Tag Archives: illusione

Welcome Fox Cigars Contest No. 3 Winner and Wrap-up

The last month has been a lot of fun, three great contests sponsored by Fox Cigars!  Brought back some memories of the good old days of CigarCraig contests.  It’s getting harder and harder to give stuff away these days! I’ll keep sharing great cigars with my readers as long as I am able, and I know my partners are always anxious to spread the love as well. Thanks to Rob at Fox for helping out with this series of contests! I know that Chase received his Perdomo prize, and Narciso’s Oliva gift went out in the mail yesterday. Today we’ll be announcing the winner of the last present in the three part Welcome to the CigarCraig Family contest! I smoked an original El Güegüense Robusto last night to celebrate, since I didn’t seem to have any Illusiones on hand, I guess I’ll have to go on Fox Cigars website and order some! The El Güegüense was fantastic! I believe it was from the original release, and it burned well, although it did need a correction here and there, but the flavor was wonderful. 

 

 

I did make some Area 51 jokes in the original contest post, I don’t recommend attending that event. Also, I don’t think Dion has named any Illusione cigars Area 51 (yet), but he has used MJ12, which refers to a group of scientists who probably worked there. Anyway, through my random selection process, utilizing the random number generator on Random.org, and a spreadsheet randomize range tool, I’ve selected a winner from combined website and Instagram comments. That winner is Nate Martin! Please email me your address, along with proof that you’re of legal age so I can get all these goodies out to you. Thank you again to Fox Cigars! That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig 

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Contest: Welcome Fox Cigars Episode Three!

OK, this is the third and final installment of the “Welcome Fox Cigars” series of Giveaways! The first two have been great, I think you’ll agree, but I think you’ll also agree that we’ve saved the best for last!  Honestly,  I probably could have stretched this out to four, but let’s not get carried away! First we have to determine a winner from last weeks giveaway.  Like last time, I made a list of the combined entries from he comments here and on Instagram, and randomized them, and had Random.org pick a number and that was the winner.  The winner of the Oliva prize is from the website comments this week!  Narciso Lopez, please send me your address, along with proof that you are of legal age, so that I can send you your winnings!

 

Let’s see what Giveaway numero tres, looks like! Illusione! Dion Giolito makes some great cigars, and has a cigar store in Reno.  Here we have an Illusione t-shirt in XL, perfect to wear to the big Area 51 thing next month!  And, since Are 51 is in the Nevada desert, you’ll need the Illusione 5 count travel humidor to keep your cigars in good shape. Speaking of cigars, there are some of those too!  There are two each of Illusione Cruzado Marelas Supremas and Cruzado Domenicos Extra.  There’s an Illusione Rex (the unbanded corona), and an Epernay. Since Illusione is  a boutique brand, there’s also a selection of boutique cigars! a selection from Aganorsa Leaf, Warped, Surrogates and Foundation add to the panache of this super-cool prize pack! I’m going to enter (not really, but I haven’t smoked some of these cigars! I’m going to have to order some from Fox).

 

 

By the way, I don’t recommend going anywhere near Area 51, I understand it’s not cigar friendly at all. So, leave a comment to enter! I’m going to post this on Instagram, and I’m going to include comments on that post as well, just to make my life more difficult, so you can get two chances.  As usual, you must be of legal smoking age in your jurisdiction to win (and even that’s getting to be a PITA these days!), one entry per person  (per site). I’ll select a winner next Wednesday, August 14, 2019. Once again, thanks to Rob at Fox Cigars!

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News: Prime Cigar & Whiskey Bar Hosts One Off Illusione Florida Release Party

I received a personal invitation to the official Florida release of the “One Off” from Illusione this Wednesday at the Casa de Montecristo by Prime Cigar and Whiskey Bar in Miami (1106 S. Miami Avenue #202 Brickell Miami, FL 33130) but, as much as I’d love to make it, geographically” I’m just not able to attend. So I’m going to pass on the details here and hopefully one of my readers will be able to make it and send me a report. I’m to understand that the venue has won “Best Cigar & Whiskey Bar/Shop in Miami” by the Miami New Times readers, so it sounds like a nice place.

 

Prime Cigar & Whiskey Bar will be one of 500 retail locations across the nation selling the highly anticipated (back on the market) “One Off” by Illusione.

Production details are not that easy to come by, but all we can say is it is being handled at Aganorsa Leaf’s Tabacos Valle de Jalapa S.A. factory in Estelí, Nicaragua and that ONLY 120,000 One Off’s have been rolled out to the market.

Formal introduction will be celebrated at the July 2018 IPCPR Convention and Trade Show in Las Vegas, NV.

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Señorial, Perdomo, Illusione at Goose’s and CAO Flathead Cigars

Senoreal_Maduro_Longsdale RefinadoIt’s almost half way through January already, we’ve had no snow, it’s going to be 60 today (but raining) and, once again, I did not win the Powerball! What are the odds I didn’t win the $900,000,000 jackpot? I think something like 292 million to one. it’s kind of a long shot, and the next couple days are going to be ridiculous at the places that sell lottery tickets as it’s over a billion dollars now since nobody won. I’m fortunate that I don’t have to rely on winning the lottery to smoke nice cigars right now and lat week was another good cigar week.  I started off with a Señorial Maduro in the Lognsdale Refinado size. This is a 6½” x 44 lonsdale size cigar, and I’ve found a discrepancy. The sticker on the cigar is spelled “Longsdale“, everywhere else it’s listed as “Lonsdale” (except for the Las Cumbres Tabaco website, which does not feature the six month or more old Maduro line at all…C’mon José! You’re supposed to be hip to this whole internet jive!). Call it whatever you want, it’s a great cigar. I picked up a few of these at an event with José at the Wooden Indian a couple of months ago and I’m happy I did. Loads of flavor from the San Andrés wrapper, perfect construction and a wonderful smoking experience.  Great cigar from a great guy. I see a Freyja in my future, it’s been a while since I smoked one of those.

 

PerdomoNoirA couple of evenings this week were pretty darned cold, not that I should be surprised, it is, January anyway, but I wanted something shorter, with lots of flavor (cold and subtlety don’t mix!) so I reached for a Perdomo Champagne Noir Robusto. I didn’t care for the regular Champagne AT ALL. I would be hard pressed to try another one based upon the experience I had with the first, but the Noir is another story. It’s a Nicaraguan puro, it’s got the cocoa/coffee flavors I like and is a very nice cigar.  I will eventually revisit the Connecticut wrapped 10th Anniversary Champagne, but I have an aversion to spending my cigar time with something I didn’t like the first time.  If I don’t know I don’t like a cigar it’s one thing.  Anyway, the Noir may be my second favorite Perdomo next to the 20th Maduro, but there are a lot of enjoyable cigars in the line. I actually wouldn’t mind taking the  Perdomo factory tour one of these days.

 

Illusione_HLYesterday I wanted to get some of those Powerball tickets everyone is talking about, and I know that the seller of the winning ticket gets a nice little bonus for selling the winner, so I headed over to Goose’s in Limerick, PA and bought my lottery tickets and a handful of cigars, and settled into the lounge with an Illusione HL to watch the Flyers game. I haven’t smoked a great many Illusione cigars, and I need to change this. I’ve met Dion a bunch of times, I think he knows who I am, yet, my experience with his line is sorely lacking. The HL is the 7½” x 40 lancero in the “Original Documents” series which has to be about 10 years old, right?  I didn’t really do my due diligence on this one, so I’m going to guess that this was the Habano wrapped version as it certainly wasn’t candela (on my wish list) and it didn’t strike me as San Andrés Maduro. As I was watching the hockey game in Goose’s lounge, a couple of flavors stood out to me, leather with some sweetness. I enjoyed the heck out of this perfectly constructed lancero, it was perfect for two periods of hockey, at which time I ran home to catch the end of the game.

 

CAO_Flathead_660CarbFor my Saturday evening walk I selected Cigar Aficionado’s number 3 pick on their top 25 list, the CAO Flathead 660 Carb. I’ve heard some sentiments expressed to the negative about this choice for CA, but I, who have been a fan of the line from the start, think it was a solid selection.  I was out of these, so I picked some up at Goose’s (I was actually surprised they were in stock). Obviously, the 660 Carb is 6″ x 60, but it’s severely box pressed, so it really doesn’t feel like a 60 ring cigar. I punched this one, as is nearly mandatory with the flat cap, and got a great burn and draw. I find punching is the easiest way with these (and the RoMaCraft Neanderthal), but I’m going to try some other methods in the future just to see how they work. I guess I just like the neatness of the punch in this case. A large bore punch is best, my Screwpop 2.0 punch is 9mm (the 1.0 was 7m, not that you asked). I love the Broadleaf wrapper on these, and I love the fact that the different sizes present a different smoking experience. The 660 is smooth, but loaded with the great espresso, dark chocolate and tobacco flavors I love. This marque is on my shortlist of box buys right now I just don’t know which size I like best!

 

I would like to ask that anyone who was a winner in the 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways who did NOT receive your winnings please let me know. No need to publicly heap praise upon me, although the sponsors wouldn’t mind, just want to make sure everyone is happy. That’s it for now, off to enclose the back porch for the winter to make it more comfortable for cold weather cigar smoking!

 

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

 

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CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways 2015 Day 9: Smoke Inn Microblends

Several years ago Abe at Smoke Inn, a chain of ten (or eleven?) stores in Florida, launched his Microblend series. He’s had some of the greatest cigar manufacturers on the planet making small batch, store exclusive cigars for him, including Fuente, Padron, Tatuaje, et cetera. This year Abe has provided two ten count packages of his most current Microblend releases,  the Illusione Pactum and the Pope of Greenwich Village from Drew Estate.  The Pactum is a 5½” x 56 San Andrés wrapped robusto with high priming Nicaraguan filler, a Box of 15. The Pope of Greenwich Village is 6″ x 40, and has the San Andrés wrapper also, with a Connecticut Stalk-Cut Habano binder and fillers of Brazilian Mata Fina and Nicaraguan tobaccos and comes in a bundle of 10.  They both sound delicious, don’t they?  Thanks to Abe and his Smoke Inn staff for sending these along.  Abe also has a weekly radio show and podcast, Kiss My Ash Radio, which broadcasts every Saturday at 10am Eastern, check it out. Steve Saka is the special guest on today’s show.

 

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This is going to cause some confusion….Yesterday’s winner of the Punch Signature Robustos from General Cigar Co. is Eric.  I know there were at least two Eric’s who entered, so it’s the one who didn’t use his full name (sorry Eric W! Try again today). So the Eric who posted around 11:46 AM EST yesterday needs to send me his info. I smoked one of these last night (not from your box!) and it’s a really nice smoke, sweet tobacco goodness and great construction. Thanks to Victoria and all the folks at General Cigar Co.!

 

 

You know what to do now, leave a comment here, check back tomorrow to see if you won!

 

RULES

 

All you have to do to enter is to leave a comment on the post of the day, if you can, try to post what you know or how you feel about today’s present, the folks donating the gift should get some feedback for their troubles! It’s not a condition to win, but it’s nice to have something to read. We did this last year and it benefits everyone. Once you’ve won, you’re out, let everyone else have a chance. Must be over 18 to win. Also, be sure to visit the links for each item. Comments on Facebook, Twitter, or anywhere else will not count, but feel free to spread the word!

Until tomorrow,

CigarCraig

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