Tag Archives: Contest

by | December 3, 2017 · 11:30 am

AshStay News, a La Gloria Cubana Cigar and a Contest!

I was catching up on some podcast listening yesterday and happened across an episode of Stogie Geeks Podcast with Chaim Kohn of Cigar Oasis. I’ve known Chaim a long time, and he’s been a great supporter of my site, and I’m a fan of Cigar Oasis products. I use a Magna in my cabinet and an Excel in the little New Air, as well as Western Humidor hygrometers here and there.  I heard on the show where Cigar Oasis is distributing the AshStay cigar ashtray now. I’ve been using an AshStay for three years practically every day, and it works as advertised. I still won’t put it in the dishwasher or make my wife clean up after me (as portrayed in the company’s promotional video, which auto plays on their website, beware), but it manages the odor well, and has been a welcome addition to my smoking porch. Hopefully Cigar Oasis does well spreading the AshStay love.

 

Thursday I had a bad cigar day. I’m only going to speak in general terms about the cigars, but I get really annoyed when I draw through a cigar and get no smoke.  If I blow through it looks like I’m electing a Pope, but drawing gives nothing!  I have yet to figure out how this occurs, unless there’s a fold in the bunch that acts as a valve of sorts. The worst part off the evening was when I returned from my walk and put the poorly working cigar down and found a back up, it was plugged. I didn’t get any flavor from either (which could have been a result of drinking a blood orange ginger ale with dinner, but I can’t say for sure), and was left unfulfilled. It was a major bummer. So LaGloriaCubana_Colección Reserva_PresidenteFriday I cracked open the box of La Gloria Cubana Collecion Reserva Presidente that I bought at the event with Ernesto Carillo a month or so ago. I’ve smoked the robusto and belicoso in this line and love them, but this Presidente, a formidable 7½” x 54, was next level stuff. I had some buyers remorse, buying a box of such large cigars, but after smoking one, I am no longer regretting the purchase. While it started a little slow, it moved into the flavors I am familiar with from the smaller sizes, then, BANG, a sweet cinnamon candy flavor that made my day. It was short of Atomic Fireball cinnamon, more like the hard candies. I can’t say how much I enjoyed that cigar, especially after the previous evenings disappointments. It’s a good thing these are such large cigars, or I’d smoke through them quick. I’ve been high on the La Gloria Cubana Collecion Reserva since smoking the IPCPR show samples, and I’m a fan of the brand in general. It’s important to remember that this line is actually made at Ernesto’s factory and not General Cigars, La Gloria Cubana was his baby, after all. This cigar would receive a 99 on my rating scale if I used my rating scale.

 

 

Contest!

I had a couple other cigars I was going to talk about, the Emilio LJZ, and the Jas Sum Kral Red Knight, which were both very good, but I figured I’d get right to a giveaway instead. I had another giveaway lined up, but then as Caliber 4RI was typing this post, it occurred to me that it wasn’t a good fit, and will make more sense in a couple of weeks when I have my annual, scaled back, Christmas giveaways. What does make sense is to give away a great item from Cigar Oasis, a Calibur 4R Digital Hygrometer with a silver bezel. I have one of these, and would happily have deployed this one in one of my humidors, but I’ll be happier seeing someone else enjoy using it. This is a great looking unit as well as being very accurate and functional. It wouldn’t surprise me if a couple of cigars fell into the box when I ship it out, it’s been known to happen.  Usual rule apply, leave a comment on this post to enter and I’ll select the winner next Sunday, December 10, 2017.  Thanks to Chaim for providing this super-cool item! Stay tuned for more great giveaways coming soon, and I’ll be working on sending Secret Santa assignments out this week!  God Luck!

 

That’s all for today, I have to get a ceiling painted and maybe clean out the gutters now that the leaves have fallen.  I can’t believe it’s so close to the end of the year already…anyway, until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

 

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by | September 27, 2017 · 8:51 pm

Contest! Cigar Prop and Tobacco Locker Cigar Bar

I guess it’s been too long since we had a contest, right?  Has to have been a couple of weeks. This time we are featuring Cigar Prop and the Tobacco Locker Cigar Bar in Port Charlotte, Florida.  Kevin, the creator of the Cigar Prop has put together a nice prize pack including two of his new Cigar Prop XC, a portable Cigar Prop that fits in your wallet. I have a prototype that has been with my in Las Vegas and at the Connecticut Barn Smoker. It’s a very handy item!  Also, courtesy of Tobacco Locker Cigar Bar, are four cigars: A Jose Carlos, a Pappy Van Winkle, an acid Kuba Candela, a Fat Bottom Betty. The Jose Carlos is Tobacco Locker’s brand and is very nice. The other three are Drew Estate products. There’s a good chance I might send a selection of cigars from my humidor to the winner as well!

CigarPropPrize

 

In addition to comments here as entries, go to Cigar Prop’s and Tobacco Locker Cigar Bar’s Facebook pages and “like” them.

https://www.facebook.com/cigarprop/

https://www.facebook.com/TobaccoLockerCigarBar/

We’ll select a winner next Wednesday, October 4, 2017. Usual rules apply.  Leave a comment here and good luck. Thanks to Kevin at Cigar Prop and The Tobacco Locker Cigar Bar for sponsoring this contest!

 

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

 

CigarCraig

 

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by | September 3, 2017 · 10:40 am

A Partagas, an Alec Bradley and a Big Papi Cigar Contest Winner!

It was a rough week for me, as the last week of August always is. Not to complain or anything, but growing up having an end of summer birthday sucks almost as much as a Christmas birthday, at least for me. It signals the end of summer, and as the years progress time passes faster and faster, so summer went by in the blink of an eye. I guess if you don’t like summer, it’s not a big deal, but I love summer. On top of all that, I was plagued by migraines for some reason. So it wasn’t a great week, no reason to dwell any further on that, it’s time to move on. I managed to smoke a couple great cigars this week, and I need to pick a couple Partagas_SeriePNo2winners of the Big Papi by David Ortiz cigar prizes.  So, for my birthday I was conflicted, should I smoke a known favorite cigar or smoke a “special” cigar and risk disappointment? I took the risk and went with a Partagas Serie P No. 2 Havana that probably came home with me from a wedding we attended in London in 2006 (this very weekend, actually, (Happy Anniversary Karyn and Mitchell!). The Hunters and Frankau rep was  handing these out, and the grooms father stuffed a few in my jacket pocket. So this Havana cigar had been in my humidor for 11 years, should have been plenty of time to recover from its journeys! I was quite surprised by the floral qualities this cigar had, it was really delicious and entertaining to smoke as it was never boring with the interesting flavors that it presented. It burned perfectly too, with a great draw, which is a plus. It turned out to be a great choice and a very good smoke, quite different from my regular fare as well as being different from what I remembered and expected.

 

 

AlecBradley_BlackMarketEsteli_RobustoYesterday I was migraine free for the first time all week, so I dug into the IPCPR samples and found the new Alec Bradley Black Market Esteli, their newest edition to the Black Market line. This cigar comes in  Churchill, Gordo, Robusto, Toro, Torpedo sizes, of which I smoked the 5″ x 52 Robusto. It has a Nicaraguan wrapper, a double binder of Nicaraguan and Honduran and Nicaraguan fillers. I need to further explore this line, but this just might replace the Nica Puro as my favorite Alec AlecBradley_BlackMarketEsteliBradley cigar. It was very rich and satisfying, the burn and ash were simply beautiful, and it had unique and interesting flavors that appealed to me. There was a sweet spice that I rarely taste in a cigar and it makes me smile when I do. I smoked a few other cigars this week, a little CLE corojo from 2014 that wasn’t appealing, and a Mombacho Liga Maestro that was very leathery, too much so for my taste, I’m afraid. These are both lines that I feel like I should explore further, on the CLE side, even though I’ve known Christian for 20 years, the cigars I’ve smoked from CLE haven’t tripped my trigger, the Asylum line I like, but I guess I just haven’t smoked enough of the CLEs. I’m late to the party with Mombacho and need to smoke more of their cigars. As far as the Alec Bradley Black Market Esteli, that’s a winner for me! See below for some pictures from IPCPR of their latest offerings.

 

Alec Bradley has added some nice accessories this year too, as well as some small format cigars. I’m looking forward to checking out the new Prensado Lost Art as well.

 

Contest!

Big PapiOK, it’s time to wrap up the series of contests featuring cigars from El Artista Cigars, we had a huge Exactus Super Colosus, the Pulita 60 Aniversario and finally, the Big Papi by David Ortiz, which I’ am about to announce the winners! Thanks to Carolyn and Keith for making all this possible! We will have two winners, one gets a five-pack of Big Papi cigars and a lighter, and the grand prize is a box of 20 Big Papi cigars! The runner-up is Matt Hopper! The grand prize winner is (drumroll please)… Randall Simon! I’ll need both of you to send me your addresses so we can get these out to you!  Thanks to all who followed and congrats to the winners! Stay tuned for more contests coming up! 

 

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

 

CigarCraig

 

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by | August 25, 2017 · 9:23 pm

Pulita 60 Anniversario Winner and One More Contest! Big Papi by David Ortiz!

We have three winners to select from last week’s contest and another contest! 

Pulita 2paul1954 is the winner of the two pack of Pulita 60 Anniversario and an El Artista Torch Lighter!

Pulita 4smoke770 is the winner of the four pack of Pulita 60 Anniversario and a lighter

Pulita 10And Bob Borgeson  is the winner of the ten count box of the Pulita 60 Anniversario,  El Artista ceramic ashtray & lighter!

Congrats to you all!  Please send me your addresses so I can get these out to you!

Contest!

Big PapiThe Big Papi by David Ortiz was released last year, and David Ortiz’ appearance at the IPCPR show drew a big crowd from all accounts, I had a conflicting appointment so I missed it. You can read my thoughts on this cigar, and others in the El Artista family here. The Big Papi by David Ortiz is a 6″ x 54 toro with a Ecuador Habano wrapper, Criollo 98 binder and fillers from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. We’ll have two winners this time, the runner up will get a five pack of Big Papi by David Ortiz and the grand prize is a box of Big Papi by David Ortiz! My friends at El Artista have been very generous with this series of contests, so make sure you check them out, they make some very nice cigars. So that’s it! Leave a comment on this post to enter! I’ll announce the winner next Friday, September (ugh!) 1st, 2017.

Here are a couple pictures of the limited edition Big Papi Humidor from the El Artista IPCPR booth.

Big Papi humidor closedBig Papi humidor open

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

CigarCraig

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by | August 20, 2017 · 9:24 am

Diner en Blanc, Veritas 412 and Camacho Nicaraguan Barrel Aged Cigars

DEB1While not a cigar event, Dîner en Blanc is an annual event held in 70 cities around the world. People wear all white, pack a picnic dinner, and go to a secret location which isn’t revealed until you arrive en masse at the place. This year the Philadelphia version was the largest ever, with 5300 people meeting at various places around the city in groups, toting tables, chairs and coolers, again, all wearing white. I wasn’t able to accompany my wife last year, so this was my first time experiencing this sort of thing. We met at the Convention Center and walked to Franklin Square, one of Philadelphia’s five original squares, which became a park in 1838. It has a fountain, merry-go-round, miniature golf course and a playground. 5300 people lined up their tables, many with elaborate place DEBCigarssettings, and shared a meal, then partook in dancing and general fun. I’m told security was heightened, but it wasn’t overly apparent, and I suppose it was helpful that the park is in the shadow of the Philadelphia Police headquarters   It was pretty darned cool. All these different people, just hanging out having a good time. Of course, I took event appropriate cigars along and the Traveling Tobacconist was there with his 30 foot Airstream “CigaRV” mobile cigar lounge. I smoked a Montecristo White Series robusto and a Fratello Bianco, while my wife had a Leccia White. The Fratello Bianco was the corona, sadly my last one, I think this was a special event only size, and it was exceptional. There were a surprising number of people hanging out smoking cigars, many of whom you could tell were first timers. It was a great party, and I was happy to have been a part of it.

 

Veritas_The412_ToroFriday I was looking for something new and exciting to end a busy week, so I rummaged through the IPCPR samples and came upon a cigar from a reasonably local company that I hadn’t had a chance to catch up with until the show. Veritas Cigar Co. is based in Newark, DE, not far from me, and I wanna say I encountered this brand in 2011 at the Delaware Cigar Festival, but they’ve changed some things since then.  I selected The 412 in a toro size. This is a unique and powerful blend! It has a Pennsylvania wrapper, Mexican binder and fillers including more Pennsylvania and ligeros from Condega & Esteli. It had a lot of pepper and cocoa and was very enjoyable, although quite heavy. This was one of the few cigars I had to put down with a bit under two inches to go. I have a couple more samples, and I think I have a large Connecticut shade wrapped Solomon from them going back to 2011 someplace. I am looking forward to sampling more and catching up with them at a local event.

 

Camacho_NicaraguanBarrelAged_GordoYesterday I went with a new Camacho cigar, the Nicaraguan Barrel Aged in the Gordo size. I chose the gordo size because we were taking a long walk to get Powerball tickets (I wonder if we won?) and I wanted a longer smoke. The NBA follows the American Barrel Aged, which has tobacco aged in bourbon barrels, this one has tobaccos aged in rum barrels (and some outlets clam that even the rum barrels are aged, “aged in some of the world’s oldest Nicaraguan rum barrels” was one quote i found. Again, spirits are not my forté, so I have no way of knowing if the nice sweetness in this cigar is from the rum or inherent in the tobaccos, but it was a very good, smooth, enjoyable cigar. I’m looking forward to trying other sizes in this line. I’ve liked Camacho cigars since smoking my first one in 1996, and have seen quite an evolution in the brand, obviously watching as they transitioned from Christian Eiroa to Davidoff, and while they are doing a lot of different things now than they were then, the quality and interestingness (making up words here) is there.

 

That’s all I have for today. Don’t forget the contest running from Friday to Friday this week, and stay tuned for more (hey KRUK….patience!).  Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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