Tag Archives: cigar store

by CigarCraig | June 28, 2015 · 9:03 am

Cigar Brothers, Wooden Indian, Cigar Mojo and the Fratello Bianco Toro

I had a pretty busy week this week, visiting cigar store and hanging out with some great folks, smoking great cigars! I was actually planning to stop in to Smoke Cigar Lounge in Manyunk, PA, just outside Philadelphia, but traffic was backed up, and it sounded like they were having a street festival on the main street there, so we gave up on that idea and stopped at a new shop only a few miles from home called Cigar Brothers in Berwyn, PA. This shop is an old house, and the downstairs part is the store, all humidified with the cigars out on shelves. The selection was very good,lots of boutiques as well as old standards. I grabbed a few CAO Flathead Sparkplugs and some Rocky Patel Super Ligeros and chatted with the properly named co-owner, Craig. The lounge is upstairs, basically two rooms and a hall with a bathroom. It’s not a great space for an event, as there’s no one large gathering area, but it’s nice for just hanging out with a few people. It’s bright and comfortable and well ventilated. I smoked the CAO Sparkplug there, as we had spent the afternoon in traffic and Craig was closing in an hour. I love the Flathead line, and really like this little cigar. It’s rich, full-bodied and burns right. We had a great afternoon talking to Craig and hanging out in this new shop that I think will do well.

This weekend was Famous Smoke Shop’s Cigarnival event, which I’ve attended in the past, so there have been a bunch of “cigarlebrities” in the general vicinity. Wednesday my oldest son and I went down to the Wooden Indian in Havertown, PA where they were having a Drew Estate event with Chris Stone and Pedro Gomez. Pedro runs the Cigar Safari and tours the US doing events in the off-season. My son hadn’t seen him since we were in Nicaragua in 2011, so it was a nice reunion and it was nice to go out and have a cigar with the kid for a change. I went with another favorite, the Nica Rustica. It looks like it’s a Maduro week! Great cigar, great friends, and a great shop. I even won an Acid Fat Tips t-shirt, who remembers those? I never smoked one, but it was supposed to be a mass market Acid with a plastic tip, but it never really caught on. Anyway, if you haven’t met Pedro, don’t miss the chance, and if you have, well, you know why I’m recommending you meet him! I didn’t take one darned picture the whole evening dammit.

Thursday found me at Cigar Mojo for a packed house. Earlier in the day they had visits from Nick Perdomo and Jesus Fuego, but the evening event featured Aging Room Cigars and Rafael Nodal, along with his sons Carlos and Rafael Jr. I continued the maduro theme with an Aging Room Maduro that was the free cigar with purchase, Rafael said the bundle came from his personal humidor and they were from the initial release. Once again, this was a nice smoke, very rich with a nice sweet mocha vibe, fortunately I picked up a few more, as well as some Havao. I generally run into someone I know there and caught up with some old acquaintances from another shop I’ve been to. I had a nice time conversing with Rafael and his sons, Rafael is one of the nicest guys around.

Friday evening I was back in my routine of taking Macha for a walk and enjoying a cigar, and I selected a Fratello Bianco II Toro to celebrate the end of another week. Omar made this cigar with me specifically in mind! (I have an e-mail from him saying that, but I don’t really buy it…). The San Andreas wrapper is a beautiful dark brown with a sheen of oil, it’s dark, even though the cigar is named “White”. It has a Dominican binder and fillers from Nicaragua, Peru and Pennsylvania, my home state (maybe Omar wasn’t blowing smoke up my skirt after all! **now there’s a mental image for you!**). If I knew nothing more than the composition of this cigar I’d figure it was a really good chance I’d love it, but I also know where it’s made and the guy behind it, there would have to be something monumentally wrong for me not to like this cigar. As it turns out, all my preconceptions did not lead to disappointment. The Fratello Bianco is a brilliant cigar. It has the similarity to strong, bitter black coffee that I like, as well as a solid core of savory flavor and perhaps a hint of sweetness. This is an after dinner espresso (double, it was a 6″x 50 toro after all). I dig it, I can’t wait to smoke the 5″ x 56 III and the corona that Omar so generously sent to me, and buy some of these when they hit the stores. I may even put the mooch on Omar at the trade show in a few weeks (naw, I’ll leave the samples for the retailers…). This is a winner, hands down. Molto buon sigaro!

So ends another week. It did nothing but rain yesterday, so I got nothing done save for smoking a nice Inca Secret Blend Imperio after dinner on the back porch, breaking my maduro binge. If you happen to find yourself in Easton, PA today (Sunday June 28), Rafael Nodal is going to be playing piano at Leaf, the great restaurant at Famous Smokeshop. Going to events at shops is a great way to increase your appreciation for cigars, as well as add some new stock to your humidors. Support your local retailers, and Cigar Rights of America while you’re at it!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Events, Review, Stores

Tagged as Aging Room, cigar, Cigar Brothers, Cigar Mojo, Cigar Safari, cigar store, Cigarnival, cigars, drew estate, Fratello, Nica Rustica, wooden indian

by CigarCraig | April 19, 2015 · 9:43 am

A Cuenca 5, A Nording 50, My Father Event at Cigar Cigars and a Fuente Don Carlos

It seems my palate is back in order, I’m no longer getting that metallic taste from every cigar any more. I’m glad that’s over. The last time I had a similar experience was after I had a flu shot, subsequently I’ve never gotten another flu shot! So to celebrate I smoked some great cigars this week. In all honesty, I like smoking great cigars much more than I like smoking crappy cigars. I have a few in the que that I’ve been putting off smoking because I haven’t been in the mood to “take one for the team” lately. Maybe I’ll smoke one today as I’m feeding branches into the wood chipper. The first cigar on my list today is the Cuenca 5 Anniversary box pressed torpedo. This cigar commemorates the fifth anniversary of the Cuenca Cigars store in Hollywood, FL, and came in three sizes, Robusto, Toro and this 7″ x 54 torpedo. These were released in 2013, so this one had 2 years of age, and looking at the CuencaCigars.com website, they appear to be sold out of all vitolas. Made by at the AJ Fernandez factory, this cigar had a great burn and draw and was full of flavor and was really enjoyable. The high priming Jalapa wrapper leaf gave it a nice sweetness that went along with a nice little spice. I really look forward to seeing what the folks at Cuenca come up with in a couple years when they turn ten!

Next up I came across a Nording 50th Anniversary Toro from Rocky Patel. Somehow I ended up with quite a selection of various Rocky Patel cigars, mostly toros, and I can’t for the life of me recall where they came from. I suppose my only recourse is to smoke them. So this cigar had a beautiful Ecuador Habano wrapper with Nicaraguan binder and fillers. It was a very pleasant, well balanced cigar that I enjoyed quite a bit. I may have had something else from the Nording line in the past, and I think I remember enjoying it. I’m certainly not a pipe guy, way too much work in that hobby, but I know that this line is named for Erik Nording, a famed pipe maker and tobacco blender, and this cigar was for his 50th year in the tobacco business. It’s a fitting tribute as it was a very good cigar.

Friday evening we stopped in at our local Cigar Cigars shop, about 2 miles down the road. They were having a My Father event, and Tom, our local rep, was there. Cigar Cigars is a South Eastern PA chain of cigar stores that has been buying up cigar stores in the area for the last few years and I think they are up to ten or eleven stores now, from Freehold, NJ to Lancaster, PA. Before we moved I could have driven 7 miles in three different directions and be at a Cigar Cigars shop. I’m now a little farther from two of those shops, but could easily be at either one in fifteen minutes. Anyway, we stopped in and grabbed some of the El Centurion and Flor de Las Antillas cigars and lit up an El Centurion Toro. This line was originally issues as a Limited Edition in 2007, which I never had the pleasure of smoking, so I can make no comparison. What I can say is that the current El Centurion (which has a band with a great big “C” on it which must stand for CigarCraig, right?) was a very well behaved cigar. Solidly medium bodied with a nice little spice one would expect from this manufacturer. I enjoyed the crap out of the cigar while my wife and I relaxed in the lounge and took in the ambiance of the store. It was great seeing Tom again, and Steve, Barry and Tia made us feel very welcome and comfortable in the shop.

Yesterday, after toiling in the yard on a beautiful spring Saturday with temps in the 70s, I picked out an Arturo Fuente Don Carlos Presidente for my evening walk. This came from a business associate who sent me some great Fuente cigars a few months ago. I think the last time I smoked one of these was shortly after they expanded the line back in the late 90s. It seems to me they added the Presidente, Double Robusto and the No.4 to the Robusto, No. 3 and No 2 sizes to round out the line. I have fond memories of smoking the robustos in Vegas in ’97, but I think it was a dinner at the old Sam Adams Brewpub in Philadelphia where I smoked this particular size while meeting a friend for dinner, then running into some other friends and smoking the evening away with them. Impressively, this Don Carlos tasted just the same as I remember. It’s amazing that they can maintain consistency like that over a fifteen year period. The burn was absolutely perfect, it had a nice flat coal like I enjoy and the draw was perfect as well. I love the unique sweetness that that Cameroon wrapper gives this cigar, and it had Camerooniness like crazy. This is a classic cigar, one that every humidor should have for just that moment when you want something you know is going to deliver. That is, assuming the flavor profile of the Fuente Don Carlos is up your alley, if you don’t like it, then it doesn’t need to be in your humidor! Point is, I like it, it tastes great and brings back a lot of memories.

That’s it for today, I need to get out to the yard and finish cleaning some stuff up. My back doesn’t want to, but it needs to get done. I may have to get the lawn mower out this week! I may post a contest this week too, so stay tuned. Thank you all, once again for reading along, enjoy your day. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Events, Review

Tagged as Anniversary, Arturo Fuente, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Cuenca, Don Carlos, El Centurion, My Father, Nording, rocky patel

by CigarCraig | November 2, 2014 · 9:34 am

A Cigar-Mojo/Rocky Patel Event, a Perdomo and a New A.J. Fernandez Cigar

Thursday evening was the first anniversary party at Cigar Mojo in King of Prussia, PA and they combined it with a Rocky Patel event with a Halloween costume contest. Mark Weisenburger (pictured, from his Facebook page) was present pimping the Rocky Patel line so I picked up a couple of the Vintage 2003 Cameroon robustos and lit one up. They were also featuring Alan Price’s cigar that he blended at Rocky Patel’s factory. Alan works part time at Mojo and is our area Cigar Rights of America Ambassador. I picked up a couple of these as well, it’ll be interesting to see how he did blending this cigar. Interestingly, it’s about the same size as the last cigar I blended at Drew Estate last year, a chunky toro in the 6″ x 54 range. Anyway, there was a big crowd for a Thursday evening, and regulars Bruce and Arline won the costume contest. I’m sure the party went into the night, but I excused myself when I was done with my cigar to go home and watch the Flyers losing effort. Congrats to Wade and Trae at Mojo for an excellent first year. They are doing a great job in selection and service. It’s a great place to hang out.

Friday was Halloween, and we don’t have any kids come to our house trick or treating. It’s a matter of where we currently live, not any commentary on who we are or anything. There is a neighborhood around the corner where I always take Macha for a walk and there are a handful of kids who mostly have met Macha and love seeing her. I grabbed a Perdomo 20th Anniversary Maduro Corona Grande for the evening walk, and Macha had fun seeing the kids (she loves kids, they taste good!). The Corona Grande is a 6½” x 48 that was the creation of Nick Perdomo III. For me it’s the best size of the bunch, for both the representation of the blend and the comfort of smoking it. It’s a smooth, rich maduro with a hint of espresso bitterness, which I like. I know, I should have smoked a Tatuaje Monster, or a Gurkha Ghost, or even an Asylum Ogre or something cliche, but I was in the mood for the Perdomo, so that’s what I smoked!

Saturday we spent the morning gutting the family room in the new house. We had taken out the carpet and padding to have the asbestos tile removed, so what better time to take the paneling off! Of course, it was just paneling over a thin vapor barrier and cinder block and brick, so we have some insulating and dry-walling to do. Best to get it done before having carpet installed! It’ll be a great space once it’s done, and directly adjacent to the screened in cigar porch! After getting that done I took a quick spin over to Goose’s Tobacco in Limerick, PA to pick up and pay for the box of Asylum Straight Jacket Robustos I won in the Operation: Cigars for Warriors silent auction at the Smokin Goose festival last month. Always happy to support OP:CFW, thank you to Goose’s and Asylum Cigars for their contribution to that fine organization. When I got home I took a walk with A.J. Fernandez’s newest offering, the New World in a box pressed belicoso size called the Almirante. The New World is the first cigar that A.J. made together with his father, Ismeal, and is a Nicaragua Puro, with tobaccos from all over the country, including Ometepe. This medium bodied cigar burned perfectly and had really nice sweet spicy flavor. Considering I paid somewhere under $6 each for these at JM Cigars in Exton, PA, this is an absolute must try.

That’s all for now. We’ve got to visit Home Depot or Lowe’s and look into some room finishing options and come up with a plan. Then I’ll be digging into the humidor once again looking for something fun to smoke. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as aj fernandez, cigar, Cigar Mojo, cigar store, cigars, Goose's, Perdomo, rocky patel

by CigarCraig | October 12, 2014 · 10:43 am

A Flying Pig, a Foundry and a Dominican Big Leaguer Cigar and a House

It’s been a busy weekend. I took the day off Friday to settle on our new house. It’ll be a while before we get moved in, as there are some things we want to do there, and our current housing remains on the market. One feature that really sold us on the new house was a large screened in back porch, which will be a perfect place to enjoy cigars! So Thursday evening after work I took my evening walk with a Liga Privada No.9 Flying Pig. I’ve actually been thinking about smoking one of these or a while, as I haven’t smoked one since June of 2011. Another reason this came to mind is that there’s a Flying Pig Saloon near the house. I have a habit of coming across various incarnations of Flying Pigs, most recently a concrete garden ornament which was $70, too rich for my blood. Anyway, I think I’ve had this particular Pig in my humidor since early 2011, and I believe the last one I have is from last year, although I believe they were all made about the same time. The shape is cool, it ends too soon, and it’s a tasty little porker. It’s rich and meaty and a fun way to smoke a Liga Privada No. 9. I actually have never had the T52 or Undercrown Pigs yet, and I have a Feral Pig in the humidor that may need to be burned soon. I like having Ligas around, but they are ready to smoke and I don’t know that they age very well. Good smokes if you can find them, I dig the Pig.

As I said, I had Friday off, so we went out to breakfast, stopped at the bank and got a large check, did some shopping, walked through the house, and went to settlement. Oddly, the title service rep recognized me (my name) from junior high. I’ve repressed most memories from that dark and awkward time in my life, but I remembered her name and she knew a lot of people in the neighborhood I grew up in. It always seems like we run into strange coincidences at the settlement table. Anyway, I can’t imagine you care about, so the cigar I smoked on my Friday evening walk was a Foundry Worm Hole 2014 blend HELL-I-EN. Every time I smoke a Foundry cigar I learn a little more about them. A few weeks back Michael Giannini sent me a bunch of cigars, and he sent both sizes of the 2064 blend. This is a larger size, and, in true Foundry fashion, I have no idea what the tobacco make-up of these are. What I do know is that this cigar is smooth, reasonably mild, and, like I’ve experienced with many cigars in the Foundry and Compounds, Elements and Musings lines, is really enjoyable. They are all a little bit different than other cigars, and I really like that. I can always expect a unique experience, it may not suit my palate every time, but most of the time I’m satisfied and entertained by the cigar. Any company that makes a box shaped like my surname initial has to be cool. This was a super smooth and tasty cigar, an experience on a par with a Davidoff. I do have my doubts that there’s tobacco from Mars in the blend.

Saturday was a rainy, dreary fall day, the kind of day I really dislike. We ran over the the house to show Macha (the dog….side contest: I’ll send a 5er of my choosing to the first person who can tell me where that name comes from in the comments, and it’s not what the SPCA told us the origin is, it’s what I say it is! It ties into another significant part of our lives here). We made a list and bought some stuff at the store which I may go ever today and install. After an early dinner I took a walk with a Dominican Big Leaguer Anniversary in a toro size. One of the stops we made on Friday was at a local shop, JM cigars, in Exton, PA. This is a classic cigar shop, and I’ve been going there for years, since I started smoking premium cigars back around 1995. Anyway, the owner, Jeff, was big on the DBL line when I was in there a few months back and I enjoyed what I smoked. A few weeks ago I finally had the opportunity to meet and talk to Francisco Almonte, the owner of the brand and he gave me this cigar. This line pays homage to the Dominican love of baseball. It’s a national obsession really. Anyway, this cigar showed promise, it had a great flavor, but the mottled wrapper didn’t really want to burn for the first half of the cigar. It’s possible that it was a fairly thick leaf and since it was such a damp day it took some time for the heat of the cigar to dry it out. It was still a darned tasty cigar, and I really look forward to smoking the San Andrès maduro in the regular line. An interesting note, as I usually rely on my friend Will Cooper’s Cigar-Coop.com to fill in some blanks when manufacturer sites are lacking, I could find nothing on the Dominican Big Leaguer, or DBL Cigars. Something must be wrong with his site search.

On a peripherally related note, I’ve been snacking on Ritz Bacon flavored crackers spread with The Bacon Jams all weekend. It’s really hard to have too much bacon, and I was going to put some actual bacon on a couple, but someone polished off the few strips I had leftover from yesterday’s breakfast. Anyway, what a tasty snack. If you want to learn more about the sweety and meaty goodness that is The Bacon Jams, they are going to be featured on QVC tomorrow (Monday, Oct. 13) in the 5PM EDT hour. Tune in and buy some, I’m sure they will sell out! One of the principles of the company, Bruce, is a cigar smoker and was in the CAO and Flying Dog pairing video we did a few months ago. Bruce also was involved in the development of the app for the Cigar Oasis WiFi remote, which is very cool, by the way. You want spreadable bacon. You need spreadable bacon.

That’s it for now, enjoy some great cigars today! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Bacon, cigar, Cigar Oasis, cigar store, cigars, Dominican Big Leaguer, drew estate, Flying Pig, Foundry, QVC, The Bacon Jams

by CigarCraig | October 5, 2014 · 9:13 am

A Tortuga Event, a Tatuaje and a San Cristobal

Thursday evening Victor Vitale had whiskey\espresso and cigar tasting event at Cigar Mojo. Of course, it’s not hard to convince me to pay Mojo a visit, and when someone of Victor’s stature is there it’s a no-brainer. Upon arrival I immediately purchased a handful of the Tortuga 215 Reserva Coyote Negro in the 600 and Belicoso sizes. I promptly lit up a 600, which is 6½” x 56, a reasonably large cigar. Obviously, the Tortuga line is one I’ve enjoyed over the years. Victor is a good friend, and we are lucky to have him living in the area. Over the course of the evening I enjoyed the heck out of the Coyote Negro, as well as an original 215 Reserva Alma box pressed robusto. The Brazilian Mata Fina wrapper on the Coyote ads a great sweetness that I love. The Reserva Alma (5″ x 54, named after my grandmother…not really…) I smoked was truly exceptional, well balanced, refined and delicious. Victor was offering whiskey and espresso, I had two espressos over the course of the evening which went well with both cigars I smoked. Victor’s Legacy Brands is making some great cigars, if you have a Tortuga Appointed Merchant in your area, give this line a try.

Friday I had a bit of a trying day, forgetting my wallet, having a migraine that would revisit me several times during the weekend…that sort of thing. I stopped by the Lightn’Up/CigarCigars shop on my way home and said hello to Chris Stone, who was having a Drew Estate event at the shop. Without a wallet I was able to resist the urge to buy any more cigars, and with the migraine I was anxious to get home, medicate and eat dinner. After doing that and recovering a little, I took a walk with a Tatuaje Black Corona Gorda which was a gift from a gentleman I met at the Casa de Montecristo in Chicago on my recent visit. Connor was a gracious host while I visited the lounge there, many thanks for this beautiful cigar! This cigar in the classic 5 5/8″ x 46 corona gorda size has a closed foot and a fuma style cap. I rather expected a more “Cubanesque” experience from this, I got a pure Nicaraguan flavor bomb. This may have been one of the best Tatuaje cigars I’ve smoked, which isn’t say a lot since I haven’t smoked all that many. Very full flavored and well made. This is a great size, I wish it had been longer.

Saturday afternoon I took a walk with the dog and a San Cristobal Revelation Legend. This cigar came from the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival goodie bag. The Legend is a 6 1/8″ x 52 Box Pressed Toro made in the My Father factory for Ashton Distributors. This uses the same wrapper as the Ashton VSG, and is a full flavored, spicy cigar. The band is beautiful as is the overall appearance of the cigar. I found this to be very enjoyable and wonder why it took me over a year to sample this line. Highly recommended if you like full bodied cigars.

On a related note, this morning we had an oracle come to the house to “smudge” or burn sage and give a traditional native american blessing to the house to encourage it to sell. We are settling on a house on Friday and life will be easier by several orders of magnitude when the house we are currently living in sells. One of the things Maxx, our oracle friend, asked was if we had any loose tobacco around so that she could bless the property outside. Oddly, I happened to have saved the outside leaves from the Leaf by Oscar cigars. She shredded the leaves and spread them around the periphery of the yard. She kindly sent me the following explanation:

Semah, or tobacco, is one of the four sacred plants. It represents the Eastern Direction and the mind a place of new beginnings. The Anishinaabe use a form of tobacco known as kinikinik, or a red willow mix. Because it opens the door to the creator, when tobacco is used to make smoke, it is one of the most sacred of plants for Native people. Some elders say that tobacco is used to connect the worlds since the plant’s roots go deep into the earth, and its smoke rises high into the sky. This plant is highly respected and highly honored. Giving tobacco is a beautiful way of our people. Ceremonies using tobacco invoke a relationship with the energies of the universe, and ultimately the Creator, and the bond made between earthly and spiritual realms is not to be broken.

Traditional Use
Itis wise to burn tobacco before storms. It is used to pray that powerful storms won’t hurt our families. To pray with tobacco in your Native language is very powerful. It can make a difference in the physical world.

Purification

Tobacco is used in the offering of prayer to the Creator, acting as a medium for communication. It is either offered to the fire, so the smoke can lift the prayers to the Creator, or it is set on the ground in a nice, clean place. It means we come humbly to our creator. We proclaim our innocence. When you want to speak to the creator, we are told to make an offering of the tobacco plant.An Elder will take tobacco ties and offer them to the fire or offer it back to Mother Earth on behalf of the Sacred Circle

I have been burning tobacco here for some time now, and I thought it was for my pleasure, but it seems to have a deeper meaning. Hopefully the house sells soon!

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigar store, cigars, drew estate, San Cristobal, tatuaje, tobacco, Tortuga