Tag Archives: Hex

by CigarCraig | April 9, 2014 · 9:20 pm

A Hex From Sindicato and an Ora Vivo from Legacy Brands

It seems like only yesterday I was posting about smoking that enormous 7” x 70 Asylum 13 Ogre, and here it is Wednesday already and I find myself with little to report! Yesterday I revisited the Hex from Sindicato Cigars in the Figurado (5¼” x52) size. Honestly, I wasn’t certain what I wanted to smoke, and this was on the top of the humidor and I grabbed it and lit it up. This is from a batch I bought on National Hex Day back in January. These are made at the Ortez factory in Condega, Nicaragua, and use a dark, almost maduro, Ecuador Habano wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler. What they ended up with was a really sweet, rich smoke that is very satisfying. When I smoked this on Hex Day the example I smoked was on the wet side, and wasn’t the best representation of the blend. After some humidor time, it was a really tasty, well behaved smoke. The perfecto shape and the curly-cue pigtail cap are visually appealing details. I like these, and I look forward to trying their new eponymous line (called Sindicato) in the near future.

Tonight I selected an Ora Vivo 5 x 54 that I got at the Ora Vivo dinner I attended last fall in New Jersey (story here). I only have one or two left, and I would have had a box of them, but at the event they were only taking cash and I came woefully unprepared. Helpful hint for those hosting cigar events where cigars are for sale, if you can’t accept credit cards remotely, please let people know before hand that you are only taking cash so we can be prepared! Anyway, I’ve smoked several of these cigars and find them to be exceptional cigars. These are made in Honduras by Victor Vitale’s Legacy Brands, but are Nicaraguan puros. This certainly isn’t a powerful cigar, it’s refined, smooth and well balanced. This is a cigar that’s on a par with the best out there. It’s not an inexpensive cigar, I think I paid $9 for one when I bought one on my New Hampshire trip last fall. It’s a cigar that’s not heavy on the palate, you could, theoretically, smoke these one after the other. One of the reasons I had this cigar on my mind was that Armand Assante was a guest on The Cigar Authority last Saturday. If you have a podcast habit, like I do, give it a listen.

Getting a late post out on Sunday and skipping my evening cigar on Monday for various reasons makes for a short installment tonight, my apologies. I’ll endeavor to do better in the future. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Review

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Hex, Ora Vivo Armand Assante, Sindicato, Victor Vitale

by CigarCraig | February 16, 2014 · 10:29 am

Recluse Draconian, Sindicato Hex, La Sirena and Toraño Cigars

Well, winter just keeps getting better and better! Thursday we had a Nor’easter here in PA, which dumped a bunch of snow, sleet, rain, then rain and more snow. Fortunately, my day job closed for the day to allow me the luxury of shoveling the driveway. The snow was heavy and deep and I still hurt. I rewarded myself for a job well done with a lovely Recluse Draconian Sidewinder No. 2, which is one of their proprietary vitolas. The unique feature of this vitola is that you don’t need a cutter, it’s constructed in such a way a squeeze to the head splits the cap and you can peel away the cap and have a perfect draw. Here’s the video from he IPCPR show where J.R. Dominguez shows us how this works:

httpv://youtu.be/TLBHP-pW6x8

The cigar is a 6″x 57 and box pressed. Like all of the cigars from Iconic Leaf, these are rolled in the entubado method. The wrapper is a dark and oily Ecuador maduro. I sat in the garage watching fhe various precipitation and fully enjoyed this rich and flavorful smoke. It had the dark, sweet flavors I love getting. This is a truly delicious cigar, my only complaint is that it burned fairly quick. I would have liked to have smoked this for another thirty minutes. I give this 3 Ds….dark, deep and delicious!

Later in the day I took the dog for a walk with a Sindicato Hex Figurado. There’s a lot to like about these cigars. This is another rich, dark smoke that has a lot going on. I dig the shape, it’s got a bun-shaped pigtail cap and a classic taper on either end. With this cigar it’s also possible to open the head up without a cutter, just by popping the little bun off, but I used the cigar scissors to get a larger opening. If I remember correctly, these are made at the Ortez factory in Condega, Nicaragua and the dark Ecuador Habano wrapper is quite tasty. These are quickly becoming a go-to smoke for me. It’s a little rustic looking, but still a fun size and shape, and the flavor delivers for me.

Friday I selected a new inmate in my cigar asylum, a La Sirena Trident. I don’t smoke a lot of Churchill sized cigars, but I got a box of these last week. Certainly, I smoke more larger format cigars in the warmer months, but I had to sample one of these and it wasn’t that cold out for a change (might have been in the 20s!). This cigar is made at the My Father factory in Esteli and features a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper. I can see that I’m goung to have to pace myself with these, as I think they will age beautifully. They are not without some strength, and is another cigar with those deep, dark flavors I like, with some nice sweetness. I got a good hour and a half or more out of this cigar, I can’t wait to fire one of these up in the pool on a nice hot day! The thing I like best about the Trident size is that the beautiful band looks more properly proportioned on the longer cigar! The band is a work of art, but it overwhelms the robusto. Putting the very simple slim band underneath this great band is genius, because the band almost has to come off before smoking.

Guess what happened yesterday? If friggin snowed again! All day, but it didn’t accumulate much on the driveway, which saved my sore muscles a bit. I grabbed the leash and a Toraño Master toro from the 90+ rated sampler Jack Toraño sent me over a year ago and took the dog out for a walk. This cigar is a smooth, well balanced, medium bodied cigar. The wrapper is a perfect looking Ecuador Habano, I have to get my hands on the Master maduro one of these days, that looks really tasty. They offer this cigar in a 6″x60 size they call the BFC. Don’t make the mistake I made and assume that the initials stand for something other than “big fat cigar”. I’m embarrassed that my first thought was something less polite. Charlie Toraño is far to much of a gentleman to name a cigar something so undignified (Jack might 🙂 ). At the 2012 IPCPR show in Orlando they featured a LFC size, which was a 4½”x60. They offered this in several blends and it doesn’t appear that it caught on based on the fact that I don’t see them on the website, nor have I ever seen them anywhere but at the show that year. I liked the Loyal I smoked in that format, and wouldn’t mind smoking some of the Exodus blends in this shape. I admit to being a fan of the little fat cigars.

I have to tell you, I appreciate spending my weekend mornings watching Olympic Hockey. I get annoyed with weekend afternoon games as I like to think I have better things to do than watch TV. Getting my hockey fix out of the way before 10 AM works out better for me. Too bad it’s only every four years!

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

CigarCraig

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Filed under Review

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Draconian, Hex, La Sirena, Recluse, Sindicato, Toraño

by CigarCraig | January 19, 2014 · 11:55 am

An Azan White, A Toraño Exodus 50th Cigar and I Got Hex’d!

It’s been a busy time in the cigar industry, it seems. Press releases are flying everywhere, and, although I’m not the guy who has the ability, or the inclination, to post them upon arrival, they did inspire some of my cigar selections this week! There are several sites I can count on posting a press release shortly after I receive the e-mailed version, and I think that’s great! I just feel like it would be redundant for me to post it a few days later and I try to keep my content just a little different from everyone else. That being said, I’m all about promoting the premium cigar industry, so I’ll endeavor to smoke a cigar from a company in the news and link to the relevant press release on one of my esteemed colleagues sites. Everyone (with some exceptions) loves links, so hopefully this is a winning solution. Enough of my editorial views, I smoked some cigars this week!

Thursday evening I selected my last IPCPR sample from Roberto Duran Cigars, an Azan White Robusto. I had enjoyed the Campaña a while back (here with some back story) and really enjoyed it. I’m sure glad that I accidentally came by samples at the show, because this is a dynamite cigar. It’s flavor is smooth and rich and it’s what I look for in a premium cigar. The construction is also perfect. I have it on good authority that they are coming out with a Corojo Maduro next, which sounds really interesting. This 4 7/8 x 50 robusto has an Ecuador Corojo wrapper and perhaps it’s the Brazilian Mata Fina in the filler (along with leaf from Jalapa and Esteli) that give it that little something extra that I like. This is a really nice, refined cigar that would be smokable just about any time of the day. Another cigar with a “very nice” rating. The press release I mentioned above can be found posted at Cigar Federation here.

Friday I cracked open a Toraño 90+ Rated Sampler I received last year from Jack Toraño. As I am prone to do, I started with the maduro offering, the 93 rated Toraño Exodus 1959 50 Years Toro. This is also the highest rated out of the bunch. Aesthetically, this is a beautiful dark, oily cigar and I really like how the copper colored band looks against the wrapper. Very pretty. This is a rich, smooth maduro that is another “very nice” cigar. Burn and draw were spot on and it gave me about an hour and a half of smoking enjoyment. I’ll continue to smoke through this sampler and report in on the rest of the blends represented, it’s nice to know that this can be purchased for under $25 at a lot of outlets (BCP has them here, shilling for one of my advertisers!). Toraño announced last week their “Blends From the Vault” tour beginning in February. TheCigarNut.com is one place you can find the press release about the tour. I was actually having a discussion yesterday with a gentleman in a local lounge about the lack of a big Toraño presence here in south-east PA, and the proprietor of the same shop asked me about Sam Leccia in a separate conversation. Toraños are great smokes and Sam is the hot ticket over the last six months or so, it amazes me a little that the presence is so limited.

Wednesday I posted the press release for National Hex Day, so I hunted down a participating store in my area and took a forty minute drive to Goose’s Tobacco Outlet in Limerick, PA. I had visited this shop once before and had wanted to visit again anyway, so this gave me an excuse. I walked in and said “Hex Me” and was presented with a Hex Figurado, and then purchased three more. John, the proprietor, invited me into their members lounge to enjoy my free Hex Figurado. From talking to a couple members there, I came to find that if you spend $20 in the shop you are welcome to enjoy the lounge without a membership. This isn’t generally a problem for me anyway, but I prefer a shop have a public area for patrons to come in and enjoy their purchases. Not everyone buys more cigars than they plan to smoke at one sitting, there may be people who want to come in and buy one cigar and sit and enjoy it in a comfortable setting. Just one of my pet peeves, and I can’t complain about Goose’s selection or lounge, because it’s not bad and the two times I’ve been there I’ve managed to meet nice people and be accepted, like one finds in many cigar shops. I’ve smoked the Hex before and enjoyed it quite a bit. The example I smoked yesterday smoked a little on the wet side, and in talking to some other patrons they seemed to have similar issues. I still found it to be delicious, but if I didn’t understand the problem, I may have been put off by the way it smoked. I know the ones I brought home will smoke great after some rest in the humidor (they are in the new Adorini humidor for now). Keep an eye out for Sindicato Cigars, they are doing some pretty interesting things! I also understand that Goose’s is working on bringing a brand to market as well as hosting a festival in the fall. I’d much rather get Hex’d at Goose’s than Goose’d at Hex’s! I hope some of you went out and got Hex’d yesterday (or goose’d, I’m not judging)!

That’s enough for today, enjoy the day, I understand there might be a game on or something (the Flyers played last night and tomorrow, so I don’t know what other games there might be…). Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Editorial, Review

Tagged as Azan, cigar, cigars, Goose's, Hex, Roberto Duran, Sindicato, Toraño

by CigarCraig | January 15, 2014 · 7:10 pm

National Hex Day, Room 101 and Man ‘O War Cigars

You’ve no doubt seen this, but in case you haven’t:

SINDICATO CIGAR COMPANY ANNOUNCES NATIONAL HEX DAY JANUARY 18TH

Sindicato Cigar Company, based out of Boca Raton, FL, has announced that January 18th will be “National HEX Day” incelebration of the release of their second Premium brand, HEX. All consumers who visit participating retailers andrepeat the phrase “HEX ME!”, will receive a FREE HEX cigar, while supplies last.

Participating retailers will have stick and box promotions for the day, along with limited edition HEX t-shirts forgiveaways.

Consumers who buy 3 or more HEX cigars during the “I’ve been HEX’D” weekend will be automatically entered in the “HEX giveaway promotion”. Winners will be announced on February 15th. The Grand Prize winner, along with his retailer, will visit the Nicaraguan factory of Omar, Omar Jr., and Alexis Ortez, where HEX cigars are handcrafted in Condega. In addition to a visit to the Condega factory during this 3 day trip, the lucky winner and his retailer will visit the NACSA factory in Esteli, makers of Sindicato’s Affinity brand cigar.

The lucky winner will also visit the Aganorsa factory of Eduardo Fernandez, maker of the highly anticipated Sindicato brand cigar. This Puro Nicaraguan beauty is blended by Master Blender Arsenio Ramos utilizing only the rarest and finest aged tobaccos of Fernandez’s farms in Jalapa, Esteli and Condega.

In addition to the Grand Prize winner, there will be prizes for a total of 10 consumers, who will each win a 25-count sampler of HEX’s 5 sizes. The 11 total winners will also receive a 5-count sampler of the Sindicato Puro Nicaraguan cigar by Arsenio Ramos.

To find the nearest retailer selling HEX cigars, please visit out retailer locator at www.sindicatocigars.com

Sunday was a reasonably nice day for this time of year in this part of the US. I needed a nice, long walk, so I selected a Room 101 Namakubi Ecuador Chingon, a Salamon shaped cigar measuring a whopping 8″ x 60 ring gauge at it’s largest point. This is an enormous cigar for a winter day! I spent over two hours with this cigar, about half of that walking around the neighborhood with the dog, and it was a really nice smoke. I’ve smoked a few of it’s smaller siblings which I probably enjoy more, but if you have the time, this is a really tasty smoke. I have one more in the Ranfla size, which is only 5½ x 50, which I bought at an event last year on Matt Booth’s recommendation. This Chingon was a gift from a business associate, thanks Mike! In retrospect, I should probably have waited for a nice, sunny summer day in the pool for this one, but I was in the mood for a nice, long smoke, so this certainly fit the bill.

I inadvertently fell into the theme trap again, and chose another Salomon shaped cigar for Monday’s walk. The Man O’ War Side Project: Skull Crusher. This was an IPCPR sample, and I loved the look of this cigar. It had a dark, oily Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper and was a 5¾” x 56 perfecto with the foot closed and finished off, as if it were capped. I suppose this could have been clipped off, but I burned through it with the lighter. This is a STRONG cigar! It crushed my skull! The black pepper was prominent throughout, although it either mellowed out near the end or I grew accustomed to it! I couldn’t smoke this cigar too often, and I have a pretty high tolerance for strong cigars. The other thing this cigar had in common with the Room 101 was that there doesn’t seem to be a website for either brand. I’ve linked to retailers websites for more information if you need it.

That’s it for now. I’m going to try to get out for a walk if it finally stopped raining, this weather has really been annoying! Maybe I’ll smoke my last Hex cigar.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under News, Review

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Hex, Man O' War, Room 101, Sindicato, Take A Cigar For A Walk

by CigarCraig | August 1, 2013 · 6:48 pm

IPCPR 2013 – Sindicato Cigars with Abe Dababneh

When I got back from Las Vegas I had a package waiting for me from Sindicato Cigars, the company made up of a group of retailers and headed by Jim Colucci, formerly of Altadis. Of the three cigars debuting at the show, I have to say that the Hex intrigued me, so I had to light one of those up first. Vitola-wise it looked just like the Smoke Inn Micro-blend Tatuaje Anarchy Apocalypse, a 5¼” x 52 perfecto with a curly pigtail cap. It very much looked like a cigar I’d love, and I wasn’t wrong. This cigar burned perfectly and was delicious! It was dark and loaded with all the flavors I like, the espresso/cocoa/dark dried fruit types of flavors. It will be hard not to smoke the other sample and dig through the trade show samples in search of more. Seek out the Hex and give it a try.

Next up was the Affinity. This is a Ecuador Connecticut wrapped cigar that I believe Abe described as a Connecticut Shade with some strength to it. Now, I try not to be cynical (I don’t try too hard…) but this has been the theme for the last couple years, the Connecticut shade wrapped cigar that’s not the typical mild shade wrapped cigar. Nish Patel’s Zen, E.P.Carrillo’s New Wave Connecticut, everyone seems to have the Connecticut Shade wrapped cigar that is not your typical mild cigar. Anyway, the Affinity is a really nice cigar, nothing really surprising, but an enjoyable smoke that was quite satisfying and the biggest problem I had with it was the Robusto size was too short! This may not be too different from other cigars out there, but it’s very good. Well made and tasty.

Last night I tried the economy offering, the. Casa Bella. This was a corona sized cigar, which fit well into my schedule. This is a bundle cigar, hand made in the Dominican Republic, with an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper. This has a really low price point, I think Abe says the 6″x60 is under $3.00! It’s mixed filler, but it was a tasty smoke, although I had a little problem keeping it burning in the middle of the cigar. Maybe it was a construction issue, but more likely it was my impatience in lighting it up a couple short weeks off the truck. For a two dollarish cigar it was pretty darned tasty.

It seems like the group of retailers known as Sindicato know what they are doing and have produced three nice lines. The Hex blew me away, and I enjoyed both the premium and budget Ecuador Connecticut offerings. If you see them in your local shop give them a shot. I don’t recall, but I don’t think these will be available on line at all, just in brick and mortar tobacconists. Here’s the video of Abe Dababneh telling us about the company and the three lines: