Tag Archives: Camacho

by CigarCraig | March 18, 2012 · 11:28 am

A Buena Vista Cigar, An Oliva at Old Havana Cigars, a Green Camacho and a Cain

Thursday evening I grabbed a Buena Vista Short Churchill that I was given by Gary Heathcott, the company’s director of global marketing when I was waiting for a Coke at the Cigar Journal awards reception at last year’s IPCPR show. This cigar is unique in that it’s an Ecuador Puro and it’s rolled by Cuban rollers that come to Ecuador on special visas to work in the factory. The cigar had a stunning appearance, very smooth and even in shape and color. I grabbed this based on the size, it’s a 4¼”x 54, so it’s a short, fat cigar, and I only had an hour to smoke. I have to say that I really enjoyed the smoke, it was good, but not as unique as I had hoped. There was really nothing especially different about it. It was a good tasting cigar. I had to touch it up frequently as it wanted to burn faster on one side, but not a bad cigar. If this is priced right, I’d say give it a try, if it’s too expensive, I’d personally choose something else based on this sample.

Friday evening my son and I attended and Oliva event at Old Havana Cigars in West Chester, PA. I’ve been to several events there and it’s always pretty crazy. Nice bunch of folks there and I always enjoy spending time with the local Oliva Rep, Mike Staiber. I picked up some cigars and promptly fired up a Serie G Maduro box pressed belicoso. This is a cigar that I haven’t smoked many of, and I don’t know why. It’s got a really tasty broadleaf wrapper and really hit the spot. I also grabbed a few of the Cameroon in the same size. For my troubles, I was rewarded with a couple free Nub Habanos (it was buy 5, get 2 free). Lots of people buying cigars, quite a few picking up boxes and getting all kinds of freebies and swag to go along with it. My son had a Cain Daytona in a corona size that he enjoyed as well (and is one of my favorites). We had a good time talking with Mike (@olivastaiber on twitter. Follow him!), who I’ve known for quite a while and is a great cigar rep and a very cool guy.

Of course, Saturday was St. Patrick’s Day, so that called for a candela cigar. Several years ago I picked up a box of the Camacho Monarca Candela because I really liked them and they were a nice change of pace. We had to go to a percussion competition at my son’s high school, in which he plays bass guitar in the ensemble, so I grabbed one of these for our walk to the school. If you have never had a candela cigar, you should certainly try one. It’s a different flavor, a little more vegetal or grassy, but refreshing in a way. In this case, we have the Camacho Corojo with the candela wrapper, so it’s no slouch when it comes to strength, as many candela, or as the were once called, American Market Selection (AMS) can be on the mild side. Astral is a cigar that comes to mind in the mild candela area, as does the Arturo Fuente 8-5-8. La Flor Dominicana and Illusione have recently put their spin on this once popular wrapper. Anyway, this box of Camachos has been consistently loose in the draw department, so I’ve taken to punching these to make them a little better in the draw department. Pretty strong for a noon-time smoke, but really tasty with a long finish, so long that I could still taste it several hours later after another cigar and dinner.

On the walk home from the event I had grabbed a Cain Habano Tubo on the way out the door, so I fired it up. This was the 550 Cain in a spiffy aluminum tube, and I hadn’t eaten since breakfast and had a mile or so to walk, so I was lamenting my decision to grab this one as I lit it up. My fear turned out to be misplaced, because it was a damned tasty cigar! I spent another 20 minutes with this on the porch when I got home, it was just too good to put down. Perfect burn and draw. Strong, but balanced and, dare I say, complex. Every now and then an interesting flavor would dance across my palate, something I’ve missed in past Cain Habanos. Perhaps this one was well aged, or aged better in the tube, I don’t know, but it was likely the best Cain Habano I’ve had.

I don’t usually have a two cigar day, but the weather was so great, despite it being a very busy day, I had two spectacular cigars walking to and from the high school. The competition was excellent as well, lots of talented kids, and I’m a drum geek as well as a cigar geek, so I always enjoy stuff like that, cigars or not.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

2 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as broadleaf, Buena Vista, cain, Camacho, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Ecuador, fuente, IPCPR, maduro, nub, Old Havana Cigars, oliva, Serie G, Take A Cigar For A Walk

by CigarCraig | March 4, 2012 · 3:13 pm

A.Fuente, an Emilio and a Sunday Morning Camacho Cigar with Family

Thursday evening I found myself on the phone with Verizon support. I had been fighting with them about the upstairs TVs that we were initially promised would work without a box, only to find that we needed a special box. Not that $4 a month is a lot for the box, but it was the principle of it, and they figured out a way to give me a box for free so we could have more than one TV in the house again. I had to call to get the box activated, and had been looking forward to an evening cigar. After several minutes listening to the planet’s worst hold music, I decided to grab a cigar and wait on the porch for them to pick up. I grabbed an Arturo Fuente Hemingway Best Seller, put the phone on speaker and fired it up. I’ve long been a fan of the Hemingway line, at least from the Signature down, as anything larger just doesn’t do it for me for some reason. I would have preferred a Short Story, since I didn’t know how long I’d have, but I didn’t have any on hand. The Best Seller is a great cigar. I love the “Camerooniness” of the line, that wrapper really really is delicious on these. It’s not too cheap of a cigar, but I had picked a few of these up last year with a Groupon for half off, so they weren’t too bad. I got about half way through before the representative picked up and I went inside to get squared away, which did eventually happen. I went back out and re-lit the cigar, but I didn’t get to smoke as much of it as I’d have liked. Still, a terrific way to temper the frustration of having to deal with phone support. I really think they want you to hang up, but I wasn’t giving them the satisfaction!

Friday evening’s walk called for a good smoke, so I grabbed an Emilio AF2 BMF and my elder son and I hit the bricks (concrete mostly, but actual bricks in a few places…it’s just an expression!). I had picked a few of these up at my local shop a few months back. Needless to say, this is a solid cigar, and sizable at 6″ x 58, truly a big MF! I find this to be milder than the AF1, but loaded with flavor, a little sweet, and delicious. I blame myself for this, but it’s a much better warm weather cigar than cold, but that’s my problem. I wanted to smoke it, and the colder weather wasn’t going to deter me. Still a solid smoke, highly recommended by me for whatever that’s worth!

I had picked up an odd cigar at my local shop, JM Cigars in Exton. It was labeled with the shop owners name, and I was told that it was made by Rocky Patel (but I bought one anyway!). This was a 6½” x 48 cigar, with what looked like a dark Habano wrapper. Unfortunately, it burned a little crappy and was pretty ho-hum in flavor to me. I don’t smoke a lot of RP cigars anyway, as they don’t really suit my palate for whatever reason. Maybe I don’t smoke the right ones, maybe the breadth of his lines confuses me and is a pit of a turn off, I don’t know. I still like to try peoples house or personal blends, and this experience won’t stop me from picking up the occasional oddball cigar when I see one. I was told at the shop that this batch wasn’t as good as the first batch, but just because I didn’t care for it doesn’t mean that it isn’t someones favorite cigar, and for around $4 it was worth trying.

Sunday morning my wife, youngest son and I went out to breakfast with my brother-in-law, who was in town visiting. My son, Christian, recently turned 18 and has been enjoying the occasional cigar, sometimes with me, sometimes with his friends. As can be expected from someone in his demographic, he’s been digging the Acid line, trying a few here and there. So Christian, my Bro-in-law Jeff and I stopped at JM Cigars for a post breakfast digestif. Jeff had asked me to recommend an inexpensive daily smoke a while back and I told him to try the National Brand robustos from Camacho, which he loves (and he’s from New Jersey, so he gets a real good deal purchasing in PA because of the taxes). I wanted something all three of us would appreciate so I grabbed a handful of Camacho Habana Monarcas. I’ve loved this line for years, and haven’t had one in forever. Even though I typically don’t care for Criollo wrapped cigars, this one works really well, I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. The cigar is light enough for the novice and has enough flavor and body for someone who has a cigar or two a day or a long-time cigar nut like myself. It was nice to sit in the lounge and chat for a while. Myson and his uncle share the rock climbing gene, so they have a lot in common, and Jeff and I are roughly the same age and have known one another for 26 or so years, so the three of us, despite the disparity of ages, were able to have a nice, relaxing hour or so with a fine cigar and one-another’s company. It also went a long way toward aiding in the digestion of an over-indulgent breakfast!

News

The annual Habanos Festival just ended, and I wasn’t there. I did notice an interesting press release about the lots in the auction that is held every year. Looks like a nice box, but the price is a little steep for me!

Cohiba Cigar Humidor Sold for 475,500 USD, Equipped With Microprocessor-Controlled Adorini Humidifiers.

Humidor bought by Italian entrepreneur at 14th Habanos Festival in Cuba. The humidor comes with microprocessor controlled adorini humidifiers, 520 Cohiba cigars, and remote-controlled hydraulic system to open the humidor.

Why the heck you’d need to open your humidor from across the room is beyond me, but it sure sounds cool! I guess you have to let those 520 Cohibas living inside get a breath of fresh air once in a while.

Anyway, that’s it for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

2 Comments

Filed under Review, Stores, Take a Cigar For a Walk

Tagged as af2, Camacho, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Emilio, fuente, habana, Habanos, Hemingway, JR Cigars, Monarca, rocky patel, Take A Cigar For A Walk

by CigarCraig | January 4, 2012 · 8:07 pm

The J. Fuego Originals and Citizens for Tobacco Rights

I realize that I’ve gotten everyone used to morning posts, but it’s back to work and back to writing when I can. I have to admit, I’m experiencing some writer’s block at the moment, so bear with me please. It’s gotten bitterly cold here in south-east, Pennsylvania, which is not awfully conducive to the proper enjoyment of a cigar. My normal routine is to take a walk, which usually keeps me moving enough to enjoy a small cigar, as it turns out, the rigors of returning to work after a week plus off has left me without the energy to bother. That’s my excuse, I’m sticking to it.

Monday I received a call from my brother-in-law, Jeff, who has recently taken to fine cigars. He’s been picking one up at his local shop in New Jersey, and called me from my local shop while visiting for the holidays. He wanted some inexpensive “everyday” cigars, and wanted my advice. Oddly, on my last visit to the shop the previous Friday, I failed to really take a good look through the humidor. I was able to direct him to the National Brand bundles, which happened to be in the same place I remembered thme being. Since he really enjoyed the Acid Kuba Kuba I gave him, and had been enjoying working his way through the Alec Bradley range, I figured they’d be a good bet. I’ve certainly enjoyed my fair share of National Brand maduros, and I hope he likes them too. Naturally, since he was in the area, I invited him over for a smoke. I had picked up a pack of the Jesus Fuego Sangre de Toro Originals while I was at the shop Friday. I had been offered a sample at the IPCPR show by Jesus, but I never managed to get one for one reason or another. I had enjoyed the heck out of the robusto in this blend, so I figured for $12.95 for five cigars I had to try them. I’ll eventually try the other two blends in this size as it seems to be a very good “winter” size. I really enjoyed the cigar. Great flavor, the mold-less old style shape is fun and burned well, and I can’t wait to smoke another one. That may be my equivalent to a “10” or whatever rating scale one uses. Very good smokes. I gave Jeff a Maria Mancini Magic Mountain to try which he enjoyed. That’s a hard cigar to beat and they can be purchased for around $2.50 a piece if you find yourself in a JR store.

Editorial

In the “Editorial” department, I wanted to encourage everyone to sign up at Citizens for Tobacco Rights, which is sponsored by Philip Morris USA. Now, I understand that this site is not cigar specific, and is provided by a cigarette company, but the challenges we face as cigar smokers certainly run parallel to those of our other tobacco product using brethren. So far I’ve received no unwanted e-mail from them, and found no reason not to add my name to their numbers. Registration is free and they provide many of the same tools as Cigar Rights of America and IPCPR for contacting your elected officials. It can’t hurt to take every opportunity we have to have our voices heard as our rights are being eroded. Please write to your senator and congressman about the FDA issue too, there’s a link in my sidebar to enter your zip code and take you to a pre-writen letter you can send. It really will be a problem if the FDA is allowed to regulate cigars. Our hobby and passion will be ruined at best, and criminalized at worst.

I guess I did OK considering I had no clue what I was going to write about. Please let me know what you think in the comments, and feel free to share your smoking experiences as well!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

10 Comments

Filed under Editorial, Review, Stores

Tagged as Acid, Alec Bradley, Camacho, cigar, cigar rights, cigar store, cigars, drew estate, IPCPR, J. Fuego, Jesus Fuego, Kuba Kuba, Maria Mancini, National Brand, sangre de toro, Tobacco Rights

by CigarCraig | December 24, 2011 · 9:22 am

CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways – Final Day Winner and Thanks!

We’ve come to the end of a historic two weeks on CigarCraig.com! Â A marathon of daily posts, untold thousands of dollars worth of merchandise (and postage!). Â We gave away 167 cigars, 4 cutters, 2 lighters, 2 caps, 2 cigar tubes, a cigar case, a magazine subscription, a gift certificate and a humidor! That’s a bunch of stuff! Â Also significant was the all time high numbers of unique visits, as well as comments! Â Until last week I didn’t even know if you got to 50 comments it went to a second page. Â Pretty crazy! Â In addition to everyone who came back day after dayÂ religiouslyÂ for a chance to win fabulous prizes, I want to give my sincere thanks to the cigar companies who made this madness possible! Â They are, in no particular order:

La Gloria Cubana

Villiger Stokkebye

Brothers of the Leaf, LLC

Tabacos Mata Fina USA

Oja Cigars

AJ FernandezÂ

Emilio Cigars

This was anÂ ambitiousÂ project. Â What started out with the idea of giving away a cutter here and a cap there morphed into something huge. Â The generosity of the companies listed above was amazing, as was their willingness to put up with myÂ neurotic and obsessive compulsive tendencies! Â The one other person I absolutely could not have done this without is my lovely wife, Jennifer. Â You may have noticed her mentioned in the comments here and there, seen her tweets and re-tweets, as well as handling moderating all of the comments while I was at work every day. Â Thanks for everything you’ve done for me!

Editorial

Now, before I announce the winner of the humidor fromÂ Pipes and Cigars, please take a moment to write a nasty letter to the NCAA and TheÂ OrangeÂ Bowl pointing outÂ theirÂ hypocrisy. Â David Savona sums it up perfectly in his blog on CigarAfficianado (here). Â Head on over to FaxZero.comÂ and send a fax to the OrangeBowl atÂ 305-341-4750. Â I saved Mr. Savona’s article as a PDF and faxed it to the attention of the CEO of the Orange Bowl committee. Â You can fax twice a day for free using FaxZero. Â You can also send them a tweet using @orangebowl or find them on Facebook and voice your displeasure. Â You can also e-mail Larry Wahl, VP of Communications and Community Outreach at lwahl@orangebowl.orgÂ .

Time to announce the winner! Â I have been presented with the number 41 by the Random Number Generator, which means thatÂ MarcB is the winner! Please send me your contact information! Â This concludes this year’s contests! Please visit the sponsoring companies sites and thank them for their generosity. Â Also, take a look at my advertisers sites, and join me in welcoming La Palina Cigars to the CigarCraig.com family. Â These friends help me to defray costs of doing things to write about and I deeply appreciate their support!

Merry Christmas, HappyÂ Hanukkah, Happy Holidays, to everyone. I’ll leave you with this Christmas video from Alan Bernhoft, who you may have seen in the comments over the last few days. Â Let’s give him a little Christmas present and help make his song a new Christmas classic!

httpv://youtu.be/AioTRzrMlBw

Until the next time,

CraigCraig

17 Comments

Filed under Contest, Editorial

Tagged as 12 days, aj fernandez, botl, C-Gars, cain, Camacho, CAO, cigar, Cigar Journal, cigars, Contest, Emilio, esencia, general cigars, Gurkha, La Gloria Cubana, Miami Cigar and Co, Monte Pascoal, Montecristo, Nestor Miranda, nub, Oja, oliva, orangebowl, palio, Pipes and Cigars, romeo y julieta, sancho, Villiger

by CigarCraig | August 17, 2011 · 6:36 pm

Top Shelf Cigars in Skippack, PA, An Emilio And A Cusano CRA

Sunday we took a drive to Skippack Village, PA to check out Top Shelf Cigars. Skippack Village is a quaint little shopping area with all kinds of little shops and businesses. We located the cigar shop, which is tucked away in the back of a building. It was pouring, which it hasn’t really done all summer, so I shouldn’t complain, but couldn’t it rain overnight, or during a working day? It should always be nice and sunny on days off….but I digress. The shop has a nice little patio area, and I’m told that they have an event there on the first Thursday of every month with a cook out and specials which is very popular. I may have to try to catch one of these events in the near future. Anyway, it’s a nice little shop. They have cabinet humidors lining the outside walls with a counter in the center, so the store is in a “U” shape. On one side they had a couple couches and a TV. The humidors were well stocked, which is a departure from the mostly empty boxes I’ve seen in a lot of stores recently. I was impressed with the selection, they had a fair amount of what I consider to be reasonably priced lines, which are often absent in some of your nicer shops. Most of the major brands were represented, as well as a selection of their house brand, which I believe the gentleman there said was made by the folks at Don Leoncio/Pinar del Rio. They didn’t have a lot of the new items in yet, but were making room. The regular Cain line was marked down, for example, and, as if I needed any more cigars, I felt compelled to pick up a couple each of the Habano torpedos and Maduro 660s for $4.95 each. If you find yourself in the Montgomery County, PA area stop in and have a cigar. I’m pretty picky about cigar shops, and this one carries my seal of approval (worth the paper it’s printed on…..)

Some of this weeks cigars:

Emilio AF2 – the last of a pair that Gary Griffith sent me. I finally got to meet Gary at the IPCPR show. Yup, the guy operates not 25 miles from my home and I have to go 3000 miles away to meet him, pathetic, I know. Gary is a great guy, and introduced me to a few folks at the show which I’m grateful for. He also is 3 for 3 with the cigars he’s generously shared with me, the Grimalkin, and the Emilio AFs 1 and 2. I really dig all of them, and really can’t pin down a favorite, I like each one for different reasons. The AF2 is just a lovely medium to full bodied cigar that I enjoyed with my last bottle of Reed’s Ginger Brew, on my front porch watching the rain come down.

Cusano CRA Edition – I don’t have too much information on this, except that it came as a result of my renewal of my Cigar Rights of America membership last December. It has what I’m going to guess is an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper that gave the smoke a dry mouth feel and had a little bit of acidity. Not a bad cigar, but, to me, it wasn’t particularly memorable either. Unfortunately I went 0 for 2 on the CRA cigars, as the Casa Fernandez wasn’t exceptional either. Can’t complain, they only cost me $2.50 each over and above the cost of the membership, and are for a good cause. Every year I hope for a CRA edition Opus or Liga Privada…hasn’t happened yet. Still, it’s nice for the sponsoring manufacturers to provide some different cigars for joining. If I may vent a little: As a CRA member, I find it a lttle insulting when the CRA gives away a years membership, AND a 10 pack of the CRA edition cigars with the paid admission to certain events. I don’t want to take away from the events, because we NEED cigar events, and the CRA NEEDS members to fight so that we can continue to HAVE cigar events. But I feel like giving away the memberships ($35 for the membership, $99 for the 10 pack of cigars, $125 for admission to an all day event, admittedly a great deal for the attendee) defeats the purpose of raising funds for the organization. I guess I feel like my contribution is going toward giving other people free memberships instead of fighting for our freedoms. Of course, the gamble is that all the people receiving the free memberships will join next year, but I think the majority will either expect a free renewal at the event next year or won’t even think about contributing because it doesn’t represent a value to them (it was free). Anyway, I think giving the memberships away dilutes the funds available to fight the fight, and I don’t think I like that…your opinions and comments are welcome and appreciated, maybe I’m not seeing the whole picture and someone will set me straight! Again, no offense to the event that I have quite obviously failed to name, I wish I could attend, it sounds like a good time!