G & G | CigarCraig's Blog

Tag Archives: G & G

by CigarCraig | November 28, 2012 · 7:52 pm

The CAO Concert Event at G & G Cigars

It snowed! It’s not even December yet and we have a blanket of snow on the ground. Last year the only major snow we had was at the end of October 2011, so maybe we get it out of the way again and have a nice, mild, uneventful winter? I can hope. I like cigars too much to limit myself to coronas and petite coronas all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I think a smaller ring cigar is fine, love a lancero and coronas, but variety is the spice of life! Go away snow!

Right before it snowed I had an opportunity to attend an event at G & G Cigars in West Chester PA. This is a nice little shop in the downtown area in what was once the Warner theater and is now the Warner Hotel. The hotel is a new addition and just looking into the lobby from the street (what was once the movie theater lobby, I think I saw the Muppet Movie there! back when you could smoke during the movie and you d didn’t think twice about rats running over your feet…you know, the good old days!) it looks like a very nice place. G & G Cigar Co. has been here for 13 years and is capably run by Doug and Jan, who I run into at the trade shows more than I see in the shop. Admittedly, I don’t get to this shop as much as I’d like, but that’s because I really don’t frequent any one shop over another in my area. I end up going to cigar events wherever they may happen to be and am not one to just go hang out at any one shop. If I were and lived a little closer, this shop would be the place. They work things a little differently here, the lounge and their events are for their members and not open to the public. I was lucky enough to weasel and invite out of Doug because my buddy Rick Rodriquez was bringing his CAO Concert tour to my home town. Rick is the man when it comes to the new blends coming out of CAO and I was fortunate to get to know him a bit when I visited General Cigar Co. in the Dominican Republic last year. He has studied the blending arts with Benji Menendez among others and knows his stuff and is a heck of a cool dude too. A big thank you to Doug and Jan for extending me their hospitality and Ricky and his crew as well. As you can see in one of the pictures, they even had a cake for Ricky’s birthday that’s this week, Happy Birthday Bro!

I enjoyed a CAO Concert Roadie while enjoying the company of several of the members. I have to say that many shops, membership or not, can be a little intimidating at first. I have been a guest of Doug’s in his lounge on two occasions and was welcomed and treated as a friend both times. This says something for the clientele at this shop and after talking to several members, they all seem to drive past one shop or another to come to this one. I wasn’t a fan of the members only lounge and events model but it’s working quite well here and if I were closer and would spend more time hanging around I would gladly pay the membership. Good group of folks for sure. As far as the CAO Concert goes, it’s a nice smoke. Medium bodied with a nice sweetness here and there that probably comes from the broad-leaf binder. I enjoyed the heck out of the cigar as well as the time I spent talking to all the folks at the event. It was a fun time. If you get a chance to meet Rick on one of his tour stops do it, he’s a great guy and really knows his art.

Since it’s cold and there’s still stinkin snow on the ground I grabbed a short smoke for my walk, a CAO OSA Sol Lot T. This 4 ½” x 50 box pressed torpedo is quite a neat little smoke. It was loaded with flavor and burned perfectly. It’s a different experience from the Concert, it’s got refreshing, bright flavors that will be even better on a 80 degree summer afternoon by the pool than a cold evening with the moon and Venus lighting up the snow. It was perfect for my walk. I picked up a few of these at Cigars International when I was at the new super store and they were in the $5 range, quite reasonable.

That’s it for this installment, enjoy the rest of your week and take some time to relax with a fine cigar, whether it’s at home in your favorite smoking spot, or in a nice lounge like G & G Cigars has.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

Comments Off on The CAO Concert Event at G & G Cigars

Filed under Events, Review, Stores

Tagged as CAO, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Concert, G & G, general cigar, OSA Sol, PA, west chester

by CigarCraig | May 25, 2011 · 9:43 pm

The Week So Far, A Romeo y Julieta, a Hoyo de Monterrey, and an El Credito

My mother-in-law passed away last week, so in deference to the family, I concentrated on doing my best to be a comfort and a help to my wife and her family. Cigars took a back seat to common sense and courtesy, so I don’t have a lot to report on this time. She lived a long and active life, but the last year was hard, with a diagnosis of mesothelioma and a stroke. When I smoked cigarettes she would bum one off me once a year, probably did that for almost 20 years. It was just one of those funny little things…never could get her to switch to a cigar, although she used to say that she once used cigars to break her cigarette habit, since she hated cigars!

I did manage to take a cigar for a walk Sunday morning, and I chose a Romeo y Julieta Habana Reserve that I bought last year when they had an offer for a sampler for something like $8 delivered. I like these cigars, but they sometimes aren’t the fist cigar I gravitate to if I’m cigar shopping. I opted for this cigar since I figured it was one of the better selections I had on hand for an early in the day smoke. It was quite a nice, mild and flavorful cigar that fit the bill nicely. It was a robusto that measured 5” x 54. If I were buying a RyJ, and it wasn’t one from an island we aren’t supposed to buy cigars from, I’d choose this line again.

Just a quick note about cigar smokers doing nice things for the community, a store local to me, although I don’t visit there nearly enough for whatever reason, recently held a golf outing and sent me the following in an e-mail:

Golf Outing Raises $13,240 for Fox Chase Cancer Center

G&G Cigar Company‘s 2nd Annual Golf Outing raised $13,240 for Fox Chase Cancer center for funding cancer research. The event was held at Downingtown Country Club. This check brings G&G’s total donations to over $43,000 to various charities.

We’d like to thank all of you for your support of this important event.

G&G Cigar Company Thanks you for your business.

I think it’s pretty cool when folks who are looked down upon by the more prudish in society do something nice, and it deserves recognition.

Last night I lit up a Hoyo de Monterrey Reposado en Cedros that I received at the IPCPR show last July when General Cigar announced the release. It should come as no surprise that the predominant flavor of the cigar is wood. Sweet wood. Lots of wood. Obviously (or not) this was to be expected given the cedar sleeve and the special “Immersion” process in which they age the cigars in cedar. Don’t misunderstand, I really enjoyed the cigar, it was very enjoyable and different from what I usually select. I’ve always enjoyed the Hoyo de Monterrey line and most of it’s extensions, and this one is pleasantly different.

Tonight I grabbed one of General Cigars new El Credito El Perrito War of Flavors, a cheroot-like cigar that’s made without a mold. These are rustic little cigars that was created by two supervisors in the El Credito factory in the DR. There’s lots of information out there on these, so I won’t regurgitate it here. It was a good cigar for a mile walk. It wasn’t particularly elegant, but it had a good flavor that will benefit from some age. If these are priced right they will be a nice shorter smoke, although it burned roughly the same amount of time as a robusto for me. Don’t wear a good shirt either as the ash was prone to dropping without notice! Thanks to General Cigars for providing me with samples to smoke!