My love affair with La Gloria Cubana started in the mid 90s. You could buy them right from the El Credito factory on Calle Ocho in Miami, and for $5 less you could get a bundle instead of a box. Then they opened the factory in the Dominican Repuplic and there were the people that preferred the Miami rolled cigars over the ones from the DR, even though they were using the exact same raw materials. I could never tell the difference, but that really doesn’t mean anything. Then the company changed hands, the Serie R came out, another excellent cigar, more transitions in management, and now, under General Cigar, the team is coming out with one hit after another, most recently with the Artesanos Retro Especiale. I received a couple of samples at the IPCPR show and Friday night was the night to fire one up. First, it’s a really nice looking cigar. The band is beautiful, keeping the general theme of the traditional La Gloria band, but giving it a more retro look to compliment the gorgeous packaging. The wrapper is Connecticut grown in Honduras and is golden brown. It burned perfectly from start to finish, and it was smooth and elegant in flavor and appearance. Like it’s siblings, the Artesanos De Miami, Artesanos De Tabaqueros and Artesanos De Obelisco, this is a unique and special cigar.
I know this video is a rerun, but it’s certainly relevant to this post as it features Yuri Guilllen, General Manager at El Credito, and one of the masterminds of La Gloria Cubana talking about the Serie N, the Artesanos De Obelisco and the Artesanos Retro Especiale.
Don’t forget to visit my sponsors, and get on over the IPCPR.org, or CigarRights.org (or use the link in my sidebar) and send letters to your elected officials regarding the FDA and Premium Cigars! If the FDA has their way, we’ll never again see wonderful works of art like the packaging for the Retro Especiale, not to mention having premium cigars to enjoy in the first place!
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!
I haven’t really dug into the trade show samples this week, but here’s a fun little video from the show:
That’s about all I have for now, until the next time,
My love affair with La Gloria Cubana started in the mid 90s. You could buy them right from the El Credito factory on Calle Ocho in Miami, and for $5 less you could get a bundle instead of a box. Then they opened the factory in the Dominican Repuplic and there were the people that preferred the Miami rolled cigars over the ones from the DR, even though they were using the exact same raw materials. I could never tell the difference, but that really doesn’t mean anything. Then the company changed hands, the Serie R came out, another excellent cigar, more transitions in management, and now, under General Cigar, the team is coming out with one hit after another, most recently with the Artesanos Retro Especiale. I received a couple of samples at the IPCPR show and Friday night was the night to fire one up. First, it’s a really nice looking cigar. The band is beautiful, keeping the general theme of the traditional La Gloria band, but giving it a more retro look to compliment the gorgeous packaging. The wrapper is Connecticut grown in Honduras and is golden brown. It burned perfectly from start to finish, and it was smooth and elegant in flavor and appearance. Like it’s siblings, the Artesanos De Miami, Artesanos De Tabaqueros and Artesanos De Obelisco, this is a unique and special cigar.
