Aging Room, Boutique Blends, CAO, cigar, cigars, cohiba, drew estate, Foundry, general cigars, IPCPR, La Gloria Cubana, leccia, macanudo, Partagas, Romeo, Tortuga

by CigarCraig | July 16, 2015 · 11:50 am

Packing for IPCPR, Some Emilio Cigars, a Regius, a Aging Room and a New World Connecticut

I’m frantically packing and readying for the trip to New Orleans tomorrow, but I figured while my new shed is being built in the back yard I’d recap some great cigars I smoked this week. Who knows what I’ll smoke over the next four or five days, and I haven’t loaded the travel humidor up yet. I will probably take an assortment of favorites as I won’t be taking notes on many cigar I smoke while I’m there. Anyway, Sunday I drove down to the Wooden Indian in Havertown, PA to meet Alex, our local House of Emilio rep and the son of the owner there. The Wooden Indian apparently cornered the market on Emilio‘s Grimalkin line, which was replaced by La Musa a few years ago, supposedly just re-named. I picked up a few torpedos and smoked one there. This cigar has aged well, it was made at the My Father factory, a well-known secret that I imagine it’s OK to spill since the Grimalkin brand is no more. Smooth, tasty and well-balanced sum up this smoke. When I got home I smoked another cigar from the Emilio line up, the Mia Dora. This is a stronger smoke, rich flavors of tobacco and well made. I’ll certainly see Alex and the House of Emilio brands at the show.

Since I’m on vacation, I had a three-day work week, which means cramming 5 days of work in, and Monday was a bit stressful. A month or so ago Cigar-Coop send me some cigar in an unnecessary reciprocation for me sharing some Inca Secret Blends with him. One of the cigars he sent was a Fat Perfecto from Regius‘ Exclusivo U.S.A. line. This cigar is a 60 ring by 5½” cigar in basically the same shape as the Feral Flying Pig, closed on both ends with a coiled “bun” type of pigtail cap. I really enjoyed the refined flavors in this cigar. It wasn’t strong, but loaded with flavor and burned well. It had a great balance, and even I could appreciate the nuances and delicate flavors. The is a classy stick, many thanks to Will for sharing this one with me.

Not wanting to stress out my palate for the upcoming trip, I decided to go Connecticut shade for a few days. I smoked an Aging Room Havao Tuesday, which I had picked up when I saw Rafael Nodal at Cigar Mojo last month. This cigar is a fine example of a Connecticut (Ecuador, they almost all are now), cigar with a lot of flavor. I’ve really enjoyed this cigar before, I guess that’s why I bought a handful at the event. They aren’t priced badly either. This is another terrific shade wrapped cigar, as well as the next one!

Last night I took my wife out for her birthday, and when we got home I took a walk with an AJ Fernandez New World Connecticut. Once again, we have an Ecuador Connecticut cigar that isn’t bland, mild and boring! This one was actually a bit stronger than the afor-mentioned Havao. Loads of smoke, plenty of flavor, and quite easy on the eyes! This cigar, as well as the original New World, can easily become staples in the humidor, and aren’t badly priced either. I am really looking forward to dropping by their booth this year, even though AJ doesn’t speak much English, he’s always gracious and he makes some damned fine cigars! Many thanks again to Gabriel for sharing these, and I look forward to seeing him again at the show too!

I can only hope the cigars I smoke at the show are as enjoyable as these last several were. It’s really getting harder and harder to find crappy cigars now days. Even cigars I don’t particularly care for are quite good, it’s been a while since I’ve had a poorly made cigar, and they all seem to have some redeeming qualities. Pray the FDA doesn’t come a long and goof everything up!

Until the next time, which really will be from the IPCPR show,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Aging Room, aj fernandez, cigar, cigars, connecticut, Emilio, Grimalkin, Havao, Mia Dora, Regius

by CigarCraig | June 28, 2015 · 9:03 am

Cigar Brothers, Wooden Indian, Cigar Mojo and the Fratello Bianco Toro

I had a pretty busy week this week, visiting cigar store and hanging out with some great folks, smoking great cigars! I was actually planning to stop in to Smoke Cigar Lounge in Manyunk, PA, just outside Philadelphia, but traffic was backed up, and it sounded like they were having a street festival on the main street there, so we gave up on that idea and stopped at a new shop only a few miles from home called Cigar Brothers in Berwyn, PA. This shop is an old house, and the downstairs part is the store, all humidified with the cigars out on shelves. The selection was very good,lots of boutiques as well as old standards. I grabbed a few CAO Flathead Sparkplugs and some Rocky Patel Super Ligeros and chatted with the properly named co-owner, Craig. The lounge is upstairs, basically two rooms and a hall with a bathroom. It’s not a great space for an event, as there’s no one large gathering area, but it’s nice for just hanging out with a few people. It’s bright and comfortable and well ventilated. I smoked the CAO Sparkplug there, as we had spent the afternoon in traffic and Craig was closing in an hour. I love the Flathead line, and really like this little cigar. It’s rich, full-bodied and burns right. We had a great afternoon talking to Craig and hanging out in this new shop that I think will do well.

This weekend was Famous Smoke Shop’s Cigarnival event, which I’ve attended in the past, so there have been a bunch of “cigarlebrities” in the general vicinity. Wednesday my oldest son and I went down to the Wooden Indian in Havertown, PA where they were having a Drew Estate event with Chris Stone and Pedro Gomez. Pedro runs the Cigar Safari and tours the US doing events in the off-season. My son hadn’t seen him since we were in Nicaragua in 2011, so it was a nice reunion and it was nice to go out and have a cigar with the kid for a change. I went with another favorite, the Nica Rustica. It looks like it’s a Maduro week! Great cigar, great friends, and a great shop. I even won an Acid Fat Tips t-shirt, who remembers those? I never smoked one, but it was supposed to be a mass market Acid with a plastic tip, but it never really caught on. Anyway, if you haven’t met Pedro, don’t miss the chance, and if you have, well, you know why I’m recommending you meet him! I didn’t take one darned picture the whole evening dammit.

Thursday found me at Cigar Mojo for a packed house. Earlier in the day they had visits from Nick Perdomo and Jesus Fuego, but the evening event featured Aging Room Cigars and Rafael Nodal, along with his sons Carlos and Rafael Jr. I continued the maduro theme with an Aging Room Maduro that was the free cigar with purchase, Rafael said the bundle came from his personal humidor and they were from the initial release. Once again, this was a nice smoke, very rich with a nice sweet mocha vibe, fortunately I picked up a few more, as well as some Havao. I generally run into someone I know there and caught up with some old acquaintances from another shop I’ve been to. I had a nice time conversing with Rafael and his sons, Rafael is one of the nicest guys around.

Friday evening I was back in my routine of taking Macha for a walk and enjoying a cigar, and I selected a Fratello Bianco II Toro to celebrate the end of another week. Omar made this cigar with me specifically in mind! (I have an e-mail from him saying that, but I don’t really buy it…). The San Andreas wrapper is a beautiful dark brown with a sheen of oil, it’s dark, even though the cigar is named “White”. It has a Dominican binder and fillers from Nicaragua, Peru and Pennsylvania, my home state (maybe Omar wasn’t blowing smoke up my skirt after all! **now there’s a mental image for you!**). If I knew nothing more than the composition of this cigar I’d figure it was a really good chance I’d love it, but I also know where it’s made and the guy behind it, there would have to be something monumentally wrong for me not to like this cigar. As it turns out, all my preconceptions did not lead to disappointment. The Fratello Bianco is a brilliant cigar. It has the similarity to strong, bitter black coffee that I like, as well as a solid core of savory flavor and perhaps a hint of sweetness. This is an after dinner espresso (double, it was a 6″x 50 toro after all). I dig it, I can’t wait to smoke the 5″ x 56 III and the corona that Omar so generously sent to me, and buy some of these when they hit the stores. I may even put the mooch on Omar at the trade show in a few weeks (naw, I’ll leave the samples for the retailers…). This is a winner, hands down. Molto buon sigaro!

So ends another week. It did nothing but rain yesterday, so I got nothing done save for smoking a nice Inca Secret Blend Imperio after dinner on the back porch, breaking my maduro binge. If you happen to find yourself in Easton, PA today (Sunday June 28), Rafael Nodal is going to be playing piano at Leaf, the great restaurant at Famous Smokeshop. Going to events at shops is a great way to increase your appreciation for cigars, as well as add some new stock to your humidors. Support your local retailers, and Cigar Rights of America while you’re at it!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Aging Room, cigar, Cigar Brothers, Cigar Mojo, Cigar Safari, cigar store, Cigarnival, cigars, drew estate, Fratello, Nica Rustica, wooden indian