Tag Archives: Gran Habano

by CigarCraig | July 5, 2015 · 10:02 am

Psyko 7 Maduro, Fuente, CroMagnon, Gran Habano and Punch Cigars

Here we are on July 5th already. It seems like the summer is flying by and it’s barely started. In two weeks I’ll be in New Orleans at the IPCPR show, doing my best to collect information about the newest and greatest products. I don’t think I’ll do too many of the video interviews this time around, but I do have a little something special planned. We’ll see how that all turns out. I managed to smoke a few cigars this week, let’s have a look.

I received some Ventura Cigar Co. Psyko 7 Maduro Robusto samples a couple of weeks ago, and was really looking forward to trying them out. I had first smoked the natural wrapper Psyko 7 back when I was a guest on The Cigar Authority show back in November of 2013 and was really quite impressed. This is another impressive cigar, right up my alley. It’s got a San Andrés wrapper, an Ecuador binder, and an interesting blend of fillers including ligero from Nicaragua and Pennsylvania, some Honduran and Dominican and Pelo de Oro from Peru! How can I not like this cigar! The samples I smoked burned perfectly and had great, complex flavors of espresso, cacao with a nice sweetness. I appreciate the extra half-inch on this 5½” x 50 robusto. This is right up there with the Fratello Bianco as one of my newbies of the year so far. Very nice smoke.

After I had some more dental work done Monday I celebrated after with an Arturo Fuente Double Chateau Sungrown. Boy, is this a tasty cigar! It’s 6¾” x 50 with a cedar sleeve (which I removed before lighting, of course) and a black foot band. The standard Cheateau series is more common in the Connecticut Shade wrapper, and I’ve enjoyed my share of those over the years, but this Ecuador Sungrown wrapper is quite special. It was solidly medium, but it had loads of great savor flavors. I would definitely say that in the Fuente line, save for the Hemingway, Don Carlos, Opus, etc, the sungrown wrapper is my choice.

When I visited Holt’s a couple weeks ago I picked up some of the CroMagnon Mode 5 perfectos from RoMaCraft as I’d yet to smoke that shape and have heard so many great things about it. It’s not a huge cigar, 5″ x 50 in a perfecto format, tapering at either end, your old school, 40’s Warner Brothers cartoon shape. It was quite the fun cigar to smoke, and it was loaded with great, meaty flavors that really made me smile. Burn was perfect, it was well-balanced and not the powerhouse one expects from the name. I look forward to seeing Skip and Mike at the show this year, it’s been too long and they are really making great smokes.

The folks at Gran Habano send a few samples a couple of weeks back, and the Gran Habano Corojo No.5 Maduro 2011 Gran Robusto caught my eye. This is a 6″ x 54 toro with a dark Nicaraguan Maduro wrapper, Costa Rican grown Habano binder and fillers from Jalapa and Costa Rica. This was a great spicy cigar with some bitter dark chocolate that was really to my liking. It burned well, the draw was good, and it was a cigar I’ll smoke again. I find the banding to be a little too close to Cuban Limitada bands, that’s probably what they were going for but I think a little originality from a company that definitely has some original products would be better. I’m not going to mistake that beautiful dark wrapper for any Habanos cigars, and I would probably choose this flavor profile over most Havanas as well.

Yesterday was the 4th of July. My wife and I celebrate our wedding anniversary that day, as the US celebrates another birthday. I always choose a special cigar to mark the event, and there’s generally an element of civil disobedience involved that I’d like to think the founding fathers would approve of. Yesterday I selected a Havana Punch Churchill that was a gift from a friend a few years ago who serves our country and will remain nameless to protect the guilty! This particular cigar had the distinction of bearing a “Vintage 1999” secondary band which denotes that it was selected by Hunters and Frankau (the UK importer of Habanos cigars) as an exceptional cigar. I agree with their assessment, it was an exceptional cigar. While the draw was a bit more snug than I like, it smoked very well, needing no corrections, and the smoke had a delicate flavor that was quite delicious. It had a bit of the unique Cuban spice, and was a milder, but very special cigar. It was the perfect way to celebrate a special day. I wish I could be as complimentary about the Rocky Patel Freedom I smoked later in the evening, there was a sour component to the savory flavor that didn’t do it for me, and I wished I had chosen better, but the red white and blue band seemed appropriate for the occasion. The Punch Churchill was sublime though, and I’m fortunate to have had the chance to experience it.

That’s about it for today. We’re heading in to Philly again today for tea, then maybe a visit to Smoke in Manyunk after. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, CroMagnon, fuente, Gran Habano, habana, Psyko, punch, RoMaCraft, Ventura

by CigarCraig | January 11, 2015 · 10:22 am

Gran Habano STK Baracuda and a Marcus Daniel Cigars Kiev and a Video

It’s been a slow smoking week for me, the bitter cold here having some bearing on that. So I figured it would be a good time so smoke some new, interesting and unusual cigars. Friday I decided to spark up the Baracuda Maduro that the the folks at Gran Habano had sent me a few months ago. This was presented at last summer’s IPCPR show, and features a Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper, not something you typically see! The wrapper was a few shades lighter than a typical maduro, and it had a totally different flavor than I have come to expect from a cigar labeled “maduro”. That being said, the flavor was exceptional! Very different and unique, with frequent flavor changes that made it very interesting. One moment there would be some coffee flavors, the next some earth and pepper. This was a very entertaining cigar to smoke and I’ll be on the look out for a couple more to see if the experience repeats.

A couple months ago a recent;y retired former co-worker returned from a wedding in Florida where he met a cigar roller who was demonstrating his skill at the wedding. Knowing I am a cigar fan, this gentlemen managed to procure some samples after chatting up the gentleman rolling, who was, apparently, Marcus Daniel Morine, the proprietor of Marcus Daniel Tobacconist in Olde Naples, Florida. The three cigars I was given were all on the larger side, and I wanted to give them some humidor time before smoking them, as I had no idea how long they had been out of the humidor and wanted to give them the best opportunity to present themselves as the blender intended. There were two of the Dominican made Kiev line of cigars, a “Cloud Grown” Ecuador Connecticut, and a Habano Limited Reserve, and a Miami made Marcus Daniel® Habano. I chose the darker of the three last night for my evening walk and cigar, the Kiev LR Gran Parejo. This is a substantial cigar, 6½” x 57, well made, with an easy draw. My example had a bit of damage on the foot, which I never noticed at all when smoking. It burned perfectly and had pleasant flavors on the medium bodied side. As I’m writing this and doing a little research, I came across the price list for these on their website and I don’t think I would buy this cigar in the $45 price bracket. I was a bit stunned at that pricing. For me, it was a good, $8 or$9 cigar, nothing so special to warrant that kind of pricing (really, what cigar does?), but it was a nice, satisfying smoke.

Since I’m a little light on content this time, I thought I’d share a neat video that I was asked to watch and share. Frank Correnti Cigars in Toronto, Canada, has been making what were called “Clear Havanas” in the ’50s. They hand make cigars from Havana leaf, and claim to be the only factory doing that in Canada. I’ve never smoked their cigars, but I’ve heard of them over the years, and the folks at Notion Boulevard did a really nice job with this video. Thanks to Zack there for passing this along.

That’s if for today. Not sure what’s on my schedule, but I may try another one of the cigars from Marcus Daniel, or I may rummage around for something else that strikes me as interesting, I rarely know until I dive into the humidors what I’m going to smoke at any given time. So, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Frank Correnti, George Rico, Gran Habano, Marcus Daniel

by CigarCraig | November 26, 2014 · 9:39 pm

Gran Habano, Martinez and Foundry Cigars

The weather’s been all over the place this week, from 70 on Monday to a few inches of heavy, wet snow today. Between the weather, trying to get stuff done in the house so we can move in this weekend, and Thanksgiving tomorrow, it’s been a busy week. I still managed to get a few cigars in, they are helping me retain any sanity I have left. I started off Sunday afternoon with a nice cigar from Gran Habano, the Gran Reserva No. 5 2010 Gran Robusto. This is a 6″ x 54 toro presented with a cedar sleeve. The wrapper and binder are identified as Corojo 2005 and Habano 2005 respectively, with filler from Jalapa. I’m not entirely sure where the 2010 comes into play, or whether the 2005 wrapper and binder are crop years, but this is a really nice cigar. It burned perfectly and had a nice smooth spice. This was a full flavors smoke and considering it’s priced well, has the taste and feel of the well aged cigar that it apparently is. Certainly a cigar that would have a broad appeal and could be smoked just about any time.

Monday’s cigar was delicious, but it was a little over humidified, so I’ll revisit it at a later date. It didn’t smoke they way it should have and I always give cigars the benefit of the doubt when they don’t work right. Tuesday I decided to try a cigar I bought when I was in New York City a few weeks ago and visited the Martinez Cigar factory. This cigar was from their Pasion line, which is a blend of Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers with a Nicaraguan wrapper rolled right in New York City. When I tell you this factory is small, I’m not exaggerating. They have one and a half pairs of rollers! One roller concentrates on one line and makes a bunch of their small cigars every day, and a pair works in the normal fashion of a buncher and a wrapper. They age all their cigars in a basement escaparate. It’s a tiny little hole in the wall near Penn Station. The Pasion is a little rustic looking, but it had a free draw and had a very Cuban feel to way it smoked. The flavor had a nice spice and was smooth. This is a place to visit when in the big apple, especially if you’ve never seen cigars being rolled. The cigars are in the $8 to $10 range for the most part, which isn’t uncommon for NYC.

Tonight, in the snow, I smoked a Foundry Rare Air ET-P2 in a 5 ½” x49 robusto (the same size as the Partagas Robusto, which is an unusual size that I really like). The story with the Rare Air series is that they used some seeds from the 1960s that General Cigar has in their library of seeds, germinated and grown on their farm in Mao in the Dominican Republic. I had the good fortune to visit Mao in 2011, although it was before the growing season and was just being planted with some experimental crops unrelated to Foundry. As with most of the Foundry lines, there is little info about the blend, except that it’s grown in the Dominican Republic. I personally have really enjoyed the majority of cigars in the Foundry portfolio, and this was no different. It’s a dark cigar, with rich, lush flavors that suit my palate to a tee. It also has a little different something there that makes it unique, and special. This is one of those cigars that could be a go-to smoke, it’s a shame it’s limited. I’ll be interested to see how the other cigars in this line smoke. There are a lot of very reasonably priced cigars in the Foundry line, alas, this isn’t one, coming in just under $10. A fine smoke in my humble opinion.

That’s it for now. For all my American readers, have a safe and happy Thanksgiving! Try to find time to follow your feast with a nice smoke. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Foundry, Gran Habano, Gran Reserva, Martinez, Pasion, Rare Air

by CigarCraig | July 27, 2014 · 11:36 am

Gran Habano Baracuda, La Hermandad and Buena Vista Reserva and a Book

I guess I’m just in the habit of smoking new cigars this time of year because of going to the IPCPR for the last few years, although I did revisit an old favorite too. I also read a book over the course of the week that I wanted to share. The book is called “From Seeds to Cigars” and is written by William Miller. Mr. Miller is a photographer and graphic designer who had the good fortune to visit several factories and farms in Honduras and Nicaragua while working for Famous Smoke Shop. This is a quick read, but there’s a lot of good information, and beautiful photos. The photos and layout of this are really where the book shines. I came across a couple pieces of information which I thought were either out of order or just plain wrong, but overall, it’s a nice introduction to the magic behind how are favorite cigars are made. I’m happy to add it to my library of cigar books. This one was a gift from the author, but this is available at Famous Smoke Shop and Amazon.com.

Thursday I got off to a late start so I grabbed a robusto out of the humidor for my evening walk. I had a Gran Habano STK Baracuda Robusto that the folks at Gran Habano sent along with a few other cigars. This 5″ x 50 classic robusto has a flattened pigtail cap which snipped off easily with the Xikar scissors. It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers. I got a woody taste throughout the cigar along with some spice. It was very enjoyable to smoke as the burn was perfect and when ashed it left a nice flat coal. These are a very limited release and quite well done. Priced right, this would be a nice addition to the humidor.

Friday I went to the revisit. Many time I find myself reaching for a “sure thing” at the end of a rought week. I saw Sean Williams at the PDR booth at Famous Smoke Shop’s Cigarnival and he laid a El Primer Mundo La Hermandad Embajador toro on me. The La Hermandad line is right up my alley, the sweet Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper and the spicy Nicaraguan fillers make it just about my ideal cigar. Sean maintains his own El Primer Mundo line, while also heading up sales at Pinar Del Rio, and he one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. This was a great way to wrap up the work week.

Saturday after a long day of yard work, and loafing in the pool with a Liga Unico UF-13, I decided to dig into samples from MGM Cigars, a beautiful three pack of Buena Vista Seleccion Reserva. When I received this package I couldn’t believe the weight of the box. When I opened the shipping box, there was a nice, red fiber board gift box, containing this three count humidor, complete with felt on the bottom and a high gloss red piano finish. This is some presentation! Contained within were three cigars, the Prominente 7 x 49, the Piramide 6.3 x 52 and the Corona Larga 4.8 x 50. I can remember back at the 2011 IPCPR show I ran into the then US importer of this line who gave me a sample that I enjoyed, but really didn’t find it distinctive (read here). I think the story was something along the lines of bringing in Cuban rollers to Ecuador for several months at a time. I’m not sure where these are manufactured now, I read Mexico someplace also using Cuban rollers. The Prominente I smoked last night was very enjoyable. I found it to be very bright and refreshing. I swear I got some mint notes, which would be ironic since I spent my morning pulling up mint plants around the yard. Those things grow like crazy. I really look forward to smoking the torpedo and robusto to see if I get that same sensation. This iteration of this brand seems to be priced much better than the previous version, which I remember to be over $10 for the robusto, and if these are the same cigars that have been in storage for the last 3 years, the time has been good to them. This is a well made, wonderfully presented cigar that I found very enjoyable and interesting. There’s some great information at CigarFederation.com on this cigar, and my thanks to Gabriel Piñeres for sending these along.

That’s all I have for now. I took a break from trimming some hedges and spreading some mulch to finish this off. Hopefully when I’m done another great cigar in the pool is in my future. I have to make the most of the pool as I don’t think our next house is going to have one.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Baracuda, Buena Vista, cigar, cigars, From Seeds to Cigars, Gran Habano, La Hermandad, MGM, Primer Mundo

by CigarCraig | August 25, 2013 · 2:00 pm

IPCRP 2013 – Guayacan Cigars, and Other Cigars That Start With G

As we were working our way through the House of Emilio booth at the IPCPR show we were introduced to Noel Rojas, the man behind Guayacan Cigars. Noel has an amazing story, which he shares in the video below. His cigars are top notch, I smoked a torpedo this week that I’ve had in the humidor since last December and it was fantastic. I found it to be complex, medium bodied, and had a really nice hint of citrus that I liked. I really look forward to trying his maduro when it becomes available. Don’t miss this short video interview with Noel. Fascinating story!

http://youtu.be/Fonjk9rKtz8

Friday evening I grabbed a Gurkha Ghost from the humidor and took a walk. I’ve smoked a few of these since hey came out and as much as I wanted to like them, they didn’t WOW me. Maybe it’s a few more months of age (mine or the cigar?), but this one hit me right. It was what I expected from the others but didn’t get. Nice, sweet, lush flavors that I expect from a Brazilian Arapiraca wrapped cigar. The band and packaging are pretty cool too. I’m glad I have finally come to like these, and I have no idea why I felt the desire to enjoy this particular cigar.

Yesterday I was thinking about what to smoke, and working on today’s post in my head, and the CDO (that’s OCD in alphabetical order, as it should be) in me decided I needed another cigar with a name that started with G. It turns out there’s not a lot of them! Fortunately I found a Gran Habano Gran Reserva No. 3 2008 Churchill that I had bought well over a year ago. The wrapper is a beautiful milk chocolate brown, and is from Columbia, which you don’t see very often. The cigar burned perfectly and was smooth and delicious. I actually haven’t smoked more than a handful of Gran Habano products, but the couple cigars in this line have really impressed me. Another medium bodied smooth and flavorful smoke to round out my week.