This week I smoked another Secret Santa gift and a couple cigars from the PCA show. My Secret Santa sent me a bunch of fantastic cigars, all but maybe one of which I hadn’t smoked before. Some might think this is no easy feat, but there are actually a lot of limited editions and regional stuff I don’t get because I don’t chase them down. Considering my friendship with Steve Saka, there are a bunch of his cigars I haven’t smoked. The Vintage Rock-a-FArteller Art of Magic cigar is a cigar I hadn’t smoked, although I could easily have picked up some last year. A percentage of sales of this cigar helps out Jessi Flores and his daughter’s health issues. He is responsible for the artwork as well. This is a toro, 6″ x 52, with a San Andrés wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and fillers. I though it had some earthy flavors with a lot of cocoa notes. I liked it a lot. Kevin Schweitzer is the owner of the company, and in addition to a background in finance, is a magician, hence the name. This cigar made me think of my friend Frank Seltzer, who passed away last year. I actually thought I was going to have a hard draw on this pre-light, but it was fine, although it inexplicably got tight for a stretch around half way through.
I’ve been putting off smoking this brand since the PCA show, mostly because I was so thoroughly unimpressed with its sibling brand, Montosa. I found both Montosa examples I smoked to be incredibly sub-par, and was surprised when Two Guys Smoke Shop/The Cigar Authority named it their cigar of the year. So I was concerned that the Terra Nova would give me a similar experience. I have both the Terra Nova Dark Fired Kentucky and the Arapirique blends in a torpedo shape, so I chose the Dark Fired first. The wrapper is an Ecuador Connecticut, the binders are Bahia and Sumatra (actually I’m guessing its a double binder, maybe it’s Brazilian grown Sumatra?), and the fillers are Dominican, Nicaraguan, Brazilian and Dark Fired Kentucky. I took a good whiff o this before lighting, expecting the campfire-like aroma one gets from a Drew Estate Kentucky Fire Cured. I found no such aroma, thankfully. I find that heavy campfire aroma off putting. This was a woody tasting blend, but a sweet wood, and it wasn’t bad! I kinda liked it and look forward to smoking the Araparique.
The Casa 1910 brand is fairly new to the market. Someone encouraged me to visit their booth at the PCA show, I don’t remember who I was with at the time. I came across this sample of the Chuchillo Parado, which is a 5″ x 50 robusto and seems to be only available in this size. It’s a Mexican puro, with San Andrés Negro tobaccos wrapped in a Mexican Sumatra wrapper. It was a very nice looking cigar, not at all like the Mexican puros I started out smoking in the 90’s. Nor did it taste like those cigars, which were almost a dirty flavor. This had a unique spice component, which stuck to the palate, almost, like licorice, but not licorice, if that makes sense. This cigar smoked really well, and was quite satisfying. I’d pick up more if I saw them.
The giant guitar sculpture I talked about last week made its way to Joliet, Il and was affixed to the front of the Rock and Roll Museum and Rick Nielsen was there for the lighting ceremony. Rick Nielsen is a cigar smoker, and his son actually works with the Cigar-Coop team. My wife met him quite a few years ago and gave him a cigar, and we ran into him six years ago when we were at the NAMM show. I would have loved to have been in Joliet for the ceremony. That’s all for today, until the next time,
CigarCraig
