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LGC Serie N Contest Winner Announcement!

In the wake of La Gloria Cubana Serie N day, I’m giving away a whole bunch of Serie N JSB cigars.  Tonight I’m selecting 2 winners from the 28 people who commented on my last post.  The rule is that if I select your name as a winner in my highly scientific and unimpeachably fair method, you need to e-mail me your address so I can mail your prize.  In the past I’ve had to chase folks down, and I don’t want to have to do that!  So, I’ve assigned each entrant a number based upon the order the comments were left.  Using the random number generator at random.org, I’ve selected the following numbers:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By my calculations the winners are Duane Holmes and Agent 86.  Congratulations to the two of you!  E-mail me with your contact information so I can get your cigars to you.  Watch for the next La Gloria Cubana Serie N 5 pack contest coming up soon!  Many thanks to General Cigars for providing the cigars for this contest series!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

 

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La Gloria Cubana Serie N Contest and a Visit to NYC!

In honor of La Gloria Cubana Serie N Day, I’ll be giving away two (2) Five packs of Serie N JSB (5½ x 54) to two people who leave a comment on this page. Winners will be drawn randomly on or around Wednesday, March 30, 2011. I will also be giving away five packs for the next 3 weeks, so stay tuned!

I had the honor and pleasure of participating in the Serie N day webcast, and, in case you missed it, I asked how they could possibly manufacture the Serie N cigars with the light tobacco leave “N” and sell it for a reasonable price.  Having recently seen all the steps that go into the manufacture of a cigar, it’s incredible that the cost can be kept as reasonable as it is, and the “N”s are hand applied.  If you look at a box of Serie N cigars you will notice that all the “N”s line up and are nice and straight.  This  is a testament to the attention to detail paid to this one little distinctive feature.  The cigars smoke great, and if you like maduro cigars with some oomph to them, the La Gloria Cubana Serie N is well worth a try.  General Cigars was very generous in providing samples as well as the cigars for these contests, many thanks to all involved in this very special event. It was fun to participate in this event, and I always appreciate the opportunity to embarrass myself!

We took a family trip to New York City today (Saturday) and I had an opportunity to stop by De La Concha and pick up a few cigars.  It’s very convenient that the store is right around the corner from Tiffany’s, where my wife always likes to visit.  Of course, I spent more than I normally would on cigars, but I wanted to try some of the New York only cigars that have been released recently.  I picked up a La Aurora Broadway, a couple sizes of the Alec Bradley New York Series and a Gurkha Para la Gente.  These cigars were created specifically to help out New York State cigar retailers after the cigar taxes were raised.  The cigars were pricey by my standards, but probably provide the retailer with better margins than other cigars.  I wanted to pick some up as much for the novelty as anything, and I’ve never had a Gurkha, believe it or not.  Maybe I’ll have a “NY Cigar Week” in the coming months!  As a side note, we walked at least 50 blocks on our visit, but I passed on having a cigar because it was so crowded, cold and windy I wouldn’t have enjoyed it.  How many miles is 50 city blocks?

That’s it for now, leave me comments to win a 5 pack of great cigars, and remember, I’ll be selecting two winners on Wednesday!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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La Gloria Cubana Serie N Day on Friday March 25, 2011

In 1996 I had my first La Gloria Cubana cigar.  Soon after they opened the factory in the Dominican Republic and the buzz online was which were better, the cigars made in the DR, or the ones made in Miami?  I never could tell the difference myself, but I’ve had dozens of La Glorias over the year. I think the first cigar that made me feel a little queezy was a Corona Gorda natural back in the late 90s.  Of course, much has changed, however the cigars are still delicious, and the variety available has increased.  I’ve recently enjoyed the Artesanos de Tabaqueros as well as the Serie N, which is a beautiful cigar, dark and oily and full of flavor.

Friday, March 25 we celebrate Serie N Day with a webcast taking place at http://www.lagloriacigars.com/ starting at 6 PM EDT. There will be an opportunity to interact with Michael Giannini, Yuri Guillen and Rick Rodriguez via Twitter (@lagloriacigars) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/teamlagloria) and there will be retailers across the country participating. The press release can be viewed here.   I will be making an appearance in the 7 o’clock (EDT) hour.

In celebration of this event, I will be giving away five 5 packs of Serie N JSBs, generously provided by General Cigar.  Watch for the first contest this weekend, and then subsequent contests every week following!  The rules will be simple, leave a comment and I’ll have a random drawing mid week and announce a winner.

That’s all for now, check back for the first contest announcement!

CigarCraig

 

 

 

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This Weeks Cigars: Nub, Tabacos Baez, Punch, Partagas – Saturday February 5, 2011

I’m making every attempt to get into shape before going to Nicaragua, despite the terrible weather, which has been less than ideal for outdoor smoking.  I’ve kicked up the evening walk routine which I used two years ago to lose 23 pounds. Walking makes the cold bearable.  I need to build up my stamina so I can handle the physical rigors of travel as well as the anticipated non-stop cigar consumption.

I started the week with a Nub Cameroon 358.  I picked up a few of these at an event last year and felt like smoking one.  I enjoy these cigars quite a bit despite my initial feeling that they were gimmicky.  I like the Cameroon wrapper over the Habano, but have yet to try the Connecticut or Maduro.  These have that delicious Camerooniness that I enjoy, especially in the winter.  My only complaint is that these are too short, which I know is the point, but I’d like it to last a little longer. They are also tricky to finish while wearing gloves.

Next up was a Tabacos Baez Serie SF Robusto which I picked up in New Orleans.  This is a budget priced, mixed filler cigar that is purported to be 75% long filler and 25% short.  I’ve smoked a few of these and never noticed anything that would indicate it was different from a long filler cigar.  Tasty cigar, on the milder side of medium in strength and body, a very nice cigar for any time of day.

Wednesday brought freezing rain and ice, which canceled work for the day, and gave me an opportunity to take an early walk and enjoy an Upper Cut by Punch Robusto.  This cigar was in a sampler that I received last year from General Cigar.  This cigar features filler tobacco from Ometepe, Nicaragua as well as Dominican and Nicaraguan tobacco.  In truth, I chose poorly when I selected this cigar, as it turned out to be a little colder and windier than I anticipated.  This would have been better saved for a warm spring evening on the front porch, but it was still an enjoyable cigar which burned well and had a pleasing flavor.  This has a foot band, and I hate those, but I’ll pick up a few more of these in the future anyway.

I wound up the week with an old favorite, the Havana Partagas Petit Coronas Especiales.  These are a perfect sized cigar for me at 5.2″ x 42 and a really nice, fairly priced Havana.  They have that little something that only Cuban cigars have and I really enjoy.  It burned well and was very satisfying on my evening walk.  I’ve had these for almost a year and they keep getting better. I hope I can hold on to the rest of the box for a few more years to see how they age.

That’s about it for the week, it’ll be interesting to see what the next week has in store.  There is talk of more winter weather in our future, I’ll be very happy when spring is here!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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A Couple of Cigars With an Old Friend – Tuesday December 27, 2010

In the midst of the Holiday hubbub I had the opportunity to sit down for a few cigars with an old high school friend who lives close by, but we never seem to get the time to hang out and smoke some cigars.  I caught up with Greg about a year and a half ago after 25 years or so and was delighted to find that we lived a couple miles apart, and that he shared a love of fine cigars.  We’ve gotten together a few times over the last 18 months, but this is the fist time we’ve had the chance to just sit an catch up over cigars. We met at our local cigar shop, JM Cigars in Exton, PA.  JM’s is one of the best shops in the area in my opinion.  Although the selection is fairly “classic”, the pricing is reasonable (for instance, a Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur No. 1 is under $6 last I looked).  You won’t find Tatuaje’s or Illusione or a lot of  Pepin Garcia cigars, but he did have a wide selection of Lito Gomez cigars and Cains, as well as quite a few Fuente lines.  I grabbed a couple of the Jesus Fuego 777 maduro coronas that I have enjoyed in the past and met Greg in the lounge and parked my ass in a oversized leather chair for the afternoon.  As Greg’s birthday was coming up I provided some of what I thought of as special cigars to mark the occasion.

We started the afternoon with a pair of La Gloria Cubana Artesanos de Tabaqueros 650s that were sent to me some time ago by General Cigar.  These are a “dos capas” cigar that start with a Connecticut Shade wrapper for the first couple inches, then moved to a darker Ecuadoran Sumatra wrapper.  This is really a nice cigar, very rich in flavor and perfectly constructed.  The transition from one wrapper to the other is subtle but noticeable. All in all I cigar I will happily smoke again.

Next cigars up were some Ramon Allones Specially Selected Havanas that had been kicking around the humidor for quite a few years.  I honestly don’t remember where these came from or exactly how old they were, but they were at least 5 years old and probably older.  These particular cigars were nice, firm cigars that were well packed.  They burned dead even and tasted fantastic.  Greg commented that there was a flavor that he couldn’t put a finger on, and I suggested that my guess was that it was that trademark Cuban flavor that makes Havana cigars distinctly different.  These were fantastic examples of the Cuban cigar rollers art and are a benchmark robusto that is a must try if you ever have the opportunity.

It was a great afternoon that was over too soon.  It’s always nice to catch up with an old friend over a cigar or two in a comfortable environment.

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

CigarCraig

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