Tag Archives: Encore

by Craig Vanderslice | January 2, 2022 · 10:01 am

New Year Cigars: EP Carillo, Rare Pink and an All Saints Saint Francis

Happy New Year to everyone! As CigarCraig.com enters it’s 13th year I hope to continue to bring you the same level of rambling nonsense you’ve come to expect from me! If all goes to plan, I will be attending the Tobacco Plus Expo in Las Vegas in a few weeks, so that should bring some exciting content (I hope), and maybe some insight into what’s coming up down the road. I can’t say I’m excited to be getting on a plane, but it’s a necessary evil, I suppose. Anyway, 2022, huh? Crazy. 2021 went by in the blink of an eye it seems, not a great year for a lot of people, pretty good for some. As is my custom, I try to smoke some good cigars through the New Years “holiday”, so I dug out some special ones. New Years Eve I came across a cigar that had been gifted to me a while ago by a friend in Florida who I hope is doing OK. This was a E.P. Carrillo 10 Year Anniversary Limited Edition Perfecto. These are 6½” x 56 perfectos that came out in 2019 in a box with 10 each of the La Historia blend and the Encore blend, of which this was the latter. I believe the Encore blend is a Nicaraguan puro, made in the DR. It’s an excellent cigar, somehow it avoids being a heavy Nicaraguan cigar, sure it’s a bit earthy and peppery, but there’s a light citrus that’s sophisticated and delicious. This was a good choice for the last cigar of 2021. Make no mistake, I was asleep by 10.

New Years Day I decided to get the year started off with the Arturo Fuente Rare Pink Signature that I bought when we went down to South Carolina a few months ago. Technically the name for this is line is the Rare Pink Vintage 1960s Series, and uses the same molds as the Hemingway line, with a couple exceptions. It’s my understanding that some proceeds benefit a breast cancer charity, never a bad thing. I’ve always liked the Hemingway Signature size, it’s practically a Corona Gorda in a perfecto shape, 6″ x 46. Let’s face it, once the nipple burns off it’s 5 5/8″, a traditional corona gorda. This certainly didn’t taste like a Hemingway, lacking the Cameroon wrapper (or broadleaf, they are a treat!). It has a rosado wrapper from Ecuador, and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers from the best I can tell. I thought it had an interesting sweet spice that set it apart from other cigars. The burn meandered a bit in the first half, but evened out in the second and was perfect until the end. I’d smoke another without hesitation, but I wouldn’t chase them down or pay more than MSRP for them, but that’s me.

I’ve mentioned before that I toss around the idea of making a top whatever list of favorite cigars of the year. I decided that my ego doesn’t require the stroking of those who make the list, although I guess that’s a little cynical on my part and perhaps my readers would like to know what cigars I found worthy over the last year. I probably don’t have to summarize for my regular readers, but some notables over the last year were the Stolen Throne Three Kingdoms, Undercrown 10, La Sirena Mexican Mermaid, Casa Cuevas Patrimonio, Partagas Decadas 2021 and this cigar that I smoked last night, the All Saints Saint Francis. I smoked the Churchill, which I like a lot, it seems the Toro was The Cigar Authority/Two Guys Cigar of the Year, which is a pretty cool thing for Mickey Pegg and his partners. The Saint Francis is a stellar cigar, it’s rich, decadent, delicious. It’s desert. If I were making that list, it would have been tough to decide if the Saint Francis or Three Kingdoms were on top, hey are both cigars that if I have them in my humidor, I’m smoking them. I can’t wait to try the Saint Francis Colorado, although the bar is set pretty high.

One housekeeping note. I have changed the email subscription service I’ve been using for updates from Feedburner to Mailchimp because Feedburner is no longer supported, has become unreliable and may just go away at any minute. Today will be the first test to see if/how it works. I’m hoping for the best. There’s a new subscribe button on the left sidebar of the site if you’d like to receive e-mail notifications when the site is updated if you don’t already. I never share the e-mail addresses, I’ve been asked, the answer is always no. EDIT: I’ve deleted Mailchimp as the email that went out didn’t have any content and it didn’t look like it was going to suit my purposes. I’ve decided to try a WordPress plugin that looks like it should work, we’ll see the next time I post! PLease bear with me while I work this out. That’s all for today, happy 2022! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

2 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as All, All Saints, Arturo Fuente, cigar, cigars, E.P. Carrillo, Encore, Rare Pink, Saint Francis

by Craig Vanderslice | January 17, 2021 · 11:40 am

New Govee Sensors, a Few Cigars and a Contest Winner

Image from Amazon

I’ve been using the Govee WiFi and Bluetooth humidity and temperature sensors in my humidors for a while now, and recently got some of their new ones to try out. I got three of them (actually four, one comes in a handy two pack). The first one is the WiFi Smart Thermo Hygrometer, Model H5179. The batteries were included in the device, it just had a strip of plastic that needed to be removed for the batteries to make contact. The Bluetooth pairing and WiFi connection were very simple through the app (which I already had from having multiple other devices). There’s no display on this device, so everything is monitored through the app, Temperature, humidity, along with historical data for something like a year. You can also set alerts for highs and lows so if there are spikes in your humidor you can address them before any long term damage is done. This also had a mounting bracket and a lanyard (the later of which serves no purpose in my application). I will probably mount this in my primary cabinet humidor.

Image from Amazon

The second one is the Bluetooth Smart Thermometer, Model 5174, which is very much the same as the above, in a smaller form factor, without WiFi, and without the mounting bracket. Once again, the batteries are included so it’s ready to go. The instruction booklet is clear and concise, and most of the setup is done through the app anyway. Like the H5179, it has a blue light that blinks every 30 seconds when it takes a reading, which will turn red when the batteries get to 15%, so if you aren’t paying attention to the app you can remember to change them. I’m not sure which humidor I’m going to put this in, probably my large desktop humidor where I put the cigars that I plan to feature, and new arrivals. The older Govee Mini Smart Hygrometer I had in there seems to have drifted to the high side on the humidity reading and I don’t think there’s a way to fix that. I’m going to try resetting it by removing the battery and putting it back in and see what happens, but it might just be replaced. (As of this writing, this unit appears to be unavailable. Not sure why or when it will be available again, no worries, there are options!)

Image from Amazon

these are my images!

Finally the third item is the Smart Thermo-Hygrometer, Model H5101, which has a nice, large 1.8” digital display. I got the two-pack, which is around $20, quite a deal. These have a little tab in the back to make a stand for on a shelf or table, otherwise I suspect some velcro or magnets could be used. I had an older, similar model that didn’t impress me too much, the humidity readings were low compared with other gauges, so I use that in the living room. These seem to be spot on. I conducted a test over the last six weeks or thereabouts, where I placed all four units in a tray with a known good hygrometer and just left them there to do their thing. As you can see in the screen shots from the app, they all are, more or less, right on. Considering the spec is +/- 3% for humidity and +/- .54°f for temp, they are fine. I like that I can see the humidity levels in all of my humidors from one app, when one has six or seven humidors, that’s an issue. I know that there are retailers that have deployed these in their club lockers so they can keep track of them. Even if they aren’t dead on accurate, which they seem to be pretty close,

my screen shot

you can track trends, and sometimes that’s more important to cigars than the actual numbers. Anyway, I’m a fan of these devices, I bought one of their wireless doorbells for my house too. They work well, they look nice, and don’t break the bank. Full disclosure, the Amazon links included here are affiliate links tied to my account, so any sales will drop a couple cents my way. I’ve never gotten paid by Amazon yet, so it’s purely optimistic on my part.

Cigar Aficionado’s list came out last week, of course there was much controversy. People need to realize the target audience of that list is not the same cigar geek crowd that reads cigar blogs and is into boutique cigars. Personally, I think the EPC Pledge is an amazing cigar, and I’m going to try to get my hands on a few more. I smoked the EPC Encore this week, which was number one a few years ago, and people couldn’t figure out why that made number one. It clearly was number one because the tasting panel loved it, as it’s a really good tasting cigar and suited that panels palate! The one I had I had purchased the day after the results came out, so it had rested what, three years? It was delicious, I think the Nicaraguan wrapper must be a Sumatra seed varietal, because it had that flavor, and I know Ernesto is a fan of the Sumatra. I also smoked the Alec and Bradley Gatekeeper, which was also made by Ernesto. This was pretty high on the list, and is a good cigar. I can’t say that I would put it high on my list, it was a good cigar, but not particularly memorable or a stand out to me. But that’s me, and I don’t do a list, and if I did, nobody would be taking a copy of it in to shops asking for cigars that are on it! I guarantee every shop in the country has had customers coming in asking for cigars on CAs list this week. It drives sales.

I need to pick a winner of the Groovy Guy Gifts Good To Go Cigar Case today. I also will need to throw some more cigars in, three, you see, just isn’t enough. That will be a surprise for the lucky winner! As you know, I have a thorough process of double random selection, just to keep things fair. There was a very small pool of long-time readers who entered. Tim McCabe is the winner this time! Please send me your address and proof that you’re old and I’ll get this shipped out to you! Thanks to Groovy Guy Gifts for this cool item! Check them out!

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

CigarCraig

3 Comments

Filed under Accessories, Contest, Review

Tagged as Alec and Bradley, Alec Bradley, app, Bluetooth, cigar, cigars, Digital, Encore, EPC, Gatekeeper, Govee, Hygrometer, Thermometer, WiFi

by CigarCraig | December 23, 2018 · 10:31 am

Contest: CigarCraig’s Holiday Giveaways No.2!

It’s the Sunday before Christmas, and time to announce the winner of the Ventura Cigars travel humidor and assorted goodies. I scrounged through the humidors and found some cigars to include too! I let the folks at Kretek International know what I was up to and they were thrilled that I was doing it! The comment selected at random belonged to Victor Miller! Please send me your address so I can ship you your goodies! Thanks again to Ventura, and to everyone who entered!

Our second giveaway of the season really couldn’t have worked out better! On Thursday of this week, Cigar Aficionado announced that the E.P. Carrillo Encore Majestic was their number one cigar of the year! People have mixed feelings on this list, and I really don’t understand why people get so worked up over it. Like any top whatever list, from any media outlet, be it print based, or online, it’s based on individual opinions, it has to be, as cigars ( and spirits, and food) are a subjective, non-quantifiable commodity. Find someone who’s tastes line up with yours and follow their suggestions and don’t crap on other people’s tastes. Whoa, I kinda went on a rant there…people take things too seriously! Live and let live! Lets get back to giving stuff away! This is another un-authorized contest, my friends at EPC don’t know I’m doing this, but I have been a fan of Ernesto’s work for a very long time. The first time I met him at an IPCPR just three years ago was about the first time I’ve been really star-struck meeting someone. I’ve had the chance to hang out with him since and he’s a super cool guy, and I consider his VP one of my better friends in the cigar biz. I think the CA’s choosing Encore for their cigar of the year was spot on not only because it’s a great cigar, but because Ernesto and his company is deserving of the recognition and it’s a cigar that should be reasonably available (at least until last Thursday!). Anyway, I have some EPC goodies including a cool hat, a pair of rocks glasses and some steel ice cubes (I guess, I’m not a drinker, I have to assume that’s what they are, since they came with the glasses. It would be the hardest dice game ever!). There’s an EPC cutter and lighter too, and I’ve selected some cigars from my humidor, and some more might fall in the box when I pack it up! Let’s not forget a handy Lighter Bleed Tool from CigarProp.com to keep that lighter working right for years to come!

Leave a comment (one comment please!) to enter. I think it’s fair to disqualify our previous winner, but everyone else is eligible to win. Must be of legal age in your jurisdiction as usual. I’ll select a winner sometime after Christmas, I have a funky schedule this week (again) so I’m not sure when I’ll get a chance, but maybe I’ll leave it open all week and announce a winner next Sunday to give everyone a chance to enter.

To everyone who celebrates, a Merry Christmas to all! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

53 Comments

Filed under Contest

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Contest, E.P. Carrillo, Encore, giveaway, Ventura

by CigarCraig | March 18, 2018 · 9:54 am

A Camacho, EP Carillo Encore and a La Palina Candela Cigar

First, if you haven’t already, go back to my last post and enter to win a great selection of La Sirena cigars and a Stage V Clinger. I smoked a La Sirena King Poseidon this week that was awesome, I should have included notes about that in the post, as was pointed out by one reader. Sorry for the laziness! Depending how I’m feeling Wednesday, maybe there will be a runner up! Thank you to all of you who shared the link on social media! Anyway, smoked a few great cigars this week I thought I’d share thoughts and info on, first of which was a Camacho Nicaraguan Barrel Aged Robusto. This was an IPCPR sample, Davidoff does a great job with providing samples to the media, and they had a special media event at the trade show which included their “Golden Band Awards” for retailers. Am I surprised to not find the Nicaraguan Barrel Aged line listed on the Camacho website? On one hand, you’d think a big company like Davidoff would have the resources to keep their website up to date, on the other hand, it seems to be the norm to have an outdated site. It’s befuddling. Anyway, the Camacho Nicaraguan Barrel Aged Robusto is a 5″ x 50, with an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, Mexican binder and, Dominican Piloto Cubano, Honduran Corojo Ligero & Nicaraguan Corojo, with the Nicaraguan filler aged in Flor de Caña rum barrels for five months. It’s common knowledge that I’m not a drinker (quick rant: If you e-mail me saying you’ve been reading my site a long time and LOVE my work, following up with saying you know I’m a big whiskey and cigar fan makes me question your sincerity) , the last time I had rum it was Bacardi and Coke, so I wouldn’t be the one to ask about flavors from the barrel, but it is a pleasing cigar, with some interesting flavors that aren’t typical. There’s a nice sweet flavor along with some coffee and chocolate. I decided to smoke this because I had been on the hunt for the new Camacho Candela (and came up dry), as I’d smoked a box of the old Camacho Candela and wanted to see how it compared (I still have one in the humidor, close to 10 years old). Anyway, I liked the Nicaraguan Barrel Aged better, if memory serves, than the American Barrel Aged.

This week was the long awaited release of the E.P. Carillo Encore. This is a Nicaraguan Puro, and I was lucky enough to get one of these from Jose Blanco last week, with the suggestion that I let it rest a few days. This was an obvious ploy to keep me from posting about it too far in advance of the release :-). I also received a sample from the company a few days before the release. My schedule didn’t allow me to smoke it before the March 15 release date anyway, I lit it up on the 15th and boy is it a great cigar. I smoked the Majestic, the Robusto measuring 5-3/8″ x 52. It was medium bodied, and suave and elegant. It had some buttery sweetness that I really enjoyed. instead of taking this cigar on my evening walk, I waited until I got back to light this one up, and I’m glad that I was able to give it my full attention. I have been a slacker when it comes to smoking E.P.C. cigars for the most part, there’s a lot I haven’t smoked over the last 9 years since the company started, but I like this one the best. Granted, this is based on one sample from Jose Blanco, who probably doesn’t carry crappy cigars with him, but I was very pleased. The cigar has a nice box press, and is presented with a ribbon on the foot. I missed the first few minutes of the Flyers game to finish this cigar. I’m working on catching up on this brand’s portfolio, I have an Elite Series Seleccion Oscuro (I think, there are a dizzying array of cigars in the EPC line) lined up for today. Good stuff from a true master.

Yesterday I smoked a candela cigar, as seems to be the St Patrick’s Day tradition. As I said earlier, I still have a Camacho Candela from when Christian Eiroa owned the brand, but I’m leaving that one sit until I can find the new ones to compare to, and I have some Filthy Hooligans and RoMaCraft Fomorians around too, but I decided to give the La Palina Fuego Verde a try. Before I even look into this cigar, I have to say it was made at General Cigar’s factory based on the round head alone. I just checked and I was right, definitely manufactured at General, along with the La Palina Classic line. The candela wrapper on this cigar is from Honduras, with a Honduran binder and Nicaraguan fillers. It’s bright green, and has that grassy candela flavor one would expect, with some sweet tobacco flavors to balance it out. I thoroughly enjoyed this “Green Fire” offering, which is only available in one size, the 5″ x 50 robusto. I have a pretty high tolerance for candela, I like it once in a while as a change of pace and palate reset, but I personally put this in my top five easily. It had a satisfying flavor, was medium bodied, and was enjoyable. I still need to get my hands on the La Flor Dominicana and Illusione candelas, the chain of shops near me (6 of their 12 stores are within a ten mile radius of my house) won’t carry candelas because they don’t sell. I’ll keep looking. Hopefully me smoking a green cigar on St. Patrick’s day isn’t some sort of cultural appropriation or something that’s not politically correct. By all accounts, St. Patrick was anti-snake, and that makes him OK in my book.