Today was Father’s Day, and leading up to it, I managed to smoke a few cigars this weekend.
Friday started the weekend with a La Aurora 1495 Robusto. This cigar was well made and burned and drew nicely. I didn’t particularly care for the flavor. It had a rustic Ecuadoran Sumatra wrapper, which I verified through a brief exchange with La Aurora company president Guillermo Leon via Twitter. I was actually unaware that this was also offered in Cameroon, Corojo and Brazilian maduro until Guillermo asked me which wrapper it was. I think I would like this in any of these other 3 wrappers over the one I smoked. It’s pretty special to be able to communicate with someone of Señor Leon’s stature so quickly and easily, something that was not so easy in years past. Most people involved in the cigar business are very approachable, but to have almost instant access is pretty cool!
Saturday my daughter and her husband took us out to the Longhorn Steakhouse for dinner. After a great meal, which I partook of all 4 food groups (Filet, bacon wrapped scallops, and a piece of chicken from my wife’s salad), we came home and my children presented me with a very exciting Father’s Day gift. They established a bank account for me to use to save up for a trip to Drew Estate’s Cigar Safari! What a great gift and they even chipped in cash to get me started. Now I just have to get to saving up so I can go to Nicaragua and visit the Drew Estate factory! I had chosen a cigar to smoke after that great dinner, but quickly put it away and decided a Liga Privada No.9 Parejo since it seemed much more appropriate. The cigar was exceptional as usual. These are amazing cigars which are satisfying and delicious while not being overwhelming. For those who don’t know, the Liga Privada line was blended as the personal cigar for company president Steve Saka. I first became acquainted with Steve through the alt.smokers.cigars Usenet group in 1996. He was a prolific poster on that group for many years until he took a job with JR’s Cigars, then eventually became president of Drew Estate. He rarely is seen without a Liga Privada clenched in his jaw. This is a cigar that is so smooth and satisfying that you really could smoke them all the time. A tremendous cigar that I reserve for special occasions.
Since purchasing a box of Esperanza Para los Niños in 2000 for Father’s day I have smoked one of these every year since. The cigar is a beautiful box pressed maduro that was made by Christian Eiroa of Camacho to raise money for children orphaned by Hurricane Mitch, which devastated Honduras in 1998. Christian was an active contributor to alt.smokers.cigars at the time and brought several people to his facility to work on the blend for this cigar, with the proceeds going to charity. They came up with this amazing blend and sold 45,000 cigars through their dedicated website. I purchased a box of toros, of which I have one left after smoking and gifting them sparingly over the years. Tonight I smoked a Chruchill which was gifted to me by a good friend who won a box a few years ago and knew that they were very special to me. Oddly, the several cigars I’ve smoked over the past few years from this batch have been wonderful, lush and heavy maduro cigars, but when approaching the band have hit an almost amonia stretch. I find this odd in a twelve year old cigar. Still, this remains a special cigar to celebrate Father’s Day with, and I will continue to do so for the next few years. That last toro will be the last to go, probably close to two decades after it was rolled.
I’m quite pleased to note that CigarCraig.com has risen two places on CigarTopsite.com from 19 to 17 in the past couple weeks. Thank you very much to all of the folks who’ve paid a visit and mentioned and linked to the site. This is something I enjoy writing, and it humbles me to know that there are folks who check in on a regular basis. A Thank You is also due to my lovely bride who got me started on this and puts up with my obsession! Keep an eye open for another contest coming up soon as July closes in on us!
Until the next time,
CigarCraig
It’s been busy around here with the holidays and all, so I’ve been negligent in getting any new content posted. That being said, I thought I’d just throw out a quick contest! The prize will be a Joya de Nicaragua cap and cutter. Come to think of it, that doesn’t seem to be enough considering the season, so we’ll add a 5 count sampler box of Joya de Nicaragua Antaño 1970, consisting of a Machito, a Gran Consul, a Robusto Grande, a Belicoso and a Churchill. These are great cigars and the cap and cutter are pretty cool too. I’ll take entries in the form of comments on this page and tweets referencin
g @CigarCraig and the contest. I’ll announce the winner sometime around December 19th, in hopes of getting the prize to the winner by Christmas. I will randomly select a winner from the entries, with any luck in a creative way, but I can’t make any promises…
