Thursday there was an Alec Bradley event at the world famous Cigar Mojo in King of Prussia (that’s about 20 minutes outside Philadelphia for those who don’t know. Ask your wives, they probably know the area for the enormous mall!) Jonathan Lipson was present and managed to sell through all of the Filthy Hooligans before I arrived. Trae, the co-owner of the shop managed to find me one, so I picked up some Nica Puros too and settled in with the candela toro. I enjoyed several of these last year, and still have one buried in the humidor someplace. I think this is a great tasting smoke. I like the way the candela wrapper tempers the Black Market blend. The downside is that the use an inordinate amount of glue on the bands, which is understandable, they have to stay in place through a secondary sleeve, as 
well as cellophane. Removing the band does a number on the fragile wrapper. The flavor is refreshing to me, it’s clean and I like this cigar. I was unhappy that I couldn’t go home with a handful of these. My brother-in-law was in Holts the previous evening and they had sold out there too. The event was well attended, we even ran into those guys from The Cigar Lounger magazine again. Always a pleasure having a cigar with Vince, Graham, Steve and Drew. Trae and Wade are consummate hosts, always checking in , emptying ashtrays and making sure all is well. A good time was had by all, and I’m still looking for a few Hooligans!
Friday evenings I try to smoke something I know will be satisfying after a long work week, but I decided to try a new cigar that was sent to me by the folks at Nice Ash Cigars in New York State. As it is, THE Kind is an exclusive in their three stores (one of which is in North-western Pennsylvania), but they hope to distribute on a larger scale. The cigar is the Toro, which is 5¾” x 56, is nicecly box pressed and has a closed foot and a pigtail cap. It’s a very appealing looking cigar. It’s made in Omar Ortez’s factory in Esteli, and has a Jalapa Corojo wrapper with Nicaraguan filler and binder. I really enjoyed the cigar, it had a nice sweetness and was full of flavor, but was a solid medium in strength. It burned fairly well, even though it had only been in my humidor for about a week. I’ll give the other sample a few months rest, but I’m sure it’ll be just as good. My thanks to Andrew at Nice Ash Cigars for thinking of me.
This week I also received a prototype of a Cigar Transporter Tube from Kevin, the maker of these tubes and the gentleman behind the Indiegogo campaign to raise capital to purchase a lathe so he can produce these on his own. The tube is a Dupont Delrin® plastic which is an industrial strength thermoplastic used to make precision parts. He machines this to pretty tight tolerances and matches the top and bottom halves to insure a perfect fit. I had one of the machinists where I work take a look and he was impressed with the machining, and he’s a perfectionist. I put a cigar in this tube and toted it around with me and it worked out very well. Check out his Indiegogo campaign here and throw a couple bucks his way, he’s got some tubes listed as perks for donating, I am looking forward to seeing the aluminum version.
Saturday afternoon I took a nice, long walk with an Aging Room M21 Fortissimo that I received at the IPCPR show last July. This was in a coffin box, and is a nice perfecto shape, probably around 5½ x 46, which is a great size. I’ve heard many great things about this cigar, so I had high hopes. A few months ago I smoked an Aging Room M356 Rondo and it conspired to kick my ass, so I was a little worried. Unfortunately, this cigar must have been stored in slightly higher humidity than it should have. Rafael Nodal, the principle at Aging Room told me directly just today that this cigar is all ligero, so it’s sensitive to higher humidity (the humidor reads in the low 60s, go figure). I had a heck of a time keeping it burning, and given my experience with the M356, I was hesitant to over smoke it to keep it burning. The flavor was very good, and I will be looking for another sample to fully appreciate the cigar this is supposed to be. Rafael generously offered to send me another, however I think I’ll try to find one in one of my local shops. These guys are really making some great cigars, so I have every confidence that my experience was a fluke. The fact that the same factory is working with José Blanco speaks to the quality of their tobacco and production.
That’s all for today, apologies for not getting this out this morning, but other projects took precedence. Until the next time,
Cigar Craig
