Tag Archives: Corojo

by | June 9, 2024 · 10:21 am

Some Wise Man Cigars, a Conspiracy and a Panacea

Last week I dropped by the Wooden Indian in Havertown, PA and picked up a couple of new cigars.  I was actually looking for something else, which they had sold out of, so I had to pivot.  I got some of the new Foundation Cigar Co. Wise Man cigars.  The original El Güegüense and Wise Man Maduro cigars have been retired, and replaced by two new ones, both carrying the Wise Man name.  These are being made by My Father Cigars.  I started with the Wise Man Corojo in Toro size.  This is a 6″ x 52 cigar with a Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper, Estelí & Jalapa binders and fillers from Esteli, Condega, and Jalapa. I really liked this cigar!  It had what seems to me was a confectioners sugar sweetness. It had bright flavors, some light spices and really appealed to me.  I was surprised and looked forward to the Maduro.

 

The following night I smoked the Wise Man Maduro, also in the 6″ x 52 Toro.  This is the same blend as the Corojo: Estelí & Jalapa binders and fillers from Esteli, Condega, and Jalapa, but with a San Andrés Maduro wrapper.  I expected to like this more than the Corojo, oddly, I was mistaken.  This started out spicy and remained so through the cigar.  I wanted some earthy, chocolaty coffee, but it was more like spicy burnt dark roast.  It wasn’t completely off-putting, but I have to say that I liked the old blend better.  Heck, I loved the Corojo, probably more than the original El Güegüense.  Perhaps some aga will help the Maduro, but it didn’t appeal to me, I’m afraid.  It’s very unusual that I don’t like a Maduro over something else, but it seems to be happening more and more lately.  Is this a reflection of the maduro cigars or of my palate?  

 

When I was at the Smoke-onos event, I talked to my old friend Michael Giannini, who was manning the Quality Importers booth with Alex Goldman.  He showed off some of their newest accessories, and some of the things they can customize in their “Swag Bunker”.  He also handed me a cigar with a plain white band (pre-production, I assume) that said Conspiracy (with a backwards N that I can’t manage to pull off with a standard keyboard). This cigar was shown at the PCA show, and was a collaboration between Alex Goldman (House of Oxford, Royal Gold Cigars), Michael (La Gloria Cubana, Foundry Cigars, Ventura) and Ernesto Carrillo (EPC, La Gloria, Etc.), made at the Casa Carrillo factory.  I had the Ecuador Connecticut in the 6″ x 60 size because that’s what Michael handed me. I’d love to try the San Andrés version. Both of these have undisclosed binder and fillers, except that the tobaccos are from Ernesto’s factory.  This was a decent cigar, with a darker shade wrapper.  I  enjoyed it while watching the Phillies play in London. If I’m honest, like it was hard to differentiate the baseball game being played in another country from one played here, the cigar was good, but not remarkably so.  Both were a good product.  Bring on the Maduro.

 

I pre-gamed game one of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals with a Flatbed Tobacco Co. Panacea Green 560 from the Grande line.  Speaking of Panacea, please take note of their Daily Deal on my left sidebar. You can get some great deals on some great cigars.  I’ve taken a shine to the Green Label, it has a Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper, Dominican Habano binder and Piloto Cubano, Olor Dominicano, and Nicaragua ligeros in the filler.  This is a reasonably strong cigar, but not overwhelming. It has the flavors I look for in a cigar like this, some cocoa and coffee, with some spice.  I rather enjoyed the 5″ x 60 format, it fit well into the time I had for a cigar, a little over an hour.  It looks like today’s (Sunday, June 9), deal of the day is a 560 sampler, which would be a great way to try the Panacea offerings.  I just might bite.  Great line of cigars from a small, family company right here in PA.

 

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

CigarCraig

 

 

 

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by | January 14, 2024 · 9:41 am

Belvedere Cigar Lounge Some Epic Cigars, and a Trinidad Espiritu No. 3

Thursday evening my wife had a thing she wanted to go to in New Jersey, and she found a cigar lounge three miles away I could visit! It turned out that Belvedere Cigar Lounge in Lawnside, New Jersey, was hosting Irving Rodriguez of Epic Cigars doing a cut and light event.  I know Irv, and I love Epic Cigars, so it was a no brainer. Honestly, it wouldn’t have mattered, the lounge is really nice.  It’s 1300 square feet, has seating for a little over 40, and has some massive TVs and a sound system. It has 24 hour member access, with a BYO bar. I would have been happy to buy a couple cigars from their modest, but well curated, retail selection and enjoyed one there.  As is was, I spent the better part of an hour enjoying a delicious Epic Habano and talking with Irv.  I’ve known about Epic cigars for the better part of ten years, and been a fan of them. They are made in the same factory that Kristoff cigars are made in, are really tasty, and always well made.  Dean, who sold the brand to Nat Cicco Cigars a few years back, is a cool dude who I like to call a friend.  The Habano should be first on your list of Epic cigars to try, it’s got a nice sweetness I like. It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, a Cameroon binder (this might be the seced sauce!), and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. I had the 5½ x 52 Robusto. I love maduro cigars, but the Habano might be my favorite in the line.  

 

Of course, I bought a handful of cigars while I was there, why wouldn’t I? I was rather hoping they would have the tenth anniversary, but that wasn’t available, so I bought some Habanos and Corojos.  Friday I smoked an Epic Corojo in the toro size. The Corojo has an Ecuador Corojo wrapper, Dominican binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. They call the 6″ x 54 toro a Double Corona for some reason.  Great cigar, although on the leathery side of the spectrum to my palate. It was much more savory than the Habano, it really lacked any sweetness at all. I enjoyed it before heading in to watch a Flyers game.  on a side note, last week’s weather took out our power for 14 hours overnight, and in the process somehow damaged our Verizon set top box. After the customer experience I’ve had trying to get the situation resolved, I think this might be the impetus to “cut the cable” finally, and ditch the TV service.  I’ve been hanging on mostly for access to the Flyers games, but I  think there’s enough alternatives available now that we can ditch the $100 a month.  That’s today’s project.

 

Yesterday I picked up a couple cigars that I hadn’t smoked before, one of which was the Trinidad Espiritu No. 3. I was really looking forward to trying this one, I loved the No. 2, and the No. 1 was pretty good too.  The No. 3 is a tribute to Mexico, with a San Andrés wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and fillers, made by AJ Fernandez in Nicaragua.  This was very different from the No.2, now that I’m thinking of it, I’d have swapped the two based on flavor. I thought the 2 tasted more typical of a San Andrés than the 3. There’s an interesting exotic spice flavor present, with an overall savory base flavor.  I thought it was really interesting, far more interesting than the La Gloria Cubana TAA 2023 cigar I bought and was severely disappointed by. I love La Glorias, but this one had nothing going for it. It didn’t draw well, it didn’t have much flavor, and just wasn’t good. I thought TAA cigars should be a good representation of a brand?  The LGC is a pass for me, but the Trinidad Espiritu line is a winner, and there are not a lot of Altadis cigars that I can say that about (ironically, almost all the Altadis cigars I like are made in one factory). 

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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by | April 30, 2023 · 9:44 am

Nomad, Cert Maith Bruscar, La Gloria Cubana and Macanudo Cigars

This week was challenging.  I had a tooth pulled on Monday, and I’m not altogether sure that one or more of the medications I’m taking isn’t affecting my palate.  Let’s start out with my pre-procedure cigar, a Nomad SA-17 Shorty, which is 4″ x 56.  I’m unsure of the provenance of these cigars, they were a generous gift from a friend, and I want to say that they are pre-Ezra Zion because they have Fred’s twitter name on the band, but anecdotal evidence would suggest that they were recently purchased.  If I recall, these were made at A.J. Fernandez’ factory, and has a San Andrés wrapper over Nicaraguan guts. Perhaps it’s a bit uncool to smoke a cigar right before going to the oral surgeon, like eating Oreos before going in for a cleaning, but it is what it is.  I knew I was going to be taking a few days off from cigars, nobody wants dry socket!  This is a great cigar, loads of earthy, coffee and cocoa flavors.  Burn was perfect, and this little cigar lasts almost an hour.  Many thanks to Phil for sharing these with me! 

 

On to some new stuff!  Like I said, after a couple days off cigars, and between an antibiotic and a rinse, my palate may be off, or maybe not!  I tested this theory by smoking a cigar from Kevin at Trash Panda Cigars, the Cert Maith Bruscar.  I hope Kevin made sure this name wasn’t already trademarked before using it!  Cert Maith Bruscar is Gaelic for “Real Good Trash”, in keeping with the Trash Panda theme, and is an homage to Kevin’s probably 8th or 9th great grandfather, who came to the US in 1679 from Ireland, around the same time my ancestor came from The Netherlands.  This is a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper cigar that has a Cameroon binder and fillers from Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and US.  I typically like the combination of Broadleaf and Cameroon, this is an interesting blend. The first time I smoked this my wife commented on the aroma, which she characterized as fruity.  This is consistent with what I perceived as the dominant flavor, which I called citrus.  I struggled to gut much else around the citric tang, it was a good cigar, performed well, and certainly was unique. I smoked a couple of these (before and after dental work) and had the same experience.  On paper I’d expect this to be a cigar for me, in practice, while it was a good cigar, I’m just not sure about the dominant citrus flavor. This just might be me, as Kevin said he didn’t get that from this cigar.

 

New from Forged Cigars is the La Gloria Cubana Corojo de Oro.   Last year they had the Criollo de Oro, with a hybrid of Criollo and Pelo de Oro tobaccos. This has a hybrid of Corojo and Pelo de Oro (I think that means “golden hair”, it’s a narrow leaf if I remember correctly from my visit to the Garcia’s farm in 2011).  I’m much more a fan of Corojo than Criollo, and I liked the Corojo de Oro much more than the Criollo de Oro.  This was a 6″ x 50 toro, with a Ecuador Habano wrapper, the hybrid tobacco as the binder, and Brazilian Mata Fina, Dominican Piloto and Nicaraguan Ometepe in the filler blend. I found this to be a well balanced cigar, with some sweet earth, and some spice.  I’m not sure how many La Gloria Cubana marques there are now, I like a lot of them (the Serie S was a miss for me, and I love San Andrés), but it just seems like I don’t see many of them in stores. 

 

Finally, I tried a new Macanudo Inspirado, the Tercio-aged.  Tercio refers to the practice of wrapping the bales in palm bark to age as opposed to burlap.  In this case, the Dominican Piloto Cubano filler component is aged in Tercio, while (because they mention that specifically and omit the rest), the San Andrés wrapper, Indonesian binder and Columbian fillers are aged in burlap bales. For me, this cigar was a great representation of the concept of body vs. strength. The flavors were very interesting, some baking spice, sweet earth (again) and some pepper spice.  The smoke was very thin, not a lot of body, but the flavor was there.  It was a little strange, and I’ll have to revisit this again. Maybe it was just me.  I liked the cigar overall, might me my 4th favorite Inspirado (another line with a lot of extensions!). 

 

That’s more than enough for me today. Next Sunday may be tricky, as we are taking a weekend road trip. Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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by | April 3, 2022 · 10:41 am

Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua, Aladino Vintage and Punch Rare Corojo Cigars

I had an interesting week, so I smoked some interesting cigars, at least to me. I had a situation which required fasting, so I smoked a Perla Del Mar Connecticut which was really quite good, and after breaking the fast, I had a Diamond Crown, keeping it in the family, and also fairly mild! But let’s start with the Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua in the Vibrato size. This is a 6″ x 54 box pressed toro with a dark Nicaraguan Sumatra wrapper. It’s a puro, all Nicaraguan. This cigar was in a sampler I received at the TPE show from the Altadis USA booth. There were some Upmann and Romeo cigars in there too. I think it’s weird that this size isn’t lists on the Altadis website, so maybe it’s new.  As folks who have followed along may recall, my preferences don’t generally favor Altadis products, with some exceptions, notably the cigars made by A.J. Fernandez, and the occasional Montecristo here and there. I’m not entirely sure why this is, it just is. Different strokes, I guess. Anyway, this one was exceptional. It was CA’s cigar of the year in 2019, I guess, and I remember smoking it back then, but this one was much better, darker, more rich and dense. There was a sweetness, which I attribute to the Sumatra. I enjoyed this cigar so much more than I remember liking the cigar of the year when I smoking it in early 2020. The size was to my liking as well.

 

Friday evening one of the cigars I smoked while working at Son’s was an Aladino Vintage Selection Elegante, which is the 7″ x 38 lancero. For some reason I was in a Lancero mood. It seems that the interruptions, interactions, et cetera, involved in smoking while working retail lend themselves nicely to the pacing required to the enjoyment of a lancero. At least for me. This cigar has a Habano wrapper, and, unlike the next cigar I’m going to talk about, has Corojo binder and fillers. Of course, the Eiroa family is well known for Corojo tobacco. I can’t tell you how many Camacho Corojos I smoked back in the early 2000’s. This was a very good smoke, again with a hint of sweetness, but overall just good, clean tobacco goodness. Even after having smoked a very good Oliva Masterblend 3, not nearly as good as they used to be, by the way, the Aladino Lancero was excellent. I think it smoked for nearly 2 hours. 

 

Yesterday I smoked the new Punch Rare Corojo Aristocrat. The funny thing about this cigar has always been, despite the name, it has never had any Corojo tobacco in the blend. It has an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper, Connecticut Broadleaf binder and Nicaraguan, Honduran and Dominican fillers. I never could figure out why they called it Rare Corojo, obviously the Corojo is so rare in this cigar that it’s non-existent! Let’s talk about the size of this cigar for a minute. It’s a 6 1/8” x 40/54 figurado. The press release says “This special size was originally made at the Villazon factory, commissioned by Frank Llaneza who founded Punch in Honduras. Frank made what he referred to as a baseball bat-size cigar for Red Auerbach and Art Rooney, two sports legends.” It reminds me of the Cuban Partagas Presidente, but I looked it up and that’s only a 47 ring gauge, and an eighth of an inch longer. I love the size and shape. I also love the flavor, and always have enjoyed the Rare Corojos, despite the name thing. That hint of sweetness from the Sumatra that I love, and it builds in strength. I dig it.

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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by | November 21, 2021 · 11:07 am

Alec and Bradley Blind Faith, Perla Del Mar Corojo Toro and Platinum Nova Corona Cigars

While we were driving home from South Carolina a few weeks back we took a rest stop at the JRs in Selma, NC. It’s been a few years since we were there, it’s downsized a bit. We were expecting to shop for some bed linens, alas that part of the business is gone, and it’s just a tobacco store. Right inside the door of the cigar department was a large area of stuff marked down 50% off. I immediately rescued a partial box of Sobremesa, and a box of RomaCraft Intemperance. I was told that it was stock from another store that had closed. Upon catching wind of my purchase, Saka (who, by the way, for some reason hasn’t bothered to share any of my Stillwell Star posts, while sharing other content creators work, I thought we were friends…I’m not mad, just disappointed) put his people on JRs about this. My assumption is that he has an agreement with his accounts that he’d rather buy back inventory than have it discounted. I just wanted to spare him the indignity of having it on the discount rack (and get a killer deal on some Short Churchills!). This is all a lot of words leading into talking about the Alec and Bradley Blind Faith. My wife was actually suggesting I buy a box of these, and I didn’t want to without having smoked a few. I know it’s a ridiculous problem to have, and sounds like bragging, but I’m pretty strapped for storage space. I had to shoehorn the little box of Intemperance in, no way I’d fit a box of A&B. Anyway, I bought a couple singles, and I smoked one this week. It’s weird, you know, I went into it hoping I didn’t love the cigar and kick myself for not listening to my wife! When your wife tells you to buy a box of cigars you should do it, right? Anyway, this has a Honduran wrapper, Honduran/Nicaraguan double binder and NIcaraguan fillers, made at Raices Cubanas in Honduras. I would have tolerated having a box in the humidor, but I’m not kicking myself for walking away, let’s put it that way. It’s a good smoke, tasty. Nothing wrong with the burn and draw, nice presentation, and it’s a shame that these were on the discount rack. Honestly, there was a LOT of stuff that was in that area that shouldn’t have been. I could have gone broke, but I’d have had to go back to using coolers for storage. 

 

Last year J.C.Newman re-packaged the Perla Del Mar line, and introduced the Corojo to the mix. Late this year they added the Toro to the Corojo family. I’ve long been a fan of the Maduro, but the Corojo might be my new favorite.  This line is another great example of how the wrapper changes the flavor of the cigar. They use the same blend across all three lines, with only the wrapper changing, so smoke all three to get an idea of what the wrapper adds. In the case of the Corojo, which covers Nicaraguan binder and filler, by the way, it adds an almost candy sweetness, as opposed to a dark chocolate sweetness in the case of the maduro. It’s a terrific cigar, well made, nicely box pressed, I just wish they had been a little more creative with the band, the old one was prettier, the new one makes me think of another cigar company. It’s a great cigar and well priced, so screw the band, I’m a fan.

 

Last night my wife and I went to the movies, probably the first time in nearly two years. The dine-in feature was sub-par, had to order at the bar and food was served in takeout containers, whether that’s life in the pandemic world or life in the short-staffed world, I’m not sure. Call me old fashioned, but if I’m asked to put a gratuity on my check up front without knowing what kind of service I’m going to get, I’m going to tip conservatively. Maybe that works against me? I have no way of knowing. The food was pretty good though, and the movie was entertaining (discount tickets). We got home and I hung out on the porch to watch the last period of the Flyers game with a Platinum Nova Corona from the 2020 TPE. I’ve been passing by these because they are fairly small for me, but it was late, and I didn’t want to be up all night. This is a (ridiculously) expensive cigar, at $23, it’s a pigtail capped 5″ x 43 Ecuador H2000 wrapped cigar with Dominican Piloto Cubano binder and Dominican fillers. The cigar ended up being good for nearly an hour and a half, but I had to relight it a few time. It had a definite floral flavor, nearly perfumy. I rarely get this flavor, it’s not one I’m particularly fond of. I smoked an Undercrown 10 earlier in the day that was more to my liking, much less flowery. It’s not that I didn’t like it, it’s just that it’s not one I’d gravitate to on a regular basis. not offensive, not bad, just not me. 

 

That’s more than enough from me today. What do you all think about doing a CigarCraig.com Secret Santa again?  Weigh in in the comments. If we get more than one person I’ll make it happen! Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig 

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