Tag Archives: CigarCigars

by CigarCraig | January 21, 2018 · 9:44 am

EP Carillo Classic Series Dusk Solidos Cigar

Yesterday I finally had the chance to revisit the EP Carillo Dusk. I smoked this a year and a half ago and really liked it, and was spending a few hours at the cigar store and this cigar caught my eye. I’ve been terrible about sampling the EP Carillo range, there have only been a couple I’ve tried, which is weird considering my admiration for Ernesto’s past work (and present, the La Gloria Cubana Coleccion Reserva was one of my most memorable cigars of 2017). I’m trying to remedy that, and am going to try to remember to pick up something from the EC range when I’m in the shop. I met up with a couple friends at the local CigarCigars branch to kill some time, and started off with the EP Carillo Classic Series Dusk Solidos , the 6″x 60 offering. I had previously smokes and enjoyed the “Obscure” double corona, so I figured I’d work my way down. I used my Adorini punch on this one, the 13mm side worked very well to open it up. I smoked a second one later that I straight cut and I think I liked the punch better for this one. Why, you ask? Only because there were a couple “flyaway” bits of cap that were a little annoying on the straight cut. This cigar has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper (which drew my eye to the cigar in the first place), an Ecuador binder and Nicaraguan fillers. I lit this cigar up around 11 am, and didn’t find it to strong for the time of day, I actually thought it would be stronger. I was not disappointed by this cigar. The burn and draw were spot on, which is a testament to the conditions in the humidor. The first time I visited this shop a few years back the humidor was not great, there were cigars with wrappers coming off, some moldy cigars, ever-all it was off-putting. Over the years they have gotten it under control and it’s now a very nice humidor and shop, I don’t mind visiting there at all, and it’s 2 miles from home. Back to the cigar. It’s good. Lots of rich espresso notes with some cocoa, just war I like. I ended up smoking the second one on my evening walk because I was talking and trying to get the Flyers game on the lounge TV, which turned out to be no easy feat. They have Dish Network which doesn’t seem to have the channel that the games are broadcast on, but Apple TV provided a workaround. I wanted to give the cigar my full attention. It’s very good, and I look forward to meandering my way through some other EPC offerings. I think I smoked my first one in 2011, so I have some catching up to do. It was great hanging out with Bruce and Mike for an afternoon!

I smoked another Tortuga Reserva Maduro El Coyote Negro, No. 500 yesterday too. The Frazer, PA CigarCigars shop has the better part of a box on a bottom shelf that has been there for some time. I grab a couple every time I go in, and I’m tempted to adopt the whole bunch and give them a good home, but what holds me back is that I really would like others to enjoy these, they just aren’t getting much of a chance down there at floor level. I also want to avoid seeing these on the deep discount table, that makes them look bad, and they are, in my humble opinion, exceptional cigars that deserve a better fate. I’m quite conflicted on this. It’s not like they wouldn’t be shared if they were in my humidor, that’s for sure. Maybe I’ll ask Steve, the manager, to throw a number at me…

Finally, here is an interesting infographic from the folks at Smokers Discounts. I imagine there isn’t anything new here for most of you, but there isn’t any bad advice, and the stats at the top are interesting, although I think the numbers probably include all cigars, not just the premium cigar we focus on here. I’d probably add a couple of parentheticals in the “picking the right cigar” part like don’t squeeze it enough to break it, and don’t wipe your nose all over it, especially before you buy it, but that;s just me.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigar store, CigarCigars, cigars, Dusk, EP Carillo, Tortuga

by CigarCraig | October 12, 2017 · 10:20 pm

An LH Premium Cigar and a La Gloria Cubana Event

Monday I smoked a cigar from the IPCPR show that Nick Syris (LH Premium Cigars & Smooth Draws Radio) gave me when I saw him in Island Jim’s booth. He was exhibiting in the same booth because 3R Cigar Distributors in Pittsburgh is distributing LH Premium cigars, as well as 1502, Leaf by Oscar and Island Jim cigars. The cigar Nick gave me is a collaboration between Nick and Island Jim Robinson, which was to be called La Vida Isla, but is moving forward as a “special edition” called the “Nick & Jim P.B.E”, Pre-Banded Edition. I know, the example smoked had a band, but the band Nick used on the samples is one he uses for his non-US LH brand. The cigar has an Ecuador grown Vuelta Abajo seed wrapper and binder and Nicaraguan & Peruvian fillers an is made in Costa Rica. This was a fantastic cigar, rich and meaty with the nice little spice that the Peruvian tobacco has (and I really like Peruvian tobacco). This is a medium bodied cigar that I could smoke every day.

Last night I attended an event at the International Tobacco (or is it CigarCigars, I’m not sure they’ve officially rebranded the store since acquiring it last summer) in the King of Prussia Mall. Yes, it’s a cigar shop in a mall that you can smoke in! I’ve talked about it before, let the wife shop in the largest mall in the country and hang out and smoke cigars, it’s a beautiful and dangerous thing! Anyway, they had a ticketed event featuring La Gloria Cubana cigars featuring Ernesto P. Carillo, who founded the La Gloria Cubana brand and sold it to what is now General Cigar Co. in 1999. Of course, Ernesto now owns EPCarillo Cigar Co. I’ve been fortunate to have met a lot of people in the cigar business, but this is only the second time I’ve met Ernesto, and he’s someone I hold in high regard, as I was a huge fan of his La Gloria and El Rico Habano brands in the 90s. There were 30 tickets sold for the event, and there were some of the people from several of the twelve stores in the CigarCigars chain (I think there are 5 or 6 of the stores within a ten mile radius of my home). Included in the ticket price were three La Gloria Cubana cigars, the new Coleccion Reserva in robusto, a Serie R No. 5 Natural and a La Gloria Corona Gorda Maduro from the original line. I lit up the Coleccion Reserva, I’ve smoked and enjoyed some IPCPR samples of this cigar, and in Ernesto’s talk he disclosed that the blend is a hybrid of the old El Rico Habano and the La Gloria Artesanos de Miami. It’s no wonder I like this cigar. It was a great event with hors d’oeuvres and Jim Beam spirits (of which I don’t partake). One of the things Ernesto also talked about was the way the cigar industry cooperates, crediting several people for helping him in the 90s when La Gloria exploded after getting a high rating in Cigar Aficionado, forcing him to open a factory in the Dominican Republic to try to meet the demand. This was evidenced even now by the fact that he is, once again, collaborating with the company which bought his brand. Great event with a legendary cigar maker and a great bunch of people. Thanks to Tom, Rami, Steve Mike, Tom and the rest of the staff for a good evening.

Tonight I did something I rarely do and lit up another La Gloria Cubana Coleccion Reserva, this time in the torpedo. I had a Serie R Esteli the other night which is a cigar I have really enjoyed over the last few years, along with its maduro counterpart. Perhaps the Coleccion Reserva is my new favorite in the LGC line. Is it the fact that I now know that it has a connection to the El Ricos of old that I loved? the cigar is perfectly balanced, has a touch of sweetness and spice and is a tasty smoke. Burn was perfect and flavors were awesome. It’s a good thing, because I bought a box and had Ernesto autograph it. I don’t have a lot of autographed boxes, this one joins Jorge Padron, Nick Melillo and Bernie Parent. I continue my 20 year love affair with La Gloria Cubana cigars, and my LGC dedicated humidor is overflowing!

That’s all I have for tonight, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigar store, CigarCigars, cigars, EP Carillo, Event, La Gloria Cubana

by CigarCraig | April 23, 2017 · 10:43 am

Romeo 505, Gispert Intenso and a Foundation Cigar Event

I went to a couple of events this week, although both visits were brief. Thursday I stopped in to my local CigarCigars shop, which is on my way home and just about 2 miles from my house. Since it was before dinner, and while it takes five minutes to get home from this particular shop at five o’clock on a weekday, it takes practically a half an hour to get there since all of the rush hour traffic is headed west bound. This is one of the main reasons I chose the location of my new job last year, the commute is awesome. Anyway, they were having a RoMEo 505 event at the shop with the local Altadis rep, and when I saw this displayed at the IPCPR show last year I was intrigued and disappointed that there weren’t samples! Astute observers of my smoking habits will note that I don’t feature a great many Altadis cigars here, mostly it’s because there aren’t many that I like, quite honestly. I really wanted to like the RoMEo Añejo, but every one I smoked had a terrible draw, and I haven’t found an H. Upmann that I really liked in 20 years. I love the Henry Clay Tattoo and Stalk Cut and a couple of Montecristos, but I haven’t had good experiences with the new Yarguera (technically an Upmann, I guess. Anyway, I keep trying, and I picked up a few sizes of the new RoMEo 505, another Añejo, a new Gispert and Steve, the manager at the shop shared a new Upmann made by A.J. Fernandez that is on the schedule for this week (I’m not entirely sure it’s on the market). I immediately went home, grabbed some dinner and hit the streets with a RoMEo 505 Piramides, a 6 ½” x 54 figurado. 505 is the area code of Nicaragua, I can think of at least two other cigar lines that have used telephone area codes in the naming of cigars, but, heck, cigar names are tough to come up with. This is a Nicaraguan puro made at the Placencia Factory in Esteli, with Habano wrapper, binder and filler from Jalapa, with additional Habano in the filler blend from Condega and Esteli. The choice to wait until I ate was a good one, as this was a pretty heavy-duty cigar! it was aggressive with a load of sweet spice and earthiness. This was a cigar that is up my alley! I enjoyed the crap out of this cigar, and look forward to smoking it again. This isn’t probably going to appeal to the typical Romeo y Julieta smoker, but it certainly will appeal to someone who loves strong, bold cigars. My gut instinct last July was right, this is a cigar that captures my interest.

Friday I had to try the Gispert Intenso Belicoso with its dark and oily broadleaf wrapper calling to me. This is another collaboration with A.J.Fernandez, who seems to be making great cigars for just about everyone! Gispert is a very old Cuban brand name going back before the revolution, but was phased out over the years. The Altadis Gispert line was a milder cigar in my recollection, but this Intenso version is not. I found another Altadis cigar that’s very much to my liking. It has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers. This actually reminded me a lot of the previous RoMEo 505 in its boldness, and sweet spice. I loved this, it burned my fingers, and for a cigar in the under $7 range, it’s a big winner in my book. Whattaya know, I’m two for two with Altadis cigars! Last time that happened was when I smoked the Henry Clay Tattoo and Stalk cut back to back to see what the difference was (I think the Tattoo is richer due to the higher primings used, otherwise they both use the same tobacco varietals and are fairly close, I like them both). So the Gispert Intenso weems to be another winner…it’s got a nice box press too.

Yesterday we happened to be attending an Earthday event right near the Wooden Indian Cigar shop in Havertown, PA, where Nick Melillo was visiting with his Foundation Cigar Co. brands. I bought a few Tabernacles and El Güegüense, and sat down with a Tabernacle Torpedo for a bit. I picked up some El Güegüense in lancero and short lancero, the latter of which was a BOTL.org exlusive. The Tabernacle is another A.J. Fernandez collaboration. featuring Connecticut Broadleaf which Nick is famous for using in his days at Drew Estate where he created the Liga Privada series for Steve Saka. The little 4½” x 52 torpedo is a heater! Rich, sweet broadleaf goodness with some power behind it. It’s unfair to make comparisons, but one can’t help putting the Tabernacle and Steve Saka’s Mi Querida on the same playing field, and they are both terrific. I’m quite happy to have a handful of Tabernacles in my humidor now, yet another cigar that is everything I want in a cigar, great construction, beautiful presentation, great taste and overall experience. It was fun catching up with Nick at the event, I think I’ve known him for about fiver years, and he’s a terrific cigar maker and a fun dude. Twin Engine Coffee was also represented and paired well with the Tabernacle. Another high quality event by my friends Dave and Dan at the Wooden Indian!

Don’t forget to circle back to my last post and enter the contest to win some cool General Cigar Co. Goodies! Also, please keep one of our readers, Patrick, in your thoughts as he goes through some medical stuff over the next few days. He always signs his comments with the tag line “Life is Good”, and we want that to remain true for him! That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as altadis, cigar, cigar store, CigarCigars, cigars, El Gueguense, Foundation, Foundation Cigar Co., Gispert, Romeo, romeo y julieta, Tabernacle, wooden indian

by CigarCraig | December 4, 2016 · 10:34 am

Nat Sherman Timeless and Metropolitan Cigars and Secret Santa

The Nat Sherman company started out in 1930 with a tobacco store in the garment district of Manhattan, at the height of the Great Depression. Over time, the Nat Sherman store became a destination for tobacco lovers, hosting celebrity clientele such as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and John F. Kennedy Jr., as well as being considered “neutral ground” by members of organized crime families. The company remains family owned with the third generation of Shermans running the business, along with Michael Herklots,VP of retail and brand development. Nat Sherman is an iconic brand, and their flagship store is a Townhouse on 42nd street which is a must visit if you find yourself in New York City. I remember getting the catalog from Nat Sherman in the early 80s, not sure how I got on the mailing list, but I was a fan of their MCD cigarettes. Of course, at the time the cigars were quite the luxury item, not that the cigarettes weren’t, they were probably a very exorbitant $2.50 a pack. I was in a “smoke less, but smoke better” place, I guess, plus I had very few expenses while living with my parents and working three jobs.

Thursday evening I had the pleasure of attending an event at my local CigarCigars store with Michael Herklots where he led a tasting of the Nat Sherman Timeless Dominican by having everyone smoke puros of the four filler components. I arrived late, but was on hand to see the participants trying various combinations together, with two or three little cigars in their mouths at once. It was interesting to see some components smoked together appeared to taste really bad, but the combination of all four tasted really good. The Timeless Dominican, the first cigar that Michael blended when he joined the company, is made at the Quesada factory and comes in about nine sizes, and has Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers and a Honduran binder. I smoked the robusto size and was very happy with it. Aesthetically, it had a great burn and ash, there was a very thin black line at the perfectly straight boundary between ash and wrapper. The ash had to be almost forcibly removed. It had a load of great flavors, and was a medium to full-bodied cigar. I left satisfied, although I wished the cigar were larger! I solved that by purchasing a couple in the Churchill size, which I look forward to sampling.

Logically, I followed up the Timeless Dominican with a Timeless Nicaragua. I bought a few of these in the 660 size, with the box press that they use on the Nicaraguan line (as opposed to the round Dominican), it seemed less girthy. Obviously, this is a 6″ x 60 cigar, and its a Nicaraguan puro, with a dark Nicaraguan Habano wrapper that was very appealing to me. This cigar didn’t have the razor-sharp burn that its Dominican counterpart did, but it evened itself out after a while. The cigar had some of my favorite cocoa/coffee flavors along with a woody/meaty component. I liked it. Fortunately, when I go to an event I generally buy more than one of each cigar for a variety of reasons. Mostly so I have at least one to take home if I decide to smoke one at the event, where it’s hard to fairly judge a cigar, and because ya can’t buy just one, am I right? Anyway, another winner from the Iconic Nat Sherman.

I love watching hockey, but I hate Saturday and Sunday afternoon games as they seem to get in the way of getting things done. I suppose I should embrace them as an excuse to relax on the weekend afternoons, which is why I grabbed a cigar and the tablet and watched the game on the back porch (which has been enclosed for the winter). Continuing the theme, I selected a Nat Sherman Metropolitan Habano toro. The Metropolitan series comes in Habano, Maduro and Connecticut, with the later two being made in the Dominican Republic, and this Habano from Nicaragua. I broke tradition and chose this over the Maduro, as it just looked so good and I really wanted to smoke it. I’d save the Maduro for later. The Metropolitan Habano was my favorite so far. It had a great sweet, medium bodied flavor and hit me just right. I think these are priced in the $6 range too and worth every penny. This is one of those cigars that I would buy two of for every one $12 cigar all day long. It burned perfectly and lasted through the second period and half way through the third. Good game, great cigar.

Finally I got around to that Metropolitan Maduro for my evening walk. This one has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, comes in about eight sizes consistent in shapes and names with the Connecticut shade counterpart. I selected the 6″ x 50 University. This cigar was on the milder side of medium, and it had more of a savory maduro flavor than the sweet. It was different enough to be interesting and pleasurable, but perhaps would be better suited to warmer weather. Again the construction was great and it burned with the nice flat burn that I appreciate as all the components are burning at the same rate. Perhaps I should have stuck to my maduro first tradition as this cigar might have been better earlier in the day, but that Habano was so good…

So it’s been brought to my attention that I am a little late to be trying to organize a Secret Santa, but, I’m an optimist, and if anyone is interested in participating, e-mail me (craig@cigarcraig.com) your mailing address before Sunday, December 11, 2016 and I’ll match people up and send out assignments ASAP. We’ll keep it simple, four cigars, with no expectation of having it delivered by Dec. 25, we’ll shoot for New Years. We can still have some fun with this, how’s that sound? I do have a couple of tricks up my sleeve for some giveaways, so don’t despair!

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

CigarCraig

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Filed under Events, Review, Stores

Tagged as cigar, cigar store, CigarCigars, cigars, Metropolitan, Nat Sherman, Timeless

by CigarCraig | November 15, 2015 · 9:46 am

Zorba, Undercrown and some Alec Bradley Cigars

As you can probably tell, I am not at the Big Smoke in Las Vegas this weekend. I should probably go to one once, just to experience it, or to reinforce my feeling that it’s not the kind of event I enjoy attending! Too many people crammed into to small a space for my tastes. I’m sure it’s a good time, and a great way to get a wide variety of cigars, but for me, I prefer smaller events where one can actually talk to the cigar makers and brand owners instead of waving on the way through the line. Complaining about it like this is probably a good way to not get invited ever…

I have to go back to last Sunday for the first cigar I’m talking about this week. The La Gloria and Sobremesa I smoked on Tuesday and Wednesday distracted me, but I was quite impressed with this house brand from The Humidour on the Hill in Cockeysville, MD, the Zorba. I visited the store in September, it was a nice walk from the hotel I was staying in. It wasn’t really that nice a walk, kinda scary in a couple of places, but probably better than driving. Anyway, I walked out of the shop with a robusto and a corona in their Zorba line, and set flame to the Robusto on Sunday with a bottle of Reeds Ginger Brew. The Zorba is made by Rocky Patel, it has a nice looking Habana 2000 wrapper, Connecticut broadleaf binder, and a blend of Nicaraguan fillers. It’s got a good bit of spice and strength, which is what led me to grab the ginger beer to go with it. I love ginger beer, but some of them can overpower a cigar, and it has to be the right cigar. Anyway, this line is available in four sizes, the corona and robusto, as well as 6″ x 62 and 8″ x 60 Gordos, and I’m told the corona has a bit more punch than the robusto. If you find yourself in what I would guess is the northern Baltimore suburbs, pay the Humidour a visit, it’s a great place to sit and enjoy a cigar.

Thursday evening I grabbed an Undercrown Shade in the robusto size. This was an IPCPR sample, but I’ve recently received a couple more from Drew Estate. I’ve previously smoked the Gran Toro size and enjoyed it quite a bit, and this 5″ x 54 robusto was just as enjoyable, the only real difference to my mind is the 1″ shorter length. This cigar was blended by Willie Herrera, and Willie isn’t a fan of Connecticut Shade (Ecuador or otherwise), so this was a major thing for him. It was also his first blend that wasn’t under the Herrera Esteli line. It isn’t the Undercrown blend with a different wrapper, it’s a completely new blend. It’s rich and creamy, full of flavor, and a very nice take on a shade wrapped cigar with some oomph. I might like this better than the Undercrown, but I can’t really say that as they are such different cigars, perfectly suited for different occasions. Well done, Willie!
Friday the CigarCigars shop closest to home was having an Alec Bradley event. I generally find myself at AB events, our local rep, Jon is a good guy, and there are several cigars in their lines that I like. I felt compelled to stop by this event because they usually have events at this location at times where I am at work, times like noon to three on a Thursday. The shop is less than two miles from my house, very easy to stop in on may way home from work, although if I went home first and tried to get there at rush hour I’d get there quicker walking. This shop is in what used to be a convenience store many years ago, so it’s not a huge building, but it was jam-packed with customers. I bought a handful of Alec Bradley’s new release, the Post Embargo, and it’s worth noting that Cigar Cigars chain of stores (soon to open their 11th store up the road from where I used to live in Downingtown, PA) held the official launch of this new line. Stopping on my way home from work, I wanted to get home and eat dinner before lighting up my evening cigar, so chatted with the folks there for a bit then made my way home, where I lit up a Lancero for my walk. This is a limited edition, only 500 boxes were made and it’s 7½” x 41, slightly fatter than a traditional Lancero. This was a good cigar, savory flavors with some nuts and wood. I picked up some toros and robustos and I kind of wished I had smoked on of those yesterday instead of the Sanctum Gordo I picked, jus to be able to compare the larger ring gauge to the smaller. Not that there was anything wrong with the Sanctum, it just turned out to be the wrong cigar for the circumstance. That cigar has a Honduran Corojo wrapper that seems very fragile, and a windy fall afternoon wasn’t particularly kind to it. It’s a bit milder than I prefer under those conditions as well. It is still a great tasting cigar, I like what the Colombian tobacco brings to the table, as is the Post Embargo. Since I find myself going to so many Alec Bradley events, I seem to have amassed a pretty good selection of (mostly) robustos from them. I still think the Nica Puro is my favorite cigar from them, but I happily smoke them all.