Tag Archives: cigar store

by CigarCraig | November 20, 2016 · 10:51 am

A Cain F Lancero, an Aging Room Event and a La Boheme Cigar

Thursday evening I had a craving for a favorite, so I picked out a Cain F Tubed Lancero form a box I picked up a few years ago, and have been rationing out sparingly. Ten count boxes are great, but they don’t last long, ya know? I have been a little concerned about these cigars. A few weeks ago I smoked a tubed Cain Habano that had been buried in the humidor for several years. I was deeply disappointed in the flavor of the Habano, it was heavily cedar flavored, obviously from sitting for so ling in the cedar lined tubo. Cedar is one of those flavors that I recognize in a cigar, but isn’t particularly a favorite of mine, you know by now that I’m a pushover for bittersweet chocolate and coffee. Anyway, I wanted to check on the Cain F Lanceros to see if I needed to un-tube them for further storage, as it would be a shame if these spectacular cigars changed flavor. I determined that I can leave these along for the foreseeable future. the Cain F Lancero is probably my hands down favorite lancero. The specifics on this cigar: 32% Esteli Ligero, 25% Condega Ligero and 25% Jalapa Ligero in a 7″ x 38 non-pigtailed format. Simple math tells us that there’s another 18% of something in there, I have to assume it’s a neutral seco leaf to keep all that ligero burning. It’s got a refined combination of sweetness, spice and some earthiness that really works for me. Sadly, these went out of production in 2014, but I think there are still some out there, at least in the non-tubo variety. They were very fairly priced in the $6 range.

Friday I went to the CigarCigars store two miles from my house for an Aging Room event with Mr. Rafael Nodal in attendance. This store is know for having events on Thursdays from noon to three, and I’m quite pleased that they’ve started having some evening events that I can actually make it to, which they have been doing recently. I went in hoping that they would have the new Oliveros All Stars which I really liked, but, sadly, they only had Aging Room and La Boheme offered. I picked up some Havaos, some La Bohemes and a couple of the Bin No. 1 G-Major, which I smoked while there. The Aging Room Bin No. 1 G-Major is a giant cigar, 6¼” x 63, I know, 63? I wanted to ask Rafael why 63 ring gauge, but he was busy talking politics with the regulars. The cigar features an Ecuador Habano wrapper and Dominican Habano fillers from 1999 and 2001. It has a huge band, but fortunately it has a smaller band underneath so I could remember what it was I was smoking. It was a nice, rich smoke with great refined flavor. It had lot going on with some spice a creaminess. It did require some touch ups as the burn wasn’t as perfect as I’d like in a cigar at this price-point, but we are talking about a natural product here, it didn’t retract too much from the experience. Rafael is one of the nicest guys in the industry, and very patriotic. I was happy to spend a few minutes with him in my neighborhood. Thanks to Steve and the CigarCigars folks for having events at times I can attend! It’s a little bit of a catch 22, you know. I need to go to work to have money to spend at the events, if I bag work to go to daytime events, I don’t have money to spend at them! Overly dramatic, of course, but you get the jist.

Yesterday afternoon was beautiful for late November in PA. How often can you be outside in a t-shirt this time of year? That changed dramatically in the evening, but the afternoon was perfect for sitting on the porch with a cigar and the Flyers hockey game. I chose one of the La Boheme Musico cigars I just picked up, it’s another big cigar, 6¼” x 60, and smoked well beyond the disappointing hockey game. This cigar has an Ecuador Habano wrapper and Dominican fillers much like the Bin No. 1, obviously with less age on the fillers. I thought it was a fine smoke, like the Bin No. 1 without the refinement that the aged fillers bring. I’d smoke this again in a heartbeat, preferably while watching a winning effort by the home team! For the most part, I’ve had good luck with the Boutique Blends stable of cigars, and most of what comes out of Jochi Blanco’s Tabacalera La Palma. Sure I’ve had a clunker here and there, and for some reason many of the Aging Room cigars I’ve had have been way stronger than I was prepared for. Good smokes though, I’m happy to have some in the humidor.

Here’s a little plug for my friends at Custom Tobacco, who I met with at the IPCPR show three years ago. I can’t believe it’s been that long, but I wrote about their Briarmont cigar in November of 2013, and liked it a lot, even if it hadn’t had a CigarCraig.com logo on the band! They do some really nice work if you are interested in custom banded quality cigars. Adam and Rachel are top-notch and will certainly take care of you. This is an unsolicited plug. There are other companies I’ve run across that do similar things, Bobalu and CigarCountry come to mind, all of them offer a little different twist. I can personally vouch for the quality of Custom Tobacco, and the people behind it.

At CustomTobacco.com, you can create and purchase the unique, memorable and fun gift we all struggle to find: fully customized premium cigars, including a private label cigar band that can include any messaging, logos, color scheme, etc. We also offer a free concierge service in which customers can call or email us and we can both design the cigar band and help select the cigars free of charge. 2016 has been a great year for Custom Tobacco, with media outlets including Sports Illustrated, The Daily Beast, American Way (American Airlines’ Magazine) and the Los Angeles Business Journal highlighting our unique offering. With your continued support, we hope to make this our best holiday season yet.

That’s about it for now. I have a bunch of new cigars that I’ll be getting to in the next couple weeks, and I’m working on a new idea for this years contests. The FDA has made things difficult as far as getting boxes of cigars to give away, but I’ve got some other ideas up my sleeve. It’s just a matter of getting it all worked out. Of course, if you guys don’t want the chance to win goodies…

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Events, Review, Stores

Tagged as Aging Room, cain, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Custom Tobacco, La Boheme

by CigarCraig | October 30, 2016 · 10:32 am

Davidoff, Tatuaje, and Surrogates Cigars and an Event

To start of today I have to rewind to last Sunday, when I wrapped up a nice day in the city with a Davidoff Nicaragua Box Pressed Robusto, one of the new cigars in the line this year. If I was impressed with the toro, I was really impressed with the robusto! This one measures 5″ x 48, which feels even smaller with the box press. It features tobaccos from four growing regions in Nicaragua: Condega, Jalapa, Ometepe and Esteli, with the ligero coming from Esteli. As with the Toro, it burned perfectly as one would expect (or, dare I say, demand!), with a great draw, tons of rich, tasty smoke and a firm ash. This is a special cigar, right up my alley in terms of flavor and strength, but priced outside my personal comfort range, but for special cigars, my price threshold has been expanding recently. I would certainty recommend this cigar as a special occasion smoke. As I said of the toro, it’s yummy.

Fast forward to Saturday, when I went back to one of my favorite shops, the Wooden Indian, where they were having a Halloween party of sorts, along with a combined My Father, Tatuaje, L’Atellier, Surogates event with KC Johnson on hand. I introduced myself to KC, apologizing for not having met him before, I saw him at the IPCPR show and I suppose he was with someone at the time or something, I just felt weird for not having met him before. He’s a super nice guy, friendly and knowledgeable and a good fit for the cigar business. While I was there I smoked the Tatuaje Reserva Miami K222, new this year, and an homage to Pete Johnson’s dog Kona, who lost his battle with cancer last year after losing a leg to the disease. I have a soft spot in my heart for three-legged dogs, and offered words of encouragement to Pete when Kona was losing his leg. In our dog’s case, when lost her leg to a bad break, not cancer, but it’s amazing how animals adapt, within days they are getting around fine. Anyway, I felt compelled to smoke the K222, and it’s a fantastic smoke. Take the afore-mentioned Davidoff, kick the strength up a notch, and the sophistication and subtlety down a notch, and you have the Tatuaje. If that sounds like a dig, it’s not, it a different experience but no less satisfying. The K222 is 5 7/8″ x 52 with an Ecuador Habano wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers and is made in the El Rey de los Habanos factory in Doral, Florida. Obviously the “K” stands for Kona, Pete’s Rottweiler, who passed away at 2:22 on April 22, hence the 222 in the name. It’s yet another great cigar from the Tatuaje line.

While I was at the Wooden Indian, I kind gave Dave, the owner, a little grief about the inappropriateness of his Native American costume, with cultural appropriation being currently out of fashion. PC BS, nobody was insulted back in my childhood when we dressed as hobos, old ladies or banditos, I was even a mafioso once Halloween with a toy machine gun, offensive on several levels in today’s world. I guess if Dave had been standing outside his store with a bundle of cigars in his hand I would have gotten it, but I was slow on the uptake and only “got it” this morning. Anyway, I bought a Tatuaje Monster Series The Krueger, and I’m wondering if I should smoke it tomorrow evening, Halloween, or put it away for a while? What do you all think? I also picked up a couple of the Surrogates Animal Cracker AC550, as I’ve enjoyed several cigars in that line and hadn’t tried this one yet. I set one on fire last night and it’s a powerful, full flavored cigar. I loved the closed foot, it feels like it’s plugged on the Cold Draw (one of my favorite podcasts currently, BTW, an unsolicited plug), but upon setting fire to the foot it opens up and is perfect. This one has an Ecuador Habano Oscuro wrapper, burns well, produces lots of smoke and is a great cigar if one likes strong cigars (or needs a little help and doesn’t like taking laxatives, TMI?). So far I’ve tried and liked the Broadleaf wrapped Skull Breaker and Bone Crusher, so I guess the Tramp Stamp and Crystal Baller are next on my to try list. These are made at the My Father factory in Esteli, and blended by Pete Johnson and the L’Atelier team. These aren’t subtle, the are aggressive, as the names might suggest, but are worth trying f you have a strong constitution!

That’s enough for now, I have a busy week, I’ve got a Prime Living Article deadline coming up, a weekend getaway that I need to write and schedule a post for, and various other preparations to make. since I was lazy last week and put off my usual Wednesday post for Friday, I’m going to make every effort to get back on track this week and not be a slug. So, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Animal Cracker, cigar, cigar store, cigars, davidoff, K222, L'Atelier, My Father, Surrogates, tatuaje, wooden indian

by CigarCraig | October 23, 2016 · 9:01 am

Some Tatuaje Cigars, a Cromagon, an Event and a Disappontment

Thursday evening my wife and I went into Philly for a show, and stopped into Holts for a quick cigar before hand. I picked out a Tatuaje Verocu No. 5 and we hung out in the lounge and watched the beginning of the Flyers home opener. The Verocu No. 5 is a 4″ x 40 little guy, with tons of flavor. It has an Ecuador wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and filler and is a terrific little treat. It went great with a cup of black coffee, and a relaxing hour in Holt’s lounge. It had that great cocoa and strong, black coffee flavor I love, with a hint of spice. These are very good cigars. Pete Johnson happened to be doing an event at Holt’s other location the same night, and was going to be in the downtown store Friday. I was sorry I didn’t catch up with him, but we had a nice evening anyway.

Friday I decided to give a reasonably new cigar a second chance, since to first one had some construction issues. I’m not going to name names in fairness to the cigar, as my experiences may have been atypical, but I will talk about the experience. Clever readers who folow me on social media will be able to connect the dots. This cigar has been resting in the humidor, along with all the other cigars I regularly smoke, since it came home from the IPCPR back in July. Basically, it burned and smoked like it was wet. Perhaps this particular wrapper, which is touted as a new hybrid leaf, just holds a lot of moisture and needs to be dry boxed or stored at a lower humidity. It just seemed wet to me. It wouldn’t stay lit, and when it was it had that steamy quality to the smoke. It was one of those rare cigars that makes me wish I carried a back-up on my walks. When I got home I did something I rarely do and abandoned it and lit up a short robusto from Dunhill, their new Aged Maduro. This just looks like a delicious cigar, but it had a funky flavor that I wasn’t expecting. I’m going to give this one a second chance as maybe my palate was out of whack from the first cigar, it’s not fair to make a judgement under those circumstances.

Yesterday I went up to Cigars International in Hamburg as they were having a big Drew Estate event, and it was a rainy, ugly fall day. The CI store there is a destination, and adult Disneyland, and it’s hard not to spend five hours there. I went up with Mike C., and met an old friend there, and said hello to a bunch of my Drew Estate friends. I couldn’t decide on a DE cigar to smoke, it seems I’ve smoked everything I wanted to smoke from them, and had plenty in my humidor at home, so Mike and I went off the menu and picked out a couple Tatuaje Avion 11, a 6¾ x 52 perfecto. This was a beautifully crafted cigar with an Ecuador wrapper again, and Nicaraguan binder and filler much like the aforementioned Verocu. It started off with a blast of spice, settled into a rich espresso and cocoa flavor, and finished of with some more spice. I noted that the burn was just about perfect, with a nice, flat ember that I really enjoy, as it shows the care that went into blending a cigar in a way that all the components burn at the same rate, a rare feat. After that I picked up some RoMaCraft Cromagnon Fomorian candela robustos, to finish off the afternoon. While this probably should have come before a full-bodied cigar like the Avion, it still has the horsepower to keep up, and I like the refreshing kind of feeling the candela wrapper gives this cigar. Of course, Jonathan Drew was scheduled to be at this event, and hadn’t shown by the time we left. It was nice to see a lot of my DE friends though, and we had a nice afternoon of conversation and cigars.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Avion, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Cigars International, Cromagn, drew estate, Dunhill, Fomorian, holt's, tatuaje, Verocu

by CigarCraig | September 28, 2016 · 9:19 pm

A Room 101 Event and a Cavalier Geneva White Series Cigar

Sunday I had mentioned that we were going to Cigars International‘s Downtown Bethlehem store where Matt Booth was having a Room 101 event. We got there (it’s about an hour and a half drive), to find out there was a Celtic festival going on, making it difficult to find a place to park! After driving around for another thirty minutes we finely found a place to park and made our way to the store. The Downtown store is a a small shop with a couple of chairs but a rather large selection. Fortunately, it was a nice day, and they had tables and chairs on the sidewalk. There was a lot of foot traffic, mostly oddly costumed folks in kilts and whatnot. They even had Celtic music playing on street side speakers. And then there was Matt Booth. This was a cool event, as there weren’t lines of people there for the event, so there was a lot of good one on one time with Matt. He even had his attorney there, which, if you follow him on social media, is what he calls his young son, who is about as cute as can be. I bought a hand full of cigars and lit up a Room 101 Big Payback Connecticut Hueso, the 6″ x 60 gordo in the line. This was a very good cigar, and to my surprise, Matt was smoking one as well, in the robusto size, and said that it’s his recent go-to cigar. It was a nice, smooth and very flavorful cigar, quite a nice smoke for a beautiful afternoon in good company. I had gotten some of the Nicaraguan wrapped Big Paybacks too and almost regretted not getting more of the Connecticut, although I like the original Big Payback as well. If you ever have occasion to spend some time with Matt Booth, jump on it, he’s one of the more interesting gentlemen in the cigar industry!

When I got home I lit up a Room 101 Uncle Lee, a cigar Matt made to pay tribute to his uncle who introduced him to cigars. I only bought a couple of these as they only had a couple left, I would have bought a 10 count box if they hadn’t already sold out. The Uncle Lee is only made in the Ranfla size, the 6½ x 50 perfecto size that you find in Room 101’s Johnny Tobbaconaut line, the new Chief Cool Arrow, and the Namakubi line. This was a really interesting cigar with an Ecuador Habano wrapper, Nicaraguan Corojo binder and Honduran and Dominican Corojo fillers, so lots of Corojo. There was a flavor sensation akin to mint that wound it’s way through the smoke. This was a really nice cigar, I enjoyed the crap out of it, and may have to pick up a box. Matt mentioned that CI bought the remaining inventory, so they might be the only game in town for that cigar. It was a really nice cigar day.

Last night I went into the IPCPR sample humidor and pulled out an interesting cigar from a booth we just happened upon on our last day at the show. Cavalier of Geneva is a Swiss cigar company, and their cigars feature a 24 carat gold diamond on the wrapper. I smoked the Cavalier of Geneva White Series Diplomate, a 5½ x 56 with a pigtail cap. the cigars feature a five country blend, Habano wrapper, Connecticut binder and fillers from Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Paraguay. The cigar was a nice, well-balanced smoke, on the milder side in strength, but medium in flavor. It burned well, and the gold embellishment on the wrapper had no effect in flavor or burn, but it was kind of neat to watch it burn. These were supposed to be available in the US as of August 1, and are being distributed by Dallas Texas-based CigarArt. I’m very interested in trying the maduro in this line, and I should have smoked it tonight, but, for whatever reason, I decided against it. The San Andrés Negra wrapper over Arapiraca binder sounds quite intriguing.

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

CigarCraig

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Filed under Events, IPCPR, Review, Stores

Tagged as Cavalier, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Cigars International, Room 101

by CigarCraig | September 21, 2016 · 9:23 pm

La Flor Dominicana Event at CigarCigars in Frazer, PA

Monday evening I stopped by my local CigarCigars shop which is only about two miles from home. This shop usually has early events, typically from noon to three on a weekday, making it hard for those of us with day jobs to attend. Steve does a fine job of running this shop, which is a free-standing former convenience store. They were having a La Flor Dominicana event and were staying open later than usual for the Eagles NFL game. I picked up a handful of LFDs, which I typically enjoy. I opted for some cigars I hadn’t smoked yet, a few of the 6″ x 64 LFD Ligero L- Granú, and some of the 4½” x 60 Double Ligero DL660. Since free samples is a thing of the past, I did receive one of LFDs event only toros with the $10 I paid to attend the event, which also took $10 off my purchase. It worked out to be a good deal. Kyle, the local LFD rep was there and gave an excellent video presentation in the lounge, which is a Montecristo lounge and is quite comfortable. The video, and Kyle’s talk along with it, told the story of how cigars are made, and the care and dedication that goes into them. I’m a little jaded, of course, but it’s always fun seeing others who haven’t had the privileges I’ve enjoyed learning about all the work and time that goes into these tubes of tobacco we love so much. I’ll admit to being critical of some of the stores in the CigarCigars chain, which has 10 or 12 stores in the area, with six within about 10 miles of home, but the Frazer store ain’t bad, I just wish they’d have more evening events!

While there I smoked one of the L- Granús, and I smoked another one tonight. This is a big cigar, as I mentioned, it’s 6″ x 64 and comes in a huge box of 100 cigars. While I don’t see dropping $800 on a box, these are a tasty smoke with a lot of strength. I thought the larger ring gauge would temper the blend, but on both occasions I had to put the cigar down with an inch and a half to go (a reasonable time to put a cigar down, but I tend to go a little farther) because it was starting to get to me! Not a lot of cigars do that to me anymore. The draw was fairly open, but the smoke production could have been better. Still, a tasty treat that smoked for a good two hours on both occasions. Last night I smoked the 4½x 60 Double Ligero DL660 (shouldnt it be a 460?), which was also a heavy smoke, although it didn’t get to me like the L-Granu. Perhaps the shorter format was a little more nicotine friendly, despite it being the heavier Double Ligero blend. It can’t be a bad week when it starts off smoking La Flor Dominicanas, I’ve been a fan of these for twenty years, they are almost always a special occasion.