Tag Archives: general cigars

by CigarCraig | April 2, 2014 · 8:54 pm

Partagas 1845 Extra Oscuro and Extra Fuerte Cigars

I’ve been sampling the new additions to the Partagas 1845 line this week. The regular 1845 was released about 2 years ago and I really enjoyed them, I thought it was a solid addition to an already excellent line. This year they’ve come out with two line extensions, the Extra Fuerte and Extra Oscuro. As they’ve recently done with the La Gloria Cubana Serie R Esteli and Black, they’ve earmarked the Extra Fuerte for Brick and Mortar stores and the Extra Oscuro for the Internet and catalog retailers. I’m not sure how I feel about that, by the way. On the one hand, it gives each outlet something special and exclusive, on the other hand, it makes one have to go one place or the other to buy and splits the sale. If you were morally opposed to online shopping, you can’t get one, and if you have no other option than to order online, you miss out on the other. I suppose General Cigar Co. knows what they are doing, or they wouldn’t be so huge. I received samples of each from General Cigar Co. last week and couldn’t wait to smoke them.

So, you all know which cigar I had to smoke first, right? Monday I grabbed an Extra Oscuro and took it for a walk. The Robusto Gordo is 5½ x 52, a very good size for my tastes. It has a Connecticut Habano Oscuro wrapper which is very dark and oily. The purple band looks very nice on this dark wrapper. This reminded one of a bit smoother version of another favorite Partagas, the Black. Back in October of 2011 when I visited the General Cigar Factory, one evening at dinner we were given some unbanded samples and tasting sheets to complete, and I remember one of the cigars had a nice, dark wrapper that I mentioned to Jhonys Diaz, who runs the show for General in the DR, that I thought it was the same wrapper as the Partagas Black and he nodded and winked. I wonder now if those were early blend samples of the 1845 line? Anyway, this cigar had the coffee/cocoa flavors that I so enjoy and had a perfect burn and draw. This is a winner, it’s almost too bad these aren’t available in the brick and mortar stores.

Tuesday evening I thought about smoking something foolish in honor of April Fools Day, but that Partagas Extra Fuerte practically jumped out of the humidor at me. I had no choice but to fire it up. Just about the only similarity between this and the Extra Oscuro is that they use a unique barrel aging process in aging the filler, in the Oscuro it’s the Dominican filler that’s Barrel aged, in the Fuerte it’s the Nicaraguan. I remember seeing this barrel aging when I toured the facility, and I’ve seen it at Drew Estate as well. The wrapper is a high priming Ecuador Habano, and is a nice, dark brown. It’s got an oily sheen and is quite tasty. Again, I enjoyed this one, although I thought that it needed a little more humidor time to really shine. The flavors were maybe a little bolder than the original 1845. This one will be available on your local shops and not online.

The folks at GCC continue to make some very good cigars as far as my palate is concerned. I dig the new La Glorias, CAOs as well as these Partagas. I was poking around one of the coolerdors and came across a sampler from my 2011 visit that had a Benji Menendez Partagas Master Series that I may have to smoke one of these days (along with the other 4 nicely aged cigars that are in there). I have trouble breaking up cool samplers like that for some reason. It’s a disease.

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

CigarCraig

4 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as cigar, cigars, general cigars, Partagas

by CigarCraig | March 30, 2014 · 11:43 am

A Relajado, a CAO Flathead, and a Byron Cigar

Thursday I revisited the Relajado Robusto, which is a house brand from Best Cigar Prices. The cigar is made by General cigar, the trademark rounded head gives that away. Despite the band being pretty cheesy, and looking like a cheap bundle cigar instead of a reasonably priced boxed cigar, this was pretty darned nice. It reminded me a little of the Macanudo Cru Royal…a little…it has an Ecuador Habano wrapper and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. This is a mild to medium cigar that has some sweet leather flavors. It burned OK, not razor straight but not needing correction. Nice smoke, but the band kills me on this, Based solely on presentation, I’d definitely pass this up on the shelf (figuratively, this is only available at Best Cigar Prices). I’ve mentioned this to Jason there, so I’m not blind-siding him. I hope to get up-state to Drums, PA to visit these guys one of these days. Thanks to Jason for sending these along to try, so far I’m quite impressed with the exclusive cigars from BCP. I really like the Six-Sixty and the Alec Bradley Star Insignia too.

A few weeks ago I lied to you. I said that I had the CAO Flathead Big Block 770 in my humidor, when I actually had the Carb 660. I’m sorry, it won’t happen again. I took Friday off from work to get some things done, and one of the things I got done was taking this CAO Flathead Carb 660 for a walk. Our dog and I took a nice long walk while I smoked this 6″ x 60 square pressed cigar. I am going to have to bite the bullet and get one of the 7x70s just to complete the set, I suppose, as I really enjoy the dark roast coffee, cocoa flavors these cigars have. I think I like the Camshaft the best of the bunch, 5″X 56 is just an all around more manageable size and of the three of four sizes I’ve smoked I liked that one the best in terms of balance. I can make the assumption that the 7″ x 70 won’t be as good as the 6″ x 60, but I like to collect the data first hand. That’s not to say I didn’t like the Carb, I did. The square press makes it feel smaller than the 60 ring, and it burned unusually well. This line is loaded with Connecticut Broadleaf goodness. I know there are loyalists and purists who poo-poo the CAO line in the General Cigar era, but they are missing out. Rick, Ed and their team have really made some good cigars for CAO, and the Flathead line is, so far, my favorite. I purchased this Carb, as well as the Piston I smoked previously, and I’ll buy them again.

Saturday was a rainy day, so my plans to do some yard work were put off once again. I ran a couple errands and took a chair out to the garage and lit up a cigar I’d been trying to find a good reason to smoke since Dave Garofalo, of 2 Guys Smoke Shop, gave this to me at the IPCPR show last year. The Byron line of cigars is made in Costa Rica by Nelson Alphonso. Señor Alphonso is the gentleman responsible for most of the modern Habanso S.A. packaging, the jars and humidors, all the fancy stuff. He started making cigar in Costa Rica under the Byron, Attabey and Bandolero marques a few years ago. I smoked the Byron Londineses, which is 5½ x 54. These are seriously pricey cigars, they come in a beautiful ceramic jars, not unlike the Cuban special editions. As far as the tobaccos involved in these, it’s a big secret, but I seem to recall hearing that they color sort the filler leaves to make sure the flavor is consistent. This certainly adds to the cost of production. I knew going in that this was a pricey cigar, but I had no idea it was a $30 cigar. You know me, I’m a cheap bastid, I think the most I’ve paid for a cigar is around $12. I did smoke this with an open mind and a clean palate and it was a wonderful cigar. At one point, I swear I had a hint of buttered popcorn in the middle of the cigar. It came and went quickly, but it was there. The rest was a buttery smooth, flavorful cigar that burned perfectly. This was quite a nice smoke and I appreciate Dave giving me the chance to try a cigar I certainly wouldn’t purchase for myself. I was told once that a small amount of Cuban product is allowed by law based on weight, so the heavier the packaging, the more Cuban ingredients could be used. I found this to be hard to believe, and I haven’t been able to verify it, but I’ve smoked the Byron and Bandolero and there’s a little “Twang” in both that is reminiscent of Cuban tobacco. Considering Señor Alphonso’s close ties to the Cuban cigar Industry, he certainly has access to Cuban tobacco, or he was able to find other tobaccos that replicate this profile. I don’t suppose we’ll ever know, and if anyone knows anything about this loophole in the trade embargo, please let us know!

That’s it for today. I’ll be looking for a cigar later today to either celebrate the Flyer’s victory, or console myself. I hate weekend afternoon games, I have so many better things I could be doing. I suppose if it’s rainy like it is today it makes it a little easier to handle. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

9 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as 2 Guys, Best Cigar Prices, Byron, CAO, cigar, cigars, Flathead, general cigars, Relajado

by CigarCraig | March 5, 2014 · 8:20 pm

A Partagas, a Star Insignia, a Cain and a Cigar Rights Video

Monday evening I came across a Partagas 1845 Robusto in a box buried in one of the coolerdors. I forget what I was on the hunt for, but as soon as I saw that I had to smoke it. I’ve had a few of the 1845 line in various sizes, and I really like this particular take on the robusto format, 5½ x 49 is a very cool size to me for some reason. They use this size in the regular “yellow box” line as well, and I’m pretty sure I’ve had the Limited Reserve in that same size. The wrapper is Ecuadoran Habano Viso, the binder is Connecticut Habano and the fillers are Dominican & Nicaraguan Ligero & Seco, and there’s some aging in rum barrels that goes on too. It’s a darned good tasting cigar. I’m looking forward to the upcoming release of the 1845 Extra Fuerte (see Coop’s piece on this at www.cigar-coop.com/) featuring higher primings (and therefor stronger and more flavorful) of the same tobaccos used in the 1845. I also seem to recall something about an Oscuro coming out, but I’ll have to do some more digging. Partagas has always been a preferred line for me, there seems to be a little something for everyone in the portfolio.

Tuesday I tried a new (to me) cigar that is a house blend for Best Cigar Prices called the Star Insignia Robolo by Alec Bradley. This is a box pressed robusto with a nice dark wrapper from the Jalapa region, a Sumatra binder and fillers from Honduras, Nicaragua, and secret tobaccos. Despite a slightly uneven burn this is a very nice smoke. It’s unlike any other Alec Bradley cigar I’ve smoked. It has a flavor I can only characterize as steak cooked on a mesquite fire. There’s a smokey meatiness that stands out to me. It was a nice surprise and I liked it quite a bit. Sure, I had to touch up the burn a few times and the draw was a tad snug, but it tasted really good. Best Cigar Prices sent me samples of this and I appreciate it as I might have passed it by otherwise. Worth the time to try something this unique, I think, as they aren’t cheap, but they aren’t unfairly high priced either. Interesting side note about Best CigarPrices: I remember years ago, in the early days of the World Wide Web, we got our cigar specials via the FujiPub E-mail listserve. Before they were called Best Cigar Prices, they were New Global Marketing, and would include a lengthy test list of their specials, easily several pages long. So they’ve been around a long time, they aren’t just some new outfit. They are located in the north east part of PA, I need to take a drive up there one of these days, I understand they have a lounge.

Tonight I grabbed one of the last Cain F 550s I had floating around, and smoked it on my walk. This is a powerhouse cigar, all ligero from Esteli, Condega and Jalapa in Nicaragua. The wrapper is also Nicaraguan and really tasty. The Cain line is a favorite of mine, but it took me a while to really appreciate the bold flavors. I really believe some age smooths these out a lot. As I said before, this is one lone that the maduro is my least favorite in the bunch. In the Cain F line, the tubed lancero is the cream of the crop, but this 5¾ x 50 was really quite good. It seems more like a 46 ring for some reason, perhaps it’s that it’s a little longer than a robusto, yet not as long as a toro. It’s among my favorites whatever the size. I’ll have to track down some more (as if I need more cigars…).

I’ve changed one of the videos in my left hand sidebar because Tommy Zman of Famous Smoke Shop released a new video this week regarding the FDA and CRA and the importance of fighting for our rights as users of a legal product. Here is is again, in case you’ve missed it (even though it’s right there on the side bar!).

httpv://youtu.be/1uAEfPX__u4

Life will be really difficult for us as smokers, but it’ll be even worse for all of the people who feed their families by working in the cigar industry. At the risk of sounding like a broken record (a bit of a dated cliché, when is someone going to update it to the digital age?), not only are jobs at stake in the US, but in Central America and the Caribbean, where it will be economically devastating and those countries will look to the US for financial support. Nobody wins, except for the fun police who aren’t happy if they see someone enjoying themselves in a way that they don’t approve of. Support Cigar Rights of America and write to your elected officials. FDA regulation of premium cigars is unnecessary and oppressive.

That’s enough out of me, until the next time,

CigarCraig

4 Comments

Filed under Editorial, Review, Video

Tagged as Alec Bradley, cain, cigar, Cigar Rights of America, cigars, general cigars, Partagas, Star Insignia

by CigarCraig | January 29, 2014 · 7:00 pm

Dignity, Alec Bradley Nica Puro, Ezra Zion and Foundry CE&M Carbon Cigars

Thanks for all of the positive feedback on my last post. It just frustrated the heck out of me when states want to do stupid things like declaring that you can’t smoke in a cigar store (or private anything…don’t get me started!) when there are so many other more productive things they could be worrying about! Anyway, despite the frigid weather, I managed to smoke some cigars this week.

I made the mistake of taking this Churchill sized Dignity White Gold Reserve cigar for my Saturday afternoon walk. First off, this cigar is 7” x 52 with a slight box press. Don Juan Gross, the man behind Dignity Cigars, and a very cool guy, gave this to me at the IPCPR show last year. Here’s the blurb from the website:

“A rich medium body, spicy aroma and a sweet tangy pop of caramelized flavor nicely accented with a light note of spice perfect for a summer evening. This unique cigar is composed of tobacco all from the same plant and aged over 3-years.”

Here’s why I say I made a mistake selecting this cigar: the part above about it being perfect for a summer evening sounds about right. The delicate flavors of this cigar got lost in the cold, winter air. I do have to ask Don Juan about the “tobacco all from the same plant” line, as that just seems like a logistical nightmare that would make the cigar’s cost out of reach of your everyday Saudi prince. I can’t imagine being able to track 4 or 5 leaves from one plant for 3 years through the curing, fermenting and aging process. Perhaps I’m reading too much into that verbiage, but it just sounds like an outlandish claim. I am glad I have one more example of this cigar that I can save for a summer evening, and that can’t come soon enough!

Sunday evening I went to a cigar that’s one if the cigars on my go-to list, the Alec Bradley Nica Puro Robusto. There are a handful of cigars that I can count on to satisfy me, cigars I smoke when I want to enjoy a cigar without having to think too hard about it. We had a busy afternoon with our daughter and granddaughters, and the dog needed walking so I grabbed one of these and hit the road. It’s a well made, great tasting cigar that’s on the stronger side of medium. It’s a cigar that I put up there with the Nica Rustica, Joya de Nicaragua Antaño 1970 and Dark Corojo and the 601 La Bomba in terms of personal satisfaction and enjoyment. Not to say it’s the same as any of those, and none of them are the same as the others, but they are all cigars that consistently float my boat and are ones I reach for when I just want to enjoy a cigar without thinking.

Monday evening I selected a Ezra Zion Inception robusto which I had purchased last summer when I went to hang out with Kyle, Chris and The Don, the guys behind Ezra Zion Cigars and Cigar Federation, at a local shop (The Wooden Indian). These are now called Jamais Vu instead of Inception, and I think that’s because JSR Cigar Distributors in Texas also has a brand called Inception and the Ezra Zion guys, being the nice guys that they are, backed off of the name to avoid a trademark issue. I always appreciate when I hear about folks in the cigar industry resolving their differences in a civil, gentlemanly manner. Inception or Jamais Vu, it’s a tasty smoke, although again the cold weather may have been a detriment to this cigar. I gave it a V cut, and when I got back from my walk and into some light I noticed some really gross tar bubbling from the cut. I’m quite please that none of that nastiness came in contact with my tongue or lips, or it would have been all over! I cut the end off (twice) and the cigar finished off fine. These are really nice cigars, reasonably powerful, dark flavors and good strength, it would have been perfect if it wasn’t for the goo. Second lesson learned, no V cuts when the ambient temperature is below about 25 degrees Fahrenheit (the first was not to smoke mild cigars in the cold). One piece of advice, if you ever have the misfortune of encountering the oozing tar and cut it off, make sure you give that cutter a good cleaning afterwards.

Tuesday evening I grabbed a Foundry Compounds, Elements and Musings Carbon which I had picked up last week when I visited Goose’s Tobacco Lounge. This cigar is listed at 5 ½” x 60, but doesn’t really feel like a 60 ring gauge, not sure why. It’s also listed as being made with Nicaraguan and “lower 48” tobacco, which I guess means that there’s absolutely no tobacco from Hawaii or Alaska. there is also something refered to as “Smoke It”, which could either be a mystery tobacco, or simple instructions. Honestly, I don’t care where the tobacco in this cigar came from because it’s delicious. This is a $5.00 cigar here in Pennsylvania, and worth every dime. My only complaint was that the cap had almost nothing holding it on and really wanted to unravel on me after I gave it a full cut (not taking chances!). It worked out OK, though, some salivary juices stuck everything back where they belonged and I was treated to a really nice cigar. It was a little bold in a smooth way, like smoking a Hershey’s Special Dark candy bar. The flavor cut through the cold air nicely and I hated to put this cigar down. The Foundry site has very little information, but according to the information at Cigar-Coop.com, this is a regular production cigar and that’s a good thing. I can see picking up some more of these, although I don’t think a box is in my future as these come in boxes of 75. The Carbon is a solid smoke for the money, if you come across some, give them a try. I think they are yummy, and when I put it next to the Compounds, Elements and Musings Vanadium I get my initials!

Remember, the Famous Smoke Shop Coupon Codes expire Friday. Get over there and use them or we may not see coupon codes from them again! I used one myself, so I know they work.

Discount codes:

CAPULET5 – Free 5-pack of Romeo y Julieta House of Capulet with any $75+ purchase

MONTAGUE5 – Free 5-pack of Romeo y Julieta House of Montague with any $75+ purchase

CAPULET20 – $20 off any $100+ purchase of Romeo y Julieta House of Capulet

MONTAGUE20 – $20 off any $100+ purchase of Romeo y Julieta House of Montague

Another coupon code you can use is from our newest sponsor, BuyDiscountCigars.com. You can get $5 off your order if you use the code “CigarCraig”. Welcome aboard! They seem to get some good stuff over there, give them a look.

This video is always on the left sidebar, but please check it out again. We shot this back in August of 2012 and it’s as relevant today as it was then. Please have a look again and join Cigar Rights of America if you haven’t already.

httpv://youtu.be/Z0AKcX7olKI

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

CigarCraig

7 Comments

Filed under Review, Take a Cigar For a Walk

Tagged as Alec Bradley, Carbon, cigar, cigars, Dignity, Ezra Zion, Foundry, general cigars

by CigarCraig | January 7, 2014 · 7:11 pm

Foundry Cigar Co. W. Orange and Compounds, Elements and Musings Helium and Vanadium

When I last wrote I went on a little rant about buying a box of cigars I didn’t really need based on theÂ packaging. I wanted to give the new cigars some humidor time, so I figured I’d smoke a couple other cigars from he same line while the newbies rested. I asked Michael Giannini, the mastermind behind Foundry Cigar Co. to give me a quote to accompany today’s post, just so I can look like I do more than just smoke cigars and yammer on about them. He gave me this:

â€œIntroducing Foundry Tobacco Company. Think mad scientists. Pioneers. Cigar guys who love cigarsâ€”creation born from the soul, intent on shaking up the world of cigars. Throw away any notions of corporate suits and conventional approaches. This is Foundry Tobacco Company. Itâ€™s provocative. We do what inspires us and we like it that wayâ€”we do whatâ€™s right. And itâ€™s here to stay. Buckle up for the ride of your life.â€

â€œCE&M is my interpretation of vexing demons during my academic career having to learn the periodic table, this still haunts me, so I created my own by my own rules..â€

I had picked up a Compounds, Elements & Musings Helium a few weeks ago at a local shop. Â This is a beefy 6Â¼x 54 toro with tobaccos from Honduras, Nicaragua, and a leaf known only as Mysterioso. The wrapper was pretty dark underneath the large bands, the primary one featuring an airshipÂ exploding. Ironically, helium is not flammable, in it’s gas form, at least. This cigar was, indeed, flammable and burned quite nicely. This is a small batch offering from Foundry Tobacco, and I Â don’t believe this is limited to brick and mortar tobacconists. Â I thought this cigar was pretty darned tasty. Â I joked that it would be light, considering the name, and I was right, but it was full flavored at the same time. I tasted a little dark chocolate and coffee. This wasn’t an expensive cigar considering it is a limited Nice Sunday afternoon cigar.

Monday evening’s walk featured theÂ Foundry W.Orange a 5Â½” x 50 robusto. I like this size a lot. In the days of large ring gauges, this seemed almost corona-ish. Â I liked the original Foundry that was released at the 2012 IPCPR show, which had a Steampunk theme. This years release is called the War of Currents, so this W. Orange represents Thomas Edison’s contribution to electricity as we know it today. I found this to have bright flavors, it was fresh, new and unusual, much the same way the original Foundry release struck me. The specifics for this blend are not published. The Foundry brand revolves around using tobacco from General Cigar’s vast library of tobacco, so it wouldn’t surprise me if, once again, there were no components from what we would consider traditional tobacco countries. The result, whatever the ingredients, is a Â delicious cigar that’s full of surprises and entertaining to smoke. Â My example was from the IPCPR show, so it doesn’t have the electrical fuse around the band. Â Not a powerhouse in any way, but lot’s of unique and interesting flavors.

Tuesday night I would usually take a cigar for a walk, but it was brutally cold, so I put it off until tonight. I had 20 Compounds, Elements & Musings Vanadium cigars that came in on Saturday taunting me. As I said, I bought these largely based on the packaging, a cool “V” shaped box, which, when I find a “C” shaped box will represent my initials, CV. Dorky thing to do, I realize, and if I didn’t have confidence in the manufacturer and Michael Giannini, it wouldn’t have been a consideration. Â I do not recommend buying a box of cigars blind, ever. I’ve been stuck with cigars I ended up not really liking, so if you can try one or two before buying I would strongly advise it. That being said, I really wish this had been a box of 25 instead of 20, because then I’d still have 24 instead of just 19! Â The cigar is listed at Â aÂ 6 1/8 x 54/36 perfecto shape with a maduro wrapper. The only hint at the composition of the blend is on the box, which has a label with Nicaragua, Brazil and Mexico checked off. So far I like the shape, I like the countries of origin, I’m liking how this is looking. Perfectos are easy to light, this one lit and burned perfectly. Â The flavor was, once again, unique. Nice, dark, rich flavors, and about half way through I got a nice black licorice flavor, and I like black licorice. Â This cigar burned perfectly and I nubbed it. If this was this tasty 4 days off the truck these are going to be really enjoyable in a few months. I can see going to these pretty regularly this spring and summer. Too bad these are a limited edition. If I buy another box I’ll be having a fight with Victor Vitale over them. 🙂

Of course, after I started on this weeks Foundry kick I noticed that my blogger-bro David over at Tikibaronline.com reviewed the Compounds, Elements & MusingsÂ H2O cigars, check out what he had to say about them. Â Of course, my buddy Coop over at . My limited sampling of this line has been positive, and I’ll be looking for more to try in my journeys. Â We all know I’m a fan of La Gloria Cubana cigars, and these come from the same factory and Michael Giannini has a hand in everything going on in that line, so I was pretty sure these would suit my palate. Â They are different from any other cigars out there, they have flavors that just don’t happen in other cigars. Â Here are some photos from the Foundry portion of General Cigar Co.‘s Booth at last year’s IPCPR show. I wish I had taken more and better pictures, the booth was pretty amazing. Click on any image for a slideshow.