Tag Archives: HVC

by Craig Vanderslice | October 31, 2021 · 10:37 am

An HVC 10th Anniversary Cigar and a New Govee WiFi Thermometer Hygrometer Set

I had a few days off this week to take care of some things, so as I was out running some errands on Friday I stopped in to Son’s Cigars to see Vince for a few minutes and see what was new. Of course, I made some impulse buys, and bought some new cigars, one of which was a recommendation by Vince, the HVC 10th Anniversary. I’ve enjoyed the HVC cigars I’ve smoked, as well as most of the Aganorsa cigars, from which factory this cigar is produced. Sidebar: I told Vince when I was there that there were cigars that I wanted to pick up and couldn’t remember, and I should make a list…and I just now remembered what they were. Now the trick is remembering to make a list. Hang on, let me make a note…OK, I’m back. I would have forgotten again and it would have driven me nuts. Now, maybe, I have a chance, I just have to remember I have the list! Back to the HVC 10th. This is a cigar that comes in one size, and it’s a good size for my preference, 6 ½” x 50. I like it, it’s a little longer than a toro, not quite a Churchill, very nice, as long as it tastes good! It’s a Nicaraguan Puro with Corojo wrapper grown in Jalapa, and a few different varietals of Corojo in the filler. It started out with a pretty heavy pepper, which settled into a collection of sweet spices and some cedar, while maintaining the strength. It mellowed slightly in the second half, but was still a formidable cigar. I have one complaint, and it’s directed at Vince: why did you only sell me one? Great smoke!

I have recently been testing the new Govee WiFi Digital Hygrometer Thermometer 3 Pack, which I purchased from Amazon for $69.99. I’ll make some disclosures at this point. The links to this here are affiliate links, if you make a purchase using them I’ll get a few cents, and it won’t cost you anything. You’ll have my gratitude, but no pressure. Secondly, I purchased this with the understanding that the manufacturer would reimburse me, as they have in the past, and I have no reason to believe that they won’t. that being said, I’m really not going to lose sleep if they don’t come through, let me explain. I have Govee remote Temperature Hygrometers deployed in all of my humidors. Most are just Bluetooth, which is fine, but I’m finding more value in having WiFi connected units. I was excited to try this set-up with the WiFi Hub. This product comes with three sensors and the hub. The sensors work independently via Bluetooth, but the Hub connects them to your home WiFi network, so you can see them through the app wherever you happen to be. Pretty cool. I’ve been testing them for accuracy side by side and they are all pretty close one another, as well as another Govee WiFi unit. My plan is to spread the three sensors out in my cabinet, top, middle and bottom, although I could put them in three different humidors if I wanted, as long as they were reasonably close to the Hub, which plugs into an AC outlet. One piece of advice when setting up the system: pull the plastic tabs that cover the batteries in the sensors as you set each one up, then put the number stickers on them, if you pull the tabs all at once (like I did, duh), you have a hard time telling one from another in the app. I looked like a moron blowing on them to get the humidity to change so I could tell one from the other and rename it in the app (Edit: I’m told that if you bring one of the sensors close to the phone the corresponding one in the app will blonk to identify it). I guess what I’m trying to say is if you have a large humidor, or three humidors, this is a pretty cool way to monitor your temperature and humidity, and the app, just like with the other Govee products I’ve reviewed here before, tracks something like a year’s worth of historical data. You can set alarms and cool stuff like that as well. The only unknown is the battery life on the sensors, and I didn’t look to see what kind of batteries they take, but they are probably easily sourced button cells of some sort (Edit: they are standard AAA).

Don’t forget to go enter the contest in the last post! I’m going to add a few cigars to the bag before all is said and done. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 10th Anniversary, Accessory, Bluetooth, Govee, HVC, Hygrometer, Thermometer, WiFi

by Craig Vanderslice | June 27, 2021 · 9:48 am

Black Lion Luxuries May Cigar of the Month Club Offerings

I know it’s the end of June, but I’ve just gotten around to smoking my way through the May Black Lion Luxuries Cigar Of the Month Club Package. This pack featured three cigars that I hadn’t had a chance to smoke before, and had wanted to, and the other two were cigars I smoked before and liked, so it was a winner all the way around. There was also a trend toward connoisseur type sizes, as there was a lancero and three Corona Gorda sized cigars in the mix. Once again, the value can’t be argued, this was basically “buy 3, get 2 free” or better as the MSRP on the cigars individually added up to $54.86, and the COTM is something like $38 delivered. I’ve been impressed with the packaging and the condition of the cigars, they have been ready to smoke out of the package every time, even when I’ve ignored them for a month! I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but the way the cigars were placed in the bag resembled a left hand.

Being slightly CDO (that’s OCD in alphabetical order, LIKE IT SHOULD BE!), I smoked the lancero first because it stood out. Luciano the Dreamer is from Ace Prime cigars, which is a newer company that I’ve had absolutely no interaction with at all. They’ve come on the scene in the past few years, and it’s been a few years since I’ve been to an IPCPR show, so I’ve only been hearing about them through other outlets. I don’t even think they were working closely with Crowned Heads when I talked to Miguel Schoedel last year at the TPE show. My point is that I don’t know a lot about this line and I haven’t had any opportunity to sample any cigars from them. I think the closest I’ve come is the Juarez which is made in the same factory, and maybe the Mil Dias? The Dreamer is a 7½” x 38 Lancero, which is just about right for a traditional Laguito No. 1. I appreciate the attention to detail. This is a spectacular example of a lancero in my opinion. When smoked gently, it had flavors of sweet earth and leather. It could not have had a more perfect burn and draw, it was an absolute pleasure to smoke. The makeup of the cigar are an Ecuador Habano Corojo wrapper, Nicaraguan Binder and Nicaraguan and Peruvian fillers, and I always appreciate a little Peruvian in a blend, there’s a little unique spice that it gives. This cigar is a winner.

The next cigar I smoked was the Montecristo 1935 Anniversary Nicaragua Demi. This was the first of the three Corona Gorda-ish sized cigars, and another one that was new to me and was on my list of cigars I was looking forward to trying. I’ve heard how amazing this cigar was from a lot of people. This is made by AJ Fernandez and is a Nicaraguan Puro and is 5½” x 46. I may need to try this in a larger vitola, because all I really got from this cigar was pepper, there wasn’t really much else to it. I was expecting a lot more flavor. That’s not to say it was a bad cigar, it’s just that my expectation was set pretty high, and for a $10 cigar I think there should be more than just one peppery note. Might just be me, never claimed to have a good palate, but for me this one was a let down. In my defense, those who follow me and keep score know that many Altadis products appeal to me, however the ones that do tend to be made by AJ Fernandez. I do keep trying though.

Two that I have smoked before, and enjoyed, are the Highclere Castle from Foundation Cigars and the CAO Zocalo Robusto. The Highclere Castle was the Victorian, with is the Habano wrapped line, and a very good smoke. I’m actually not sure if I’ve smoked the Connecticut wrapped Edwardian, yet, although I know I have one around someplace. I do like the Victorian a great deal, it’s a delicious cigar, and this was the “corona”, which is a 5½” x 46. The CAO is the 5″ x 52 Robusto, which is fairly new, it’s a line extension to the Zocalo line which was originally only a 6″ x 60. It’s a nice San Andrés wrapped cigar with some Spice and cocoa. If you enjoy that genré of cigar, as I do, you’ll find the Zocalo to your liking. Once again, both where in perfect condition and ready to smoke.

Finally, I smoked the HVC Serie A Perlas, a true Corona Gorda at 5 5/8″ x 46. This cigar has a Corojo 99 wrapper, and Nicaraguan binder and fillers, and I believe it’s made at the Aganorsa factory. Can I just say that it makes me a little nuts when cigar companies don’t have websites to link to? Can I also say that I seem to be the only cigar blogger who links to the cigar makers websites? I do it because I figure it makes it easy for the reader to get more information about the brands if they feel so inclined and I’m there already half the time and it only takes a second to copy and paste. Anyway, I found this Serie A to have nice, bright flavors, with some sweet spices. It wasn’t a heavy cigar, and I liked it. It was different than the others in the selection and I appreciated that. The COTMs from Black Lion Luxuries have proven to provide not only a good value, but an excellent variety. I recommend them heartily.

Thursday evening I stopped by the Wooden Indian for their first in person event since March of 2020, which featured Pedro Gomez of Drew Estate. It was well attended all things considered, and they raised some cash for Cigars for Warriors, like they always do. It was a good time, and I smoked an Undercrown 10 Corona Doble which was pretty darned good, although I think I’m preferring the Toro so far (big surprise there). It was nice seeing people at an event again and talking to people face to face.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 1935, Ace Prime, Black Lion Luxuries, CAO, cigar, cigars, COTMC, Foundation, Highclere, HVC, Luciano the Dreamer, Montecristo, Zocalo

by Craig Vanderslice | June 20, 2021 · 10:18 am

HVC Hotcakes, Patina Maduro and Hoyo Excalibur Black Cigars

Happy Father’s Day. I find myself in an interesting position. For the last 15 years or so I’ve smoked the same cigar, a special project that Christian Eiroa did with a group of alt.smoker.cigars newsgroup members to help children orphaned by hurricane Mitch in 1998. I had bought. box for Father’s day in ’99, and at some point started smoking them annually on Father’s day. Last year I smoked the last one. I don’t see myself finding one cigar to smoke every year, so I think I’m just going to smoke a special cigar today. I had a good run with the Esperanza Para Los Niños, good memories, and they were very good cigars. I imagine Christian used the blend in something somewhere along the line. Enjoy the day!

One of the cigars that had been on my 2020 list of cigars I didn’t smoke was the HVC Hot Cakes, so I bought a couple at the Wooden Indian a few weeks back. I’ve since smoked them. I got the Laguito No. 5 size, a 6″ x 54 toro with a San Andrés wrapper, a double binder of Jalapa Corojo 99 and Esteli Corojo 98 and Corojo 06 Maduro filler, which is interesting. I would have liked for these to have been a little drier, and they seemed like they should have been ready to go by Humidimeter readings, but they smoked like they were a little too moist. Not bad, I just would have liked more smoke output. I’ll get more and drybox them. If the filler is “maduro”, that implies to me a heavier leaf which can hold more moisture which makes sense now. I should have looked at the blend before smoking them, but I rarely do that. It had great flavor, very rich and earthy with some coffee notes. I liked it. I’m working on sampling more Aganorsa product a can acquire it.

A few weeks ago when I was at Cigar Mojo, disappointed that I couldn’t buy any Stolen Throne cigars, then disappointed once again by the Mil Dias that I bought instead, I picked up a few Patina Maduro Oxidations, their 6″ x 56 offering. I’ve heard a lot about this line from listening to the Sultans of Smoke podcast, which features Mo Maali, Patina’s owner. Of course, Maduro is my go-to, but I would have picked up the Habanos if they had them as well. If I understand correctly, these are made at the same factory that Saka’s Mi Querida and Umbagog (and Unstolen Valor) are made, so I felt confident in my purchase. I don’t find any blend information on this cigar. The wrapper is a lighter shade of maduro, it’s not dark at all like the Hot Cake, which is maduro but isn’t billed that way, or the next cigar, which is blatantly called “black”. The cigar was nice and smooth, with little bite and was simply a darned tasty cigar. I’m looking forward to smoking the other one, and getting ahold of the Habano.

Finally, I had received some samples of the new Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur Black Toros from General Cigar a few weeks ago and smoked a few of them. Excalibur is one of the brands that goes back to the beginning of my cigar smoking career. The Excalibur No. 1 was one of my splurge cigars when it was about $5 and that was an expensive cigar. It’s nice to see that they are still offering this cigar in that size, which is a whopping 7¼” x 54, normal by today’s standards, but a veritable the baseball bat in 1996. The Toro is 6″ x 52 and has a dark U.S. Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. The binder is a Sumatra leaf from Ecuador and the fillers are Ligeros from Nicaragua and Honduras. This cigar has a bit of a punch to it, I made sure this one was on the drier side because of those heavier tobaccos, and it poured smoke. Lots of spice, bitter chocolate and espresso flavors. It was nothing like the Excaliburs I remember, of course they had a Connecticut shade wrapper, and for some reason I rarely smoked the maduros then, my shop may note have had them. I Like a lot of Hoyo’s and this is another one I like!

I still need to hear from the contest winner, before I smoke all the cigars. Mitchell Smith, second notice! Don’t make me track you down! Anyway, I think one of today’s cigars will be a Julius Caeser, that’s a nice cigar. It’s appropriate too because I’ve got some pain in my back…any way…have a great day, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Excalibur, Hot Cake, hoyo de monterrey, HVC, Patina

by Craig Vanderslice | November 29, 2020 · 10:06 am

Sobremesa Brulee Blue, Platinum Nova, HVC Black Friday and Triqui Traca Cigars

We had a really low key Thanksgiving. We didn’t have a big meal, just the immediate family hanging out around the house. We actually ordered sandwiches from Wawa for dinner! It was much more relaxing than the stress of preparing a big meal and cleaning it all up in all honesty! I, like many days, treated myself to some great cigars. I realized that I haven’t written anything about the Sobremesa Brulee Blue yet, so I figured it was about time. This is a 6 ¼” x 46 lonsdale cigar with a pigtail cap. I used a cutter because I’ve evolved to use tools, I’m not an animal. Also, even though Saka sent me this cigar, it’s a $15 cigar and I’m not risking screwing it up by manhandling it. Of course, I’ve smoked a few Brulee’s, including the STFU! set, and I don’t believe this had a sweet cap. It certainly has a natural sweetness to the tobacco, and a creaminess to the smoke that’s really nice. There’s plenty of body and some spice to the smoke too, making it a really interesting and entertaining cigar to smoke. The bands a re really pretty too.

I guess I had the blue in the Sobremesa bands in my head when I went to select my after dinner cigar. Full disclosure, while the rest of the family had “Gobblers”, I had an Italian hoagie, as I am not a fan of the turkey sandwich with the thanksgiving meal fixings on it. It’s my holiday, I’ll celebrate it the way I want! So I went to the humidor and selected Limited Edition Platinum Nova Torpedo. This was a cigar that Ari and Leo of Nova Cigars gave me at the TPE show last January, and I’ve probably mentioned it here before. It’s a 5 ½” x 55 torpedo that retails around $30, so it’s no cheap date. It’s got Dominican Binder and Fillers with a Habano 2000 wrapper. Remember when the Habano 2000 wrapper came on the scene and it didn’t burn? Now it’s on $30 cigars! This cigar has a really delicate, floral flavor profile. If you like that sort of thing, this is a cigar for you. It’s an entertaining change of pace for me. Of course, it burned perfectly, I’d have been disappointed for it hadn’t. this company makes some really good cigars. You don’t hear about them a lot, I hear about them on the Smokin Tabacco podcast/show, a show which Matt Tabacco (his real name) and Jon Carney which is entertaining. It’s a good thing that Ari and Leo started Platinum Nova when they did, because they worked for Nat Sherman, and would have been looking for jobs now anyway.

Friday I smoked the HVC Black Friday Firecracker. I thought I might have missed out on this, but when I went to 2 Guys website on the Tuesday after they came out, I was still able to get some. From the hype, I thought they would sell out. I got lucky, I guess. So I added some to my stash of various Firecrackers, and smoked one Friday before my granddaughters came over for the afternoon. This is a 3½” x 50 little smoke with a long “fuse” and a closed foot. Initially the spicy “hotness” covers any flavor to me. It was overwhelmingly strong off the bat. The Corona Gorda was strong, but this little bastard was really strong. It eventually settled down, but by the time it settled down, it started ramping back up because it was getting near the end. It’s pretty much pepper and strong, black coffee flavors, which is OK. If you aren’t prepared for the strength, it might me troublesome, and it’s a darned good thing it’s only 3½” long.

When I ordered the Firecrackers, I added on a few of the new sizes of the Mi Querida Triqui Tracas that recently came out that weren’t included in Saka’s media pack 😁. Here’s a couple of ethical disclosures: I buy a lot of cigars, and I get samples of cigars from vendors. If there is a problem with a cigar I get from a vendor, I don’t trash it, I talk to the vendor. I try to smoke cigars that I like. There has been an instance recently where I was given an item to review, I found it to be sub-par, I gave the vendor a draft of the review, told them I didn’t want to post the review and offered to return the item to them, which they agreed to do, even though two other items I’ve been given and reviewed in the past have been excellent. I can’t damage someone’s business with my opinions. I don’t have a problem endorsing something I can stand behind, but I’m not going out of my way to tear something down. Anyway, not quite sure why I went on that tangent, but I took Macha out to Valley Forge Park yesterday for a walk and took the huge Triqui Traca 764 along. This is a big cigar, as the name suggests, it’s 7” x 64, clever guy, that Saka. I suppose it’s better than calling it Donkey D*ck, but not quite as good as Gran Buffalo (which is what he called the same size in the Mi Querida). I lit this up and used it to maintain social distance, with both the smoke and physical size of the cigar. We walked for a while, then turned back, drove home, then I spent another few hours on the porch finishing the cigar. There are monuments at Valley Forge smaller than this cigar. It’s larger than some of the canons. They built cabins for the soldiers out of logs smaller than this cigar. It was a lot of good cigar, and I look forward to smoking the 652, because I felt like the 764 was maybe less flavorful, or maybe just a lot of work getting to the flavor. I bought more than one, so perhaps next summer I’ll work on another one.

Keep those Reader’s Choice Cigar of the year entries coming! Please e-mail me at craig@cigarcraig.com with your choice for the 2020 cigar of the year. I’ll compile the results and post them on December 31. Please be as specific as possible. That’s more than enough for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 764, Blue, Brulee, cigar, cigars, Firecracker, HVC, Mi Querida, Platinum Nova, Sobremesa, Triqui Traca

by Craig Vanderslice | November 11, 2020 · 9:28 pm

HVC Black Friday 2020 Cigar

Sunday I took a little ride out to Havertown, PA to visit my favorite daughter, I am allowed to say that because I only have one daughter. She also has my favorite granddaughters, and I like to see them from time to time. Ironically, they live very close to the Wooden Indian, so I stopped by with the intention of picking up a few new to me cigars to smoke. The Wooden Indian is still operating under COVID restrictions, not government mandated, but out of concern for safety of employees and patrons. As Dave Mayer, the owner, will point out, the humidor provides a nice environment for a virus to live, so he doesn’t want people wandering in and out. Their lounge is open to their members, with a separate entrance, but the store is closed to the public. I pulled up and called. I had an idea what I was looking for, but they didn’t have the first couple selections I asked for yet, and I goofed when I asked for the All Saints, I wanted the Dedicación, and asked for the Solamente, which I had already smoked. Not that I was too disappointed, the Solamente is a great smoke, and I didn’t mind having a few more in the humidor. It’s a problem I plan to correct tomorrow night. Anyway, Deanna, who was working in the shop, ran through some of the new arrivals for me and mentioned the HVC Black Friday which was one I had wanted to try, so I picked up a few of those. Deanna took great care of me over the phone. She was very knowledgeable, and delivered my cigars to the door to me quickly. In the future, I’ll go on their website and make my shopping list.

I haven’t smoked anything from HVC yet, and I remember seeing HVC at the TPE show, but, for whatever reason, I failed to meet Lorenzo. It seems to me that his area was busy whenever I wandered by. I’ve been hearing a lot about the brand, and I’ve been hearing a lot about the Black Friday. To my surprise, the HVC Black Friday has been an ongoing limited edition, going back to 2015! I’ve been somehow missing out on this brand. This years cigar is a corona gorda, 5 5/8″ x 46, an excellent size. From what I can tell it has a Habano wrapper, double binder consisting of Corojo and Criollo and Nicaraguan fillers from Jalapa, including Ligero from Aganorsa’s farm. This is a strong cigar! It starts off with a load of pepper, and smoothes out a little but not much. It has some sweetness, be remains a powerhouse throughout. I really enjoyed this cigar! I didn’t really look at the price, but some post sale research shows these in the $7.50 range, which is quite a deal. United Cigar is offering a Black Friday Firecracker, which sounds really interesting, but I don’t know if a stronger version is really necessary! I’ll try to get my hands on some, as I like sampling the Firecrackers, but I can imagine it’ll live up to the Firecracker name. I couldn’t wait until the day after Thanksgiving to smoke the Black Friday, and I’m not sure if the other one I have will make it another couple weeks! Great cigar, and now I need to find some more HVC cigars to sample.