Tag Archives: Humidity Cigars

by | April 4, 2021 · 10:22 am

My Luck and Padilla Cigars from Humidity Cigars

Since I always post on Sundays, every year about this time I make the same joke, but this year I actually had a cigar that I had allowed to dry out, and put back in the humidor to rehumidify slowly over time, just to see how it would “resurrect”. Of course, I forgot all about it, and didn’t think about it until I sat down to write this post. I guess it wouldn’t be that good of a joke then anyway, but it would have been a good experiment, and still will be when I get around to it. Honestly, with everything going on lately, I’ve been more concerned with using cigars to unwind on a daily basis than anything else, the rest seems too much like work. 

 

Last month I had ordered the Flight & Light from Humidity Cigars and it arrived well packaged and on time. All told, this four pack was about $38 delivered, and had the Celtic Ash that I posted about back on March 14, a La Perla Habana Classic Belicoso, a Padilla Fumas and a My Luck Toro. The first and last of which I assume to be house brands of Humidity Cigars. Yesterday I decided to smoke the My Luck and Padilla cigars. I started with the My Luck Toro. The promotional material from Humidity Cigars lists this as a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, San Andrés binder and Nicaraguan/Dominican fillers. It’s my opinion that they swapped the details with the Padilla, which is listed as Ecuador Connecticut wrapper, Nicaraguan/ Honduran fillers (no binder listed). I make this assertion not only based on appearance, which is compelling enough, but on flavor. The My Luck was well constructed and medium bodied, with a mellow flavor, which was on the nutty and creamy side. This was consistent with an ecuador Connecticut wrapped cigar. It was a good cigar, enjoyable, not particularly remarkable, but certainly not anything I wouldn’t be unhappy smoking again. No regrets with this one! 

 

A few weeks ago I had a private conversation on Instagram with Ernesto Padilla where he asked me why there were never any of his cigars in my feed. I explained that I didn’t come across them in my local shops, and I wasn’t buying in quantity on line. There was a time when Oliva was distributing Padilla that they were in stores and I would pick them up. There was even a Studio Tabac collaboration back in 2015. If you search this site you’ll find a lot of hit on Padilla, but recently they have been largely a catalog concern. This Padilla Fumas was probably 5″ x 50 and had an obviously maduro broadleaf wrapper. It had the sweet and heavy broadleaf flavor and was really quite a nice little smoke. I’m a little confused though. This had a white band, and doing some searching around, the Connecticut does indeed have a white band, while the maduro has a black band, but this was absolutely a broadleaf cigar. I was born at night, but not last night. Whatever the band situation, it was a good cigar, and I’m pleased with the purchase. So far, three for three with this pack. To be honest, The La Perla doesn’t excite me. Maybe it’s the cigar snob in me that looks at this as a catalog bundle brand that I wouldn’t be bothered with, or maybe I’ve smoked it before, I really can’t remember. 

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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by | March 14, 2021 · 10:05 am

A Celtic Ash Cigar from Humidity Cigars and a Deadwoods Crazy Alice

After the folks at Humidity Cigars were kind enough to send me a sample of their monthly subscription pack to try, I placed an order with them to see what would really happen! I chose the “Flight and Light” pack which, at the time, was on sale for $30. I was hoping for some new and interesting cigars to try, and I did get that. I recently had a conversation with Ernesto Padilla about why I hadn’t posted many of his cigar recently, my answer was that they were not available in the shops I visited, so I now have a Padilla (which I have to find out about). One think I would like to see included with the Humidity Cigars shipments is details on the cigars, maybe that’s just because I’m a cigar geek, or I need the details. Fortunately, Gian, the owner of the company, has been responsive to my questions. Yesterday I dug into the pack and smoked the cigar that looked the most interesting to me, the Celtic Ash.

 

 

The Celtic Ash seems to be an exclusive to Humidity Cigars. I should have measured it, but I think it was around 6½” x 52 or 54 maybe. I suppose I expected to find some information about it somewhere, being the optimist that I am (sometimes). I did confirm that it has a Corojo wrapper with Dominican binder and fillers. The wrapper is a dark shade, which is one of the things that drew me to it, as well as the size, which was appropriate for the time I had available. I assume this was included in a March pack to coincide with St. Patrick’s Day, kudos to them for not falling into the candella trap. The cigar is very good, despite some slight burn irregularities, nothing a little torch work can’t fix. It had some really nice sweet and spice flavors, good, well fermented tobacco. Whoever made this for Humidity Cigars knew what they were doing. I admit, at first look with my admittedly jaded eye, I was concerned with the selection I received, now I’m looking forward to trying the MyLuck and Padilla at least (I think I’ve smoked La Perla a long time ago, but I’ll give it another shot). I’ve been impressed with the service so far, the cigars are well packaged and presented. 

 

I have a pet peeve or two, and one big one is when folks insist that Drew Estate‘s Larutan (nee Natural) and the Deadwoods are infused or flavored. I’ve actually seen people argue with Vaughn Boyd, who owned Deadwood Cigars in South Dakota, for whom the Deadwood line was made, about this point. You’d think she would know the answer. I’m going to give you the answer right now, they are not infused or flavored, except that they have a sweet cap in some cases. The exotic tobaccos that are used, the Periques, Syrians and Latakias, that are more traditionally used in pipe tobaccos, are not cased in sweet stuff, they are processed like cigar tobaccos. I know this from discussions with people at Drew Estate and having been to the factory on two occasions. People will still argue that they are infused cigars because they don’t taste like traditional cigars, but that’s because the tobaccos they use taste different! After having this argument yet again yesterday, and correcting someone who should have known better, an “influencer” if you will, I decided to smoke a Crazy Alice. This is a cool shape and a really interesting little smoke. I recently picked up a box of these just because I enjoy them for a change of pace once in a while. They are an explosion of flavor, unique spices and sweetness, I just find them very enjoyable. It filled an hour in between dinner and the Flyers game very nicely. Just because something is different, doesn’t mean it’s wrong!

 

That’s all for today, if this post is an hour late, you forgot to change your clock. Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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by | February 21, 2021 · 10:47 am

The Humidity Cigars Subscription Pack

I’ve been seeing a lot of talk about monthly subscription services, and they seem like a great idea for the right consumer. Heck, they might even be good for someone like me who gets preconceived notions about what I might like or not like based on the blend, appearance, or even the bands or packaging. I know, it’s wrong, but it’s a reality isn’t it? You do smoke with your eyes first, after all, it’s part of the overall experience. That being said, I’ve never committed to a monthly subscription service, I know there are good ones out there, but I’ve always had a large enough stockpile of cigars here in the past and always seemed to have a steady flow of new cigars to try. That is until recently. I don’t know that I want to commit monthly, but I don’t mind putting up a given dollar amount now and then and having someone send me some cigars of their choosing, this model would appealed to me. Anyway, the folks at Humidity Cigars contacted me and sent me one of their monthly kits, and I’ve subsequently placed an order for another one. The one they sent included the Finch and Jackdaw Robustos from Blackbird Cigars, a Medrano Toro Maduro and an Arturo Fuente Chateau Fuente King B. It was a year ago this week that I posted about the Blackbird Cigars along with a video, which apparently you now have to go to YouTube to watch because YouTube won’t allow me to embed videos here anymore due to age restrictions. Nice. They also included one of their can cozies and masks, along with a nice pocket tasting notebook from tastejournal.co.uk. Now, I can’t guarantee that every months subscription comes with all the goodies, but the presentation was very nice. The cigars came in a sealed bag with Humi-smart packs in it and were in good condition as checked with my Humidimeter.

 

Of course, I smoked the Finch first, I’ve smoked this one before and enjoyed it, I like Sumatra a lot and this didn’t disappoint. It’s nice and sweet like I expect. Oddly, the Jackdaw Connecticut is one I hadn’t smoked, and still have one from the TPE show last year! This is a case like I mentioned above, Connecticuts are low on my “try” list. I like them enough, there’s just a select few I really like, and it’s not a genre that I get stoked about sampling. This one, however, it a very nice representation of the genre. It’s a flavorful Ecuador shade wrapped cigar. As with all of the Blackbird Cigars I’ve smoked, the construction is very good. In my area, this line is being distributed by Mark Weissenberger (formerly of Rocky Patel), who is also handling Danli Honduras Tobacco, who makes my favorites, the Don Juan Calaveras, Marchettis, and Clowns. I should be able to find them in my local shops.

 

I hadn’t heard of the Medrano cigar in the pack before. This was a dark Maduro with a foot band that had Five-Four on it. The website for the company gives little info apart from that it has a San Andrés wrapper, Honduran binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. It was a 6” x 54 (maybe that’s what the Five-Four means?) toro and was well made. It smoked well, had a nice flavor, very much what I expected a San Andrés wrapped cigar should taste like, and gave me a good smoking experience. Looking at the website, I’m not sure if they are a cigar company or an apparel company, as they have more clothes than cigars for sale, but perhaps they are just getting started. They need some background info about themselves on the site! Best of luck to them, they seem to be headed in the right direction.

 

The ringer in this pack was the Chateau Fuente King B. I don’t know if it’s my age, or the time I got started smoking cigars, or what, but for me, a Fuente with a Black or White band is always a special thing. When I want to smoke a great cigar, I reach for a Hemingway, Don Carlos, or Añejo, and I’m never disappointed. This King B seems to fit into that family somehow. It’s still in the Gran Reserva line, but has the black band. It’s a 6” x 55 Belicoso with a cedar sleeve, and has a Sungrown Ecuador wrapper. While this isn’t quite on the level of the aforementioned three cigars, it‘ s still quite a good cigar, and while I haven’t smoke a green banded Fuente in a while, my recollection is that it appeals to me more than most of those. It was a nice, coffee and woody flavored cigar. It’s one I wouldn’t mind having in my humidor.

 

Humidity Cigars seems to have a good model, two cigars for $20, four for $35, and they are in PA, not far from me, which is good for a small percentage of my readers :-). I appreciate their consideration, and I’ll let you know how the subsequent order ends up (I should have used and assumed name and address…but I’m not that sneaky…). Maybe I’ll get to Camphill one of these days and meet up with the owners (I have lots of maybes in a post-pandemic future).

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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