Sunday afternoon I was remembering a year ago walking into my room at Drew Estate Cigar Safari and seeing the news coverage of the terrible earthquake and tsunami in Japan.  I decided that the lone Para Japon I had in my humidor was the appropriate cigar to smoke.  I think nearly year’s age has done this cigar well, I enjoyed it quite a bit.  Thanks to Tony at CasasFumando.com for the opportunity to try these (and check out their contests currently under way to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of the site.  Keep up the good work, Tony and Daniel!).  The Para Japon was made by La Aurora with the proceeds benefiting the relief efforts in Japan.  I remember seeing a few boxes of these at Cigar-ette City in Newark, DE the last time I was there, so there may be some still in the marketplace. (late addition: Bonita Smoke Shop has them)
Monday I decided to walk to the shop to retrieve my car from it’s annual state inspection.  For those unfamiliar with the process, many states requite safety and emissions inspections every year in an effort to produce revenue for the state and the shops that are approved by the state to perform these inspections.  I manage to ease the financial impact a bit by having my cars inspected at the local Monro, which is attached to my local BJ’s Wholesale Club, where I work part time and get a healthy discount!  Ha! Anyway, the place is nearly three miles away, so a substantial cigar is in order for the walk.  I selected a Gurkha Cellar Reserve  Churchill, at 7″ x 54, due in part to it’s size, and the fact that my brother-in-law said that it was the best cigar he’d smoked out of a handful I had given him.  I had smoked one previously and it was pretty good, and this one was pretty good as well.  It certainly lasted to the shop, then back home for a good thirty minutes on the porch.  Burn was perfect, it could have been a little freer in the draw, but gave me nearly two hours of smoking time.  It was in the 60s and a beautiful evening for early March in PA.
Tuesday night I was visited by a high school buddy of mine and introduced him to taking a cigar for a walk.  Greg is a fellow cigar nut so I opened the box of La Gloria Cubana Artesanos Retro Especiale Cubano that I brought back from my visit to the DR and we fired them up.  This is another large cigar, 6½” x 58, with a golden Honduras/Connecticut wrapper.  These are a recent favorite and bring back a lot of fond memories of the trip where I smoked a fair amount of these.  It had been over a year since Greg and I last met up for a smoke, so we got caught up and enjoyed another terrific evening with temps around 70.  My wife teased me that it was a play date, but we just talked about mutual interests, cigars, drums, cycles, stuff like that.
As I’ve been typing this, I’ve been smoking a cigar that I picked up at Cigars International on Saturday. Â I don’t think I’ve ever had a Padilla cigar, and the Habano Artisano intrigued me when I saw it on the shelf. Â I have a hard time spending $8 on a cigar, what can I say…I’m cheap. Â When I saw this cigar priced at $8 I wondered aloud how that can possibly make this for that price. Â This perfecto shaped cigar starts out like any “barber pole” cigar, but they take it a step farther and adorn it with additional stripes of tobacco. Â This has to be time consuming to do, and makes for a stunning presentation. Â Much to my delight, it’s a delicious cigar! Â It’s smooth, tasty and surprisingly even burning. Â It’s nice, cool looking cigar, a fun smoke that’s tasty and satisfying! Â The only complaint is that the ash is a little flakey.
In the News
News From the IPCPR and CRA:
Milestone Alert: IPCPR/CRA team achieves 160th co-sponsor for Traditional Cigar Manufacturing Small Business Jobs Preservation Act as Rep Jim Costa [CA-20] joins us!!
Sincerely,
Bill Spann, Chief Executive Officer, IPCPR
Please use the “Write to Congress” widget on the top left of this page and keep asking your elected officials to get behind these bills. Â Our enjoyment of cigars depends upon the FDA not having regulatory control of premium cigars!
On a related note, I received this press release today:
Midwest Smoke Out partners with Cigar Rights of America for exceptional evening
March 13, 2012—Hammond, Ind.–Midwest Smoke Out and Cigar Rights of America (CRA) are partnering for an evening of luxury, gourmet foods, live entertainment—and of course, cigars— Thursday, April 19 from 5-10 p.m., minutes from Chicago at The Venue at Horseshoe Casino, in Hammond, Ind.Since Illinois legislation banned smoking in Chicago, Midwest Smoke Out (MSO) is the only exposition to give cigar aficionados an evening of cigars and indoor smoking. Every year, MSO provides a free one-year CRA membership or renewal with every ticket, meaning that in only a few hours, CRA gains over 1,000 members whose average income is more than $160,000. These new members are often opinion leaders in their communities.“We at Midwest Smoke Out are privileged to partner with Cigar Rights of America,†said Andrea Pearman, Creative Commander of Diversified Marketing Strategies, Inc., which organizes the event. “At a time when so many cigar smokers have to gather—literally—out in the cold, we’re happy not only to welcome them inside but also provide them with the luxury experience of the year.â€With FDA regulation looming and states still legislating, MSO is a key event for CRA membership growth, though the evening isn’t all business. It’s pleasure, too, with ticket-holders having the opportunity to meet Lou Rodriguez of the eponymous cigars, Tony Gomez of La Flor Dominicana, Cigar Master Alejandro Turrent, Victor Vitale of the Cigar Agency and Clay Roberts of A.J. Fernandez. Cigar god Carlito Fuentes is scheduled to greet all ticketholders. MSO is for everyone who enjoys luxury, with attendees receiving deluxe giveaways, complimentary massages, experiencing the latest in gaming, being dazzled by live entertainment, and enjoying gourmet food, wine, beer and spirits.
For tickets (and your paid membership to CRA) contact event director Jo Sutton at jo@3dms.com or 1-888-226-0330. For more information, visitwww.midwestsmokeout.com, like on Facebook, connect on LinkedIn, or follow on Twitter at @MidwestSmokeOut
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Join the Cigar Rights of America, write to your elected officials, and save the cigars!
That’s all I got, until the next time,
CigarCraig
Sunday was a beautiful day. I slept in a bit after working at my part time job until 3am, went out to breakfast with my lovely wife, then came home to have a nice cigar before settling in to watch the Flyers playoff game. I had a Gran Habano Gran Reserva torpedo floating around the humidor that one of my loyal readers had shared with me. Todd at Kutztown Tobacconist recommended this same cigar to me, so it looked like a good cigar for a nice afternoon. It turns out, I made a good choice. The cedar sleeve came off and underneath was a nice, clean wrapper leaf, very pretty. It was smooth, well balanced and flavorful. It went well with the bottle of Appalachian Brewery Ginger Beer, which I found to be a little sweeter than I’d prefer, but a nice, tasty ginger beer. I still prefer the bite of a nice Reeds Extra Ginger Brew, but this one is a nice change of pace. The Flyers game was fantastic…
Monday I selected a Broadway Series by La Aurora, which was a gift from my bro Barry Stein, formerly of acigarsmoker.com, currently of Miami Cigar and Co. First, let me say that I really like the La Aurora Company, and Miami Cigar And Co. All the folks involved with these companies are top-notch. I have smoked La Aurora cigars for years, the first box of cigars I ever purchased was La Aurora Bristol Especiales back around 1996. There’s something about the flavor profile of a lot of the cigars from La Aurora that just doesn’t float my boat. I don’t quite know what it is, the construction is always excellent, and they generally burn well. I’ve had this cigar before, which was made by La Aurora for the New York tobacconists to be able to sell at a reasonable price in their high-tax environment. I like it. Maybe I’m starting to “get” the flavor profile from La Aurora, there were several times when I got a flavor that caught my interest. Really nice smoke, if you can find these, try a few. I’ll keep trying the cigars from these companies for sure. Thanks again to Barry for the smoke!
It’s Wednesday, and I promised to announce the winner of Sunday’s contest. I was surprised by the number of entries, thank you all for reading and leaving a note. So I’ve consulted the great Random.org’s random number generator and it tells me that comment number 5 is the winner. Doug Bryant: please e-mail me with your address so I can get these goodies out to you! Many thanks to the companies who, either directly or indirectly, made this contest possible! Camacho, Joya de Nicaragua/Drew Estate, StogieBoys.com, Gurkha, Oliva, The Griffins, Joya de Nicaragua, and General Cigar Co. As promised, a similar, but doubled, package will go to Cigars4Troops.
We had 2 hours to kill, so I picked up a 
Saturday brought even warmer temps and I took a nice long walk with a 
