Tag Archives: habana

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

4 Comments

Filed under Review

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

by CigarCraig | March 4, 2012 · 3:13 pm

A.Fuente, an Emilio and a Sunday Morning Camacho Cigar with Family

Thursday evening I found myself on the phone with Verizon support. I had been fighting with them about the upstairs TVs that we were initially promised would work without a box, only to find that we needed a special box. Not that $4 a month is a lot for the box, but it was the principle of it, and they figured out a way to give me a box for free so we could have more than one TV in the house again. I had to call to get the box activated, and had been looking forward to an evening cigar. After several minutes listening to the planet’s worst hold music, I decided to grab a cigar and wait on the porch for them to pick up. I grabbed an Arturo Fuente Hemingway Best Seller, put the phone on speaker and fired it up. I’ve long been a fan of the Hemingway line, at least from the Signature down, as anything larger just doesn’t do it for me for some reason. I would have preferred a Short Story, since I didn’t know how long I’d have, but I didn’t have any on hand. The Best Seller is a great cigar. I love the “Camerooniness” of the line, that wrapper really really is delicious on these. It’s not too cheap of a cigar, but I had picked a few of these up last year with a Groupon for half off, so they weren’t too bad. I got about half way through before the representative picked up and I went inside to get squared away, which did eventually happen. I went back out and re-lit the cigar, but I didn’t get to smoke as much of it as I’d have liked. Still, a terrific way to temper the frustration of having to deal with phone support. I really think they want you to hang up, but I wasn’t giving them the satisfaction!

Friday evening’s walk called for a good smoke, so I grabbed an Emilio AF2 BMF and my elder son and I hit the bricks (concrete mostly, but actual bricks in a few places…it’s just an expression!). I had picked a few of these up at my local shop a few months back. Needless to say, this is a solid cigar, and sizable at 6″ x 58, truly a big MF! I find this to be milder than the AF1, but loaded with flavor, a little sweet, and delicious. I blame myself for this, but it’s a much better warm weather cigar than cold, but that’s my problem. I wanted to smoke it, and the colder weather wasn’t going to deter me. Still a solid smoke, highly recommended by me for whatever that’s worth!

I had picked up an odd cigar at my local shop, JM Cigars in Exton. It was labeled with the shop owners name, and I was told that it was made by Rocky Patel (but I bought one anyway!). This was a 6½” x 48 cigar, with what looked like a dark Habano wrapper. Unfortunately, it burned a little crappy and was pretty ho-hum in flavor to me. I don’t smoke a lot of RP cigars anyway, as they don’t really suit my palate for whatever reason. Maybe I don’t smoke the right ones, maybe the breadth of his lines confuses me and is a pit of a turn off, I don’t know. I still like to try peoples house or personal blends, and this experience won’t stop me from picking up the occasional oddball cigar when I see one. I was told at the shop that this batch wasn’t as good as the first batch, but just because I didn’t care for it doesn’t mean that it isn’t someones favorite cigar, and for around $4 it was worth trying.

Sunday morning my wife, youngest son and I went out to breakfast with my brother-in-law, who was in town visiting. My son, Christian, recently turned 18 and has been enjoying the occasional cigar, sometimes with me, sometimes with his friends. As can be expected from someone in his demographic, he’s been digging the Acid line, trying a few here and there. So Christian, my Bro-in-law Jeff and I stopped at JM Cigars for a post breakfast digestif. Jeff had asked me to recommend an inexpensive daily smoke a while back and I told him to try the National Brand robustos from Camacho, which he loves (and he’s from New Jersey, so he gets a real good deal purchasing in PA because of the taxes). I wanted something all three of us would appreciate so I grabbed a handful of Camacho Habana Monarcas. I’ve loved this line for years, and haven’t had one in forever. Even though I typically don’t care for Criollo wrapped cigars, this one works really well, I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. The cigar is light enough for the novice and has enough flavor and body for someone who has a cigar or two a day or a long-time cigar nut like myself. It was nice to sit in the lounge and chat for a while. Myson and his uncle share the rock climbing gene, so they have a lot in common, and Jeff and I are roughly the same age and have known one another for 26 or so years, so the three of us, despite the disparity of ages, were able to have a nice, relaxing hour or so with a fine cigar and one-another’s company. It also went a long way toward aiding in the digestion of an over-indulgent breakfast!

News

The annual Habanos Festival just ended, and I wasn’t there. I did notice an interesting press release about the lots in the auction that is held every year. Looks like a nice box, but the price is a little steep for me!

Cohiba Cigar Humidor Sold for 475,500 USD, Equipped With Microprocessor-Controlled Adorini Humidifiers.

Humidor bought by Italian entrepreneur at 14th Habanos Festival in Cuba. The humidor comes with microprocessor controlled adorini humidifiers, 520 Cohiba cigars, and remote-controlled hydraulic system to open the humidor.

Why the heck you’d need to open your humidor from across the room is beyond me, but it sure sounds cool! I guess you have to let those 520 Cohibas living inside get a breath of fresh air once in a while.

Anyway, that’s it for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

2 Comments

Filed under Review, Stores, Take a Cigar For a Walk

Tagged as af2, Camacho, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Emilio, fuente, habana, Habanos, Hemingway, JR Cigars, Monarca, rocky patel, Take A Cigar For A Walk

by CigarCraig | February 22, 2012 · 6:21 pm

A Few Cigars: A Romeo y Julieta, a Brun del Re and a Humo Jaguar

I got into a little pattern last week while working on my last article, and decided I needed some diversity. I’ve been working my way around the cigar making countries this week, so here’s a look at some of the cigars I’ve smoked and the circumstances surrounding them.

Sunday was my youngest son’s 18th birthday, and for months he’s been telling me that we were going to smoke a cigar together to mark the occasion. Since his older brother’s first cigar at 18 was a Romeo y Julieta Coronitas, I figured that would be the fairest choice. I had purchased a box of these almost 5 years ago to smoke and share at my daughter’s wedding, and they went over very well. It’s not a large cigar, and it’s interesting enough to satisfy the newbie and experienced smoker alike. I hadn’t smoked one in a very long time so I joined my son on the back deck for his first cigar. We had originally planned to go to the Cozy Hookah and Cigar Lounge in nearby West Chester to have a relaxing smoke indoors, but when we got there it wasn’t open. Fortunately it wasn’t bitterly cold so we took the heater out and fired up. It went well. Christian enjoyed the cigar, and didn’t turn plaid like his brother had years before. 🙂

The next night, eager to try out all of the little things that come with turning 18, my son wanted to buy a lottery ticket. He had stopped in to the local cigar shop, JMs Cigars, and purchased a little Arturo Fuente, it looked like a maduro Exquisito to me. I grabbed a Brun del Re Colonial Robusto from the IPCPR show and the three of us (oldest son, Corey, included) took the walk to the convenience store. I was hesitant, yet currious about the Brun del Re, my first experience with the Don Corazza line was less than fulfilling. I needed to mix things up a little, so I figured what the heck. The cigar has a nice dark Costa Rican maduro wrapper and a mix of Costa Rican and Nicaraguan fillers. I think the Indonesian binder takes a little away from an otherwise nice cigar, but that’s just me and my bias against Indonesian tobacco. All in all it was an enjoyable smoke. Enough different flavors to be interesting and very well made. I still have a couple of thier other lines to smoke, I’m looking forward to sampling them.

Today we had one of those rare February days where temps approach the 60s, so I’m typing this while enjoying a Humo Jaguar Gigante that was a gift from my friend Barry Stein, formerly of ACigarSmoker.com, presently of Miami Cigar and Co. This line came out of the cigar festival of the same name which was held last February in Honduras. The word on the street is that all of the Honduran cigar makers submitted blends in a sort of Miss Honduran Cigar contest, and this was the winner. It seems to me there is some disagreement over who actually won, but this is the cigar with the Humo Jaguar name, and it’s the one I’m smoking now, so I don’t care. This is a 6″ x 60 monster with a nice, dark Honduran Oscuro wrapper. I don’t know what I was expecting, but what I’m getting is a really nice cigar! Rich flavor, perfect draw and burn, and some subtle little flavors that make me raise the occasional eyebrow and say “hmmmm….nice!” I’m only half way though, but I feel confident in recommending this cigar, and deeply appreciate the opportunity to try it. I’ll be picking some more of these up in the future.

News

It’s a bit of good news/bad news for those of us in the Philadelphia area. As reported in last Thursday’s Philadelphia Inquirer:

Center City cigar lounge Mahogany on Walnut (1524 Walnut) will be closing its doors Feb. 29.

Owner Tom Piazza, who opened the bar in 1997 says he’s been operating without a lease since August and that Holt’s Cigar Company, the store downstairs, doesn’t want to renew it.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, who came in while governor of California, is among the many famous faces who have enjoyed a smoke at the old-fashioned lounge.

Piazza says he hopes to soon open a new location “Within a four block radius.”

“I have some of the most unbelievably loyal patrons,” Piazza said. “I feel horrible for those people. They’re apologizing to me, but I feel bad for them, that I let them down,” said Piazza, noting that the bar survived two smoking bans and two recessions.

Holt’s declined comment on not renewing the lease or its plans for the space.

UPDATED Feb. 18:

Holt’s President Robert Levin got back to me Saturday to say that after Mahogany closes, the space will “Be totally renovated and rebuilt,” and re-open in 5 to 6 months as The Ashton Cigar Bar named after the popular cigar brand Holt’s owns. Levin says the bar will have an updated HVAC system and walk-in humidor

So the bad news is that Mahogany over top of Holt’s is closing, a place many of us have stopped in to enjoy a smoke or two with friends over the years. The good news, I suppose, is that downtown Philly will soon have two cigar bars! It will be very interesting to see what Holt’s does with the existing space on Walnut Street, and where Tom Piazza will open his new place.

That’s all I have for tonight, now I’m going to get back to this tasty Humo Jaguar! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

6 Comments

Filed under News, Review, Take a Cigar For a Walk

Tagged as Brun Del Re, cigar, cigars, Costa Rica, habana, holt's, Honduras, Humo Jaguar, mahogany, Miami Cigar and Co, romeo y julieta

by CigarCraig | February 15, 2012 · 7:53 pm

Film Review: The Heart and Soul of Cuba and a Punch

A month or so ago I was invited to download and review this film, “Cigars: The Heart and Soul of Cuba” – a documentary film by James Suckling and James Orr. Of course, James Suckling is well known for having been the European editor for Cigar Aficionado magazine for many years, and has a wine review site at jamessuckling.com. James Orr is an award winning filmmaker, responsible for such titles as “3 Men and a Baby”, “Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit”, but you may know him more for his most famous films “The Fuente Family: An American Dream”, and “Fuente Fuente Opus X: The Making of A Legend”.

In my life I’ve had the good fortune to enjoy cigars from all over, including those from Cuba, which this film is about. The quality of cigars from different countries is a constant debate, and there are those who believe that Havanas are the best, and there are those who don’t. I happen to be of the opinion that there are great cigars from all over, and we are currently in a golden age of cigars. Cuban cigars are different, distinctive, and happen to have flavors that I find appealing. Watching this film, after having toured factories in Nicaragua and Dominica, I was taken back to those visits. The cigar manufacturing in Cuba isn’t all that much different than it is in those other countries. It’s all about the tobacco and the people, and this movie does a nice job of presenting the human side of the manufacture. James hits all the major points of the processes involved, paying special attention to the fermentation process, including a very nice segment with Hirochi Robaina (Grandson of Don Alejandro), not only showing his advances in controlling the leaf processing, but interacting with his children as well. I just love watching cigars being rolled, and there’s some very nice footage of rolling and packaging. He points out that 200 pairs of hands and 140 individual steps are involved in the making of a cigar, and I wonder if that’s not a conservative estimate. When one watching this, and sees all of the steps, one must remember that there is a different recipe for each cigar, and many different tobaccos, primings, and sizes. How they keep it all straight, I can only imagine.

This is a movie you want to watch as a cigar lover. It could have been made in Honduras, Nicaragua, or Dominica just as easily, but of course the glimpse into a country we aren’t allowed to go to is interesting. The quality is excellent, it’s really shot well, and James’ narration is easy to listen to and informative. ~~Unfortunately, my file encountered a problem about 5 minutes from the finale, so I don’t know how it ends! Please don’t spoil it for me!~~ I finally was able to see the last few minutes of the movie, and it reinforced one of the things I mentioned above, the people. It ended with an interview with Jorge Maique, the co-president of Habanos S.A., stressing that it’s the passion of the people that make the product excellent.

After watching, I felt compelled to open the “special” humidor and pick out something appropriate. Since time was short, I selected a Punch Petit Coronation for a quick walk. This is a nice little cigar, it has that signature Cuban “twang” and every once in a while you get a little taste of something that is intriguing, a mild exotic spice of some sort. A really pleasing little smoke. I won’t go out of my way for a Havana cigar anymore, there are too many great cigars out there, but it is a nice treat once in a while!

Here’s the trailer for the movie. If you love cigars and have the opportunity, by all means see this film. It’s got some great information and is really beautiful visually, and the soundtrack is really cool too! Thanks to Krystal Schwegel at JamesSuckling.com for providing me with the copy of this film for my viewing pleasure.

httpv://youtu.be/ZiXM8TkoV3I

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

CigarCraig

2 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Cuba, Film, habana, havana, James Orr, James Suckling, Movie, punch

by CigarCraig | November 6, 2011 · 9:19 am

A Bunch of Cigars, A Shop Visit, and A Contest!

After a busy few weeks of chronicling my trip to General Cigar Dominicana, it’s time to try to get back into a normal routine. I haven’t smoked too many cigars since my return. When I got back I had a terrible cold, so I didn’t waste too many cigars, and the ones that I optimistically tried tasted pretty bad. I kept it to cigars that I knew pretty well to gauge my taste buds. After a week or so, I was pretty well back to being able to enjoy a cigar.

One of the first cigars I had was a sample from the IPCPR show. I ended up with a bunch of cigars from Brun Del Re, a cigar maker from Costa Rica. This was a cigar from their Don Corazza line, which is a cigar made from Dominican and Nicaraguan tobaccos. The size was a 4″ x 60 which isn’t listed on their website. The cigar started with a nice, unique flavor, which turned a bit sour in the second half. I have a robusto in this line yet, as well as robustos in three or four of the other lines. Unfortunately, I have some pre-conceived notions about show samples from companies like this. It’s not fair, I know, but there have been so many cigars I’ve smoked in the past that have just been “same old, same old”, and failed to impress. These are nice looking sticks and I’ll certainly smoke them with an open mind. I may not get to the rest of the samples until spring, as I smoke fewer cigars in the colder weather, and tend to stronger ones.

I enjoyed a Monte Pascoal Robusto as well last week, courtesy of Wes Gensel, of Monte Pascoal cigars. This is a Brazilian puro, was awarded the best Brazilian cigar by Cigar Journal Magazine at their awards ceremony last July in Vegas, and is a very nice smoke. Perfectly constructed and a pretty cigar with a nice flavor. This is the first larger vitola I’ve smoked and I actually liked it better than the petite corona. On the full side of medium, this is a cigar you should try if you get a chance.

Last weekend we had an unusual October snowstorm, which dumped about 4 inches of wet snow on our area. We were fortunate to not lose power as many in the area did, nor did we have any limbs down on our property. I took my usual Saturday walk with a Cuban Crafters Powerhouse. I chose this because it was a cold and nasty day and I wanted something that would cut through the crappy weather. I mentioned somewhere that if I’m going to have my cigar get wet while I’m smoking it, I prefer it’s on a 90 degree day in a pool. As rotten as the weather was, this strong cigar was quite enjoyable. Any cigar that can hold up to wet snow and still provide a satisfying experience must be OK. This is a 6″ x 54 pigtailed toro that has a Nicaraguan Ligero binder, which strikes me as unusual. This is probably the first Cuban Crafters branded cigar I’ve really liked, but certainly not the first from Tabacalera Estili and Don Kiki Berger.

Halloween is always a traditional stogie night for me, and this year I opted for one of the coronas that I blended at Cigar Safari. The first one of these I smoked was at the 3 month mark, and it was spectacular. This one, while really good, was not as good as the first. I suppose as these age they will certainly change, I’m hoping that they will get better rather than worse. I shared one of these with my son yesterday and he enjoyed it. Seven left.

My mid-week walk got off to a late start so I stuck with a shorter smoke. A Gran Habano Habano #3 that was sent to my by one of my readers, Lloyd Ladrillono. I’ve been seeing these in catalogs, and they had a really interesting booth at the trade show which I never managed to visit, and the cigars look great and seem to be priced well. Lloyd was kind enough to share these with me and I appreciate it. I really enjoyed this robusto, it had a sweetness that I like a lot. This cigar hit me just right, it worked the way it should and tasted great.

I finished off the work week with a Murcielago Toro Grande which I bought at the Delaware Cigar Festival from Eddie Ortega. I like Eddie a lot, and I like the Murcielago more. The San Andreas maduro wrapper is beautiful and delicious. This one went a little sour at the band, but I think some humidor time will solve that problem. If I can keep my hands off the couple I have left, I’ll see if that’s the case, but this is a perfect cold weather cigar for me.

Saturday I took a drive to Pottstown, Pa. and paid a visit to Cole’s Tobacco. My wife had seen a picture of the store on one of the local radio station’s websites and did some research which led us to the visit. They have been there for a century and it’s the first I’d heard of it. In addition to a reasonable sized walk in humidor, they sell roll-your-own tobacco, candy, all kinds of stuff like an old fashioned news stand. They had the largest selection of Lars Tetens cigars I’ve seen in 15 years, we picked up a bottle of Lars’ Steak Sauce for the heck of it, I certainly wasn’t going to smoke any of his cigars! Anyway I walked out with a couple of Kristoffs that I hadn’t seen before, and had a nice chat with the proprietor, a young guy named Courtney. No lounge that I saw, but not a bad place to get some cigars if you find yourself in downtown Pottstown, PA.

To wrap the week up I smoked a Oja Anniversary perfecto on my Saturday walk. This is a semi-box pressed cigar with a Brazilian Samba wrapper that is rustic and oily. It has a very dark, rich flavor and burned well, despite it’s rough appearance. This was a sample sent to me by Luis Garcia, the brand owner. This is one of the cigars made by Kiki Berger in Nicaragua that I alluded to earlier that I really like, the whole line is good, but this anniversary edition is really nice. It commemorates the brand’s first anniversary, which is a little odd, but the cigar works, so who cares?

I haven’t had a contest in a while, so I have a Drew Estate cap and a Liga Privada cutter to give away this time. I might as well throw in a Stogieboys.com Cigar Journal along with it as well as a C-Gars Ltd. ring gauge card. I can’t be trusted NOT to include a cigar or two in a prize package. Leave a comment for a chance to win, and a Tweet with a link to this page (mentioning @cigarcraig so I see it) will get you an extra entry. I’ll draw a name at random next Sunday, November 13, 2011. Good luck!