Tag Archives: cigars

by Craig Vanderslice | April 13, 2025 · 9:44 am

Cuba Aliados, Some New CAO, Cohiba Cigars and an Ashtray Condom

I’m not in New Orleans for the PCA show, it was a combination of not being able to get the flights I wanted, the expense of it all, and having to tend to my mother that made me decide to skip it. I’ll try again next year. I have plenty of friends there now, watch for their content: CigarProp, Cigar Pulpit, Coop and his team, Boston Jimmie, Developing Palates, etc. I’d love to have been there just to hang with friends. I understand Anthony Mackey (Captain America/Falcon) was there and must have said something wrong to Abe Dababneh, because he’s launched a bit of a smear campaign saying he was a dick to everyone. I’d love to know the whole story. Anyway, I managed to get some cigars in this week. I started out with a Cuba Aliados Original Robusto. This came in the bag from the Cigar Circus event. I have had the Aliados that E.P. Carrillo made, but not this one. This one is made by JRE Tobacco Co. in Honduras and is a Honduran Puro. I remember smoking some Cuba Aliados back in the 90s, and I seem to recall it was a favorite of Steve Saka back then. It was originally made by the Reyes family, who also made the Puros Indios brand, which had a 18″ x 64 cigar called the Chief, and was a little bit notorious for having tight draws. True to it’s roots, this example was packed really tight at the head, and the draw was on the firm side. It still smoked OK, and started with a citric sting, and ended with some cane sugar. Nice cigar, I’ll try it again.

I got a few things in the mail this week that were a surprise. General Cigar sent some samples, and I figure while a lot of the folks who would have received this are away, I’d get a head start on this batch. First was the CAO Fasa Sombra. I rather enjoyed the Sol and Noche, I think they are some of the best CAO cigars in the post-Ricky Rodriguez era. This is a Shade wrapped cigar, Ecuadorian shade-grown wrapper, a Cameroon binder and a filler blend of Dominican and Nicaraguan tobaccos. I smoked the 6″ x 50 toro. This was a nice shade cigar, with some bready, nutty notes. It was very pleasant, nothing overly exciting, just a solid shade cigar. Although not my favorite Fasa, It’s a nice addition to the Fasa lineup. I’ve had worse CAOs (Firewalker anyone?).

General was very generous, they provided me with a $30 cigar, the Cohiba Serie M Reserva Azul. This is made at El Titan de Bronze, a factory which the Brand Ambassador for Cohiba, Sean Williams, has a history. When I first met Sean in 2011 he was working with Sandy and Willie Herrera at El Titan making his El Primer Mundo cigars there. The first Cohibas made at ETB were just called the Serie M, and were really quite good (the lonsdale was better than the toro, to me), and I never had the 2024 Reserva Roja. Reserva Azul’s blend is a Dominican Corojo wrapper, Esteli binder and Nicaraguan Jalapa Viso & Ligero, Nicaraguan Estelí and Dominican Piloto Cubano fillers. This is an exceptional cigar! It starts out with some baking spices, and there’s a sweetness that comes and goes, I’m reminded of spiced gumdrops. I really enjoyed the crap out of this cigar while watching hockey. It’s competing with the Cornelius and Anthony Cornelius for my favorite ETB cigar.

An envelope from Kevin at Cigar Prop arrived this week with a strip of Cigar Porn Ashtray Condoms. I feel like he’s pranking me. There have been some incredibly useless “Cigarbage” items I can think of. The Shurikan “cutter”, the Select Draw and Five Star piercing tools, and the Cigar Bib, all silly useless gadgets. Maybe I’m being overly cynical, but an adhesive backed silicon disc to adhere to ashtray stirrups is silly. I think it’s supposed to protect your cigar from germs, I don’t know about you, but I don’t set any part of the cigar that touches my lips on an ashtray. Besides being dumb, it’s a few years too late. Maybe it would be clever if it had your logo on it and you went around to lounges putting it on ashtrays to promote your brand, I don’t know. I wouldn’t do it. Anyway, thanks Kevin! (pictured on a Cigar Prop for irony sake).

I was going to talk about the new Macanudo Emissary, but I think I’ll save that for next week so I can smoke another one. I liked it, I just was distracted and didn’t take notes. I smoked a Panacea Green Label earlier in the week that was delicious, and I can’t stress enough how good the Panacea line is. Check the daily deals on the left sidebar, you can try some cheap, and you’ll be happy you did! That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Ashtray Condoms, CAO, cigar, cigars, cohiba, Cuba Aliados

by Craig Vanderslice | April 6, 2025 · 9:42 am

Platinum Nova, Aganorsa and a Cavalier Cigars

I still have a few new-to-me cigars from the past few month’s travels, one of which was a Platinum Nova Limited Series Torpedo. This is a 5½” x 55 torpedo with a Habano 2000 wrapper and Dominican binder and fillers. My first experience with Leo at Nova was at the 2020 TPE show, where they introduced me to a dizzying array of cigars. This year at the TPE, Leo hooked me up with some that I hadn’t had yet, including this one. This is a pricey cigar, $30 by my figuring, and I always appreciate Leo’s generosity. I’ve had a trying week, with basically forcing my aging mother into the hospital because she wasn’t well. This cigar was a delightful distraction. To me it had a distinct floral flavor, not exactly light, but tasty in a non-overbearing way. It burned well and had a sophisticated way about it. Certainly not something I like every day, but as wonderful change of pace. I may have smoked this before, it had a familiarity abou it. If it’s a repeat, I apologize!

Next up was a cigar I got from the Cigar Circus in Clearwater last month. I had no idea what this Aganorsa cigar was, so I asked Terence Reilly and he told me it was a cigar that they make in Miami for events. It was something like 6” x 48 and that’s all I know about it. One would assume it’s all Aganorsa tobacco from Nicaragua. The flavor was interesting, I put it in the wood spectrum, which isn’t normally my cup of tea, but it was good. Burn and draw was awesome and there was plenty of smoke. I may put the mooch on Terence when I see him next month at the Smoke-ones. Terence is one of the nicest guys around.

Some may not appreciate this, but yesterday I went to DC for the “Hands Off” rally. We just wandered around the mall area people watching. It was a good crowd, over two million people, and while people are obviously angry about what the current administration is doing, myself included, it was peaceful. I smoked a couple cigars (a Blackbird Flamingo Lancero and a Julius Caeser Toro, the JC felt appropriate) while walking around and didn’t get so much as a sideways glance. I was prepared to defend my form of protest and exercise of my inalienable rights, but it was never an issue. I’m glad I went, and I hope the large outpouring around the country opens some eyes.

When we finally got home I turned on the last period of the Flyers game and sat down with a Cavalier Geneve White Series Tempura. This is a smaller cigar, 4″ x 60 perfecto, very much like a Flying Pig, curly pigtail and all. Flying Pig is a standard vitola, not anything exclusive to Drew Estate, Saka reintroduced it after finding it in some literature from the 1890s. The white line was Sebastien’s original blend, starting life at the Plasencia factory, and I’m sure it’s made at their own factory now. This has a Habano wrapper, Connecticut binder and a filler blend from Nicaragua, Paraguay and the Dominican. Republic. Sebastien’s partner, Brian Motola, gave me this at the Cigar Circus event. This was nice way to cap off a long day. It’s medium bodied with some sweet wood and cocoa flavors. My only complaint is that it was too short!

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Platinum Nova

by Craig Vanderslice | March 30, 2025 · 9:34 am

Drew Estate Freestyle Live Cigars, a 20 Acre Farm and an Undercrown Shade

I watched the last Drew Estate Freestyle Live show a few weeks back and was a little intrigued. I was curious about how exactly a Dominican cigar with a sweet cap could be a game changer, but I was interested in finding out. Low and behold, a package shows up with the Freestyle Live pack inside from Drew Estate. The gear included is nice. A Cigar Caddy 10 count Tackle Box travel humidor which was just announced in January by Quality Importers (and doesn’t appear on the site yet), a Palio Pistola dual jet lighter, and a dog tag. These are still available around for $40ish, depending on where you live or where you buy. There’s four cigars, a Gordo, Toro, Robusto and a pigtailed petit corona. I smoked the Gordo and the Toro over two evenings and had similar notes. First thing is I can’t say that shade wrapped cigars are my favorite, nor can I say Dominican cigars are something I lean toward, but I really like a Diamond Crown, or any other number of cigars from the DR, so that really doesn’t mean anything. I don’t mind a sweet cap on the right cigar either, although a little bit goes a long way. We should find out next month what Drew Estate is going to brand these, and what the price point will be, but I hesitate to say that this cigar isn’t aimed toward the same smoker who likes an Undercrown or Liga Privada. In the case of both cigars, the sweetener on the cap was overwhelming, and stuck around through the entire cigar, to my palate covering the taste of the Ecuador shade (one would assume) wrapper. Buth cigar burned OK, and they weren’t completely off putting, but they wouldn’t be what I would consider a premium offering. I hope that these target more of a budget smoker, more of a broad appeal sort of thing. Unlike some of the past Free Style launches, this probably isn’t going to be on my to-buy list.

I figured as long as I was smoking shade cigars, I’d smoke more of Drew Estate’s offerings in that category. I selected a 20 Acre Farm cigar that I received at the Florida Barn Smoker last year. This was one of several, the Barn Smoker is held at the literal 20 Acre Farm, so it makes sense that the brand would be featured. This was a previous Free Style Live release, by the way. I had some hockey to watch, so I chose the massive 20 Acre Farm Corona 25th Anniversary Belicoso, which is exclusive to Corona Cigar Co., and measures 7″ x 54. This cigar has a Connecticut Shade wrapper, Honduran Sun Grown ‘99 binder and fillers from Nicaraguan (Jalapa & Esteli) & FSG (Florida Sun Grown Corojo). The FSG twang is present, and it’s a very nice, medium plus shade cigar. There’s some nutty sweetness along with the twang. While I’m not particularly enamoured with FSG tobacco, it ads a little something different to whatever blend it’s in. Nice smoke, got me through two periods of Hockey.

I had some options for Drew Estate shade cigars, I could have smoked a very old Chateau Real, I could have chosen a Blackened S84, I even might have smoked a unicorn, a shade wrapped Liga Privada No. 9, but I went with an Undercrown Shade Churchill instead. This has been in the humidor for quite a long time, I don’t recall where it came from. This cigar is 7″ x 48, and I don’t think it’s still in production. It has the Ecuador Shade Wrapper, a binder from Ecuador, and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. I like the Undercrown Shade, it’s definitely in my top ten of shade cigars, and I like a Churchill. This was a really enjoyable cigar, my favorite of the cigars mentioned in this post. It’s toasty, nutty and loaded with flavor. The burn and draw were perfect, and it made for a very enjoyable two hours. I wish I had more of this vitola.

That’s about enough from me today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 20 Acre Farm, cigar, cigars, drew estate, Freestyle LIve, Shade, undercrown

by Craig Vanderslice | March 23, 2025 · 10:18 am

Alec Bradley, El Mago, Bentley, and Plasencia Cigars

I spent some time this week smoking cigars that I got on my two trips to Florida this month. Three of them came from the outstanding Cigar Circus opening party, and one I picked up at Smoke Inn. Some I liked better than others, but they were all pretty good. I’ve been really trying to limit my consumption of sucky cigars. Anyway, I started with the Alec Bradley Post Embargo Blend Code B15. I remember picking up some Post Embargos nine years ago, might still have one somewhere, and them not really being up my alley. I misidentified this as Blend Code 815, upon closer inspection it’s a B. I thought it took them 815 tries to get to this, I would have given up well before 500. They have a large “Post Embargo” band covering the high priming Trojes Honduran wrapper, with a Honduran binder and fillers from Honduras and Nicaragua. This stares with a little hint of Mesquite wood, and it struggled with some minor tunneling. The second half redeemed itself, with some nice, medium milk chocolate and nuts. Not a bad smoke, interesting flavors. I think this came out since the STG purchase of the brand.

A cigar I picked up when I visited the Smoke Inn shop in West Palm a few weeks back was the El Mago Miami Disco. I have been hearing a lot about the brand, great story behind it, and the packaging is pretty spectacular. The Disco reached out to me, maybe it’s one of the brand’s newest offerings, or that the tube was quite nice. I like that the cigars are in cellophane and the tube skips the cedar sheet, that’s an expensive and unnecessary feature and adds nothing for me. This is a 6″ x 60 cigar with a dark Habano Oscuro wrapper, Criollo binder and Nicaraguan fillers. These are made at the MGE Cigars Factory in Esteli, one which I haven’t heard of previously. Upon lighting this I instantly regretted only buying one, and for a moment considered shelling out for a box, even though this is near the upper limit of my price comfort zone. The cigar started with a delicious Cayenne dark chocolate kind of thing, it really got my attention. This was my star of the week, it was a delicious cigar to the end. The Cayenne dropped off and it was pure dark chocolate til the end. Yummy cigar, and I need to try some of the other cigars in the line. I think Wooden Indian might have some, I owe them a visit anyway!

The Bentley Green toro was my Saturday afternoon watching hockey cigar. This was in the cigars from Cigar Circus, while Jon Carney, who owns the US distribution of the brand, was there with Hooten Young cigars. The Bentley line is owned by the Schusters, who are big cigar distributors in Germany, and made at Joya de Nicaragua. I like a lot of the cigas made at JdN. The 6″ x 52 toro has an Ecuador Rosado wrapper, and fillers from the Jalapa Valley in Nicaragua. Flavorwise, his one gave me the feeling of dry cocoa powder, in a medium bodied package. It was a good cigar, maybe not my favorite if the week, but that bar was set high. I’d give it another go. I was a little surprised that the green was provided instead of the White, I thought the White might have a broader appeal, although I haven’t tried it yet.

Finally, one more cigar that was in the Circus pack was the Plasencia Reserva 1898 robusto. This is a cigar I had never seen before, although it looks like its a line that they have had for a very long time, and may have been for the international market. Is it a reprise? Would they put a discontinued cigar in a retailers swag bag? I’m confused. From what I can put together, this 4¾” x 54 robusto is a Nicaraguan Puro, maybe. Some sources list a Honduran binder. I’m really confused. I see this available at both domestic and international retailers, but it’s not on the Plasencia website. Nothing surprises me with cigar makers websites, El Mago has a search function and “Disco” had no results, yet it’s on the page. I digress. This cigar was pretty darned good

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! It was dark and ri

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ch, and quite strong I think. I noted espresso and cocoa, but a savory as opposed to sweet sensation. I had a sneezing fit in the final third, not sure what that was all about! From what I can gather this is a sub $10 cigar, and was very good.

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

CigarCraig

😃+

Serenity Now, Montecristo Exclusive, Hooten Young and Julius Caeser Cigars

Thursday night I went to a Flyers Game, their second meeting with the Tampa Lightning. You may recall that I went to Tampa last November to the game there, and they won in a shootout. It was a fantastic experience with the Diamond Crown cigar lounge and all, Kevin and I had a great time! This time I took my youngest son, and I smoked a Serenity Now from Asylum/CLE Cigars. I figured this would be an appropriate driving cigar! I got this at the TPE show, embarrassed to say I don’t remember the reps name who I talked to , but Tom Lazuka was there. This is a cigar that Christian Eiroa came up with, Tom is usually the idea man for the Asylum line. It’s my understanding that we wasn’t very happy with Christian at first. This comes in a box with a San Andrés sibling, the Insanity Later. Serenity Now uses a Connecticut-seed wrapper, which may or may not be grown in Honduras, over tobaccos from Honduras and an undisclosed South American country. There are a lot of references to CLE having a farm in South America, which is a big place. I thought this was a little bitey for a shade cigar, on the tannic side. It was a nice road cigar as it burned well and was inoffensive. Full flavor yet medium strength. I’d try it again, but am more interested in trying the maduro, which I would have called Profanity Later, but that’s just me.

Last week when I visited the Smoke Inn Casa de Montecristo lounge in West Palm Beach, one of the cigars I bought was a Montecristo Nicaragua Great Smoke 2023 Exclusive. This was priced higher than I usually like, but when in Rome (more on Rome, see below) you know! Yesterday was The Great Smoke put on by Abe at Smoke Inn, and it looks to have been a good time. In honor of that, I decided to smoke the Montecristo. This is a Nicaraguan puro, blended by Rafael Nodal and AJ Fernandez and made at the AJF factory. Montecristo (and a lot of Altadis cigars) aren’t generally my cup of tea, although the exceptions are the ones made by AJ Fernandez. This has a dark wrapper, is a 6″ x 52 Toro, and performed spectacularly. It has a distinctive flavor, I wonder if this is what people refer to as “black walnut”? I don’t like walnut, but this was a good tasting cigar. I didn’t regret dropping $20 on this cigar, it was a souvenir, of my trip, and I really enjoyed it. Once again, I can’t overstate how nice an experience my visit to the Smoke Inn shop was, I will have to get back down there and go to some of the other shops.

Another cigar I picked up on my recent travels was the Hooten Young Ma Deuce. I saw Jon Carney at the Cigar Circus event and he, apparently, had been working with the Hooten Young folks, and hooked me up with a couple of their cigars. I probably should have watched “Black Hawk Down” yesterday while I smoked this, but opted for something a little lighter. Norm Hooten, one of the co-founders of the company, is a Veteran of the mission in Somalia which the movie “Black Hawk Down” is about, and there’s also a connection to Jon Carney’s home town in Maine. This is an interesting vitola. It’s 6½” x 60, but it’s shaped like a .50 caliber cartridge. The Ecuadorian Connecticut and San Andres Maduro wrapper combo is arranged to emulate the different metals in the bullet and casing. It has a Nicaraguan binder and filler. They come in boxes that look like ammo cans. Everyone has a different palate, I got a sourdough flavor off the start, which continued through out. Of course, I like this flavor in a cigar, so it was good. I smoked it for the better part of two hours, and the tapered head makes it very much unlike a 60 ring cigar. It was fun to smoke. I’ll watch “Black Hawk Down” one of these days when I’m in the mood.

Finally, I couldn’t let March 15 go by without smoking a Diamond Crown Julius Caeser cigar. Here’s something I wrote last year that I was pretty proud of, although I might be the only one who was impressed with it…

We all know that March 15 marks the day that Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC. We know the exact date because he invented the calendar we use. He instituted that just a year before his death. Anyway, he was a heck of an Emperor, but I guess his friends thought he was a dick, so they stabbed him. I may be oversimplifying things a little. A few millennia later some Hungarian folks named their son after him, and US immigration screwed up the spelling on his paperwork and Julius Caeser Newman started a cigar company that makes some great cigars.

The Diamond Crown Julius Caeser is made at Tabacalera A. Fuente, has an Ecuador Havana wrapper, Dominican binder and Caribbean and Central American fillers. I smoked the Pyramid vitola, which is 6½” x 52. I might have gotten this when I was in Tampa for the Heritage Festival in ’22. I was kind of hoping to smoke the new Trouble Maker vitola, but I didn’t end up getting my hands on any. This is a great cigar, with a woody profile that’s a nice change of pace for me. I probably don’t smoke this line as often as I should, there are some good memories associated with it, beyond the historical and literary tie-ins.