Tag Archives: Cigar Safari

by | March 14, 2012 · 7:34 pm

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
.

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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by | February 5, 2012 · 8:49 am

A Cigar of My Own Blending, a 777 and a Grimalkin Contest!

In March of last year my son and I went to Nicaragua for Drew Estate’s Cigar Safari.  One of the many cool things we did on the trip was to blend a cigar at the Joya de Nicaragua factory. The exercise highlighted Nicaraguan tobacco, there were Seco, Viso and Ligero leaves from Condega, Jalapa and Estili to choose from, as well as Habano Criollo, Dark Corojo and Ecuador Connecticut wrappers and Habano Volado, Sumatra and Ecuador Connecticut binders.  It was quite the experience touching, smelling, looking at all these leaves, and watching how each leaf burned.  I selected the Dark Corojo wrapper and Sumatra binder, along with Condega Seco, Esteli Viso and a blend of Condega and Esteli Ligero.  The factory rolled five robustos for each of the attendees which were delivered to us on our last night.  I smoked one of these after about 3 months and was amazed, and the one I smoked Friday evening was no less amazing.  It burned perfectly, even burn, nice flat coal.   It was vaguely  reminiscent of the Antaño Dark Corojo, no surprise there given the wrapper I selected.  I have 3 left, and it will be fun to pull them out after another six months or so.  On this occasion my son, who had traveled with me, joined me with an Acid Kuba Kuba Maduro.

 

Yesterday, after napping through a near comeback by the Flyers (helpful hint, don’t get down 6-0 and expect to win…) I needed a pick-me-up so I grabbed a J. Fuego 777 Maduro Belicoso for an afternoon walk.  I have really been enjoying the cigars in the J. Fuego line.  So far I’ve loved them all, but the Maduro 777 has been my favorite.  Dark, rich, and savory, this cigar is always a treat for my taste buds.  Normally I’m not a fan of Criollo wrappers, but this one is done just right.  These aren’t priced too bad either.  I could smoke these all the time.  I will probably shy away from this shape in the future though, as it wanted to shoot out of my mouth easier than most figurados for some reason, maybe it’s oilier than most torpedos and belicosos I smoke!

 

It’s contest time again!

It seems like just yesterday I was in daily contest mode!  December’s 12 days of Spectacular Giveaways was a huge success (for the winners and the USPS for sure!).  Thanks again to all of the sponsors for taking part.  A few weeks ago I went to visit Gary Griffith of Emilio Cigars at the Peoples Plaza Cigar-ette City location and he gave me these two Grimalkin mugs for a future give-away.  The future is today, my friends,  so leave a comment on this post to enter and I’ll post the winner on Wednesday.  The mugs are magic!  they look like the one on the left until you put hot liquid in, then the eyes appear!  I’m also going to include a Grimalkin Robusto from my humidor, and you never know what else might fall into the box as I’m packing it up!  I will have to try to get some more of these before they change to La Musa.   Many thanks to Gary for providing me with these collectors items to give away!

 

That’s it for today!  Enter the contest, tell your friends and enjoy the day!  I understand there’s some sort of sporting event on today…oh yeah, the Flyers and Rangers game this afternoon!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

 

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by | November 27, 2011 · 5:36 pm

Holiday Weekend Cigars: Joya de Nicaragua, La Sirena and a 777

I hope everyone who celebrated Thanksgiving had a wonderful day, filled with family, food and cigars!  We kept it small this year, my wife cooked up a delicious meal, and my brother-in-law joined us and enjoyed a cigar with me after the meal.

 

I first enjoyed a Joya de Nicaragua Cabinetta Lancero on the first day of Cigar Safari in Nicaragua last March.  Jonathan Drew passed them around on our way to dinner after an amazing day of travel and sight-seeing.  The cigar was amazing, so when I spied one in the gift pack from the blogger party that Drew Estate threw at the IPCPR show, I was quite pleased.  So I selected that cigar for my post-turkey smoke, and gave my bro-in-law it’s shorter, fatter sibling, a Cabinetta robusto.  Obviously, the lancero lasted a little longer thank the robusto, but it needs to be smoked slower, but it waswonderful.  Smooth, reasonably mild, with nice flavors, this is a cigar that I need to get more of, and I don’t like not having one size or another of the Cabinettas in my humidors.  It’s a perfect cigar for any time of day.

 

Friday, following another family feast, I decided the La Sirena Prince that I picked up at the Delaware Cigar Festival was in order.   This robusto is a little hard to find behind the enormous band.  Fortunately, once the large band is removed, a smaller one is still there so you don;t forget what you are smoking.  I found this to be a tasty treat, wrapped in a dark, broadleaf wrapper.  I quite enjoyed this cigar, it burned perfectly and had a unique flavor that defies my ability to describe. All I know is that I liked it, and thanks to Chris Lenzo of Miami Cigar and Co, for hooking me up with this after someone bought up all of the cigars they had brought to the expo!

 

Saturday turned out to be a very nice day, so I grabbed a Jesus Fuego 777 Maduro Belicoso for my evening walk.  I really like these cigars.  They have all of the deep, dark flavors I want out of a maduro.  I had previously only smoked the coronas, but this Belicoso came from the hand of Jesus Fuego himself at the IPCPR show.  Terrific cigars and not unreasonably priced.  The burn was a little ragged in the first half, but ended up being perfect in the last half.  Jesus Fuego is pretty consistently coming out with some great cigars.  You can see a little video I took of him here.

 

As I write this I’m enjoying a La Gloria Cubana Artesanos Retro Especiale on a mild evening. I’m contemplating taking a ride up to Easton, PA next Saturday to attend the LGC Event at Famous Smoke Shop.  I haven’t been up there yet and look forward to seeing the new store.  I’m also plotting something special for the Christmas holiday season, so stay tuned!  Finally, don’t forget to check out the special deal mentioned in my last post.  Get your free calendar and a cigar from PipesandCigars.com !

 

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

 

CiagrCraig

 

 

 

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by | August 24, 2011 · 8:18 pm

This Week’s Cigars So Far: Power House, Ashton VSG, American Eagles and Cigar Mechanic

Here’s a brief run down of some of the cigars I’ve enjoyed so far this week, and another short video from the IPCPR show.

Power House by Cuban Crafters – This one one of a handful that Kiki Berger gave me at the IPCPR show last month.  I’ve been trying to find information about them to no avail.  True to it’s name, it starts out with a blast of strength.  I almost thought I wasn’t going to make it through the cigar, it was just too much nicotine for the first inch or so.  It mellowed a little after a while and became a very nice smoke, full of dark flavors.  I have no idea what the make up of this cigar is, but I’m going to guess it has a broadleaf wrapper, and Nicaraguan fillers.  After the initial blast of strength I enjoyed this cigar.  Perhaps some humidor time will mellow that part out of it.  Oddly, samples of Cuban Crafters cigars I’ve had in the past have not thrilled me, but recent cigars I’ve smoked from Tabacalera Esteli have been more to my liking.  Kiki Berger is a really nice guy too, I’m happy and fortunate to have met him at Cigar Safari and spent some time talking to him at the show.

 

Ashton Virgin Sun Grown Torpedo – Came across this one in the humidor after rummaging for something to smoke and figured it’s time had come.  I have been smoking new and different cigars lately and wanted to go old school.  This large torpedo has been floating around the humidors for 6 or 7 years, had some mottling on the wrapper, but was such a nice, sweet cigar with loads of flavor.  I savored it for about 90 minutes, while sitting on my front porch on a stunningly beautiful August evening, catching up on cigar podcasts.  Sidebar: I am up to about 5 podcasts in my rotation, and I get behind in the summer.  During the winter months I have about 5 hours a week in the car commuting that I am able to listen to podcasts.  In the nicer months I may only have to drive the car to work once or twice a week, if that.  I sometimes take an evening walk alone with a cigar and listen to them, which is nice, but it’s better to walk with someone (usually my son or my wife).  Three of the podcasts I like to listen to are pushing 2 hours long, which is a killer year round! For those curious, the podcasts currently in my rotation are: Dogwatch Cigar Radio, Stogie Fresh 5, Blowin Smoke, Cigar Snapshot, and The Cigar Authority.  I’ve had the pleasure to have met the hosts of all of these on various occasions, even slept on one of their couches on a couple occasions, with the exception of Bill Berris, who hosts Cigar Snapshot.  I do “know” Bill from the old alt.smokers.cigars days though, and one day our paths will cross.  I’ve said before that there are some little things that annoy me about some of the shows, but they all provide me with cigartainment and are worth every penny I pay for them :-).

 

When I saw American Eagles cigars at the show I thought they were a novelty, I mean, really, a camo cigar?  What if I drop it outside, how will I find it?  Well, this is a serious cigar.  Not only do some of the proceeds go to the Semper Fi Fund, as a thank you to all the men and women who serve and have served in the United States Marine Corps, but the cigars are actually blended by Hendrick Kelner.  Since I’ve been seeing these show up in a couple of major retailers mailings, I figured I’d fire up one of the samples I got from the trade show. I took this cigar for my evening walk, and it’s a darned nice cigar! I smoked this down to about a half an inch, and it remained smooth and flavorful to the end. It looks to me like it has candela, shade and maduro pieces applied to a habano wrapper to produce the camouflage pattern, and I swear I could taste the candela “freshness” here and there. It’s gimmicky, but a quality cigar that is very tasty. This is one that should not be dismissed, if you can find them (little camo joke there…) give one a shot.  Chris Ramos, the sales director was very helpful and generous with his time, thanks to him for the samples.

 

The American Eagles cigars were sharing a booth with Cigar Mechanic‘s Eric Budman, who was kind enough to not only gift me a couple of his humidifying units to try out, but also took a few minutes to record a little video about his products.  I have to say, since using one of these in a new cooler set up, it’s been holding steady, as has been the smaller unit in my desktop humidor. Check out the video and give these a try if you are in the market for a new humidification device.

Thanks to Eric for taking the time to talk to me and for the samples!

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

CigarCraig

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by | July 27, 2011 · 8:46 pm

Drew Estate Undercrown and the IPCPR Booth

I normally would sit on IPCPR samples for a while, but I just couldn’t wait to try the new cigar from my friends at Drew Estate, the Undercrown. My son, Corey, and I took a pair of them out for a walk and enjoyed them very much. The story goes that the Liga Privada rollers were smoking the Ligas non-stop (and who can blame them) and the raw materials were in short supply, so they came up with their own blend to smoke. Steve and Nicholas tweaked the blend and came up with the Undercrown, made to sell at a lower price point than the Liga Privada line. Corey had heard about this from Jonathan on our Cigar Safari trip in March, but I must have missed hearing that titbit. Anyway, my wife mentioned that the aroma wafting in the windows was very chocolatey, and I did taste some chocolate in in the blend. We both really enjoyed the cigar, and can’t wait to see these hit the shelves. Seek these out over the next few months.

As long as I’m mentioning the Undercrown, here are a few quick video walk-arounds of the Drew Estate booth at the recent IPCPR show:

 

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

CigarCraig

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