Tag Archives: Corojo

Another C & C Cigar, a La Traviata, a Room 101 and Some News

A few weeks back I picked up a little robusto sampler of C and C cigars that included the C and C Corojo Robusto.  The three cigars set me back a whole $10.  I really enjoyed the maduro, and had high hopes for the Corojo, which I smoked this past Thursday.  It’s a nice looking cigar, nothing fancy, just a no-nonsense robusto.  It was a delicious smoke, well behaved and as good or better than many cigars at twice the price.  Another fine cigar from the folks at C and C!  I don’t know about the orange band though, but that’s probably just me.

 

I got off to a late start on Friday, so I grabbed my last CAO La Traviata Maduro Luminoso and sat on the porch with the dog watching the thunderstorm roll by.  This is a 4½ x 50 Rothschild with the Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper.  The first time I tried the maduro I wasn’t impressed, which is odd since I usually like most maduros.  I was confused by this, I thought for sure I’d love the cigar.  That first one must have been a dud, because subsequent cigars have been right up my alley, great construction, nice flavor, just what I look for in a maduro cigar.

 

It was a beautiful Saturday yesterday, and I had to work at 9pm, so I wanted a good cigar, no surprises.  I went with an original Room 101305 robusto.  This is a cigar I really enjoy.  It’s a solid, well made, savory and satisfying smoke.  I have long been a fan of Camacho cigars, so it stands to reason I’d like the Room 101.  The whole experience is first rate, from the appearance to the band (although one band would suffice, it seems like half the cigars I find myself smoking lately have multiple bands), this is a really superb cigar.  I punched this one for a change, since there was a little bit of a crack in the cap and I was afraid to make it worse.  It turns out that the punch provided a perfect draw and made for a very enjoyable experience.

 

News

I received the following press release from Ernesto Padilla this week: May 30, 2012

PRESS RELEASE!

Padilla Cigar Company is proud to announce yet another collaboration with Oliva Cigar Company following the recently 93 rated Padilla Studio-Tobac Limited Edition.Since the inception of the Padilla brand, Ernesto Padilla (brand owner), has worked on several successful projects with the Miami Lakes, Florida based Oliva Cigar Company. Oliva will manufacture and distribute the new Padilla Premier Cru cigars to be sold exclusively in the European market. The Padilla Premier Cru will feature the most premium fillers from the Oliva Family Tobacco Farms in Nicaragua. The superb wrapper will feature a Habano tobacco seed grown in the Ecuadorian Oliva plantations. The Padilla Premier Cru will be available in 3 different sizes those being Robusto, Torpedo, and a Double Toro. The cigars will range in price from €8 – €10. Padilla Premier Cru will beintroduced this September at the Inter-Tobac Trade Fair in Dortmund, Germany and will be available through all of Oliva’s European distributors. German distributor Wolfertz, GMBH and Dutch distributor Van Horssen, BV have already agreed to begin sales this fall. For those in the United States feeling left out, Padilla and Oliva have created 2 new blends in Habano and Maduro wrappers. This highly anticipated cigar will be known as the Padilla Reserva and will be exclusively sold in the United States. The Padilla Reserva will also be available in 3 sizes those being Robusto, Torpedo, and Double Toro. The cigars will range in price from $8 – $9 dollars. Padilla Reserva will be introduced at the IPCPR Trade Show in Orlando, Florida this August.

 

In other news, the CAO Last Stick Standing promotion as been extended to July 31, so if you haven’t had a chance to get your hands on the tin of cigars and cast your vote, you now have more time!

 

I haven’t been one to jump on posting press releases as soon as I get them, there seem to be plenty of others that do that.  I will, however, listen to my readers, if this is something you would like to see more often, please let me know!

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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An A.Turrent, a Griffin’s and Some Beverage Suggestions

Thursday night I took a late walk with a A. Turrent Puro Corojo  Robusto.  It was another reasonably balmy February evening, and this 4½” x 54 cigar seemed just about the right size for the time allotted.  I received this cigar in a sampler from the Altadis booth at the IPCPR show and have been slowly working my way back into those cigars.  This cigar had a very nice look, the wrapper was very smooth and without a flaw.  The burn was perfect and the draw was easy with just the right amount of resistance.  I really enjoyed the flavor of this Corojo cigar, it was rich and satisfying. For years Mexican tobacco has gotten a bad rap, although I never really minded it, heck, I started out smoking TeAmo maduros way back when.  Certainly the San Andreas tobacco is a pretty hot tobacco these days, and this cigar has a San Andreas Corojo wrapper and some fillers mixed in with Nicaraguan Corojo.  I absolutely LOVE the San Andreas maduro wrappers, I wonder how this cigar would be with that wrapper?  Thanks to Enrique Seijas for the tour at the show and for the samples.

 

Friday night we went to a little coffee house nearby to see my son play with his latest band.  Even though the place has “Coffee and Tobacco” on the window, there’s no smoking allowed thanks to our states indoor clean air laws.  Considering the size of the place, it’s probably not a bad idea.  The area where the band played was an upstairs room with was pretty small.  There were probably 50 people in a 20×30 or so room, with limited seating. The band was very good, despite my obvious bias, and I had some time before the show to enjoy a Griffins 500 on the sidewalk in front of the place.  I am constantly impressed with the quality of this mild cigar.  Burn and draw are outstanding and it’s loaded with flavor. I suppose you have to like a Connecticut shade wrapped cigar to like these, but I think it’s a nice smoke.  I was an old guy smoking a cigar among a bunch of teenagers smoking cigarettes, but that’s OK, I was one of them once…

 

One often asked question I see is regarding beverages to go with cigars, and the question that catches my eye most often is the non-alcoholic beverage question.  As one who gave up drinking long before I took up cigars, I’ve made a few conclusions of my own in that area.  Of course, coffee is a great cigar companion, but there are times when only a cold beverage will do.  I’ve often turned to root beers in this case.  I particularly enjoy Stewart’s or IBC, but recently the brewery in town here started bottling their root beer and its phenomenal.  Unfortunately, it may only be available in the Victory Brewpub retail store, but if you see it anyplace, give it a try.  My absolute favorite cold beverage cigar accompaniment is Reed’s Ginger Brew.  It’s a little like Ginger Ale on steroids.  I love the “Extra”, but it actually can over power a lighter cigar because it’s so spicy.  The Raspberry is  quite good, and the Spiced Apple Brew is very refreshing on a hot day as well.  I’ve been a fan of these since being introduced to them at a herf in 1999 , and pick up a couple four packs whenever I get a chance.  Here’s a Food Network video about the product and the company:

httpv://youtu.be/6sebjdI4aj4

 

So, if you’re looking for a nice, non-alcoholic drink to go with your cigar, check out some root beers or ginger beers, and if you can find Borgnine’s Coffee Soda, you can’t really go wrong with that, but it’s darned near impossible to find.  If anyone does know of a place to get ut, please let me know!  It’s really my holy grail of cigar beverages.

That’s it for now, I may try to find a nice cigar and take a Sunday walk.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Mid-Week Cigars: Punch Rare Corojo and Partagas Cifuentes Julio – Wednesday May 19, 2010

I started out the week grilling some pork chops and felt compelled to smoke one of the cigars out of the Punch Grill box.  I selected the Punch Rare Corojo, since I’ve had these in the past and enjoyed them.  This example was no different.  This one was the 5¼” x 54 Magnum.  The pork chops were good, and the cigar capped off a busy day very nicely.  The Ecuador Sumatra wrapper was nice and tasty and the cigar burned quite well.

I’ve been “theme smoking” lately, so I grabbed a Partagas Cifuentes Julio (also from General Cigars) out of the humidor and went for a nice long walk.  These are apparently seasonal blends, and I jumped the gun a little smoking a July cigar in May.  Sorry about that.  It still was a nice cigar.  It was medium bodied with a long finish, tongue coating in a not unpleasant way.  I had to correct the burn a few times and it wanted to tunnel a little, but both are forgivable considering how much I enjoyed the flavor.  These are fairly beefy cigars in a 6″ x 54 format.  This was a single that was amongst the goodies sent by my buddy Jason at Rock’s Smoke Shop.  Thanks!  Another winner from that collection.

I received a very nice delivery today from Vegas de Santiago.  You may recall one of my loyal readers, DJ, kindly sent me a couple of these to smoke and I enjoyed them quite a bit.  Rudy and Lani in Costa Rica are making some very nice cigars in beautiful presentations.  One of these weeks real soon will be Vegas de Santiago week and I’ll smoke and review (and I use that term loosely, I’m a crappy reviewer!) some of them.  I have a cigar from an event that they sponsored back in 2004 that I will finally smoke to compare and contrast. The wooden tubes are really cool and almost too cool to open.

Here’s another site for the blog junkies:  Cigar TopSite.  This is a simple listing of some of the more popular sites.  CigarCraig.com has been listed there since the beginning.  I’d LOVE to see it climb up the rankings, so if you wouldn’t mind spreading the word, I’d appreciate it.  I’m almost as bad at self-promotion as I am at cigar reviews.  I know what you’re thinking: “if more people follow the CigarCraig.com blog then there will be less chances for me to win some of the great stuff Craig gives away!”  I understand, but the more readers I have, the better my chances of mooching quality goodies to give to you, my loyal readers (there will be a new contest soon!).

Well, that’s about enough from me, until the next time,

CigarCraig

Oh yeah…..GO FLYERS!

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