Once again I’d like to thank everyone for making the 12 Days of Spectacular Giveaways a huge success. I certainly couldn’t have done it without stuff to give away and people to give it to and the great support I had at home. It was tons of fun but it was a loads of work and quite tiring. I’ll plan on doing it again next year but will do a few things a little differently on the back end. Congrats to all of the winners and thanks to everyone for making it a great year on CigarCraig.com!
Everyone’s publishing their “Top Whatever” lists, and I’ve avoided doing anything like that over the years since I don’t really have a quantitative method of reviewing cigars, if you even want to call it reviewing. I know what I like, I know how a cigar works and I also feel that nobody sets out to make a crappy cigar, so there must be someone, somewhere who likes a given cigar, no matter how offensive it is to me. Also keep in mind that I’m not the kind of guy who runs all over creation looking for the hip boutique cigars, I’m just as happy with a Partagas Black as I am with some limited edition cigar that only comes out on arbor day and had 7 bands on it (happier, no doubt) So with all that in mind, let’s take a romp through what tripped my trigger over the last year!
You’d be hard pressed to find a list without the Tatuaje La Casita Criolla on it, and I have to concur, this is one of the cigars this year that really made me happy. Broadleaf. That’s all it is, Broadleaf. I love Broadleaf. I only smoked the corona size, but to me it compared favorably with the Liga Privada Serie Unico Dirty Rat in flavor and balance. Tasty, tasty cigar! I purchased these at a local shop and they weren’t too much more than $5 or $6 each.
A group of cigars that have received favorable reviews everywhere and are on everyone’s lists are the Emilio and Grimalkin cigars from Gary Griffith. The Emilio AF1 is a nice, dark, heavy, seriously yummy cigar, it’s sibling, the AF2 is different, perhaps a brighter flavor, but equally well made and delicious. The Grimalkin is a different beast, subtle, complex, an orgiastic feast of the senses. I have not had the occasion to purchase these, all of the samples I smoked were provided to me by Gary, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t buy them in a heartbeat. Gary and his partners are producing exceptional cigars, and I’m quite happy to know him.
I have also been enamored with the La Gloria Cubana Artesanos Retro Especial and the CAO OSA Sol this year, both new cigars from General Cigar Co., and I’m not just saying that because I had the great fortune of visiting their Dominican factory. One of the many eyeopeners on that trip, besides revisiting some of their classic cigars and finding them to be outstanding, was the time and passion that goes into making every cigar. It almost has to be harder to make a million great cigars that are great year after year thank to make a batch of a couple hundred thousand that are gone when they are gone, right? The La Gloria Retro has been excellent and tasty in all the sizes I’ve tried, cigar after cigar, and the CAO OSA Sol seems to shine in the Lot 50, or robusto size, but is a nice enough cigar across the board. Both are in the medium range with lots of flavor.
One of my favorite finds of the year has to have been Oja Cigars. I met the brand owner, Luis Garcia, on my trip to Nicaragua, and we hit it off pretty good. His cigars are made by Tabacalera Esteli, which is owned by Kiki Berger. There haven’t been a lot of cigars from Cuban Crafters that have floated my boat, but the Oja line is really nice. I think my favorite cigar of the year was a Connecticut Toro I enjoyed in the pool on a hot summer day, but that had as much to do with the circumstance as with the cigar. The line is solid, full bodied (even the Connecticut) and tasty. The Anniversary, with a Brazilian maduro wrapper outshines them all. It’s a little more refined and complex. I love the whole line and look forward to seeing them in stores in my area.
I should mention Adrian’s CroMagnon by Michael Rosales and Skip Martin, which is another cigar that’s been on everyone’s list. I’ve only smoked a couple samples that Skip gave me, but they are definitely up my alley. Also, for much different reasons, I really like the Berger and Argenti Mooch line, especially the Schnorr. The name cracks me up, but the cigar is a solid, flavorful medium bodied cigar. Also the Undercrown and My Uzi Weighs a Ton were on everyone’s list for good reason, and I enjoyed the samples I had. Alec Bradley is making fine cigars, Toraño is making fine cigars, La Palina, El Primer Mundo, Oliva, everyone seems to be making fine cigars! It’s a good time, there are so many choices!
That’s about all I can think of at the moment. Honestly, there were a LOT of great cigars this year.
Until the next time, HAPPY NEW YEAR!
CigarCraig
I haven’t really smoked anything unusual this week, opting instead for some old favorites. One of those was a Maria Mancini Robusto Larga from a couple of five-packs I picked up on a visit to JR Cigars in Whippany, NJ. Anyone who has been following me for any period of time will know that this is a stand bye for me, if not this particular size, the marque in general. I’ve had some of these in my humidor at all times since my first purchase of them in 1999. They remain consistent, usually burn well, and almost always taste great. For a cigar that runs under $3, this is fairly remarkable. The Maria Mancini won Cigar Journal‘s award for Best Value Honduran cigar at their award ceremony in Vegas at the IPCPR show last summer. Great cigars for a little money.
Last night I need something small to just last me the mile or so walk to the convenience store and back. I grabbed one of my favorite winter walk smokes, a Hoyo de Monterrey Sabroso Maduro. This 5″x 40 petite corona fit the bill, loads of deep, dark flavor, well made, and just about the right size. Again, this is not an expensive cigar, a couple bucks each by the box. It may not be the most refined cigar, but on a cold winters night, hoofing it to the store, it satisfies. It was a toss up between this and a Chateau Real Small Club maduro, which I really like, but are becoming quite rare.
On to what you’ve been waiting for, the announcement of the winner of these super cool Grimalkin mugs, a Grimalkin robusto, and whatever else happens to fall into the box when I pack it up! As usual, I’ve assigned a number to each comment based upon how they appear on the post, and utilized the Random Number Generator at Random.org. The winner is comment number 9, which corresponds to George Satterfield! Congrats George! Please send me your contact info so I can ship these goodies to you! Many thanks to Gary Griffith for supplying these cool mugs, and making great cigars! Stay tuned, you never know when the next contest might pop up!
Villiger Stokkebye
