Tag Archives: JC Newman

by Craig Vanderslice | July 18, 2021 · 10:12 am

A Diamond Crown Maximus, A Flow and a Contest (Last Wednesday)

We had a special occasion this week, so that called for a special occasion cigar, so I pulled out a Diamond Crown Maximus Robusto No. 5. The Diamond Crown Maximus is another one of those cigars that has been on my list of “classics” for the last probably 15 years since it came out. It’s on the list of cigars I’d like to always have a box of in my humidor, along with Fuente Don Carlos, Hemingway, and Añejo of some sort, and a Padrón 1964. It’ made my Fuente, it’s wrapper is a corona leaf (top of the plant) from Ecuador making it very heavy and dark, so it’s got a very rich flavor. I absolutely love this cigar. It’s woody and earthy with some espresso and sweet notes here and there. I’ve never had a bad one. When it came out it was super expensive, now days it’s a deal. If you like lighter Connecticut shade cigars, you can’t go wrong with a Diamond Crown, if you want something with some more oomph, the Maximus is awesome.

I’ve been smoking a bunch of a new cigar from Danli Honduras Tobacco, my favorite little factory in Honduras that makes the Don Juan Calavera, Clown and Marchetti cigars that I love so much. The cigar is simply called Flow, and the box I received is marked “maduro”, but the cigars don’t seem maduro to me. I’ve asked for some clarification, but haven’t received an answer. Language barriers can be frustrating. I know they have a Connecticut, and I know a couple fairly local shops (within a 40 minute drive) might have some, so I have some research to do. As it stands with this one, and the ones I’ve been smoking, the blend is undisclosed! That being said, I’ve found that I really like the cigars, much like I like the other cigars in the DAHOT range. I would put money on it being a Habano wrapper, it’s got a little spiciness and cocoa, and the overall blend is very tasty. I appreciate the fact that the company only makes toros, and this line is no different, makes my life easier, as it’s my preference. As with any cigar from this company, and I think folks I’ve shared this with will back me up, if you see them, try them.

The subject line refers to a contest, and that contest was posted on Wednesday, so scroll back and enter to win some of my cigars (which I bought, by the way!) Who knows, there might be a Flow accidentally in the package as an bonus! I rarely just send out what I say I’m sending! So go back and enter! In addition to BCPs new ad promo, Ortega Cigars has updated their ad with a new promotion. They have a great deal on some excellent cigars. I was so impressed with the Connecticut I smoked last week that I threw an order in for some Connecticut Churchills at a really great price and they arrived very quickly with free shipping. Excellent product and service, and Eddie was in Nicaragua, so I have to assume that’s the norm. Anyway, I’m going to wrap this up and get on with my Sunday, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Contest, Danli Honduras Tabacco, Diamond Crown, Flow, JC Newman, Maximus

by Craig Vanderslice | November 27, 2020 · 11:24 am

News: J.C. Newman Cigar Co. Reintroduces Perla Del Mar

I’m pretty excited about this news. I really like the Perla Del Mar Maduro, and I look forward to trying the new Corojo. They are reasonably priced and well made and taste good. Always a good combination! I do have to say that I really like the old bands over these new ones. I think they remind me too much of another brand, and look too bundle-like. The old brands were elegant and classy! What do I know?

A storied cigar from Cuba and Tampa is reborn in Nicaragua

Today, J.C. Newman Cigar Co. began shipping its new Perla del Mar cigars to brick and mortar retailers across the United States. Handmade at J.C. Newman PENSA in Nicaragua, the new Perla del Mar is a significant refinement of the Perla del Mar cigars that J.C. Newman launched in 2012.

“Although our Perla del Mar cigars were good, we were not totally satisfied,” said Drew Newman, general counsel and a member of J.C. Newman’s fourth-generation. “We wanted to make them better – and that’s exactly what we did. After two years of effort working to perfect the brand, we are thrilled to reintroduce Perla del Mar.”

Perla del Mar’s existing Shade and Maduro blends have been strengthened with aged Nicaraguan filler tobaccos, and a new flavorful Corojo blend, rolled with a robust Ecuadorian Corojo wrapper, has been added to the family. Perla del Mar cigars are now shaped in a classic Tampa-style press and packed with traditional bands and boxes. Each blend comes in four sizes with an MSRP of between $6 and $7.

“Although our family has been rolling cigars for 125 years, we do not rest on our laurels,” said Newman. “We are constantly working to improve everything that we do, and we are very pleased with the new Perla del Mar.”

Perla del Mar is a historic cigar brand that traces its roots to Cuba. In 1905, four Cuban brothers started hand rolling cigars using tobacco grown on their family’s farm in Cuba. They named their company Perfecto Garcia Brothers and called their cigars “Perla del Mar” because of the beautiful Caribbean waters that surround Cuba. As the popularity and demand for their cigars grew, the brothers built a large cigar factory next to J.C. Newman’s El Reloj factory in Ybor City, Florida. Perla del Mar was one of the leading premium cigar brands in the early 1900s. J.C. Newman’s new Perla del Mar cigars honor the brand’s historic legacy.

About J.C. Newman Cigar Co.

Founded in 1895 by Julius Caeser Newman, J.C. Newman Cigar Company is the oldest family-owned premium cigar maker in America. J.C. Newman rolls its El Reloj, Factory Throwouts, and Trader Jacks cigars by hand-operated, vintage cigar machines at its historic cigar factory in Tampa, Florida. It also hand rolls its Brick House, Perla del Mar, El Baton, and Quorum cigars at the J.C. Newman PENSA cigar factory in Esteli, Nicaragua. J.C. Newman’s Diamond Crown, MAXIMUS, Julius Caeser, and Black Diamond cigars are handmade by Tabacalera A. Fuente in the Dominican Republic. With its longtime partners the Fuente family, the Newmans founded the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation, which supports low-income families in the Dominican Republic with education, health care, vocational training, and clean water.

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, JC Newman, Perla del Mar

by Craig Vanderslice | July 28, 2020 · 9:38 am

News: J.C. Newman Introduces New Cigar: Yagua

Here’s some news from J.C. Newman. I’m looking forward to trying this new, rustic cigar from their Nicaraguan factory. I love the size!

J.C. Newman Introduces Yagua, A Cigar Recreated from the 1940s Cuba

J.C. Newman Cigar Co. introduces Yagua, a classic cigar from the tobacco fields of Cuba that the Newman family has recreated in Nicaragua. The Yagua story is one of Cuba from the 1940s. The cigar was inspired by J.C. Newman PENSA’s General Manager, Lazaro Lopez, who shared the following with Drew Newman (Fourth Generation Owner, J.C. Newman Cigar Company) over dinner in Esteli, Nicaragua last year:

“At our family farm, my grandfather would take fresh tobacco leaves from the curing barns and roll cigars without any molds or presses. In an attempt to give his cigars a traditional shape, he would tie a handful of them together using pieces of the Cuban royal palm tree, known as the yagua. When he was ready to enjoy his personal cigars, he untied the bundle. He loved how every cigar had its own unique shape. I still remember the rich aroma and taste of my grandfather’s cigars. Today, I’ve recreated Yagua, rolling them exactly how my grandfather did a century ago.”

“After hearing Lazaro describe the beautiful Yagua cigars he remembers from his youth in Cuba, I asked Lazaro if he could make this special cigar at our factory in Nicaragua,” said Drew Newman. “We are calling it Yagua, after the palm leaves that give the cigars their distinct shape.”

J.C. Newman is releasing 1,000 boxes of Yagua from its aging rooms this year. Each box features 20 cigars, which measure approximately 6×54.

“Because the cigars are pressed together and bound while they are still wet, each one has a slightly different shape. Each cigar is truly unique,” said Newman

Yagua will ship from El Reloj, the J.C. Newman Cigar Company factory in Tampa, FL beginning next week, and should arrive on select retailers’ shelves in early August.

About J.C. Newman Cigar Co.

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, J.C.Newman, JC Newman, Yagua

by Craig Vanderslice | July 5, 2020 · 9:23 am

Fourth of July Cigars: J.C. Newman American, a Firecracker and a Havana

The Fourth of July seemed like a great time to smoke the J.C. Newman American that was generously gifted to me by a friend of mine and reader Adam Stevens. Check out Adam’s Wife, Jamie’s cigar reviews over at Cigar Talk Radio, she does a nice job. I really need to figure out a way to get together with those two before they more out of PA soon. Anyway, this has been a tough cigar for me to get my hands on, so I was thrilled when Adam included it in a Secret Santa package last year (I think?, right?). This is a cool project that Drew Newman, the fourth generation Newman in the business, spearheaded. Another aside, I first encountered Drew in the 90’s on the alt.smokers.cigars Usenet group when he was a 16 year old and caught all kinds of crap for being a kid posting on a cigar forum. Of course, he started the Cigar Family forum on their own website, which might have been the first major web forum dedicated to cigars shortly after. Anyway, the cigar is all US made components, made in the US. The wrapper is Florida Sungrown, the binder is Connecticut Broadleaf, and the fillers are “Pennsylvania Type 41, grown by Mennonite family farmers in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and Connecticut Havana, grown John Foster in South Windsor, Connecticut“. I used to live within ten miles from those Mennonite farms in Lancaster county, by the way. All of the packaging is made in the USA too, by the way. The cigar smoked perfectly, I lit it up late in the morning while relaxing on the porch. The wrapper has a dry, mottled appearance, it’s not pretty. It is, however, a tasty cigar. It has some sweetness and earthiness and is very unique. Certainly a cigar that should be tried, and most likely enjoyed, I know I enjoyed it. Thanks again to Adam for sharing this with me!

After lunch did something, which must have been an errand that wasn’t memorable because I can’t remember what it was, or I was waiting for something to happen, so I smoked a Mi Querida Firecracker. The Firecracker line of cigars by United Cigar Group, which is Dave Garofalo of 2 Guy’s Cigars distribution company, is a stroke of genius. Of course, this is why it’s so frequently plagiarized, but not only is the format cool, but it’s a sure sale every year, and the social media impact seems to be fairly high. I’m sucked in, I feel like I need to pick up at least few of the cigars to sample every year. It’s a little funny how the sales go through, isn’t it? You get super-cool, niche brands like CroMagnon and Mi Querida that sell out 500 boxes in a day and everyone is amazed, then Perdomo comes along, a seemingly, or at least comparatively, pedestrian, brand sells 1000 boxes in a few hours. I wonder if another brand could touch Perdomo’s numbers? Not that there’s a quality difference, the Perdomo Firecraker is great, I dig it, but I kinda like the Mi Querida more (and the CroMagnon, although my sample size is smaller). The Fratello Firecracker is amazing as well, as is the Kristoff (I’ve only had one LFD and enjoyed it). To my knowledge, the Mi Querida was the only Firecracker to spin off into it’s own sub-brand, the Triqi Traca, which is pretty cool. I love the Mi Querida blend anyway, so the Firecracker was a no-brainer and really quite good, and smoked for an hour, amazing for such a little cigar.

It’s been an annual tradition of mine for a long time on the Fourth of July to smoke a Havana cigar. 20+ years ago it was a matter of smoking one of the best in my humidor, along with a bit of civil disobedience, which is kind of what the day represents, right? Anyway, it’s not longer that big a deal, I have lots of better cigars in my humidor, but it’s a tradition, right? It seems to have turned in to an exercise in how to have a bad cigar experience. Last night I decided to liberate a cigar from the depths of the humidor, one that had spent well over a decade resting. I don’t recall where this particular Cuaba Salomón came from, or when, I just know it’s been around a long time. I smoked a bunch of the little Cuaba Divinos (same size and shape as a Short Story basically) years ago and never really cared for them. they had a distinctly Winston cigarette flavor to them, and it wasn’t what I was looking for in a cigar. So I ignored this big cigar for a long time, wouldn’t 7″ of cigar taste worse than 4″? As one might guess, taste wasn’t a problem. Actually, the flavor wasn’t bad, when I could get some smoke through. Have you ever had those cigars that you pull though and get nothing, but blow through and smoke pours out? Infuriating, isn’t it? WTF causes this? I have to figure there’s a fold in the filler that acts like some kind of valve. I know, a poker should fix this, it’s never right. Fool that I am, ever the optimist, I thought maybe it would burn past the problem. Nope, messed around with it for an hour or so and got to about two inches left before it started kind of working like a cigar should. What I should have done what put it down and gotten something else, but I’m too stubborn. So I’m sitting here this morning enjoying the crap out of a Joya de Nicaragua Cabinetta No. 4 Robusto with my coffee (one of the old ones before it was part of the Joya series). It’s a cigar that’s been a favorite for a decade, and never is a disappointment.

On with the day, I hope nobody lost any fingers yesterday. The fireworks around here were nuts, poor Macha spent the evening under her end table, she’s not a fan. That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as American, cigar, cigars, Cuaba, Firecracker, JC Newman, joya de nicaragua, Mi Querida

by Craig Vanderslice | March 8, 2020 · 9:32 am

A Brickhouse Maduro and a Diamond Crown Maduro

I don’t know if I mentioned this before or not, but while I was at the TPE show, I stopped into the J.C. Newman booth and introduced myself to Drew Newman, who’s the fourth generation Newman and General Council with the company. I remembered Drew from the Usenet days when he would post when he was about 16 years old and get a lot of crap for it. He was instrumental in getting the company online in the ’90s when the Cigar Family website and forum was one of the first and biggest out there. Later I was introduced to Drews uncle, Bobby Newman. I was honored to finally meet these gentlemen, as I’m honored to have the support of the company. You can always learn more about the 125 years of history behind the J.C. Newman Cigar Company by clicking the graphic on the right side of this page.

The Brickhouse Maduro has always been a great smoke, a good tasting cigar at a fair price. The folks at J.C. Newman asked me to feature the toro in the first quarter of this year, and since the first quarter is quickly drawing to a close, I figured I had better get smoking! Their toro, like many others, is 6” x 52, and it has a dark, oily Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers. These are made in J.C. Newmans’s PENSA factory in Nicaragua. The two samples I smoked over the course of a couple weeks were very consistent. I love the flavor of the Brickhouse Maduro cigars, it’s smooth, rich dark coffee, and it appeals to me. I’ve had great experiences with the Robusto and Mighty Mighty vitolas, but I think I’m going to have to go out and buy some more of the Toros because the two I smoked both burned funny. Not like a clown, funny, as I was not amused. I had to relight them several times, as if they were not properly humidified, and that wasn’t the case because I checked with the Humidimeter and the two samples were smoked with enough time between them to make a difference. It was disappointing, because the flavor was right, and I really loved smoking the cigars, it was a bit of a struggle keeping them going. Odd, as I’ve always had exceptional construction with Brickhouse cigars. I’ll have to chalk this up to the once in a while inconsistency of a hand made product, but it certainly isn’t going to scare me off of a great brand with great flavor and (generally) great construction.

To prove that my storage conditions were not at fault in the case of the Brickhouse Maduro Toros, I smoked a Diamond Crown Maduro No. 4 which was stored side by side with the above mentioned cigars and it smoked perfectly. The No. 4 is a 5 ½″ x 54 and is made at Tabacalera A. Fuente. The wrapper is Connecticut Broadleaf, it has a Dominican binder and the fillers are a secret concoction of 5 different leaves from the Caribbean and Central America. The Diamond Crown and Brick House cigars couldn’t taste more different. Besides the fact that there’s probably a ten dollar or more price difference, the Diamond Crown has a really nice, smooth, rich flavor akin to a Fuente Añejo. For a moment I considered smoking the two cigars side by side for comparison, but that just seemed like an ostentatious display of excess. It’s easy enough to say that the Diamond Crown stands on it’s own as an exceptional cigar! I very much enjoy the original version as I have for 20 years, but, if you know my palate, this Maduro really appeals to me. I’d choose it over a great many super-premium cigars.

Today starts my favorite time of the year, Daylight Savings Time! I still have a couple of clocks to fix! That’s about all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Brickhouse, cigar, cigars, Diamond Crown, J.C.Newman, JC Newman