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by CigarCraig | October 18, 2017 · 8:20 pm

A Protocol Cigar and a Balmoral Añejo XO Rothschild Masivo

Sunday afternoon I sat down with a tasty MUWAT Kentucky Fire Cured Swamp Thang Toro and spent some time on Skype talking to Dave Burke of Cigar Jukebox recording a guest DJ spot for a future show. I’ve been listening to Dave for a while, and from my perspective, it was very easy talking to him for the first time. It didn’t feel like the first time since I’ve grown used to hearing his voice in my headphones. I’m sure it was weird for him, but I was fairly comfortable. I’m fortunate to know many of the people I listen to on podcasts and radio shows, and I hope to get to meet Dave one day. He’s based in Australia, so the likelihood of our paths crossing is reasonable low, unfortunately. Give his shows a listen if you’re a music fan at all, pairing music and cigars is quite interesting, I found it challenging as there is as much variety in music as there is in cigars! It was a great honor to be invited on this terrific show.

Last night I grabbed a Protocol Probable Cause Lancero from the IPCPR sample humidor. This is Cubariqueño‘s sophomore release, made at La Zona in Esteli, with a San Andrés maduro wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers. The Lancero is 7½” x 38 and is box pressed. While the draw was a little more snug than I like, it burned wonderfully and had great rich, dark flavors. Bill and Juan of Protocol Cigars have three lines, this one with a red band, the original Protocol with the blue band, and the tasty Connecticut shade wrapped Themis with a gold band. I love that they only produce a couple of sizes in each line, it makes it easy for me to keep track of them. I haven’t settled on a favorite yet, they are all really tasty!

Tonight I lit up a cigar that came to me almost two years ago in a very nice selection of cigars from Drew Estate. I decided to smoke this one because it came in a rather unwieldy cardboard box that was taking up to much room in the humidor! Since I received this cigar, Drew Estate is no longer distributing the line, so this isn’t very timely, I guess. The cigar in question, as you might infer from the title of this post, is the Balmoral Añejo XO Rothschild Masivo. This is a 5″ x 55 robusto made in the Dominican Republic with a Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper, that’s listed as “sun grown” and exceptionally aged. The binder is Dominican Olor, and the fillers are Dominican, Nicaraguan and Brazilian, all also described as exceptionally aged. Balmoral is big in Europe, its origins are with the Winterman’s family. The cigar had some plume, and tasted like a well aged cigar. It was very complex, with lots of cocoa and spice and some sweetness. I liked it a lot, I can’t believe it took me so long to smoke this as the box has been getting in my way over the past two years!

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Balmoral, cigar, CigarJukebox, cigars, Protocol

by CigarCraig | June 4, 2017 · 9:41 am

A Fratello Cigars Event, a La Aurora, a L’Atelier and a Contest!

Friday evening we took a family trip over to the Wooden Indian cigar shop in Havertown, PA to have a visit with Omar de Frias and his amazing Fratello cigars. When I say family, my wife sometimes joins me on these trips, but this time my son Corey came along, and, at the invitation of the shop owner, Dave, Macha joined us too. Macha loves these outings as she gets a lot of attention and loves everybody. She was well-behaved, most of the time just laying down and relaxing, something I wish she’d do at home when we get back from a long walk and I just want to finish my cigar and she wants to play in the yard! Anyway, she had a great time, and I smoked one of my favorite cigars from last year, the Fratello Bianco Boxer. This is a box pressed torpedo wrapped in a beautiful San Andrés wrapper, Dominican binder and fillers from Pennsylvania, Nicaragua and Peru. What distinguishes the Boxer from the regular Bianco line, and this holds true with the regular and Oro Boxers as well, is that they use a little extra ligero in the blend. Not only does the cigar smoke perfectly and taste amazing, it’s got a little extra kick! I picked up a few more for the humidor, along with some other goodies, and enjoyed a great evening at the Wooden Indian with my buddy Omar. It was the fist time I’ve seem Omar without his goatee, is that the breaking news here? Omar Shaves Goatee!…only at CigarCraig.com, Sorry Halfwheel and Cigar-Coop, I was first with this bombshell!

Yesterday was a beautiful Saturday to go to the track, and my daughter decided to have our grand-daughters joint birthday party in the picnic grove at Delaware Park. We got there early to secure a spot, and while we were waiting for everyone I smoked a La Aurora Preferido Corona in the Diamond or Broadleaf wrapper. Since I smoked this the first time over two years ago the pungency and cloying flavor I got then has settled down and it’s more like what I would expect from an aged Connecticut Broadleaf. It was a little over the top the last time I smoked it, but it was slightly underwhelming to me yesterday. Honestly, I forgot that I didn’t really like this cigar the first time around, but was looking forward to a tasty Broadleaf cigar. I usually don’t choose my granddaughters events to enjoy a cigar, but when it’s reasonably appropriate, like at the track 45 minutes before they arrive, I go for it, and it’s usually something from La Aurora because Aurora is also my daughter’s name and how could she get mad at me, right? It works in my head. Anyway, I didn’t lose all my money, had a nice day playing the ponies and hanging with the family.

Last night I rummaged through the Lancero tray and came up with a L’Atelier LAT 38 Special. This 7½” x 38 Lancero was a beauty, with a dark, Sancti Spíritus Ecuador wrapper, binder and filler from Nicaragua rolled at the My Father Factory in Nicaragua. I wanted to smoke something from the Johnson family of cigars, but I was only finding rubustos, and I craved more than that. I have a ton of rubustos in the humidor and should probably just go on a rubusto bender and work them down. There was a time when that was my vitola of choice, but I’ve either gotten more patient or have more time because I want a toro or larger more times than not. I digress, theLAT 38 was a beauty, and the flavor was outstanding. It had the savory and sweet flavor I’d expect more from the Broadleaf than the Sancti Spiritus that the L’Atelier line is known for. I can’t remember when I got this, it may have been at an event at a shop in Colorado I was at back in 2014, but it was good. I haven’t found many cigar in any of Pete Johnson’s portfolio that don’t satisfy my palate. My only complaint with this cigar was that it suffered from Nomex Wrapper Syndrome (Nomex is the stuff that electrical wiring is wrapped with so it doesn’t burn) it required a lot of attention with the lighter, and I was being careful not to overheat the cigar since Lanceros can easily be ruined by smoking too aggressively. The humidor these are in stays in the mid to low 60s so it wasn’t wet.

Contest!

Since we got to the track early yesterday they were giving out hats, and since I’m not a huge hat wearing guy, I figured it might be a good time to have another giveaway. I’ve assembled some odds and ends that have been collecting for a while to go with the Delaware Park hat. There are a couple of bottle openers including one for your key chain from Nomad Cigars, a torch lighter from El Artista, a couple cutters, a highly collectible Matt Booth Room 101 punch cutter, a Ninety Degree magnetic cigar holder and a nice Balmoral flask. As always, a few cigars might fall into the box as I’m packing it up, it happens, I can’t help it! So the usual rules apply, must be of legal smoking age in your municipality, one entry by way of leaving a comment on this post, and have fun! I’ll pick a winner next Sunday, June 11, 2017.