Tag Archives: Inspirado

by Craig Vanderslice | September 9, 2020 · 9:35 pm

Labor Day Cigars and a Macanudo Inspirado Green

Labor Day was my first paid holiday since January 1st of 2018! A combination of two streaks of unemployment and a year of working in retail for a company that didn’t believe in paid holidays (something I had trouble wrapping my head around!), I was quite excited about this small luxury! My wife wanted to get away and do something, anything, so we took a drive to Lewes, Delaware, Parked the car at the ferry terminal, and rode the ferry over to Cape May and walked on the beach for a while. I took the opportunity to smoke one of the cigars in the Cigar Prop sampler in the Smoke Inn Battle of the Bands promo that’s going on. I selected the Alec Bradley Black Market Esteli Punk, a little 4¼” x 42 petite corona. This cigar has a Nicaraguan Habano wrapper, Nicaraguan and Honduran binders amd Nicaraguan fillers. I chose this due to time constraints and the fact that I wasn’t supposed to be actually smoking on the beach really, but the stretch of beach we were on was fairly empty and nobody said anything anyway. I don’t usually favor such small cigars, and it was before lunch, so I took it slow, which was a good thing, because this was a pretty potent little smoke! I really enjoyed it! It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm, with a gentle breeze off the bay, and this cigar was just delicious. These are probably about $5 if you find them singley, and well worth it. A great choice by Kevin for his sampler.

On the drive home I lit up another cigar from the “shorties of forty” sampler, as Kevin refers to it, the Papas Fritas from Drew Estate. Obviously, this wasn’t my first go around with this cigar, and I normally wouldn’t opt for a mixed filler cigar while driving a stick shift car in traffic, but I had confidence in this one. The Papas Fritas was made using the sorted bench cuts from the Liga Privadas. It certainly doesn’t smoke like a mixed fill cigar, no mess in the car! Of course, traffic sucked coming home, to be expected, so having a cigar was quite helpful. It occurs to me, I still haven’t smoked any of the Nasty Fritas, the newer shape. Anyway, the two hour drive took nearly three, but the little Papas Fritas took the edge off. I could have smoked and A sized cigar, but that might have hit the windshield. I gotta say, I’ve smoked three of the five cigars in the Cigar Prop sampler and they have all been winners. Great selection so far.

When I got home I felt compelled to smoke another from the samper, and went with one I hadn’t tried before, the Crowned Heads Juarez OBS, the largest cigar in the sampler. This one is 4¾” x 54, seems longer compared to the rest, but it’s the same length as the Sobremesa Short Churchill, the fifth cigar in the sampler (the first one was the Padron 26th No. 35 Maduro). Kevin said that this is the cigar that people raved about in the sampler. I have to say, it was in my top five, but certainly not my favorite. This line is made at Tabacalera Pichardo in Estelí,, it has a natural San Andrés wrapper, Ecuador Sumatra binder and Nicaraguan fillers. I don’t know if it’s because it was my third cigar of the day, with the first two being fairly strong, or if it’s because it started off a little snug in the draw and took a while to open up, but it was just OK. I’ll certainly give this one a second chance, but it was reasonably blah to me. With the wrapper/binder combination it should have been interesting. I also admit to not taking a shine to a lot of the Crowned Heads portfolio, for some reason, there hasn’t been a lot that trips my trigger. I suppose I’m in the minority.

Tonight I smoked a Macanudo Inspirado Green Toro, my second one. I’ve been looking forward to trying this cigar since I’ve heard about it. I’ve been hot and cold on the Inspirado line, oddly, I really like the Red and White, the Black and Orange are just OK. The Green has a Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper, Indonesian binder, and fillers from Columbia and the DR. The Brazilian wrapper caught my attention, as well as the Columbian filler. The first one I smoked was nice, but I smoked it following a rather strong maduro (Southern Draw Jacobs Ladder), and I felt like I may not have given it a fair shake. I thought it was pretty mild. So I smoked on tonight on a fresh palate and it was quite a bit more flavorful! I enjoyed this cigar, more than the Inspirado Black, which, for me, is odd. It’s odd that I am not that fond of the Black actually, but the Green has some interesting and different flavors. There’s some spice and unique flavors I can’t put a finger on, except to say that I like them and it’s a cigar I’m happy that I bought a handful of. I actually bought these after shopping for something else and not finding what I was looking for. Next to the Inspirado Red, this is my second favorite Inspirado. The green band looks really nice on that dark wrapper too.

One of my pet peeves: The Black Market Esteli Punk size isn’t listed on the Alec Bradley webpage, nor is the Juarez line listed on the Crowned Heads site. I just think it’s weird. That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Alec Bradley, Battle of the Bands, Black Market Esteli, cigar, Cigar Prop, cigars, Crowned Heads, drew estate, Green, Inspirado, Juarez, macanudo, Papas Fritas, Smoke Inn

by CigarCraig | May 13, 2018 · 9:26 am

Debonaire Habano, EP Carrillo Elite Oscuro and Macanudo Inspirado Red Cigars

Spring, nice weather and unemployment lead to long walks with good cigars. Besides the constant searching of job postings, and brainstorming on my future path, it’s come to my attention that I’ll be launching a podcast soon, so I’m trying to figure out the logistics of that venture. More to come on that and obviously it will be announced here. Fortunately I have a stockpile of cigars to smoke, but one that recently arrived in the mail from my friends at Drew Estate was a Debonaire Habano Belicoso. I’m a fan of the Debonaire line, Phil Zanghi, the owner of the brand and chief cigar alchemist, is a cool guy with a ton of energy. Phil founded Indian Tabak cigars, partnered with, and later sold to, Rocky Patel. I’ve bought some of the Debonaire cigars in the past, and enjoyed them quite a bit, for me they are pricey but worth it. The Habano was the first line they released in 2012, and it has a Nicaraguan Habano wrapper, Dominican binder, and fillers from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. This belicoso was one of the original sizes released in 2012, and the example I smoked burned perfectly and really had a great taste. These fall into the “savory” category, and this may be one of the few lines where I like the “natural” wrapper over the maduro. The Maduros are great (as are the Connecticut Shade “Daybreak” line), but this Habano wrapper really makes for a great cigar. the Belicoso and Toro both measure 6″ x 54 according to the Debonaire Cigars website, either is a good choice, I’d think.

About two months ago I went to an event at Goose’s lounge in Limerick, PA (which is named after Limerick, Ireland, not after the often off-color poetic style) with EP Carrillo‘s José Blanco. It was a guided tasting, which José is known for, and was great. I picked up some EPC cigars while there, some Dusk and some of the Elite Series Seleccion Oscuro in the Small Churchill size. I smoked the Oscuro Friday and was really, really happy with it. This line has a Mexico San Andrés Oscuro wrapper, binder from Ecuador and Nicaraguan fillers and is a sweet, earthy feast of the senses. I don’t think this was overly complex, and I don’t generally sense a great deal of changes in cigars, but the flavors that it had were very appealing to me and it was just fine that they didn’t change much. I hated putting this one down. I swear I bought more than one, I’ll have to do some humidor rummaging…by the way, I also smoked a Dusk from the Classic Series this week that was spectacular. That Broadleaf wrapper is tasty!

I was wow’d by the Macanudo Inspirado Red in the box pressed robusto size initially, and wanted to sample the other sizes in the line. I picked up some Toros and Gigantes (loved the Gigante but leave yourself 2+ hours…), and finally got around to smoking the Toro. I had been told that the Robusto was the best in the bunch, and I think I’m inclined to agree, but the Toro was also quite good. It’s a 6″ x 50 in a round format, not pressed, and shares the high priming Ecuador Habano wrapper, Jalapa binder and fillers from Honduras (Jamastran), Nicaragua (Esteli, Ometepe) as the other sizes. These are full-bodied on the Macanudo scale, but high medium in the grand scheme of things, I think. I enjoy the crap out of the Inspirado Red, in this case I think the Toro is my least favorite size, which is like me saying a Maduro is my second favorite wrapper in a line! I love Toros, they are almost always my favorite vitola in a line, but this time I go with the robusto. Maybe it’s the box pressing? I’d love to try a box pressed toro!

That’s all for today, I’ve got to get working on that podcast thing. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Debonaire, drew estate, Elite, EP Carillo, general cigars, Habano, Inspirado, oscuro, Red

by CigarCraig | October 22, 2017 · 11:34 am

A Perdomo 20th Anniversary and Macanudo Inspirados

Friday evening I was itchin for a great cigar, so I dug into a Perdomo 20th Anniversary Maduro line sampler I bought last year. I bought this for two reasons, first was so I could get a chance to win one of the great Perdomo humidors, which I did not, and second was because I love the Perdomo 20th Maduros and I knew I’d happily smoke every last one. I kind of avoid buying a box because it would be hard for me to smoke anything else. This sampler included six cigars, one in each size. It was Friday, so I went with the 7″ x 56 Churchill for my evening walk. I should have headed down to B&B Cigars in Chestnut Hill for their Black Label/Black Works event, but I didn’t have Friday traffic in me, and by the time I got there it would have been late. So I enjoyed the crap out of the Perdomo 20th Maduro, as I always do. It’s a little like smoking a Hershey’s Special Dark bar, it’s got loads of slightly bitter chocolate and espresso. It’s surely on my list of favorite cigars, and it’s not very pricey either. The Corona Grande is my favorite in the bunch, but this Churchill really was exceptional if you have the time.

Yesterday was a beautiful Autumn day, with sunshine and temps in the 70s. I got a fair amount of chores and errands done in time for a 1 o’clock Flyers game. As has been discussed previously, I’d much prefer watching on the small iPad screen on the porch with a cigar than inside on the big screen. I selected the new Macanudo Inspirado White Robusto to start the day. This is an interesting Macanudo. It has a six-year-old Ecuador Connecticut wrapper that is beautiful, an Indonesian binder and fillers from Condega and Jalapa in Nicaragua and San Andrés, Mexico. Fun fact: The regular old Macanudo Cafe line has always had a San Andrés binder. Anyway, the Inspirado White isn’t a mild, flavorless cigar, quite the opposite. It had some sweet earth and spice along with the nutty grassiness of the wrapper. Nice cigar, and the ash and burn was picture perfect (I guess I should have taken a picture!). This was a very enjoyable shade wrapped cigar.

The folks at General Cigar Co. sponsored this past year’s IPCPR opening gala with an amazing party featuring the Macanudo Inspirado White and Black. Honestly, they could have brought in a clown making balloon animals and provided a better opening gala than the previous year, but they had amazing food, a DJ, a station making T-shirts on the spot, and stations for the Inspirado Black and White showing off the tobacco. It was nightclubby and quite a party. All of the General Cigar Co. people were there, including Benji Menendez. They set the bar very high, oh, and there was an open bar too. I should have taken more pictures but I had a cigar in one hand and a plate in the other most of the time!

For my evening walk last night I took the Macanudo Inspirado Black out. This robusto was 4 7/8” x 48, has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Ecuador Sumatra binder and Nicaraguan fillers including a proprietary seed varietal grown in Esteli. General has an incredible library of seeds. This is a jet black cigar, the burn was perfect, but it didn’t have the nice, white, perfect ash it’s blond sibling had. Richness abounds, pepper, abounds, and dark, roasty flavors abound. While the White had some sophistication, this one has some raw, down and dirtiness to it that I loved. The Macanudos I started smoking 20+ years ago were noting like these two. Personally I put these up against similar cigars in the boutique category in enjoyment and performance. I was quite impressed with both Inspirados. I have a couple of the orange banded Inspirados, one from Iceland (the best-selling cigar in Iceland) and one Rick Rodriguez (CAO) gave me last year and told me to smoke it on a clean palate (maybe today to complete the trifecta?). So far I’m more impressed with the White and Black than I was with the orange banded Inspirado. One more interesting tidbit, there’s a competition world-wide, with the finals held in Europe, that has competitors seeing who can smoke a corona the longest without it going out. This competition uses the Inspirado, and the record is over three hours! Crazy!