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by | August 30, 2010 · 7:13 pm

Weekend Cigars: Oliva, Padron, Partagas and Punch – Monday August 30, 2010

I started the weekend out with an Oliva Serie V Belicoso which was given to me by the Oliva rep who was handing them out on my friend Mitchell‘s New York City dinner cruise we attended back in June.  It was a very nice cigar, a short torpedo more than a belicoso with a very pointy head.  It was pretty full flavored and satisfying.  Nice cigar, I really haven’t been disappointed with anything in this line, especially the Serie V.

Saturday afternoon I enjoyed a Padron 1964 Anniversary Superior in a natural wrapper that was given to me for my birthday last year.  Another very good cigar that burned well and was lush and flavorful, just as it should be.  I can’t recall ever really being let down by a Padron, whether the regular line or the Anniversary.  I can’t say I’ve smoked the higher end Padrons, just a smattering of 1964s and the odd 1926. Later in the evening I sat down with another Partagas Petit Coronas Especiale which has become a favorite of mine lately.

Sunday I celebrated completing yet another journey around the sun, and. after my wife and children took me out to a nice breakfast, I dug deep into the humidor and selected a Havana Punch Tubed Churchill.  This cigar came into my possession sometime in 2000.  It was part of a prize pack that came from a gentleman named John Chunko who started a thread on the alt.smokers.cigars newsgroup and awarded random prizes to contributors.  John was a generous soul who, though various events, was responsible for introducing me to some wonderful cigars that I wouldn’t have otherwise had the occasion to sample.  I’ve forgotten what other cigars were included in this package, except for a Romeo y Julieta Celestiales finos from 1977, which I still have.  I had decided that it would be appropriate to celebrate my 47th trip around the sun with a 47 ring gauge cigar.  This Churchill was really very pretty once it emerged from it’s aluminum tube and lit easily.  I was surprised by the firmness of the draw for such a well aged cigar but the flavors…..oh the flavors!  It was a delicate and subtle cigar, not the full flavored powerhouse one would expect.  I was often amazed by some of the fascinating flavors that danced around my mouth.  Truly a sublime experience.  I smoked this at my local cigar store, JM Cigars in Exton, PA, in their lounge while catching up with an old friend Bruce who recent;y moved into the area.  Often times I felt like I was being rude as I got lost momentarily in the cigar.  I selected this cigar over a Romeo y Julieta Tubed Churchill because I’ve had a few RyJ Churchills (non-tubed) that didn’t really “wow” me.  This one must also be approaching 10 years old, so I have high hopes for it.  It was a nice way to celebrate the day.

That’s about it for now.  Please remember to enter the current contest which will end this week sometime.  You could win a Drew Estate hat, Liga Privada cutter and a Liga Privada T52 Belicoso.  Click here to leave a comment for a chance to win!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | July 25, 2010 · 9:55 am

More Cigars: RyJ, Partagas, Fuente and a Contest! – Sunday July 25, 2010

We left off this week with a disappointing Maria Mancini, and pick up with a Romeo y Julietta Habana Reserve Torpedo which had a similar problem.  While this was a nice cigar with an appealing flavor, it behaved like an over humidified cigar.  This was puzzling to me in that other cigars are smoking well out of the same humidor.  This leads me to believe that some tobacco prefers different humidity than others.  Figuring this out is a crap shoot, and maintaining multiple humidors is a nuisance, so finding a happy medium is key.  I smoke right out of my coolerdor, with the cigars stored in boxes, if not their original, then another box.  Some of the singles boxes have been in there for years with cigars rotating through them, so new additions shouldn’t make any big swings.  Point is, most cigars in the cooler are smoking nicely, so I’m not going to sweat a couple less than optimal cigars from time to time.  The Romeo y Julietta was nice anyway, and the cigar had an interesting box press which I found endearing for some reason.

Thursday evening I went with a Partagas Limited Reserve No. II, which was a 5½” x 50 robusto.  NICE cigar!!  Really smooth and rich without being strong.  Perfect burn, perfect draw (and from the same humidor as the last two!), what a delight.  Now, I hadn’t done any research on this except having smoked a Limited Reserve years ago, so I expected it was a pricey cigar, which was another from the collection my buddy Jason sent a while back.  I was pretty amazed to find out that these run around $17.50 by the box.  Considering  how much I enjoyed this cigar, I’m tempted to say it would be worth that price, but the cheap bastard in me, the one who thinks $17.50 is a little steep for a 5 pack, just couldn’t ever justify spending that kind of scratch on one cigar.  I really enjoyed it though and thank Jason again for sharing a bunch of cigars that I wouldn’t otherwise have tried on my own.  If you find yourself in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, look up Rock’s Smoke Shop and buy a bunch of cigars from Jason!

Saturday brought 100 degree temps to SE PA, so I waited until it cooled off to the 90s before popping outside with a Arturo Fuente Chateau Fuente.  This particular cedar wrapped beauty was given to me by a non-smoking friend who had been given the cigar by a friend.  It was claro almost to the point of candela, I actually had to dig around to try to see if Fuente ever made candela Chateaus. Their website is pretty cool looking, but woefully inadequate when it comes to technical data.  A perfect cigar for a hot evening sitting on the deck reading a biography.  Draw was great, burn wasn’t too bad and it was a flavorful medium bodied cigar.  There are so many great cigars out there, but sometimes the classics hit the spot. I enjoyed this cigar, as well as the Partagas, accompanied by a nice cold bottle of Reed’s Extra Ginger Beer, a ginger ale on steroids that goes great with cigars.

Contest Time!

Once again it’s time to give some stuff away!  Several years ago my daughter made this box for me for Christmas.  As you may recall from the contest back in March, I save my bands.  I used to have bags of them laying around before I  got my big-ass vase to keep them in.  Well, she got a hold of one of those bags and went to work, creating this great box, which I use to keep lighters, cutters and stuff like that in.  Guess how many bands adorn this box to win a box of 5 Liga Privada no.9 cigars courtesy of Drew Estate.  If someone guesses the exact number, I’ll include a Drew Estate cap.  So spread the word, leave your guess in the comments and good luck!  Someone is going to get 5 amazing cigars for nothing more than taking a couple seconds to leave a comment! I’ll open the envelope and announce the winner next Sunday, August 1.

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

CigarCraig

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by | July 21, 2010 · 5:12 pm

Mid-week Cigar Post: Cohiba, Punch, Maria Mancini – Wednesday July 21, 2010

Saturday, after posting about the recent Cohiba judgment in favor of General Cigar, I pulled a Cohiba Puro Dominicana out of the box of goodies my friend Jason sent me some time ago. Cohibas, Dominican or Cuban, have never been in my regular rotation. I’ve always enjoyed them, but they just don’t really have the “bang for the buck” that falls into my comfort zone. I smoked this particular cigar, which measured about 5½ x 50 and it was OK…good cigar, but not mind-blowing. With about 2 inches or so left it didn’t want to stay lit. I was a little bored with it anyway so I let it go out. Since I couldn’t find this listed in my 2008 Perelman’s Guide, I assumed that it was a sample from last years IPCPR show. I looked on line and was stunned to find that these retail for between $13 and $16 each! Well, there are a lot of cigars that cost a lot less that I enjoy a lot more, heck, one can get very nice Cuban cigars for half that or better (not that I advocate any illegal activities such as purchasing contraband cigars). I would almost be more inclined to pay that much for a Havana Cohiba…almost. I would like to try the Lancero one of these days, but I’m not going to go out of my way to get one.

Sunday after grilling some very interesting seafood sausages we found at Trader Joes, I lit up a Punch Gran Puro Rancho. The sausages were interesting, a casing stuffed with shrimp, scallops and white fish which I grilled until they were nice and hot with grill marks. We ate them on some Amorosos rolls, but we just weren’t sure how to condimentize them. I suppose tartar sauce would have worked. Anyway, this isn’t a grilling blog, it’s about cigars. The Gran Puro was a nice cigar, not overpowering and it worked well after the seafood sausage. It had the consistency I expect from a Punch. Burned and drew nicely. A very pleasant hour or so spent smoking while I walked to the convenience store to collect my lottery winnings ($7 in the Powerball! Woohoo!).

Tuesday brought the first really disappointing cigar I’ve had in a while. I was in the mood for a Maria Mancini, and grabbed a Robusto Larga. These are stored in the same humidor as the rest of the cigars I have been smoking, but this cigar seemed like it was over-humidified. It tasted fine, but the smoke took some effort to get to and just felt damp. It wasn’t plugged, nor did it have any wrapper flaws, it just seemed too wet. I stuck with it for a while, but did put it down sooner than I would normally. I shouldn’t be to upset that a $2 cigar wasn’t great, but I’ve had a lot of luck with this line. I have so little time in my day to enjoy a cigar that when I get a dud it hurts a little.

Blowing Off Steam

It seems that rants have become fashionable in the cigar blogosphere, so here’s mine:   Foot bands.  I don’t like ’em.  They make the first part of the cigar taste funny….ok, kidding here, I do take them off before I light ’em, but that’s a pain as far as I’m concerned.  If I have a cigar with a normal band I leave it on until I get to the point where it’s going to be in the way, unless it’s coming off by itself. Foot bands have to be removed, no ifs, ands or buts.  Sorry Rocky, Sam, whoever else uses foot bands, if I’m cigar shopping I’ll probably pass unless it’s a single I really want to try.  I wouldn’t buy a box of foot banded cigars as that would just drive me insane.  Since I have to take the band off to light it, besides possibly damaging the foot of the cigar, I sometimes forget what it is I’m smoking!   And how are my pretentious friends supposed to know that I’m smoking?  Where’s the fun in that? So if you are coming out with a new cigar, skip the foot band, stick with the traditional placement. While your at it, don’t pattern the band after the Cuban Cohiba either, that’s just cliche and hokey.

That’s all I got for now,Time to go smoke a cigar.

CigarCraig

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by | July 17, 2010 · 5:06 pm

The Week’s Cigars: Flor de Gonzales, Cain F – Saturday July 17, 2010

Not too much going on around here cigar-wise this week, but I did manage to get a couple in.  Wednesday I grabbed a Flor de Gonzales 90 Miles Robusto.  I had won a 5 pack of these in a contest on the My Cigar Ashes blog a while back and have been enjoying them here and there.  These are really nice medium cigar that’s quite well made. I only have a couple left from the 5 pack and look forward to seeing how they age.  I looked on the Flor de Gonzalez website and oddly couldn’t find a mention of this relatively new cigar.  I’ll drop them a note to see what’s going on.

Last night, after a really aggravating day at work, I decided to punish….er, treat myself (?) to a Cain F.  I’ve smoked a few of the Cain range, and they all seem to be just too strong for my liking.  I like the flavor, they are very well made, but they just always seem to overwhelm me.  I remember last year stopping into my local tobacconist, JM Cigars, after the IPCPR show and Jeff, the proprietor just couldn’t say enough about these cigars. He said to get rid of all your Cubans, because the Cain is better.  I was dubious at the time, and when I did treat myself to one a month later I could understand the appeal, but it was just too much of a nicotine kick.  I have been a fan of stronger cigars, but Cains are just too much for me.  That being said, I very carefully smoked and enjoyed the Cain F, which had been given to me a few weeks back by Dave Weber, the Oliva National Sales Manager.  It didn’t get to me, but I smoked it almost hesitantly.

In the News

There were several news-worthy events this week that were the subject of just about every blog out there, so I sill only give them a brief mention.

Toraño Cigars have separated from C.A.O. International and is re-taking control of their distribution and re-emerging as Toraño Family Cigars. I always liked the cigars from Toraño, especially the Roots Run Deep cigars that Felipe Sosa rolled at their events.

Also in the news,  the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in favor of General Cigar in the latest round of litigation in the Cohiba® trademark case, affirming that General Cigar is the rightful owner of the Cohiba trademark in the U.S.    I may have to grab a Cohiba for this evening’s walk.  I haven’t smoked very many Cohibas from either party, they always seemed to be priced beyond my comfort level, but I have a couple floating around the humidors.  The question will become which version to grab?

That’s all I got for now!  I’m working on a couple of new ideas that I hope will be entertaining and enlightening, so stay tuned.  Also, I imagine it will be contest time again soon.  By the way, any of my prior contest winners that want to send a photo or leave a comment about your winnings, please feel free.  I may even put up a page with the winners, sort of a hall of fame (which will be as much for me to keep track as anything…)

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | June 3, 2010 · 11:31 am

C.Gars Ltd. Cigar Dinner Cruise – Wednesday June 2, 2010

My lovely wife Jenn, myself and friend Karen

Last night we had the good fortune of having been invited on a dinner cruise hosted by our dear friend Mitchell Orchant of C.Gars Ltd.  The cruise was around Manhattan for about 4 hours on the Marco Polo Cruises “Jewel”, which is a 120 foot long ship with a dining room and a covered deck above.  There was a buffet of both Italian and Kosher cuisine that  was delicious and plentiful.  The attendees were a collection of customers, friends and business associates, all smoking non-stop for the duration of the event.

We began the day with my son and I visiting Shaving Grace in Exton, PA for some grooming.  The shop has a big flat panel TV, leather couch, pool and poker tables and various paraphernalia, including cigars, cigar boxes and ashtrays (although smoking is not allowed).  I have never had a professional shave and it was quite a treat to have the hot towels and all the various lotions and lather associated with it.  It’s not something I’d do all the time, but it was a treat.  I’m a little conflicted in that it’s kind of girly, in a very manly way.

Mitchell and Jenn

Shortly after the manscaping trip, we hit the road to NYC.  It typically takes over 2 hours to get from Southeast, PA to NYC so we allowed plenty of time for traffic and construction delays.  We made the Holland Tunnel in 2 hours and found our way to the docks, then found our way to the correct docks!  We were a good hour early but lucky for us Mitchell and his wife Karyn were aboard already with a few other early folks, including George whom we’d met with Mitchell in Vegas a few years ago.  Already we knew people, woohoo!

The vessel eventually filled up and we got under way.  I enjoyed a little Tabak Especial Colada Dulce while we were waiting.  I was pretty much on an empty stomach and wanted something to smoke that wasn’t too challenging.  It was pretty tasty for a flavored cigar.  After we got going I lit up a Hoyo de Tradicion Toro which was also very nice.  In these social situations I generally smoke cigars I don’t have to think about too much.  A great cigar can distract me from a conversation and I don’t want to appear rude.  We spent the evening catching up with old friends we hadn’t seen in a while and meeting new folks. I believe it was Oliva who provided the roller who was demonstrating his craft in the dining room, and all reports are that the cigars he was rolling were very good.

Myself and Mark Aub

One of the gentlemen I had the good fortune of meeting was Marc Aub of Brother of the Leaf, LLC, maker of the Palio cutter and Esencia Cigars.  Marc is an instantly likable fellow.  We talked about the newsgroups and forums, blogs and podcasts, and the state of the industry.  The discussion turned briefly to the IPCPR show and what place we bloggers have there.  I have been to the show once with a retailers badge but with the understanding that the people exhibiting are there to sell their product to retailers.  We made it a point to step back when talking to someone when they had real customers.  Marc suggested that the IPCPR add a membership category for the media, to which my wife made the suggestion of charging an annual fee.  I think this is a great idea, considering any schmoo can have a cigar blog (just look at me!) and get a press pass.   Charging a membership fee makes people think twice and gives the experience some value.

Mitchell "SmokeyMO" Orchant

Marc very generously put an Esencia Lancero in my mouth at one point which was just the perfect cigar to top off a great evening.   From what he said, the lancero isn’t available other than from him or in a special sampler pack that was available on a limited basis.  First, I love the size and feel of a lancero.  It’s elegant, it requires a bit more time and patience to smoke.  This one burned slow and even and was smooth and flavorful down to about 3/4″ when it gave up on me.  It started out with a little zing which I liked.  Marc confirmed what I suspected, that it was a Nicaraguan puro.  I have only heard about these here and there, but all of the good things I’ve heard were confirmed with this very satisfying cigar. On a slightly embarrassing note, it occurred to me moments after I did it that I cut it with my favorite cheapie cutter and not a Palio.  I don’t think Marc noticed (phew!) Unfortunately I didn’t take the time to snap a picture of the cigar, but it was a beauty.

After a terrific evening with a great bunch of folks, the boat docked and we said our thank-yous and farewells to our friends and hosts.  We have been so fortunate to have made such good friends over the years, it’s a treat to be able to hang out with them for a while every so often.  It was also fun to take my son along so that he could experience some of the kinds of events we’ve been attending while he was growing up.  He had a great time as well and is moving along through his cigar education.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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