Tag Archives: Excalibur

by Craig Vanderslice | June 9, 2022 · 6:21 pm

News: Announcing The Illusione of Excalibur Cigar

This is pretty interesting. Back when I first started smoking cigars in the ’90s one of the cigars I bought and kept around for special occasions was the Excalibur No. 1. This was a pricey cigar for me at the time at around $5, but I liked keeping a few around. It was, and is, a pretty large cigar, the same size as this new release, 7¼” x 54, which was a very large ring cigar for the time. I eventually progressed to the Excalibur Maduro. Any time Dion has his hand in a cigar, one can expect it’s going to be good, so I hope I get to try this, even if it’s four times the price of the Excaliburs I remember!

Excalibur will roll out its first collaboration next month with The Illusione of Excalibur, a limited-edition blend that marks the first Excalibur to be made in Nicaragua.

The Illusione of Excalibur was blended by Dion Giolito and STG’s Justin Andrews. The new expression harnesses aged Nicaraguan tobaccos to deliver a rich and layered smoking experience befitting of both Excalibur and Illusione.

Justin commented, “Dion Giolito and Illusione’s success in the premium cigar category has been driven by his rigorous standards for tobacco and his ability to create cigars that wow the market. So when it came to developing a blend for Excalibur, Dion was our hands-down first choice. I’m very proud of how this project came together. My only regret is that we couldn’t make this a full-time launch.”

Dion Giolito said, ““When GCC asked me to do a collaboration and offered up Excalibur, I immediately jumped at the opportunity. In college, the Excalibur #1 Maduro was my go-to when I could afford them on a college budget. My buddy George and I would enjoy them after class or band practice. They were a real treat back then, and they still are to this day. For my part, I wanted to make a cigar in the spirit of Excalibur with a bold character and packaging that pays homage to the brand’s origins. I believe this blend really hits the mark.”

Handcrafted at the TABSA factory in Nicaragua, the Illusione by Excalibur is a puro featuring a Nicaraguan Corojo 1999 wrapper from Jalapa, a 2012 Nicaraguan Corojo binder from Jalapa and a blend of Criollo and Corojo tobaccos from 1998, 1999 and 2006 grown in Esteli. The result is a smoking experience that is chewy and rich, producing notes of Christmas spices, leather and espresso in a refined, medium-plus profile.

The Illusione of Excalibur will be released in just one size, chosen by Dion and Justin to best represent the aged tobaccos of its blend.

In a nod to the legendary sword of King Arthur that inspired its name, Excalibur Illusione will be presented in royal blue lacquered boxes with gold detailing, each containing ten cigars. The cigars will be available for purchase starting on July 4. A total of 4,960 boxes will be released.

No 1. (7.25” x 54); SRP per cigar $19.99

About Excalibur Cigars

Excalibur cigars are produced by General Cigar Co. Inc., which manufactures and markets handcrafted cigars for the premium market. Committed to delivering cigars of the finest quality, General Cigar also produces Macanudo®, Cohiba®, Partagas® Hoyo de Monterrey®, Excalibur®, La Gloria Cubana® and several other leading premium brands. In addition, the company grows its own premium Connecticut Shade wrapper tobacco, as well as natural and candela wrapper in the Dominican Republic. General Cigar also operates Club Macanudo®, a cigar bar in New York City. Based in Richmond, VA, General Cigar sells through tobacconists nationwide. For more information, please visit www.cigarworld.com.

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Excalibur, hoyo de monterrey, illusione

by Craig Vanderslice | June 20, 2021 · 10:18 am

HVC Hotcakes, Patina Maduro and Hoyo Excalibur Black Cigars

Happy Father’s Day. I find myself in an interesting position. For the last 15 years or so I’ve smoked the same cigar, a special project that Christian Eiroa did with a group of alt.smoker.cigars newsgroup members to help children orphaned by hurricane Mitch in 1998. I had bought. box for Father’s day in ’99, and at some point started smoking them annually on Father’s day. Last year I smoked the last one. I don’t see myself finding one cigar to smoke every year, so I think I’m just going to smoke a special cigar today. I had a good run with the Esperanza Para Los Niños, good memories, and they were very good cigars. I imagine Christian used the blend in something somewhere along the line. Enjoy the day!

One of the cigars that had been on my 2020 list of cigars I didn’t smoke was the HVC Hot Cakes, so I bought a couple at the Wooden Indian a few weeks back. I’ve since smoked them. I got the Laguito No. 5 size, a 6″ x 54 toro with a San Andrés wrapper, a double binder of Jalapa Corojo 99 and Esteli Corojo 98 and Corojo 06 Maduro filler, which is interesting. I would have liked for these to have been a little drier, and they seemed like they should have been ready to go by Humidimeter readings, but they smoked like they were a little too moist. Not bad, I just would have liked more smoke output. I’ll get more and drybox them. If the filler is “maduro”, that implies to me a heavier leaf which can hold more moisture which makes sense now. I should have looked at the blend before smoking them, but I rarely do that. It had great flavor, very rich and earthy with some coffee notes. I liked it. I’m working on sampling more Aganorsa product a can acquire it.

A few weeks ago when I was at Cigar Mojo, disappointed that I couldn’t buy any Stolen Throne cigars, then disappointed once again by the Mil Dias that I bought instead, I picked up a few Patina Maduro Oxidations, their 6″ x 56 offering. I’ve heard a lot about this line from listening to the Sultans of Smoke podcast, which features Mo Maali, Patina’s owner. Of course, Maduro is my go-to, but I would have picked up the Habanos if they had them as well. If I understand correctly, these are made at the same factory that Saka’s Mi Querida and Umbagog (and Unstolen Valor) are made, so I felt confident in my purchase. I don’t find any blend information on this cigar. The wrapper is a lighter shade of maduro, it’s not dark at all like the Hot Cake, which is maduro but isn’t billed that way, or the next cigar, which is blatantly called “black”. The cigar was nice and smooth, with little bite and was simply a darned tasty cigar. I’m looking forward to smoking the other one, and getting ahold of the Habano.

Finally, I had received some samples of the new Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur Black Toros from General Cigar a few weeks ago and smoked a few of them. Excalibur is one of the brands that goes back to the beginning of my cigar smoking career. The Excalibur No. 1 was one of my splurge cigars when it was about $5 and that was an expensive cigar. It’s nice to see that they are still offering this cigar in that size, which is a whopping 7¼” x 54, normal by today’s standards, but a veritable the baseball bat in 1996. The Toro is 6″ x 52 and has a dark U.S. Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. The binder is a Sumatra leaf from Ecuador and the fillers are Ligeros from Nicaragua and Honduras. This cigar has a bit of a punch to it, I made sure this one was on the drier side because of those heavier tobaccos, and it poured smoke. Lots of spice, bitter chocolate and espresso flavors. It was nothing like the Excaliburs I remember, of course they had a Connecticut shade wrapper, and for some reason I rarely smoked the maduros then, my shop may note have had them. I Like a lot of Hoyo’s and this is another one I like!

I still need to hear from the contest winner, before I smoke all the cigars. Mitchell Smith, second notice! Don’t make me track you down! Anyway, I think one of today’s cigars will be a Julius Caeser, that’s a nice cigar. It’s appropriate too because I’ve got some pain in my back…any way…have a great day, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Excalibur, Hot Cake, hoyo de monterrey, HVC, Patina

by Craig Vanderslice | April 14, 2019 · 8:31 am

An Old Excalibur, A Lars Tetens and an Alec Bradley Cigar

I took a little trip down memory lane this week, and smoked some interesting cigars. I did smoke some newer cigars, the Brick House Corona Larga was very nice (I’ll get to that another time) and I smoked another Norteño Toro which is the one cigar from the Herrera Esteli line that I really love. I also threw in a Cornelius toro for kicks. I spent my day off working on a huge building project in the backyard and felt a reward was in order, Listen to the current Retrohale podcast episode to see what those guys thought of one of my favorite cigars, Anyway, lets see what I thought of some of the older cigars I smoked this week.

About five months ago I was given a very well aged Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur Cameroon in the King Arthur size, which is a lonsdale (although they call it a corona, it’s a 6.25 x 45, so I guess it’s neither). Back around 2000 or thereabouts, General Cigar did one of their promotional taste test samplings where they sold a three pack and consumers voted on their favorite of the three, the winner became the Excalibur Cameroon, and there was much rejoicing. Rami, our local General sales professional here in PA, produced a box of these from his locker at an event I happened to be attending and gifted me one, and I decided with the weather getting nicer it was time to smoke this rare gem. Age was kind to this cigar, it held up nicely. Excaliburs used to be a staple cigar for me, back when a $5 Excalibur No.1 was an expensive treat, and the Maduros were quite the treat. I haven’t smoked one in many years, I might need to grab a few. It still had some of the delicate Cameroon sweet, nutty flavor, Camerooniness, if you will, that unmistakable flavor. Burn and draw were perfect and it was quite a joy to smoke. I believe these are still available, and reasonably priced.

There was a lot of news this week that I failed to post about, Altadis marketing Montecristo Minis, Placensia and Davidoff partnering on a cigar, and Fratello releasing a beer line, I missed out on those stories, but my colleagues in cigar media all reported on those stories. The one that was the most surreal was the purchase of a majority interest in Lars Tetens Cigars by Alec Bradley CigarsAlec Bradley Cigars. For those who may not know, Lars Tetens preceded Acid Cigars in the infused cigar market in the mid 90s, they were the first real counter-culture, herbal/botanical infused cigars, and were quite the rage for a while. They’ve continued to be available here and there, I had the opportunity to meet Lars at an event in 2015 as he lives, or spends a lot of time, in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. At least until recently, his cigars could be found on several local retailers shelves. He gave me a sampler when we met, and I smoked one soon after, but left several of the more infused smelling examples safely ensconced in a ziplock in the bowels of the humidor until this week when I screwed up the courage to smoke another one. I selected a toro sized cigar called the Tropical Candy, with an Alec Bradley Lineage nearby as an emergency back up, Surprisingly, the cigar wasn’t bad, I finished it. Any infusion must have aged out, as it just tasted like a nice, sweet tobacco, and the burn and draw were fine, although it was a bit loosely packed. I was pleasantly surprised, no hallucinations, no weird dreams, no urge to skateboard or anything, Maybe I was a little let down! I kinda understand the acquisition from a FDA predicate standpoint, as these blends certainly go back to the 1990s. I’ll be very interested to see what Alec Bradley does with the line.

Of course, I had to follow up with an actual Alec Bradley cigar, but instead of the Lineage, I went with an old favorite, the Nica Puro. I got home from work late last night and grabbed a robusto from the humidor, and saw the Nica Puro (I misplaced the Lineage…), and I love the Nica Puro! I haven’t smoked one in a while and I knew it would hit the spot. I do believe this cigar is my favorite cigar Alec Bradley produces, although I have an affinity for several others. This one has a balance of strength and flavor that hits me right. It’s one of those cigars that seems to burn right every time, with a nice straight burn, flat ember, I forgot how much I really like this cigar. There’s a bit of spice, some dark espresso, just damned good tobacco. I always like to have these in the humidor. I like the Robusto in this line, but the Diamond Rough Cut is pretty good too.