Tag Archives: general

by | September 14, 2011 · 8:29 pm

Cigars So Far This Week: a La Palina, a Macanudo and Contest Winners!

Once again I’d like you to welcome a new sponsor, and an old friend, C-Gars, Ltd.  The folks in the vast C-Gars Ltd empire are top notch when it comes to customer service. Check out their vast selection of cigars and accessories from around the world.  I also heard from another old friend from the alt.smokers.cigars days who has revamped his site, The Cigar Diary.  Tony’s site has some great information and a place to store and share your tasting notes.  Thanks, Tony, for hunting me down after all these years!

 

A few weeks back I received a couple of La Palina El Diario Gordos in the mail from Courtney at La Palina.  I had recently enjoyed the robusto in this line that was a sample from the IPCPR show, and was looking forward to trying other sizes.  The Gordo is a 6″ x 58, which is a hefty cigar.  I can’t figure out why I keep reaching for these enormous cigars lately.  I love coronas and lanceros, and I always felt that 52 ring gauge was about as big as I’d care for, but all of these gorilla finger sized cigars are sneaking into my rotation!  One thing I’ve noticed, and please tell me if you’ve noticed this too, but the last couple of 6 x 60s I’ve smoked (or close), seem to have….what’s the word I want?….clogged in the final 2 inches.  It’s not like they are plugged suddenly, but hey seem to slow down a bit.  Perhaps a year in the humidor would solve this.  I’ve gotten away from the point, the La Palina is an exceptional cigar, really nice, sweet flavor and a perfect burn, even in this large size. It took me in excess of one and a half hours to smoke this one.

 

Tuesday evening I grabbed my last Macanudo 1968 robusto and really enjoyed it.  I smoked one of these walking around Vegas in July, and I really like them.  They have a bit of a unique flavor that I can’t pinpoint, but it’s good.  The cold draw tasted like milk chocolate.  As one would expect, the construction is perfect and it burned without need for correction.  This is a solid cigar in my opinion, and one I would enjoy having in my humidor at all times.  Certainly this is not a Macanudo that your typical Macanudo smoker is going to appreciate, it’s on the full side of medium from my perspective.

 

Contest!

Speaking of Macanudo, I need to pick a couple winners for the latest contest.  I’ll be mailing out two Macanudo Millionaire 4 packs to the winners, provided they send me their contact info!  The four-pack includes 60 Ring gauge versions of the Cafe, Maduro, 1968 and Crü Royale (again with the 60 ring!).  I hope I win!  OK, I’m kidding, I’m not eligible.  For the first time, I added Twitter submissions for an additional entry and several people took advantage of that.  I resorted to the tried and true method of selection: listing each entry as it comes in, numbering them, and using the random number generator to pick the winners.  Boring, I know, but until I build a “wheel of fortune” out of dry erase board, this will have to do.  So the random number generator produced the numbers 2 and 13, which by my records corresponds to a tweet from @TriumphCIO and a comment from Spidey55!  Congrats to the two of you, please e-mail me your contact info so I can mail out your prizes!  Once again, my gratitude to General Cigars for providing the prizes and for their support!  I’m truly thankful for the relationship I’ve developed with them and the generous support they give to the cigar media community!

That’s it!  Time to take a cigar for a walk before it rains!

Until, the next time,

CigarCraig

 

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by | September 4, 2011 · 10:21 am

It’s Contest Time! An Alec Bradley, An OSA Sol, A Macanudo and a Lighter Review

I realized that my last post had “and Some News” in the title, and I failed to include said news.  Bad form on my part!  While I go back and edit the title, I’ll say here that the news I was going to mention, while no longer breaking news, is that José  Blanco joined Joya de Nicaragua this week in the capacity of Senior Vice President.  I met José at the IPCPR show, as well as Dr. Cuenca, his new boss, both are fine gentlemen.  I had the pleasure of visiting the Joya de Nicaragua factory last March and, while I loved their cigars before, I developed a special fondness for them that comes from having a personal connection.  If I can blend what I think is an excellent cigar at that factory, José will be able to do amazing things there.  Best wishes to José and Joya de Nicaragua from everyone here at CigarCraig.com!

I had purchased an Alec Bradley American Classic Blend for myself for Father’s Day, and I came across another one  in my IPCPR samples, and I was in the mood for a big cigar, so I grabbed this 6×60 Gordo and took it for a walk to the store.  It’s got a beautiful band, and a really nice looking wrapper, made me really look forward to smoking this one.  This is made at the Plasencia Factory in Esteli, and had a Honduran Connecticut wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers.  I really enjoyed the flavor, although I wish it had produced copious mouthfuls of smoke so that I could get more of the flavor.  It took a little bit to get a good mouthful of smoke, which was a little frustrating considering the huge girth on this cigar.  I’ll happily try this cigar again, and will try to get some different sizes in the future.

 

Friday brought the beginning of the Labor Day weekend, so I grabbed a CAO OSA Sol Lot 54 and enjoyed it on the front porch.  This 6x 54 version didn’t impress me quite as much as it’s 5x 50 little brother, but it was a darned fine cigar.  I don’t know exactly what made the 2 cigars different to me, maybe the Robusto seemed a little cleaner to me if that makes any sense. I suppose there are a dozen variables to consider, what I had to drink and eat, the weather, my mood, so my opinion really doesn’t matter in the end! Perfect burn and draw and a pleasing flavor.  Lasted a good hour and a half on a beautiful late summer evening.   I look forward to the CAO website having some information on it about this new cigar! 😉

For my Saturday evening walk to the store, I selected a Macanudo Crü  Royale Robusto that I received at the IPCPR show.  I had gotten one of these at the show last year and thought it was a really nice cigar, and this one was no different.  It’s not a mild cigar and, along with the 1968, is a really good, flavorful cigar.  It goes without saying that the quality of the construction is excellent.  I’ve smoked Macanudos that I could barely taste, but they’ve ALWAYS been perfectly rolled.  I like these a lot and they are priced well and they will be releasing a couple new sizes (if they haven’t already) in a tinned 4 3/16″ x 36 and a Poco Gordo at 4 x 60, to satisfy that 60 ring gauge demand.  Nice cigars for sure, something that any cigar smoker is sure to enjoy.  While I’m thinking of it, head on over to the  Macanudo Millionaire site and enter their contest to win a trip to Vegas and a chance to win a Million bucks.

 

Contest

Sticking with the Macanudo theme, General Cigars provided me with some of their Macanudo Millionaire  4 packs featuring 6 x 60 versions of the Cafe, Maduro, 1968 and Crü Royale cigars.  I’m going to select 2 winners on or around Wednesday, September 14, so leave a comment on THIS post saying something a little more substantive than say “comment” or “hello” to enter!  This time, as an added twist, I’ll count tweets which include @cigarcraig and the link to this article, doubling your chances to win!  Usual rules apply, Lloyd is ineligible this time around!  🙂

 

All of my cigars this week were ignited by a lighter that was provided to my for evaluation by Aaron at ButaneLightersWolesale.com.  The lighter is the Ergonomic 4.5″ Cigar & Pipe Butane Torch Lighter, which is a nice looking lighter.  It’s hefty, which makes it a little heavy in the trouser pocket, but has a nice feel in the hand.  My initial complaint is that on the lowest flame setting it doesn’t light for me, and on the highest setting the flame is just adequate. I let Aaron know this and he is looking into it with the manufacturer, which is a good sign that he’s a internet retailer with integrity.  This particular model wouldn’t be my personal first choice, but my wife thinks it’s cool looking, which it is.  Check out the site,  http://butanelighterswholesale.com/,   he seems to be concentrating on the “good lighters at a reasonable price” market segment, which fits my lighter philosophy just right.  I’ve owned a couple of fairly expensive lighters in the past and they’ve all crapped out after a while, and the cheaper lighters seem to last forever.  I’ll keep using this lighter exclusively and see how it holds up, and see if I can adjust the flame setting a little better.  I like to see a good 2″ blue flame on my single torch lighters.  Thanks again to Aaron for thinking of me.

That’s it for now, enter the contest, visit my sponsors and enjoy your Labor Day Weekend!

CigarCraig

 

 

 

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by | August 14, 2011 · 8:47 am

Sunday Cigar Recap: Joya de Nicaragua, Brick House, Berger & Argenti, Broadway and a Contest Winner!

Here’s a few cigars I smoked this week:

Joya de Nicaragua Cabinetta Robusto – I just love these cigars.  I loved them before I watched them being rolled in the factory, and I love them more every time I smoke one.  Such a good cigar.  Well balanced, great tasting and beautifully constructed.  To me they are special because I watched them rolled in Nicaragua, and they are reasonably priced (which is astounding considering the extra steps taken in the rolling process), and suite my taste buds.  If you haven’t tried these, you should.  I will purchase a box of the lanceros at some point, it’s just a matter of time…

 

Brick House Mighty Mighty 6¼” x 60   – For some reason I’ve been in the mood for large cigars, and this was a big one. This line has been around a while and received glowing reviews and is another reasonably priced cigar.  I picked this one up on my Father’s Day cigar run.  Very nicely made with rich flavors.  A most enjoyable 90 minute vacation in a cigar.  This line received an award from Cigar Journal magazine for the best value Nicaraguan cigar last month at the IPCPR show, an event which I was fortunate enough to attend.  This is made by the folks at J.C.Newman in Nicaragua based on one of the company’s first brands in the US. Again, a very nice cigar for a fair price.

 

Berger and Argenti Entubar Double Corona (7 5/8” x 54)  – Another large cigar, this one carrying a warning band at the foot advising to toast the entire foot, not just the protuberance of ligero, under penalty of death.  I was tempted to ignore this sage advise, but having spoken to both Kiki Berger (who gave me this sample) and Al Argenti at the show, I decided not to risk it and did as instructed.  There is something to be said for the entubado method of construction as the burn and draw were spectacular on this cigar.  It tasted good too, the Ecuadorian ‘Desflorado’ Connecticut wrapper, which seems to be all the rage these days, was very nice (I believe “Desflorado” means “deflowered”, and I was under the impression that all of the tobacco plants except for the absolute healthiest and strongest specimens have the flowers removed, so I’m not sure what this means in the description, but it is a cool sounding word!).

 

Broadway by La Aurora – I picked this up last March on a family trip to NYC at De La Concha. This is a cigar that La Aurora made specifically to help New York tobacconists survive after the 75% Tax on cigars was put into place. I picked up similar themed cigars from Alec Bradley and Gurkha while I was there. This is a nice cigar that starts out with a little kick. It’s a 5¾ x 54 with a unique double wrapper of Ecuador Sumatra and Nicaraguan, with Dominican Corojo binder and Dominican, Nicaraguan and Peruvian fillers. Mine burned fairly well, although my son, who smoked one with me, had some trouble with the burn on his. We may need to check his humidor, I can imagine with a double wrapper, the right humidity is going to be the key to a good burn with this. I’m trying to figure out how they manage to reduce the manufacturing cost of this cigar for sale in New York, but use two wrappers. It seems counter-intuitive, but I suppose it works, because the cigar is pretty tasty.

 

Here is a quick video of Kiki Berger from Cuban Crafters at last month’s IPCPR show. I’ll take this opportunity to thank Don Kiki again for taking the time to talk to me, hooking me up with a Cuban coffee and some samples, and giving me this spiffy new Perfect Cut cutter. I’ve been using this a lot in the last few weeks and I like it a lot. Unlike similar cutters that I like a lot, this one has a resin (plastic) body that is very light in the pocket. My other favorite cutter is all stainless steel and quite heavy. This one does a great job, has a cool hole in the back so you can cut a torpedo and doesn’t drag your trousers to the ground!

 

In the News

Here are a few interesting links I came across this week, the first is about an old brand that was made up the road from me in Reading, PA. The second one isn’t really cigar related, but is a cool article about a Beatles themed bar in Havana.

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=325430#.TkPxXgeipfs.email

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/08/world/americas/08havana.html?_r=3

 

Also, many thanks to our local newspaper, the Daily Local News for including this site on their Blogtown page and featuring it on the front page of their site yesterday!

 

Contest!

I need to select a winner of my General Cigars prize pack.  As you can see, the prize pack has doubled since I announced it a week ago, thanks to Victoria at General Cigars for sending along some more goodies.  Be sure to get on over to http://www.macanudomillionaire.com and enter to win a trip to Vegas and a chance to win a million bucks.  We had 17 entries, with one being disqualified since he won in the last 6 months.  So I entered  16 into the random number generator and it spit out the number 11 which corresponds to Paul.  Please drop me an e-mail with your address so I can get this out to you!  I hate to have to work too hard to give stuff away, so get your contact info to me with me having to chase you down! 🙂

 

That’s all I have for now, and I think we can all agree that it was enough…so until the next time,

CigarCraig

 

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by | August 10, 2011 · 6:02 pm

Our Sunday Visit To A Hookah and Cigar Lounge

On Sunday my wife and I decided to visit the Cozy Hookah and Cigar Lounge in nearby West Chester, PA. We had only recently heard about this place, through Dealyo, one of the social shopping sites that are gaining popularity (Groupon, LivingSocial, etc.). Jenn had purchased a $30 coupon for $15  and we decided to check it out for lunch. The lounge is along one of the main, historic streets of West Chester, where a lot of the bars and restaurants are located, and they are open every day from 10 am to 4 am, so they get really busy after the bars close. There are couches with pillows, a VIP room in the back, and they have theme nights. A very comfortable place.

 

When we walked into the empty lounge we were greeted by Alex, who gave us a tour of the place, and set us up with a hookah and a plate of hummus and pita, which was delicious. We also had some Moroccan tea and a plate of Buffalo wings. As I had said in my last post, we were considering going on Saturday night, when they have a belly dancer and DJ, but I’m glad we went when it was quiet and we had room to relax and stretch out a little. As far as the smoking experience goes, smoking a hookah is not very different from smoking a cigar.  Both are fairly social activities, and are about the flavor of the smoke.  It was quite enjoyable and I was pleased to find that my wife thought it was as well.

 

The owner, Mahrous, joined us for a while and told us how he got started with a restaurant in Greenwich Village with his brother, and how a friend asked if he could smoke his hookah in the back yard (I’m envisioning a garden or terrace with seating) since he couldn’t smoke it at home. Patrons of the restaurant asked to try it after while and it caught on there, and the hookah lounge was born. Fast forward twenty five years and he opened the lounge in West Chester.

 

My wife and I spent about 3 hours, a couple hookahs of (don’t laugh) Cherry Coke flavored shisha, another pot of Egyptian green tea (delicious, by the way) and a La Gloria Cubana Serie N in the lounge and a few people came and went, but it was a Sunday afternoon and the local college isn’t in session. Certainly the name “Cozy” is appropriate, and it’s nice to have a place that you can take your wife and enjoy a cigar and everyone’s happy. I can see meeting friends here for a smoke (cigar or hookah), and a quiet evening of conversation, at least during the quieter times, and I probably will organize something in the not too distant future. Kudos to Mahrous for opening a “smoking” establishment in this day and age, and having the community’s support in doing so.

Mahrous was kind enough to say a few words on video, and I actually make an appearance in this one, my apologies in advance 🙂

 

httpv://youtu.be/alJEP2NQ9WU

 

Ironically, our friends at Drew Estate are currently running a contest featuring their Acid shisha:

http://blog.drewestate.com/index.php/cigars/acid-shisha-giveaway/

 

Also, don’t forget to enter my contest to win a General Cigars prize pack. Contest ends Sunday!

 

That’s all I have for now, until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

 

Cozy Hookah & Cigar Lounge – 122 E. Gay Street – West Chester, PA 19380

610-696-5300  –  http://www.hookahandcigarlounge.com/

Open 10 am to 4 am daily (3am on Sundays)

 

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by | August 7, 2011 · 5:55 pm

General Cigars Week, a Macanudo, IPCPR Booth Tours and a Contest!

First off I’d like to thank and welcome Bonita Smoke Shop, our newest advertiser! Please give them a visit, either if you’re in Bonita Springs, FL, or by clicking on the graphic on the right! Nice folks with a great selection who were among the first shops with an internet presence back in the wild west days of the ’90s!

 

We left off having smoked a series of CAO cigars, and, since CAO is now part of General Cigar, I figured I’d wrap up the week with some more General products and a contest!  In an unrelated note, I had been approached some time ago by the marketing folks for a jazz artist named Anders Holst to review his CD, but it seems like I procrastinated and reviews have appeared on several other blog sites.  I don’t want to be repetitive, so check out Barry’s interview and review at ACigarSmoker.com.  I was going to try to tie it in with a review, but decided it’s been done, so thanks to Anders and the folks at his PR company for thinking of me.

 

The other evening I enjoyed a Macanudo 1968 Robusto again, I punched this one and the draw was excellent. I have really been digging these lately. A good friend related a story to me that when these were initially released he offered them unbanded, in a Havana cigar box, at an event and people thought they were Cuban. I don’t know about all that, and the power of suggestion can’t be discounted, but I really don’t draw a comparison. That’s not to say the Mac 68 isn’t a fine cigar, it is. It’s well made and very tasty. Since they lowered the price on these a few months back, it’s even a better cigar.

 

Saturday brought a migraine, which I tried to sleep off in anticipation of visiting a hookah and cigar lounge that’s opened in West Chester, PA (which is a few miles up the road from us). They are supposed to have a belly dancer on Friday and Saturday nights, and we’ve been trying to get there for a smoke. I’ve never tried the hookah, but I’m not repulsed by it and they do include cigars in the name of the place, so I’m open to try it out. I also was going to drive out to Lancaster PA to a cigar shop to meet up with a few folks, notably some of the guys from StogieReview.com. In the end, the migraine, along with my wife getting home from a business event later than anticipated, won the battle and we stayed in.

 

While I’m thinking about it, head on over to http://www.macanudomillionaire.com and enter the contest to win a trip to Vegas and a chance to win a million bucks. From the press release:

“Between now and September 30, consumers 21 year of age or older can enter to win an all-expense paid, three-day, two night trip to the in Las Vegas. While in Sin City, each winner and their guests will be treated to a VIP evening at the Playboy Club. There, a trio of Playboy Playmates will stand in for Lady Luck when each of the contestants and their guests play a high-stakes round of poker. If either the contest winners or their guests have a straight flush or higher, Macanudo will award the $1,000,000 prize.”

 

Here are a few videos I shot during my tour of the General Cigars booth at the IPCPR show. As always, these are raw videos, and, due to the ambient noise in the aircraft hangar they call an exhibition hall, they aren’t all that easy to hear. Thanks again to General Cigars for rolling out the red carpet for me again. They have quite a few exciting items again this year.

 

 

Contest!

 

Leave a comment to enter to win at least a five pack of General Cigar goodies, maybe more, but it will be at least five, I may be able to scrounge up more goodies. Contest will run for one week, with the winner being drawn on Sunday, August 14, 2011. Usual rules apply.  The prize may grow over the course of the week, hard to say!

 

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

CigarCraig

 

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