Tag Archives: Casa de Montecristo

by CigarCraig | March 2, 2016 · 9:51 pm

Quesada Sons of Freedom from CDMCigars.com

This week I chose a couple of cigars from a selection of cigars that are exclusive to CDM Cigars, the online home of Chicago’s Casa de Montecristo store. You may recall that I visited this amazing store a couple of years ago. CDMCigars.com is a fairly recent addition and is the online arm of the retail store. I smoked their Quesada Sons of Freedom line, the maduro torpedo and the Connecticut robusto, both made by Quesada. The bands on this line remind me of a lighter I picked up a very long time ago, believe it or not it was bundled with a 2 pack of Camel cigarettes. I smoked cigarettes up until February of 2007, at which time I kicked that habit just hours before having sinus surgery. When people ask how I quit I generally say I used Vicodin. I still have a couple of these lighters which are not really a torch, but not a soft flame either, but are better than no lighter at all. I had to dig to find one for this picture as I had forgotten about it until I saw the bands. I’ve gotten away from the point. I’m not sure where the name Sons of Freedom comes from, but I’m 99% certain it isn’t from the 80’s Canadian alternative rock band.

I started out, as I am want to do, with the Quesada Sons of Freedom Maduro which was provided in the 6″ x 52 torpedo format. Sadly, there is little blend information about this on the site, besides that it is made by the Quesadas in the Dominican republic, and it’s got a maduro wrapper. I suppose I should be happy knowing that it’s a pretty darned nice cigar, and it carries a very reasonable $5.50 price tag. I wouldn’t expect it to be that inexpensive in the Chicago store, as their taxes are pretty ridiculous, but on their site it’s priced right. It burned well, requiring little or no attention. It had a pleasant flavor, a little of the cocoa one finds in a maduro, but some of the bready flavors I seem to find in a lot of Quesada cigars. That’s probably just me, and I have pretty limited experience with the Quesada’s cigars. All in all a good smoke.

Tonight I tackled the Quesada Sons of Freedom Connecticut Robusto, a 5″ x 52 with a Connecticut shade wrapper. Again, this is a reasonably priced cigar, listed at $4.50 on the website. Again, the blend info is sparse, stating only that it’s made in the DR with a Connecticut wrapper. I would guess that it’s an Ecuador Connecticut, based on the price point and the flavor. This was another well made cigar with a picture perfect burn and draw. I think I liked this more than the maduro, which is odd for me, but the Connecticut wrapper added a nice creamy, nutty flavor, and there was a bit of a gingerbread spice again (I have been hitting the ginger ale and ginger beer rather hard lately). This was a really good smoke which I was hesitant to go to after a steak dinner, but it held up.

These were both enjoyable and trouble-free cigars, and I wish to thank Craig Wingbermuehle, the manager at CDMCigars.com, for sending these along as well as having a very good first name. If I may offer a small bit of advice on the website, it would be to include some more blend information on the cigars so geeks like myself can pass that info along. You’d be surprised how many people appreciate seeing that kind of detail. A little back story about this particular brand would be interesting to me as well. Otherwise it’s a good site with good prices, and I’ll be smoking a few more of their shop exclusive cigars in the coming weeks.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Casa de Montecristo, cigar, cigars, Quesada, Sons of Freedom

by CigarCraig | February 21, 2016 · 10:42 am

La Boheme, Nomad Therapy and a Quesada Cigar from Casa de Montecristo

Since we last spoke, which was only Friday, I’ve not had the chance to smoke too many cigars, but I did try to smoke good ones! I’ll have to rewind to Thursday, when I selected a La Boheme Pittore (5 1/8″ x 52) from a prior month’s Cigar Authority Care Package, to smoke while I listened to last week’s show. I should have smoked the Eiroa Classic Prensado, which I really look forward to smoking, but it was a 4″ x 48 size that I knew wouldn’t fit into the time allotted, it would leave me wanting. I’ll get to the Eiroa eventually, but I had the La Boheme that I missed previously, and I was looking forward to smoking Rafael Nodal’s latest creation too. The La Boheme, named after the famous Puccini opera (and I didn’t have to look that up, just so you know!) with sizes are named after characters in the opera, attempts to blend Rafael’s passions of cigars, music and Cuba, and I felt a little bad that I was listening to a cigar podcast while smoking this instead of listening to the opera. This is yet another cigar that I will be smoking again, it was very good, with a hint of that twang that’s a signature of most Havana cigars. Burn and draw were outstanding and it was a very enjoyable smoke. Another job well done from the folks at Aging Room Cigars.

Friday evening I celebrated the end of another week, as well as my youngest son’s 22nd birthday, with the Nomad Therapy Maduro Toro. This line is made at Tabacalera Fernandez in Nicaragua, and the maduro uses a Pennsylvania broadleaf wrapper, which Abdel Fernandez is reasonable famous for working with. Besides the PA wrapper, which I like a lot and it’s grown right down the road from where I live, this cigar had a Habano binder grown in Jalapa, and Nicaraguan filers. One can’t buy boxes of these, they are presented in trays that retailers can refill with bundles, lowering the cost. That’s not to take anything away from the premium nature if the cigar, it’s not a cheap bundle offering. I had no issues with the burn and draw, and the flavor was awesome! A little sweet, a little spice, a lot of flavor, and it’s right up my alley. Great, another cigar I need to buy…thank you to Fred for including this and it’s Connecticut Shade and Habano siblings with the 12SDOCG offering back in December!

Yesterday we had an odd February day with temps in the 50s, so I grabbed a big cigar and took Macha for a nice long walk, 3.1 miles to be exact. The cigar came in a selection of cigar sent to me by the online arm of Casa de Montecristo in Chicago, CDMCigars.com. I’ve been to the Casa de Montecristo in the Chicago area and it’s spectacular, and the members lounge which I weaseled my way into is just about as good as it gets. The cigar I selected was the Quesada Sellecion España Fabulosos, a 7″ x 54 corona doble. This line was originally blended for the Spanish market to offer an alternative to Cuban cigars, and was a bit of a unicorn for a while, now they are available in the US, although not widely. The blend consists of a Ecuador grown Arapiraca wrapper, Dominican binder and fillers from Connecticut (broadleaf), the DR and Nicaragua. Here’s wear my general laziness bites me in the ass. The cigar could have been a little dryer, and that’s my fault, as I placed the bag of samples, along with the Boveda pack, in the bottom of the cabinet. I’ve found before that this is a bad idea, and I didn’t learn. So I’ve removed the Boveda pack and put the rest of the cigars on the top shelf to lose a little moisture. While this cigar didn’t smoke as well as I’d have liked, it still was a terrific tasting cigar and smoked for over two hours. It was rich and creamy with hints of spice. I only have the H-Town lancero to compare this to, and it’s quite different, as the lancero is a lot more potent as one would expect. The folks at CDMCigars.com also included the Beli-Lance, a 7″ x 40 with a belicoso head, along with a bunch of other exclusive cigars that I look forward to smoking. If you find yourself in the Chicago area make Casa de Montecristo a destination.

That’s it for now, it’s supposed to be milder temperatures again today, but we may get more snow and winter stuff this week. Until the next time,

Cigar Craig

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Tagged as Aging Room, Casa de Montecristo, CDMCigars, cigar, cigars, La Boheme, Nomad, Quesada, The Cigar Authority, Therapy

by CigarCraig | October 8, 2014 · 9:00 pm

A Montecristo, a Gurkha and a Cohiba, and Some Cigar News

I’m sitting here watching the first Flyers game of the season, trying to write. Hockey is the only sport I have any interest in, so it’s nice that it’s back! Anyway, I stuck with some classic brands this week, starting off with a Montecristo which was given to me by Tom, our local Altadis rep a few weeks back at The Smokin Goose Festival. Goose’s Tobacco is a Montecristo Lounge, so they have the exclusive (and aptly named) Casa de Montecristo Exclusivo. Obviously, this cigar is only available at Montecristo lounges. This is a 6″ x 60 with an enormous band in addition to a black and silver Montecristo band. The wrapper is Ecuador Sumatra, with Nicaraguan binder and fillers. The cigar burned very nicely, and it had a reasonably sweet tobacco flavor. I enjoyed this cigar, I suspect I would smoke this again if I found myself in a Montecristo lounge and had $12 burning a hole in my pocket.

Tuesday I heard the news that Carlos Llaca Toraño is now the Director of Operations at Gurkha Cigars. He was previously the Operations Director at Toraño Family cigars until their recent acquisition by General Cigar Co. This prompted me to select the newest offering from Gurkha’s East India Trading Co., The Classic Cigar – Havana Blend in the XO size. The square press on this 6″ x 60 makes it feel smaller than it is. This is another nice smoking cigar which I found to have a pleasing flavor on the light side. Once I realized that this wasn’t a powerful cigar I really enjoyed the delicate flavor. At right around $8 each, this is a nice smoke. I only had to touch it up once or twice, otherwise it burned quite well. This would probably be a nice morning cigar with a cup of coffee.

Tonight I went with the new Cohiba Nicaragua in the N50 robusto size. The samples I received from General Cigar Co. are cellophaned 5″ x 50, which only appear to be available in glass tubes commercially. This is the first Cohiba to be blended and handcrafted in Nicaragua. The fillers are from Esteli and Jalapa and the wrapper is listed as Colorado Oscuro, no mention of country of origin. Obviously the Cohiba name comes with some expectations, whether positive or not, so I was interested to see what this new Nicaraguan blend brought to the table. It started out very sweet, and developed very nicely. It burned like a super premium cigar should, a nice flat and even burn with a perfect draw through a V-cut. I suspect these will age nicely, but they are smoking well now.

As I was getting a lighter out the other day I realized that I have a few of them laying around. One thing that stands out to me is that the lighters I have range from a couple dollars to around $60, and with the proper care, the cheaper ones generally work as well as the expensive ones. In this picture you’ll notice that none of the three Blazer torches I’ve had over the last 17 years or so have survived. The Zippo with the z-Plus insert has been the most impressive, as well as the Ronson. The newest addition is the Jetline triple torch (at about 9 oclock) which came from the Rocky Mountain Festival goodie bag. This is a very nice lighter. The yellow one will be recognized by some of my blogger bretheren, it actually has what is basically a Cricket lighter inside of it and I have had good luck taking it apart and spreading it out through my luggage when I travel. Only the white La Gloria lighter is a soft flame, hence it gets very little use. I have some other ones here and there, I hate not having a lighter handy!

News

The first big news relates to my mention of Carlos Llaca Toraño joining Gurkha, his cousin Jack Toraño, who was also displaced in the acquisition, has joined Roberto P. Duran Premium Cigars. Look for a press release in the coming days announcing this. Anyone who knows Jack knows what a great guy he is, and I’m very glad to hear he’s re-joining the workforce after a reasonably short hiatus.

In other news, The Charlotte Observer reports that the JR Statesville store will be closing at the end of the year. There are three stores in North Carolina, and they are all large outlet stores with all kinds of merchandise from Jeans and toys, to cigarettes and premium cigars. If you ever drove down I-95 through North Carolina you can’t miss the entertaining billboards. Apparently the owner of the property isn’t renewing their lease and has plans to re-develop the entire shopping center that is aging. Seventy-seven jobs will be lost, however JRs says they will open a cigar only store nearby in the future. The full story is here. This is the only North Carolina location I haven’t visited, I’ve stopped at the Selma store on the few trips I’ve made down I-95, and I had a tour of the massive distribution center in Burlington many years ago.

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

CigarCraig

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Filed under News, Review

Tagged as Casa de Montecristo, cigar, cigars, cohiba, East India Trading Co., general cigars, Gurkha, Lighter, Montecristo, Roberto Duran, Torch

by CigarCraig | August 20, 2014 · 9:58 pm

Visiting Chicago – Casa de Montecristo and a Camacho Ecuador

When we left off I was in Chicago and I mentioned I was going to visit Casa de Montecristo in Countryside, IL. I set the GPS in the car, which, for some reason, didn’t take the street number for me. I decided to wing it, and set off anyway. I got about ten miles down I-294 and the GPS had lost it. The lady in the dashboard kept telling me to take the next left, then recalculated, take the next left….I was on a highway with no left turns! She didn’t know what she was doing! I pulled off the next exit and parked in a McDonalds and turned the crazy lady off and see if the iPhone Google Maps app would help me out. I apparently had gotten of at the right exit, because in a few turns I pulled into the Casa de Montecristo lot.

To everyone who told me Casa de Montecristo was a must visit on my Chicago visit, thank you! The store is beautiful, and the staff is very attentive. Fred showed me around and introduced me to one of the regulars, Conor. Oddly, a gentleman named Justin who I had met the day before at TESA was there making a purchase on his way out of town, he had come in from St. Louis for the previous day’s event and to celebrate his birthday. Strange walking into a strange shop 750 miles from home and seeing a familiar face, but I shouldn’t really be surprised by now, it happens more times than not, it seems. The store has cabinet humidors lining the walls for singles, an glass excaparate with bins of unbanded cigars, a walk-in humidor for boxes, and a “vintage room” off the walk-in humidor. After a tour of the facilities, I picked out a couple cigars I hadn’t smoked before and had been looking for, the Camacho Ecuador in the Figurado size and the Matilde Renacer in the Robusto size. I could have shopped for hours, but I neither need more cigars, nor do I have the budget for Illinois prices.

I was ushered downstairs in the only cigar-friendly elevator in the country to the VIP lounge. Apparently they allow out of towners in the lounge, not that there aren’t nice, comfy chairs upstairs in the store area. The VIP Lounge is quite luxurious. In addition to the comfy leather chairs, there are booths and a bar, where members can store their own libations and have access to complimentary coffee, sodas and water. I pulled up a stool next to Conor and we had a wonderful time swapping stories. He had had a cigar brand and we knew a lot of the same people and had visited a lot of the same places. Once again, you can walk into a strange cigar shop just about anywhere and meet a friend you didn’t know. As an aside, Conor is hosting a charity event next month, check out www.chicigarmeetup.com for all the information if you are in the Chicago area or plan to be there. I lit up the Camacho Ecuador which was a very nice cigar. It burned perfectly and had a great draw and the flavor was very enjoyable. Conor kindly gifted me a cigar out of the escaparate, a Pete Johnson blend that he said was the original blend of the Black Jar release. This was a nice smoke as well, however I had to finish it in the car on the way back to the hotel. The VIP lounge also includes a theater and a meeting room, along with a bunch of TVs and lockers for not only cigars but booze. I can’t recommend the Casa de Montecristo enough if you find yourself in the Chicago area. I’m sure glad I decided to seek it out and spend my afternoon there. Great company, great smokes and great facility.

Tonight I took a walk with a Diesel Unlimited d.5 that I think came from last year’s IPCPR. This cigar is made by A.J. Fernandez for Meier and Dutch and has been on the market for several years. Oddly, I don’t think I’ve sampled this line extension before, but it kind of jumped into my hand as I was looking for tonight’s cigar. The Unlimited has an oily Honduran ligero wrapper and the filler is Nicaraguan tobaccos from Esteli and Condega and Mexican San Andrés. This cigar was rich and heavy in flavor and quite satisfying. I would reach for this often, it’s a solid cigar.

I need to get ready to travel again, I’m really looking forward to attending the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival in Colorado, and will attempt to report from the event, or shortly after. Until then,

CigarCraig