Tag Archives: general

by | June 3, 2010 · 11:31 am

C.Gars Ltd. Cigar Dinner Cruise – Wednesday June 2, 2010

My lovely wife Jenn, myself and friend Karen

Last night we had the good fortune of having been invited on a dinner cruise hosted by our dear friend Mitchell Orchant of C.Gars Ltd.  The cruise was around Manhattan for about 4 hours on the Marco Polo Cruises “Jewel”, which is a 120 foot long ship with a dining room and a covered deck above.  There was a buffet of both Italian and Kosher cuisine that  was delicious and plentiful.  The attendees were a collection of customers, friends and business associates, all smoking non-stop for the duration of the event.

We began the day with my son and I visiting Shaving Grace in Exton, PA for some grooming.  The shop has a big flat panel TV, leather couch, pool and poker tables and various paraphernalia, including cigars, cigar boxes and ashtrays (although smoking is not allowed).  I have never had a professional shave and it was quite a treat to have the hot towels and all the various lotions and lather associated with it.  It’s not something I’d do all the time, but it was a treat.  I’m a little conflicted in that it’s kind of girly, in a very manly way.

Mitchell and Jenn

Shortly after the manscaping trip, we hit the road to NYC.  It typically takes over 2 hours to get from Southeast, PA to NYC so we allowed plenty of time for traffic and construction delays.  We made the Holland Tunnel in 2 hours and found our way to the docks, then found our way to the correct docks!  We were a good hour early but lucky for us Mitchell and his wife Karyn were aboard already with a few other early folks, including George whom we’d met with Mitchell in Vegas a few years ago.  Already we knew people, woohoo!

The vessel eventually filled up and we got under way.  I enjoyed a little Tabak Especial Colada Dulce while we were waiting.  I was pretty much on an empty stomach and wanted something to smoke that wasn’t too challenging.  It was pretty tasty for a flavored cigar.  After we got going I lit up a Hoyo de Tradicion Toro which was also very nice.  In these social situations I generally smoke cigars I don’t have to think about too much.  A great cigar can distract me from a conversation and I don’t want to appear rude.  We spent the evening catching up with old friends we hadn’t seen in a while and meeting new folks. I believe it was Oliva who provided the roller who was demonstrating his craft in the dining room, and all reports are that the cigars he was rolling were very good.

Myself and Mark Aub

One of the gentlemen I had the good fortune of meeting was Marc Aub of Brother of the Leaf, LLC, maker of the Palio cutter and Esencia Cigars.  Marc is an instantly likable fellow.  We talked about the newsgroups and forums, blogs and podcasts, and the state of the industry.  The discussion turned briefly to the IPCPR show and what place we bloggers have there.  I have been to the show once with a retailers badge but with the understanding that the people exhibiting are there to sell their product to retailers.  We made it a point to step back when talking to someone when they had real customers.  Marc suggested that the IPCPR add a membership category for the media, to which my wife made the suggestion of charging an annual fee.  I think this is a great idea, considering any schmoo can have a cigar blog (just look at me!) and get a press pass.   Charging a membership fee makes people think twice and gives the experience some value.

Mitchell "SmokeyMO" Orchant

Marc very generously put an Esencia Lancero in my mouth at one point which was just the perfect cigar to top off a great evening.   From what he said, the lancero isn’t available other than from him or in a special sampler pack that was available on a limited basis.  First, I love the size and feel of a lancero.  It’s elegant, it requires a bit more time and patience to smoke.  This one burned slow and even and was smooth and flavorful down to about 3/4″ when it gave up on me.  It started out with a little zing which I liked.  Marc confirmed what I suspected, that it was a Nicaraguan puro.  I have only heard about these here and there, but all of the good things I’ve heard were confirmed with this very satisfying cigar. On a slightly embarrassing note, it occurred to me moments after I did it that I cut it with my favorite cheapie cutter and not a Palio.  I don’t think Marc noticed (phew!) Unfortunately I didn’t take the time to snap a picture of the cigar, but it was a beauty.

After a terrific evening with a great bunch of folks, the boat docked and we said our thank-yous and farewells to our friends and hosts.  We have been so fortunate to have made such good friends over the years, it’s a treat to be able to hang out with them for a while every so often.  It was also fun to take my son along so that he could experience some of the kinds of events we’ve been attending while he was growing up.  He had a great time as well and is moving along through his cigar education.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | May 23, 2010 · 11:56 am

La Gloria Cubana Artesanos de Tabaqueros – Sunday May 22, 2010

I was very fortunate to have come into possession of several samples of the  La Gloria Cubana Artesanos de Tabaqueros 650s a few weeks ago, and it seemed appropriate to wrap up my General Cigar week with one of these.

Here’s a blurb from the official information about these:

Created by Team La Gloria Cubana to showcase the artistry of La Gloria Cubana “tabaqueros” (artisan cigar makers), Artesanos de Tabaqueros cigars are a stunning embodiment of the time-honored craft of cigar making. So exacting is the skill required to handcraft cigars of this complexity that Benji Menendez personally selected an elite group of just 18 master cigar makers, representing the cream of the crop from El Credito Cigar Factory in the Dominican Republic.

Meticulously crafted to combine two different wrappers and two distinct tastes in one eye-catching cigar, Artesanos de Tabaqueros is a world-class smoke that opens to a rich and intriguing spice and ultimately reveals a depth of flavor that can only be achieved through a precise balance of unique and rare tobaccos. Hand selected from General Cigar’s extensive library of Dominican and Honduran tobaccos, the cigars are dressed in both a supple Connecticut Shade and hearty Ecuadoran Sumatra wrapper. The blend is made solely of proprietary tobaccos, each aged five years or more.

Presented with two different wood treatments to promote the unique tastes promised in each cigar, Artesanos de Tabaqueros cigars are protected in boxes of 25. The collection will debut in early April with three frontmarks, each named to according to its dimensions: 650 (6” x 50, SRP per cigar is $8.00), 652 Belicoso (6” x 52, SRP per cigar is $9.50) and 750 (7” x 50, SRP per cigar is $9.00).

Double Wrapper Examples

It’s a beautiful cigar, no doubt about that.  The “dos capas” presentation is unique, and the way it’s rolled makes more sense to me than the Joya de Nicaraqua Cabinetta, where the last third of the cigar is the darker wrapper.  I expect in the case of the Joya De Nicaragua, by the time you hit the wrapper change it’s very late in the smoke.  I have one floating around someplace which I will smoke very soon so I can compare (and it will tie in nicely with my next contest!)  The La Gloria is rolled in such a way that the first third is the Connecticut Shade and then it transitions to the Ecuador Sumatra.  I have to admit, I was expecting a more dramatic transition, but the change was very subtle.  It is definitely a great tasting cigar and it burned well, although not as evenly as I would have liked for a “special” cigar.  I smoked this down to about an inch and a half before I put it down.

These are pretty neat cigars which are visually appealing and, as opposed to “barber pole” style dos capos cigars, actually have a chance at providing a noticeable flavor change.   Many thanks to Victoria McKee Jaworski at General Cigars for giving me the opportunity to sample these.  I’ve loved the La Gloria Cubana line since first smoking them back in the ’90s when everyone was talking about whether the best ones were rolled in Miami or the Dominican Republic.  I distinctly recall a Corona Gorda that was SO good, but left me on the couch with my head spinning!  As a matter of fact, the first good cigar my wife smoked was a La Gloria.

That’s about all I got for now, until the next cigar,

CigarCraig

Go Flyers!

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by | May 10, 2010 · 5:22 pm

The Week in Cigars, Liga Privada Contest Winner Announcement – Monday May 10, 2010

Here’s a little recap of what I smoked over the past few days:  Friday night brought nice weather, and a Flyers playoff game that needed watching.  I lit up a ITC 10th Anniversary lonsdale for the game.  I had been looking forward to smoking this, since I really liked the Indian Tabac line when it came out.  Oddly, Rocky Patel’s cigars have been few and far between in my humidors for whatever reason and I’ve gotten away from the brand.  I know Rocky Patel is the hot ticket in the cigar world, but I just haven’t jumped on that particular bandwagon.  I admit I was expecting something different in the ITC.  I found it to be very strong and harsh, when I expected something smooth and creamy.  Maybe I just expect an elegant smoke from a cigar with two bands, I don’t know.  It burned well and after while the harshness subsided a bit, but it was still a full bodied cigar.  I’ll have to try another one sometime with the expectation that it will be a strong cigar.  It just caught me off guard and wasn’t what I was expecting or looking for at the time.  If I had done my homework I would have picked out something different.  Another thanks to Jason for the opportunity!

The rest of the weekend cigars were ones I’ve discussed here before.  Saturday’s was a very nice Chateau Real Maduro and Sunday’s was a Hoyo de Tradicion Toro.  It was really windy all weekend which reduces the enjoyability of smoking outside. These are both cigars I enjoy quite a bit, the Chateau Real for it’s coffee and cocoa and it’s excellent construction and the Hoyo for it’s mellow chocolaty flavors.

For Mother’s Day I grilled up some shrimp and salmon for my beautiful wife (who has had a rough few weeks taking care of here parents and really deserved to be taken care of  for a while).  The kids pitched in and we had no shortage of tasty food. I used the Punch Grill Box.  I picked up some mesquite chips and it seemed to work, not that there’s a whole heck of a lot that can go wrong with such a thing.  I’ll probably be using this a lot this summer.

I’m sure everyone is saying “CigarCraig, c’mon man, who won the Liga Privada Sampler?”  Well, the response was excellent and I got some really good guesses.  After I started seeing the guesses I realized that I may have a problem selecting a winner.  I decided the only way to determine a winner when no-one guessed the right numbers was to add both temperature and relative humidity together and select the winner that way.  Thanks to all who entered and I hope the new readers stick around a while.  The cooler’s hygrometer (which, incidentally, I recently found in a box and put in a fresh battery) read 62% RH and 66°F for a total of 128.  The closest guess was 65% and 67° for a total of 132 by Joel Scott.  Congratulations and please e-mail your snaily so I can mail this beautiful box of Liga Privada No.9 cigars out to you.  Remember the rule:  If you enter a contest, you have to take the prize!

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

CigarCraig

(go Flyers!)

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by | April 30, 2010 · 6:26 pm

This Weeks Cigars: Oliva Connecticut Reserve and Vegas de Santiago – Thursday April 29, 2010

Wednesday evening I dug into the Jason of Rock’s Smoke Shop stash again and grabbed an Oliva Connecticut Reserve Toro.  I didn’t see any info on Oliva’s website, and I was too darned lazy to Google further, so I dropped a Tweet and received this information from David Wagner, the National Sales Manager for Oliva:

“the Oliva CT Reserve was released last year. It’s an Ecuador grown CT Shade wrapper with Nicaraguan binder and fillers.”

The cigar was beautiful, the Ecuador Connecticut Shade wrapper was golden and flawless.  It started out with very dry woody flavors.  It was a very nice medium bodied cigar, that went from dry to a bit creamy.  I liked it.  I have to admit to a bit of carelessness though.  I set the cigar on the corner of the ice machine when I went into the convenience store, which I do all the time, and when I came out the cigar had fallen from it’s perch!  It suffered some slight wrapper damage, but recovered nicely. It burned through the damage as if it wasn’t there, maintaining a razor straight burn the entire time.  Definitely a well made cigar.  If you like the Connecticut shade wrapper, this is a good cigar to try, it has the flavor one would expect from the wrapper, but there’s more substance to it than some other shade wrapped cigars.

Thursday I received a couple cigars from reader and former contest winner DJ.  The cigars were from Vegas de Santiago, a Costa Rican cigar maker whom I’ve worked with before on a couple of events my wife and I have hosted, but actually haven’t really smoked many of their cigars!  DJ sent a couple of  Don Luis “Secretos del Maestro”. One was a 6″ x 60, which I chose to smoke instead of trying to fit it into the humidor. Very nice looking cigars, the band on the 60 ring cigar actually had a little strip of white paper bridging the gap between the ends of the band.  The manufacturer says that these are two of their best sellers.  Here’s the blurb from Vegas de Santiago:

“VdS Don Luis our “Secretos del Maestro” – (*Trade Marked Black & Gold Band).
(Very Special and Top of the Line) A cigar we created, in memory of our late Cuban master, Don Luis Santana Lamas.Filler from selected and specially cured tobaccos… from  Costa Rica , Binder from the Caribe and Central America and a Connecticut wrapper from Ecuador .”

While not a huge fan of large ring cigars, this one was very flavorful and behaved fairly well.  I got a taste off the wrapper pre-light that was really good, and I usually don’t notice wrapper flavor. This is billed as a double ligero cigar, but it wasn’t the powerhouse that that description would imply.  I found it to be medium bodied, it started out fairly mellow and well balanced.  By the time I was ready to put it down it was developing an acidic flavor.  I’m looking forward to smoking the 6″ x 52 Canionazo and comparing it to it’s large ring brother. In the information I received from Vegas de Santiago, they also produce this blend with an oscuro wrapper, which sounds pretty interesting.  As I alluded to above, VdS has been quite generous in the past in their sponsorship of various events I’ve either held or been a part of.  They are a nice bunch of folks who produce some very nice cigars that are fairly priced.

A big thank you to DJ for sharing these cigars with me and for his participation and interest in the nonsense I frequently spew here.  I appreciate the thought and the chance to enjoy these cigars. Thanks also (again) to Jason for supplying me with a nice supply of cigars to smoke and review!  Variety is indeed the spice of life and I’ve been fortunate to have a great variety of cigars to smoke.

I sent out a five-pack of Hoyo de Tradicion Toros to Chris McCann who was kind enough to send his address after he won my last contest.  I hate to do it, but if I don’t hear from “Wallaper” by this weekend I’m going to have to select another winner.  I had mentioned when I posted the contest video that after shooting, one of the other cats started mauling one of the cards.  I held this particular card for just such an occasion.  One of the unwritten rules here is that if you enter a contest you run the risk of winning it and having to collect the prize!  Sorry, I didn’t make up that rule, I just enforce it.  Must be of legal age and must take the prize. I don’t ask much!  I’ll be announcing the May contest very soon, and it will be a really good prize!

That’s it for now, have a great weekend!

CigarCraig

Update:  I received an e-mail with an address for Brian (aka wallaper) and his cap and cutter are going out tomorrow.  Thanks!

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by | April 14, 2010 · 6:02 pm

Mid-week Cigar musings, Hoyo de Tradicion – Wednesday April 14, 2010

Last week I received an e-mail out of the blue from Victoria McKee Jaworski, the Director of Public Relations for General Cigar, asking me if she could put me on her mailing list.  Of course I said “heck yeah”, and sent her the requested information.  Monday a package shows up containing a very nice box of Hoyo de Tradicion Toros.  I smoked one last night and it was a fine cigar, burned straight, didn’t give me any trouble, and had some very nice flavors. Here’s some information from the press release:

Hoyo de Tradición™ pays homage to Hoyo de Monterrey’s time-honored taste in a new expression made of proprietary tobaccos from the world’s most revered growing regions.

According to Modesta Fondeur, executive vice president of tobacco and operations, “Born of volcanic soil into a pedigree of tobacco exclusive to General Cigar, Hoyo de Tradición’s blend consists of hand-selected Honduran San Agustin, and Dominican Piloto Cubano leaves, which are married to Nicaraguan tobacco from the remote island of Ometepe.  Bound with a robust Habano leaf from Connecticut, Hoyo de Tradición is adorned with a Honduran Jamastran Viso Rosado wrapper.”

Rick Chandler, the brand’s director of marketing remarks, “In Hoyo de Tradición, we have developed a cigar that respects Hoyo de Monterrey’s inherent natural sweetness and aroma, while creating a unique new tradition unto its own.  A medium-bodied offering that emphasizes and embellishes Hoyo’s traditional taste profile, Hoyo de Tradición is poised to take its place among the most established cigar brands. We feel that the line will be readily adopted into the smoking repertoires of today’s aficionado.”

I don’t typically smoke a cigar right off the truck, but these looked so good I had to try one.  These will, no doubt, improve with age.  Keep an eye out for these in future contests, I want to spread the wealth!

In the News:

Last time I pointed out the article in Parade Magazine, this time I’m pointing you toward an article on Forbes site that actually takes the stance that other tobacco products, while not safe, are safer alternatives to cigarettes and should be promoted as such.  It’s refreshing to see a major media outlet defending non-cigarette tobacco products.  Here’s the link:  http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0426/opinions-steve-forbes-fact-comment-what-are-zealots-inhaling.html?partner=email.

Also, for the Pennsylvania readers, I just received an e-mail from Dave Mayer,  the proprietor of Wooden Indian Tobacco Shop in Havertown, PA,  announcing that their new store will include one of two Liga Privada lounges. The other Lounge will be across the state at Leaning House Fine Cigars in the Pittsburgh area.  I look forward to visiting the new store when it opens and seeing the new lounge.  I’m sure it will be as good as it’s namesake.

Speaking of Drew Estate, the current contest closes Saturday, and I’ll be announcing the winner on Sunday.  If you haven’t entered already, leave a reply to the contest posts (here) to enter to win a cool DE cap and a Liga Privada cutter.

Until the next cigar,

CigarCraig

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