Tag Archives: cigar store

by CigarCraig | April 10, 2016 · 10:48 am

An Epic, an EP Carillo and a La Palina Cigars Event

After last Sunday’s cigar adventure, I spent the beginning of the weeks going back to some favorites and cigars I’ve posted about recently, then sometime around Thursday I grabbed one of Dean Parson’s Epic Habano Robustos from the humidor and lit it up. I will come right out and say it, the Maduro in the Epic line is one of my favorite cigars, it’s hard for me to not smoke them when I have them in the humidor. However, the Habano is right up there. This is a 5½ x 52 Robusto (I love that extra ½ inch!) with an Ecuador Habano wrapper, Dominican binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. All of Dean’s Epic cigars are rolled in the same Dominican factory where Kristoff cigars are made (and I’m at a loss for the name of the factory, but I’m pretty sure that’s right…). These hit the market in 2014, which makes me wonder why there’s still no mention of them on the website. The Habano for me was sweet with some cedar and spice. I quite enjoy this, not quite as much as the maduro, but it’s a close second. I’ve found little fault with the Epic line in general, Dean is a cool cat, if you get a chance to meet him do it.

Friday I grabbed a E.P. Carillo Generosos Toro, which is an exclusive of Casa de Montecristo in Chicago. This is weird, as much as I am a big La Gloria Cubana fan from way back, I’ve not smoked a great many EPC cigars. It may be because the first couple I smoked didn’t really “wow” me, but there have been a few recently that make me want to dig deeper into the line. I’ve had great success with the Robolo size made for Best Cigar Prices. This toro is 5 7/8″ x 52, with a rosado-ish Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, Dominican binder and Nicaraguan fillers. It’s a solid medium in strength, had a lot of woody, nutty flavors and burned quite nicely. These have been around a few years, and I wish I had known about these when I visited the Casa de Montecristo shop in Chicago a couple of years ago, although I’m sure the Chicago pricing would have scared me off. this was a very nice smoke, thanks again to Craig at CDMCigars.com for sharing it with me.

Yesterday it snowed pretty good for the majority of the day. Fortunately, since it’s spring in PA and the ground has been warm, it didn’t really accumulate all that much and the roads were fine. I took a trip over to the Wooden Indian again for a La Palina event. La Palina has been on of this site’s longest and most loyal supporters, of course I wanted to show up and pay my respects (and restock some favorite cigars). I finally got to meet Clay Roberts, the COO and co-president of the company, who has been a notable name in the industry, having worked with Rocky Patel, AJ Fernandez and Alec Bradley prior to making the move to La Palina. I’m surprised we hadn’t met before, but that’s probably due to my own negligence. So, as you would expect, I picked up some La Palina Maduros, which fall under the El Diaro line and are made at Raices Cubanas in Honduras. I lit up the 60 Maduro, which is their 6″ x 60, and was quite happy. This is a great San Andrés wrapped cigar, very dark and oily and delicious. It’s got a Honoduran binder and Nicaraguan Corojo and Criollo fillers. I had a bit of a time getting the wrapper to burn at the start, but that was quite possibly an environmental issue which some time in the humidor will surely fix. Sweet with some spice, like the Epic Maduro mentioned above, I have trouble keeping my hands off these. It seems like many of my favorite cigars are maduros, which has been the case for 20+ years! That doesn’t keep me from trying everything though. Cigar events at the Wooden Indian are always top notch.

I also picked up a couple of the Black Label petite lanceros. Funny, I thought I had some of the Black Label robustos in my humidor, but to my surprise and delight, it turns out they were actually Family Series Miami Babes, which I selected for my evening walk after the snow stopped. Now, if I had to do it again (and fortunately I will be able to), I would have selected a different cigar for this wintery spring evening. The Babe (5¼ x 50) is made in Miami at El Titan de Bronze, wrapped in Ecuador Corojo 98, an Ecuador Habano binder and Nicaraguan fillers. This is a refined and sophisticated smoke, with delicate flavors that would probably have been better represented in more comfortable surroundings. You can bet I’ve learned my lesson, and the other cigars in this line that I am fortunate enough to posses will be smoked in as close to ideal circumstances as possible. I’ve smoked very few of the Family Series, it’s just hard for me to open my wallet that wide, but I think they are worth it for a special occasion cigar, very well made and delicious.

Rant

I’m going to vent, and this isn’t going to go over well with a certain local (to me) cigar store chain, but I can’t hold it in. Said local chain has a show they do on local cable access (and YouTube) that is really terrible. I love the idea of having some cigar programming on mainstream media, don’t get me wrong, but it has to be of a sufficient quality, in both content and video/audio, to promote the cigar culture. Bufoonery, bad information (for instance, pulling a cigar out of a tube and explaining the white fuzzy blotches as plume instead of the mold that it obviously is) and simple things like a patron eating in the lounge outside of the room the show is recorded in don’t present the cigar culture positively. I was suffering through an episode last night and, thankfully, just as one of the presenters was showing one of the store specials and explaining that a particular cigar was not to her liking, the screen went blank and after waiting a few minutes I moved on to something entertaining. It would be one thing if this were only online where the audience would be largely cigar-geek types, but this is going out to the general public, who will either be mis-informed by watching it, or turned off by the off-color, juvenile comments and jokes. I don’t watch it because I can’t take it (and I’ve been invited to be on the show, that probably won’t happen again…). I could hold my tongue no longer.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Casa de Montecristo, CDMCigars, cigar, cigar store, cigars, E.P. Carillo, Epic, La Palina, wooden indian

by CigarCraig | April 7, 2016 · 9:07 pm

Visiting Some Delaware Shops With Singer Songwriter Nik Everett and the Contest Winner

Sunday we took a ride a bit south to the state of Delaware, a state known for not allowing indoor smoking. We wanted to get together with local singer/songwriter/performer and fellow cigar lover Nik Everett, a guy we’ve seen perform on a few occasions, and who is a staple in the Delaware music scene. We had seen Nik post from a lounge in Wilmington that we hadn’t heard of before, and reached out to him to get together. As it turned out, he was headed to another cigar shop north of Wilmington which we were familiar with, Tobacco Field. As it turns out, Tobacco Field was having a Drew Estate event, and Chris Stone and Alex Mayer were on hand. Alex is the new area rep, taking Chris’s place as he has been promoted to a regional position. I bought a few cigars and lit up a tasty Undercrown Shade Belicoso and we hung out in the small lounge in the back of the store to chat with Nik and the crowd there. I really like the Undercrown Shade, it’s an Ecuador Connecticut cigar with a ton of flavor. Willy Herrera did a great job putting this cigar together, even though he isn’t a Connecticut shade fan. I’m not quite sure how Tobacco Field gets around the Delaware smoking rules, but I’m pleased that we could hang out and smoke there. The shop was really busy for a nice spring Sunday.

We finished our cigars and headed to Sikar Cigar Lounge in Trolley Square in Wilmington. This is the place we’d seen Nik post about and sounded like a place we needed to visit. The shop is small with display cases lining the interior, and I’m led to believe there are upstairs and downstairs lounges, but we sat down in the main area and picked out some cigars to smoke. The selection is quite nice here, I picked up a Camacho Shellback and a Leaf by Oscar Sumatra (sadly, they had no Maduros) which I promptly lit up. They are in the process of expanding the shop into the next space, so they will have more room the next time I get down there. Delaware has a 15% tax on cigars, so prices are a little higher than in PA, where there is no tax on cigars, but the prices were not too much higher, I think the Leaf was $9.50 and the Shellback was $12. We had a great time talking music with Nik and enjoying the lounge, which was quiet in comparison to Tobacco Leaf. Sikar Cigar Lounge is a fine place to relax with a cigar.

If you want to be entertained, check out Nik’s music on his site, nikeverett.com. He’s becoming quite a cigar geek too from what I can tell. In other news, the winner of the Famous Smoke Shop Best Humidor Jar Sampler was Jae Park. Cory at Famous did all the heavy lifting on this one, and as much as I like the simple comment based method I use, it’s a lot of work and I appreciate the help once in a while! There were a ton of new names in the entries, and many of my loyal regulars. Hopefully some of the new folks stick around. My Facebook page and Twitter followers made a big leap too, welcome to all the new followers and thanks!

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigar store, cigars, Contest, Delaware, drew estate, Nik Everett, Sikar, Tobacco Road

by CigarCraig | March 27, 2016 · 8:29 am

An Avo XO, Some Sobremesa Cigars at Famous and a My Father Connecticut

I smoke a lot of different cigar across a wide spectrum, I try not to discriminate based on size, country of origin or manufacturer. So in the latter part of the week I found myself leaning toward the milder end of the spectrum for some reason. Maybe it;s the onset of Spring, I don’t know. Anyway, I started off with an Avo XO Legato, the toro in the line. It was Avo Uvesian’s 90th birthday this past week, so I thought it would be appropriate. This cigar came in a sampler from Davidoff from last year’s IPCPR show, which included some other Avo cigars, some Camacho, Room 101 and BG Meyer cigars. The Avo XO Legato is 6″ x 54 with an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper. The rest of the cigar is Dominican, and it was a nice, creamy cigar with a bit of sweetness. I’ve not been a huge fan of a lot of the Avo lines, but this was a really nice, well-balanced and enjoyable smoke. I see some more Avo sampling in my future.

Friday evening my wife and I took a trip up to Famous Smoke Shop‘s Leaf Cigar Bar in Easton, PA. It was about an hour and a half drive, but Steve and Cindy Saka were in town visiting, and we wanted to stop in and say hello. I purchased some of Steve’s Sobremesa Robusto Largo and El Americano cigars as I hadn’t yet sampled the Robusto Largo size yet. Over the course of the evening I smoked said Robusto Largo and a Cervantes Fino generously gifted by Cindy, and thoroughly enjoyed them both, as well as the company. Both of the cigars were superb, with the Robusto Largo (5¼ x 52) having rounder, smoother flavors, much like the El Americano toro, and the Cervantes Fino (6¼ x 46) having a little sharper edge. The Leaf bar and restaurant was hopping, with excellent service. The place is in the same building as Famous Smoke Shop’s enormous warehouse (which I’ve been promised a tour of one day), and it’s located outside of Easton in an industrial park, it’s an odd location for a retail store and lounge, but it still draws a crowd. It was noisy, which taxes my ability to hear conversation, but we had a great time catching up with Steve and Cindy. Later this year it will have been twenty years since the first time I talked to Steve on the phone, back when he was holding the Monthly Officious Taste Test on the alt.smokers.cigars Usenet group, of which I was a part.

Yesterday I relaxed on the porch after a busy day with a cigar that has a special meaning to me, at least over the last year. I selected a My Father Connecticut robusto. From the website (which has music that plays automatically, which I really don’t like):

My Father Connecticut is going to be an extension of the already existing line My Father and My Father Le Bijou; the cigar is blended by Jose “Pepin” Garcia and his son Jaime Garcia at the My Father Cigar Factory in Nicaragua : It features an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper, Nicaragua Corojo 99 Binder and Nicaragua Habano-Criollo filler, all the tobacco coming out of the Garcia’s farms with the exception of the wrapper which comes from Ecuador.

This is one of my favorite Connecticut wrapped cigars, not that the list of favorites is really short. There are a bunch that I enjoy, but this one is one I purchase and enjoy having in my humidor. As a matter of fact, there’s a My Father event this week at one of my local shops that I might stop in on and pick up a few more. It’s creamy, but flavorful and satisfying. I should make a note to buy some larger sizes, as this robusto was nice, but was over too soon. The band and overall presentation is really classy too.

That’s all I got, off to making a big breakfast for the family and eventually getting some nice cigars in this afternoon. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Avo, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Famous, My Father, Sobremesa

by CigarCraig | March 6, 2016 · 9:06 am

La Aroma de Cuba, Undercrown and a 1502 XO Cigar Launch Event

We have a big day today so I need to get this written. We have tickets to a series of Philly Pops shows in the city (Philly, duh…), so we make a day of it, dropping by the Franklin Institute, grabbing a bite, maybe stopping in Holt’s to make sure it’s still there, that sort of thing. Today they art performing a Billy Joel program, should be good. Anyway, once again, I found myself smoking spectacular cigars in the second half of the week, which started with a La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amour Reserva Maximo which I had picked up at Holt’s back in the fall when we went to the first in the Pops series, which was a Sinatra tribute. This 5½ x 54 Robusto has a dark San Andrés Oscuro wrapper and what I have to assume is Nicaraguan fillers, although the website fails to provide such details. These are made at the My Father Factory which is reasonably evident on the first puff. This cigar is right in my wheelhouse with a nice dose of strong black coffee notes, some earth and that spice right off the bat. I enjoyed the crap out of this cigar, probably just as much as I enjoy the regular Mi Amour line.

Friday I got lazy and selected an Drew Estate Undercrown Toro Grande for my evening walk. It’s no secret that I like to celebrate the end of the work week with a guaranteed winner, I have to be in the right frame of mind to smoke a “new to me” cigar on a Friday, usually I want a tried and true cigar to relax and usher in the weekend. This particular cigar had suffered some wrapper cracking somewhere along the line, I might have dropped it, who knows, but it had some tomes when it wasn’t as visually appealing as it could have been. While I certainly get some joy out of how a cigar looks when its burning, I overlooked it because I enjoy the flavor of the Undercrown line so much. I still like the Corona Viva size the best, but the Toro Grande was a very nice smoke, hearty, savory and sweet, just about everything I was craving. I can’t really decide if I like the Undercrown or the Undercrown Shade better, fortunately I don’t have to choose, they both have their time.
Take a look at the Kickstarter campaign I ran across for a unique cigar accessory, the Fanelli Cigar Rest and Bottle Opener. We’ve all probably seen similar cigar rests, heck, I made on out of a piece of bamboo years ago, but this one has a unique twist (that’s an unfortunate bit of wordplay), it has a bottle cap lifter concealed in the base. It’s aluminum, so it doesn’t seem like it would be too heavy, and because it’s aluminum it can be anodized in different colors, of which there is gold, silver and black proposed. I like the black version personally. I was offered a review sample, but I declined because, really, what’s to review? I can see from the drawings that it will accommodate up to a 64 ring cigar, and I haven’t had a need for a bottle opener in 25 years, but I trust that it works. If this is the sort of item you like to have, and you like supporting entrepreneurs, throw them some cash.

Yesterday was the launch of the 1502 XO, fortunately the release party was held at the Wooden Indian nearby, so I made my way out there to see Enrique and smoke one of his very special cigars. The XO is quite special, as it’s made with tobacco aged 18 years, with the exception of the wrapper which is only about five-year old. Enrique explained that 18-year-old leaf is very hard to use as a wrapper, and I can understand that (although it’s been done in the case of the Partagas 150 from 1995…I have one around someplace and a few months ago I smoked a La Gloria Cubana that was the exact same blend and it was spectacular and the wrapper was 38 years old!). Anyway, I picked up some 1502s, grabbed some of the Lanceros in the Black Gold and Ruby blends, a couple of the 1502 Nicaragua Churchills, and a single XO (listed at 6″ x 50 with a box press, seemed shorter though..I smoked number 004147, nobody else on the planet can say that!), because $17+ a stick is outside of my comfort zone, but I was there with Enrique and it seemed like the right time. I smoked the cigar and it is a very good cigar, it has the signature Flavor Lock™ foot (snicker), it drew perfectly and burned reasonably well. It was indeed well-balanced, very smooth and pleasing to the palate, and there was a spice that came and went here and there that was hard to put a finger on, something from the baking spice category kind of like cinnamon, but not cinnamon, know what I mean? I don’t have a great wealth of experience with exotic spices as I’m not what you’d call an adventurous eater (picky eater is closer to the truth). It was entertaining, and I smoked it comfortably until nearly burning my fingers. I had to re-light a could times, but I was chatting with Dave, the owner, Enrique and several other patrons, so I’ll take responsibility for it going out. Great cigar, Enrique is a terrific guy (he was hiding behind the stores wooden Indian when I came in, waiting to surprise me…) and the Wooden Indian is still the premier cigar shop in the area. When I got home I took a walk with a 1502 Black Gold corona that was a year or so old and it was dynamite! It was full of rich espresso and cocoa and everything I love in a cigar. It’s funny, 1502’s catch phrase is “it’s not a cigar, it’s a 1502”. When I pulled out this corona my wife commented “that’s not a cigar”, and I responded with “it’s a 1502!” She was commenting that it was a smaller cigar than I usually take for a walk, but I found it funny. It was a great end to a great Saturday.

That’s enough out of me for today. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 1502, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Enrique Sanchez, wooden indian, XO

by CigarCraig | February 7, 2016 · 9:47 am

El Centurion, a Couple Cigars at Cigar Brothers and a Viva Republica and a Test

I mixed it up a little this week. I had determined that whatever was up with my tasters last week had passed, hence the Bugatti post, so I pushed forward. My methodology for determining this, not that you asked, was to smoke familiar cigars for a few days. Fairly straight forward, and it also lets me enjoy some favorites, like a Nica Rustica, La Sirena and BCP’s SixZero Robolo. So I grabbed a My Father Cigars El Centurian Robusto, which is 5¾” x 50, which is a bit long for a rubusto, but I’m OK with that. The blend, from what I can tell, is a sungrown Criollo 99 wrapper, with Nicaraguan fillers of four varietals, Criollo, Corojo Habano, and Sancti Spiritus. I typically don’t care for Criollo 99, there’s just something about it that I don’t get excited about. While I think the El Centurian is a good cigar, it certainly performed well, was well constructed and didn’t have an objectionable flavor, it just isn’t one of the cigars that I might reach for again. Nothing wrong with it, just not in my wheel house, it’s a shame because I really like the presentation and want to like it. I never had the pleasure of smoking the original blend of this cigar.

Yesterday I met up with Mike C., who, along with his daughter, are producing WineadorArt, and we visited Cigar Brothers Cigars in Berwyn, PA. There’s a couple of things I like about this shop, one of the brother’s who owns the place is named Craig, nothing not to like there, right? It’s in an old house, with the store on the lower level and the lounge in the upstairs rooms, of which there are two. Hanging out there is basically like being at home and being able to smoke and watch TV, it’s small enough for intimate conversation with out interuptions or distractions. The weakness is the lack of a large space for events, and, my opinion, maintaining proper storage conditions in the store area, which is one large humidified space. We bought some cigars and went upstairs to smoke. I started with an E.P. Carillo New Wave Reserva Connecticut Belicoso D’Oro. This cigar is 5.7″ x 52 with a well-formed torpedo head. It’s got an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper, Connecticut Broadleaf Binder, and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. I enjoyed this cigar, but I was expecting something a little more Connecticut Shade, if that makes sense. The wrapper was darker than I expected, which intrigued me and lead to the purchase. It burned well, and was tasty enough, just fairly un-unique to me. It was a great cigar to just sit and smoke during conversation without having to think about it. I bought a couple more which I’ll leave in the humidor for a while and revisit. I then moved on to the Undercrown Shade in a toro size. Cigar Brothers had these very reasonably priced and I like them well enough to want to keep some on hand, so I added to the inventory I had at home. While this cigar smoke fairly well, I got the sense that it was not quite as dry as I prefer, going back to what I mentioned about the challenges of having your store be a humidor. I might have had better luck than Mike since the cigars I chose had thinner wrappers, and his selections for the day had thicker wrappers that suck up more humidity. Picking your spot in the shop to buy cigars you plan to smoke there I think is key, and take the ones in the area closer to the humidifiers home to leave in your humidor for a while. I hate to criticize, because I love everything else about the shop (especially Craig’s dogs, who visit from time to time), but having a over-moist cigar be a disappointment in a great environment is a bummer.

Since I had already smoked two cigars while out, when I got home and took Macha for her walk, I went small, with a Viva Republica Advanced Warefare Petite. This 4″ x 41 little guy packs a punch, it’s a peppy little cigar! It’s made at La Aurora in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, with Dominican, Nicaraguan and Pennsylvanian leaf in the filler blend. Jason Holly, the brand owner, is a Pennsylvania guy and works for Miami Cigar and Co. as a brand ambassador, among other things. So this was a perfect smoke for the half-hour or so it took Macha and I to make our mile-plus walk. Burn was perfect, it was quite satisfying for a short smoke and it fit the situation well. It’s a great cold weather cigar because it’s loaded with flavor, although it’s tough handling small cigar with gloves.

The folks at Bobalu Cigars in Austin, TX have this clever test on their site. Here’s a link, or you can take it right here if whatever you’re reading on supports the embedded page. I thought it was very challenging and well done. Tell you what, I’ll send a 5-pack to the first person to match my score, take a screenshot of your score and post it in the comments or if you can’t do that be prepared to e-mail it as proof. Deadline for entry is Next Sunday, Feb. 14. Good luck!