Tag Archives: Alec Bradley

by CigarCraig | July 10, 2013 · 8:37 pm

Getting Ready for Vegas, a Perdomo, a Four Kicks and a Nica Rustica

In the week leading up to our trip to the IPCPR show in Vegas I’m losing track of what I’ve smoked! I had to go back and check twitter and Instagram to refresh my memory. My wife is right, I need to take a note book along this time to write things down along the way. I’m certain to forget something in the information overload that is the IPCPR show. Case in point: I smoked a couple cigars on Sunday, I think a CAO Concert and a Gurkha Seduction. Both are cigars that are on my “go to” list when I want to smoke something, enjoy the heck out of it, and not have to worry too much about it. The Concert went very nicely in the pool, and the Gurkha was perfect after a end of the weekend rainstorm complete with a double rainbow. These two cigars capped off a pretty great holiday weekend for me. I had to go look up what I smoked!

Monday evening I grabbed one of the Perdomo Reserve 10th Anniversary Maduros I had picked up recently. I was in the mood for something new and I really don’t smoke a ton of Perdomo cigars for whatever reason. I’m not sure if it goes back to the 90s when I had a string of bad luck with the brand or what. This cigar was pretty darned sublime. The flavor was right up my alley, chocolatey and espressoey and well balanced. Well worth the $5.25 I paid for it. It was a lovely smoke and I’ll certainly have to pay a little more attention to this brand. Yes, I know that chocolatey and espressoey aren’t real words (I already had that argument with the spell check…).

Last night I selected a Four Kicks robusto that was gifted to me a few months ago in New Jersey by Alex “StogieCop” Martinez. I’ve enjoyed a few different sizes in this line, and they are nice cigars to be sure. I kind of wanted to get some older (ie. last years) cigars smoked before going to the trade show and being inundated with new stuff. This was a worthy smoke, although I just can’t get as excited about it as some do, perhaps it doesn’t suit my preferences as much as some others. Still a terrific smoke, thank you Alex for allowing me to revisit this one.

Changing gears, tonight I wanted to preview a cigar that I gather is being released at the show this year. In the past few weeks I’ve smoked some NicaRoma cigars from Villiger,the Nica Puro from Alec Bradley, so I thought I better smoke the Nica Rustica that’s coming out from Drew Estate. I was given a sample a few months ago when I visited the factory and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit intimidated by this stick! Will at Cigar-Coop.com posted a nice write up on this last week, where he notes that the blend includes a Nicaraguan Rustica tobacco grown in Esteli that is among the most potent of tobaccos it’s wrapped in a San Andreas binder (yay!) and a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper (another yay!) and will be offered in a 6″x52 toro shape. The example I smoked had an unfinished foot and a pigtail head. It certainly was a rustic looking cigar, and had a wonderful syrupy sweetness on the wrapper. You an feel the tingle of the nicotine in the mouth, and there is a ton of flavor. This is like a Liga Privada on steroids. I have yet to find anythig remotely subtle about this cigar, it’s just loaded with great, in your face flavor and strength. I’m sitting on the deck finishing this off as I type, and I already look forward to smoking another one. Now, I have to admit that I don’t know if this is the finished blend or not, but I hope it is close. I remember Steve Saka saying that production capacity was holding this release back, apparently they made some room to produce a bunch of these. At the reported under $7 price tag, this is a no brainer for anyone who doesn’t mind having your ass kicked around the block a few times. Highly recomended and anticipated!

That’s it for tonight. The next post will probably be from the IPCPR show. I’ll do my best to get some interesting and entertaining video here, assuming I can get some WIFI connections here and there.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Alec Bradley, CAO, cigar, cigars, Crownedheads, drew estate, Four Kicks, Gurkha, Nica Rustica, Perdomo

by CigarCraig | July 7, 2013 · 9:46 am

4th of July Weekend Cigars: Alec Bradley, Hoyo, Gurkha, La Gloria and Another Alec Bradley

We had a pretty low key 4th of July celebration. All our kids and grandkids were over and we grilled and stuff for the afternoon. Before everyone got here I started the day with an Alec Bradley American Classic Robusto. I pick up a few of these on occasion because they are a really solid, versatile cigar. They are inexpensive, smooth, tasty and well made. I enjoy them and they are a great cigar to give to an occasional smoker, which I did not have the opportunity to do, I smoked it myself.

After everyone left it was time to break into the special occasion humidor and pick out a celebratory cigar. I selected a Havana Hoyo de Monterrey Churchill which was given to me several years ago with the proviso that it might be plugged, and if it was, ditch it and smoke something else (he had also given me a back-up). Unfortunately, I failed to bring a backup along, and the cigar was horribly plugged and I fought with it for my entire walk. The really annoying part was that the little bit of flavor I was able to coax out of the cigar was pretty darned tasty, and I wanted it, I wanted it bad! I usually keep it to myself when a cigar is this flawed, but considering the manufacturer, I don’t feel too bad being critical when the situation calls for it.

I wasn’t going to be defeated, so I went back to the humidor and selected a much more recent production Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No 2. Ah, success. This is about the same size the Churchill would have been by the time I returned from my walk had it not been plugged. This Robusto (or is it a Hermoso No. 4? I forget) burned as well as a Cuban cigar can be expected to burn and had the flavor that the Churchill had teased me with. I’m firmly a believer that there are many cigars that are much better than Cubans but I enjoy the different flavor that only Cuban cigars have and have smoked at least on on the 4th of July for so many years its a tradition. It’s a combination of celebrating our wedding anniversary and the little bit of civil disobedience that this country was founded on that keeps me doing it.

Friday we were running some errands and found ourselves going through Maple Glen, PA, (near Ambler). We spied a place called “Black Wolfman Tobacco” and felt compelled to visit. This is a little shop that has a couple cabinet humidors along one wall, and they roll your own and cigarettes behind the counter. The selection was sparse, but reasonably priced. I grabbed a couple Perdomo 10th Anniversary Maduro Robusto for about $5.25 each. When we got home it was hot, so I grabbed a Gurkha Cellar Reserve Churchill and got in the pool. I like a large cigar for pool smoking, it just seems easier for some reason. I’ve smoked a bunch of these and it’s a nice, smooth smoke. I like these as the first cigar of the day because it’s on the mild side. I had an ulterior motive in picking this out besides it’s inherent pool-worthiness.

My Friday evening walk featured a new cigar from Gurkha, a Cellar Reserve with a maduro wrapper. I’m sure that Oliver Hyams, marketing director with Gurkha, told me what the wrapper was when he gave me this last week at Cigarnival, but I’ve forgotten and I’ll update this when I receive the information. I want to say it’s either a San Andreas or Connecticut Broadleaf as that’s what it tasted like to me. Great smoke! This cigar is right up my alley. It’s got that coffee/espresso that I like along with a little sweetness. Something sticks in my head about Brazilian Arpiraca, but I may be confusing that with the wrapper on the Ghost, which this tastes nothing like. (note: I confirmed with Oliver Hyams at Gurkha, it was Brazilian Arapiraca!) I am certain that this will be released at next weeks IPCPR show, so this is a little preview. I suggest giving it a try when it comes out, because it’s darned tasty! It even has a curly little pigtail cap.

This is getting a little long for a holiday weekend, but I had a lot more time to smoke! Saturday I had another La Gloria Cubana Rabitos de Cochino. I see more of these in my future, the price to quality ratio is off the charts. Later I decided to give the new Alec Bradley Nica Puro a try. Now this is my kind of cigar! My initial thought is that it’s reminiscent of an Undercrown, it’s got that similar heavy body and lush flavor. I found that I had not eaten enough dinner as if it had been a longer cigar than a robusto it may have gotten the best of me. This is a cigar that’s on the stronger side, to be sure. I loved this smoke and appreciate Jonathan Lipson passing these to me last week, as I had been looking forward to trying them. There’s not a lot of Alec Bradley cigars that I don’t enjoy, but this one goes to the top of the list.

That’s enough for today, have some things to get done around the house and some sitting in the pool to do this afternoon. I have to pick out some cigars for today to wrap up the long weekend. Five more days of work and then it’s off to Vegas! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Alec Bradley, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Gurkha, hoyo de monterrey, IPCPR

by CigarCraig | March 21, 2013 · 2:07 am

A Non-Cigar West Coast Swing – A San Lotano at Bo’s and a La Atelier at Old Oaks

I was going to wait until I got home to post, but I hate to miss a Wednesday post (it’s still Wednesday on the west coast) so I thought I’d share a couple experiences I managed to have on my business trip to the Los Angeles area.Â My trip’s focus was to visit a couple of the venders I buy from and visit my company’s home office.Â Fortunately, my boss likes a cigar, so Monday evening when we got into town we located Bo’s Cigar Lounge.Â I was expecting sticker shock in California, and I wasn’t disapointed.Â However, this lounge was very nice.Â They have plenty of TVs which had the Flyers game on, and very comfortable seating. There was even a TV in the loo!Â There are two locations, the one closest to us was in Torrance.Â One of the highlights was that one on my longest and most loyal readers, DB, came down to meet and have a cigar or two with us.Â It’s always a treat to meet a cigar friend whomÂ I had only corresponded with electronically, and I’ve done it hundreds of times.Â I really appreciate DB taking the time to make the trip down, it was great to finally have a cigar with him in person.Â The lounge patrons were very friendly and we didn’t feel out of place at all.Â The selection was excellent, but, as I said, the prices were roughly double what I see inÂ Pennsylvania, which was shocking.Â Given that we were hanging out in the lounge, the price was justifiable, as one would spend more than that hanging at a bar or something.Â I picked out a San Lotano Maduro that was a terrific smoke.Â I think I like this better than the Oval line, theÂ Mexican Maduro is loaded with sweet coffee/cocoa flavors and burned perfectly.Â We ended up being joined by one of the venders we were meeting later in the week who also is a cigar lover, and ended up having a fine Mexican dinner before parting ways.

Wednesday, after all of the meetings and tours and whatnot, our host took us to his local cigar shop, Old Oaks Cigar Co. in Thousand Oaks, CA.Â First, I was blown away by the prices in this shop as they were only a dollar or two more than PA prices.Â How do they do this.Â They also had a gentleman in the humidor rolling cigars that were also well priced.Â I really should have picked a couple up in retrospect.Â I seleceted a La Atelier LAT 56 as I hadn’t smoked one of them before.Â It should be noted that the cigars I smoked on this trip were not paid forÂ by me.Â Kevin, our host is a regular at this shop, and introduced me to the owner, Albert, who has an amazing operation.Â In addition to cigars, theyÂ have what my boss described as an unbeliveable selectionÂ of Scotches, as well as wine, and a very busyÂ lounge.Â Â Kevin directed us to the enclosed patio area in the rear where we enjoyed our smokes and watched some hockey.Â The LAT 56Â was a very nice cigar.Â Not mild or strong, yet very flavorful and interesting.Â This was a great shop, exceptional selection and the pricing wasn’t rediculous!Â Highly recommended.

These couple cigars over the course of a few days really helped relieve the stress I had about this trip.Â It’s always nice to visit a strange place (and I think we can agree that LA fits that description) and find friendly cigar folks to spend an hour or two communing with.Â I appreciate everyone’s hospitality.Â This post was brief, but it’s late andÂ I’m away from home.Â I didn’t even mention having gone to Cigars International last Sunday and smoking an Alec Bradley Filthy Hooligan, which was delicious, by the way. If you have been scared off of the candela wrappers, give this one a try.Â The blend takes the grassy, chlorophyll flavor out of the wrapper, and the wrapper mellows out the filler blend a bit.Â I think it’s a fine smoke.

That’s it for now, long day of travel tomorrow and I can’t wait to get back home. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Review, Stores, Trip Report

Tagged as Alec Bradley, California, cigar, cigar store, cigars, La Atelier, san lotano

by CigarCraig | March 17, 2013 · 8:09 am

A La Aurora, a Visit to CI in Hamburg and a Stogieboys Contest Winner!

It been a busy week and I really haven’t been able to smoke too many cigars. I know, usually when I say that I spew out three or four cigars I’ve enjoyed over the previous couple days, but this time I really mean it. In the news department, I received word this week that Cigarfrombrazil.com has relaunched their website and Wes gave me a discount code to pass on to you to get 10% off your purchases. Enter MPCGRS10 when you check out. Wes has been a generous supporter here and the Monte Pascoal cigars are delicious Brazilian puros that are a must-try. Check out the new site and give their cigars a try.

In some other news, the website LivingSocial.com, a site similar to Groupon, ran a deal for Gotham Cigars. For $25 you get a voucher that will give you $50 to spend on their site. I’ve gotten deals like this before and I’m a sucker for cheap cigars! I’ll let you know what I end up getting. As of this writing, the deal is good for another 3 or 4 days, and if you use this link, I might get my deal for free! Of course, you too will get a link to share in hopes of getting 3 friends to buy it then you too will get it for free! Its a great deal either way and Gotham has been around quite a while and is a reputable outfit.

Thursday evening I took a nice little walk with the dog and a La Aurora 107 Corona. La Aurora is a great company, and they make great cigars. The first box of cigars I ever purchased back in the ’90s was a box of La Aurora Bristol Especiales. So far, there are only a couple cigars in their lines that I really enjoy, the Cameroon, the Vintage 2003 and that’s about all I can think of. Something just doesn’t suit my palate right in the majority of La Aurora cigars I smoke. This 107 was tasty, it was perfectly constructed, and I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t for me (I know, I said I enjoyed it, but I didn’t like it…just because there’s some aspect of the flavor that I don’t care for, it wasn’t offensive, and the experience of smoking a cigar is half the battle here. As long as I’m not physically repulsed by the flavor, a cigar I don’t like can be a great experience!). I need to find a 107 Maduro, perhaps that will be more in line with my personal tastes.

Today, Sunday, March 17th, my wife and I are taking a drive up to Cigars International‘s little shop in Hamburg, PA to have a cigar and make some plans for my upcoming surprise birthday party. I’m hoping to find the new Alec Bradley Filthy Hooligan there to smoke. I’m leaving tomorrow for a business trip to the Los Angeles area, which I’m not particularly looking forward to, but I’m planning to visit Bo’s Cigar Lounge in Torrance sometime Monday evening around 5:30, so if anyone is in the area stop in and look for me. I’ll be the guy smoking a cigar!

Contest!

The folks at StogieBoys.com were very generous in sponsoring this month’s contest! Thanks to Sheryl for setting the whole thing up! As usual, I use Random.org to select a winner. This time I need the winner to e-mail me their contact information so that I can pass it on to Sheryl so she can ship you your prize. There were 45 entries, and the random number generator spewed forth the number 13. By my calculations Travis is the winner! Please send me your details. Thanks to everyone for participating, and check back frequently, one never knows when another contest might pop up!

That’s it for now. I’m off to the cigar store, then have to pack and get ready for a 6 hour flight tomorrow. I don’t know how you folks who travel for business on a regular basis do it! Also, Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! Any day that celebrates an anti-snake sentiment is OK by me!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Contest, News, Review

Tagged as Alec Bradley, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Cigars International, Contest, La Aurora, Stogie Boys

by CigarCraig | February 17, 2013 · 10:09 am

A Nub, an Arandoza, and Herfin to the Oldies! A Good Cigar Week

First off, a little administrative bitching business. I mentioned before that I have just changed web hosting companies, and with that transition came some minor changes to the URLs associated with older posts. Without getting into the boring details, if anyone out there has a link to a post of mine, please edit out the “/blog” part and everything will be fine! I have things set up so that any click on one of those old links redirects to the home page, which isn’t ideal, I really want people to be able to find what they are looking for. I’m open to suggestions from those more technically adept at this stuff than I am. Enough of the minutia, on with the cigars!

Thursday evening I was in a maduro kind of mood, so I grabbed a Nub Maduro for my walk. This 464T was from a sampler I purchased from a Thompson’s auction which I wrote about here. There’s just something about these squat little torpedos that appeals to be, but they are not easy to smoke while wearing gloves. Â Fortunately, it wasn’t that cold out, so I avoided either losing it or burning the gloves! Â It was a tasty smoke. Â Dark, oily, delicious, everything I was looking for. Â I think I have one left from that sampler. Â I actually haven’t touched the Connecticut Nubs yet, and I have a couple of each of the Habano and Cameroon.Â

Friday evening I arrived home to find my brother-in-law visiting, so after dinner we grabbed some cigars and took the dog for a walk before the hockey game. Â I had recently received some more samples from Robert Arango of his Arandoza Blue Label cigars. Â This is a robusto that’s made at Erik Espinosa’s La Zona factory in Esteli with a Nicaraguan Habano wrapper. Â I enjoyed the tobacco sweetness that this well made cigar gave me. Â To me it was a nice, well balanced smoke that gave me an hour of enjoyment. Â My BiL smoked an Alec Bradley Maxx Brazil which he enjoyed. I knew he liked the Alec Bradley line and knew he hadn’t tried one. Â He is an infrequent cigar smoker, so I knew the Maxx Brazil would be a smooth and flavorful smoke for him.

Saturday was date night, my lovely bride and I went to Atlantic City, NJ to see the legendary Chubby Checker perform at Resorts International. Â I had planned to stop at one or two cigar shops in the area, but that didn’t end up happening, and considering New Jersey cigar prices, I’m not really tooÂ dissapointed. Â I ended up having a pre-show Joya de Nicaragua Cabinetta Robusto while winning at a slot machine before the show. Â I love this smoke, it’s a perfect all-around, any time of the day smoke to me, and I just enjoy the heck out of them. Â Strange, since my first instinct is to gravitate toward the maduros, but this cigar does it for me. Â I loved this cigar even before I had the pleasure ofÂ watchingÂ them rolled in the factory. Â Great smoke in any size, but i f you happen to comeÂ acrossÂ the lancero, treat yourself. Â Chubby put on a heck of a show, and my wife an I felt quite young in the crowd. Â I was sure someone was going to break a hip! Â I doubt any of the attendees are reading, so my risk of offending anyone is minimal, but some of those blue haired old biddies were really shaking it! Â The man really puts on an entertaining show. Â After the show I was feelingÂ optimisticÂ when I sat down at a slot machine with my voucher from the previous session and lit up an Undercrown Corona Viva!. Â I got about 2 inches into the cigar before the slot machine had gobbled up all of my previous winnings. Â Oh well, between Jenn and I we only dropped a couple bucks into the machines, we had some fun. I wasn’t leaving that Corona Viva! behind, so I carefullyÂ extinguishedÂ it for the walk through the casino, which is largely smoke free, by the way. I finished the cigar on the ride home. Â This might be my favorite size in this line, but I’ll be honest, put any Undercrown in front of me and I’ll be happy to smoke it! Â Here’s a little video of Chubby from last night: