Tag Archives: Gurkha

by CigarCraig | December 27, 2015 · 9:51 am

Contest Wrap-up, a Meet-up at JM Cigars, an Event at Mojo and a RoMaCraft Neanderthal

OK, a regular, non-contest post. How do I do this again? It’s been a crazy couple weeks, hasn’t it? Besides the 234 cigars, three ashtrays, two cutters, a lighter, and various other items, including one of a kind art and jewelry, there were some major holidays in there too. Time spent with family is the best part of the holiday for me, but doing this 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways is a load of fun too. My unending thanks to the following companies and individuals who made all this possible, in no particular order: Eric Whitfield, Broc Jackson, Jack at Duran Premium Cigars, David and his crew at 2 Guys Smokeshop, Victoria at General Cigar Co., Fred at Nomad Cigar Co., Victor at Tortuga Cigars, Jason at Best Cigar Prices, Abe and his gang at Smoke Inn, Mel and Ron at MBombay Cigars, Bianca at Gurkha and the folks at Joya de Nicaragua and Drew Estate! As I say every year, I could do this on my own, but it would cost me a fortune! Thanks to all of them and all of you for coming back every day and entering! Next year I have some different plans, but it should still be fun, that is, unless the FDA ruins everything! We’ll remain positive, keep calling your elected officials and letting them know that premium cigars should be exempt from regulation, and keep up your CRA memberships!

One of the things I did last week in, an effort to save on shipping and meet some new friends, was to hand deliver winnings from Days five and six. It turned out that Mike and Andrew were reasonably close by so we met up at JM Cigar in Exton, PA for a smoke. Of course, I spent easily twice what I would have spent on shipping on cigars, but that’s way more productive. While shopping I came across a lone El Rico Habano Maduro Gran Habanaro (double corona) in a box and it look so lonely I had to add it to my cart, so to speak. I haven’t smoked an El Rico in ages, I can remember back in the ’90s when this was one of the strongest cigars on the market, a real powerhouse. It was Ernesto Perez Carillo’s brand that took a back seat to La Gloria Cubana, and I smoked a bunch of them. It’s a minor brand now with General Cigar Co., only available in three sizes and maduro, where the original version was a natural wrapper. I thought the 7½ x 54 size would be a good size for sitting in the lounge, getting to know new friends, kinda cigar. It was good, but not as good as I remember my last one being, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing as I didn’t want a cigar that would distract me from conversation. As it always seems to be, meeting up to deliver a prize beats USPS every time, I felt like I have a few more friends now, and look forward to meeting up with Mike and Andrew again soon. Thank you to them for adding to the spirit of the season!

Thursday I ran down to Cigar Mojo in King of Prussia, PA as they were having a Perdomo event and raffling off a tremendous Perdomo 20th Anniversary humidor. I like the Perdomo 20th a lot, especially in maduro, so I bought a hand full (as if I needed more cigars!) and got one chance in the drawing. The winner was a guy who bought a bunch of boxes of the 20th Anniversarys, so it’s hard to begrudge him the win. It was a beautiful box, but I don’t know where I would have put it, so it worked out in the end. I thoroughly enjoyed a 20th Maduro Churchill while hanging out and talking to our local Perdomo rep, Joe Winder (who is probably the very first cigar company rep I ever met many years ago at a cigar event in Pittsburgh), CRA Ambassador and all-around good guy, Alan Price, who was working at the shop, owners Wade and Trae and various other customers. I didn’t win the humidor, but I did put some great cigars in my humidor and had a relaxing afternoon.

As it was a special occasion, I selected some other great cigars that are worth mentioning. For the second year in a row, I took my Christmas Eve walk with a Padron 1964 Anniversary Maduro Exclusivo, obviously a classic Nicaraguan maduro that’s like desert in cigar form. Absolutely delicious. Christmas day, after the kids and grandkids left, I sparked up a Fuente Hemingway Signature Maduro, again, a spectacular cigar that’s not unreasonably priced. It was rich, burned perfectly and hit the spot. Yesterday Macha and I took a four mile walk with a favorite Nica Rustica Belly, maybe I’m on a bit of a Maduro kick? I must be, because last night I lit up a cigar that caught my eye and I bought while at Mojo, a RoMa Craft Neanderthal HN, with a San Andrés wrapper. Of all the great cigars I’ve smoked over the last couple weeks, this might have been my favorite. This cigar has a couple of distinctions, first, it has a flat head, and a slight taper at the foot, which I didn’t really notice until I looked at the photo, and it still looks like a robusto, as the size is listed at 5″ x 52/58. Now that I look at it, it may taper from head to foot. It could have been shaped like a pretzel for all I care, it tasted fantastic. Not only does it have a beautiful dark and oily San Andrés wrapper, but it has a Connecticut broadleaf binder, and fillers from Pennsylvania, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. About half way in to the cigar I got a really interesting and delicious spice, which really intrigued me. This was a $12 cigar and honestly, I don’t think I realized the price point when I bought them, I might not have taken the plunge. I’m glad I did. I’ve heard from people That this was a super strong cigar, and it didn’t hit me that way at all, it was full-bodied and loaded with flavor, but I didn’t feel the nicotine at all. Stellar cigar from Skip and Mike at RoMa! I used a punch in the flat head of the cigar if anyone was curious.

You probably want to know who won the final bonus day contest, the great painting “Wind” by Eric “The Cigartist” Whitfield. It looked like only those who really wanted and appreciated this item entered (or everyone is sick to death of my contests), so I consulted Random.org and got the number 37, which corresponds to KRUK, who I know will give this a good home, despite the relative creepiness of his comment :-). Bryan, please send me your address so I can forward it on to Eric. Thank you all, and don’t despair, there could well be a Happy New Year contest!

That’s plenty from me, until the next time,

Cigar Craig

19 Comments

Filed under Contest, Events, Review, Stores

Tagged as 12 days, 2 Guys Smokeshop, Best Cigar Prices, cigar, Cigar Mojo, cigars, CIGARtist, Contest, drew estate, General Cigar Co., Gurkha, JM Cigars, joya de nicaragua, MBombay, Neanderthal, Nomad, RoMa Craft, Smoke Inn, Tortuga

by CigarCraig | December 22, 2015 · 7:40 am

CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways 2015 Day 12: Gurkha

It’s finally here, Day 12, and boy do we have a bunch of stuff for the lucky winner! Gurkha always comes through with great stuff for under the tree and in the stockings, and this year is no different. Where to start? Well, there’s a box of the East India Trading Co. Classic Cigar Havana Blend No. 359 Lancero. This is a box of twenty 7″ x 42 cigars, and if they are anything like their robusto cousins, which I smoke often, they are very good, with some surprising flavors. I’ll be looking for some of these to try. If that wasn’t enough, there a great red ceramic ashtray, a survival knife that my youngest son has, in the past, described as “Bad Ass”, a really cool Barracuda dual flame torch lighter with a flip out punch cutter, and wrap it all up (literally, if you like) in a huge Gurkha flag! THAT is a load of great stuff! Everything you need to cut, light, ash and enjoy a great cigar. Thank you to Bianca at Gurkha for today’s presents!

Today’s going to be a busy day I think! I’m meeting not one, but two reasonable local winners to deliver presents today, and need to get Schon’s goodies packed and shipped. But I’m sure you’re waiting to hear who won the Azon cigars and cutter, right? I need to hear from advicefromarecruiter with his address so I can pass it on to Jack at Duran Premium Cigars! Congrats, enjoy, and Happy Holidays! Thanks again to Jack, he was one of the first to enthusiastically come on board this year!

You know what to do now, leave a comment here, check back tomorrow to see if you won!

RULES

All you have to do to enter is to leave a comment on the post of the day, if you can, try to post what you know or how you feel about today’s present, the folks donating the gift should get some feedback for their troubles! It’s not a condition to win, but it’s nice to have something to read. We did this last year and it benefits everyone. Once you’ve won, you’re out, let everyone else have a chance. Must be over 18 to win. Also, be sure to visit the links for each item. Comments on Facebook, Twitter, or anywhere else will not count, but feel free to spread the word!

Until tomorrow,

CigarCraig

103 Comments

Filed under Contest

Tagged as 12 days, cigar, cigars, Contest, Gurkha

by CigarCraig | November 29, 2015 · 1:48 pm

Padilla, Byron, Cohiba, Norteño, Gurkha and BG Meyers Cigars

I hope everyone out there who celebrates it had a peaceful and nutritious Thanksgiving! Ours was small, with a delicious dinner followed by a good cigar. Lets remember how fortunate we are this time of year and consider that there are those who don’t have great cigars or even a good meal. Throwing a little something to your local food bank now and then won’t hurt. That’s enough of the public service announcement portion of the blog post, what did I smoke this week? Last week I mentioned the new Reserva line from Padilla, so I lit up the Padilla Reserva Corojo 99 robusto this week, since Criollo is generally not one of my favorite wrappers I saved it for last. The Corojo was another really nice cigar, with a unique flavor in the background, not unlike its San Andrés sibling. I’m looking forward to trying the Criollo 98 version now. As I am prone to do, I feel the need to criticize the Padilla website. It’s just white, literally nothing there, and has been for a couple of weeks.

Wednesday I decided to celebrate the end of the holiday shortened week with a Byron Serie Siglo XIX Grand Poemas, a 6″ x 56 toro, with undisclosed filler, wrapper and binder. These are made in Costa Rica (Same factory as MBombay and Vegas de Santiago I believe), under the watchful eye of Nelson Alphonso. Some of come in cool Humiditubes, like the Atabay line from the same company, but this was a sample/gift from David Garofalo, who distributes the company’s cigars. I can see why smokers like Dave, who likes milder cigars, loves these and puts them at the top of their all-time favorite lists. It’s absolutely perfectly constructed, in every way. Burn is straight as an arrow, draw is ideal, and it’s got a very pleasing flavor in the medium bodied range. Obviously every detail was attended to in the making of these cigars, and the quality shows, and it should since it’s not a cheap date. Personally, there are quite a few cigars I consider expensive that I’d buy two or three of before buying one of these, but it’s a special cigar, for sure, and I’m very glad for the opportunity to have smoked them. There are three series in this line, the XIX, XX and XXI, and the significance is that the XXI (19) is how they imagine the cigar was blended in the 1800s, when the Byron brand originated, with the XX symbolizing the 1900s and the XXI the 2000s. Who’s to argue?

After a delicious and satisfying Turkey dinner on Thursday, I was rummaging through one of the humidors when I came across a Cohiba Siglo III in a yellow cardboard box which was a gift from a friend several years ago. It seemed like the right time to smoke this, and I haven’t smoked a great many Cuban Cohibas in the past. I had no idea the age of this cigar prior to it being in my possession, which can be an issue with Cuban cigars, but I considered the source, and figured it was ready to go. 20 years ago Cuban cigars were considered very strong, but I think they are more on the mild side now. Back in 1999 I went to a cigar breakfast in Vegas where Bolivar Belicosos Finos were the featured cigar kind of as an irony, as that cigar was one of the strongest cigars out there at the time. This Cohiba reminded me of the Byron in a way, it was mild, subtle and sophisticated. The cigar was a nice size too, 6.10″ x 42 and burned well. I think it was a great way to end the day. I am certainly thankful that one of the harder decisions I have to make is what cigar to smoke.

After dabbling in the mild, subtle and complex end of the cigar pool for a few days I wanted to switch gears and go for a cigar I knew would be a heavy, rich, uncomplicated flavor factory. The Norteño Edicion Limitada from Drew Estate practically jumped into my hand. This is a Churchill sized cigar with an oval-shaped box press, measuring 7″ x 48, with a San Andrés wrapper, Honduran binder and fillers from Jalapa and Esteli. This is one of those cigars I mentioned above that I’d buy two of over one Byron, just because it has the sweet, cocoa, espresso flavor I really like in a cigar. This is another winning blend from Willie Herrera, pretty limited and exclusive, and $14 too, it’s definitely worth a try.

Yesterday I tuned into the afternoon Flyers vs. Rangers game on my tablet and say in my back porch and smoked a cigar while I watch the second and third periods. A Gurkha Royal Challenge Maduro Toro caught my eye, the colors in the band were what did it, and the dark, oily wrapper. I would have liked a little more resistance in the draw on this one, it was very open, and I worried that this would overheat the cigar and ruin it, so I was careful not to overdraw. I started out with a little bit of a bitter flavor, not the sweetness that the Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper would normally have. It was almost dirty tasting at the start, sometimes I like that. I was initially regretting my choice, but after an inch or so it settled into a pretty tasty smoke that got me midway into the third period, which allowed me to watch the dramatic conclusion on the larger screen (tablet battery was about to die anyway). This was from that orange boxed sampler from the IPCPR show (gave one away here), and was the only true 6″ x 50 toro in the bunch. There were some things I liked about this cigar, but there were also things I didn’t. The game turned out great though, the Flyers have had trouble scoring goals and winning in Madison Square Garden, and didn’t have either of those problems yesterday.

I finished the day off with a BG Meyers Standard Issue toro, which was in The Cigar Authority Care Package. This was 2 Guys Smokeshop/The Cigar Authority’s Cigar of the Year last year, and I have to say that I kinda get why. I smoked it while listening to the show, I got one right for a change! It seems like I either forget I have the cigar, don’t pay attention to which cigar is on the show, or something. I think I still have one cigar from each of the last two care packages leftover because of my lack of focus (to be fair, one wa a Tortuga Cedros No.5, and I have a bunch of them and have smoked them before). Anyway, the BG Meyer is from Camacho, in their Board of the Bold series with Mat Booth, that football guy (Mike Ditka), and this one which is fronted by Rob Weiss, who created the TV show “Entourage”. It didn’t burn as well as the other cigar I smoked this week, but it wasn’t crazy bad, just needed a couple touch-ups. It was meaty, savory and pretty darned good. Camacho did some pretty good things last year, and this line might well be one of them. Again, not unlike the Room 101 line, finding a website to reference was impossible. You’d think the folks at Davidoff would understand that.

Enough from me, have a great Sunday and I’ll be back later. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

3 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as BG Meyer, Byron, cigar, cigars, cohiba, Gurkha, Norteño, Padilla

by CigarCraig | November 22, 2015 · 10:36 am

Avo Syncro, Padilla, La Flor Dominicana, Gurkha and Alec Bradley Cigars

It’s been another busy week, lots of great cigars smoked, and making some progress putting together this year’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways. It should be another good one this year! I’ve smoked about eight cigars since my last post here, and you may notice I am only featuring five here today. If you follow my Instagram account (here) you can get a pretty good idea what cigars I smoke during the week. There are a few reasons I may not feature a cigar here, sometimes it’s one of my favorites that I go to often, other times I either feel like I need to smoke more to get a handle on the cigar, or the cigar just sucks (to me, every cigar is somebody’s baby, who am I to crap on it just because I don’t like it?). Anyway, that’s a little glimpse into some of my process, which is basically just to unwind with a great cigar in the evenings, not much more to it than that!

Last Sunday I capped off the weekend with the new Avo Syncro Nicaraguan in the box pressed toro size. This is a great looking 6″ x 54 cigar, and was in the Davidoff IPCPR sampler. I had previously smoked the Short Robusto, which was featured on The Cigar Authority show, so I was looking forward to a couple of hours of enjoyment from this toro. I received the enjoyment, and I was a little worried because my Avo track record isn’t great. This one is different with the inclusion of tobacco from Ometepe (the volcanic island in Lake Nicaragua), with the darker Ecuador Connecticut wrapper, Dominican binder and other fillers from the DR and Peru. I found this to be a great smoke, although I cant really say that there’s anything that would send me back to the store for more, there are other cigar in that priced range that have something special to offer. Again, I have a record of not “getting” Avo cigars, so there’s that, but it was a very good cigar, just not particularly notable.

Tuesday I took a walk with something new from Padilla, the Reserva San Andrés in the robusto size. I had never met Ernesto Padilla until Victor Vitale introduced me to him at the IPCPR this year. The Reserva also comes in a Corojo 99 and Criollo 98 version, and they are made at the Raices Cubanas factory in Honduras, along with some other of my favorite cigars. Of the three cigars, of course I had to smoke the San Andrés first. This was a very well constructed and slow burning robusto. At one point about half way through the cigar I got an interesting exotic spice flavor that I found quite unique. It didn’t have the tastes I expected, but was excellent anyway, this is one I would buy the next time I see it in a store, and they are priced in the $6 range, so they are quite affordable. Maybe one or both of the other others will get smoked today.

Next up was a La Flor Dominicana LG Diez Vintage 2015 Lusitano which was in a bunch of cigars I received a few weeks ago from Jonathan Carney, VP of Sales at LFD. The unique thing about this line is that it’s a Dominican puro, and to take it one step further than that, all the tobaccos are grown on La Flor Dominicana’s own farms. I don’t know what they do at LFD, but their Dominican cigars are unlike any others, in my opinion. I often forget that they are Dominican, they are full-bodied and spicy for the most part, and I really enjoy them. This also comes in a new robusto or Rothschild size that I look forward to sampling. These are pretty awesome cigars that are quite relaxing and satisfying.

Friday I went with the new Gurkha Heritage in the Toro size. This cigar comes in a cedar sleeve, and has a Rosado Ecuador Habano wrapper, does it seem like Connecticut Shade wrapper just because of the green ribbon at the foot of the cedar sleeve? I guess I’m just conditioned to see green ribbon on a cedar sleeve and think Fuente Chateau (or Tortuga Connecticut) and expect a milder cigar. This was a solid medium cigar, and it was loaded with pleasant mellow woody flavors and was a really enjoyable smoke. I expected a mild cigar, and wasn’t in any way let down. Good construction, nice draw and burn, and good flavor. Say what you want about Gurkha, but they do make some great smokes, and this is a winner in my book.

Finally, yesterday I smoked the new Alec Bradley Post Embargo in the Toro size. This is a box pressed toro which measures 6¼” x 54, but the box press makes it seem a little thinner. I smoked the lancero last week and liked it, but wanted to compare it to the larger ring gauge. These have a Honduran wrapper, which in my experience, isn’t the most flavorful of wrappers. I enjoy the flavors in this cigar, it’s a medium bodied, just plain good smoke. I only picked up a handful of these a week ago, so I’ll be revisiting this as well as the lancero and Robusto in the future, but it seems like another solid line from Alec Bradley. They did a complete makeover of the packaging and bands on the line, and the finished product is quite classy. I’ve been a fan of Alec Bradley since the Trilogy line back in the mid 2000’s, they continue to produce good cigars, with all but the Fine and Rare series in what I consider the “reasonably priced” category.

That’s all for now. I also smoked a great CAO Flathead Steel Horse and another Sobremesa, this time in the Corona Grande size, and all I can say about the Sobremesa is that I wished it was longer, great cigars that deserve the accolades they are receiving. I hope all of my US readers have a great Thanksgiving celebration with your families, and pick out some great post turkey smokes! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

3 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as Alec Bradley, Avo, cigar, cigars, Gurkha, La Flor Dominicana, LG Diez, Padilla, Post Embargo, Reserva, Syncro

by CigarCraig | October 11, 2015 · 11:06 am

A Byron, a Maxx, a Recluse, Quick Draw and an Indian Motorcycle Premium Cigar

Don’t forget to enter Wednesday’s contest to win some great Gurkha cigars. To answer a couple of questions and maybe dispel a myth or two, I am working my way through the sampler (another one, not the one I’m giving away, duh…) and these are very nice cigars. These are predominantly Brick and Mortar exclusive cigars that you won’t find in mail order outlets. The Cellar Reserves have been pretty terrific, I smoked the Cask Blend and it was a good, mild cigar, and the Classic Cigar is actually on my go-to list, I like them a lot. I’ll get to the other two this week. Point is, they are good quality cigars which are eminently smokable. You can accept them for free with confidence!

On to the week’s smokes. I signed up for The Cigar Authority Care Package which is four cigars that go along with the cigars that they smoke on the radio show. Dave Garofalo is losing his shirt on this deal, or at least not making any money. This week’s selection was the Byron Serie Siglo XIX Poemas, a 4 7/8″ x 52 cigar made in Costa Rica of undisclosed ingredients. these are sold in beautiful porcelain jars. Nelson Alphonso is the man behind Selected Tobaco and these cigars, and he’s the guy who designed the Pardon 50th Anniversary humidor as well as the Cuban Cohiba Behike packaging and tons of other Habanos special release packaging. The care package costs $20 a month delivered, and this is a $25 cigar. I’m ahead of the game already. The guys on the show rave about this cigar, and it’s certainly a perfectly crafted cigar and visually appealing. I found it to be a good cigar, the flavor doesn’t “wow” me, it’s nice, medium bodied and inoffensive. I guess this is another for the list of cigars I just don’t get, or the hype made my expectations too high. I will try them again, for sure, who knows if it just wasn’t the right cigar for the moment or what, what do I know. If this is a cigar that is the best cigar you’ve ever smoked, who am I to say you’re wrong, it just wasn’t a good match for my preferences. I do encourage everyone to tune in to the Cigar Authority show, it’s entertaining and informative, and the Care Package is a hellofa deal.

Last week when I went to the Alec Bradley event at Cigar Brothers one of the cigars I came home with was the newly re-banded Maxx in the 5″ x 58 Fixx size. The One Thing I noticed about this cigar was the dark and oily Nicaraguan wrapper. I can’t really say if I’ve smoked the Maxx before other than the Brazilian version that was a Cigars International exclusive, so I don’t know if they’ve changed the blend along with the packaging (on second thought, I’ve smoked the Maxx Connecticut in the Best Cigar Prices exclusive Robolo size). This was a really tasty smoke. It’s a blend of tobaccos from Honduras, Nicaragua, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico and was full flavored and medium bodied. The flavor was rich and well-balanced and much to my liking. These are priced around $6 in PA, and well worth it. If you asked me if I’d rather have twenty of these, or four Byrons for the same price, I’m sure you know what my answer would be. The Maxx is a great value.

Next up was the newest offering from Recluse Cigars, the Amadeus Habano. this was their new release at the IPCPR show, where I ran into Scott Weeks and J.R. Dominguez a few times. I got in on the ground floor with these guys thanks to Will Cooper‘s introduction, and have really enjoyed all the cigars they have come out with. This cigar is a Habano wrapped version of the Amadeus, which came out last year with an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper. I let these rest a while because the first one I smoked a couple of months ago didn’t smoke right, and that’s been unusual in my experience with the brand. The Amedeus Connecticut is an excellent cigar, and the Ecuador Habano wrapper adds a little bit of a richness and zing to the flavor, and I’m sure the Mexican binder helps out a little too. This is another winner in my book, love the look of the holographic band too, this has a lot of curb appeal and delivers on the flavor side too. I do have one gripe though, and it’s my usual…its been a few months since this was displayed at the IPCPR show, update the website with the details, please!
Since I smoked my first cigar from Southern Draw Cigars a month or so ago, I have been interested in sampling their Pennsylvania wrapped Quickdraw. Of course, the name reminds me of the cartoon character from the early sixties, Quick Draw McGraw. If they come out with a size called “El Kabong’, I’ll know that that’s where the name came from! Another reason it might be called the Quickdraw is because it’s a 4 3/8” x 44 petite corona, and the company is based in Texas, so there’s the wild west theme going on, along with the fact that it’s a short smoke. These also come in a Habano wrapped version, but since I live in Pennsylvania, this one was the one I wanted to try. This is a great little smoke, loads of deep, espresso and cocoa flavors along with some nice sweet spice from the PA Broadleaf. These are made in the AJ Fernandez factory so the construction was top-notch. So far I have really enjoyed everything I’ve smoked from Southern Draw, the blends are in line with my preferences, and the factory that makes them might have something to do with that, but it might also be that Robert Holt is a man of excellent taste and refinement.

Last night’s cigar was another new cigar from the IPCPR show. Phil Zanghi started Indian Tabak cigars in the 90s, eventually partnered with an entertainment lawyer from LA, who took the brand and ran with it, which was a springboard for Rocky Patel Cigars. Recently Phil got the trademark back, but instead of reviving Indian Tabak (which was originally an homage to Indian motorcyles, nothing to do with his partner’s ethnicity, that was a happy coincidence), he came out with the Indian Motorcycles Premium Cigar. In Phil’s both, which also highlighted his Debonair brand, he had a beautiful Indian motorcycle on display. I didn’t get a chance to talk to Phil much at the show, but I’ve heard plenty about this in other media outlets. This cigar had a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper that was oily, almost gritty, to the touch, unique to me, and I liked it. The cigar burned reasonably well, it wanted to run up the bottom a bit, but that’s what lighters are for, to fix the occasional errant burn. It had a very open draw, and, again, rich flavors of sweet cocoa and coffee. Another winner in my book and I can’t wait to get some more. I believe these have been hitting shelves as Phil was touring New England recently for the release, making the official debut at Kurt Kendall’s newest Twin’s Smoke Shop location, the perfect place given Kurt’s appreciation of nostalgic motor vehicles.