Tag Archives: CLE

by Craig Vanderslice | June 2, 2023 · 4:50 pm

News: TAA Exclusive Eiroa Dark 11/18 Now Shipping

I haven’t had the opportunity to smoke a ton of CLE cigars, funny because I’ve known Christian for 20+ years. I smoked a ton of Camacho cigars way back when, and I feel like Christian’s brother’s cigars are closer to what Camacho was than CLE. This one interests me, I’ll check my local TAA shop next time.

C.L.E. Cigar Company announces that the TAA exclusive Eiroa Dark 11/18 is now shipping! The Eiroa Dark originally made its debut in 2019. What separates the TAA Exclusive is that it will come in the Eiroa family’s signature 11/18 size. Only five hundred boxes were created.

The unique 11/18 vitola became well known when the Eiroa family-owned Camacho. The 11/18 size continues to be an especially important vitola to Christian Eiroa (President of C.L.E. Cigar Company) because it provides a unique smoking experience while holding sentimental value. The 11/18 name is in dedication to the Matriarch of the Eiroa family.

Christian Eiroa said:” It is a little-known fact that the 11/18 is in dedication to my mother as it represents her birth date (November 18). The Eiroa Dark is one of my favorite blends to come out of the C.L.E. cigar factory, due it being made with only Honduran Corojo tobacco. My hope is that the public enjoys this blend in this long overdue 11/18 size.”

11/18 Vitola: 48 x 52 x 48 x 6

Box count: Twenty count boxes. Limited to only five hundred boxes.

MSRP: $16.70

About C.L.E Cigar Company

C.L.E. Cigar Company, established by Christian Eiroa in 2012 is steeped in tradition, going back to the early 1960’s in Honduras. The Eiroa family is known for farming, blending, and manufacturing premium handmade cigars using innovative and forward-thinking methods. Christian Eiroa continues to honor his family legacy by creating unique award-winning blends using a mix of traditional and ever evolving technological methods. C.L.E. Cigar Company serves as the umbrella company for C.L.E. Cigars, Eiroa Cigars, and Asylum Cigars.

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, CLE, dark, Eiroa, TAA

by Craig Vanderslice | March 20, 2021 · 10:26 am

UPDATED News: United Cigars Celebrates Our Beloved Sports Stadiums

I’m disappointed in this news for a few reasons. I was looking forward to the cigars, and I feel like the reasoning is pretty weak. I think it’s pretty safe to assume this was killed due to the word “Monstah” infringing on Pete Johnson’s “Monster” trademark, but I fail to see how there could be any confusion. The only thing I can understand is that the trademark has to be defended in an evenhanded manner, if he allows one person to get away with one permutation of the word, someone else can find another loophole. It seems crappy, but I suppose the owners of United would defend their trademarks as well (and probably have).

United Cigar is disappointed to announce that its 1st Stadium Series releases has been halted. The Asylum Green Monstah, a collaboration with CLE Cigars and United Cigars, was due to ship to United retail partners just in time for opening day of baseball scheduled for April 1, 2021. This limited release was produced in two vitolas packaged in 9 count boxes representing the nine innings of baseball. The box is shaped as home plate with both sides fashioned after the iconic left field wall of Fenway Park: The Green Monstah.

“This project meant more than cigars,” said Oliver Nivaud, Director of Operations at United Cigar. “Baseball is America’s pass-time; stadiums delivered sports, music and life before the pandemic and we wanted to share our passion with other enthusiasts. My connection to Boston’s Fenway Park is deeper than just a cigar project, I named my son after the park in 2004. I never expected the cancel culture to show itself in the cigar industry, especially not because we named our first series after a green wall that was built in 1912.”

United Cigars is regretfully pulling the Stadium Series Green Monstah from the market for now until a direction is decided upon. This decision was made after another cigar brand owner reached out to CLE directly and said that a portion of the name of would need to be concealed. As this was not an option United Cigars wanted to accommodate, the decision was made to pull the series to avoid further distress to their friends at CLE.

This will not stop the Series Unidas Stadium Series however, United Cigars has new plans for this annual release and has begun the early steps for the next one which should be announced by this Fall.

A rare Saturday morning post, I was going to do this one last night, but I didn’t get around to it. Funny, because I had candela on my mind, but that’s a story for another day. I like a candela, and Christian Eiroa made one of my favorite Candelas when he made the Camacho Monarca in Candela years ago. I really miss that cigar, I smoked through a box of them a dozen years ago or so. Maybe this will be similar blend? I guess I’ll have to get my hands on some and see (if my memory holds up). As far as the stadium series goes, I can only hope they don’t do one for Vet Stadium, as many great memories I have of that stadium, it really wasn’t what I’d call a great baseball stadium (and there’s already a Phillies cigar, and I ain’t smoking it)!

With nearly a year behind us since we have had the opportunity to visit a stadium to cheer on our favorite athletes, United Cigars has decided to bring the stadium to you. Teaming up with Christian Eiroa and Tom Lazuka of Asylum Cigars, United Cigars is launching a new line as part of their Series Unidas collection and will ship to retailers next week in time for baseball’s opening day. The Green Monstah cigar release will pay tribute to the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Park as the launch of a planned United Cigars Limited Edition Stadium Series line.

A collectible series honoring America’s beloved stadiums, the Green Monstah boxes will showcase the iconic scoreboard and celebrate our love of the game. Available in two classic Asylum Cigar vitolas, 6 x 60 and 7 x 70, the Green Monstah limited series features an Ecuadorian candela wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and fillers from Esteli and Jalapa. This Limited Edition Stadium Series production was kept to 250 boxes of each size and will be available in boxes of 9 cigars for 9 innings of baseball. The boxes were constructed to resemble home plate, so this is perfect for every baseball enthusiast’s collection and cigar lover’s humidor.

“The sounds at the ballpark have always been a part of my Spring,” said Oliver Nivaud Director of Operations for United Cigars. “Now we have an Asylum cigar to smoke for opening day. Fenway Park is my Holy Cathedral, but we have a few more stadiums in mind for this stadium series.”

Tom Lazuka, Co-Founder of Asylum Cigars added, “This was an exciting project as both Christian and I are huge baseball fans. We worked hard to have a candela in a large format, turned out to be an amazing cigar that has filled a few of my ashtrays.”

The Green Monstah will begin shipping to retailers on March 22nd in limited quantities. MSRP on the 6 x 60 is $79.99/$8.88 and the 7 x 70 will retail for $89.99/$9.99.

About United Cigars

United Cigar began as a US based cigar store chain in 1901 growing to nearly 3,000 shops. United Cigar eventually became part of the corporation that bought Marvel Comics in 1968. The United Cigar chain represented the interests of the Consolidated Tobacco Company, the tobacco trust that controlled the American Tobacco Company.

Today United Cigars distributes and manufactures premium cigars within the United States. Distribution agreements with Selected Tobacco (Atabey, Byron & Bandolero) as well as Jose Dominguez cigars. United Cigars has its own brands including the quick-selling bundle line Classic, La Gianna Havana, and our flagship brand United to name a few. United Cigar Series Unidas, a collaboration with respected manufacturers, provides premium cigar retailers with Limited Release productions.

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Tagged as Asylum, candela, cigar, cigars, CLE, Green Monstah, United Cigars

by Craig Vanderslice | June 2, 2019 · 9:54 am

A Couple of CLE Cigars, Villiger La Vencedora Churchill and Joya de Nicaragua

Last week when I was at Goose’s in Limerick I picked up some CLE cigars I hadn’t tried before, the Prieto and the Corojo, in the Toro size. Christian Eiroa is another one of those guy who was a regular in the alt.smokers.cigars Usenet group back in the ’90s, so I’ve known him a long time. That being said, I’ve bought every cigar made by him or his family I’ve ever smoked, going back to the Camacho days. Not complaining, just saying that I always pick up a few of Christian’s cigars when I see them to give them a try, as he’s an old friend and I try to keep up with what he’s doing. That being said, I haven’t really found a CLE cigar that’s hit my palate right yet. I’m going to go a little bit backwards in today’s post and talk about last night’s cigar first, the CLE Corojo Toro. This was a surprise, because I really expected to like this cigar, like I loved the Camacho Corojo of old. Oddly, is had a metallic component to it that I just couldn’t wrap my palate around. It brought to mind the same experience I had with the CLE Corojo from the original 2014 release (I had bought some at Corona Cigars during the 2014 IPCPR show). I suppose if this is something you like in a cigar, and I guess a lot of people do because they seem to sell a lot of them, it’s a great cigar, and there was nothing wrong with the construction. It’ll just have to be a pass for me, not my cup of tea.

I had better luck with the CLE Prieto Toro a few days prior. This one is a box pressed Broadleaf cigar, what can go wrong with that? Again, the Prieto had a beautiful burn. The flavor was what one expects, some coffee, some cocoa, all pretty good. Here’s the thing though, I expected to be really impressed and I was just mildly impressed, ya know? I Know what I liked from the old days of what Christian did, and I really like many of the Asylum offerings (admittedly, I have not tried any of the 70 or 80 ring gauge cigars save for one Ogre, which was quite good although obscenely large). Maybe I expect too much, or perhaps my palate just isn’t in tune with what Christian is going for with his CLE line. I just haven’t found the right one for my palate. I have an Eiroa The First 20 in the humidor on deck, maybe that will be the one that trips my trigger! I like the presentation of the line, the tissue paper sleeve over cello is a classy touch, and offers some protection over nothing at all. Christian is vehemently anti-cellophane, but the market requires some barrier between the consumer and the leaf, so the paper is a nice compromise.

Next up are two cigars that are made at the Joya de Nicaragua factory in Esteli, first being the Villiger La Vencedora. This isn’t a new brand, it’s been around since last year. It was billed as Villiger’s first full bodied offering, which may or may not be true, I thought the Trill was on the fuller side of medium, but that’s all pretty subjective anyway. The La Vencedora is one of my favorites in the line, although the new La Meridiana is gaining ground. I recently received some Churchills from Villiger and had to give one a try (although, I’m quite sure I’ve smoked this size before). I like a Churchill, although this is a 7″ x 50, that’s OK, I like this size too. (a Churchill is 7″ x 47 traditionally, everyone takes liberties with the names). This is a good, stronger cigar that I find quite satisfying. There’s a nice spice from the Habano Oscuro wrapper grown in Nicaragua. It is a NIcaraguan puro, so the spice is consistent throughout, and it has the espresso flavors I like too. This is a nice long smoke and one that I find enjoyable.

Finally, I smoked the new Joya de Nicaragua Seleccion de Torcedor Exclusivo de TAA. This is what Joya has to say about this program:

Inside our factory, you will find a dedicated group of people working passionately to deliver the best-handcrafted cigars. Our team focus is to always create, always improve. As a result of this commitment, we are introducing Selección de Torcedor, a new program that we are launching this 2019 through our good friends at TAA.

From now on, every year, Joya de Nicaragua’s torcedores will select a special blend and size. After that, it will be shared with a selected group of retailers around the world. To give our friends overseas a piece of what our torcedores are working on the factory floor thrills us.

Also, this program will work as a way to know the acceptance of the product by consumers. If it turns out to be well received, we will certainly make this special blend into a regular one.

The blend in 2019’s Selección de Torcedor is a very approachable smoke, smooth yet flavorful. With the selection of tobacco, this cigar unquestionably reflects the historic ties between Nicaragua and the US.

“We are very excited that consumers in the US will enjoy Dr. Cuenca’s favorite vitola with a rare piece that we’ve been working at the factory for quite a few years. I’m sure they’ll enjoy this 6×52 toro. As much, as we do in the factory.” – Said Mario Pérez, JDN’s Factory Manager.

This an interesting cigar in that it isn’t the strong blend of the Antaño at all, it’s on the milder side, but loaded with flavor. It’s rich and quite tasty, and, of course, the size is perfect. If you can get your hands on these, they are well worth trying!

That’s all I have today, I’ve got a lot to do and little time to do it in! More stormy weather is expected and one cant cut the grass in a thunderstorm! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, CLE, Corojo, joya de nicaragua, La Vencedora, Prieto, TAA, Villiger

by CigarCraig | September 17, 2014 · 10:26 pm

Asylum and CLE Cigars, a Leccia Luchador and News

This week I decided to smoke a couple cigars from Fabricas Unidas, Christian Eiroa’s company, mostly because I wanted to slip the video I shot with Christian at the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival, but the cigars are good too. Christian was one of the guys I became acquainted with through the old alt.smokers.cigars Usenet group back in the ’90s. That being said, I’ve purchased just about every cigar that he’s been associated with that I’ve smoked. No mooching off this guy! Anyway, I had an Asylum Premium Toro that I purchased the end of last year (literally, it was December 31 of last year when I went to a local shop to meet a friend for a smoke). I’ve really enjoyed the Asylum line, it’s Nicaraguan and hits my palate just right. I’m glad they made the Asylum 13 Ogre line in more reasonable sizes than the 7″ x 70, although that was a tasty smoke too. The Asylum Premium Toro is a tasty, medium bodied smoke with perfect construction. This is a perfect after dinner cigar that was quite satisfying. I think there was a short Torpedo in the goodie bag from the Rocky Mountain Festival that I’m looking forward to smoking. Tom Lazuka and Christian have a hit with the Asylum line.

Last night I dug out a CLE Corojo Corona that I had purchased at Corona Cigar‘s Sand Lake location back in 2012 when the IPCPR show was in Orlando. At the time I found both the Corojo and the Cuarenta had a mineral taste that was quite off-putting to me. Apparently two years in the humidor has alleviated that problem. The Corojo is a Honduran puro and their corona is 5¾” x 46, which is just about the perfect size, actually a corona gorda in traditional terms. I thought this was a smooth, flavorful smoke with a good draw and burn. I used a V-cut which worked very well. I can’t find a thing wrong with this cigar now, and I may have to pick some more up and smoke one “fresh” to see if I get that flinty taste and these just need humidor time.

Here’s the short video. Christian had apparently stepped on some glass somehow the night before and was limping around. I think there were some spirits involved. I believe Rafael Nodal knows the story…

News

Once again we have big news, General Cigar Co. has brought Sam Leccia on. Barry Stein broke the news this morning on TheCigarAuthority.com. From the press release: ” General Cigar Company is excited to announce today they have hired Sam Leccia as “Cigar and Blend Specialist.” General Cigar has also acquired the Leccia Tobacco Company cigar brands, as part of the Foundry Tobacco Company, and will market and distribute the Black, White and Luchador lines, effective today.” I’m actually less surprised by this than I was with the Toraño acquisition, but I am a little surprised that Sam relinquished his independence. In honor of this occasion, I selected a Luchador El Hombre robusto for this evening’s walk. I maintain that the Luchador is one of my favorite new cigars this year. It’s like jalepeño dark chocolate with it’s spice and semi-sweet chocolate flavor. For me, it’s the ideal combination of flavor and performance, and always makes me with it was longer. I smoked this one until my fingers burned. Best wishes and congratulations to Sam in this new chapter in his story, I hope it works out well for everyone involved!

That’s it for now! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Asylum, cigar, cigars, CLE, Eiroa, General Cigar Co., leccia, Luchador, Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival

by CigarCraig | September 5, 2012 · 6:28 pm

IPCPR 2012 – A Pair of CLE Cigars and Christian Eiroa

Monday was a rainy Labor Day, which is a little depressing for me. I love summer and the end of the season makes me sad. I don’t look forward to autumn or winter very much. Of course the rain didn’t help matters, as my lovely wife and I had tickets to see some dude named Springsteen at Citizens Bank Park in Philly and concerts are less fun when you’re wet. So while we were hanging around waiting to head out, I decided to chose between a cigar and a nap, and the cigar won. I selected a CLE Corojo corona as I hadn’t yet tried Christian Eiroa’s new cigars. I brought these back from Orlando with me, but it’s not what you think, I purchased them at one of the Corona Cigar Co. locations we visited. I purchased a couple coronas, which are a corona gorda size at 5½ x 46, one of my favorite sizes, and they were reasonably priced at under $6 a stick. If you try the CLE cigars expecting a Camacho, that’s not what you’re in for. This cigar was quite nice, medium bodied with a nice flavor, except for a mineral flavor that didn’t really hit my palate right. Still, perfect construction and burn, and savory flavor. I suspect that flinty mineral flavor could age out after a few months in the humidor. I have another one that I’ll use to test that theory.

The Springsteen show was great, fears of wetness were unfounded as our seats were covered and I had bought 2 ponchos in the parking lot for $5 (cheap insurance!). He put on a heck of a show of well over 3 hours, hitting all the old favorites as well as some new material. Of course, no smoking in the venue, but I did get a waft of a familiar aroma at one point that reminded me of concerts in the 80s. Funny, if I lit up a cigar I’d get tossed out on my ear, but the stoners are free to enjoy their smoke! I’m 49 and I think I fell somewhere in the middle of the demographic at the show, which I though was funny. This isn’t a concert review blog, so I’ll move on. Tuesday I took my traditional evening walk with a CLE Cuarenta corona. This cigar was an IPCPR trade show sample. The Cuarenta was Christian’s 40th birthday cigar (young punk!), and it has a Habano wrapper and is a little bit lighter than it’s Corojo sibling. Oddly, I got the same mineral notes in this cigar that I taste in the Corojo. Obviously they share a component. Flinty taste aside, it was still a flavorful smoke and, like the Corojo, worth seeking out and sampling. As I alluded to earlier, I had a chance to sit down with Christian at the show and recorded this video with him talking about all his new ventures.