Tag Archives: cigar rights

A Heraderos de Robaina, a Prototype, and a Tatuaje at the Wooden Indian Cigar Shop

This is an odd time of year.  I’m kind of running out of different cigars to smoke and report on and the ones I do have are too big for the time and conditions available to me.  Many times it’s a robusto or smaller on my evening walk.  Sometimes a cigar doesn’t fit in at all, I don’t like it, but it’s OK.  I can’t tell you how much I look forward to warmer weather!  More daylight and not having to wear gloves and bundling up greatly enhance the cigar experience for me.  It’s not far off, so you’ll only have to put up with my whining for a little longer!

 

HerederosDeRobaina_RobustoThursday evening I took a look into the cigars that Gary Griffith had sent me a while ago to see what I hadn’t smoked yet. I picked out a Herederos de Robaina robusto that had somehow escaped my notice up until now.  I can’t find a lot of information about this cigar, and I was too lazy to ask Gary.  I may have skipped it because it kind of looked generic.  The band isn’t fancy, the cigar has a fairly nondescript colored Habano looking wrapper.  Fortunately, the cigar smoked very well. It was quite well made, and the flavor was smooth and very nice.  I came across an MSRP of $7.90 someplace, which is too rich for my blood, I would be dissapointed with this smoke at this price.  If it were a $5 cigar I would consider it a good value, at closer to $8, I need to be wow’d, and I was satisfied, but now blown away.   Most of the cigars that Gary Griffith and Emilio Cigars has taken on to distribute have wow’d me, but, like everything, there’s something for everyone, and this is a fine smoke that certainly may blow someone else away.

 

VictorVitale_MaduroPrototypeFriday evening I decided to smoke a larger cigar since it wasn’t that freezing cold out.  I had received a couple of samples of prototypes a while ago from Legacy Brands by Victor Vitale.  This cigar was 6½” x 54 or maybe 56, with a jet black and oily wrapper.  This cigar had the most amazing and unique tobacco aroma off the foot.  I actually haven’t done this in about 30 years, but the smell reminded me of sticking your nose in a pouch of RedMan chewing tobacco.  There’s a really sweet smell like that that this cigar had.  It continued as I lit it up, syrupy sweet with a little bit of the black licorice finish along the way.  I don’t think I could smoke this every day, but it sure was a very different and delicious cigar that I I would enjoy from time to time as a change of pace.  I can’t wait to find out more about this.  My first thought was that it contained a large portion of the “jungle” tobacco that Victor used in his Tortuga 1950 Natural Aged Maduro that I enjoyed so much last year. Maybe that’s the unique flavor?  I certainly can’t speculate on where this might fit into Victor’s portfolio, only Victor can tell me that (maybe he’ll read this and leave a comment, hint hint!)! Thanks to Victor for letting me experience that cigar, it really made my day.

 

Saturday turned out to a bit if a father/daughter day in my family.  My wife has been busy driving with her father down to Florida so he can spend a few weeks at the Phillies spring training camp, my son-in-law got to spend the afternoon with my grand-daughter and I got to take my daughter to the Flyers game.  There’s nothing quite like taking in an afternoon of gratuitous violence and ice hockey with ones little girl (she’s 29 and expecting her 2nd child and I don’t think she likes it when I refer to her as my little girl!).  It was a great game, lots of action and the Flyers came out on top.  I would normally stop at the Cigar Bar in the Wells Fargo Center for a smoke while traffic cleared out, but that wasn’t appropriate in this instance, TatuajeReserva_PetiteCazadoresso instead I stopped in at the Wooden Indian in Havertown, PA, for a smoke on the way home.  I picked up a couple of favorites along with a pair of Tatuaje Petite Cazadores, I guess this is the Reserva line (or “Reserver” for my New England friends <snicker>).  I am way behind on sampling the Tatuaje line. I think I’ve smoked the La Casita Criolla, one of the mixed filler cigars a long time ago, and maybe an El Triunfador.  I’ll admit that the price point puts me off of the majority of the line, so I figured this little 4″ x 40 at $4 was a place to start.  I sat in the shop talking to George, the sales associate and Dave, the local Xikar rep and really enjoyed this little smoke.  It was spicy, rich, dark and full of flavor.  I can’t imagine how much I’d enjoy this if I hadn’t been working on a pretty nasty migraine.  I’m glad I picked up a couple, because I really look forward to enjoying this cigar again and it compels me to experiment a little more in the line in the future.  It was the end to a pretty great day.

 

That pretty much wraps up things for today.  Please remember to support Cigar Rights of America and to write to your elected officials!

 

Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

 

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An Old La Aurora, Emilio Visits The Wooden Indian, and Another Hoyo de Monterrey Contest!

Friday evening I decided the time had come for a La Aurora Preferidos No.2 that has been knocking around my humidors for years.  I’m going to assume this was a Corojo wrapper, as it certainly wasn’t maduro or Connecticut, and it sure didn’t taste like Cameroon. On side note: on the La Aurora website they either have the Maduro No.2 pictured incorrectly, or the Maduro No.1 labelled incorrectly – Barry: get on that, would you bro!)  This cigar is a handsome 5″ x 54 perfecto, really quite a unique shape these days, although it used to be the standard, what cigars looked like 100 years ago.  As you can see from the picture, this poor cigar had a couple chips in the wrapper, no doubt from so many years rolling around naked in various humidors over the last 5 or 10 years, I honestly can’t remember how long.  This cigar burned perfectly, the draw and smoke were perfect, and it had that smoothness and refinement of flavor that years of age bring. I saved this cigar for a special occasion for so long, I finally decided it was time and went for it.  Glad I did, because it was a terrific experience.

 

Earlier in the week I received a message from Dave, the owner of the Wooden Indian Tobacco Shop in Havertown, PA letting me in on the fact that Gary Griffith and Nathan McIntyre of Emilio Cigars would be visiting Saturday at 9am.  Of course, my initial response was something like “9:00 on a Saturday morning?” But I sucked it up, threw on some clothes, and drove out to have a rare morning cigar.  When I arrived, the guys were all in the spacious walk-in humidor looking at the selection of Emilio cigars.  As I had yet to try the AF Suave, I picked up a handful of corona on Nathan’s recommendation, headed to the cash register, and fired one up.   What a tasty cigar, perfect for the morning, although it would certainly be satisfying any time of day.  Another winner from the Emilio stable.  It was great meeting Nate finally, always a pleasure spending time with Gary, and seeing  Alan Price, Emilio rep, CRA ambassador and all-around good guy was an added bonus.  As always, Dave and his staff at the Indian are always exceptional and entertaining.  If you ever find yourself in the Philadelphia area and want a great selection as well as a very comfortable Liga Privada Lounge (the first!), head west on Market street and find the shop, you won’t be sorry.  I wrapped up the day with an Emilio AF1 Toro, which was just delicious and may be my favorite in the line.

 

Contest

What am I going to do in a few weeks when I don’t have a Sunday contest to post?  We’ll, I suppose I’ll be at Disneyworld with my wife, and then getting IPCPR stuff ready for you after a short travel break.  Anyway, there’s still time to enter the Hoyo de Monterrey Box-a-day give-away at HoyodeMonterreyCigar.com, and I have another pair of Reposados en Cedros 3-packs to give away to a lucky reader who leaves a comment here and send me his (or her) address after the winner is announced on Wednesday.  The latter part is critical!  My last two winners, Allen and Joel, were very prompt and their packages are on their way. Let the games begin!

 

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

CigarCraig

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Memorial Day Weekend Cigar Patriotism!

Since it’s the Memorial Day Holiday Weekend here in the US,  I thought I’d throw together a little list of serious threats to our rights, those same rights that Americans laid down their lives to protect.  So in between great cigars and holiday weekend fun, take a moment to remember all those who’ve paid the ultimate price, and honor them by doing your best to prevent our liberties from being trampled!

 

California:  Here’s a great letter from Matt Lanford, owner of Santa Barbara Cigar and Tobacco – NO on Prop 29 – Open Letter to Lance Armstrong and Mayor Bloomberg

Illinois: Trying to slip a tax increase through on a holiday weekend –  Illinois House votes to increase cigarette tax

Some good news in Illinois: Davidoff Announces Opening of Cigar Lounge in Westmont, Illinois

Florida: I’m personally against making up new laws instead of enforcing existing ones.  Adults should be able to chose to smoke flavored products, children aren’t allowed to buy them! Selling flavored tobacco products could be prohibited in Miami-Dade

Virginia: Another case of making up a new law instead of enforcing an existing one, this time it’s littering.  We don’t do ourselves any favors when we leave our butts behind.  Dispose of them properly as you would any trash!  Civic league pushes for smoking ban on Chic’s Beach

And don’t forget: WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO: Not Allow The FDA To Regulate Premium Cigars

 

Write, call, fax, e-mail your elected officials and let thim know what you think!  It only takes a minute, and Cigar Rights of America and IPCPR websites both have terrific tools for contacting the right people.

That’s it for now, just a little Public Service Announcement on a Saturday morning.  Have a safe and enjoyable weekend!  I’ll be back to my regular content tomorrow, as the cigar blogosphere is surely slow due to everyone else being on Safari.
CigarCraig

 

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An Emilio Draig K, a Diamondback, and a San Lotano

Thursday had turned into a stressful day, and when my wife suggested a walk into town, I knew I wanted a terrific cigar to take along.  So many choices, so I came across a pre-release sample of the new cigar from Emilio Cigars and Gary Griffith, the Draig K.  This dark, oily toro just looked like it was the cigar I was looking for. I had actually just about settled on a Liga Privada T52 when I was distracted by the Draig.  Made in the Placencia factory, the only details I recall are that it features some Colombian tobacco in the filler.  I love a maduro, and I loved this cigar.  It was exactly the rich, satisfying smoking experience I had hoped for.  There were a couple points where it stopped wanting to burn and needed a relight, and there was a small tunnel about 4 inches in, but the flavor and texture of the smoke kept me relighting it down to a ¾” nub.  Yummy cigar. Yet another cigar I’m going to have to get my hands on when they hit the streets!  Thank you, Gary, for the opportunity to sample this fine cigar.

 

Friday night finally rolled around and I was in an experimental mood, so I reached for the IPCPR show sample of the Diamondback robusto from Altadis.  First, from the department of cynicism, one can’t help but draw a comparison between this cigar and another 5″ x 54 shade wrapped cigar with “diamond” in it’s name.  Pre-conceived notions aside, this was a very nice cigar.  It was solidly constructed, burned even and cut cleanly.  If you like shade wrapped cigars, you may want to try these out, considering you can get them by the box for under $50.  Not a bad cigar at all. My only complaint was that the draw was a little tighter than I’d prefer, making me have to work a little harder than I’d like.

 

Saturday was another beautiful spring day.  Showers were in the forecast for later, so I hit the back deck with a San Lotano Maduro lancero.  I’ve very much enjoyed past San Lotano maduros, so expectations were high, as I love  lancero format as well.  This was a terrific cigar, although comparing it with its fatter brethren is a little unfair.  Certainly, smoking the lancero is a little different experience,  one cannot expect the same flavors as a toro or robusto due to the difference in the filler proportions.  Where I find the larger ring gauges in this line to be rich and creamy like smoking a chocolate bar, the lancero was more like bittersweet chocolate.  In no way do I mean to imply that this is a bad thing, as the lancero was a fantastic smoke.  I spent nearly 2 hours nursing every last bit of tasty smoke from it, awfully sad to put it down when it decided it’s time had come. I had picked this up several months ago when I visited Gary Griffith at his People’s Plaza Cigar-ette City store.

 

News

 

I’m sure most of you have already done this, but if you haven’t, please head over the the White House website and sign the petition that’s there.  Here’s a terrific video from Bill Spann outlining the importance of this fight to keep the FDA out of our humidors.

httpv://youtu.be/7bfqIFGu9WM

It looks like there should be no problem getting to 25,000 signatures, but I think we often over-estimate the number of internet cigar nuts out there.  If cigar smokers are a small subset of the general population, and PREMIUM cigar smokers represent a very small subset of those, then those of us who carry our passion for cigars onto the internet are a VERY small part.  It’s important to spread the word and get others on board with this.  It will not be a happy day if the FDA is allowed to regulate premium cigars!

 

That’s all I have for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

 

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A Para Japon, a La Gloria, a Gurkha, a Padilla and Some News

Sunday afternoon I was remembering a year ago walking into my room at Drew Estate Cigar Safari and seeing the news coverage of the terrible earthquake and tsunami in Japan.  I decided that the lone Para Japon I had in my humidor was the appropriate cigar to smoke.  I think nearly year’s age has done this cigar well, I enjoyed it quite a bit.  Thanks to Tony at CasasFumando.com for the opportunity to try these (and check out their contests currently under way to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of the site.  Keep up the good work, Tony and Daniel!).  The Para Japon was made by La Aurora with the proceeds benefiting the relief efforts in Japan.  I remember seeing a few boxes of these at Cigar-ette City in Newark, DE the last time I was there, so there may be some still in the marketplace. (late addition: Bonita Smoke Shop has them)

 

Monday I decided to walk to the shop to retrieve my car from it’s annual state inspection.  For those unfamiliar with the process, many states requite safety and emissions inspections every year in an effort to produce revenue for the state and the shops that are approved by the state to perform these inspections.  I manage to ease the financial impact a bit by having my cars inspected at the local Monro, which is attached to my local BJ’s Wholesale Club, where I work part time and get a healthy discount!  Ha! Anyway, the place is nearly three miles away, so a substantial cigar is in order for the walk.  I selected a Gurkha Cellar Reserve  Churchill, at 7″ x 54, due in part to it’s size, and the fact that my brother-in-law said that it was the best cigar he’d smoked out of a handful I had given him.  I had smoked one previously and it was pretty good, and this one was pretty good as well.  It certainly lasted to the shop, then back home for a good thirty minutes on the porch.  Burn was perfect, it could have been a little freer in the draw, but gave me nearly two hours of smoking time.  It was in the 60s and a beautiful evening for early March in PA.

 

Tuesday night I was visited by a high school buddy of mine and introduced him to taking a cigar for a walk.  Greg is a fellow cigar nut so I opened the box of La Gloria Cubana Artesanos Retro Especiale Cubano that I brought back from my visit to the DR and we fired them up.  This is another large cigar, 6½” x 58, with a golden Honduras/Connecticut wrapper.  These are a recent favorite and bring back a lot of fond memories of the trip where I smoked a fair amount of these.  It had been over a year since Greg and I last met up for a smoke, so we got caught up and enjoyed another terrific evening with temps around 70.  My wife teased me that it was a play date, but we just talked about mutual interests, cigars, drums, cycles, stuff like that.

 

As I’ve been typing this, I’ve been smoking a cigar that I picked up at Cigars International on Saturday.  I don’t think I’ve ever had a Padilla cigar, and the Habano Artisano intrigued me when I saw it on the shelf.  I have a hard time spending $8 on a cigar, what can I say…I’m cheap.  When I saw this cigar priced at $8 I wondered aloud how that can possibly make this for that price.  This perfecto shaped cigar starts out like any “barber pole” cigar, but they take it a step farther and adorn it with additional stripes of tobacco.  This has to be time consuming to do, and makes for a stunning presentation.  Much to my delight, it’s a delicious cigar!  It’s smooth, tasty and surprisingly even burning.  It’s nice, cool looking cigar, a fun smoke that’s tasty and satisfying!  The only complaint is that the ash is a little flakey.

 

In the News

News From the IPCPR and CRA:

Milestone Alert: IPCPR/CRA team achieves 160th co-sponsor for Traditional Cigar Manufacturing Small Business Jobs Preservation Act as Rep Jim Costa [CA-20] joins us!!

Sincerely,

Bill Spann, Chief Executive Officer, IPCPR

Please use the “Write to Congress” widget on the top left of this page and keep asking your elected officials to get behind these bills.  Our enjoyment of cigars depends upon the FDA not having regulatory control of premium cigars!

 

On a related note, I received this press release today:

Midwest Smoke Out partners with Cigar Rights of America for exceptional evening

March 13, 2012—Hammond, Ind.–Midwest Smoke Out and Cigar Rights of America (CRA) are partnering for an evening of luxury, gourmet foods, live entertainment—and of course, cigars— Thursday, April 19 from 5-10 p.m., minutes from Chicago at The Venue at Horseshoe Casino, in Hammond, Ind.Since Illinois legislation banned smoking in Chicago, Midwest Smoke Out (MSO) is the only exposition to give cigar aficionados an evening of cigars and indoor smoking. Every year, MSO provides a free one-year CRA membership or renewal with every ticket, meaning that in only a few hours, CRA gains over 1,000 members whose average income is more than $160,000. These new members are often opinion leaders in their communities.“We at Midwest Smoke Out are privileged to partner with Cigar Rights of America,” said Andrea Pearman, Creative Commander of Diversified Marketing Strategies, Inc., which organizes the event. “At a time when so many cigar smokers have to gather—literally—out in the cold, we’re happy not only to welcome them inside but also provide them with the luxury experience of the year.”With FDA regulation looming and states still legislating, MSO is a key event for CRA membership growth, though the evening isn’t all business. It’s pleasure, too, with ticket-holders having the opportunity to meet Lou Rodriguez of the eponymous cigars, Tony Gomez of La Flor Dominicana, Cigar Master Alejandro Turrent, Victor Vitale of the Cigar Agency and Clay Roberts of A.J. Fernandez. Cigar god Carlito Fuentes is scheduled to greet all ticketholders. MSO is for everyone who enjoys luxury, with attendees receiving deluxe giveaways, complimentary massages, experiencing the latest in gaming, being dazzled by live entertainment, and enjoying gourmet food, wine, beer and spirits.

For tickets (and your paid membership to CRA) contact event director Jo Sutton at jo@3dms.com or 1-888-226-0330. For more information, visitwww.midwestsmokeout.com, like on Facebook, connect on LinkedIn, or follow on Twitter at @MidwestSmokeOut
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Join the Cigar Rights of America, write to your elected officials, and save the cigars!

 

That’s all I got, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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