Tag Archives: Foundry

by CigarCraig | November 26, 2014 · 9:39 pm

Gran Habano, Martinez and Foundry Cigars

The weather’s been all over the place this week, from 70 on Monday to a few inches of heavy, wet snow today. Between the weather, trying to get stuff done in the house so we can move in this weekend, and Thanksgiving tomorrow, it’s been a busy week. I still managed to get a few cigars in, they are helping me retain any sanity I have left. I started off Sunday afternoon with a nice cigar from Gran Habano, the Gran Reserva No. 5 2010 Gran Robusto. This is a 6″ x 54 toro presented with a cedar sleeve. The wrapper and binder are identified as Corojo 2005 and Habano 2005 respectively, with filler from Jalapa. I’m not entirely sure where the 2010 comes into play, or whether the 2005 wrapper and binder are crop years, but this is a really nice cigar. It burned perfectly and had a nice smooth spice. This was a full flavors smoke and considering it’s priced well, has the taste and feel of the well aged cigar that it apparently is. Certainly a cigar that would have a broad appeal and could be smoked just about any time.

Monday’s cigar was delicious, but it was a little over humidified, so I’ll revisit it at a later date. It didn’t smoke they way it should have and I always give cigars the benefit of the doubt when they don’t work right. Tuesday I decided to try a cigar I bought when I was in New York City a few weeks ago and visited the Martinez Cigar factory. This cigar was from their Pasion line, which is a blend of Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers with a Nicaraguan wrapper rolled right in New York City. When I tell you this factory is small, I’m not exaggerating. They have one and a half pairs of rollers! One roller concentrates on one line and makes a bunch of their small cigars every day, and a pair works in the normal fashion of a buncher and a wrapper. They age all their cigars in a basement escaparate. It’s a tiny little hole in the wall near Penn Station. The Pasion is a little rustic looking, but it had a free draw and had a very Cuban feel to way it smoked. The flavor had a nice spice and was smooth. This is a place to visit when in the big apple, especially if you’ve never seen cigars being rolled. The cigars are in the $8 to $10 range for the most part, which isn’t uncommon for NYC.

Tonight, in the snow, I smoked a Foundry Rare Air ET-P2 in a 5 ½” x49 robusto (the same size as the Partagas Robusto, which is an unusual size that I really like). The story with the Rare Air series is that they used some seeds from the 1960s that General Cigar has in their library of seeds, germinated and grown on their farm in Mao in the Dominican Republic. I had the good fortune to visit Mao in 2011, although it was before the growing season and was just being planted with some experimental crops unrelated to Foundry. As with most of the Foundry lines, there is little info about the blend, except that it’s grown in the Dominican Republic. I personally have really enjoyed the majority of cigars in the Foundry portfolio, and this was no different. It’s a dark cigar, with rich, lush flavors that suit my palate to a tee. It also has a little different something there that makes it unique, and special. This is one of those cigars that could be a go-to smoke, it’s a shame it’s limited. I’ll be interested to see how the other cigars in this line smoke. There are a lot of very reasonably priced cigars in the Foundry line, alas, this isn’t one, coming in just under $10. A fine smoke in my humble opinion.

That’s it for now. For all my American readers, have a safe and happy Thanksgiving! Try to find time to follow your feast with a nice smoke. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

5 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Foundry, Gran Habano, Gran Reserva, Martinez, Pasion, Rare Air

by CigarCraig | November 16, 2014 · 9:26 am

A Hand Rolled Cigar, a Chillin Moose, and a La Antigudad

First a couple housekeeping items! I sent Tim his prize from the ScrewPop contest yesterday, but I haven’t heard from Jeff Ketcham yet! Jeff was a prize winner in the 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways in 2011 and 2012, so I probably have an address someplace, but I hate to ship without verifying addresses. I suppose I’ll drop him a note if I don’t hear from him soon. I sure hate having to chase people :-). Speaking of the 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways, it’s on pace to commence on December 12, and if I had to start today I could pull off a 8 Crazy Days of Cigar Giveaways (don’t think it hasn’t crossed my mind, 12 days is a long stretch at an already busy time of year!) thanks to the generosity and expedience of several of this year’s sponsors! The prize coolerdor is filling up and it’s likely to be another exciting couple of weeks! If you aren’t already, subscribe to the e-mail list (on the left sidebar) so you get a reminder when I update, which in the case of the 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways will be daily! So get ready to join in the fun, I already have some great cigars lined up.

Thursday evening called for a short smoke. Last year when we went up to New Hampshire for a weekend we paid a visit to 2 Guys Smokeshop in Nashua to spend some time with David and Mr. Jonathan and I picked up a couple of David’s Hand Rolled Cigars that he had for Halloween. As you can see in the picture, this is about a 4″ x 50ish cigar wrapped in a paper wrapper similar to a Tootsie Roll candy wrapper made at the Camacho factory. I cant find any information on this cigar as it was a limited release, but remember them coming in jars. I think it’s a risky play packaging cigars to look like candy in this day and age, but I understand that it’s Dave’s bit of a middle finger to the nannies. Anyway, the cigar was pretty good, nothing really memorable or outstanding, just a nice, solid half hour smoke that behaved itself and was satisfying. I’m still stuck on using the Screwpop punch, which worked very well on this cigar (and the rest of the cigars I smoked this week, so I don’t have to repeat myself!) I have one left from last year, but I kinda wished I had bought more, as I can see that it would be fun to have a pocket full of these to share, perhaps on Halloween night while the dad’s are walking around with their kids. I’m sure that’s politically incorrect, but the heck with it!

Friday evening I wanted another shorter smoke, so I went with a Chillin’ Moose Corona from Foundry Tobacco. This is a budget cigar, comes in under $3.00 here in PA and is from the mind of Michael Giannini. I like the size of this corona, 5 ½” x 45, and features a blend of Nicaraguan, Dominican, US Broadleaf, and Mexican San Andres tobacco with an Ecuador Sumatra binder and a Connecticut Habano Rosado wrapper. That’s an impressive list of tobacco for a very inexpensive cigar. It is a very good cigar for the money, but, once again, it’s not particularly interesting, but it served its propose in being a good companion on my evening walk and giving me some entertainment. I’m a moose fan from way back so the packaging appeals to me, it’s a Chillin’ Moose! I also am a fan of the Foundry line in general, I enjoy the innovation and know I’m in for something unique and different when I light up a Foundry cigar.

Saturday after a nice steak dinner out with my wife, I came home to a La Antiqudad from My Father Cigars. This one was the Toro size, which is 5.6″ x 55, which is very close to the size of the Robusto in that line, which is 5.2″ x 52. This is a box pressed cigar with an Ecuador Habano Rosado wrapper surrounding a double binder of Nicaraguan Criollo and Corojo and Nicaraguan fillers from Esteli, Condega and Jalapa. I really enjoyed the rich, thick flavors that this cigar started out with. It had the “Pepin” spice to start out that seems to be a hallmark, and mellowed out about half way though. The burn was perfect, with one exception. At one point I noticed it flattened out in the flavor department, and the wrapper had stopped burning. I relit it and the flavor came right back, which tell you how much the wrapper contributes to the flavor. Good cigar, I’m glad I have a robusto in the humidor for another time. One other thing about this cigar is the band, which is absolutely beautiful and classic.

That’s it for today. Off to the new house to cut down some more shrubbery to make way for a fence that’s going in on Wednesday. Good fences make good neighbors and Macha need a safe place to run around when we aren’t taking our walks! So until the next time,

CigarCraig

5 Comments

Filed under Contest, Editorial, Review

Tagged as 2 Guys, Chillin' Moose, cigar, cigars, Contest, Foundry, La Antiguidad, My Father Cigars, ScrewPop

by CigarCraig | October 12, 2014 · 10:43 am

A Flying Pig, a Foundry and a Dominican Big Leaguer Cigar and a House

It’s been a busy weekend. I took the day off Friday to settle on our new house. It’ll be a while before we get moved in, as there are some things we want to do there, and our current housing remains on the market. One feature that really sold us on the new house was a large screened in back porch, which will be a perfect place to enjoy cigars! So Thursday evening after work I took my evening walk with a Liga Privada No.9 Flying Pig. I’ve actually been thinking about smoking one of these or a while, as I haven’t smoked one since June of 2011. Another reason this came to mind is that there’s a Flying Pig Saloon near the house. I have a habit of coming across various incarnations of Flying Pigs, most recently a concrete garden ornament which was $70, too rich for my blood. Anyway, I think I’ve had this particular Pig in my humidor since early 2011, and I believe the last one I have is from last year, although I believe they were all made about the same time. The shape is cool, it ends too soon, and it’s a tasty little porker. It’s rich and meaty and a fun way to smoke a Liga Privada No. 9. I actually have never had the T52 or Undercrown Pigs yet, and I have a Feral Pig in the humidor that may need to be burned soon. I like having Ligas around, but they are ready to smoke and I don’t know that they age very well. Good smokes if you can find them, I dig the Pig.

As I said, I had Friday off, so we went out to breakfast, stopped at the bank and got a large check, did some shopping, walked through the house, and went to settlement. Oddly, the title service rep recognized me (my name) from junior high. I’ve repressed most memories from that dark and awkward time in my life, but I remembered her name and she knew a lot of people in the neighborhood I grew up in. It always seems like we run into strange coincidences at the settlement table. Anyway, I can’t imagine you care about, so the cigar I smoked on my Friday evening walk was a Foundry Worm Hole 2014 blend HELL-I-EN. Every time I smoke a Foundry cigar I learn a little more about them. A few weeks back Michael Giannini sent me a bunch of cigars, and he sent both sizes of the 2064 blend. This is a larger size, and, in true Foundry fashion, I have no idea what the tobacco make-up of these are. What I do know is that this cigar is smooth, reasonably mild, and, like I’ve experienced with many cigars in the Foundry and Compounds, Elements and Musings lines, is really enjoyable. They are all a little bit different than other cigars, and I really like that. I can always expect a unique experience, it may not suit my palate every time, but most of the time I’m satisfied and entertained by the cigar. Any company that makes a box shaped like my surname initial has to be cool. This was a super smooth and tasty cigar, an experience on a par with a Davidoff. I do have my doubts that there’s tobacco from Mars in the blend.

Saturday was a rainy, dreary fall day, the kind of day I really dislike. We ran over the the house to show Macha (the dog….side contest: I’ll send a 5er of my choosing to the first person who can tell me where that name comes from in the comments, and it’s not what the SPCA told us the origin is, it’s what I say it is! It ties into another significant part of our lives here). We made a list and bought some stuff at the store which I may go ever today and install. After an early dinner I took a walk with a Dominican Big Leaguer Anniversary in a toro size. One of the stops we made on Friday was at a local shop, JM cigars, in Exton, PA. This is a classic cigar shop, and I’ve been going there for years, since I started smoking premium cigars back around 1995. Anyway, the owner, Jeff, was big on the DBL line when I was in there a few months back and I enjoyed what I smoked. A few weeks ago I finally had the opportunity to meet and talk to Francisco Almonte, the owner of the brand and he gave me this cigar. This line pays homage to the Dominican love of baseball. It’s a national obsession really. Anyway, this cigar showed promise, it had a great flavor, but the mottled wrapper didn’t really want to burn for the first half of the cigar. It’s possible that it was a fairly thick leaf and since it was such a damp day it took some time for the heat of the cigar to dry it out. It was still a darned tasty cigar, and I really look forward to smoking the San Andrès maduro in the regular line. An interesting note, as I usually rely on my friend Will Cooper’s Cigar-Coop.com to fill in some blanks when manufacturer sites are lacking, I could find nothing on the Dominican Big Leaguer, or DBL Cigars. Something must be wrong with his site search.

On a peripherally related note, I’ve been snacking on Ritz Bacon flavored crackers spread with The Bacon Jams all weekend. It’s really hard to have too much bacon, and I was going to put some actual bacon on a couple, but someone polished off the few strips I had leftover from yesterday’s breakfast. Anyway, what a tasty snack. If you want to learn more about the sweety and meaty goodness that is The Bacon Jams, they are going to be featured on QVC tomorrow (Monday, Oct. 13) in the 5PM EDT hour. Tune in and buy some, I’m sure they will sell out! One of the principles of the company, Bruce, is a cigar smoker and was in the CAO and Flying Dog pairing video we did a few months ago. Bruce also was involved in the development of the app for the Cigar Oasis WiFi remote, which is very cool, by the way. You want spreadable bacon. You need spreadable bacon.

That’s it for now, enjoy some great cigars today! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

16 Comments

Filed under Editorial, Review

Tagged as Bacon, cigar, Cigar Oasis, cigar store, cigars, Dominican Big Leaguer, drew estate, Flying Pig, Foundry, QVC, The Bacon Jams

by CigarCraig | September 24, 2014 · 9:37 pm

Smoking Some Assorted Foundry and Michael Giannini Cigars

After hearing the news last week of Sam Leccia joining General Cigar Co., and his lines being absorbed into the Foundry Tobacco division, and having spent some time with Michael Giannini at the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival, I decided to spend the first part of the week, at least, smoking some cigars from the Foundry line. I started out Sunday afternoon with a Compounds, Elements and Musings Titanium Torpedo that I bought a few months back on clearance at a local shop. I’m kicking myself for not buying more of them, as I found it to be a really enjoyable cigar. The blend is listed simply as Nicaraguan and “Smoke it”, so there’s not a lot of information about this cigar. I can almost guarantee that the wrapper is a Connecticut shade wrapper of some sort, my guess is Ecuadoran. This was a nice, smooth cigar, on the mild side, but loaded with creamy flavors. The construction was perfect, and it really was a nice, mellow, Sunday afternoon smoke. I don’t know how many of these are still in circulation, but these are not to be avoided!

I followed the Titanium with the first of a new Foundry series, The Worm Hole 1964 Blend. In the video below Michael tells us about the concept behind the cigars. The 1964, like the rest of the line, is a mystery as far as the blend goes. General Cigar Co. had an enormous library of tobacco, and Michael finds unique and rare tobaccos and makes the Foundry cigars. This was another milder cigar, but with a ton of flavor. Initially, I thought the size was the same as the Partagas Robusto, 5 ½ x 49, and I even measured with an aluminum ring gauge checker I have, but they list these at 5½ x 50. It’s still a great size, regardless oif the ring gauge. This was a nice smoke.

Monday I took a break from the Foundry line to smoke the joint venture between Michael Giannini and his mentor, Ernesto Perez Carillo, the Re+United. This was a limited edition made at EPC’s Tabacalera La Alianza S.A., around the corner from General Cigar’s factory in Santiago, DR. The wrapper is a high priming Ecuador Havana leaf from General’s library, the binder a Connecticut broadleaf from EPCs inventory, and a mix of fillers from both companies. This is a large cigar, 6½ x 54, and was difficult to find. I bought two from Serious Cigars in Texas last week. This was a stronger cigar, very different from the Foundry and Compounds, Elements and Musings cigars I smoked this week. I found it very interesting and satisfying, and look forward to smoking the other one I have after a nice long rest.

Tuesday I chose the present in the Worm Hole series, the 2014. You know me well enough by now to know that unless there’s a maduro in a series, I have to smoke them in order. It’s a CDO thing (which of course is OCD, in alphabetical order like it should be). This was another beautiful cigar, in the 5½ x 50 format, that burned perfectly. I like the copper colored band on this one, with out the band it would be very hard to differentiate between the three cigars. The wrapper is smooth and without blemish, and, once again ,the burn was very good. It may have had a bit more strength than the 1964, but was still on the milder side with a nice, clean flavor.

Tonight I went with the 2064. This is meant to represent the future, and is reported to contain Martian tobacco. Of course, this would involve time travel, which reminds me of a recent conversation I overheard and chimed in on. We were at the Fest for Beatles Fans back on August and while eating breakfast a couple next to us was speculating about going back in time and writing all of the Beatles’ songs and selling them to the Beatles and I suggested that maybe Paul McCartney had actually done that, I mean, if anyone could afford a time machine, it would be Sir Paul! Anyway, this cigar really smoked well. I also have some of these in the larger 6 x 52 size that I can’t wait to smoke. There is a common thread among the three of these cigars, they are all on the milder side, but are all packed with flavor and made with quality ingredients. Like the previous Foundry lines, the original line with the gears on the band and the War Of Currents line, this line has unique and interesting flavors that are different from other cigars in the marketplace. I look forward to smoking more and really concentrating on the flavors. My La Gloria Cubana humidor is now more than half filled with Foundry cigars!

Here’s the video with Michael Giannini, one of the most creative guys in the cigar industry.

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

CigarCraig

1 Comment

Filed under Review, Video

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Compounds Elements and Musings, Foundry, general cigars, Re+United

by CigarCraig | July 6, 2014 · 10:01 am

Independence Day Cigars, An American Puro, a CroMagnon, and Some Foundrys

It’s a holiday weekend, so, of course, our internet, TV and phones in the house mysteriously stop working and Verizon won’t be able to fix it until Monday. No idea what happened, it just looks like the optical signal isn’t making it to the house. So here I am, writing my Sunday post from Panera Bread (while noshing on a toasted Asiago Bagel with a schmear!). I did manage to smoke some cigars this weekend! I’ll miss watching Finding Bigfoot (best reality show on TV!) to night to end my weekend, but the weather has been spectacular, so I’m getting some things done outside!

Thursday evening there were some storms rolling in, and I mentioned before that the new dog isn’t a fan, so I decided to grab something short, and picked out a RoMa Craft Cro Magnon Knuckle Dragger that I had bought down at Cigar Mojo a few weeks ago. This is a beautiful Broadleaf wrapped 4″ x 50 petite robusto. I’ve only had a few of this line, despite knowing Skip Martin pretty well. I’m just not a very good weasel, I guess. This is a really brilliant cigar if you like strong, rich, dark flavors in a cigar. It burned perfectly, even though I had to turn around from my walk at the first rumble of thunder because the dog immediately turned toward home and started pulling. I finished the cigar in the garage, and it was a really great smoke, clearly Skip, Mike and the gang are doing things right.

Friday was July 4th, a significant date, in the US, as it commemorates our young country’s independence, as well as the day my wife and I tied the knot! Certainly celebratory cigars are in order. I started the day with an Alec Bradley American Classic Gordo in the pool, but the cap split badly when I cut it. It didn’t really effect the burn or flavor, it was a nice smoke while relaxing after doing some yard work. I followed it with a pre-dinner Partagas Petit Coronas Especiale from a box I bought about 4 years ago. I’ve smoked a bunch of these and really enjoy them, sadly I only have a few left. Every Fourth of July I try to smoke a Havana cigar as a form of civil disobedience, I think the founding fathers might take a moment from spinning in their graves and approve. I like the cigars too, I just think that there are many better cigars and Cuban cigars, while different, aren’t necessarily best. After going out to a nice dinner with my wife, I sat on the deck with the American Puro Corona Gorda from George Rico. I know, it’s a bit of a cliché, but I had it staring at me, so why not, and the Corona Gorda size was perfect for the occasion. The first thing you notice about this is that smokey, Kentucky fire cured tobacco, which was fairly dominant to me. Perhaps it was a happy medium between the Leccia Black and the My Uzi Weighs A Ton Kentucky Fire Cured cigars. This sample came from Gran Habano along with the 5 Vegas I talked about last time, and shared a similar lack of straightness, no big deal, just a minor offence to my CDO (OCD in alphabetical order, AS IT SHOULD BE!). I really enjoyed the heck out of this cigar, the Connecticut and Pennsylvania tobaccos complimented the smokey Kentucky leaf, and it was a surprise for me. I would highly recommend trying this cigar as it’s unique in the marketplace, and is pretty darned tasty!

Saturday ended up being a spectacular day, so we cleaned some more stuff up in the yard (this will be a recurring morning activity for the foreseeable future!), and hit the pool with a Foundry Compounds Elements and Musings Uranium: The X-Ray. I bought this at a local shop begrudgingly. I have been trying to smoke all of the cigars in this line, but that just might be impossible, so I had to get it. On the other hand, it’s a 7″x70 which is just way too big. This is listed as containing Honduran, Nicaraguan and “Mysterioso” tobaccos, one can never be sure what’s in any of the Foundry cigars, Michael Gianinni raids General Cigar’s tobacco library and picks out unique tobaccos from unusual places. This cigar was mild, had a nice flavor, which is why I stayed with it for over three hours. I went for a swim, read a book, went for another swim, got dressed and listened to a podcast on the deck, it was still going. Over all, it burned evenly and was a tasty smoke, although it took a while to get from mild to the low side of medium. I’m glad I tried it, but I don’t see this as a box purchase for me, although I dig the artwork, how can you not like a cross-legged skeleton flipping the bird! I have the CAO Flathead 770 in the humidor which is quite intimidating. I wrapped up the evening going out to see a friend play at a local country club, and meeting some other friends there, where we smoked a couple of the Foundry Compounds Elements and Musings Vanadium, which are aging very nicely. I may have to consider getting another of the V shaped boxes before they sell out.

That’s it for now, the Panera people are staring lo look at me like I’m overstaying my welcome! We are looking forward to getting things back to normal at home. Until the next time,

CigarCraig