Tag Archives: illusione

by CigarCraig | April 10, 2013 · 8:22 pm

Leaving New Jersey, an Illusione, a Reinado, a Liga UF-13 and a Recluse Cigar

Sunday was my last day in New Jersey, so I decided to seek out one more cigar shop to check out, one in Nutley NJ. I arrived at 12:15 to a closed store with signs all over the glass saying they were open at noon every day. I waited around until 12:30 when I decided that there was a perfectly good shop five minutes away that I knew would be open. I made my way back to Cigar Emporium, the scene of Saturday’s terrific herf. I once again perused the generously stocked humidor and decided it was about time I tried my first Illusione cigar, and, having heard good things about the Epernay, I opened my wallet and picked one out. I should mention that at the time I was suffering from another migraine, and took an Imitrex upon arrival. These things whack me out pretty good, so I want to be someplace comfortable when I take one. The Epernay was a nice cigar, it burned pretty well considering it came right out of the store walk-in. It was quite tasty and smoked for nearly two hours. If you find yourself in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, hunt this place down. It’s a friendly and well appointed store and lounge. The clientele and staff were friendly and accomodating and I had as nice a time there Sunday as I did the day before.

Monday evening I selected a cigar that Antonio Lam stuck in my hand, a prototype of a Reinado Grand Empire Reserve box pressed toro. This is a new line extension to the Grand Empire Reserve line which had only come in a 5×55 Robusto. This cigar has the same Habano Maduro wrapper, and is a beauty. We are getting warmer weather here and it was a nice cigar for a long walk in the neighborhood. The toro size just provides more of a good thing, since the Grand Empire Reserve is a spectacular cigar. Rich and loaded with flavor, Antonio has another winner on his hands, and I look forward to seeing this size appear on the shelves. I belive he also had a 6″x 60 he was waving around. Good stuff from the Empire of Reinado!

Tuesday brought another nice evening for an after dinner walk, so I grabbed the Liga Privada Serie Unico UF-13 Dark that the folks at Drew Estate sent my way a few weeks ago. I’m sure you’ve read other reviews by now, and the few I’ve read have been positive. I loved the cigar, even if it was a bit strong out of the gate. It mellowed out some and gave me a very satisfying smoking experience. You have to love the care and attention to detail that goes into these, although the nice little flagged pigtail on this example broke off in transit. Still, one does not smoke that part, and the part I did smoke was pretty stellar. It will be very interesting to see what they have up their sleeves in a few weeks when I, once again, visit the promised land which is Esteli and the Drew Estate Compound. Have I had a Liga Privada I didn’t like? I doubt it.

As I started writing this post I was sitting on the back deck enjoying the heck out of a Recluse Toro, the last one I had in my humidor. I still have a double corona, and a couple of the cool Kanu No. 1 perfectos, but this Toro is a thing of beauty. It’s another maduro cigar, and is smooth as silk and tasty as all get out. It’s burned perfectly, besides the Entubar method of construction it’s been resting in my humidor since last August. Anyway, a storm rolled in and I had to pack up the PC and move into the garage so I could finish this great smoke and this post. Come to think of it, we’re in the final days of a week and a half long contest here where someone is going to win a box of the Recluse Kanu No.1! Get on back to the contest post and leave a comment for a chance to win. Many thinks to Scott and the gang at Iconic Leaf Cigar Co. for sponsoring this contest. This prize is on a par with anything I’ve given away, trust me. Once again I will be jealous of the winner!! Tune in Sunday to see if you won.

That’s it for now. I have to wait for this storm to pass so I can go try to get my son’s car to the shop since it died while he was going to work. It’ll be an adventure, I’m sure. Good thing I’m having a nice, relaxing smoke to settle my nerves! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

5 Comments

Filed under Review, Stores, Take a Cigar For a Walk

Tagged as cigar, cigar store, cigars, Contest, drew estate, illusione, Recluse, Renado, UF-13

by CigarCraig | May 6, 2012 · 10:38 am

Brun Del Rè Cigars, a La Palina Cigar and a Little Rant

I was feeling adventurous again this week and reached for a Brun Del Rè Premium Robusto from last year’s IPCPR. I had smoked a sample from their Don Corazza line a while ago and wasn’t very impressed. I fell victim to one of the classic blunders – The most famous of which is “never get involved in a land war in Asia” but only slightly less well-known is this: “Never judge a cigar line based upon a single sample”. Based upon that one sample, I had been hesitant to invest my valuable cigar time in what might have been just another ho-hum, run of the mill trade show sample. However, my faith has been restored with this cigar. It was a beautiful Ecuador Connecticut shade wrapped 5″ x 50 robusto stuffed with Nicaraguan filer and made in Costa Rica . It was well made, had a nice sweet flavor and was on the medium end of mild. I’m very much looking forward to sampling the rest of this line and even re-visiting the Don Corazza. This cigar is worth a try in my opinion.

Took a long walk on Friday evening and needed a little heftier cigar, so I selected a recently received La Palina Toro. If I get a mile and a half from home and realize I’ve got a dud cigar I’m very unhappy, so cigar selection in this case is critical. Of course, I have the foresight to carry a back-up, either to smoke if I get a less than satisfying cigar experience, or to share along the way if the need arises. With the La Palina, I know I won’t need the back-up. These cigars are always perfectly constructed, they are made in the Raices Cubanas factory in Honduras, the same factory that produces such excellent and consistent lines as Alec Bradley and Illusione (the later of which I’ve never had, but heard good things!). The La Palina Toro is a rich and tasty smoke, although still pricey at $10 each. It’s a premium smoke that has never failed to deliver in all of the sizes I’ve tried, but I think I like this size and the robusto the best. Thank you to La Palina for providing the samples, and for their support of this site.

A Little Rant

This is probably the wrong time to type this. I tend to be the most curmudgeonly on Sunday mornings after I’ve worked at my part time job until 3 am, but I feel the need to vent. A couple things annoy me when reading/listening to my contemporaries in what I’ll hesitantly call the cigar media. My first beef involves basic writing skills. My dear friend Barry Stein made a bit of a joke about his typos, and it annoyed me but I get it. He had a wildly successful site, did a great job, and it was a bit of an inside joke. I read other sites (and I’m going to be a wuss and not name names) and I’m appalled. I’m no writer, but I take what I do here pretty seriously and try to present readable content. Punctuation, run on sentences, misspelling, I feel like I’m reading something a 5th grader wrote (with apologies to most 5th graders). Seriously, word processor programs will at least tell you most of this stuff is wrong! I don’t know how people can put their names on some of the stuff I see. It’s a blog. It’s not twitter or texting. Please write coherently. Another thing that rankles me is when I’m listening to a podcast, and I listen to a bunch, and the presenters get basic information wrong. I’m far from an expert, but after more than a decade and a half of being a crazy cigar fool, I think I can pretty much tell a cigars size on sight, or at least come close. I also think it’s irresponsible to get the price-point wrong about a cigar, especially to represent it as a much cheaper cigar than it actually is. Really, as much time as it must take to produce such high quality podcasts, and as readily available as the information is in most cases, I think it sloppy to leave out these little details. People must think I’m nuts when I’m in the car or out for a walk and start talking back to the podcast trying to correct them! Anyway, it all comes down to details in both cases. If you don’t have the details, don’t make them up or guess while presenting yourself as an authority. As I said, I neither think myself an authority, nor any kind of writer, but I try to get the details right as I feel it’s my responsibility. Thanks for listening, and please leave a comment if there’s something I do repeatedly that annoys you.

Sometime during the week I smoked a Berger and Argenti Mooch Schnorr that was really good. I love the size of this cigar, (it’s 5″ x 50 but it seems more like a corona gorda for some reason) and the name always makes me smile as much as the excellent flavor and construction. This is a reasonably priced, medium bodied cigar that I think can be enjoyed by many different types of smokers. In all honesty, I probably wouldn’t have mentioned this cigar as I’ve mentioned it before, but I spent a lot of time on the photo of the cigar and didn’t want it to go to waste :-).

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

CigarCraig

4 Comments

Filed under Editorial, Review

Tagged as Alec Bradley, Berger and Argenti, Brun Del Re, cigar, cigars, connecticut, illusione, IPCPR, La Palina, rant

by CigarCraig | January 15, 2012 · 9:17 am

A Visit to Cigar-Ette City and Gary Griffith (and a Grimalkin)

Yesterday was a bit on the chilly side, so I figured I’d look for a nice, warm indoor smoking location. I’ve been wanting to take a ride south of the boarder and visit Gary Griffith at his Peoples Plaza Cigar-Ette City store for a while, and decided the time had come. I grabbed the GPS and hit the road, taking the 1 hour and 7 minute drive. I got there a bit ahead of schedule and Gary greeted me warmly and we went into the enormous walk-in humidor. It was at that point that I realized the flaw in my plan: The State of Delaware frowns upon smoking indoors! Here we have a store that sells cigars and other tobacco products, and you can’t smoke in it. If you have been complacent in contacting your elected officials about the FDA issue, do it now. Not being able to smoke in your local shop is only scratching the surface of the “inconveniences” we’ll face it the FDA is allowed to regulate Premium Cigars.

Anyway, all was not lost. I wandered around the humidor for a while talking to Gary, and marvelling at the ridiculous amount of inventory. He had all kinds of boutique brands that I don’t see a lot of in my local shops, but hear about everywhere. The Viajes, Tatuajes, Illusiones, 262s, you name it. Boxes stacked to the ceiling, I even saw a stack of the Para Japon cigars that La Aurora made to aid the Japanese earthquake relief. Of course the Emilio and Grimalkin lines were well represented, and I picked up a couple Grimalkin Robustos while I was there. The moral of the story is that one could leave a ton of cash behind in this store, and the prices were competitive with Pennsylvania prices given that the lack of a state sales tax offsets the cigar tax.

Here’s a little video I shot with Gary telling us about what’s coming down the line in 2012 for the Emilio family of cigars. I know I’m excited to see what comes next.

httpv://youtu.be/VzeaLToxhR8

After I got home and fed, I still needed to smoke the cigar I set out earlier in the day to smoke, so I grabbed a Grimalkin Robusto and took a long and satisfying walk. The cigar was awesome, although I believe more of the subtlety and complexity is apparent when the temperatures aren’t around freezing. Still, this is an incredible cigar that everyone should try if they can. My thanks to Gary for his hospitality, and for making dynamite cigars.

That’s it for now. I used a new camera for the video this time, I’d like to know if you think the quality is better than my previous videos.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

6 Comments

Filed under Editorial, Review, Stores

Tagged as 262 Cigars, cigar, cigar store, Cigar-Ette City, cigars, delaware cigars, Emilio, Gary Griffith, Grimalkin, illusione, IPCPR, La Aurora, Para Japon, Take A Cigar For A Walk, tatuaje, Viaje

by CigarCraig | August 11, 2010 · 4:00 pm

My Latest Cigar Adventures, IPCPR Show – Wednesday August 11, 2010

My family vacation to New Orleans this past weekend allowed me the opportunity to make a quick stop at the annual International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers convention. The IPCPR’s annual show is where all of the manufacturers and distributors gather to sell their wares to the retailers. I had 3 hours to spend at the show as I had to catch a plane, so I tried to visit as many old friends as I could and meet some new ones. As I was standing in the wrong line to register I met Wesley Gensel, who handles several brands of cigars from Brazil. He had been interviewed not long ago on Dogwatch Cigar Radio, real nice guy. I moved from the “exhibitors” line to the empty “retailers” line and got my badge and waited to enter the show where I struck up a conversation with Thomas Bender and a couple of his cohorts from Cigar Weekly. I also ran into Mark Aub from Brother’s of the Leaf/Palio whom I had met a couple months ago.

At about 10 minutes to 10 they opened the doors to the show. I remember two years ago when we visited the show in Vegas it was like opening the floodgates when the show opened. This time it wasn’t quite so crowded. I’m not sure if it was a lower turnout or the exhibit space was larger, but it just seemed like there was a lot more room to move. I headed over to the Drew Estate booth (which was awarded “Best in Show”) and Steve Saka was there, who is an old friend, and I introduced myself to Jonathan Drew and Johnny Brooke, whom I hadn’t met before. It was nice to see Marvin Samel again, as well as Dave Lafferty and Kevin McCormack, the sales guys for my area. The booth was loaded with sneakers. Racks of hightops on the floor and shelves of them around the perimeter. Very cool and quite different. I didn’t notice if Saka was wearing a pair of Liga Privada Chuck Taylors or not.

I stopped and introduced myself to Pete Johnson of Tatuaje and Dion Giolito of Illusione cigars. I stopped to see Charlie Toraño, who’s booth was quite busy, said hello to Sam Leccia and Dave Weber at the Oliva booth. Stopped by the Camacho booth to see Christian Eiroa, and ran into old friend Bobby Holstein from Fuji Publishing, who used me to mule a cup of Scotch to Saka. I also stopped by the CAO booth to see Paul Spence, whom I’ve met on several occasions before, and said hello to Jon Huber on the way out. I was able to meet Bob and Dale from Dogwatch Cigar Radio finally, after having corresponded with them for quite a while, and ran into the crew from Stogie Review, of whom I’d only met Walt White prior. I also ran into Scott Smyth of Scott Smyths World of Cigars while talking to Kurt Kendall of 7-20-4 Cigars, both of whom were very nice guys. I also ran into Abe Dababneh of Smoke Inn, whom I had met at the 2008 show. He is on the IPCPR board and gave me some very interesting information about why they have restricted the number of passes available to retailers for the show. It seems that some retailer was buying additional passes and reselling them to their customers for a profit. They currently only allow two passes per store from what I’m led to believe. I may have to break down and get press credentials the next time I go!

One of the highlights for me was visiting the General Cigar booth. I had been contacted (me and a bunch of other blog types) by Victoria McKee Jaworski, General’s Director of Public Relations, some time ago and stopped to say hello. She was busy with a customer, but her assistant gave me the tour of the booth, introducing me to the brand managers and providing me with samples of some of the new offerings. In the not so distant future I will be smoking a new Macanudo, the Cru Royale, a couple new La Glorias and a new Hoyo de Monterrey. What is most interesting about these new offerings is that they are not ridiculously priced. I’m especially eager to try the LA Gloria Cubana Serie N, which is Nicaraguan and will have an “N” made out of light colored tobacco leaf as part of the wrapper. The presentations of all of these new items are very impressive and will stand out on tobacconist’s shelves. They also have some pretty cool items that will be coming out for the holidays, various collections and samplers with lighters and ashtrays and such. They also showed me a Partagas 150 humidor and a La Gloria Cubana Travel bag which were beautiful and very high end. Along with the samples, they provided me with a CD with photos of everything, which is good because I took a bunch of pictures at the show on the macro setting and everything came out blurry…anyway my visit to General’s booth was extremely positive, and I’m pleased that they see a value in what people like me do (free advertising?) and really go a long way to make us feel welcome at what is supposed to be a selling show.

I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t find the La Aurora booth, either it was hidden away or not as big as I expected, or I was just in such a hurried and sensory overloaded state that I missed it, hard to tell. There were a few other blogger types that I had hoped to run into but didn’t, but in three hours I managed to cover a lot of ground and make some good contacts. I wish I had some good pictures, but there will be plenty floating around.

In an unrelated note, I received an e-mail while I was away telling me that CigarCraig.com was included in an article, Top 50 Cigar Appreciation Blogs For Becoming a True Aficionado”, which is pretty cool! I appreciate being included in their list.