Here’s some news from Forged Cigars, the distributor of La Gloria Cubana. This project is like the Punch The People’s Champ, where the blend is basically crowd sourced. Interestingly, this cigar is a Honduran Puro, the first La Gloria that I know of made with all Honduran leaf. As a 25 year fan of LGC, I’m interested to try this one.
LA GLORIA CUBANA SOCIETY CIGAR TO SHIP NEXT MONTH
La Gloria Cubana empowered itsfans to developthe brand’s latest limited edition release. Calledthe La Gloria Cubana Society Cigar, the new expression is named after a special group of cigar smokers that interact with the brand regularly both onlinethrough the LGC website and offline through La Gloria activations across the US.
The La Gloria Cubana Society Cigar was developed with input from more than 2,000 of the brand’s most devoted fans from across the U.S. They consulted on the profile, packaging and size of the cigarin a collaborative process that spanned nearly a year.
“It’s been a pleasure to harness the Society’s passion for La Gloriaand it’s an honor to provide them with a cigar that reflects whatthe brand represents to them. We look forward to collaborating with this great group of tenured smokers on future releases,” said Steve Abbot, director of marketing for La Gloria Cubana.
Handcrafted at the El Credito Cigar Factory, a stand-alone rolling gallery within General Cigar Dominicana, the La Gloria Cigar Society cigar is a Honduran puro, with filler tobacco from Jamastran and La Entrada, with a Jamastran binder and is crowned with a lustrous Olancho San Agustin wrapper. The medium to full-bodied smoke is brimming with notes of earth, nuts and coffee.
The cigars are available in one size, a box-pressed toro that’s presented in 20-count, wooden boxes. A total of 2,500 boxes will be released in early August and is being distributed by Forged Cigar Company.
La Gloria Cubana Society Toro (6.25” x54); SRP per cigar $8.99
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My love affair with La Gloria Cubana started in the mid 90s. You could buy them right from the El Credito factory on Calle Ocho in Miami, and for $5 less you could get a bundle instead of a box. Then they opened the factory in the Dominican Repuplic and there were the people that preferred the Miami rolled cigars over the ones from the DR, even though they were using the exact same raw materials. I could never tell the difference, but that really doesn’t mean anything. Then the company changed hands, the Serie R came out, another excellent cigar, more transitions in management, and now, under General Cigar, the team is coming out with one hit after another, most recently with the Artesanos Retro Especiale. I received a couple of samples at the IPCPR show and Friday night was the night to fire one up. First, it’s a really nice looking cigar. The band is beautiful, keeping the general theme of the traditional La Gloria band, but giving it a more retro look to compliment the gorgeous packaging. The wrapper is Connecticut grown in Honduras and is golden brown. It burned perfectly from start to finish, and it was smooth and elegant in flavor and appearance. Like it’s siblings, the Artesanos De Miami, Artesanos De Tabaqueros and Artesanos De Obelisco, this is a unique and special cigar.
I know this video is a rerun, but it’s certainly relevant to this post as it features Yuri Guilllen, General Manager at El Credito, and one of the masterminds of La Gloria Cubana talking about the Serie N, the Artesanos De Obelisco and the Artesanos Retro Especiale.
Don’t forget to visit my sponsors, and get on over the IPCPR.org, or CigarRights.org (or use the link in my sidebar) and send letters to your elected officials regarding the FDA and Premium Cigars! If the FDA has their way, we’ll never again see wonderful works of art like the packaging for the Retro Especiale, not to mention having premium cigars to enjoy in the first place!
Joya de Nicaragua Cabinetta Robusto – I just love these cigars. I loved them before I watched them being rolled in the factory, and I love them more every time I smoke one.  Such a good cigar. Well balanced, great tasting and beautifully constructed.  To me they are special because I watched them rolled in Nicaragua, and they are reasonably priced (which is astounding considering the extra steps taken in the rolling process), and suite my taste buds. If you haven’t tried these, you should. I will purchase a box of the lanceros at some point, it’s just a matter of time…
Brick House Mighty Mighty 6¼” x 60  – For some reason I’ve been in the mood for large cigars, and this was a big one. This line has been around a while and received glowing reviews and is another reasonably priced cigar. I picked this one up on my Father’s Day cigar run. Very nicely made with rich flavors. A most enjoyable 90 minute vacation in a cigar.  This line received an award from Cigar Journal magazine for the best value Nicaraguan cigar last month at the IPCPR show, an event which I was fortunate enough to attend. This is made by the folks at J.C.Newman in Nicaragua based on one of the company’s first brands in the US. Again, a very nice cigar for a fair price.
Berger and Argenti Entubar Double Corona (7 5/8†x 54) – Another large cigar, this one carrying a warning band at the foot advising to toast the entire foot, not just the protuberance of ligero, under penalty of death. I was tempted to ignore this sage advise, but having spoken to both Kiki Berger (who gave me this sample) and Al Argenti at the show, I decided not to risk it and did as instructed. There is something to be said for the entubado method of construction as the burn and draw were spectacular on this cigar. It tasted good too, the Ecuadorian ‘Desflorado’ Connecticut wrapper, which seems to be all the rage these days, was very nice (I believe “Desflorado” means “deflowered”, and I was under the impression that all of the tobacco plants except for the absolute healthiest and strongest specimens have the flowers removed, so I’m not sure what this means in the description, but it is a cool sounding word!).
Broadway by La Aurora – I picked this up last March on a family trip to NYC at De La Concha. This is a cigar that La Aurora made specifically to help New York tobacconists survive after the 75% Tax on cigars was put into place. I picked up similar themed cigars from Alec Bradley and Gurkha while I was there. This is a nice cigar that starts out with a little kick. It’s a 5¾ x 54 with a unique double wrapper of Ecuador Sumatra and Nicaraguan, with Dominican Corojo binder and Dominican, Nicaraguan and Peruvian fillers. Mine burned fairly well, although my son, who smoked one with me, had some trouble with the burn on his. We may need to check his humidor, I can imagine with a double wrapper, the right humidity is going to be the key to a good burn with this. I’m trying to figure out how they manage to reduce the manufacturing cost of this cigar for sale in New York, but use two wrappers. It seems counter-intuitive, but I suppose it works, because the cigar is pretty tasty.
Here is a quick video of Kiki Berger from Cuban Crafters at last month’s IPCPR show. I’ll take this opportunity to thank Don Kiki again for taking the time to talk to me, hooking me up with a Cuban coffee and some samples, and giving me this spiffy new Perfect Cut cutter. I’ve been using this a lot in the last few weeks and I like it a lot. Unlike similar cutters that I like a lot, this one has a resin (plastic) body that is very light in the pocket. My other favorite cutter is all stainless steel and quite heavy. This one does a great job, has a cool hole in the back so you can cut a torpedo and doesn’t drag your trousers to the ground!
In the News
Here are a few interesting links I came across this week, the first is about an old brand that was made up the road from me in Reading, PA. The second one isn’t really cigar related, but is a cool article about a Beatles themed bar in Havana.
Also, many thanks to our local newspaper, the Daily Local News for including this site on their Blogtown page and featuring it on the front page of their site yesterday!
Contest!
I need to select a winner of my General Cigars prize pack. As you can see, the prize pack has doubled since I announced it a week ago, thanks to Victoria at General Cigars for sending along some more goodies. Be sure to get on over to http://www.macanudomillionaire.com and enter to win a trip to Vegas and a chance to win a million bucks. We had 17 entries, with one being disqualified since he won in the last 6 months. So I entered 16 into the random number generator and it spit out the number 11 which corresponds to Paul. Please drop me an e-mail with your address so I can get this out to you! I hate to have to work too hard to give stuff away, so get your contact info to me with me having to chase you down! 🙂
That’s all I have for now, and I think we can all agree that it was enough…so until the next time,
First off I’d like to thank and welcome Bonita Smoke Shop, our newest advertiser! Please give them a visit, either if you’re in Bonita Springs, FL, or by clicking on the graphic on the right! Nice folks with a great selection who were among the first shops with an internet presence back in the wild west days of the ’90s!
We left off having smoked a series of CAO cigars, and, since CAO is now part of General Cigar, I figured I’d wrap up the week with some more General products and a contest!  In an unrelated note, I had been approached some time ago by the marketing folks for a jazz artist named Anders Holst to review his CD, but it seems like I procrastinated and reviews have appeared on several other blog sites. I don’t want to be repetitive, so check out Barry’s interview and review at ACigarSmoker.com.  I was going to try to tie it in with a review, but decided it’s been done, so thanks to Anders and the folks at his PR company for thinking of me.
The other evening I enjoyed a Macanudo 1968 Robusto again, I punched this one and the draw was excellent. I have really been digging these lately. A good friend related a story to me that when these were initially released he offered them unbanded, in a Havana cigar box, at an event and people thought they were Cuban. I don’t know about all that, and the power of suggestion can’t be discounted, but I really don’t draw a comparison. That’s not to say the Mac 68 isn’t a fine cigar, it is. It’s well made and very tasty. Since they lowered the price on these a few months back, it’s even a better cigar.
Saturday brought a migraine, which I tried to sleep off in anticipation of visiting a hookah and cigar lounge that’s opened in West Chester, PA (which is a few miles up the road from us). They are supposed to have a belly dancer on Friday and Saturday nights, and we’ve been trying to get there for a smoke. I’ve never tried the hookah, but I’m not repulsed by it and they do include cigars in the name of the place, so I’m open to try it out. I also was going to drive out to Lancaster PA to a cigar shop to meet up with a few folks, notably some of the guys from StogieReview.com. In the end, the migraine, along with my wife getting home from a business event later than anticipated, won the battle and we stayed in.
While I’m thinking about it, head on over to http://www.macanudomillionaire.com and enter the contest to win a trip to Vegas and a chance to win a million bucks. From the press release:
“Between now and September 30, consumers 21 year of age or older can enter to win an all-expense paid, three-day, two night trip to the in Las Vegas. While in Sin City, each winner and their guests will be treated to a VIP evening at the Playboy Club. There, a trio of Playboy Playmates will stand in for Lady Luck when each of the contestants and their guests play a high-stakes round of poker. If either the contest winners or their guests have a straight flush or higher, Macanudo will award the $1,000,000 prize.â€
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Here are a few videos I shot during my tour of the General Cigars booth at the IPCPR show. As always, these are raw videos, and, due to the ambient noise in the aircraft hangar they call an exhibition hall, they aren’t all that easy to hear. Thanks again to General Cigars for rolling out the red carpet for me again. They have quite a few exciting items again this year.
Contest!
Leave a comment to enter to win at least a five pack of General Cigar goodies, maybe more, but it will be at least five, I may be able to scrounge up more goodies. Contest will run for one week, with the winner being drawn on Sunday, August 14, 2011. Usual rules apply. The prize may grow over the course of the week, hard to say!
My mother-in-law passed away last week, so in deference to the family, I concentrated on doing my best to be a comfort and a help to my wife and her family. Cigars took a back seat to common sense and courtesy, so I don’t have a lot to report on this time. She lived a long and active life, but the last year was hard, with a diagnosis of mesothelioma and a stroke. When I smoked cigarettes she would bum one off me once a year, probably did that for almost 20 years. It was just one of those funny little things…never could get her to switch to a cigar, although she used to say that she once used cigars to break her cigarette habit, since she hated cigars!
I did manage to take a cigar for a walk Sunday morning, and I chose a Romeo y Julieta Habana Reserve that I bought last year when they had an offer for a sampler for something like $8 delivered. I like these cigars, but they sometimes aren’t the fist cigar I gravitate to if I’m cigar shopping. I opted for this cigar since I figured it was one of the better selections I had on hand for an early in the day smoke. It was quite a nice, mild and flavorful cigar that fit the bill nicely. It was a robusto that measured 5” x 54. If I were buying a RyJ, and it wasn’t one from an island we aren’t supposed to buy cigars from, I’d choose this line again.
Just a quick note about cigar smokers doing nice things for the community, a store local to me, although I don’t visit there nearly enough for whatever reason, recently held a golf outing and sent me the following in an e-mail:
Golf Outing Raises $13,240 for Fox Chase Cancer Center
G&G Cigar Company‘s 2nd Annual Golf Outing raised $13,240 for Fox Chase Cancer center for funding cancer research. The event was held at Downingtown Country Club. This check brings G&G’s total donations to over $43,000 to various charities.
We’d like to thank all of you for your support of this important event.
G&G Cigar Company Thanks you for your business.
I think it’s pretty cool when folks who are looked down upon by the more prudish in society do something nice, and it deserves recognition.
Last night I lit up a Hoyo de Monterrey Reposado en Cedros that I received at the IPCPR show last July when General Cigar announced the release. It should come as no surprise that the predominant flavor of the cigar is wood. Sweet wood. Lots of wood. Obviously (or not) this was to be expected given the cedar sleeve and the special “Immersion” process in which they age the cigars in cedar. Don’t misunderstand, I really enjoyed the cigar, it was very enjoyable and different from what I usually select. I’ve always enjoyed the Hoyo de Monterrey line and most of it’s extensions, and this one is pleasantly different.
Tonight I grabbed one of General Cigars new El Credito El Perrito War of Flavors, a cheroot-like cigar that’s made without a mold. These are rustic little cigars that was created by two supervisors in the El Credito factory in the DR. There’s lots of information out there on these, so I won’t regurgitate it here. It was a good cigar for a mile walk. It wasn’t particularly elegant, but it had a good flavor that will benefit from some age. If these are priced right they will be a nice shorter smoke, although it burned roughly the same amount of time as a robusto for me. Don’t wear a good shirt either as the ash was prone to dropping without notice! Thanks to General Cigars for providing me with samples to smoke!
That’s it for now, hopefully this weekend being Memorial Day weekend will give me an opportunity to have a couple cigars.
Until the next time,
CigarCraig
Watch for a new discount code from StogieBoys.com coming soon.
“It’s been a pleasure to harness the Society’s passion for La Gloria and it’s an honor to provide them with a cigar that reflects what the brand represents to them. We look forward to collaborating with this great group of tenured smokers on future releases,” said Steve Abbot, director of marketing for La Gloria Cubana.
