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MBombay, La Sirena, EP Carillo, Inka Secret Blend and a Quesada Cigar

MBombay_Classic_ChurchillIt’s gotten darned cold here in PA, my enclosed porch is nice, but tonight I’m sitting in a Cigar Cigars store that’s two miles from home smoking a Quesada Oktoberfest that was on the half off table. Nice smoke, just getting it going. Sunday I smoked a couple Churchill sized cigars, a MBombay Classic with a Connecticut shade wrapper that was fantastic. It was creamy and well behaved and kept me company while I was on the phone holding for Verizon to no avail. Great afternoon cigar, ultra-premium well balanced and tasty. Not something you see everywhere, but worth finding. Later I had a La Sirena Trident Churchill from the original My Father made production and these are aging nicely. I look forward to comparing it to the new La Zone made line. Speaking of La Sirena, I wrote an article about the Oceano in the current issue of Prime Living magazine, which can be found on page 55 of the on-line version.  It’s nice to see a main stream magazine featuring a Cigar Notes piece in very issue. I’m proud to be a part of it.

 

EPCarillo_Core Maduro_EncatoMonday I lit up an EP Carillo Core Maduro Encanto that I brought back from the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival. This cigar had a gnarly CoConnecticutroadleaf Maduro wrapper, very rustic. I usually find this to be a good sign! I was right, it was a really tasty cigar, loads with rich, dark flavors of espresso and dark cocoa. I haven’t smoked a great many EP Carrillo cigars over the past couple years.  Of course, I was a fan of the La Gloria Cubana line going back to the mid-90s, but I haven’t gotten around to sampling many of Ernie’s newer cigars. This one was a winner, right up my alley. The ugly broadleaf wrapper is really quite tasty and ads a nice sweetness.  Another great smoke with a great draw and burn.

 

InkaSecretBlend_coronaLast night I selected a cigar that’s due for its US launch in a couple weeks, but has been exclusively available at CGars Ltd in the UK. I’ve smoked a couple of these in various iterations over the years, and remember an interesting evening sitting at Casa Fuente in Vegas with Mitchell Orchant and his manufacturer in Peru, Genaro, testing prototypes. There was an ashtray loaded with cigars that only had an inch smoked, which brought questions from the waitstaff. Clearly they have improved the smokability of these as every one they lit up that night seemed to be plugged. I remember running into Genaro at the Draw Tester booth at the IPCPR sho and he was looking into the machines. Anyway, this is a Peruvian Puro and I like Peruvian tobacco. The cigar was 6″ x 46, had a roll reminiscent of a Havana, a bit on the loose side, but had a great burn and draw. There was a nice sweetness and it was a really great smoke. I have smoked the 6×60 size and think the 6×46 size is a better representation of the blend.

 

imageThis Quesada Oktoberfest is really good, even in the 6×60 size. Very rich and flavorful, but the shop closed at 7pm, so I had to take the rest of the cigar home to finish on the porch. I tried taking the dog for a walk, but the temps are in single digits and neither of us were happy about it. It’s a long burning cigar, well worth the $5 I paid for it from the discount rack.  I suppose the size didn’t sell well, but it was  a really tasty cigar, and I am quite glad I picked up a couple. It was very nice, with a savory flavor to it. The Cigar Cigars shop is only two miles from home, so I can see visiting it with some regularity.  It’s got a nice selection and a Montecristo Lounge that while I haven’t set foot in yet, looks comfortable. I’m happy sitting in the front of the store as it’s quite comfortable as well.

 

That’s about it for today.  I need to get it together and get Mark’s goodies shipped out to him. I need to find a big enough box to hold it all!  I’ve been slacking. Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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Leccia Tobacco, a Black and a White at the Event, and Custom Rolled Cigar

OveraCigar_LecciaFor some reason I’m a sucker for cigar events (go figure!).  I happened to notice that Sam Leccia was travelling with Jack Toraño, the marketing director for Toraño Family Cigar Co. who is distributing Leccia Tobacco’s new offerings.   So Thursday evening they were doing an event at the CigarCigars stores in Colmar, PA.  They couldn’t have the event at the store that’s 10 minutes from home in Phoenixville, noooo…..it had to be 50 minutes away.  I normally wouldn’t gripe about driving an hour to have a smoke, I do it all the time, but weeknights are tough. Anyway, I got there about 7 and the OverACigar internet radio show/podcast guys were just starting their show live in the shop. I’ve been listening to their show for a while (I’m a podcast junkie, what can I say) and it was interesting to see the process.  Jack and Sam were both featured prominently in the 2 hour show. For those who aren’t aware, the show is live on blogtalkradio.com on Thursdays generally, and available on iTunes and their site.  It’s just a bunch of guys talking as if they were in a cigar lounge, with cigar talk and industry guests thrown in here and there. They turned out to be a really nice bunch of guys, despite what you hear on the show :-).

 

LecciaBlack_RobustoI bought some of Sam’s new cigars, the Black and the White, all in the robusto size.  I started with the Black, which features the Kentucky “Darkfire” fire cured tobacco.  It’s certainly a unique flavor. When I was in Nicaragua I smoked a prototype of the My Uzi Weighs a Ton Kentucky Fire Cured and the aroma off the foot was unmistakable “campfire”.  The Leccia Black is more subtle. The smokiness is there, and the hand of leaves Sam had with him had the same  pungent aroma, but it’s not overwhelming in the cigar. At one point Sam added a strip of the darkfire tobacco to the wrapper of the cigar I was smoking.  The wet leaf didn’t burn particularly well, but you could taste the additional smokiness. When Sam set out to make a distinctive cigar, he achieved his goal with this one!

 

LecciaWhite_RobustoMoving on to the White, this is also something a little different.  It’s made in an undisclosed factory in Nicaragua, and has some Pennsylvania broadleaf in the filler blend of Nicaraguan fillers and an African Sun Grown Wrapper (I forgot to ask if this was Cameroon, I suspect it is. It had a familiar sweetness I get from Cameroon wrappers).  I’m going to have to smoke one on a fresh palate because, let’s face it, firing this up 15 minutes after finishing the Black is no fair way to assess a cigar.  I will say that I really enjoyed the cigar and the flavor was, once again, distinctive (and good!). As I said, I’ll give one a try again in the very near future and I’m sure I’ll enjoy it.

 

Leccia_SpecialOn my way out the door, Sam insisted on rolling me a custom cigar. This one is the White blend wrapped in Ecuador Connecticut Shade, and accented with some of the Darkfire, actually the foot is totally enclosed in this beautiful, dark leaf.   So Friday evening I sparked it up after dinner and a swim.  The closed foot was amusing. I’m used to testing the draw after cutting and forgot about the foot and thought it was plugged.  Once I remembered what was going on, I hit it with a triple flame torch and was off to the SamLecciaraces.  The first half inch was loaded with the smokey flavor that that fire cured tobacco brings to the table.  It’s subtle, not overpowering, but certainly noticeable.   The shade wrapper added a completely different component to the experience. Where the White blend is usually wrapped in African Sungrown, this shade wrapper really mellowed it out a little.  It was a shame to burn up soch a beautiful creation, and I still have a couple cigar Sam wrapped for me years ago that are just too pretty to set fire to, but I’m glad I experienced the various flavor changes that the two wrapper modifications make.  As Sam was rolling this, I asked him not to get too fancy with it so I wouldn’t feel bad smoking it. He still created a stunning masterpiece, and despite having been wrapped twenty-four hours earlier it burned remarkably well.  Thank you to Sam, Jack, Scott of CigarCigars and Bobby Hershman for putting on such a great event which I would have been disappointed to have missed.

 

That’s it for cigars here, we are recovering from the Ticked Off Music Fest, which went off without a hitch (but nobody came to me to mooch a cigar, I had plenty to share!) It was a busy day, a late night, but satisfying to help spread the word about Lyme Disease. Today is Father’s Day, so at some point I’ll be setting fire to one of my last traditional Father’s Day cigars, the Esperanza para los Niños, which was made by Christian Eiroa back in 1998 to benefit children orphaned by Hurricane Mitch.  It’s always interesting to see what yet another year of age has done to these.  In two years I’ll have to start a new tradition as I will have exhausted my supply of those maduro beauties.  To the father’s out there, have a great day!

 

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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