Last year we met the guys from Ezra Zion at the show (here’s the post) and have gotten to know Kyle, Chris and Alan since. I can’t say I agree with their politics or spiritual views all the time, but I can say that they make fine cigars and are passionate about tobacco. Whereas last year they had a booth along side their Cigar Federation booth (a cigar social media site for which the same group is responsible), this year they were in the booth with the rest of the House of Emilio brands. Between the Cigar Federation and Ezra Zion they were the book ends of the booth. On to the cigars: I am a big fan of the Inception (or Jamais Vu as it’s now known) and I smoked the Tantrum and the new Eminence this week. Here’s a video we did with Kyle at the show a few weeks ago telling us about the newest blends:
Monday evening I fired up the Eminence. This was a dark, fat belicoso that had a wrapper that was reasonably flame-retardant. I suspect a few months in the humidor should solve this, but despite having to light it pretty often it was a big old pepper bomb from the start. It was a lot spicier than the usual San Andreas wrapped cigars I appreciate so much. I really enjoyed this cigar, and I’ll pick up a few the next time I get to my local “House of Emilio” shop, let them set for a while and see if I still have a burn problem.
Last night my wife and I went out to dinner, so I grabbed the little Tantrum to walk the meal off. This is a little firecracker, but it’s not nearly the spice bomb that the Eminence is. I actually used a new tool I’ve been testing on this, the Five Star Perforator. This little device has five piercers in a spring loaded enclosure. What one does is press this into the cap of the cigar and it puts five nice little holes in the cap. I’ve had good results with cigars that have a loose draw, but that’s a difficult cigar attribute to figure out before cutting the cigar! I’ve found myself piercing the cigar, finding I can’t get enough smoke, trying again with a little rocking or twisting motion like the website suggests, 
then using a punch, V-cut or straight cut, depending on what I have on me. Certainly this is an interesting piece to have on the key chain (which in my case could have more cigar devices on it than keys!). I’m old and set in my ways, so sometimes I just grab the V-cutter or guillotine and do it right the first time. If I know a cigar has a history of being rolled loosely, this is a great tool to use. Anyway, the Tantrum is a great little 4″x44 cigar, although the price point is on the high side for it’s size. I think I paid $7.50 or $8 if I recall. Keep an eye out for the Ezra Zion cigars and give them a try, and see it one of the Five Star Perforators is a tool that would work for you.
Don’t forget to go back to Friday, August 9th’s post and enter to win a box of La Gloria Cubana Gilded Age Toros courtesy of Famous Smoke Shop! There’s only another 5 days to enter, and I know this is longer than most of my contests, but I wanted to give plenty of people a chance to enter.
That’s it for today, until the next time,
CigarCraig
