Tag Archives: Battleship New Jersey

by | June 18, 2023 · 10:17 am

DBL, Aganorsa Cigars and a Battleship Beef Experience!

 

Yesterday had a lot going on, most of which wasn’t cigar related, with the day culminating in the Battleship Beef event on the New Jersey.  We’ll get to that in a bit, but first, I had a few new-to-me cigars this week.  Last month when we went to the Atlantic city event, Francisco Almonte gave me a DBL Amarillo Belicoso, which is the fancy, barber pole style cigar in the Connecticut Shade Amarillo line, 5 5/8″ x 54.  It’s a pretty cigar, it’s box pressed to, there’s not a lot of box pressed, barber pole, shaped cigars out there. Nice presentation, I liked it a lot.  It had a really nice flavor, mellow cream and nuts, I think the accent striping gave it some extra flavor. I don’t smoke a lot of DBL cigars, and I know there’s a shop or two in the area that have them, and I believe Francisco has his own shop in New Jersey someplace, which I’ll have to hunt down. 

 

Another cigar that came from the Atlantic City festival was an Aganorsa Rare Leaf that Mike King gifted me. Mike is a great broker who was there working the Aganorsa booth.  I was there on a media pass, so I didn’t get the cigar coupon book like a regular attendee, which is quite fine as I’m quite fortunate not to be in need of cigars (just ask my wife!). However, it’s nice to be presented with something I haven’t smoked, and, to be honest, many of Aganorsa Leaf’s cigars don’t excite me enough to hunt them down.  I’ll pick one up here and there if I can’t find anything else new and interesting, and there are a few that I’ve really enjoyed, and this Rare Leaf was one of them.  This was a corona or lonsdale size, I didn’t measure it, figuring (incorrectly) that I could do some research after the fact. Perhaps it’s a new size, I want to to say it was 6″ x 44. I’m not generally a Criollo fan, which is probably why the Aganorsa line is so hit or miss with me. This was a really nice smoke, a nice blend of spice and sweetness.  

 

Last night was the Battleship Beef event on the Battleship New Jersey, which is docked across the river from Philadelphia.  This event was a Red Meat Lovers Club event, put on by Evan Darnell, the Secretary of Steak, in partnership with Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust, Casa de Montecristo, and a few other folks.  I fear that this second annual feast may be the last.  While the Battleship invited the  RMLC back to put on this event, which raises money for the Battleship Museum, apparently there was a last minute scramble when it came out that smoking would be restricted to a small area. Obviously, this wasn’t going to be tolerated, as this was a cigar event. To Evan’s credit, I don’t think anyone would have known there had been a problem if they hadn’t been told, and there were some upsides to the change in setup, having everyone in one area. Shame on whoever changed the plan at the last minute and caused Evan all that stress, but he and his team made it work.  The food was amazing, Katz’s Deli from NY had the most incredible Pastrami, although the structural integrity of the rye bread didn’t hold up.  Saka and Lafferty were there, as well Tim and Travis from Altadis, Kevin from CigarProp, James from BL Luxuries, and other friends. We had a great time hanging out with my fellow Craig, Craig “the Breadman” Gilpin. Sadly, we passed on the after-herf at LouLigas Lounge, it had been a long day.  One bit of advice to the Casa de Montecristo folks: I think sales would be better if you sold smaller quantities, just selling boxes seems like a big ask at an event where people have already spent the cost of a box to get in, and are being hit up for auctions and raffles. Seems like people would buy a bunch of five packs more than boxes, but what do I know?  Great event, if it happens again next year it should be on your list, and if you see the Red Meat Lovers logo on an event, expect it to be first rate! 

 

Happy Father’s Day to everyone, whether you are one or have one. As I’ve been typing this I’ve been enjoying my traditional Father’s Day cigar, the Esperanza Para Los Niños, now 24 years old, and it’s really quite good, one of the best ones I’ve smoked in recent years.  That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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by | June 11, 2023 · 8:53 am

New Cigars from CAO, Room 101 and Punch

I’ve been working through some samples I’ve had in the humidor for a bit.  Starting out with the CAO Amazon Basin Extra Ańejo.  The Amazon Basin came out first in 2014, and used a Brazilian Bragança leaf, which is processed what I imagine to be similar to the andullo process of twisting the leaf into tobacco sausages. They allegedly move the tobacco out of the Amazon Rainforest by canoe,  which sounds a little far-fetched.  The cigar has a Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, and the Brazilian, Dominican and Colombian fillers.  The Extra Ańejo was rolled in 2021 and left to age, I suppose, longer than the original batch. I’ll be honest, of the four original Amazon Basin blends, I was not a big fan of the original (or the last, I loved the middle two!).  This one was pretty darned good.  Although it isn’t one hundred percent up my alley, it was a tasty smoke.  I smoked it through the tobacco-cord “band” with no discernable flavor difference. It had some sweetness and some spice, and something unique.  I suspect if you were one who loved the original, you’ll really like this.

 

I think the Room 101 Daruma is the first Room 101 cigar to be released since the brand was acquired by Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) and put under the Forged umbrella of brands.  This is a Nicaraguan puro, oddly enough, it’s made by Oliva for Matt Booth.  I suppose this shows that nothing is really changing with the Room 101 brand, STG could very easily made this in one of their several factories.  The only criticism I have is that the fancy-pants outer sleeve on the cigar doesn’t have any identification on it save for the Fu and lotus symbols, which, if you aren’t familiar with Room 101, you won’t know what it is out of the box.  Once stripped of the outer wrappings, the band makes it clear.  I got a sweet wood profile from this cigar, and I really liked it.  It burned well, and was completely enjoyable. I dig it, and my wife wants all the outer sleeves.

 

I was hesitant to even include this last one, because I find just about everything about it to be silly.  If I  didn’t like it’s predecessor, the Punch Champion,  so much, I might have just passed on this one. Punch has been doing novelty releases for a while now, which I guess fits with the branding, which is based on the puppet Mr. Punch from the UK in the 1600s.  He was a clown, and presented slapstick comedy. The Punch Dad Bod is presented with a silly necktie band, packed 5 cigars per can in a 4 -pack.  I suppose it’s supposed to be like beer cans, but it comes off looking more like energy drinks to me. All that, and four of the five samples I received were damaged, and I’ve heard from others they they were damaged as well (both samples and in the wild).  Now, this does have a fragile Cameroon wrapper, over a Connecticut broadleaf binder, with Nicaraguan Condega, Dominican Piloto Cubano, Honduran La Entrada and Brazilian Mata Fina fillers.  This is a six country blend in a fairly small cigar.  Once I get passed all the silliness, it’s a pretty tasty cigar, with some nuttiness, some sweetness and some earthiness.  I rather enjoyed the couple I’ve had, one had some foot damage that wasn’t an issue at all (the other one exploded!).  I have a dad bod, but I’m not particularly proud of it, so this is a Father’s Day “pass” for me, but it’s a good smoke, and it’s priced very nicely, so give it a shot.

 

That’s all for today. I’m so happy that the weather has warmed up and I can sit on the porch and write my Sunday post with a cigar, today it’s a Protocol Themis Churchill, a delicious shade cigar.  Hopefully I will see some of you next Saturday at Battleship Beef Part II on the Battleship New Jersey!  If you like food and cigars, it’s the place to be. Looking forward to seeing some great friends there!  Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

 

 

 

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by | June 19, 2022 · 9:10 am

Red Meat Lovers Battleship New Jersey Meat and Cigars Event

Happy Father’s Day to everyone! Later today I will smoke an Esperanza Para Los Niños torpedo, a cigar which was my traditional Father’s Day cigar for the better part of 20 years, until I smoked the last cigar out of the box I bought in June of 2000. An old friend sent me the better part of a box earlier this year so I could continue the tradition, after taking last year off.  For those unfamiliar, this cigar was made by Christian Eiroa with the help of some members of the alt.smokers.cigars Usenet group back in 1999 and sold to benefit children orphaned by hurricane Mitch. It’s a maduro cigar, and the last one’s I smoked had held up well over the 20 years, we’ll see how they’ve continued to mature later today!  Thanks Roger Farnsworth!  

 

Thursday evening we had the great fortune of attending the Red Meat Lover’s Club “meating” on the Battleship New Jersey, which is docked right across the river from Philadelphia in Camden, NJ. I’ve seen it, but never been aboard, one day I would love to go back and take the tour.  It’s a big ship, and we dined on the fantail. The event was a benefit for the ship, and it’s my hope that a substantial sum was raised, I know that we contributed through the silent auction (my wife purchased a Beatles piece). We arrived early and hung out with Steve Saka (my wife now refers to him as “SquishySquatch”), who was also early, so that was nice. The food was amazing and abundant. Guys were walking around sucking on tomahawk bones, we had cheese steaks, smashburgers, delicious ribeye, and “macaroni and cheese” from an outfit from my wife’s ancestral home of Abruzzo, Italy.  I was trying to steer (😉) clear of carbs and stick to proteins at this event, but the pasta was outrageously good. I also got sucked into some rolls, as the cheesesteak and smashburgers seemed to be a bad idea without them. I consumed a satisfying amount, and they had cookies too!  I skipped the pig, and there was something salad-like I saw (that’s what food eats!) Evan Darnell, the secretary of steak, the head cheese, the ringleader of this whole thing, put on an amazing event. We even got to hang out with some old and new friends! Kevin and Jessica from CigarProp were there, and I finally got to meat and hang out with Lee McClain, LeeMack912 on Youtube.  Lee was one of those guys who, even though you’ve never met, you feel like you know, and you’re instant friends, great dude. We also met some other great folks there, and saw other old friends, it was a good time. I highly recommend attending a Red Meat Lovers Club event if one comes to your area.  Since Saka was the cigar sponsor, of course the cigars were outstanding, everyone got a bag with a Sobremesa Brulee, a Mi Querida and a Sin Compromiso, all top notch smokes. Casa de Montecristo was there selling Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust cigars as well. Let me tell you, there’s not many things better than a Sin Compromiso after a smorgasbord of meat!  Thanks Evan!

 

 

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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by | April 19, 2022 · 7:49 pm

News: Red Meat Lover’s Club Presents Battleship, Beef and Bourbon for the Ship

This is a little different news item for me. I’ll be attending this event, and I’d love to meat (not a typo) some readers there. I know my friends  Kevin and Jessica, of CigarProp and I’d Tap That fame, will be there too. Of course, Navy veteran Steve Saka will be there too exercising gluttony, something that is worth seeing. One of my old friends from the cigar Usenet group days served on the New Jersey, too, I’ve seen the ship several times and always wanted to get a closer look, so I’m looking forward to the event. Hunt me down if you’re going! 

 

Red Meat Lover's Club Presents Battleship, Beef and Bourbon for the Ship.

Red Meat Lover’s Club Presents Battleship, Beef and Bourbon for the Ship.

$175 – $4,800 Tickets available HERE

 

Tables of beef on the high deck of the Battleship New Jersey. We gatherer a glorious night of beef to raise money for the battleship.

About this event

Steaksman, we turn back that clock 100 years and we will BEEF.

Imagine a night with stations of beef captained by the best chefs in the country for a night of feasting.

Beefsteaks were initially with small groups of people gathering in rustic taverns or dingy cellars where, sitting on crates or stools, they would sing, tell stories, eat steaks, and drink ale with abandon.

This dinner will be on the deck of the Battleship New Jersey. Bigger setting with one purpose…..to create an night that will be spoken about in hushed tones for years to come.

 

UNIFORMS (aprons) WILL BE PROVIDED FOR ALL PATRONS

Dining etiquette will be set aside…. our goal is to over consume.

The night will started with heavy passed apps. Rookies fill up on these tasty treats…..pace yourself please.

(we will allow chopsticks but only one per person for stabbing the meat purposes)

We will then open meat stations created by Top Chef’s Ariane Duarte, underground cult Chef Jarrett Seltzer, Marcelli Formaggi’s Tina Marcelli, Tyson Ho of Brooklyn’s Arrogant Swine and beyond.

This one will be a epic scene filled with Red Meat Lovers and BEEF and maybe a few cigars.

Red Meat Lover’s Club will set up their signature auction , all profits of auction will be donated to Battleship NJ.

Some menu highlights….(menu subject to change)

Carving a whole 60 pound PRIME steamship rounds(delicious)

Tyson Ho bring a 160 pound hog with his signature slaw.

Full wheel of reggiano parmigiano cheese …making the greatest pasta you have ever had.

Red Meat Lover’s Club cheesesteak and sausage and peppers station.

Short rib mountains.

Smashburger station.

Warm cookie station.

and beyond……(you won’t leave hungry).

The cigars will be included with each ticket. Casa De Montecristo will create a pop up lounge and we have the ability to smoke outside on the deck.

The iconic Steve Saka will be including his cigars into the night…..and will be present and accounted for. Each guest will receive Sobremesa Brulee, Mi Querida and Sin Compromiso!

Cubanacun will be providing their epic cigars

Cash bar with proceeds going to the battleship

 

This is the USS New Jersey (BB-62) is the most decorated battleship in Navy history, earning distinction in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and conflicts in the Middle East.

The New Jersey’s history spanned over half the 20th century, from her design in 1938 until 1991. She was launched on the first anniversary of Pearl Harbor, and went on to steam more miles, fight in more battles, and fire more shells than any other battleship in history.

In World War II, the New Jersey led the Pacific Fleet under Admirals Spruance and Halsey and fought in the two largest naval battles in history.

She was reactivated to fight in the Korean War, and again to fight in the Vietnam War, when she was the world’s only operating battleship.

She was reactivated for a third time in the Cold War to halt Soviet expansionism and resolve conflicts in the Middle East.

After fighting fascism, communism, and terrorism, she was decommissioned for the final time in February 1991.

Today the New Jersey continues her service as a living museum and memorial in Camden, New Jersey, just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia where she was built.

 

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