Tag Archives: cigar store

by | April 8, 2012 · 7:08 am

Cigar Lounge Visit: Kutztown Tobacconist and Lounge, a JdN, a Nub and a Gurkha

I took Friday off to take my youngest son to Kutztown University for a tour, and my wife suggested we seek out a cigar shop for a pre-tour smoke.  I had recently bought the CigarPlaces app for my iPod Touch and it came up with Kutztown Tobacconist and Lounge, a few blocks from the campus.   We were greeted by Todd, the owner, a very nice guy. One of those people you can talk to and you feel like you’ve known them for a while.  He is just getting started with this, and he has a nice space, adjacent to a restaurant specializing in Bar-b-Que.  I’d call the furnishing “unpretentious” to be diplomatic, but he seems to be concentrating on service, the fancy furnishings will come.  As it is, it’s comfortable.  He’s in the process of getting ready to build a walk-in humidor. Currently his stock is in a large display unit that he got from Kensington Tobacconist in Reading, PA when they closed.  His stock is meager, maybe 15 or so boxes of assorted Joya de Nicaragua, Acid and Gran Habano, but he certainly has plans to expand that selection.  He sells what he likes, can’t fault him for that.  He needs to invest in some sort of signage for the outside of the building as it wasn’t readily apparent that we were in the right place (the sign in the picture was not there when we visited).

 

We had 2 hours to kill, so I picked up a Joya de Nicaragua Antaño Dark Corojo, a pair of Cabinetta robustos, a Gran Habano Reserva #3 on Todd’s recommendation, as well as a couple of Acid Blondies for my son and his friend.  It’s no secret that I love the JdN Cabinetta, for me it’s a delicious any-time-of-the-day cigar.  The construction is always perfect and I always anticipate getting down to that criollo part of the wrapper, and am always a little disappointed when it doesn’t want to stay lit!  Still, a great smoke and it was nice to hang out and talk to the guys at the lounge.  Todd has a great thing going, and I’m confident that he will grow and improve over time.

 

I usually take a walk down to the local convenience store on Fridays to get my Mega Millions ticket, so I grabbed a Nub Habano 460 for the walk.  I wasn’t really too impressed with these at first, but they have grown on me.  Great flavor in this one, and a perfect burn.  It fit into the allotted time perfectly. I got a couple of these at an Oliva event with the purchase of a handful of assorted Oliva cigars.  Good cigars for a walk, not a huge time commitment.

 

Saturday was another beautiful day, and after a day of yard work, and a less than ideal Flyers/Penguins game, I sat down with a Gurkha Seduction.  I really enjoy this 5″ x 55 robusto, with it’s Habano wrapper.  I think the Colombian filler gives it a little something special.  It’s a really nice cigar, try some if you come across them.  This particular specimen seemed to want to burn up one side, and required frequent corrections, but that’s the first one I can recall having a bad burn.

 

To all who celebrate, Happy Easter and Passover.  I’ll be taking some cigars along to share with family today.  It looks like the weather is going to be as spectacular today as it has been for the last couple.

 

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

CigarCraig

 

 

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by | April 1, 2012 · 9:51 am

Room 101 Cigars Event at Old Havana Cigar Co.

Friday evening Matt Booth from Room 101 was making an appearance at a local shop, Old Havana Cigar Co. in West Chester, PA.  I frequently attend events there and it’s always really busy, Friday being no exception.  I purchased a handful of singles and lit up a Room 101 ‘305’, which is the robusto in the line.  I enjoyed the cigar, probably not surprising since I’ve long been a fan of Camacho cigars.  I had the great pleasure of talking to Tom Smith, the Davidoff representative, who doesn’t like bloggers.  I can see his point, which is that particularly popular bloggers can cause damage to a brand or shop by giving a bad review.  I suspect that the number of cigar smokers who are influenced by blogs is reasonably small, as I haven’t  run into too many people hanging around in cigar stores that use the Internet for any kind of cigar stuff, be it forums, blogs or whatever.  Certainly we need to be responsible and not pretend we are experts and tell people what they may or may not like.  The 305 was a really nice cigar, very Honduran and perfectly made.

 

I followed the 305 with a Namakubi Papi Chulo (is it a coincidence that “Papi Chulo” and “petite corona” share the same initials?).  This is a nice little 4″ x 42 with a reddish Habano wrapper.  It took a little work getting it to light right, but ended up being packed with flavor and smoking very nicely.  I was going to leave after the 305, but I got to talking to a gentleman who came in and was lighting up a Papi Chulo, so I decided to join him. He was an interesting gentleman, he had taken the opportunity in college to study abroad in Havana, which was interesting.  He had a sincere interest in cigars and was really refreshing to talk to.  The Papi Chulo was terrific, but short, so I was soon done and decided to head home.  I took a few minutes to talk to Matt on my way out.  If you have a chance to meet him, take it, because he’s a nut, but one of the nicest nuts out there.  We had a little back and forth on zipper up vs. zipper down (on my jacket, what were you thinking?), all I can say is: Matt, you worry about your CDO, I’ll worry about mine, K?.  Very cool guy.  Also cool was Tom Smith of Davidoff, even though he hates bloggers.  A wealth of information on all things cigar. I appreciate the chance to meet and hang out with both of these gents.

 

Summary: Room 101 cigars good, although priced a little higher than I’m comfortable with.  Sometimes one has to factor in the overall experience and it makes it worthwhile.  On a side note, I got to thinking about petite coronas vs. larger cigars.  Certainly petite coronas offer a different, often more flavorful smoke, and when it comes to variety, you can smoke several vastly different small cigars in the time it takes to smoke one large one.  However, this is a tough sell for me when the price is close: do I pay $5 or$6 for a PC, or $6 or $7 for a Churchill?  I usually choose cigars based upon the time I have to smoke them, so this isn’t generally something I worry about.  Another little item rattling around in my head: I was once told that it costs nearly as much to make a small cigar as it does to make a big one.  Manufacturers can’t price the coronas and PCs that close to the larger vitolas, so you are actually getting a good deal on the smaller cigars, as the larger cigar sales basically subsidize the smaller ones.  Not really relevant to anything, just something that comes up in my head from time to time…

 

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

CigarCraig

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by | March 18, 2012 · 11:28 am

A Buena Vista Cigar, An Oliva at Old Havana Cigars, a Green Camacho and a Cain

Thursday evening I grabbed a Buena Vista Short Churchill that I was given by Gary Heathcott, the company’s director of global marketing  when I was waiting for a Coke at the Cigar Journal awards reception at last year’s IPCPR show.  This cigar is unique in that it’s an Ecuador Puro and it’s rolled by Cuban rollers that come to Ecuador on special visas to work in the factory.  The cigar had a stunning appearance, very smooth and even in shape and color. I grabbed this based on the size, it’s a 4¼”x 54, so it’s a short, fat cigar, and I only had an hour to smoke.   I have to say that I really enjoyed the smoke, it was good, but not as unique as I had hoped.  There was really nothing especially different about it.  It was a good tasting cigar.  I had to touch it up frequently as it wanted to burn faster on one side, but not a bad cigar.  If this is priced right, I’d say give it a try, if it’s too expensive, I’d personally choose something else based on this sample.

 

Friday evening my son and I attended and Oliva event at Old Havana Cigars in West Chester, PA.  I’ve been to several events there and it’s always pretty crazy.  Nice bunch of folks there and I always enjoy spending time with the local Oliva Rep, Mike Staiber.  I picked up some cigars and promptly fired up a Serie G Maduro box pressed belicoso. This is a cigar that I haven’t smoked many of, and I don’t know why.  It’s got a really tasty broadleaf wrapper and really hit the spot.   I also grabbed a few of the Cameroon in the same size.  For my troubles, I was rewarded with a couple free Nub Habanos (it was buy 5, get 2 free).  Lots of people buying cigars, quite a few picking up boxes and getting all kinds of freebies and swag to go along with it.  My son had a Cain Daytona in a corona size that he enjoyed as well (and is one of my favorites).  We had a good time talking with Mike (@olivastaiber on twitter.  Follow him!), who I’ve known for quite a while and is a great cigar rep and a very cool guy.

 

Of course, Saturday was St. Patrick’s Day, so that called for a candela cigar.  Several years ago I picked up a box of the Camacho Monarca Candela because I really liked them and they were a nice change of pace.  We had to go to a percussion competition at my son’s high school, in which he plays bass guitar in the ensemble, so I grabbed one of these for our walk to the school.  If you have never had a candela cigar, you should certainly try one.  It’s a different flavor, a little more vegetal or grassy, but refreshing in a way.  In this case, we have the Camacho Corojo with the candela wrapper, so it’s no slouch when it comes to strength, as many candela, or as the were once called, American Market Selection (AMS) can be on the mild side.  Astral is a cigar that comes to mind in the mild candela area, as does the Arturo Fuente 8-5-8. La Flor Dominicana and Illusione have recently put their spin on this once popular wrapper.  Anyway, this box of Camachos has been consistently loose in the draw department, so I’ve taken to punching these to make them a little better in the draw department.  Pretty strong for a noon-time smoke, but really tasty with a long finish, so long that I could still taste it several hours later after another cigar and dinner.

 

On the walk home from the event I had grabbed a Cain Habano Tubo on the way out the door, so I fired it up.  This was the 550 Cain in a spiffy aluminum tube, and I hadn’t eaten since breakfast and had a mile or so to walk, so I was lamenting my decision to grab this one as I lit it up.  My fear turned out to be misplaced, because it was a damned tasty cigar!  I spent another 20 minutes with this on the porch when I got home, it was just too good to put down.  Perfect burn and draw.  Strong, but balanced and, dare I say, complex.  Every now and then an interesting flavor would dance across my palate, something I’ve missed in past Cain Habanos.  Perhaps this one was well aged, or aged better in the tube, I don’t know, but it was likely the best Cain Habano I’ve had.

I don’t usually have a two cigar day, but the weather was so great, despite it being a very busy day, I had two spectacular cigars walking to and from the high school.  The competition was excellent as well, lots of talented kids, and I’m a drum geek as well as a cigar geek, so I always enjoy stuff like that, cigars or not.

 

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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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 | March 11, 2012 · 8:39 pm

Saturday Cigar Adventure: Cigars International Alec Bradley Event

Saturday’s cigar adventure took us north to Bethlehem, PA to the Cigars International Super Store.  They were holding an event featuring Alec Bradley Cigars, Alan Ruben, George Sosa and Jonathan Lipson were in attendance.  My wife came along for the ride, so it made for a nice date (for me more than her, I suppose).  I had missed meeting Alan at the IPCPR show  last year, their booth was so stinkin’ busy it wasn’t funny. Every time I stopped by there were tons of folks there doing business.  Alan greeted me at the door and introductions were made. I made my way through the store and grabbed a handful of Alec Bradley American Classic Blend Gordos, received a Black Market with my purchase, and set fire to one of the Gordos.  I really enjoy the flavor of this cigar. It’s not too heavy with some fairly “bright” flavors, and the price point is very friendly at about $5.50 for the 6″x60 size.  I’ve always liked coronas and robustos, as well as the rest of the traditional sizes, but I have to admit the larger ring cigars are a little bit of a guilty pleasure lately, not sure why that is.  I find the band to be visually appealing as well, although I usually don’t concern myself with such things.  While I was enjoying my cigar, I spent a little time talking with Jonathan, who is new to Alec Bradley, but not to the industry, George Sosa, who my wife and I had met at the 2008 IPCPR show, and Alan.  We also roamed around the expansive store, checking out the other merchandise and lounge areas.  If you are within a few hours drive of Bethlehem, PA, you should check this place out.  It’s like a supermarket of cigars, and the staff is friendly and attentive.

 

A question I had for Alan was in reference to one of my favorite cigars from days gone by, their Trilogy line.  These were a triangular pressed cigar, which was unique, that came in three sizes (Churchill, Robusto and Torpedo) as well as three wrappers (Authentic Corojo, Exotic Maduro, and Native Cameroon).  This was the company’s first really big hit, and was an outstanding cigar, whatever you may think of the odd shape.  I enjoyed the line so much that I bought a box once to hand out at a cigar event, because I wanted everyone to try it.  Anyway, I asked what happened to that line, and Alan answered that they had a hard time getting retailers to carry all nine facings, and the sales were sporadic, one month the Maduro would sell like crazy, the next Corojo, and so on.  They eventually discontinued it as they were bringing items like Tempus and other marques that were easier to market.  He also alluded to the fact that he gets this question a lot and they still have the special molds, so there’s a possibility something like the Trilogy may make a reappearance.  I know I’ll be keeping an eye open for that!  A quick search shows me that there are a couple online retailers that may have stocks of what I can only assume are the round versions of the Trilogy.  Might be worth exploring for old time’s sake.   As we were leaving, we were talking to Alan about kids, since our boys like cigars, and his company is named after his boys, one of which is now over 18, and going to cigar events and apparently amassing  a pretty good collection of cigars.  Alan related a story about his son keeping three humidors, one that he puts cigars that his dad can take, one that if his dad takes cigars from, he’d rather he didn’t, but he’d me OK with, and a third that he keeps hidden!  I thought this was pretty funny.  My eldest son has his own humidors and I don’t worry about him, and I told my youngest son, who has recently taken to cigars, to make sure to ask me before he goes into my humidors.  I know he’s done a pretty good job of going through my coolers based on some of the cigars he’s inquired about, but as long as he asks, I’m happy to share.   It was a nice day out.  Maybe I’m a little nuts to drive an hour and a half to go to a cigar shop and hang out for a smoke, but I am a little bit of a cigar geek I suppose (ya think?) It’s never disappointing to meet and talk to people in the cigar industry and smoke a great cigar!

Off Topic!

Here’s a little public service announcement, my wife ran across this on Twitter and it’s pretty funny: http://www.dollarshaveclub.com/

 

Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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