Tag Archives: Espinosa

by Craig Vanderslice | May 14, 2023 · 9:39 am

An Olmec Claro, a 601 La Bomba Warhead and a Video

Last December I picked up the Foundation Cigar Co. Olmec in Madur and Claro. I had smoked the Maduro, and gifted he Claro. I happened to be shopping at The Wooden Indian a few weeks back and picked up another Claro, because I wanted to smoke it! I really enjoyed the Maduro, and I’ve enjoyed so many cigars made by Nick Melillo over the years. Of course, this is a cigar that is an homage to the original cigar smokers, the Olmec, and has a San Andres Claro wrapper, a double binder of Nicaraguan Esteli and Jalapa, and undisclosed fillers. Odd the undisclosed part, must be something interesting in there, although, upon reading the website description, there seems to be some some confusion, the filler may be Esteli and Jalapa, it says two different things! Anyway, this was a really good smoking cigar. I liked the Maduro more, but that’s not unusual for me, but this had some nice creamy coffee flavor and was very rich in flavor. I may not drop $15 on these regularly, but it’s a nice treat.

On the same trip to the Wooden Indian I picked up an Espinosa 601 La Bomba Warhead VII, just because it looked so tasty. The La Bomba line has been a favorite since the EO Brands days, when it was made at the My Father factory. This one is made at AJ Fernandez’ San Lotano factory in Nicaragua, has a Nicaraguan Broadleaf wrapper, and Nicaraguan binder and fillers. It’s a 7″ x 50 Churchill, and it lacks the La Bomba “fuse” cap treatment. I actually haven’t smoked enough of the Warhead series to know if that’s a thing or not. I really liked this cigar. The box press makes it feel like a smaller ring than it is, and it’s really reasonably priced at around $10. It was loaded with dark coffee/espresso flavors. This was a really good smoke, burn and draw were perfect. I’m a fan.

Yesterday we attended the AC Cigar Social in Atlantic City, and I did a quick video interview with Jon Henderson (I had Jon Anderson on the brain for some reason…). I’ll write a more indepth post this week about the event, but in the meantime, here is the video:

It was a really nice event, hopefully it’s one that can continue!

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

CigarCraig

Comments Off on An Olmec Claro, a 601 La Bomba Warhead and a Video

Filed under Review, Video

Tagged as 601, 601 La Bomba, AC Cigar Social, Atlantic City, cigar, cigars, Espinosa, Foundation, Olmec, Warhead

by Craig Vanderslice | September 14, 2022 · 7:00 am

News: General Cigar and Espinosa Cigars Release Final Warzone Expression

Here’s some news from General Cigars. I think I have one of the original Warzone cigars around someplace, but this Rabito size is very interesting. It’s a little bigger than a lonsdale or Corona Gorda, actually, it’s about the best of both vitolas! Sounds like another good one!

General Cigar and Espinosa Cigars will release the third and final expression of the critically-acclaimed Warzone trilogy with “Warzone Rabito.”

Fusing the respective styles of General Cigar and Espinosa Cigars, Warzone Rabito uses wrapper tobacco from General Cigar, along with binder and filler tobacco from Espinosa.

Erik Espinosa said, “Warzone has been a very successful collaboration, so it should come as no surprise that Justin Andrews and I wanted to end the trilogy on a high note, so to speak. And since Team Espinosa blended our first Cameroon-wrapped cigars with Justin under Warzone, we agreed that we would take Cameroon to another level with our final release. There was no question when we had the blend that embodied our vision…it was like the lights turned on for all of us…we instinctively knew it was right.”

The four-country blend calls upon a rich, five-year-aged Cameroon wrapper, a Honduran binder and filler tobaccos from Nicaragua and Columbia to deliver a savory cigar that balances creaminess and spiciness and produces an enticing aroma.

As with previous Warzone releases, the cigars are “soft box pressed,” calling upon an old-world Cuban method in which freshly-rolled cigars are placed inside the box to form their shape.

Warzone Rabito (6” x 46) is now available in all channels and is being sold for a suggested retail price of $9.19 per cigar. Only 1,500 boxes have been made, and each contain 20 cigars.

Warzone is handcrafted at Espinosa Cigar’s La Zona Factory in Esteli, Nicaragua. The line launched in November 2019 with a Robusto and Toro and was followed up by a Churchill released in 2020. The collection has received multiple 90+ ratings and numerous accolades to date.

ABOUT GENERAL CIGAR COMPANY

General Cigar Co. is a leading manufacturer and marketer of handcrafted cigars for the premium market in the US. The company is owned by Scandinavian Tobacco Group.

Committed to delivering cigars of the finest quality, General Cigar’s skilled artisans produce Macanudo®, Cohiba®, La Gloria Cubana®, Partagas®, CAO®, Punch®, Hoyo de Monterrey®, Excalibur® and several other leading premium brands in the company’s Dominican, Honduran and Nicaraguan factories.

In addition, the company cultivates proprietary tobacco which is used exclusively in its blends and has a dedicated R&D practice that develops new varieties of tobacco and revitalizes vintage seeds.

Based in Richmond, VA, General Cigar sells through wholesalers and retailers in the US. General Cigar also operates Club Macanudo®, a cigar bar in New York City.

TPE2022: Erik Espinosa and Some Espinosa Cigars

I smoked a couple cigars from Espinosa Cigars over the last few days, just because I, for some reason, don’t find myself smoking a great many cigars from the Espinosa line. I do enjoy many cigars made at La Zona, as I told Jack Toraño one evening when I was hanging out with him at the hotel lounge, one of my favorite La Zona cigars is the La Sirena. I had picked up an Espinosa Habano on Sunday when I stopped into Son’s (more news from that visit to come), as I hadn’t had one in a very long time. I smoked it Monday. This is a nice smoke, cedary and earthy, with a little bit of sweetness and some spice. Not so much in my personal wheelhouse, but an enjoyable cigar nonetheless. This, of course, was the 6″ x 52 No. 5 vitola.

When I met with Erik at the TPE he gave me a Laranja Escuro, in the box pressed 6″ x 52 Toro size. This is the Brazilian Matafina wrapped version of the Laranja, made at the A.J. Fernandez’ San Lotano Factory. This cigar is more up my alley, as I generally favor a maduro. It performed perfectly, and had loads of dark rich flavors, which included espresso, and some nice spices. I was thoroughly impressed and satisfied by this cigar, and I don’t believe I had smoked this cigar before, and I don’t know why. It will definately be on my list in the future.

Erik gave me a few minutes at the TPE and talked about a new project he had coming up. Take a look at the video:

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

CigarCraig

1 Comment

Filed under Review, TPE, Video

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Escuro, Espinosa, Laranja, TPE

by Craig Vanderslice | January 9, 2022 · 10:35 am

Stolen Throne War Council and Sensei’s Sensational Sarsparilla Cigars

It was implied in my last post that the Stolen Throne Three Kingdoms was among my favorite cigars of the last year, and honestly it was right there at the top. I keep going back for more of this cigar, there’s a sweet flavor that I haven’t been able to put a name to, and it wasn’t until I smoked the War Council yesterday that I think I finally am able to label that flavor. A little bit about the War Council cigar: it’s a 6″ x 46 corona extra, not a skinny toro, or whatever the site that sold them called it. Silliness. They made something like just under 1900 of these, and I was gifted one of these by Kevin and JR of Stolen Throne when I met them a few weeks ago. It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, undisclosed binder and Nicaraguan and undisclosed or Honduran (sources vary), fillers. Best I can tell it contains tobacco, that’s a safe bet. It’s very good tobacco. I’d be remiss if I failed to mention that this cigar was the cigar of the year for 2021 at Kaplowitz Media, after smoking it, I don’t find that at all curious. Going back to my tasting notes, I thought it had loads of the same sweet flavor that I love in the Three Kingdoms, which I’m now going to recognize as “sugar cane”. Since my palate is less refined than most, that sweetness carried throughout the cigar for me, and was dominant, and I loved it. I find the Three Kingdoms more balanced for my palate, which is fine, it’s obviously in greater supply, but the War Council was definitely a treat! I love smoking special cigars, but I don’t like falling in love with them! Thanks guys fr the opportunity, and I learned something from it!

I made a little exception to my own rule with this next cigar, although I suppose it’s not the first time. I generally let other media entities promote their own wares, unless there’s some reciprocity. This particular cigar is now in general distribution, so I’m giving it a pass. as the post title implies, the cigar in question is the Sensei’s Sensational Sarsaparilla, which is part of the Espinosa portfolio. I picked up one of these to sample at an Espinosa event at Son’s a few weeks ago. This originated with the Cigar Dojo, who has done an amazing job with coming out with their own cigars in small batches. This is the maybe the third one that has “made it”, following Drew Estate’s Dogmas in Maduro and Sungrown. It’s pretty impressive, the only other cigar that I can think of that’s similar is DE’s BOTL (RIP TP), which, while is a great cigar, hasn’t seen the success. It’s a 5½” x 52 Belicoso, with a San Andrés wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, and fillers from Condega and Estelí. Reading the blend, this cigar doesn’t taste anything like it should. I expected dark, cocoa/ coffee, and I got an almost saccharine sweetness. It was more of the sweetness, maybe the Sarsaparilla thing got in my head, but I got the sweet flavor through the cigar. Not that it was a bad thing, it was just not what I expected. It was another good cigar from La Zona, and a lot of my favorite cigars are/were made at La Zona (for other people, ie: La Sirena, the former Cornelius and Anthony and Arandoza).

That’s all for today. The new e-mail alert system should work on this post! I’ve been working on it for a week and hopefully I’ve just about got things ironed out. When it works like I think it will I’ll kill the Feedburner e-mails so everyone doesn’t get two! Fingers crossed again, thanks for your patience, and there’s two of you who may have gotten both e-mails last week! until the next time,

CigarCraig

2 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Espinosa, La Zona, Sensei's Sensational Sarsaparilla, Stolen Throne, War Council

by Craig Vanderslice | December 19, 2021 · 8:47 am

Oscar Valladares McFly, Espinosa Laranja Azulejo and Crema de Laranja Cigars

First order of business: if you haven’t already, go back to the post before this one and enter to contest! Last Tuesday I took a day off and found myself running and errand that ended up in the Mushroom Capital of the World, Kennett Square, PA, which is in the southern part of the same county where I live. A few doors down from where I was going there happened to be a cigar shop, Living My Best Cigar Life, of course I stopped in. It’s a nice little shop on the main drag in Kennett, with a nice walk in humidor, a knowledgeable shopkeeper, and a small lounge. The selection was adequate, but on the sparse side, I was to find out that they had just opened a new store a few miles away. I picked up a couple of the Oscar Valladares McFly Toros, which I have been meaning to try, and headed home. Since the new location was more or less on my way home, I decided to stop in and check it out. The Glen Mills location is actually on a property that has a sentimental meaning to me. The lounge where I played my last professional gigs as a drummer back in the 80’s was located there. Weird, right? Anyway, the shop was previously a bank, and they’ve retrofitted two former offices as the humidors. The lounge is in the back, and they will have membership with 24 hour access through the back. It’s all very clean and sharp in design. The selection is decent, it’s a new shop, but it wouldn’t be hard for someone to find something to smoke there. I came out with a Romeo by AJ I hadn’t tried. It’s on Rt 202 between Rt 1 and the Delaware state line, for those familiar with the area. It’s a long name for a cigar shop, I wish them well! I smoked the McFly when I got home and thought it was very good. It’s a 6″ x 52 with a San Andrés wrapper, Honduran binder and fillers from Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and Honduras. It was rich and earthy and pretty much what I expect from that blend, with a little spice. I liked it, very nice.

Wednesday I found myself at Son’s Cigars again, this time in the company of Jack Toraño of Espinosa Cigars. Jack is coming up on his three year anniversary with Espinosa in a couple weeks. He was recalling that he was with Toranño cigars for three years, and General for three years…I think we are all hoping that this gig is going to break that pattern for Jack. I’ve known Jack for a long time, and it’s always a treat to catch up with him. Mark Weissenberger, the broker that handles Espinosa, ironically from Kennett, dragged Jack out earlier than expected, and I offered to give him a ride back to his hotel, but I’m afraid he thought he wouldn’t fit in my car. I had been looking forward to smoking the Laranja Azulejo, which translates to orange blue tile in Portuguese, the best I can figure. I picked up a couple of the box pressed 6″ x 60 Gordo size. These are made at AJ Fernandez’ San Lotano factory for Espinosa. This cigar has an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, Brazilian Arapiraca binder and Nicaraguan fillers, and boy is it tasty. I like Sumatra, and Brazilian, and of course, Nicaraguan, and this is delicious blend of flavors. It’s got some sweetness, and some coffee and cocoa and some spice. I enjoyed it so much I smoked another one last night. Now I need to get more. I also had a great time hanging out with Craig the Breadman at Son’s!

Jack (and Vince) gave me an event cigar, the Crema de Laranja, which is a barber pole which is a mashup of the Laranja and the Crema cigars. It shares blend components of the two cigars, and has both the shade wrapper from the Crema (which I’ve never smoked), and the Brazilian “Laranja” wrapper. Jack likes milder cigars, I can see him liking this one. Last week I smoked the Back in Black from the same factory, and it’s apparent that La Zona knows how to make a good barber pole cigar. This is kinda the opposite of that Back in Black, though, it’s on the milder side, creamy and tangy. Certainly a nice change from the heavier, darker flavored cigars. Quite nice. I recommend going to an event where Erik, Jack, or one of the other guys is attending, and buy enough cigars to merit receiving one of these, it’s a good one.