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A Djeep Lighter, New La Gloria Cubana, Punch and Los Statos Deluxe Cigars

Welcome to the “last weekend  of summer”.  My birthday and Labor Day always get me down as they indicate the coming of cooler, and eventually cold, weather, which I dislike.  I like summer.  I like stepping outside in the morning and feeling warm.  I like not having to bundle up.  I know some people like autumn, but it just depresses me.  I’m already looking forward to spring! Anyway, I was going through the checkout line at Walmart this week and my eye usually looks at the selection of lighters, and I saw something I hadn’t seen before, a Djeep Turbo Lighter.  I figured for $5 it was worth a try. I broke a couple torches lately, although I still have plenty, but one more won’t hurt.  It comes full of butane, ready to go, and really works well. It brings to mind the classic Blazer PB207, as it has a cap secured with a chain. It, thankfully, doesn’t have a switch to lock the flame on, which I always thought was a liability. The flame is adjustable and it’s refillable. I’ll use the heck out of it and see how it holds up, but initially I’m impressed.  Djeep is a good name in lighters, the soft flame disposable has always done well, I think I had one Macanudo branded many years ago.  There are probably cheaper torches that work just fine, but this is a brand name and is easily accessible. The link is to Amazon where they sell a six pack and is an affiliate link. If twenty of you buy these it might pay for the one I bought! 

 

I received some new releases from Forged Cigars and General cigars a couple weeks back, and was disappointed to receive the press release, but not the cigars,  for a new La Gloria Cubana, a long time favorite brand.  Fortunately, my friend Phil of Comedy-Cigars-Music shared a couple of his with me.  The La Gloria Cubana Gran Legado is a large figurado, 7¾” x 62, with a Connecticut Broadleaf maduro wrapper over Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers.  Each cigar has a secondary band with a signature of one of the team who created it, and they only use rollers with 15 or more years of experience.  I had a busy week at the day job, and was ready to sit down and relax with a cigar Friday, and I chose this large cigar to do it with.  This was a really good smoke.  I’ve had some issues with some of the La Gloria releases lately, but this ain’t one of them.  It’s huge, so it smoked for about two and a half hours, and had some nice cocoa flavors with some spice through the nose.  Mid way through there was some interesting savory flavors, a cigar this large needs some transitions to keep it interesting.  I really enjoyed this cigar, I think it’s very fairly priced at $15, and I really appreciate Phil sharing his with me.  

 

Next up from Forged was the latest Matt Booth/Justin Andrews colab in the Los Statos Deluxe line, the Connecticut. I’ll be honest, I thought the other “LSD” offerings were OK, but I really like this one, and it’s really hard to get me excited about shade wrapped cigars.  This one has an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper, Esteli, Jalapa, Nicaraguan Habano, and PA Broadleaf fillers, and, get this, it’s made at the Joya de Nicaragua factory!  No wonder I liked it.  Before I read where it was made, I was thinking that this was a really good budget alternative to a Sobremesa Brulee, and now I know why!  This is on a par with the Antaño CT and the Brulee as far as I’m concerned. I’ve smoked a couple of these and really enjoyed them, it’s a smooth, creamy cigar, with some cane sugar sweetness and an appropriate amount of spice.  I need to find some of the other sizes, the Churchill especially.  Look for the purple packaging, because you can’t see the wrapper to know what you’re getting!

 

Moving from the Forged division of STG to the General Cigar Co. side,  I smoked the new Punch Golden Era in Lancero.  Nearly a year ago I wrote about the robusto in this collaboration with Julio and Justo Eiroa of JRE Cigars.  I remember getting the Golden Era along with the Macanudo Vintage Maduro 2013 and being confused by the fact that the Macanudo was the stronger cigar. Like I mentioned last year, unlike the Punch Rare Corojo, this Golden Era actually has Corojo in the blend, Honduran Corojo wrapper with Honduran Corojo and Habano fillers.  This is a nice cigar with some bread and caramel notes.  The press release incorrectly states that this is the only Punch lancero, unless the 7″ x 37 Chop Suey doesn’t count because it was limited.  I think the lancero was better than the robusto, I planned to smoke one while writing this, but a persisting migraine made me scrap that idea. I’ll have one later.  

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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A Cigar Adventure: a Visit to Up Down Cigars and a PCA Event in Chicago

I did something wild this week, for me at least.  I attended the Premium Cigar Association‘s Democratic National Convention event at Up Down Cigars in Chicago, IL.  I I made the whole trip within a 24 hour window.  Here’s how it went down:  I flew from Philly to O’Hare on Tuesday, arriving in Chicago around 1PM local time.  I walked about 22 miles from the gate to the train that would take me, eventually, to the Blue Line train into the city.  The “L” train stop was about 2 miles from the shop, so instead of trying to take a bus, I figured I had time to hoof it. Said bus passed me several times. Anyway, I got to Up Down Cigars around 3:30 for the 6:00 PCA event.  Rats, I’ll have to hang around a cigar shop for a couple hours.  The staff at this shop is quite knowledgeable and attentive, it’s not a large shop, cabinet humidors around the perimeter (actually fronts for the walk in behind it where the backstock is stored), with some cabinets here and there with accessories, pipes and humidors.  It’s rather cramped, by suburban store standards, but fairly typical for a city shop with a long history (The original owner, Diana Silvius, is a legend in the cigar business. Phil Ledbetter is the current owner, an instantly likable guy).  I perused the humidors looking for something to fill the time.  I was directed to a store exclusive, the Fausto 10/50.  

 

I’m going to pause here to talk about the cigar, the Fausto 10/50.  This was made for the 50th anniversary of the shop back in 2013, which was also Tatuaje Cigar‘s 10th anniversary.  This is a 6 3/8″ x 42 lonsdale, with an Ecuador Habano Maduro wrapper, and Nicaraguan binder and fillers, made at the My Father Factory in Esteli.  This is an exceptional cigar, I smoked two this week, one a the shop and one when I got home.  Smaller ring cigars need to be smoked slowly, this is one to be savored, first because over drawing it will make it burn hot and ruin it, second because it has some strength, and in the case of the one I smoked at the shop, I was pacing myself because it had already been a long day and I had a long night ahead of me.  It’s a heavy cigar with cocoa and some spice, an absolute bargain at $10.50, although with applicable Chicago taxes it was more like $13.75.  I really like the Fausto line, and this was a really good version. I bought 3, smoked two, have one left to savor at a future time!

 

Back to the trip.  Shortly after I arrived at the shop, Boston Jimmie of Stogie Press showed up and we hung out until the event at 6.  The PCA hosted events at both political conventions, I was unable to attend the one in Milwaukee for the RNC.  The event was held in the patio area behind the store, a maybe 30′ x 50′ tented area. Drew Estate was the cigar sponsor, so I had a Liga Privada No. 9 while there, although there were many choices available.  Ben Pearson, the area rep was there.  I finally met Josh Habursky who was recently appointed Executive Director after Scott Pearce left to head the Cigar Association of America. Scott was there as well and I had a chance to talk to him a bit.  I also got to hang out with my friend Luigi Lucente, the man behind the Cigar Medics Humidimeter, The Baller cigar cutter, and the Guillotina de Saka cigar cutter, among other

Photo Courtesy of Boston Jimmie

clever cigar accessories. I imagine there were somewhere around 100 people there.  It was a nice event with various hors d’oeuvres, wine, beer and liquor.  After the event Luigi dropped me at the train and I made my way back to O’Hare to await my 6am flight.  

 

They had issued something like 350 free tickets for this event with a waiting list of 200.  If everyone had showed up it would have been a disaster.  It occurs to me that they should have put a nominal fee on the tickets, which would incentivise people to attend if they really wanted to, and raise some money for the association.  I don’t know that any of the Democratic legislators who are key to the cigar industry fight against taxation and regulation were there, I have to think that holding it during the convention hours (and the convention center was 7 miles away, which might take 2 hours in Chicago traffic!) might have deterred their attendance.  It was a nice event, I’m glad I put myself through what I did to attend, but I can see how it could have been better.  I understand that the Milwaukee event was more elaborate, given the way many in the cigar industry lean politically, I can see where more might have gone into that one.  Anyway, good event, great people and a really nice shop. I discovered that walking through a deserted O’Hare was surreal, and I’m too old for pulling all nighters!

 

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

CigarCraig

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VegaFina, Tatuaje, Umbagog and Blackened Cigars

I smoked a selection of cigars this week that I recently picked up on several shop visits that were all new to me.  A few weeks back I stopped in New Tobacco Village in Whitehall, PA and one of the cigars I picked up was the VegaFina Exclusivo USA Patriot.  VegaFina has a very small footprint in the USA, but has a pretty wide range available in Europe.  I’ve smoked a few over the years, and, much like a lot of the Altadis portfolio, wasn’t too enamoured with them.  I figured I’d give this one a shot.  It came out almost a year ago, is a 6″ x 54 toro, has an Ecuadorian wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. It was a nice smoke, rather light bodied with some wood and citrus tang.  Not my favorite profile, but it was a perfectly good cigar.  I try to smoke cigars that aren’t in my wheelhouse, once in a while I find a gem, but it wouldn’t be a cigar I’d buy a box of.

 

I stopped into CigarMojo (the King of Prussia, PA location) last week and smoked a really good Dias de Gloria Brazil and picked up a couple other cigars that I had wanted to try.  The first one I smoked was the Tatuaje LLE Broadleaf Reserva.  I love the Broadleaf Reservas as a rule, and this lonsdale size look really good.  This is a relatively new release, and pretty reasonably priced at $11. The cigar is 6¾” x 42, has a rich Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers, made in the My Father Factory.  I went into this cigar knowing that I had to relax and take it slow, there’s not many things worse than overheating a really good cigar, and this was a really good cigar.  It starts out spice heavy, and then the cocoa/coffee flavors come through.  I might have to get some more of these before they are gone as they only made 1500 boxes.

 

Yesterday was busy, we’ve been re-doing our foyer after putting it off for almost ten years, which involved stripping the painted wallpaper off (which my wife handled) and patching and sanding the bare drywall.  It must have been a thing in 1959 to go straight to wallpaper, because the walls hadn’t been painted.  Walls I can handle, the ceiling is giving me problems!  I  don’t care for working over my head.  I also cut the front lawn and forgot, for the second week in a row, that there was a yellowjacket nest.  Bastards got me three times, maybe I’ll remember next time I mow!  After a while I gave up and sat down with a cigar, and I chose an Umbagog Bronzeback which I had picked up at Harrisburg Beer and Cigar last month.  Of course, I very much love the Umbagogs, so I’d been looking forward to smoking this one.  This Bronzeback is to Umbagog kindof what Triqui Traca is to Mi Querida.  It comes in one vitola, 5″ x 48, and has a lower priming Broadleaf wrapper than the regular Umbagog line (which uses the wrapper leaves Saka deems as not pretty enough for Mi Querida).  This has some exotic spices along with some earthy sweetness, not quite as chocolatey as the regular line.  I loved it, it was the right size, and right flavor for the time.  It’s a little more of a premium offering than its predecessors, a little fancier band and packaging, and a little higher price tag, but well worth it. 

 

Finally, another cigar I picked up at Mojo that I have been looking forward to trying was the newish Drew Estate Blackened S84 Shade to Black.  I really like the M81 from time to time, so I was interested to see what an Ecuador Connecticut Shade wrapper over Connecticut Broadleaf binder and Pennsylvania and Nicaraguan fillers would be like.  Of course I got the 6″ x 52 toro. The binder and fillers are fermented to a Maduro.  I was hoping to really like this, but it wasn’t really my thing.  It seemed too strong for the wrapper, which while it added some nuttiness to the blend, was easily overpowered.  I understand the idea, and it’s different. but it didn’t really work for me. I’m wired to associate shade wrappers with a more delicate blend, I guess.  I’m glad I gave it a shot, and I might try one again, but my preference leans toward the M81 (which is named after the year I graduated high school).  

 

That’s all for now.  I’m going to try to go on a little cigar adventure this week, I won’t say anything until it gets worked out.  Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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Some New Hoyo de Monterrey, Bolivar and Alec Bradley Cigars

I have long been a fan of the Hoyo de Monterrey brand, going back to the ’90s.  I smoked the maduro (and double maduro) Rothschilds, and when I wanted to splurge, I picked up an Excalibur No. 1 (for about $5!).  I even wrote an article back in 2012 comparing the Punch and Hoyo brands (Punch vs. Hoyo-de-Monterrey, A Debate Finally Settled). I always get a little excited when General Cigars comes out with a new Hoyo.  This time around they have the Oscuro and Rojo.  I sense a theme at the company, after the release of the CAO Fasa Sol and Noche, releasing two cigars with different wrappers. I, as I usually do, tried out the Oscuro first.  The Hoyo de Monterrey Oscuro has a Brazilian Mata Fina wrapper, Ecuador Sumatra binder and Dominican, Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers, and comes from the HATSA factory in Danli, Honduras.  The wrapper is dark, I had high hopes.  I smoked a couple of these and found that the initial flavors were weird, bordering on yucky.  Creosote, came to mind, like how burning a railroad tie might taste, very pungent.  The company has tasting notes of cherry cola, white and cayenne pepper, molasses and rye bread. I’d have to really reach to get maybe the molasses.  It moved to tolerable after a while, but never really tripped my trigger.  Construction was good!  I’ll let some age for a while.  

 

Moving on the the Hoyo de Monterrey Rojo, which has a Honduran Jamastran wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Dominican, Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers. Both of these were in the Toro size, 6″ x 52, which made me happy (although I might have prefered the Oscuro in the Rothschild, as it would have been done quicker).  I really liked this cigar!  As was the case with the CAO Fasa, I liked the “natural” more than the maduro!  This cigar has what I refer to as “bright” flavors, a citrus tang, and just good tobacco.  This was a really nice cigar and I look forward to smoking more.  These are both priced from $5.99 to $8.49, darned reasonable these days.  

 

Next up was what I believe to be the first Alec Bradley cigar produced under new ownership, the Alec Bradley Safe Keepings.  This is the first in a line that is from the Alec Bradley bled book, a Nicaraguan puro made at the Oliva factory.  It uses Jalapa, Condega and Esteli Criollo 98 tobaccos, and prices run from $10.49 to $15.19.  I had the robusto, which is 5″ x 52.  I find that I like robustos on a Saturday afternoon after the chores/projects are done, possibly before an afternoon nap.  No nap yesterday, but it’s been known to happen.  Considering Criollo usually isn’t my bag, nor are flavors I consider woody, this was a really nice cigar.  It has a woody sweetness, medium bodied, and really quite elegant.  The band is kind of cool, it leaves room for alterations for future releases.  I can see the starry, crescent moon background being changed to a sunny blue sky for another release.  I was surprised how much I liked this.

 

Finally, I smoked the newest addition to the Bolivar line, the Bolivar Cofraida Oscuro.  Like the Hoyo Oscuro, this has a Ecuador Sumatra binder and Dominican, Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers, but has a dark Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper.  It comes in three sizes, Robusto, Toro and Gigante, I had the 5″ x 54 Robusto.  I believe this line started as a JR Cigars exclusive, much like the Hoyo Excalibur line, that was before JR was acquired by Altadis.  I really like this cigar, it’s up my alley.  It has rich, dark chocolate with some spice.  Remember when they came out with the Bolivar with the big red band?  I really liked that cigar, although I prefer the classic Simon Bolivar bands.  That one was a Foundry line, this one is in the Forged line.  This is also a reasonable priced cigar, I’ll be on the lookout for the toro.  Remember when the Cuban Bolivar was a really strong cigar?  

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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Flatbed Cigars Homestead Field Sampler

I went on a bit of a buying spree recently.  In addition to buying a bunch of Dunbarton cigars at last week’s event at Harrisburg Beer and Cigar, I picked up a sampler from Flatbed Cigars.  It should be noted that there are always discount codes for use on their site (USA20 and TRY20 are two), and there’s a daily deal that can be accessed on the left sidebar of my site.  I saw this sampler and it looked like something I wanted to try.  It’s billed as a field to field sampler, representing various combinations of strengths, countries of origin and sizes.  I smoked four of the six this week.  I like to keep my sunday posts around four cigars, I’m not sure I’d read past that, so I don’t expect others to either.  It also gives me a few days through the week to enjoy cigars without having to think about them.  I started with the Farmers Blend Sumatra.  This is listed on the website as 7″ x 60, which is accurate, the printed handout which accompanied the sampler lists it as 6″ x 70, as well as other places on the website.  I’m glad it wasn’t the later, although 7″ x 60 is still a formidable cigar, the kind you hope you like when trying it for the first time!  This has a Sumatra wrapper, a binder with the ambiguous “Cuban Seed” designation, and fillers from Pennsylvania,  Nicaragua and he DR.  The Nicaraguan and Dominican are classified Ligero, with two different DR Ligeros.  This is probably the strongest in the sampler, but I didn’t find it to be overly so.  It started out with some dry, sourness, but it built nicely and had a very nice flavor.  I found it to be an interesting cigar throughout the two hours or so it took me to smoke it.  

 

The next one I smoked was the Henshaw Street, a 6½” x 54 cigar with a San Andrés wrapper, Dominican binder and PA, Nicaraguan Ligero and what I guess is Dominican Cubano seco.  The name refers to a back road, and is a rustic blend.  This was a really enjoyable cigar for me. It had a nice, sweet spice which I found quite enjoyable.  Burn and draw were good, it need a touch up here. and there, but that kind of added to the appeal.  it was solidly medium in strength, but very flavorful I’ve had two good cigars in this sampler so far, fingers crossed on the rest.

 

Saturday I cut the grass and did some other stuff around the house, and wasn’t feeling like I wanted to smoke powerhouse cigars, so I concentrated on the milder end of the spectrum in the sampler.  I started with the Harvest, presented in a 6″ x 50  toro.  This has a sun grown Connecticut wrapper, as opposed to shade grown, it sure wasn’t broadleaf.  the binder is Dominican and it has DOminican and Nicaraguan Ligero in the filler, which is odd for a mild cigar.  I thought this was a solid Dominican shade type cigar, with sweet cream and nuts flavors.  Very nice while recovering and watching some Olympics coverage. 

 

Later I went with the other cigar that was listed as mild-medium, the Track 7.  This has the same Connecticut grown wrapper as the Harvest,  with two Dominican Ligeros and a seco, Nicaraguan Ligero and some Kentucky Fire Cured in the mix. The fire cured is subtle, but apparent.  It has the distinctive tang without the heavy smokiness, akin to the Lecia Black or the Cuevas Patrimonio.  The tang went nicely with the smooth, creaminess, making for a nice blend.  This was a 6″ x 60, and was well balanced, and burned well.  I still have the VLI Pennsylvania 41 Small toro  and the Pennsyltucky PA Broadleaf toro to go, they might be the two I looked forward to smoking the most.  I have had the Pennsyltucky in a different size, but it’s been many years!  I continue to be impressed by the Panacea/Flatbed offerings. They are an advertiser, but I’ve purchased all of the cigars I’ve smoked from them.  

 

Next week I’ll showcase another Pennsylvania based  cigar company. Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

 

 

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