Tag Archives: cigar store

by CigarCraig | May 31, 2018 · 5:42 pm

Liberty Smokes in Philadelphia and a New Ora Vivo Gold Edition

I’ve been meaning to visit Liberty Smokes in South Philadelphia for a long time, I just today managed to get down there. It’s easy enough to get to, it’s right of I-95 fairly close to the stadium complex. It’s owned by Mike Vitale and in addition to knowing his son, Victor, for many years, I also exchanged e-mails with him back in the summer of 2000 when he was the Senior VP of Sales at a little company called Holt’s. I was there when Brian opened the shop at 10 am, and bought some cigars and was invited to smoke one in their members lounge. The lounge is warm and cozy with a large TV, a bar area and nice leather seating. It wasn’t long before I was joined by one of the regulars, Charlie, and we had a nice dialog for the two hours I spent smoking the cigar. On my way out I finally met Mike Vitale, who had been busy, and chatted with him for a good half an hour. The store has been there for 15 years and from what I heard from the lounge, does a brisk walk-in business. the humidor is spacious and has an excellent selection, including all the staples you’d expect to find . Oddly, there were only a few facings of Tortuga, but they did have the new Ora Vivo Armand Assante cigars, the Gold Edition, as well as some of the World Edition. these were the cigars I bought. In better times I would have bought a couple of each size, but I’m trying to exercise some fiscal restraint. I defaulted to the toro, which is called the Emmy and is 6″ x 56. They also have the Oscar at 6″ x 60 and the Tony robusto at 5″ x 54. The blend is as follows: wrapper: Ecuador , binder: Nicaraguan , and fillers: Nicaraguan and Honduran, made at the Tabacalera Aguilar factory in Honduras. These were released in July 2017 quietly to a very select group of their top retailers.

The smoking time on the 6″ x 56 Ora Vivo Armand Assante Gold Edition Emmy was right around two hours, which worked great for my allotted time. I think anyone reading this site for any period of time knows my affinity for Victor Vitale’s cigars. I don’t think I ‘ve met a Tortuga I didn’t love, and the Ora Vivo Armand Assante line is very special. I think I have a couple of the original release floating around, as well as a World Edition European release corona, and I love them. I always regretted not buying a box at a dinner we went to in New Jersey with Armand and Victor, the vendor lacked the foresight to be able to accept credit cards at the event or I would have. Not saying there would be any left several years later, but it’s a regret none the same. This new Ora Vivo Gold Edition (Ora Oro?) was maybe the best cigar in the Legacy Brands line-up! I found it to be very rich, with the great espresso flavors I like, with some sweetness and, I swear, a hint of anise about two-thirds of the way in. It was as if I took a break and had a pizzelle. Awesome cigar, very consistent with what I understand to be Armand Assante’s vision for his cigars, that they are an expression of his life, and the quality and flavor are of the highest quality and excellence. Another great cigar from Macchione, Assante and Vitale. I bought a couple, but not nearly enough!

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigar store, cigars, Liberty Smokes, Ora Vivo Armand Assante

by CigarCraig | May 15, 2018 · 12:41 pm

News: Cigar Cigars Chain in PA Joins TAA

Cigar Cigars is a chain of 12 stores in Southeast PA (one in NJ). There are literally six of their stores within ten miles of my home, one is less than two miles away. I’m happy to finally have TAA shops in the area after hearing about all the cool TAA releases!

In early 2018 Cigar, Cigars was invited to join a select group of cigar retailers in the United States: the Tobacconists’ Association of America. We are now among fewer than 80 retailers throughout the country in this group. This gives us access to exclusive cigars previously unavailable in the Delaware Valley and we will be the only retailers in our area to sell the cigars listed below:

• Fuente Opus X Forbidden X 2018

• Tatuaje TAA 2018

• Ashton TAA VSG

• Padron Limited Edition TAA 50th Maduro and Natural

• Padron 1964 Toro TAA Exclusive*

• Montecristo Artisan TAA 50th

• CAO Esteli TAA Exclusive*

• Flor De Las Antillas Lancera

• Nat Sherman Panamerica*

• La Flor Dominicana TAA Exclusive 50th

• Alec Bradley Elicit*

• My Father Jamie Garcia TAA*

• Kristoff TAA

The cigars with an * are currently available in many of our stores. The rest will be coming to stores over the next few weeks and summer.

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Tagged as cigar, cigar store, cigars, TAA

by CigarCraig | April 8, 2018 · 8:18 am

CAO Event at Tobacco Field Cigars in Delaware and the CAO Zócalo

Friday I took a drive south to New Castle, Delaware to visit the new Tobacco Fields Cigars location where they were hosting Ricky Rodriguez and Rami Dakko of CAO Cigars. I was familiar with their store closer to home, in the Concord area, north of Wilmington, and just over the Pennsylvania border. I remember the area fondly as the site of the Brandywine Raceway, where I used to go watch the harness racing, and near where I used to go buy beer when I was underage. That’s not at all important to the story. I stopped in to the old store because I didn’t read the announcement and didn’t know about the new store. Apparently the new location opened in December of 2015, so I’m woefully out of touch! Twenty-five minutes later I arrived at the new store and went in to buy some CAO cigars. Ricky was in the lounge talking about cigars and tobacco. Due to the indoor smoking laws in Delaware, the lounge is membership based, and I assume that my purchase granted me a temporary membership, as I was welcomed by both the owners. The store is well appointed, with loads of cigars, as well as other tobacco products, and the lounge, although small, is augmented by a large, enclosed outside patio. Fortunately, the weather was cooperative. I smoked a CAO Colombia, in the Magdalena torpedo size, a 6¼” x 54 size. This cigar has a Jamastran (Honduran) wrapper, Cameroon binder and Brazilian and Colombian fillers. It’s super smooth and has a very pleasant flavor. It’s on the milder side, and is a very nice cigar, one of my favorites in their “World” range of cigars. I bought a few of these, a couple Consigliere in the toro size and a Brazilia and America. They had all three of the Amazon lines, including the Amazon Basin, but since I have some Fuma Em Corda and Anacondas, and am not really that fond of the Amazon Basin, I opted not to pick any up. There was a good crowd present, and I enjoyed catching up with Ricky and Rami, great folks if you ever have a chance to meet them, and the shop is great if you find yourself in the New Castle Delaware area.

CAO had two announcements this week, which other sites covered, one being the Pan-Am Tour, an online journey down the Pan American Highway highlighting the various growing regions where tobacco used in the CAO line is grown. There is a game on the CAO website where you can win prizes and follow along. From the press release:

In true CAO fashion, Rick’s virtual journey has an in-store component. His Pan American Tour will be mirrored by an interstate highway tour of sorts, as Rick will be visiting cigar shops across the U.S. for a deeper dive on the tobaccos that make up CAO’s unique blends. Events will take place between April and December, 2018 and at each event, cigar lovers can win CAO branded items like lighters, tee shirts and duffle bags, and have the opportunity to smoke special Pan Am Tour-exclusive cigars blended by Rick and the CAO team.

As I was driving to the event I received the press release about the newest offering from CAO, the limited edition CAO Zócalo San Andrés. This cigar kicks off the Pan Am tour and represents the first CAO cigar to use the San Andrés Morron wrapper, with a Cameroon binder and Nicaraguan fillers, offered in only the 6″ x 60 size. They have an attractive $8.49 MSRP and are due in stores before May 5, (Cinco de Mayo). I happen to know someone, so I had the opportunity to smoke the CAO Zócalo San Andrés last night, and I was thoroughly impressed. I am personally a fan of both Broadleaf and San Andrés, especially when it’s over a Cameroon binder, that combination makes me happy. The cigar was impressive. It had a perfect burn and draw, as all good cigars should, and the ash was a solid white, which took some effort to knock off in 1″ chunks. It started with a pepper spice and coffee, with an earthiness and some sweetness from the Cameroon. I got that same sweet sensation in the Colombia, which also has the Cameroon binder. Halfway through I was surprised by a new flavor, an interesting almost burnt caramel flavor. Earlier in the day I smoked another Macanudo Inspirado Red, which I thought was my favorite new cigar, and I smoked a CAO Fuma Em Corda this week that I really like, but this gives them a run for their money, and I can’t wait for these to hit the shelves, I’ll be putting a handful in my humidor. I was very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to score a sample of this great new cigar, thanks to Rick and Rami! It’s a big cigar, and maybe 6″ x 60s aren’t your bag, but give them a try. Yummy, a fiesta in your mouth!

That’s all I have for now, Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as CAO, cigar, cigar store, cigars, general cigars

by CigarCraig | March 11, 2018 · 11:04 am

Jose Blanco at Goose’s Montecristo Lounge & a Cross Street Tobacco Visit

Friday evening I was privileged to attend one of José Blanco’s (of E.P. Carillo Cigars) educational tasting events at Goose’s Montecristo Lounge and Tobacconist in Limerick, PA. José has done over 900 of these events around the world, and they are unique. My first experience with his seminar was at an IPCPR show in 2011 in a room with several hundred people. It involved four separate cigars, if memory serves, not the single toro cigar with four stripes of different wrappers applied. This time there were fifteen in attendance, I dragged my amigo Mike along for the ride, I’ve gone to many events with Mike, but this is the first with an educational component. Mike has been smoking cigars longer than I have, and met a couple years ago when he was a winner of one of my holiday contests and we met at another local shop. I always enjoy smoking cigars with Mike. I don’t think I’ve had a bad time smoking cigars with José Blanco either, he’s never ruined a great cigar for me (if you’ve ever been to one of his events, or read just about anything about them, José’s theory is that a perfect cigar can be ruined by smoking it next to an asshole, so that’s my way of saying he’s not an asshole). Not to brag or anything, but I was able to partially identify three of the four wrappers presented on the special cigar, they were mostly educated guesses, or just luck. The one I missed was embarrassing, as it was probably a tobacco I’ve smoked as much of in my life as any. I’m intentionally leaving out specifics so José doesn’t have to have the factory change up the cigars, which he said the rollers only are able to make 50 or 60 of a day, and they would be very expensive if they were regular production. The base cigar was very good on its own, however, being able to taste the subtle differences each wrapper presents is neat and educational. Any time spent with Jose is educational and enjoyable, the attendees at the event were friendly and engaged in the event, a couple of them even claimed to be readers of this site! It was a fun evening complete with great cigars, and they even had a photographer, Brian Miller of http://www.chorusphotography.com there taking photos! He took a great photo of me, no easy task since I usually look like a deer in headlights in pictures. Find me on Facebook as I’ made it my profile picture. I wrapped the evening up with the Broadleaf wrapped EP Carillo Dusk in the toro size. I love the Broadleaf, and this one wears it well. It’s rich and had that cocoa/espresso thing going on which I gravitate toward.

Yesterday, all my troubles….nevermind, although the reference is appropriate since I was supposed to drop my wife off at the Fest for Beatles Fans in Jersey City yesterday and go visit Hoboken Cigars. Plans changed and we decided to head the other direction and go to Baltimore in search of Beatles books, my wife reviews books on her blog, Beatles-Freak’s Reviews, so we went to The Book Thing, went to Philip’s at the Inner Harbor for lunch (Crab Mac & Cheese!), then found another little used book store on the way to Cross Street Tobacco for an after lunch cigar. There was a cigar lounge closer to the Inner Harbor, but it was in Larry Flynt’s Hussler Club, which didn’t sound like a family friendly place. Cross Street Tobacco is a great little shop with a very well stocked humidor and a lively clientele. There were about 20 chairs in the shop, and they brought out some folding chairs at one point. Sanford was working, he’s been working there Saturdays since they opened in 1996. They had a great selection, it was hard for me to choose what I wanted to smoke. Of course, since I’m in Pennsylvania, the land of no cigar tax, I’m often sticker-shocked when I shop in other states. That being said, their prices weren’t terrible, I picked up a couple of Inch Maduro No. 62, at 5″ x 62 with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. I really like Connecticut Broadleaf! It had occurred to me the night before that I hadn’t smoked the Inch line at all, don’t know why, just never managed to pick any up. It’s not like I’m averse to large ring gauges, and I’m certainly a fan of Ernesto Carillo‘s work, and it had come up in conversation last night. We ended up talking to a patron who was a music fan who told us we had to visit Protean Books & Records, which is in the shadow of Camden Yards, a couple blocks away, which we ended up doing. I can’t recommend Cross Street Tobacco in Baltimore more highly. Although small, it’s a classic shop with a great selection and staff and a lively customer base. The cigar was great, as was the overall experience.

I got home late last night and needed to get Macha out for a walk, so I was thinking about what cigar might fit in with the theme of the weekend. I could smoke another E.P. Carillo cigar, I’ve accumulated a few here and there, or a La Gloria Cubana. Then I came across a Señorial Maduro El Cuadro by José Blanco. A corona gorda measuring 5¾” x 46, actually one of my favorite sizes, was perfect for a short walk and unwinding from a two-hour drive. Señorial is getting hard to find around here, although, and it pains me to say, a local shop had these on their clearance shelf. The Señorial Maduro has a Mexican San Andrés Negro wrapper, with Dominican binder and filler. This vitola was presented at the 2016 IPCPR show, and might have been the last domestic release of the brand. It was a lovely cigar with a sweet earthy flavor that made me happy. The cigar was neither too big or too short, it was just right. I linked to the Señorial Facebook page because the Las Cumbres Tobaco site seems to now be about make-up, fitness and breast enhancement, I have no idea what that’s all about. Anyway, the Señorial was great, buy them up if you can find them. Maybe I’ll smoke a Freya today, I haven’t smoked on of those since I was in Iceland, where it seemed like the appropriate cigar to smoke.

It was a great weekend, even if it’s an hour shorter than 50 other weekends in the year. The payoff for the shortened weekend is more daylight in the evening hours, which I like. That’s all for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Baltimore, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Cross Street Tobacco, Dusk, EP Carillo, Goose's, Inch, Jose Blanco, Seminar, Senorial

by CigarCraig | February 4, 2018 · 10:37 am

An Espinosa Comfortably Numb Cigar at Cigars International Superstore in Hamburg PA

Yesterday was a big day at the Cigars International Superstore in Hamburg, PA. Erik Espinosa was on hand all day selling his cigars there, and there was a line wrapping around the building of people waiting to but their CigarFest tickets. I understand that tickets sold out in under a minute on-line, and I also was told that people started lining up at 4pm Friday! The crazy part of this (or one of them) was that it was brutally cold out, the very crowded CI store looked like a ski lodge with all the people bundled up. I understand that CigarFest is a big event, something like 3000 people per day over two days, with many making a weekend of it, but that kind of crowd isn’t my bag. But a lot of people dig it, so more power to them! I made for a crowded store, it was hard to find a seat, what with people leaving their coats and stuff on seats and tables and socializing elsewhere, which is in very bad form, in my opinion. Some patrons like to sit and relax, some like to wander and socialize, but you can’t have it both ways. We found a table by the door, which was constantly opening so it wasn’t very comfortable. I had bought a selection of Espinosa cigars, and lit up a CI exclusive that was recommended to be by a CI staff member called Comfortably Numb Vo,. 1. The band on this is in the classic Bob Masse ’60s concert poster style, very psychedelic. This 6″ x 52 Toro has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, Corojo binder and Nicaraguan fillers. The wrapper is milk-chocolate-brown with very fine veins, it’s an attractive cigar. I was very surprised with this cigar, pleasantly so. It was perfect for early in the day, the flavors were smooth and creamy, with some sweetness akin to a coffee with cream and sugar (which paired nicely with the cup of black coffee I enjoyed). I really should have grabbed another handful of these, but I had spent too much there already! Great cigar.

Erik Espinosa is one of those guys in the cigar industry that I don’t know as well as some, however, when I walked into the store he walked up behind me and greeted me like an old friend, as did Juan Cancel from Cubariqueno Cigar Co. and Jose Galvez, our local Espinosa sales guy. While I haven’t smoked a ton of Espinosa branded cigars, Some brands made at his La Zona factory in Esteli are among my favorites. Cornelius & Anthony, La Sirena are in my list of go tos, and I’ve enjoyed my fair share of Arandoza cigars too, and I’ve bought plenty of 601 La Bombas in the past, going back to EO brands days. One of the cigars I bought was the 601 Steel, which was an exclusive for Famous Smoke Shop, oddly enough. At some point that exclusivity agreement ended, and CI took on the line. Considering CI is headquartered in Bethlehem, PA, which was known for it’s steel mills, it makes sense for CI to carry it. It’s a reasonably priced cigar, and while it’s billed as full-bodied, I didn’t find it to be that at all. It struck me as medium at best, but what do I know. It’s listed as having a dark Habano Oscuro wrapper and Nicaraguan fillers and binder. I didn’t find the wrapper to be all that dark. It had a nice flavor, burned a little off, but OK, and was a perfectly nice smoke. I also picked up some Murciualago (with red bands and silver, a Dread, and another event exclusive that looks like an Ecuador Connecticut wrapped cigar. I’ll get to some of them in the near future. We left the shop after the one cigar, it was just to noisy and crowded for my liking. It was nice of Matt Cook, who’s the Director of Retail Operations, to stop by and say hello. I probably wouldn’t know Matt if we didn’t have a mutual friend.

In related news, it was announced this week that Thompson Cigars has been acquired by the parent company of Cigars International.

Scandinavian Tobacco Group today signed an agreement to acquire the business of Thompson and Co. of Tampa, Inc. “Thompson”). The purchase price amounts to USD 62 million and the acquisition will be financed by existing cash at hand. The closing of the deal is expected to take place by the end of March 2018.

There’s a lot more to the press release, which is at many of my colleague’s sites, but I’m going to offer my unsolicited $0.02. Over the last year or so Cigars International’s mail order division had a major problem with a new computer system, which damaged their brand significantly in the eyes of the consumer. I’m sure many retailers in both the brick and mortar and mail order spaces rejoiced. Thompson has been selling cigars for over 100 years, I ordered a special out of a magazine add in 1996 and am still on the mailing list, and have gotten plenty of phone calls from them (I wrote about their auction site back in 2012, the story is here), and never was a fan of dealing with them. Other’s have had great experiences, and, given the history, many must like them. So from my biased perspective, a company that had big problems buys a company with a questionable marketing reputation? I don’t get it, but the people spending the $62 million are much smarter than I am. I’ve never had an issue with CI, granted I live close by, and it’s nice to visit their stores, but I like visiting most stores (see last weeks post!). With plans to also open a superstore in Texas announced by CI, and Altadis’ parent company and Davidoff buying and opening stores all over the place, clearly the trend is to go direct to consumer. Will Swisher be looking to go this route? What’s the future hold for the mom & pop shops? Kinda sounds like how Walmart killed small business a little, doesn’t it?

That’s all for now. To those afflicted, enjoy Super Bowl Sunday! I know as a resident of the Philadelphia are I should be excited, but I’m not a football fan. The Flyers better get their shit together though! I have some of Bernie Parent’s cigars that I want to smoke in honor of a Stanley Cup win one of these days! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 601, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Cigars International, Comfortably Numb, Espinosa, Scandinavian Tobacco Group, Thompson