Tag Archives: c-gars ltd

by | November 13, 2011 · 9:51 am

A 601 La Bomba, a San Lotano Oval, News and a Contest Winner!

While perusing CigarEvents.com it came to my attention that Eddie Ortega of EO Brands was going to be making an appearance at my local shop, JM Cigars, in Exton, PA. After dinner my son and I made our way over there.  We promptly purchased some of the last 601 La Bombas that they had and fired one of these badboys up and visited with Eddie for a while. I have been patronizing this shop since the mid-90s and it’s one of the best around.  The shop was packed and the LA Bomba was awesome. I had only previously had a pre-release sample, which I loved.  These are terrific cigars with a little bit of strength.  It’s always a good time hanging out with Eddie, and I got to catch up with an old friend, Rob, after the shop cleared out.  Nice bunch of folks, and a fine way to spend a chilly Friday evening.

 

Saturday’s walk cigar was a San Lotano Oval which I received from Clay at AJ Fernandez a few months ago.  These cigars are unique in the fact that they, as the name implies, are oval shaped.  I smoked the 6 x 54 toro, which looks like it was squished.  The shape is very comfortable to smoke, and, like a box press, it doesn’t roll off the table when you set it down. there’s a bright flavor in this cigar that I enjoy but can’t put a finger on.  All I know is that this is a tasty, well made and interesting cigar! I look forward to a maduro version one day!

 

News

There were two new entries into the blogosphere recently that I think are notable.  First, Frank Seltzer, who you see writing in all the big cigar magazines and around the web, is now contributing to the JR Cigars blog.   Frank is a real journalist, and I’m proud to say he’s an old friend.  He has a couple articles in the latest JR catalog as well.  Also breaking into the blog world is Gary Griffith of Emilio Cigars, with “From Seed To Smoke“.  Gary’s pretty prolific on Twitter and he’s making some outstanding cigars and is a heck of a nice guy who I’m also proud to call friend.  I look forward to reading what he has to say.  I HAVE to get down to Delaware and visit him at his shop one of these days!

 

Contest!

Let’s get to the part you’ve all been waiting for, the selection of this month’s contest winner.  The prize consists of the following: a Drew Estate cap and a Liga Privada cutter, a Stogieboys.com Cigar Journal, a C-Gars Ltd. ring gauge card, a Liga Privada T52 Belicoso, a Monte Pascoal Belicoso and a American Eagles Half Corona.   Thank you to all of the generous sponsors of this contest. As usual, I created a spreadsheet of the eligible entries and assigned them numbers based upon the time of the entry.  I consulted with the Random.Org True Random Number Generator for the winning number.  The number 19 came up, which corresponds to an entry via Twitter by @s5592c, aka Steve Christopher.  Congrats to Steve and thanks for reading!  Please e-mail me your contact info so I can ship this stuff out to you! Thanks to everyone for entering, and keep an eye out for next months contest!

 

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

 

CigarCraig

 

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by | September 14, 2011 · 8:29 pm

Cigars So Far This Week: a La Palina, a Macanudo and Contest Winners!

Once again I’d like you to welcome a new sponsor, and an old friend, C-Gars, Ltd.  The folks in the vast C-Gars Ltd empire are top notch when it comes to customer service. Check out their vast selection of cigars and accessories from around the world.  I also heard from another old friend from the alt.smokers.cigars days who has revamped his site, The Cigar Diary.  Tony’s site has some great information and a place to store and share your tasting notes.  Thanks, Tony, for hunting me down after all these years!

 

A few weeks back I received a couple of La Palina El Diario Gordos in the mail from Courtney at La Palina.  I had recently enjoyed the robusto in this line that was a sample from the IPCPR show, and was looking forward to trying other sizes.  The Gordo is a 6″ x 58, which is a hefty cigar.  I can’t figure out why I keep reaching for these enormous cigars lately.  I love coronas and lanceros, and I always felt that 52 ring gauge was about as big as I’d care for, but all of these gorilla finger sized cigars are sneaking into my rotation!  One thing I’ve noticed, and please tell me if you’ve noticed this too, but the last couple of 6 x 60s I’ve smoked (or close), seem to have….what’s the word I want?….clogged in the final 2 inches.  It’s not like they are plugged suddenly, but hey seem to slow down a bit.  Perhaps a year in the humidor would solve this.  I’ve gotten away from the point, the La Palina is an exceptional cigar, really nice, sweet flavor and a perfect burn, even in this large size. It took me in excess of one and a half hours to smoke this one.

 

Tuesday evening I grabbed my last Macanudo 1968 robusto and really enjoyed it.  I smoked one of these walking around Vegas in July, and I really like them.  They have a bit of a unique flavor that I can’t pinpoint, but it’s good.  The cold draw tasted like milk chocolate.  As one would expect, the construction is perfect and it burned without need for correction.  This is a solid cigar in my opinion, and one I would enjoy having in my humidor at all times.  Certainly this is not a Macanudo that your typical Macanudo smoker is going to appreciate, it’s on the full side of medium from my perspective.

 

Contest!

Speaking of Macanudo, I need to pick a couple winners for the latest contest.  I’ll be mailing out two Macanudo Millionaire 4 packs to the winners, provided they send me their contact info!  The four-pack includes 60 Ring gauge versions of the Cafe, Maduro, 1968 and Crü Royale (again with the 60 ring!).  I hope I win!  OK, I’m kidding, I’m not eligible.  For the first time, I added Twitter submissions for an additional entry and several people took advantage of that.  I resorted to the tried and true method of selection: listing each entry as it comes in, numbering them, and using the random number generator to pick the winners.  Boring, I know, but until I build a “wheel of fortune” out of dry erase board, this will have to do.  So the random number generator produced the numbers 2 and 13, which by my records corresponds to a tweet from @TriumphCIO and a comment from Spidey55!  Congrats to the two of you, please e-mail me your contact info so I can mail out your prizes!  Once again, my gratitude to General Cigars for providing the prizes and for their support!  I’m truly thankful for the relationship I’ve developed with them and the generous support they give to the cigar media community!

That’s it!  Time to take a cigar for a walk before it rains!

Until, the next time,

CigarCraig

 

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by | June 5, 2011 · 11:22 am

Cigar Adventures: NYC, an Alec Bradley New York, a Partagas, a Fuente and a Contest!

Last Tuesday was a day we had been looking forward to for some time.  We, once again, had the honor and privilege of being on the guest list for a New York City Dinner Cruise hosted by our friend Mitchell Orchant of C-Gars Ltd.   Mitchell is an old friend.  We first “met” through an e-mail and continued through the alt.smokers.cigars usenet group back in the ’90s.  We met face to face at a little herf in Vegas in 1999 known amongst those in the usenet world as “Boondoggle III“, which was held at the MGM Grand over a 3 day span.  This event comprised about 300 people who only knew one another through the wild west of the internet, an oddity at the time!  Anyway, we’ve been to Mitchell and his wife’s wedding in London, we’ve taken them sight-seeing in NYC, and been friends for a long time. Mitchell has taken to hosting this dinner cruise every year, which I reported on last year, which spends a couple hours cruising around Manhattan, with beautiful views of the skyline, the bridges, and the Statue of Liberty.  I thought it would be appropriate to enjoy an Alec Bradley New York Robusto, which I had picked up at De La Concha on my last visit to the city.  This is a very nice cigar!  This was created for the ridiculously highly taxed  New York State shops, designed to give the local tobacconists a little more margins in hopes that they can stay open!! Anyway, it’s a good cigar, pick some up if you see them in New York and support the oppressed businesses in the state.

Back to the event.  In attendance were  Marc Aub and Mike DaVersa of Brothers of the Leaf, LLC, makers of Palio cutters and Esencia cigars, whom I had met last year and seen at the IPCPR show last July.  Always a pleasure to chat with Marc, who’s as passionate as they come about his products.  Mitchell is the UK distributor for Palio Cutters, and just became the UK distributor for Arturo Fuente cigars, so, in addition to the fine Bolivar Belicoso Finos in the goody bag, there was a Fuente Hemingway Signature as well. These happen to be 2 of my all time favorite cigars that I rarely get to enjoy.We also got to catch up with some other old friends, Karen from Albany, George from South Jersey and even Barry from California.  I finished the night off with a Partagas Petit Coronas Expeciale from a box I had been waiting to arrive at cruise time last year.  I’ve really been digging these cigars and hope that the exchange rate comes down a little in the future so that I can get another box one day! I was even able to gift Mitchell a cigar, something that’s pretty rare as he always declines.  I had an extra Partagas Serie P No.2 that I got at his wedding coming up on 5 years ago. The Hunters and Frankau rep was handing these out at the reception, and Mitchell’s dad insisted I get an extra to take home.  I figured this would be a fitting “thank you” for the nice things he does for us.  At the end of the night Mitchell opened a box of Opus X Perfecxion X and passed it around, to cap off the evening.

Contest!

One of the neat items in the goody bags, was a ring gauge guide.  I managed to score a couple spares and will send one to a random reader who leaves a comment.  Heck, these will be cheap to mail, make that two!  So leave a comment to enter and see the rules on the winners and rules page, and I’ll make this one a short one and announce a winner on Wednesday if all goes to plan.  Give Mitchell’s site a visit when you get a chance and see all the neat stuff he’s got.  Also look for a mention of his book in the latest Smoke Magazine!

 

LAst night I selected a Fuente Anejo 50 that had been kicking around the box for a while now, maybe 4 years.  It was the first of this line that I’ve smoked and boy was it tasty.  It started a little slow, but it built into just the kind of cigar I like.  It had the nice, dark flavors I like and just the right level of nicotine.  Goes with out saying that it was well made, as it’s a Fuente.  I know these are pricey and availability is spotty, but if you have the chance, smoke one, I don’t think you’ll have any regrets. I selected this in honor of Mitchell’s a fore mentioned acquisition of the Fuente distributorship in the UK.

That’s it for now!  We have an update from  Tommy Berry coming up next time, so until then,

CigarCraig

Watch for a new discount code from StogieBoys.com coming soon.

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by | June 3, 2010 · 11:31 am

C.Gars Ltd. Cigar Dinner Cruise – Wednesday June 2, 2010

My lovely wife Jenn, myself and friend Karen

Last night we had the good fortune of having been invited on a dinner cruise hosted by our dear friend Mitchell Orchant of C.Gars Ltd.  The cruise was around Manhattan for about 4 hours on the Marco Polo Cruises “Jewel”, which is a 120 foot long ship with a dining room and a covered deck above.  There was a buffet of both Italian and Kosher cuisine that  was delicious and plentiful.  The attendees were a collection of customers, friends and business associates, all smoking non-stop for the duration of the event.

We began the day with my son and I visiting Shaving Grace in Exton, PA for some grooming.  The shop has a big flat panel TV, leather couch, pool and poker tables and various paraphernalia, including cigars, cigar boxes and ashtrays (although smoking is not allowed).  I have never had a professional shave and it was quite a treat to have the hot towels and all the various lotions and lather associated with it.  It’s not something I’d do all the time, but it was a treat.  I’m a little conflicted in that it’s kind of girly, in a very manly way.

Mitchell and Jenn

Shortly after the manscaping trip, we hit the road to NYC.  It typically takes over 2 hours to get from Southeast, PA to NYC so we allowed plenty of time for traffic and construction delays.  We made the Holland Tunnel in 2 hours and found our way to the docks, then found our way to the correct docks!  We were a good hour early but lucky for us Mitchell and his wife Karyn were aboard already with a few other early folks, including George whom we’d met with Mitchell in Vegas a few years ago.  Already we knew people, woohoo!

The vessel eventually filled up and we got under way.  I enjoyed a little Tabak Especial Colada Dulce while we were waiting.  I was pretty much on an empty stomach and wanted something to smoke that wasn’t too challenging.  It was pretty tasty for a flavored cigar.  After we got going I lit up a Hoyo de Tradicion Toro which was also very nice.  In these social situations I generally smoke cigars I don’t have to think about too much.  A great cigar can distract me from a conversation and I don’t want to appear rude.  We spent the evening catching up with old friends we hadn’t seen in a while and meeting new folks. I believe it was Oliva who provided the roller who was demonstrating his craft in the dining room, and all reports are that the cigars he was rolling were very good.

Myself and Mark Aub

One of the gentlemen I had the good fortune of meeting was Marc Aub of Brother of the Leaf, LLC, maker of the Palio cutter and Esencia Cigars.  Marc is an instantly likable fellow.  We talked about the newsgroups and forums, blogs and podcasts, and the state of the industry.  The discussion turned briefly to the IPCPR show and what place we bloggers have there.  I have been to the show once with a retailers badge but with the understanding that the people exhibiting are there to sell their product to retailers.  We made it a point to step back when talking to someone when they had real customers.  Marc suggested that the IPCPR add a membership category for the media, to which my wife made the suggestion of charging an annual fee.  I think this is a great idea, considering any schmoo can have a cigar blog (just look at me!) and get a press pass.   Charging a membership fee makes people think twice and gives the experience some value.

Mitchell "SmokeyMO" Orchant

Marc very generously put an Esencia Lancero in my mouth at one point which was just the perfect cigar to top off a great evening.   From what he said, the lancero isn’t available other than from him or in a special sampler pack that was available on a limited basis.  First, I love the size and feel of a lancero.  It’s elegant, it requires a bit more time and patience to smoke.  This one burned slow and even and was smooth and flavorful down to about 3/4″ when it gave up on me.  It started out with a little zing which I liked.  Marc confirmed what I suspected, that it was a Nicaraguan puro.  I have only heard about these here and there, but all of the good things I’ve heard were confirmed with this very satisfying cigar. On a slightly embarrassing note, it occurred to me moments after I did it that I cut it with my favorite cheapie cutter and not a Palio.  I don’t think Marc noticed (phew!) Unfortunately I didn’t take the time to snap a picture of the cigar, but it was a beauty.

After a terrific evening with a great bunch of folks, the boat docked and we said our thank-yous and farewells to our friends and hosts.  We have been so fortunate to have made such good friends over the years, it’s a treat to be able to hang out with them for a while every so often.  It was also fun to take my son along so that he could experience some of the kinds of events we’ve been attending while he was growing up.  He had a great time as well and is moving along through his cigar education.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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