Tag Archives: cigar rights

by CigarCraig | May 26, 2010 · 7:31 pm

Wednesday’s Cigar: Joya de Nicaragua Cabinetta Serie Toro, and a Contest! – May 26, 2010

True to my word, I sparked up the Joya de Nicaragua Cabinetta Serie Toro for tonight’s cigar. This is another “dos capas” cigar, predominantly Ecuadorian shade wrapper with a dark Nicaraguan “mouthpiece”. I received this cigar when I was in Reno last November, it was among the great many cigars provided to the event by Steve at Drew Estate. This was a very nice cigar! The burn was excellent until reaching the band, where it transitioned to the dark wrapper, which burned rather reluctantly. It was a medium bodied cigar with copious amounts of smoke. The smoke was creamy and nutty like one would expect from the shade wrapper, but the flavor on the lips was spicy and sweet. Over-all a delicious hour or so of cigar goodness. This is a beautiful cigar that I would highly recommend.

Since I smoked the Joya de Nicaragua, it seems like a good time to have a contest and this time we’ll have 2 winners! The first winner will receive a 5 count sampler box of Joya de Nicaragua Antaño 1970, consisting of a Machito, a Gran Consul, a Robusto Grande, a Belicoso and a Churchill. The runner up will receive a really cool Joya de Nicaragua cap and cutter, which is a very nice cutter. I’ve been using the Drew Estate version of this very same cutter for several months now and it does a great job. Thanks to the folks at Drew Estate for again providing some great cigars and swag for me to give away!

To enter the contest leave a comment on this blog post. I will have the cats pick the winners again (they’ve been itching to star in another video, or else the Frontline is wearing off…). Given the upcoming holiday weekend and how busy life has been around here, the contest will end at midnight on Saturday, June 5. Tim in Phoenixville, PA won one of these samplers a few months back and I was able to hand deliver it. I hope he enjoyed them, but I haven’t heard from him in a while, I hope they didn’t kill him! Just kidding about that, the Antaño 1970 is a powerful and yummy cigar!

So there you go, some great prizes just for typing me a few words in the comments section!

In the news

The Cigar Rights of America posted an action alert today stating that the Mayor of Orange County, Florida (Orlando, etc.) is proposing a ban on the use of any tobacco products on county owned and leased property, as well as making it a condition of employment that anyone smoking more than 4 cigars a year has to pay a $650 yearly fine. Please go to the CRA website to see where to send your thoughts on this ridiculousness.

Here’s my quick thought: how about if any municipality bans tobacco use, they aren’t eligible to receive ANY revenue from tobacco taxes? I think it’s brilliant, but I’m sure it will never fly. Just my unsolicited 2 cents and worth every dime you paid for it!

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

CigarCraig

Go Flyers!

16 Comments

Filed under Contest, Review

Tagged as cap, cigar, cigar rights, cigars, Contest, CRA, cutter, drew estate, joya de nicaragua, smoking

by CigarCraig | May 16, 2010 · 4:18 pm

A Reyes Family Cigars Weekend – Sunday, May 16, 2010

I did something unusual for me, I smoked a bunch of the same cigars in a row. I found myself with a handful of Puros Indios Viejo Media Coronas and smoked about 3 of them in a row. For the price, these are terrific cigars, and at 5½” x 45 is one of my favorite sizes. These are touted as well aged cigars with a 10 year old Ecuador Sumatra wrapper and filler from the DR, Nicaragua and Brazil. They burn pretty well with a good draw and a nice flavor. I remember back in the boom years Puros Indios were known for having a tight draw, I recall having one that was a really great tasting cigar, but it was like smoking a wooden dowel it was so tight. Clearly this problem no longer exists. I smoked 2 of them during the excellent Flyers win over the Bruins.

I figured since I was on a Puros Indios kick, I’d fire up a Reyes Family Cigars Premier Gordo that I got at the IPCPR show back in 2008. This is a big perfecto, 6″ x 60 ring gauge at it’s largest point. The maduro Ecuador Sumatra wrapper is rustic, not the prettiest thing, but quite tasty and the shape is just amazing. It’s burn wasn’t dead even, but didn’t take anything away from the experience. I’m a reasonably fast smoker, but this cigar seemed to last forever. I think I smoked this for over an hour and a half. It was medium bodied and tasty. Not a bad cigar at all and a good one to follow the Puros Indios Viejos I had smoked earlier. Except for a few more of the Viejos, I think I’ve exhausted my supply of Reyes Family Cigars. What ever happened to the 18″ x 66 Puros Indios Chief?

In The News:

I came across a really neat site for all you blog junkies to bookmark: http://www.cigarosphere.com/ . This is a cool page that has an excerpt from a ton of different blogs all on one page. They have graciously added the CigarCraig..com blog to the site, despite the fact that they state that they trying to aggregate QUALITY blogs. It’s neat to be able to see a whole bunch of different blogs on one site. Keep up the great work guys!

Please keep up with http://www.cigarrights.org/ as the FDA starts looking at ways to screw up out enjoyment of cigars. Don;t be afraid to write to your representatives when you hear about possible injustices where cigars are concerned. The folks at CRA are doing great things to protect our rights, I urge you to support them.

Oops, I almost forgot!

I keep forgetting to mention that last week I enjoyed the Vegas de Santiago Don Luis Secretos de Maestro Canionazo that DJ sent me. It was another very nice cigar which burned well and had a pleasing flavor. Vegas de Santiago deserves more notoriety than they receive. They produce a very nice product and are always very willing to sponsor events when asked. I’m sorry that things got a little busy around here and I kinda forgot to mention it in my last post. I truly appreciate the opportunity to try these cigars, thank you sir! I still have a Vegas de Santiago in a wooden tube somewhere in the bottom of the coolerdor that’s about 5 years old that I need to exhume and smoke.

Also, Joel Scott, winner of the box of 5 Liga Privada‘s, was kind enough to send me a couple pictures of the opened box, since I resisted the temptation to open them before shipping them out. You may drool now, and remember that I just may have more of these for future prizes, as well as a bunch of other goodies! Keep checking back, the cats are looking forward to the next contest video! Testimonials from past winners are always welcome.

That’s about all I have for now, until next time,

CigarCraig (GO FLYERS!)

1 Comment

Filed under News, Review

Tagged as blog, cigar, cigar rights, cigaroshere, cigars, hockey, Puros Indios, reyes, reyes family, viejo

by CigarCraig | February 21, 2010 · 7:21 pm

Sunday Cigar – Liga Privada “Dirty Rat” – Feb 21, 2010

It’s been a while since the weather was decent here, it was sunny and in the 40s today. I was gifted a Liga Privada “Dirty Rat” by Steve Saka in Reno back in November and was hanging on to it until circumstances were appropriate for the proper enjoyment of this limited edition cigar. My wife and I received a package which included some more of these so I figured today was the day to fire one up. The story on these, as I remember Steve telling it, is that they were playing with the Liga Privada blend in a corona size. Because of the blend, the only way to get anywhere close was to include partial leaves, hand cut, of certain tobaccos. This made the possibility of this particular cigar going into production relatively remote due to the considerable labor involved in making these. It’s a shame, because the “Dirty Rat” is an awesome cigar. The wrapper is a beautiful and oily, Connecticut broadleaf with a filler blend of five tobaccos packed into the 5″ x 44 pigtailed corona. Here’s were I come up short in cigar reviewing, describing the flavor. Whatever the flavors are I like them. They are heavy and satisfying, with some spice that progresses to just a delicious and savory tobacco flavor. I love the Liga Privada No.9 and the T52, but this little flavor bomb is a special treat. Thanks to Steve for giving me the rare opportunity to sample this cigar from your private stash.

In my inbox this week I received the following from Cigar Rights of America:

Cigar Rights Club, Pennsylvania Challenge Club Membership Goal: 500!

Cigar Rights of America is growing, and working to become the voice of cigar enthusiasts across this country in the local, state and federal battles that threaten one of life’s great pleasures, and a moment so fundamental to the “pursuit of happiness” – a cigar among friends.

There is a great adage in politics – there is power in numbers. Now, more than ever, we need cigar voters to stand up and be counted. We have issues to confront, votes to monitor, minds to change, and people to thank…all at once. That’s why we need your friends that also have the passion for a great cigar to join the cause.

Pennsylvania is pivotal to the growth of CRA. So we are issuing a special challenge. We want Pennsylvania to have 500 members of CRA going into the next election season. After we reach that benchmark, we’ll issue another…and another, until we know that we have the voting block of cigar enthusiasts necessary to protect your ability to enjoy great cigars, with as little government regulation and taxation as possible. It’s all about that, “pursuit of happiness.”

I’m surprised that there aren’t 500 members in PA, but if you aren’t a member please consider joining, even if you aren’t in Pennsylvania. It’s a worthwhile organization and it’s only $35 per year. They do a lot to preserve our right to enjoy fine cigars.