Tag Archives: fuente

by | November 23, 2011 · 7:13 pm

Happy Thanksgiving, a Fuente Hemingway and a Special Offer!

First off, let me wish my US readers a very Happy Thanksgiving.  I’m quite thankful for my family, as well as all of the cool opportunities that have been presented to me this year.  Thanks to all of my readers. Who would have thought that scribbling down my random cigar thoughts would entertain people!  (OK, my wife thought so, I’m thankful to her for giving me the site!)

 

Anyway, Wednesday evening is my traditional “Take A Cigar For A Walk” night, and since it’s practically a Friday, I chose a nice cigar to start the long weekend.  I came across a lonely Arturo Fuente Hemingway Signature that came to me by way of my good friend and UK Fuente distributor, Mitchell Orchant.  This is a long time favorite that I haven’t had in years.  I smoked a bunch of these in the ’90s, and have a lot of great memories associated with this cigar.  I love the flavor from the Cameroon wrapper, and the 6″ x 46 perfecto shape is just about perfect.  It was a great cigar, although it burned faster than I would like as it was over too soon.

 

Special Offer!

I received an e-mail today from Travis at PipesandCigars.com with the following offer for you, my loyal readers.  I took a look at the site and was pleasantly surprised.  The selection and pricing is top-notch and they even have singles. I like the feature they have that lets you build your own sampler. Check them out.

 

PipesandCigars.com is releasing a 2012 Cigar Calendar. This calendar features two of the greatest things in the world – beautiful women and fine cigars. Each month features an eye-popping female along with an eye-popping deal on the featured brands. A calendar sure to add some spice to your office or smoking lounge, and also sure to give you the best values on your favorite smokes. To get your free copy, subscribe to our special offers mailing list by simply sending an e-mail to mailinglist@pipesandcigars.com with your mailing address. We’ll start off your subscription with this free calendar along with a free cigar. Calendars & cigars will ship the week of December 5th. Enjoy!

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

So check out PipesandCigars.com and e-mail them to sign up for their e-mail list and get a calendar and a cigar, how can you go wrong?  If you find yourself in the Albany, NY area look them up and tell them I said hello!

 

Enjoy the holiday!

CigarCraig

 

 

 



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by | September 18, 2011 · 11:18 am

The Delaware Cigar Festival and Another Contest!

Saturday, September 17 marked the long awaited fifth annual Delaware Cigar Festival, organized and hosted by Gary Griffith, the Premium Cigar Manager of Delaware Cigars and the creator of Emilio and Grimalkin Cigars.  The event took place at Delaware Park, which is already one of our favorite places in the area to go and waste some money on the ponies, or drop some pennies in the slots.  The event was unique, as it is a big herf disguised as a charity event, although Gary won’t use the charity aspect to promote it.  The format is that the manufacturers and reps sell their samples for $3 each, with all of the proceeds going to charity, which this time benefited the family of a slain police officer (news report here), this was just in the last few days and quite tragic.

 

Photo Courtesy of Charlie Greenbacker

For your entrance price you got a bag with about 20 or 25 cigars (nice stuff too, I looked!) and assorted swag, a nice picnic buffet with burgers, dogs, chicken, ribs and beans, and the opportunity to talk with the assorted cigar makers and reps who were there.  Brands represented were:  Inked Magazine, Rocky Patel, Arturo Fuente/JC Newman, Emilio Cigars with brand creator Gary Griffith, Drew Estate, Altadis USA, Oliva, Perdomo, La Sirena with Brand Ambassador Arielle Ditkowich, La Flor Dominicana, Cigar Rights of America, EO Brands with Eddie Ortega, Miami Cigar, General Cigar, 262 Cigars, Kristoff Cigars, El Primer Mundo with Sean Williams, Veritas Cigar Co., and The Cigar Agency. Keith Park from Prometheous was also there.  All of these companies donated TONS of stuff, either cigars that were sold for $3 each, or stuff to be raffled off (we bought 10 tickets didn’t win a darned thing!).  The attendance was capped at 300 people, including staff, press and exhibitors, so it was a nice sized crowd. It was rarely a problem to have a chat with the vendors.

 

In addition to getting to schmooze with some of my friends on the manufacturers side, I was able to hang out a bit with some fellow blogger types such as Barry from ACigarSmoker.com, Walt  from StogieReview.com and Michael from CigarEvents.com.  I also had the great pleasure of meeting one of my readers, Charlie, who won big in the raffle give-aways!  These events are always about the people, and you just don’t meet nicer folks that those associated with cigars for some reason!

 

What a wonderful event that I would recommend highly next year if you are within a 3 or 4 hour drive.  Gary is a fine gentleman and I appreciate him welcoming myself and my wife for the afternoon.  It’s refreshing to see a retailer put on a “not for profit” event, and to have so many people there enjoying cigars and camaraderie.  I’d love to see more manufacturers participate in the future as the event is for good causes and shows the cigar business in a positive light.   The only downside was that the weather could have been a little nicer, it was overcast and under 70 until we drove off the premises, then the sun came out and it was nice!  Hardly anyone’s fault.  I managed to win about $4 on the ponies over the course of the day too!

 

In honor of the event, I’m going to have another quick give-away!  I know, I JUST had one that ended this week, but we got a couple Rosie Napravnik Bobbleheads at the park for Racing Fan Appreciation Day and I thought I’d combine it with a beautiful Veritas Connecticut Salamone that I purchased from the Delaware based Veritas Cigar Co. at the event.  So leave a comment to enter, and I’ll pick a winner next Sunday, September 25th.

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

CigarCraig

Photo Courtesy of Charlie Greenbacker
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by | September 7, 2011 · 8:53 pm

Rainy Week! More Cigars! Outlaw’s 13, Puros Indios, Fuente Hemingway

Don’t forget to go back to the last post and ever my contest to win one of two Macanudo Millionaire prize packs, and head over the MacanudoMillionaire.com and enter their contest to win a trip to Vegas and hang out with fuzzy little bunnies (I’m guessing they aren’t too fuzzy, but that’s a post on another blog…)  I love sending out cigars to people!

On to this weeks cigars so far!  Sunday evening I sparked up a cigar that I acquired on a trip, the 13 from Outlaw Cigars in Kansas City.  I’m not supposed to say anything about the provenance of this cigar, or how it came into my possession, but these are  readily available at Outlaw Cigar‘s site.  I really liked the cigar.  Like every cigar I’ve smoked that was made in this particular factory, it performed flawlessly.  I noticed that the ligero seemed to billow smoke from the burning foot like no other cigar I’ve seen.  I’m guessing it was the ligero since it was one small spot in the center of the cigar that was emitting the smoke, the rest of the coal seemed to behave normally.  It was weird, but didn’t take away from the cigar.  I imagine if this cigar had been released in it’s original intended brand it would have been one of the more highly sought after cigars of last year, so here’s a tip:  go to Outlaw and pick some of these up. There is a clue on the website what these were intended to be.

I finished off the holiday weekend with a Puros Indios Miami that Frank Santos of Reyes Family Cigars gave me at the IPCPR show. I’ve long been a fan of the Puros Indios and Reyes Family cigars, even back when you could almost count on a Puros Indios cigar being plugged. I never smoked a Chief, don’t even know if they are still made, but 18″ x 64 is an enormous cigar even by todays standards. Back to the Miami, this one had a big vein that didn’t have any effect on anything, except that it was ugly. It almost looked like the wrapper leaf was put on inside-out. For those who don’t know, or never really thought about it, of course a leaf has 2 sides, on one side, the veins are raised, the other side is normally smooth. The wrapper leaf is always applied with the smooth side on the outside of the cigar, which just makes sense, aesthetically. I don’t imagine that it makes any difference at all to the way the cigar tastes or burns, but a wise man once said that we first smoke with our eyes (I can’t recall who said that, but it’s quite true and a brilliant statement!). Anyway, the Puros Indios Miami was a very nice cigar, well made and flavorful.

 

Here’s a picture of some cigars that were on display in the Reyes Family Cigars booth at the trade show. Amazing wrapper artistry.

Click to enlarge, you’ll want to see this full size!

 

Here’s a short video from the trade show with Frank Santos from Reyes Family Cigars:

 

As I’m writing this, I’m smoking a nice Arturo Fuente Hemingway Best Seller.  It was a long, rainy day. Flooding in town hampered our ability to get home after some evening errands, when we finally got home I just wanted something delicious and reliable.  This fit the bill nicely. I had picked up a pair of these on my Father’s Day foray.  I suppose I could have chosen the aged Work of Art in either Cameroon or maduro, but  the Best Seller seemed more replaceable, if that makes sense.  As with all of the cigars mentioned here, I used the Ergonomic 4.5″ Cigar & Pipe Butane Torch Lighter from ButaneLightersWholesale.com to light this and it worked very well on the perfecto tip.

 

While I’m thinking about it, please pay a visit to my advertisers, I don’t want them to think that I’m just a hole in the internet to throw money into…need to give them some bang for their buck! As long as I’m reminding, don’t forget to pester your elected officials about supporting HR1639 and S1461 to protect our freedoms and keep people employed! Go to the legislative action center at IPCPR.org (or use the link in my sidebar) to send their well written letters!

 

That’s all I got, until the next time,

CigarCraig

 

 

 

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by | July 24, 2011 · 9:18 am

Las Vegas Trip – IPCPR Day Two – Monday July 18

Monday is the opening day of the IPCPR show and it starts with a breakfast meeting. The buffet is quite generous and the coffee was hot and in good supply. Oddly there were no ashtrays on the tables, and I didn’t see a lot of folks smoking. Plenty of time for that. Some of the highlights of the meeting were Joe Rowe’s retirement as Executive Director and William Spann being appointed his replacement as CEO. All of the important folks at the IPCPR were recognized and awards were given. The IPCPR does a lot in the way of lobbying to try to keep our beloved hobby from being crushed. Every chance you get, please visit the IPCPR website and use their tool to send a letter to your representatives. I’ve put a widget on the right sidebar that will take you right there. It’s especially important to contact them regarding FDA regulation and remind them that in addition to regulation crushing the cigar business in the US, closing small businesses, it will decimate the economies of the cigar producing countries who will turn to us for aid. This has been a public service announcement.

 

After the business portion of the meeting, the guest speaker was introduced. Ron White is a brand ambassador for Zino Platinum and entertained us with his humor. OK, I’m understating this as he was fricken hysterical. We got a 15 minute show which was packed with non-PC humor. He’s a funny, funny guy who loves cigars and is very passionate about them. He could be seen walking the show floor later in the day, and did a meet and greet at the Davidoff booth on the following day. It was a very cool breakfast.

 

Breakfast wrapped up and everyone gathered at the entrance to the exhibit hall waiting to enter. I quickly found out that “media” was allowed in ahead of the retailers so I set up next to Jerry Cruz of Stogie Review and took the very boring “stampede” video which I posted last week. It’s always quite impressive to see the waves of humanity entering the exhibit space, which, I might add, it enormous. I took a quick wander around the perimeter and spent the day talking to people and getting little videos which I will present to you throughout the coming months. The bigger booths seemed the busiest on day one, and there seemed to be a lot more people here than there were in New Orleans last year. Drew Estate‘s booth was packed for almost the entire 3 days I was at the show, and General Cigar, Alec Bradley, Davidoff, Oliva, Altadis, Perdomo, Fuente, to name a few, always seemed to be busy.

Today’s video is a brief chat with Bill Paley of La Palina Cigars.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbcUsEfafnI

 

 

By the way, I had a relaxing afternoon yesterday with my wife, an Oja Connecticut Destacado and a bottle of Reeds’s Ginger Beer in my in-laws pool. It was a wonderful way to beat the 100+ degree heat here in PA. I hope to get there today and repeat the experience.

 

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | July 22, 2011 · 10:14 am

Las Vegas Trip – Day One – Sunday July 17

After a long day of travel, and a not so great night’s sleep, I woke up in Fabulous Las Vegas at, oddly, my usual 5:45 wake up time. I say “oddly” because of the 3 hour time difference and the shortage of sleep. I took a walk to the McDonalds between Harrah’s and Casino Royale and grabbed some breakfast and took advantage of their free wireless internet.

 

After catching up on e-mail and stuff, I headed over to the Sands Expo and Convention Center to pick up my IPCPR badge. With that out of the way, I had to go to the Imperial Palace and change rooms. When I checked in at about 1 am Sunday morning, for whatever reason they “upgraded” me to a deluxe room, and would allow me to stay in the room for an additional $20 per night. We’ll, after seeing the room, I was concerned. Sure, I had a Roman tub with a mirror over top of it, and sure I had a king sized bed, also with a mirrored ceiling. Also, I had a fine view of the parking garage from my “balcony”. Anyway, since I had no need of the tub and ceiling mirrors, I opted out of the “upgrade” and changed to a normal room, which was actually much less skeevy than the deluxe room, which weirded me out a little.

 

At this point it was around noon and I headed over to Caesars to meet up with my old friend Keith, who lives in Vegas, for a smoke at Casa Fuente. I arrived first and took a walk through the humidor where I witnessed Hemingway Short Stories for $15 among other high priced goodies. I sat out side the shop and ordered a Pepsi and waited for Keith, who was along in a bit. We caught up and he, very generously, gifted me a Casa Fuente Corona which was delicious! I always enjoy getting together with Keith, we have a similar dry sense of humor, so we get one another’s jokes most of the time!

 

I then went over to the convention center and caught the blending seminar with Jose Blanco. I’ve included the very raw video of the first part of the discussion below. Jose is a fascinating guy and very personable. My videography is crappy, but there is some great information shared. The cigar that were were provided to smoke was very unique in that it had 5 different wrappers, building from mild to strong, illustrating the effect the wrapper has on the flavor. Unfortunately, my palate isn’t finely tuned enough to really taste the subtle differences, but I was able to tell when the flavors changed. My mistake was probably having two cigars prior to the seminar. Jose is a fine gentleman, a very funny man and has forgotten more about tobacco than I will ever know.

 

After the seminar I ran back to my room and changed, and went to the gala opening dinner, which was very crowded. I had some very good beef and turkey, along with various cheeses and mingled. I ran into my old friend Mike Staiber, formerly of Drew Estate, presently of Oliva, as well as several other folks with whome0 I’m acquainted and hung out with them for the evening, ending up at one of the bars in the casino. I finished the evening catching up with an old friend from Saratoga, NY, who I met in Vegas in 1999 and hadn’t seen since, Mike Perry, and we chatted for a while. I was exhausted by this point and retired to my new, non-deluxe, non-skeevy, perfectly adequate room and crashed.

 

I have so much to share over the coming weeks that I have to be careful not to repeat myself or leave anything out. I’ll be including videos, some of which may be difficult to hear because of the ambient noise and the limitations of the equipment I used. Hopefully what I did get will be entertaining and educational.

 

One side note, I was running some errands with my wife yesterday and came across a very unique and interesting shop in Doylestown, PA., Classic Cigar Parlor. Located in a historic building which looks to be easily 200 years old, it’s a very nice shop with a decent little selection with good pricing and very nice owners. They have a smoking parlor and hookah bar as well. I look forward to visiting again.

 

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5HqaJU_IAI

 

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

CiagrCraig

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