Here’s some news from J.C.Newman about their latest TAA release. The Tobacconist’s Association of America annual meeting is going on right now in the Dominican Republic. Expect to hear a lot about new TAA cigars.
J.C. Newman Cigar Company will release its first Tobacconist Association of America (TAA) exclusive brand, Brick House Ciento por Ciento.
Handcrafted in J.C. Newman’s Nicaraguan factory, Puros de Estelí Nicaragua, S.A. (J.C. Newman PENSA), Ciento por Ciento only uses tobaccos grown in the rich, volcanic soils of Nicaragua. It is the first Nicaraguan puro blend in the Brick House line, hence the name, which means 100% in Spanish. The wrapper is a Habana-seed, corojo leaf grown in the Jalapa Valley which encloses binder and filler from three of Nicaragua’s mountainous regions.
Production has been limited to 500 boxes and is only available for purchase by TAA members. The cigars will only be available for purchase at the 2019 conference and will ship by the end of May.
Brand: Brick House Ciento por Ciento
Size: 6 ¼” 54
MSRP: $7.40
Box Count: 25
About J.C. Newman Cigar Co.
Founded in 1895 by Julius Caeser Newman, J.C. Newman Cigar Company is the oldest family-owned premium cigar maker in America. J.C. Newman rolls its El Reloj, Factory Throwouts, and Trader Jacks cigars by hand-operated, vintage cigar machines at its historic cigar factory in Tampa, Florida. It also hand rolls its Brick House, Perla del Mar, El Baton, and Quorum cigars at the J.C. Newman PENSA cigar factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. J.C. Newman’s Diamond Crown, MAXIMUS, Julius Caeser, and Black Diamond cigars are handmade by Tabacalera A. Fuente in the Dominican Republic. With its longtime partners the Fuente family, the Newmans founded the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation, which supports low-income families in the Dominican Republic with education, health care, vocational training, and clean water.
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As I mentioned last week, J.C. Newman is a new sponsor here at CigarCraig.com, and I couldn’t be happier to have them on board. If you notice their advertisement, you can click through for a chance to win one of their beautiful Diamond Crown humidors, and I’m all about contests! They were also kind enough to share a couple of their latest offerings with me, which I sampled this week. Of course, I couldn’t wait to smoke the Julius Ceaser Hail Caeser, the 6″ x 60 Gordo in the line. I think the last time I smoked a Julius Caeser was 2012, the night of the launch of Bernie Parent’s BSB No. 1 cigar at a dinner sponsored by Ned’s Cigars in Newtown PA. The owner of the show, a gentleman named Luca, who has since tragically passed, gifted me a Julius Ceaser when we met up before the event to get acquainted. It’s one of those cigar moments one remembers. I have another one in one of the Toast Across America coffins in the Shark vitola from 2014 that my daughter bought me (5 years ago, I guess they are about ready to smoke now!). Point is, I don’t smoke a great many Julius Caesers, so I was excited to smoke this one. I know a lot of my colleagues aren’t big ring gauge fans, but I happen to like them in many cases. This cigar has an Ecuador Havana Seed wrapper, with “Caribbean and Central American” fillers, which is rather general, aged for five years. When I think of how I expect cigars over $15 should smoke, this one is in full compliance. I had no complaints at all, the physical performance was perfect. As far as flavor goes, it was very flavorful, even for a large ring cigar. It’s a cigar I find more wood and earthy notes in than spice or sweetness, although there is a hint of cocoa. It’s a cigar that I’d keep in my humidor if money were no object. I’m reminded that it’s been forever since I smoked a Diamond Crown Maximus, and I need to remedy that.
I had the honor and privileged of appearing on The Retrohale Podcast this week with Bret and Mark. It was recorded Sunday night and released later in the week. I have been enjoying their show for a while and have contributed to their website, and they have been very generous in promoting my site on their show. It was fun, although I think Bret thinks I’m a little more high-falutin than I really am! Maybe I have become more of a cigar snob in later years, but I’m still a cheap bastid at heart! The guys at the Cigar Hacks Podcast turned me on to The Retrohale, and they are hosting them this coming weekend in New Hampshire, and I sure wish I could join them! Give both shows a listen, both are entertaining, I’ve tried not to make a fool of myself on them both and consider all those folks friends!
The other cigar that J. C. Newman shared with me is the Brick House Double Connecticut Mighty Mighty, a 6¼” x 60 gordo. This is on the other end of the price spectrum from the Julius Caeser, coming in around $7. The Brick House line is made in their Nicaraguan factory, PENSA, and has a U.S. grown Connecticut Shade wrapper over a U.S. grown Connecticut Broadleaf binder with Nicaraguan fillers. This is presented as a mild cigar, and I found it to be medium, and maybe full flavored. It had LOADS of flavor! The shade wrapper had its signature grassy flavor that was unmistakable, but the chocolatelyness from the broadleaf was there from the binder, which also gave it some body, which was most appreciated. Well put-together, everybody knows, this is how the story goes. I found this cigar to be very interesting. I know this has been around for over a year, but it’s been one I’ve missed, and I like the regular Brick House line. The combination of the two Connecticut leaves really provides an interesting flavor sensation, and I think at this price, it’s a no-brainer. I’ll be trying this in other vitolas, but the Mighty Mighty is just lettin it all hang out.
That’s all for today. Since I rarely string two days off in a row any more it’s hard to get anything done around here, so things like the podcast and content have suffered. Hopefully I get a chance to get something recorded for another podcast episode soon. Ideas are welcome! Until the next time,
CigarCraig
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I continue to have trouble NOT reaching for maduros and darker wrapped cigars! I guess it’s a winter thing, I’ll try to reverse the trend, but, honestly, I’m loving most of the cigars I’m smoking lately! The My Father Connecticut I smoked a week or two ago was a really good change, but I have to wonder how I would have felt smoking it outdoors in the cold. The darker, heavier wrappers just seen to hold up better both structurally and in flavor, when the mercury drops. Sunday’s cigar was a Brick House Mighty Mighty Maduro from the folks at JC Newman. This is a Nicaraguan puro, manufactured at their factory in Esteli. This is a large cigar, 6¼” x 60, and very well built. The burn and draw were perfect. I haven’t been screwing around lately experimenting with various cutters, I’ve been using a straight cut on most (exceptions being punching small ring cigars sometimes). I can’t tell you how tired I am of bundling up then making sure I have all the tools I need before I walk out the door to have a smoke. It’s taking me 15 minutes to do all the prep needed, grabbing a cigar, tools, taking a picture, posting on Instagram, then I always forget something….anyway, this was a good smoke, and these are reasonably priced. It’s got a thick, rich flavor of cocoa from the dark brown and oily Brazilian wrapper. I think it’s a darned good cigar.
The lure of the Luchador was too strong for me to resist this week, so Monday had to feature the Leccia Luchador El Hombre for my attempt at an evening walk. It’s still too cold, barely getting a mile in in this weather, but the porch provides shelter from the worst of the elements. This cigar is one of my absolute favorites from last year, and continues to be right up there on my list of favorite cigars. It’s not overpowering, but full of flavor, and I still get some jalapeño and dark chocolate in the flavor profile. It’s entertaining and satisfying and I dig it. Happy to say a box of these will be moving into the cabinet humidor when it finally shows up in a couple weeks.
A few weeks ago one of my vendors at work sent me a pile of cigars from Fuente. His story was that a friend or business associate of his is friends with someone in the Fuente family and regularly sends him care packages. This bag he sent me had some Opus, an Añejo Shark (a cigar I haven’t smoked yet) some Hemingways, a Don Carlos, and a couple Sungrowns. It was a very impressive selection, even for someone as jaded as myself. I figured I’d dig into the bag last night and came out with the 858 Sungrown. Of course, I’ve smoked a bunch of the 858 in natural and maduro, but it’s been a dozen years easily. I always enjoyed the cigars, so I was looking forward to this one. The difference is the Ecuador Sungrown wrapper with is nice and dark, and a cedar sleeve with a black band and ribbon (the regular line is still green on the band, right?). I love the size of this cigar too, 6” x 47, which makes it chunkier and longer than a corona gorda, but not quite as big as a toro. I ended up having a very nice time smoking this cigar. There was a nice sweetness and it burned pretty well. These tend to be in the $6-$7 range from what I can recall, and I think that’s a good price, or at least it’s a very good cigar for that price. It’s certainly a cigar I would revisit often if I had them in the humidor. Tasty!
That’s about it for today. Look forward to a contest in the near future, as well as some cool news next week. Until the next time,
Joya de Nicaragua Cabinetta Robusto – I just love these cigars. I loved them before I watched them being rolled in the factory, and I love them more every time I smoke one.  Such a good cigar. Well balanced, great tasting and beautifully constructed.  To me they are special because I watched them rolled in Nicaragua, and they are reasonably priced (which is astounding considering the extra steps taken in the rolling process), and suite my taste buds. If you haven’t tried these, you should. I will purchase a box of the lanceros at some point, it’s just a matter of time…
Brick House Mighty Mighty 6¼” x 60  – For some reason I’ve been in the mood for large cigars, and this was a big one. This line has been around a while and received glowing reviews and is another reasonably priced cigar. I picked this one up on my Father’s Day cigar run. Very nicely made with rich flavors. A most enjoyable 90 minute vacation in a cigar.  This line received an award from Cigar Journal magazine for the best value Nicaraguan cigar last month at the IPCPR show, an event which I was fortunate enough to attend. This is made by the folks at J.C.Newman in Nicaragua based on one of the company’s first brands in the US. Again, a very nice cigar for a fair price.
Berger and Argenti Entubar Double Corona (7 5/8†x 54) – Another large cigar, this one carrying a warning band at the foot advising to toast the entire foot, not just the protuberance of ligero, under penalty of death. I was tempted to ignore this sage advise, but having spoken to both Kiki Berger (who gave me this sample) and Al Argenti at the show, I decided not to risk it and did as instructed. There is something to be said for the entubado method of construction as the burn and draw were spectacular on this cigar. It tasted good too, the Ecuadorian ‘Desflorado’ Connecticut wrapper, which seems to be all the rage these days, was very nice (I believe “Desflorado” means “deflowered”, and I was under the impression that all of the tobacco plants except for the absolute healthiest and strongest specimens have the flowers removed, so I’m not sure what this means in the description, but it is a cool sounding word!).
Broadway by La Aurora – I picked this up last March on a family trip to NYC at De La Concha. This is a cigar that La Aurora made specifically to help New York tobacconists survive after the 75% Tax on cigars was put into place. I picked up similar themed cigars from Alec Bradley and Gurkha while I was there. This is a nice cigar that starts out with a little kick. It’s a 5¾ x 54 with a unique double wrapper of Ecuador Sumatra and Nicaraguan, with Dominican Corojo binder and Dominican, Nicaraguan and Peruvian fillers. Mine burned fairly well, although my son, who smoked one with me, had some trouble with the burn on his. We may need to check his humidor, I can imagine with a double wrapper, the right humidity is going to be the key to a good burn with this. I’m trying to figure out how they manage to reduce the manufacturing cost of this cigar for sale in New York, but use two wrappers. It seems counter-intuitive, but I suppose it works, because the cigar is pretty tasty.
Here is a quick video of Kiki Berger from Cuban Crafters at last month’s IPCPR show. I’ll take this opportunity to thank Don Kiki again for taking the time to talk to me, hooking me up with a Cuban coffee and some samples, and giving me this spiffy new Perfect Cut cutter. I’ve been using this a lot in the last few weeks and I like it a lot. Unlike similar cutters that I like a lot, this one has a resin (plastic) body that is very light in the pocket. My other favorite cutter is all stainless steel and quite heavy. This one does a great job, has a cool hole in the back so you can cut a torpedo and doesn’t drag your trousers to the ground!
In the News
Here are a few interesting links I came across this week, the first is about an old brand that was made up the road from me in Reading, PA. The second one isn’t really cigar related, but is a cool article about a Beatles themed bar in Havana.
Also, many thanks to our local newspaper, the Daily Local News for including this site on their Blogtown page and featuring it on the front page of their site yesterday!
Contest!
I need to select a winner of my General Cigars prize pack. As you can see, the prize pack has doubled since I announced it a week ago, thanks to Victoria at General Cigars for sending along some more goodies. Be sure to get on over to http://www.macanudomillionaire.com and enter to win a trip to Vegas and a chance to win a million bucks. We had 17 entries, with one being disqualified since he won in the last 6 months. So I entered 16 into the random number generator and it spit out the number 11 which corresponds to Paul. Please drop me an e-mail with your address so I can get this out to you! I hate to have to work too hard to give stuff away, so get your contact info to me with me having to chase you down! 🙂
That’s all I have for now, and I think we can all agree that it was enough…so until the next time,
Today is Father’s Day, and recently on LivingSocial.com, which is a site like Groupon.com for the Philadelphia area, a local cigar store chain called Light’n Up Cigars ran a special for $20 worth of cigars for $10. Of course, I purchased one of these, and both my wife and daughter surprised me with one for Father’s Day. So this afternoon I hopped on the old scooter and took a ride to two of the shops in the area. You had to specify which of the 5 shops you wanted the deal at and I received certificates for two different shops. I headed to the Glenmoore, PA location with is about 10 miles or so from home. I shopped through the humidor for a bit and settled upon 3 cigars, an Casa Fernandez Aganorsa Leaf, an Alec Bradley Family Blend, and a Perdomo Reserve Champagne, all cigars I have yet to smoke. From there I took the 12 or so mile trip down PA Rt 401 and made my way to the Frazer, PA store. I selected a pair of Fuente Hemingway Best Sellers, and a Brick House. I thought both stores seemed a bit sparse in their stocks as there were a lot of empty boxes. The clerk in the Frazer store blamed the winter months and the economy, both valid points, but I would have expected more cigars in the store, especially with the added business coming in from the special coupon deal. I have one more coupon to use and the pessimist in me thinks I should probably use it soon, although my suspicions are probably off base and I’ll see the stocks restored in the next month or so. The Frazer, PA store has a very large walk-in humidor, while the Glenmoore store’s is smaller, but the later store has a more comfortable lounge area. The cheap bastard in me is appalled at 6 cigars for $40, but I guess the same cigars for $20 is a great deal.
As I compose this edition, I am smoking my annual Father’s Day cigar, an Esperanza para los Niños. I Have smoked one of these every Father’s Day since I bought a box in 2000. I detailed the background of this cigar in my June 20th post last year, so I won’t repeat it. I’m enjoying this tasty, well-aged cigar with an IBC root beer which was a gift from my son. As it has been for years, it’s a chocolaty maduro that’s burning very well and goes well with the root beer. This is a tradition which I can only continue for another 4 years, at which time my prized stash of these will be exhausted, never to be replenished. I will savor each and every one until then, and remember that they were made “For the Children”.
Contest
For the last couple weeks you will, no doubt, have noticed the name “Oja” coming up in my posts. I have been enjoying sampling these cigars made in Nicaragua and blended by Luis Garcia, whom I had the pleasure of meeting in Nicaragua. I most recently smoked the 6 x 60 Mestizo (Habana2000) Artefacto. I really enjoyed the sweetness that dominated this cigar. It was a really nice cigar and I seem to be getting used to this idea of 60 ring gauge cigars (a good thing, since I also received a couple of Jonathan Drew’s newest cigar, the My Uzi Weighs a Ton). The other two lines, an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper and a Brazilian Araparica wrapper, have also been very tasty, but this H2000 is my favorite of the bunch. Luis has very generously provided me with a BOX of the Oja Mestizo Artefactos which is the prize for this month’s contest! That’s right, a whole box of very nice cigars to be won by a lucky reader. The contest will run until Sunday, July 3, in honor of the July 4th holiday, and I’m going to have to make you work a little harder than the usual random selection that I normally do. In the comments of this post, place a link to a picture of you smoking a cigar in a patriotic setting of some sort any patriotic theme which includes a cigar or cigars. Let’s try to keep the photos g-rated and within the bounds of good taste (I have the power to edit and delete and disqualify at my discretion). I will close the comments at Midnight on Saturday, July 2 July 9 and a selection committee of my choosing will select a winner. The only other proviso is that the photos must be publicly accessible, so all can enjoy, and I’m going to suspend the six month rule for this contest to give everyone a chance to win. This is a pretty big prize in my opinion, so let your creative juices flow! A big THANKS to Luis at Oja for providing such a great prize!
That’s it for now, Happy Father’s Day and until the next time,
