Tag Archives: CroMagnon

by Craig Vanderslice | June 23, 2024 · 9:47 am

La Union, Cro Magnon, EP Carrillo and JFR Lunatic Cigars

My week started with a really nice Father’s Day with all my kids and grandkids visiting. My youngest stopped at CigarMojo and asked for a recommendation, and, once again, they sold him a very expensive cigar. I’m never super happy about him spending his hard earned cash, and part of me feels like the guys at the shop take advantage, but he does make a good point: it’s not something I would buy for myself. He picked up the new(ish) My Father La Union Black para Tatuaje .This is certainly a cigar that piqued my interest, but there was never any way I was shelling out for it. I’m a cheap bastard, my sphincter tightens when I look at a cigar over $15. This is a 100% improvement over 12 or so years ago. So, it being Father’s Day, and having this wonderful gift, I had to smoke it. The cigar is 7¼” x 50 with a 109 head, the head is slightly tapered and rounded. It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper and Nicaraguan fillers, including Pelo de Oro. I’ve walked through the Pelo de Oro fields, although it’s been 13 years, so probably not the same stuff. This was blended by the Garcias for Pete Johnson’s palate, I almost expected it to be heavier. It wasn’t. It had a very delicate, nuanced flavor, started with an interesting mintiness, some woodyness and some spice. It almost reminded me of a Havana, but loads better. This was a brilliant cigar, I greatly appreciate the opportunity to try it. Later I smoked the now 25 year old Esperanza para los Niños, which has held up well!

I’d been itching to try the new Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapped variant of the RoMaCraft CroMagnon which came out recently, so I had added a couple of the 4½ x 60 Mandibles on to a recent order. I haven’t seen these locally, although I haven’t been out shopping much lately. This version uses a Pennsylvania broadleaf wrapper, Sumatra hybrid binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. The original CroMagnon didn’t have any Dominican leaf in the blend. I was hoping to try the Cranium (toro) size, but this was what was available. I thought this was spicier than the original, and it wasn’t for the faint of heart. I thought I got some grilled steak, but that might have been a neighbor cooking. I’ll be on the look out for other sizes, but this one hit the spot, although I’ll always have a soft spot for the original.

E.P. Carrillo is launching a line called the Essence series, the Sumatra and Maduro should be on shelves, with more wrapper variations on the horizon. I smoked the Maduro Friday evening on a drive north. My wife offered to drive the first leg so I could enjoy my cigar. I actually don’t like to smoke while driving my car because it’s a manual and it just isn’t relaxing. Fortunately, we were in her car. Ain’t she the greatest? The E.P. Carirllo Maduro has a San Andrés wrapper, Honduran binder and Nicaraguan fillers. While it’s made in the D.R., note that there is no Dominican leaf. I couldn’t help but remember my first La Gloria Cubana Maduro back in the ’90s. This cigar had some spice with espresso and cocoa, it was right up my alley. Burn and draw were perfect (which is nice in the car) and it smoked for about an hour and a half. I’m excited to try the Sumatra, and add some more of the Maduro to my humidor.

Finally, when we got home last night fairly late, I sat down with the newest Firecracker offering from United Cigars. This year it is the JFR Lunatic Firecracker, Made by Aganorsa Leaf. I’m hit of miss on the Aganorsa cigars, but the JFR Lunatic is a good one, although I haven’t smoked any of the obscenely large sizes (there’s only a few 60 ring and under). This has what they are calling a shade grown Corojo maduro wrapper, and I assume Aganorsa Nicaraguan fillers and binder. It’s 3½” x 50 with the signature “fuse”, which I get rid of right away. Smoking time was the better part of an hour, which is good for a little guy. It had that cane sugar sweetness that I like, and was quite tasty, one of the better Firecracker treatments in my mind. Not that any are bad, this one distinguished itself. Super-tasty and it looks like it might still be available. Grab some to try if you see them!

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Aganorsa, Aganorsa Leaf, cigar, cigars, CroMagnon, E.P. Carrillo, Essence, Firecracker, JFR, La Union, Lunatic, My Father Cigars, RoMaCraft, tatuaje, United Cigars

by Craig Vanderslice | January 13, 2022 · 9:18 pm

A CroMagnon Aquitaine Gran Perfecto and an Upcoming Podcast Appearance

I’ve been smoking my way through a sampler of RoMaCraft Gran Perfectos that I picked up at Son’s Cigars a while ago, and tonight I selected the Aquitaine Gran Perfecto. I alway thought the CroMagnon was my favorite in the line, and I love smoking them, but I forgot how good the Aquitaine was. This is a great example of how the wrapper makes a difference in flavor, as, if I’m not mistaken, the wrapper is the only difference in the two lines. The CroMagnon has the Broadleaf and the Aquitaine has the Habano wrapper from Ecuador. The Aquitaine is a little lighter, and it has that sugar cane sweetness (my new favorite descriptor), that I really enjoy. I don’t think it’s the format, although the 5 5/8″ x 60 size is neat. I’ll have to dig around the humidor and see if I have any other Aquitaine sizes, or pick some up. I enjoyed the crap out of this cigar! I had previously thought the Neanderthal was my favorite of the Gran Perfecto selection, but this one has replaced it.

Tomorrow evening I will be joining a panel to record an episode of the 1st and 15th Podcast, a bi-monthly podcast with Phil from ComedyCigarsMusic.com and Kap from Kaplowitz Media. We’ll be talking about the Cigar Aficionado Top 25 list that was just published, and, although I haven’t smoked many of the cigars in the top ten, I have some general comments. Either way, it will be entertaining! As the name of the podcast suggests, it will be available on the 15th, wherever finer podcasts are sold. Unless I make a fool of myself, then skip it.

I think I have the e-mail thing worked out. Even though I turned off the Feedburner e-mails, they might still be going out, so if you get two different e-mails, my apologies, please bear with me until I get it all cleaned up. Most of you probably delete them or they go to spam anyway! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 1st & 15th, Aquitaine, cigar, cigars, CroMagnon, Gran Perfecto, podcast, RoMaCraft

by CigarCraig | October 5, 2016 · 10:17 pm

CroMagnon Firecracker, Mi Querida, Belstaff Bond, CAO Flathead and Cigar Prop

I had a long day Sunday with my brother-in-law framing out two walls in my living room. I guess in the late 50’s when the house was built heating was cheap and insulation wasn’t a big concern, so putting drywall right over brick and block walls was OK. Over the years people also thought it was a good idea to wallpaper, then after wallpaper was out of fashion it was OK to paint the wall paper. We’ve been systematically removing old drywall and insulating the outside walls. This is all irrelevant except that it was a long day, and by the time I got to a cigar, I wanted something short, but satisfying. At the IPCPR I finally met an old friend, Dave Payne, and he generously shared with me some cigars, one of which was a RoMaCraft CroMagnon Firecracker, this years Two Guys Smoke Shop special edition. In years passed they have had the Firecracker vitola made by La Flor Dominicana and Tatuaje (I think?). It’s a 3″ x 50 with a closed foot and a long pigtail “Fuse”. I have to think this is a goosed up version of the CroMagnon blend, it’s a powerful little cigar and was just what I needed to wrap up a productive day. While it was strong, it was loaded with those deep, dark flavors that I love in the CroMagnon blend. Of course, I wanted it to be longer, but it was a great little smoke. Thanks to Dave for sharing it with me, Skip for making it, and Dave Garofalo for dreaming up this vitola. I have a suspicion that this will be a very hard cigar to find.

Monday I figured it was time to give Steve Saka’s Mi Querida another try, dubbing the occasion “Mi Querida Monday”. Maybe we can make this a thing, #miqueridamonday needs to enter the lexicon. Anyway, I smoked one of these at the show and saw the potential, trade show samples smoked in the Las Vegas environment is rarely a good way to sample a cigar. I found another one in my samples, and had been salivating over it waiting for the right time to smoke it. Monday was the night. I’m anxiously awaiting these showing up in one of my local shops so I can put some more in my humidor. This cigar had everything I love about cigars, great construction, perfect draw and the Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper was delicious. This could become one of those “goto” cigars that always satisfies. I obviously have a bias, I’ve known Steve for 20 years, but I know him well enough to be honest with him if I don’t like something he made, but I would like this cigar no matter who was behind it. Another winner from Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust.

Tuesday I came across a cigar that came from the Bugatti Cigars booth, which was within the Meier and Dutch booth (the distribution arm of Cigars International). This was a toro called Belstaff Bond, and is made in General Cigar’s Santiago, DR factory. This cigar had a nice, dark Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, and was quite a good smoke. I have smoked several cigars from the Bugatti line, and found them to be quite nice. This reminds me that I’ve been using the new Xikar Xidris lighter pretty exclusively for the last few weeks and am finding it to be an excellent lighter. It holds a lot of fuel and lights every time. It has a solid, hefty feel, and Xikar says that it has super car styling (see the tie in?). It’s a classy lighter, I just have to make sure I have it oriented the right way or I’ll burn my palm one of these days. It’s a very nice lighter.

Tonight I got a hankering for a “goto” cigar, and opted for the CAO Flat Head Steel Horse Apehanger, a 5½” x 58 cigar with a Connecticut Habano wrapper. I really love the Flathead line, the Steel Horse series is round instead of square pressed, but still has the flat cap, which is best approached with a large-bore punch. The released two new sizes this year at the show, and I’ve yet to get my hands on either one (the Handbrake and the Roadkill, both in the robusto range at 4½ x 50 and 5½ x 54 respectively), and as soon as I come across some I’ll be picking them up, but the Apehanger does it for me. I once joked about putting Apehanger handlebars on my Yamaha Majesty 400 scooter…

Finally, you’ll recall a year or so back I mentioned some nice cigar tubes that Kevin Shahan was making in his Florida machine shop, and he’s moved into making another useful cigar product, the Cigar Prop. This is a machined aluminum cigar stand that is very handy. I tried to make a poor man’s version of this a few years ago out of a piece of bamboo and a 1″ hole saw. I would walk to the local convenience store, set my cigar on the ice cooler outside (or the top of the Red Box machine) while I went into the store. One day a Liga Privada number nine rolled off and I had to reach under the machine to retrieve it and it had been damaged in the six-foot drop and just wasn’t the same after that. That’s when I started carrying the bamboo stand with me. Not that I have too much of a need for that anymore, but this Cigar Prop is a handy addition to the collection of cigar tools. It’s very nicely machined, cradles the cigar nicely and is attractive. You can see it in use in two of the photos above. Give Kevin’s Cigar Prop site a look, and for you bearded guys, he also has a line of beard products called Irish Beard Balm.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Belstaff, CAO, cigar, Cigar Prop, cigars, CroMagnon, Dunbarton, Firecracker, Flathead, Mi Querida, RoMaCraft, Two Guys Smoke Shop

by CigarCraig | May 1, 2016 · 10:53 am

Fausto, CroMagnon and Sobremesa Cigars

A few weeks back when we were in Philly for the Pops concert, I made a stop at Holt’s on the way to the train station and picked up a couple Fausto Robustos in my continuing effort to familiarize myself with the Tatuaje range of cigars. Â Technically, I believe, this is called the FT127 Robusto, measures 5″ x 54, comes in a 25 count box (I wish everyone would go back to the 25 count over the 20 count), and has a dark Habano Ecuador wrapper, and Nicaraguan binder and filers. Â I took one of these along Thursday night when we went to Harrah’s Racetrack and Casino in Chester, PA to see Tom Keifer (of Cinderella fame) play in their “The Block” showroom. Â So 33 years or so ago I went to community college with Tom and hung out with him, obviously pre-Cinderella. A few years later when I was working in a record store, I opened a box of new releases to find a record from a band I had never heard of, Cinderella’s Night Songs, and recognized the guy on the jacket as my old friend Tom. I never was able to re-connect with Tom over the years, so after missing him at the pre-show meet and greet, we hung around afterwards by the tour bus, like fricken teenagers, only we weren’t the oldest ones there…and got to finally say hello and congratulate him on putting that community college music theory class (that we were both in) to good use. Â Prior to the show, after getting a bite to eat, while feeding slot machines, I really enjoyed that Fausto FT 127 Robusto. It was a hearty smoke, nice dark flavors right up my alley. what a perfect smoke with a great burn and draw, and loads of deep, rich flavors of espresso and cocoa (my favorites). It was a great night, the show rocked, I was glad to reconnect with an old friend after so long, and I am just getting caught up on the sleep I lost…defiantly getting too old for hard rock shows…but I really enjoyed it, and the cigar.

I had a very busy and frustrating Friday at the day job, so I wanted to smoked something memorable on my evening walk and unwind time. Â I had bought (not weaseled) a few CroMagnon Atlatl lanceros when we were at SMoKE Manayunk for the RoMaCraft event, and I only had room for one of them in the lancero section of the humidor, so that made my decision easy. An Atlatl is an Aztec spear throwing device, basically giving the spear thrower a mechanical advantage over just throwing the spear by hand, it’s a lever of sorts. These cigars are store exclusive/event only cigars, I felt compelled to add some to my lancero selection. On a side note, SMoKE has an unparalleled lancero selection, Kosta, the owner is a lancero fan and puts every one he can find in his generously appointed humidor. Anyway, the Atlatl has all the great flavor of the CroMagnon line, I sound like a broken record (for the younger readers, that’s a record with a scratch that skips and repeats itself over and over), but it has those coffee cocoa flavors I love, but in a sharper, more focused way due to the 38 ring gauge. I dig lanceros from time to time, but in most cases I enjoy the more rounded flavors from larger rings, so it’s often hard to compare the flavor of a lancero to it’s larger siblings, so I can only recommend smoking them all, in the case of CroMagnon, they are all good!

Wrapping up the week yesterday, I felt like I had a couple great cigars that were going to be a tough act to follow. I had spent the day cutting my lawn, spreading some mulch, taking Macha to a nearby town’s flea market kind of thing where my wife and daughter had a booth selling some stuff, and celebrating my granddaughter’s 5th birthday. It was a crazy day, and when I finally got home I went big. Several weeks ago we went to Famous Smoke Shop’s Leaf Cigar Bar in Easton, PA to hang out with Steve and Cindy Saka, and Cindy laid a couple of the new Sobremesa Elegantes en Cedros cigars on me, with the caveat to let the rest because they were “not ready”. I figured a month in the humidor would suffice. This line extension is supposed to be released at the July IPCPR show, is a 7″ x 50 cedar sleeved parajo. The blend is tweaked for each vitola in the line, so each size is designed to be a little different, but the addition of the cedar sleeve makes a very distinct change from, say, the El Americano toro, which is similar in size. The cedar flavor is quite dominant, and tasty! I really couldn’t imagine this cigar being any more “ready” as it’s burn was perfect, there were no construction issues at all, and I spent a wonderful two hours with this cigar just enjoying the crap out of it. It was the perfect end to a very good day.

That’s all I have for now, it’s a rainy Sunday here in PA, I may put a new lamp in the smoking patio and clean it up a bit, and catch up on some relaxing. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigar store, cigars, CroMagnon, Fausto, RoMaCraft, Sobremesa, tatuaje

by CigarCraig | July 5, 2015 · 10:02 am

Psyko 7 Maduro, Fuente, CroMagnon, Gran Habano and Punch Cigars

Here we are on July 5th already. It seems like the summer is flying by and it’s barely started. In two weeks I’ll be in New Orleans at the IPCPR show, doing my best to collect information about the newest and greatest products. I don’t think I’ll do too many of the video interviews this time around, but I do have a little something special planned. We’ll see how that all turns out. I managed to smoke a few cigars this week, let’s have a look.

I received some Ventura Cigar Co. Psyko 7 Maduro Robusto samples a couple of weeks ago, and was really looking forward to trying them out. I had first smoked the natural wrapper Psyko 7 back when I was a guest on The Cigar Authority show back in November of 2013 and was really quite impressed. This is another impressive cigar, right up my alley. It’s got a San Andrés wrapper, an Ecuador binder, and an interesting blend of fillers including ligero from Nicaragua and Pennsylvania, some Honduran and Dominican and Pelo de Oro from Peru! How can I not like this cigar! The samples I smoked burned perfectly and had great, complex flavors of espresso, cacao with a nice sweetness. I appreciate the extra half-inch on this 5½” x 50 robusto. This is right up there with the Fratello Bianco as one of my newbies of the year so far. Very nice smoke.

After I had some more dental work done Monday I celebrated after with an Arturo Fuente Double Chateau Sungrown. Boy, is this a tasty cigar! It’s 6¾” x 50 with a cedar sleeve (which I removed before lighting, of course) and a black foot band. The standard Cheateau series is more common in the Connecticut Shade wrapper, and I’ve enjoyed my share of those over the years, but this Ecuador Sungrown wrapper is quite special. It was solidly medium, but it had loads of great savor flavors. I would definitely say that in the Fuente line, save for the Hemingway, Don Carlos, Opus, etc, the sungrown wrapper is my choice.

When I visited Holt’s a couple weeks ago I picked up some of the CroMagnon Mode 5 perfectos from RoMaCraft as I’d yet to smoke that shape and have heard so many great things about it. It’s not a huge cigar, 5″ x 50 in a perfecto format, tapering at either end, your old school, 40’s Warner Brothers cartoon shape. It was quite the fun cigar to smoke, and it was loaded with great, meaty flavors that really made me smile. Burn was perfect, it was well-balanced and not the powerhouse one expects from the name. I look forward to seeing Skip and Mike at the show this year, it’s been too long and they are really making great smokes.

The folks at Gran Habano send a few samples a couple of weeks back, and the Gran Habano Corojo No.5 Maduro 2011 Gran Robusto caught my eye. This is a 6″ x 54 toro with a dark Nicaraguan Maduro wrapper, Costa Rican grown Habano binder and fillers from Jalapa and Costa Rica. This was a great spicy cigar with some bitter dark chocolate that was really to my liking. It burned well, the draw was good, and it was a cigar I’ll smoke again. I find the banding to be a little too close to Cuban Limitada bands, that’s probably what they were going for but I think a little originality from a company that definitely has some original products would be better. I’m not going to mistake that beautiful dark wrapper for any Habanos cigars, and I would probably choose this flavor profile over most Havanas as well.

Yesterday was the 4th of July. My wife and I celebrate our wedding anniversary that day, as the US celebrates another birthday. I always choose a special cigar to mark the event, and there’s generally an element of civil disobedience involved that I’d like to think the founding fathers would approve of. Yesterday I selected a Havana Punch Churchill that was a gift from a friend a few years ago who serves our country and will remain nameless to protect the guilty! This particular cigar had the distinction of bearing a “Vintage 1999” secondary band which denotes that it was selected by Hunters and Frankau (the UK importer of Habanos cigars) as an exceptional cigar. I agree with their assessment, it was an exceptional cigar. While the draw was a bit more snug than I like, it smoked very well, needing no corrections, and the smoke had a delicate flavor that was quite delicious. It had a bit of the unique Cuban spice, and was a milder, but very special cigar. It was the perfect way to celebrate a special day. I wish I could be as complimentary about the Rocky Patel Freedom I smoked later in the evening, there was a sour component to the savory flavor that didn’t do it for me, and I wished I had chosen better, but the red white and blue band seemed appropriate for the occasion. The Punch Churchill was sublime though, and I’m fortunate to have had the chance to experience it.