Tag Archives: Foundation Cigar Co.

by Craig Vanderslice | June 9, 2024 · 10:21 am

Some Wise Man Cigars, a Conspiracy and a Panacea

Last week I dropped by the Wooden Indian in Havertown, PA and picked up a couple of new cigars. I was actually looking for something else, which they had sold out of, so I had to pivot. I got some of the new Foundation Cigar Co. Wise Man cigars. The original El Güegüense and Wise Man Maduro cigars have been retired, and replaced by two new ones, both carrying the Wise Man name. These are being made by My Father Cigars. I started with the Wise Man Corojo in Toro size. This is a 6″ x 52 cigar with a Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper, Estelí & Jalapa binders and fillers from Esteli, Condega, and Jalapa. I really liked this cigar! It had what seems to me was a confectioners sugar sweetness. It had bright flavors, some light spices and really appealed to me. I was surprised and looked forward to the Maduro.

The following night I smoked the Wise Man Maduro, also in the 6″ x 52 Toro. This is the same blend as the Corojo: Estelí & Jalapa binders and fillers from Esteli, Condega, and Jalapa, but with a San Andrés Maduro wrapper. I expected to like this more than the Corojo, oddly, I was mistaken. This started out spicy and remained so through the cigar. I wanted some earthy, chocolaty coffee, but it was more like spicy burnt dark roast. It wasn’t completely off-putting, but I have to say that I liked the old blend better. Heck, I loved the Corojo, probably more than the original El Güegüense. Perhaps some aga will help the Maduro, but it didn’t appeal to me, I’m afraid. It’s very unusual that I don’t like a Maduro over something else, but it seems to be happening more and more lately. Is this a reflection of the maduro cigars or of my palate?

When I was at the Smoke-onos event, I talked to my old friend Michael Giannini, who was manning the Quality Importers booth with Alex Goldman. He showed off some of their newest accessories, and some of the things they can customize in their “Swag Bunker”. He also handed me a cigar with a plain white band (pre-production, I assume) that said Conspiracy (with a backwards N that I can’t manage to pull off with a standard keyboard). This cigar was shown at the PCA show, and was a collaboration between Alex Goldman (House of Oxford, Royal Gold Cigars), Michael (La Gloria Cubana, Foundry Cigars, Ventura) and Ernesto Carrillo (EPC, La Gloria, Etc.), made at the Casa Carrillo factory. I had the Ecuador Connecticut in the 6″ x 60 size because that’s what Michael handed me. I’d love to try the San Andrés version. Both of these have undisclosed binder and fillers, except that the tobaccos are from Ernesto’s factory. This was a decent cigar, with a darker shade wrapper. I enjoyed it while watching the Phillies play in London. If I’m honest, like it was hard to differentiate the baseball game being played in another country from one played here, the cigar was good, but not remarkably so. Both were a good product. Bring on the Maduro.

I pre-gamed game one of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals with a Flatbed Tobacco Co. Panacea Green 560 from the Grande line. Speaking of Panacea, please take note of their Daily Deal on my left sidebar. You can get some great deals on some great cigars. I’ve taken a shine to the Green Label, it has a Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper, Dominican Habano binder and Piloto Cubano, Olor Dominicano, and Nicaragua ligeros in the filler. This is a reasonably strong cigar, but not overwhelming. It has the flavors I look for in a cigar like this, some cocoa and coffee, with some spice. I rather enjoyed the 5″ x 60 format, it fit well into the time I had for a cigar, a little over an hour. It looks like today’s (Sunday, June 9), deal of the day is a 560 sampler, which would be a great way to try the Panacea offerings. I just might bite. Great line of cigars from a small, family company right here in PA.

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

CigarCraig

1 Comment

Filed under Review

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Conspiracy, Corojo, Flatbed Cigar Co., Foundation Cigar Co., maduro, Panacea, Quality Importers, The Wise Man, Wise Man

by Craig Vanderslice | March 3, 2024 · 9:55 am

My Father, Metapa, and Perdomo 30th Anniversary Cigars

This week I smoked some cigars I bought on recent forays into some of my local cigar spots. All were new to me, although not necessarily new to the market. This happens, I don’t always jump right on the new stuff, and sometimes I miss out! Thursday evening I met up with my fellow Craig, and recent contest winner, at Cigar Mojo – The Grove, to hand deliver his prize. Shipping is always less expensive than visiting a cigar shop! I picked up a few cigars, and lit up a My Father The Judge in the 656 Toro size. This has been around for a while, I just never got around to it. Since Mojo carries a lot of My Father cigars I see myself catching up on them. I’ll grab something I haven’t tried whenever I stop in. This is a 6″ x 56 cigar, oddly they call their 6″ x 52 a Toro Fino, which seems like a toro to me. Maybe the 6″ x 56 should be a Toro Gordo and the 52 should just be the Toro? Not my circus…anyway, this has an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, and Nicaraguan binder and fillers, with a nice box press. This got off to a slow start, good, although fairly mediocre. It built up some sweetness, which I like, of course, and worked out to be a very enjoyable cigar, one I’ll smoke again. Naturally, the company was exceptional, I always enjoy time with my fellow Craig. We’ll definitely have another Craig cigar summit soon.

Friday evening had us attending a middle school theatrical production that one of the granddaughters was in, so I got a late start. I was going to skip a cigar altogether, but I had picked up a Foundation Metapa Corona Gorda at Mojo and it wasn’t that big, so I figured I’d light it up. Sometimes having a cigar too late gives me sleep issues, not the case this time, although I did get to bed a lot later than usual! I wanted to smoke a Metapa because these are being rebranded to Aksum, I guess to keep in line with the Tabernacle/Menelik/Ark of the Covenant theme. I’ve heard mixed reviews on this cigar, and maybe it’s the Maduro vs. Claro? I only had the maduro to chose rom, so that’s what I got, as if anyone would be surprised at that. This is a nice 5½” x 48 with a coil pigtail cap (I know there’s a name for it, just can’t remember it!). This was the best cigar I had all week. It started a bit heavy, cloying like licorice, which worried me. It settled in to a really nice, dense dark chocolate, not much sweetness, the kind with a high cacao percentage. I found this to be quite enjoyable, whatever the name, and I might have to see if I can find the claro version (although I still need to try the Olmec Claro!). It’s hard for me not to like Foundation Cigars, there seems to be something for everyone.

Last week I stopped in The Wooden Indian looking for some new cigars, and picked up some Perdomo 30th Anniversary Epicures in Sungrown and Maduro. These come with a lot of hype, and my expectations were high. I’m a big fan of the 20th Anniversary Maduro, probably my favorite Perdomo. I thought the 10th Anniversary Sungrown was my favorite of that line, which, oddly, only really came out a couple years ago. The 30th aren’t priced bad, I could see companies asking a higher price for their anniversary cigars, but Perdomo does things right in this respect. I admire them for keeping their cigars pried within reason. I decided that yesterday was going to be Perdomo day, so I started with the Sungrown. I chose the 6″ x 54 Epicure size because, well, that’s the size I like. This has a 15-year-old bourbon barrel-aged Cuban-seed Nicaraguan Sun Grown wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers, and has a nice box press. I think this one had a patch near the cap on the underside of the cigar, which I find to be unacceptable on a cigar like this, regardless of price. This, of course, came off and I had to do some wrapper surgery because I don’t care for the mouth feel of a flappy wrapper. Other than that, the burn and draw were very good, and the cigar had a sweet spice that was nice. Not blown away, I’ll stick with the 10th Sungrown.

I had high hopes for the Perdomo 30th Anniversary Epicure Maduro. This has the same 15-year-old bourbon barrel-aged Cuban-seed Nicaraguan wrapper processed to a maduro, not overly dark, but dark enough, with a nice oil. This is a nice looking cigar, again, lods of hype, best Perdomo cigar ever, yada yada…It was a good cigar. It had rich dark roast coffee and cocoa and was very nice. For me, I find that the 20th Maduro to have more that I enjoy, to be honest. I suppose I was expecting a more refined experience, and maybe my palate just isn’t acute enough to appreciate the subtleties of these cigars. I’m told that the 30th Connecticut is something special. Given I was never a fan of the Champagne, I actually disliked it ( a rarity), I always pass on the Perdomo Connecticuts. Perhaps I’ll give this one a try, for science.

The folks at Best Cigar Prices posted a bunch of pictures of the cigarlebrities that will be at their Smoke-onos event in May, but they didn’t ask for my picture. If you’re there, hunt me down! Also, keep an eye out for upcoming details about a multi-vendor event at Goose’s Montecristo Lounge in Limerick, PA which will be in the beginning of May. That’s more than enough for today, until the next time.

CigarCraig

1 Comment

Filed under Review

Tagged as 30th Anniversary, Aksum, cigar, Cigar Mojo, cigars, Foundation, Foundation Cigar Co., Goose's Montecristo Lounge, maduro, Metapa, My Father Cigars, Perdomo, Smoke-onos, Sungrown, The Judge, wooden indian

by Craig Vanderslice | October 15, 2023 · 11:25 am

Some Foundation Cigars, a Big Payback and a Little Papas Fritas

I went and got a flu shot and a Covid vaccine yesterday and the combination has really kicked my ass. Can’t recommend that pairing. Not sure which one gave me the fever and chills, but it was a miserable night last night, and I’m not exactly Mr. Happy this morning. We’ll see if the grass gets cut today or not, or if any cigars get smoked. Anyway, I stopped in to Cigar Mojo Thursday for their Foundation Cigars event with Eduardo Aguilar and Miguel “La Chaveta” Montanez for a quick visit. I probably could have stayed for a while, but I wanted to watch the Flyers game in the comfort of my own lounge, and I was fighting off a migraine, and a smokey lounge isn’t great for that. So I did the grab and go thing, and went home and fired up a Tabernacle Havana Seed No. 142 Doble Corona and watched some hockey. The Doble Corona is a 7″ x 54 cigar, good for the pre-game show and into the second period. The wrapper is a Connecticut grown Havana No. 142, obviously, which is a hybrid seed which is dark and oily and really quite beautiful. The binder is San Andrés and the fillers are from Estekli and Jalapa in Nicaragua and JAmastran in Honduras. This is a rich, spicy cigar with some sweetness. I also picked up a toro and a lancero, which I haven’t gotten around to smoking yet. really looking forward to those. I love the original Tabernacle, but this one is something special.

Friday I grabbed a Foundation The Wise Man Maduro in the Robusto size. I like their Robusto because it’s 5½” x 50 and skirts the line between toro and robusto. This was the sequel to the El Güegüense, which people fumbled over pronouncing. It seems it was easier to just call the maduro version by the translation: The Wise Man. Hard to argue the logic. This has a San Andrés wrapper, a COrojo 99 binder from Jalapa and fillers from Nicaragua. Being a fan of the Mexican wrapper, it’s hard for me not to love this cigar, it’s one of my favorites in the Foundation line. It checks all the boxes for me, coffee, cocoa, some spice. I dig it. I was disappointed that the new offerings from Foundation were a couple weeks out at the time they had this event. I was hoping to get the new Charter Oak offerings, even though I’m not sure I get the trend of budget lines coming out with premium offerings (Rocky Patel Edge, Brick House come to mind). I still want to try them, I’m desparate for anything new at this point!

So desperate I am for something new that I decided to smoke the new Room 101 Big Payback Redux while watching hockey yesterday afternoon. I figured this would be good for the better part of the game. Here’s what Matt Booth has to say about this cigar: “It has been my life’s mission to produce a combustible vessel so engorged and far more magnificent than its standard counterpart in cylindrical presentation, and it’s my greatest honor to offer our people such a product that overflows with both girth and grandeur.” If you’ve ever heard Matt, you just read that in his voice. This is a 7″ x 70 cigar, outside my usual comfort zone. I’ll do a 60 no problem, but a 70 is just unwieldy. I can count the number of 70 ring cigars I’ve smoked on one hand. This is a $9 cigar, and that’s the point of the brand, to give back to the loyal Room 101 supporters with a good cigar at a reasonable price. I have to say, mission accomplished, it’s a tasty cigar. This is made in Honduras, using a Honduran Olancho San Augustin wrapper (STG must grow a crapload of this as it’s been popping up on just about everything in their portfolio for the last dozen years, including Cohiba), a Connecticut Broadleaf binder and Nicaraguan, Dominican and Honduran fillers. I actually really enjoyed the cigar, which is good, because it’s a three hour commitment (a colleague noted a smoking time of 4½ hours! In a row?). Smooth, sweet nuts and creamy coffee notes. I can’t say this will be a regular for me, but if I find I need a three hour cigar, I won’t hesitate to grab one of these.

In an effort to balance things out, and since the effects of the vaccines were beginning to kick in, I decided to have something small for mey Saturday evening smoke. I hadn’t gotten around to smoking the Drew Estate H99 Papas Fritas yet, and I had bought a few several weeks ago. I figured I had smoked a behemoth cigar earlier, might as well off set things with something on the small side. This is 4½ x 44 with a pigtail cap, and made from the trimmings of the Liga Privada line. Steve Saka launched this line when he was at DE to utilize some of the valuable bench trimmings, and named it after one of his favorite things. Oh, I know, you think I’m being mean, but I’ve known Steve for over 25 years, and his favorite things are cigars, food and booze, gimme a break. Anyway, the H99 version came out last year as one of the Freestyle Live packs, and I’m not sure it would have been a big mystery, although I never saw the Freestyle Live pack, it’s a fairly distinctive format. This isn’t a pretty cigar, but it is tasty, and it burns well for a short filler cigar. I like having some short smokes around, and this and the original Broadleaf version are good ones to have. I still haven’t had the Nasty Fritas.

That’s all for today, I feel like the fever has made me drone on a bit. I’ll read this later and maybe do some editing (probably not). Until the next time,

CigarCraig

1 Comment

Filed under Review

Tagged as Big Payback, cigar, cigars, drew estate, Foundation, Foundation Cigar Co., H99, Havana Seed No 142, Papas Fritas, Room 101, Tabernacle, The Wise Man

by Craig Vanderslice | October 11, 2020 · 11:02 am

Los Caidos, The Duke Cigars and a Charter Oak Habano and a Rant

Let’s just get past the fact that I slacked off on my Wednesday post and substituted two news pieces instead. Pure laziness on my part. I did smoke a few new to me cigars this week, so let’s focus on those here! First off was a cigar that was generously shared with my by my amigo Adam a while ago. This was a Los Caidos, which is made at Aganorsa and a dollar from each cigar goes to a charity to help the families of fallen police and firefighters. There are red and blue bands so the consumer can choose which department they wish to support, but both cigars are the same. It’s a tasty smoke, with some pepper spice, wood and earthiness. It burned well and provided a great smoking experience. If you bought these only to support the cause it would be OK, but you’d be getting a great cigar too. I think there’s a good message of unity on the band design as well. As always, thank you to Adam for sharing this with me!

A while ago Kevin at Cigar Prop (TY!) had shared some cigars with me and one of those was a large torpedo that had a cedar sleeve stamped “ The Duke Cigars First Edition”. This looked a lot like the presentation of the Green Grass Gringo by Kerr Viajante’s Stogie Road Cigars, so I jumped to the incorrect conclusion that it had something to do with him, but the correct conclusion that it originated from the house of Dr. Gabby Kafie. Dr. Kafie was kind enough to point me in the right direction, with was to Duke Cigars, which I should have figured out, I guess. Other than the cigar was a large torpedo, probably 6.5” x 52ish (I failed to measure), wrapped in a cedar sleeve, I know nothing about it. There’s no information anywhere I can find. One can assume it has some Honduran tobacco, and it had a really nice looking milk chocolate brown wrapper. Unsurprisingly, the predominant flavor note was cedar, but it was a nice, sweet cedar and I enjoyed it. It was a very nice cigar and I’d love to know more about it. From what Dr. Kafie indicated in his comments, it seemed to be an ongoing concern, but who knows in 2020. If you come across it and like cedar medium bodied cigars, grab one and give it a try!

I had heard about Foundation Cigar Co. releasing the Charter Oak Habano, and saw that they had been landing in some of my local CigarCigars shops, so I stopped in to the closest one to my house yesterday and grabbed a few. I don’t generally speak ill of these shops, but, having worked retail myself, and been a customer for even longer, I have a bit of a pet peeve about providing customer service, and I wasn’t really happy with what transpired (Steve, Art, Scott, Tom even, if you’re reading, pay attention!) I know that I’m not the typical consumer, but I’m not certain that the gentleman working the shop knows me, and when I walked in he was in one of the comfy chairs with the TV on with another patron (who was familiar to me and greeted me). I asked if they had the new cigar I was s looking for, and his response, without getting up, was something along the lines of “beats me”. I don’t think this response is ever OK. Now, I’m familiar enough to go look myself. If it were me working and anyone walked in I would be out of the chair asking “can I help you”, walking into the humidor if I was asked a question, especially if I didn’t know the answer. As a consumer, and former retailer, it pissed me off, frankly, and I hope someone from CigarCigars reads this, because I heard about a similar situation at one of the other stores (in Bucks County? Can’t remember, a co-worker mentioned it). In the challenging environment we live in, customer service is what’s keeping the doors open for you. Another customer would have walked out faced with that sort of reception. There are too many options. Enough of my rant, I bought Toros and Grandes (6″ x 60) and smoked the Grande last night. For a $7 cigar it’s fantastic, heck, it’s fantastic regardless of price. The Habano wrapper is sweet, reminiscent of a Sumatra, and maybe it’s a varietal and I’m forgetting. It’s good, real good. I would have gotten the torpedo, which is exclusive to this wrapper, but they only had the two sizes I got. I may have to smoke a Toro today. Honestly, you could have a box of these, the maduro and Connecticut in your humidor and have something for everyone and every situation, for a small investment. So the takeaway here is customer service is key and Charter Oak cigars are awesome.

Enough for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

6 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as Charter Oak, cigar, CigarCigars, cigars, Duke Cigars, Foundation Cigar Co., Los Caidos

by Craig Vanderslice | March 4, 2020 · 5:20 pm

A Highclere Castle, a Charter Oak and an Alec Bradley Shamrock Cigar

I am late to the game getting around to the Highclere Castle line, Nick Melillo, of Foundation Cigar Co. gave me one of each at the TPE show, and while I still haven’t gotten to the original Connecticut Shade Edwardian blend yet, I did smoke the Victorian this week. We’ve had some nice weather this week, and the Victorian I had was the Churchill vitola, and the afternoon seemed right for a Churchill, so I grabbed it and took Macha for a nice walk. This cigar is 7″ x 48, close enough by US standards, and has a dark Ecuador Habano wrapper, although I hesitate to call it maduro. It has the same Mata Fina binder as the Edwardian, but a different blend of Nicaraguan filler. It’s my understanding that this are made in A.J. Fernandez’ Factory. I wouldn’t be surprised considering the construction, which was perfect, nice burn and draw. It was a very nice cigar, it was a medium to full cigar with a nice spice and some leathery flavors. It was well balanced and sophisticated, and was a nice, long smoke. I had no complaints.

Later that evening I had time for another cigar, and I probably should have smoked the Highclere Edwardian, but I had a hankering for some broadleaf, so I opted for a Charter Oak Broadleaf toro that had been in the humidor for a few years. It’s probably not the first time this cigar has appeared on these pages, or maybe it is! Charter Oak is a spectacular line at an even more spectacular price. This toro was $5.50, I think, and worth every penny. This was a 6″ x 52 toro, my favored size, with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Nicaraguan Habano binder and Nicaragua fillers. I don’t know how they make such a great cigar at such a great price. It’s got a great sweetness and espresso flavors. These even come in boxes, not bundles. A bargain at twice the price.

Finally, I broke away from the Foundation Cigar Co. stable and selected a cigar that I had picked up a few weeks ago when I visited Best Cigar Pub. I was going to save this for March 17, but I figured that would be cliché and everyone else would be smoking it or something similar, and it was begging to be smoked. Of course, the cigar was the Alec Bradley Filthy Hooligan Shamrock. I’ve enjoyed the Filthy Hooligan releases over the years, from the plain candelas, to the barber pole versions. The triple wrapper Shamrock looked intriguing and I wanted to smoke it. This one has a tri-colored wrapper: candela, Habano maduro, and Habano seco with undisclosed fillers, although it’s under the Black Market line, so one must assume there’s some relationship. I really enjoyed this cigar. It has a crisp, clean flavor, the balance of the three wrappers really worked for me. My guess is that the candela provided the base, as the refreshing chlorophyl sort of sensation was dominant. I though it was a good smoke, and it burned well, which is sometimes a concern with barber-pole style cigars. I’ll stash the other one away with the couple other Filthy Hooligans I have from years past I suppose, and find another green cigar for St. Patrick’s Day (I have a good idea what that will be).