Tag Archives: CigarProp

by Craig Vanderslice | February 23, 2025 · 9:52 am

Grace O’Malley, Big Papi HOF and Fratello Bianco Nero Cigars

Info about this cigar isn’t going to be officially released until next Saturday, but I’m going to get ahead of things here. I hope Kevin isn’t pissed at me. When I was in Tampa last November, I was fortunate enough to accompany Kevin (CigarProp, Trash Panda) to Single Barrel Cigar Company to drop off the cigars that would become Grace O’Malley Pirate Queen Cigars. The Robusto size cigars, which were made by JSK Cigars, are 5″ x 54, and may be a tweaked version of the JSK Red Knight.

Here’s a quote from Kevin on the barrel selection:

We partnered with the crew at Single Barrel Cigar Company, aligning our pirate theme with the perfect aging vessel: a rum barrel. But not just any rum barrel. We selected a Sazerac Rye barrel that had previously held Myers’s Rum before making its way to Big Storm Distillery, where it finished yet another rum. This multi-layered history of spirits infused our cigars with unparalleled complexity.

The cigars were placed in the barrel on November 7, 2024, and remained there for 94 days, emerging on February 9, 2025.

As I’ve said ad nauseum, I haven’t had a drink in 35 years, so I don’t have much of a palate for spirits, and when I gave it up, the highest quality rum I drank was Bacardi (no offence to Kevin, I know it’s a staple for him, but it’s not a high end sipping rum). After smoking the Single Barrel Blanton’s Gold Maduro and enjoying it, I had some expectations for a cigar aged in a rum barrel. I was expecting sweet, it was a tasty cigar, but more of the barrel char flavor to me than sweetness. I did make a mistake though, I wish I had mooched a cigar off of Kevin before being put in the barrel, although at the time I had no expectation that I would get to sample the finished product. I smoked a couple of these, and they were consistent, and I enjoyed them for what they are, a quality cigar, with a boozy aroma from the start. Like I said, I’m not the guy for anything spirits related. However, I was able to figure out the proper way to use the cannon carriage cigar rest!

I smoked a couple more cigars I got at the TPE show a few weeks back this week, starting with the Fratello Bianco Nero, which was released last year. Omar gave me this cigar knowing how much I enjoy the Bianco, and this Bianco Nero (Italian for White Black for some reason), is a tweaked version. It’s a 6″ x 58 box pressed perfecto, with a Maduro San Andrés wrapper, Indonesian binder and Nicaraguan fillers. They only made 500 ten count boxes of these, and I wouldn’t mind having one of those in my humidor. This was a spectacular cigar, possibly richer in flavor than the regular Bianco (big fan of the Boxer), with loads of espresso flavors. I’ve had some really good cigars so far this year, and this is near the top of the list so far. Delicious.

Another cigar that came home from the TPE show with me was the Big Papi HOF from Artista Cigars. This was a 6″ x 54 toro, they also have a limited edition figurado that’s reminiscent of a baseball bat, and they only made 541 boxes, which is the number of home runs he hit during his major league career. Artista is a funny brand for me personally. I have a good relationship with Kevin Newman there, but there are only one or two cigars in their portfolio that really work for my palate. There are a couple other brands like that, and I keep trying, because I like the folks and want to support the brand. It’s kind of weird, I guess. Anyway, I smoked the Big Papi HOF yesterday and enjoyed it. It has a San Andrés wrapper, although not a dar maduro color, with Indonesian binder, and a proprietary filler blend, which one would assume is largely Dominican given David Ortiz’ roots. I got a woody profile with some subtle spice, not my favorite profile, and not what I expect from a San Andrés wrapper, but objectively quite a good cigar. I need to revisit the Harvest and Midnight and try the Falu in their Artista Series. Buffalo Ten is a really great bargain in any wrapper.

That’s all for today, I’m working on another adventure for next week, so stay tuned! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

😃+

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Tagged as Artista, Bianco, Big Papi, cigar, CigarProp, cigars, Fratello, Grace O'Malley, HOF, JSK, Nero, Pirate Queen, Single Barrel Cigar Co., Trash Panda

by Craig Vanderslice | November 13, 2022 · 12:33 pm

Big Fundraiser Giveaway Winner Announcement!

I usually recap a few cigars I smoked during the week on Sundays, but I only really smoked one new cigar this week, the Mi Querida Black “SakaKahn”, and it was pretty good. I had smoked one at the PCA show with Steve, and have been looking forward to smoking more. So far, it’s really good, but doesn’t hit me like the Triqui Traca and the “Blue”. It comes across as milder to me. Obviously more research is in order. In the spirit of this particular giveaway, I had a Liga Privada T52 last night that was pretty good.

Speaking of Saka, I have to give him a big thank you for kickstarting the K9s for Warriors fundraiser with his donation of a über-rare box of Liga Privada Pequeńos. This is believed to be the only box (first of four ever made) in existence. Steve scribbled on the bottom, but otherwise it’s pristine! When he provided this and announced it, I decided that I was going to offer the first name drawn their choice of prizes: The Pequeńos, the Drew Estate Barnsmoker pre-party pack, the Barnsmoker pack, and the NewAir Humidor generously provided by Kevin Shahan, the addition of which definitely pushed us over the $5000 mark! Many thanks to Kevin for this and his promotion of the event! Wouldn’t it be funny if he won the humidor? Thank you to everyone who donated to this worthy cause.

Here’s the way this is going to work: I’m drawing the first winner and asking him what prize he wants. When I get a response, I’ll draw the second, third and fourth winners and, starting with the second, give them their choice of the remaining prizes. My wife and I spent the morning reviewing the entries, double and triple checking, and I have a spreadsheet with everyone’s info. I am happy to share that upon request. SO, WITHOUT FURTHER ADO!

The first winner is Marvin Roberts! I’ll be contacting you to get your prize preference! Watch for the next post tomorrow or Tuesday with the next winners!

Thanks again for everyone’s generous donations! I’m especially thankful to whoever it was that made the donation to round the total to the nearest $5, my CDO thanks you! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Barnsmoker, cigar, CigarProp, cigars, Contest, drew estate, K9s for Warriors, NewAir, Saka

by Craig Vanderslice | May 22, 2022 · 10:20 am

ThermoPro TP393 Hygrometer and Vice-Versa Cigars

Every now and then the folks at Thermopro send me a new gadget to try out. In this case I protested a little, and suggested something else, but they insisted that this was better technology than the older model I asked about, and were rather insistant! I agreed to evaluate the ThermoPro TP393 Hygrometer even though I thought it seemed a little large for most humidors. I set it up in my cabinet humidor for a week or two next to a known accurate hygrometer and left it alone. There are quite a few things I like about this, besides the fact that it appears to be accurate. My old eyes like the large display, in this application, the backlighting, time and date function are

Before you panic about the humidity, the top unit is in my Family Room!

pretty superfluous, but in other applications this are nice to have. It has a rechargeable battery, which should make things easier over time, as saves having to find weird button cell batteries, or keep a stock of AAA batteries around. I’ve noticed no battery power reduction over the two weeks it’s been in use. It interacts with the App seamlessly via bluetooth, one can set alerts easily, and historical data is tracked. I have three devices now in my app and can see the conditions in three humidors at a glance. It may be a little big for a desktop humidor, it’s good for a large cabinet, and would be ideal for a walk-in. It’s a nice unit for a very reasonable price. I also have been using their TP200B Indoor Outdoor Thermometer to monitor the temperature in my enclosed smoking porch. This is a neat thermometer for indoor and outdoor, but doesn’t really have a good application in the humidor without a hygrometer, and it isn’t Bluetooth. The links included are Amazon affiliate links, I get a few pennies if anyone buys one. I recently received an Amazon payment about enough to buy a cigar, and it’s the first one I’ve gotten in a few years, so I’m not getting rich off of affiliate links! Thank you to Thermopro for the promotional consideration.

I had an opportunity to try a new cigar this week, two of them, actually. It’s actually the same cigar, smoked two different ways. This is a cigar that Kevin at CigarProp/Trash Panda Cigars has been working on with Omar of Fratello Cigars for the last two years, it’s not a new concept, just maybe one that hasn’t been perfected yet. They have made a cigar that has a different smoking experience depending on which end you light. It’s capped on both ends, one end has a lighter cap, and is about 7″ x 50. I smoked two cigars, one from each end, and did, indeed have a different experience. I know nothing about the blend, but I am guessing it’s got some Dominican tobacco, and strikes me as a cigar rolled in the DR. It appears to have a Habano wrapper. The first one I smoked, lighting the Habano capped end (hint, cut both ends, burning through the cap doesn’t go well!), seemed to start spicier, and built in strength. The second, lighting the shade end, seemed to start smoother. Overall these are on the leather side of the flavor spectrum to my palate. My personal opinion on cigars that are copped on both ends is that they need to be stored at a lower humidity, because once the humidity is inside the cigar there’s nowhere for it to go. I found that both samples needed frequent relights in the last third, although the burn and draw were still pretty good. It’s an interesting concept, there have been a couple cigars in the past that have done similar things, one of which was a blatant SCHIP tax dodge! Check out Kevin and Jess’s video about this cigar. I’ll be interested to see how this project progresses! Thanks for including me in the select group of people allowed to know about this!

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

CigarCraig

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Filed under Accessories, Review

Tagged as Accessory, CigarProp, Fratello, Hygrometer, Thermometer, Thermopro, Trash Panda

by Craig Vanderslice | September 26, 2021 · 10:26 am

J.C. Newman’s Yagua and Oscar Valladares 2012 Maduro Cigars

My least favorite time of the year arrived this week, Autumn. Summer flew by, I feel like I didn’t get to do many of the things I would have like to have done, for one reason or another, and now it’s another long, cold winter ahead to look forward too. One can only hope that these months pass as quickly as the summer did. Here I am, wishing my life away! Time really needs to slow the heck down. On the one hand, I have a humidor full of cigars and not enough time to smoke them, on the other hand, I have a humidor full of cigars! On another subject, does anyone know how many consecutive Sundays I’ve managed to publish a blog post? It’s gotta be some kind of record. Anyway, I smoked a bunch of cigars this week, a couple were new. The Yagua, while not necessarily new, is the 2021 version. J.C. Newman makes this at the PENSA factory in Nicaragua, using what they call and under fermented US Broadleaf wrapper. I suppose the idea is for it to finish fermenting while aging in the bundles wrapped in the royal palm leaves. The one I smoked came from the center of the bundle so it had a hexagonal shape, these definitely are reminiscent of the Henry Clay cigars of the 90s in shape, and they had Broadleaf wrappers as well. They too were bundled wet and you never knew what shape you were going to get. I really enjoyed the flavor of this cigar, it’s got something a little different than other broadleaf cigars. Maybe there’s a meatier flavor, it’s not as much the expresso or cocoa that I usually get. It’s very different than, say, a Triqui Traca, which Saka confused this for on a Facebook group (I admonished him to wear his glasses!). I think there’s a lot of reasons to try this cigar, I might try another one today!

Yesterday afternoon I was looking for a shorter cigar and remembered I had an Oscar Valladares 2012 Maduro Short Robusto which I had picked up a few months ago as I was walking out of the humidor at the Wooden Indian. I certainly had enough cigars in my hands already, but these caught my eye, and I hadn’t yet sampled anything from this line. This is a 4″ x 50 box press cigar, good for and hour or so. It has a San Andrés wrapper, Honduran binder and nicaraguan fillers. These looked really good when I walked by them, like little chocolate bars, which is what made me pick them up. Smaller cigars tend to age in my humidors as I tend toward toro and larger cigars. I need to make a concerted effort to smoke the robustos on the weekends when I smoke more than one cigar, I guess. If I smoke a larger cigar I don’t have time for a nap! This was a delicious cigar, it was heavy on the black licorice, which I don’t taste much in a cigar. I found it intriguing. I guess it’s time to check out some more of the Oscar Valladares line. I think I know the broker in my area.

Please join me in extending Happy Birthday wishes to my friend, and long time reader and friend of CigarCraig.com: Kevin Shahan! You might know Kevin better as Mr. CigarProp, from his cigar accessories, and wildly popular YouTube and other social media properties. I’m not sure how Jessica puts up with him, but he’s all right in my book! Happy Birthday Buddy! (pictured here with myself and Sandy Cobas at El Titan de Bronze a couple years ago in a photo taken by Jessica).

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 2012, cigar, CigarProp, cigars, JC Newman, Oscar Valladares, Yagua

by Craig Vanderslice | September 1, 2021 · 10:13 pm

Four of the Six Cigars from the CigarProp Sampler from Cigar Bundles of Miami

A couple months ago I placed an order with Cigar Bundles of Miami and one of the items I picked up was the CigarProp Sampler. Of course, one of the reasons I got this was to support Kevin of CigarProp, who has supported me for so many years. He’s a great friend and I get behind whatever ventures he’s involved in. I’ve had some great experiences with cigars from Cigar Bundles of Miami too. There were six cigars in the sampler, and it was on sale for $19.99, which made it ridiculous not to buy it. I think cigars are made in the US, although at the price, I find that hard to believe. The first cigar I smoked was the Green Moon (or Green Yin, depending on where on the website one looks). Like many of the cigars in this sampler, this is a piece of art. It has a maduro wrapper with stripes of Connecticut shade, with a candela crescent in the middle of the cigar. It’s also box pressed. It’s a beautiful cigar. It’s listed as a Nicaraguan puro. This had a very interesting flavor, You’d think that it would be predominantly maduro, but it had the brightness of candela in the mix, which was very interesting. Very unique and interesting.

Next I smoked what would appear to be the opposite of this cigar, they call it the Inner Peace, it’s a Candela wrapper with what look to be habano accents and a Maduro and Connecticut Shade Yin and Yang symbol in the middle, also box pressed, and also a Nicaraguan Puro. This is another beautiful piece of cigar art. These cigars are almost too cool looking to smoke, but at the price, it’s easy to justify lighting them up and enjoying them. Interestingly, this cigar didn’t taste a whole lot different than the Green Moon! I would have thought it would have been all Candela, but it wasn’t. Sure, there was that bright candela flavor there, but it wasn’t dominant. I can say that if you hate Candela, you aren’t going to hate these cigars! I thought it was interesting that this cigar had a “tan line” where it looked like it was in a bundle that one side might have been exposed to light.

Next up was a Nicaraguan/Honduran blend that they call “La Bala. These are interesting shaped torpedos, with a bit of a stepped taper. Like the other two, this is 6” long, and is probably 56 ring gauge (the others are toros). I can’t find any specific blend information, but I’d put my money on a Habano wrapper with shade accents. It was a nice tasting cigar, on the milder side, although it took a few cuts to get the draw right. The sampler comes with two of these that have different designs. I think I have smoked this before and might have more of these somepace. I continue to be amazed by the amount of handwork involved in these and how they can let them go for such a reasonable price.

Tonight I smoked the straight candela toro. They list this as the Tampa Candela, and it’s a Nicaraguan Puro. Does this mean it’s rolled in Tampa? I’m not sure. I’ve smoked a great many candela cigars, and this is actually one of the better tasting candela cigars I’ve had. It was surprisingly good. It was Cro Magnon Fomorian good. Again, this is the kind of candela that if you don’t like candela, you just might like. It had the refreshing, bright flavor you’d expect, but it wasn’t grassy. It was sweet, and smoked very nice, although it took a few minutes to get it burning. It was raining like crazy so it was very humid. Once I got it burning it smoked well. Again, hard to believe these are as inexpensive as they are. I can’t wait to smoke the box pressed maduro. I have a whole bunch of neat looking and great tasting cigars in my humidor from Cigar Bundles of Miami. I’d smoked them all the time if I didn’t have so many other cigars to smoke!