Tag Archives: cigar store

by | July 15, 2012 · 9:32 am

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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by | June 27, 2012 · 6:17 pm

A Visit to JR Cigars, Peter of ACigarSmoker.com, Nat Sherman, Don Pepin, etc.

Sunday I took a two and a half hour drive to have a cigar.  I went to JR Cigar’s store in Whippany, NJ to meet up with Peter Glad from ACigarSmoker.com.  The plan was to have a nice relaxing lunch and smoke a cigar, but it turns out that the restaurant is closed on Sundays in the summer!  This was a disappointment, as there’s just something special about sitting down at a table with a knife, fork and a Montecristo Tubo wrapped in a napkin.  Here’s a little suggestion for the folks at JRs, sell some beverages in the store?  They have all sorts of candy and nuts and baskets and leather jackets and assorted stuff. Get a cooler full of sodas, for crying out loud!  Anyway, my first stop was the gents room, and as I was coming down the stairs a guy asked me where the restaurant was and I pointed it out and went into the cigar shop to pick up a few things.  My phone rings a moment later and it was Peter, who turned out to be the guy who I had just directed to the apparently closed restaurant.  We picked out a few things including a Nat Sherman Omerta #7, which is a big 7″ x 54 double corona with a nice dark maduro wrapper. We repaired to the lounge and fired these bad boys up and spent a good 2 hours getting acquainted and trading stories and smokes.  Peter is doing a nice job writing for ACigarSmoker.com. He had big shoes to fill and seems to be keeping up rather nicely.  The cigar was very good.  I hadn’t had a Nat Sherman in a very long time, and this Nicaraguan was quite nice. I smoked Nat Sherman cigarettes briefly in the ’80s, and this was nothing like those, but it was chocolaty and with a nice amount of sweetness and it was good to the last drop.  I’m sure Peter will have a good review on his site (here it is).   I always enjoy meeting fellow cigar bloggers and have been fortunate to have met a bunch.  It was a great day and well worth the 5 hours driving time!

 

Last night I decided to smoke a cigar that I picked up at JRs, in retrospect I should have put it back after I cut it and found that it had a tight draw. Believe it or not, I had yet to smoke a Don Pepin Garcia Series JJ and was overly anxious to try one.  Nice flavor when I could get some smoke out of it, but I mangled it pretty good trying.  My mistake not letting a new purchase rest for a few weeks.  I also picked up a five-pack of Maria Mancini Robusto Largas and should have pulled an old one of those out of the humidor instead, but I didn’t.  I can’t wait to smoke one of the Series JJ in the future and hope that this one was a fluke.  JR’s is an interesting store. It’s owned by Altadis, but it has a great deal of General Cigar product, owing mostly to the close ties Lew Rothman, former owner of JR’s, had with Villazon, which eventually became General. I miss Lew’s stories in the old JR catalogs.  Lew may be able to claim credit for giving the term “Herf” a wide distribution by featuring the word on a fighter pilot’s helmet on a catalog cover (winter 1997, if memory serves).  Prior to that point the term was unknown outside the alt.smokers.cigars usenet group (at least in the context of cigars!).  That’s more of a history lesson than I planned, unfortunately I don’t have anything more to say about the Series JJ, as I was left unsatisfied, but I’ll accept responsibility for this one.

 

That’s it for now, I’m going to try to pick something out that won’t disappoint me for tonight’s smoke.  Check out Peter’s take on our meeting Sunday here, and  don’t forget to give a listen to last Saturday’s Kiss My Ash Radio show, where I didn’t make as much of a fool of myself as I expected!  Keep an eye out for another quick contest coming up and get on over to HoyodeMonterreyCigar.com and enter to win a box of Reposados!

 

Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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by | June 24, 2012 · 8:39 am

Accessory/Website Review, Flor de Gonzales, San Lotano, KMA, Alec Bradley and Partagas

Last week I received an e-mail from CigarBargains.com about a Combo Cigar Cutter/Knife w/ Belt/Money Clip.  CigarBargains.com is a site run by CheapHumidors.com which allows one to negotiate with “Suzy” and work the price down.  I thought it would be a neat experiment and always kinda wanted a knife like this, knowing full well it would be crap for properly cutting a cigar (more on that later).  I buy stuff for a living, Buyer is actually my job title, so I know how this works.  I start out looking at the shipping and deciding how much I’m willing to pay. In this case, the farther under $10 the better.  Their starting offer for this item was $10.99, so my opening offer was $3.  “Suzy” replied with “I might have peed myself a little at your offer of $3.50. You need to be closer to $9.68.”.  This went on for a while, with various comments about needing a new purse, feeding the kids and such.  When all was said and done, I ended up getting this for $9.05 delivered, which met my requirements.  Shipping from Florida was reasonably quick as I received it on  Thursday after completing the transaction last Friday.  As anticipated, the knife does a reasonably good job of mangling a cigar, I had the strangest cut, but I have to admit it cut cleanly and I ended up having an excellent smoking experience.  I think it would work better using the blade to make a V cut, or, and I haven’t tried this yet, putting the cigar in the hole, putting the blade up to the cigar with a little pressure, and rotating the cigar, then pealing off the cap.  It was a worthwhile experiment, and there are some decent deals to be had with enough patience to follow through with the negotiating.

 

The cigar I cut with the new knife was a Flor de Gonzales 90 Miles Robusto, the last of a 5 pack I won well over 2 years ago.  I’ve enjoyed smoking these cigars, the construction was flawless and the flavors agreeable.  The poor cut, while offensive to my CDO (OCD in alphabetical order as it should be)  addled brain, was not a factor and didn’t take away from the experience.  It was a smooth, flavorful medium bodied smoke which I enjoyed to the fullest. The two years or so of age didn’t hurt this cigar either.

 

Friday evening calls for a little bit of a special cigar, so I selected a San Lotano Habano Lancero for my evening walk.  I had picked this up at a San Lotano event at Olde World Tobacco in Lancaster, PA several months ago.  This is a beautiful 7″ x 38 lancero, with a nice little pigtail cap.  I went back to my regular cutter for this one, no reason to risk mangling this cigar.  Burn was perfect.  I love it when a cigar burns with a nice flat ember, not pointy, all the tobaccos burning at exactly the same rate.  It’s a miracle that this can be accomplished and I always appreciate it it when I see it.  AJ Fernandez makes some terrific cigars, this was no different.  I love the lancero format.

 

Saturday morning I had the great pleasure of being the guest on Kiss My Ash Radio‘s Bloggers Corner segment.  I was nervous as hell, and there were some things I planned on mentioning but missed. Fortunately, Abe had done a piece on pairing root beers with cigars, which I’ve been doing for years.  I wanted to suggest Victory Brewery‘s root beer, as it is exceptional and made right here in my home town.  I even had notes and in my nervousness I didn’t look at them!  Oh well, I hope I didn’t make too much of a fool of myself, I appreciate being invited on the show.   Saturday afternoon I stopped by JM Cigars in Exton, PA to say hello to Jon Lipson, the Alec Bradley rep, who was having an event there.  I picked up a few American Classic Blends in Corona and Robusto and smoked a Corona while catching up with Jon and the folks at the shop.  For an absolutely stunning day I was surprised at the traffic in the store.  I guess I figure people have better things to do on a stunning Saturday, I know I did.  I enjoyed the American Classic Corona very much and went home to change the oil in the scooter and mow the lawn.

 

To finish up the day I fired up a Partagas 1845 Gigante that I received in a sample pack from General Cigar.  It’s a 6 x 60 that feels much bigger for some reason.  I took my son’s dog for a nice walk and enjoyed the heck out of this cigar. So far I think I liked the Robusto better, but this monster was very good, burned well and lasted for quite a while.  So far I’m impressed by this line, although I really can’t think of a Partagas cigar I really haven’t enjoyed, General Cigar Co. or otherwise.  Dirty little secret: Havana Partagas Presidente is one of my all time favorite cigars.  Give the Partagas 1845 a try, it’s a very tasty smoke.

 

I’m off today to Whippany, NJ to meet up with ACigarSmoker.com‘s Peter Glad at JR Cigars‘ store and lounge.  It’s always fun going to the store there and having a nice lunch and cigars, and I’m looking forward to meeting Peter.  Of course, stop on by if you’re in the area and say hello and join us for a smoke!

 

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

 

 

 

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by | June 20, 2012 · 8:38 pm

A Monte Pascoal Cigar, Beatles and Other Assorted News Items

It’s been an odd week!  Since Sunday I’ve only managed a couple cigars, one of which was a Monte Pascoal Corona and the other doesn’t warrant mention, unfortunately.  The Monte Pascoal is a Brazilian puro and a very nice cigar. I’ve heard it described as “Cubanesque”, but I don’t get that.  What I get is a well made and tasty smoke.  I’ve smoked several sizes and I think this corona is one of my favorites.  It’s loaded with flavor.  The other cigar I had, which will remain nameless, was a disappointment, it didn’t draw well, and wasn’t particularly pretty, and the flavor was just OK, nothing special. I could excuse some of these in a cheap bundle cigar, but not in a Super Premium cigar.  I’ll write it off as another failed experiment and more forward.

 

News

In an odd cross-over, my friend Mitchell Orchant, of C.Gars Ltd., recently came into possession of, and sold, a rare framed presentation of Beatles banded cigars.  The story is currently featured on BeatlesNews.com.  I guess I need to hold on to the Burt Reynolds and Mickey Rooney cigars I have buried in a humidor someplace (I always wondered why the Mickey Rooney is a Churchill and not a robusto!)

 

In other news, I received an e-mail this week from Enrique Seijas telling me about his new project since leaving Altadis. CigarCountry.com sells name brand, premium cigars, and you can get them with custom printed cello or cedar sleeves.  The price is extremely competitive and I’m seriously looking for a good reason to buy a box with my name and website on the cello.  I wish they’d been around when my daughter was married, and they are a great step up from the usual “It’s A Boy/Girl” cigars.  It’s a very cool idea, check it out.

 

Some upcoming events to look forward to:  The Chattenooga Tweetup in August (info here). The Delaware Cigar Festival in September (info here, apologies to non-Facebook users!) I got an e-mail from Sir Stogies, a really nice little shop in Gilbertsville, PA saying that Jose Blanco was going to be there on Tuesday, June 26 at 11am. Another case of the day job getting in the way of fun!  Another event I plan on trying to get to is a Drew Estate event on Thursday, June 28 at a much more realistic time of 6pm, at the Humidor at the Leaf, which is Famous Smoke Shop’s retail store in Easton, PA.  Of course there’s the Jose Blanco blending event hosted by Buttheads Tobacco Emporium tomorrow, June 21, which will be a first of it’s kind live stream event.

 

I’ve come up with about as much non-sense as I can muster, but I have one more piece of business to attend to.  It seems that our winner of the last contest never came forward to collect his prize. I sent two e-mails and didn’t get a reply.  So I have to select an alternate winner.  Random.org spit the number 18 at me this time, which corresponds to my old buddy Bob Greene.  I’ve known Bob for years, and I’m certain he will enjoy Mitchell’s book!  Bob, please send your mailing address so I can get this stuff out to you!

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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by | June 3, 2012 · 4:20 am

Another C & C Cigar, a La Traviata, a Room 101 and Some News

A few weeks back I picked up a little robusto sampler of C and C cigars that included the C and C Corojo Robusto.  The three cigars set me back a whole $10.  I really enjoyed the maduro, and had high hopes for the Corojo, which I smoked this past Thursday.  It’s a nice looking cigar, nothing fancy, just a no-nonsense robusto.  It was a delicious smoke, well behaved and as good or better than many cigars at twice the price.  Another fine cigar from the folks at C and C!  I don’t know about the orange band though, but that’s probably just me.

 

I got off to a late start on Friday, so I grabbed my last CAO La Traviata Maduro Luminoso and sat on the porch with the dog watching the thunderstorm roll by.  This is a 4½ x 50 Rothschild with the Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper.  The first time I tried the maduro I wasn’t impressed, which is odd since I usually like most maduros.  I was confused by this, I thought for sure I’d love the cigar.  That first one must have been a dud, because subsequent cigars have been right up my alley, great construction, nice flavor, just what I look for in a maduro cigar.

 

It was a beautiful Saturday yesterday, and I had to work at 9pm, so I wanted a good cigar, no surprises.  I went with an original Room 101305 robusto.  This is a cigar I really enjoy.  It’s a solid, well made, savory and satisfying smoke.  I have long been a fan of Camacho cigars, so it stands to reason I’d like the Room 101.  The whole experience is first rate, from the appearance to the band (although one band would suffice, it seems like half the cigars I find myself smoking lately have multiple bands), this is a really superb cigar.  I punched this one for a change, since there was a little bit of a crack in the cap and I was afraid to make it worse.  It turns out that the punch provided a perfect draw and made for a very enjoyable experience.

 

News

I received the following press release from Ernesto Padilla this week: May 30, 2012

PRESS RELEASE!

Padilla Cigar Company is proud to announce yet another collaboration with Oliva Cigar Company following the recently 93 rated Padilla Studio-Tobac Limited Edition.Since the inception of the Padilla brand, Ernesto Padilla (brand owner), has worked on several successful projects with the Miami Lakes, Florida based Oliva Cigar Company. Oliva will manufacture and distribute the new Padilla Premier Cru cigars to be sold exclusively in the European market. The Padilla Premier Cru will feature the most premium fillers from the Oliva Family Tobacco Farms in Nicaragua. The superb wrapper will feature a Habano tobacco seed grown in the Ecuadorian Oliva plantations. The Padilla Premier Cru will be available in 3 different sizes those being Robusto, Torpedo, and a Double Toro. The cigars will range in price from €8 – €10. Padilla Premier Cru will beintroduced this September at the Inter-Tobac Trade Fair in Dortmund, Germany and will be available through all of Oliva’s European distributors. German distributor Wolfertz, GMBH and Dutch distributor Van Horssen, BV have already agreed to begin sales this fall. For those in the United States feeling left out, Padilla and Oliva have created 2 new blends in Habano and Maduro wrappers. This highly anticipated cigar will be known as the Padilla Reserva and will be exclusively sold in the United States. The Padilla Reserva will also be available in 3 sizes those being Robusto, Torpedo, and Double Toro. The cigars will range in price from $8 – $9 dollars. Padilla Reserva will be introduced at the IPCPR Trade Show in Orlando, Florida this August.

 

In other news, the CAO Last Stick Standing promotion as been extended to July 31, so if you haven’t had a chance to get your hands on the tin of cigars and cast your vote, you now have more time!

 

I haven’t been one to jump on posting press releases as soon as I get them, there seem to be plenty of others that do that.  I will, however, listen to my readers, if this is something you would like to see more often, please let me know!

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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