Tag Archives: Jesus Fuego

by CigarCraig | January 4, 2012 · 8:07 pm

The J. Fuego Originals and Citizens for Tobacco Rights

I realize that I’ve gotten everyone used to morning posts, but it’s back to work and back to writing when I can. I have to admit, I’m experiencing some writer’s block at the moment, so bear with me please. It’s gotten bitterly cold here in south-east, Pennsylvania, which is not awfully conducive to the proper enjoyment of a cigar. My normal routine is to take a walk, which usually keeps me moving enough to enjoy a small cigar, as it turns out, the rigors of returning to work after a week plus off has left me without the energy to bother. That’s my excuse, I’m sticking to it.

Monday I received a call from my brother-in-law, Jeff, who has recently taken to fine cigars. He’s been picking one up at his local shop in New Jersey, and called me from my local shop while visiting for the holidays. He wanted some inexpensive “everyday” cigars, and wanted my advice. Oddly, on my last visit to the shop the previous Friday, I failed to really take a good look through the humidor. I was able to direct him to the National Brand bundles, which happened to be in the same place I remembered thme being. Since he really enjoyed the Acid Kuba Kuba I gave him, and had been enjoying working his way through the Alec Bradley range, I figured they’d be a good bet. I’ve certainly enjoyed my fair share of National Brand maduros, and I hope he likes them too. Naturally, since he was in the area, I invited him over for a smoke. I had picked up a pack of the Jesus Fuego Sangre de Toro Originals while I was at the shop Friday. I had been offered a sample at the IPCPR show by Jesus, but I never managed to get one for one reason or another. I had enjoyed the heck out of the robusto in this blend, so I figured for $12.95 for five cigars I had to try them. I’ll eventually try the other two blends in this size as it seems to be a very good “winter” size. I really enjoyed the cigar. Great flavor, the mold-less old style shape is fun and burned well, and I can’t wait to smoke another one. That may be my equivalent to a “10” or whatever rating scale one uses. Very good smokes. I gave Jeff a Maria Mancini Magic Mountain to try which he enjoyed. That’s a hard cigar to beat and they can be purchased for around $2.50 a piece if you find yourself in a JR store.

Editorial

In the “Editorial” department, I wanted to encourage everyone to sign up at Citizens for Tobacco Rights, which is sponsored by Philip Morris USA. Now, I understand that this site is not cigar specific, and is provided by a cigarette company, but the challenges we face as cigar smokers certainly run parallel to those of our other tobacco product using brethren. So far I’ve received no unwanted e-mail from them, and found no reason not to add my name to their numbers. Registration is free and they provide many of the same tools as Cigar Rights of America and IPCPR for contacting your elected officials. It can’t hurt to take every opportunity we have to have our voices heard as our rights are being eroded. Please write to your senator and congressman about the FDA issue too, there’s a link in my sidebar to enter your zip code and take you to a pre-writen letter you can send. It really will be a problem if the FDA is allowed to regulate cigars. Our hobby and passion will be ruined at best, and criminalized at worst.

I guess I did OK considering I had no clue what I was going to write about. Please let me know what you think in the comments, and feel free to share your smoking experiences as well!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

10 Comments

Filed under Editorial, Review, Stores

Tagged as Acid, Alec Bradley, Camacho, cigar, cigar rights, cigar store, cigars, drew estate, IPCPR, J. Fuego, Jesus Fuego, Kuba Kuba, Maria Mancini, National Brand, sangre de toro, Tobacco Rights

by CigarCraig | November 27, 2011 · 5:36 pm

Holiday Weekend Cigars: Joya de Nicaragua, La Sirena and a 777

I hope everyone who celebrated Thanksgiving had a wonderful day, filled with family, food and cigars! We kept it small this year, my wife cooked up a delicious meal, and my brother-in-law joined us and enjoyed a cigar with me after the meal.

I first enjoyed a Joya de Nicaragua Cabinetta Lancero on the first day of Cigar Safari in Nicaragua last March. Jonathan Drew passed them around on our way to dinner after an amazing day of travel and sight-seeing. The cigar was amazing, so when I spied one in the gift pack from the blogger party that Drew Estate threw at the IPCPR show, I was quite pleased. So I selected that cigar for my post-turkey smoke, and gave my bro-in-law it’s shorter, fatter sibling, a Cabinetta robusto. Obviously, the lancero lasted a little longer thank the robusto, but it needs to be smoked slower, but it waswonderful. Smooth, reasonably mild, with nice flavors, this is a cigar that I need to get more of, and I don’t like not having one size or another of the Cabinettas in my humidors. It’s a perfect cigar for any time of day.

Friday, following another family feast, I decided the La Sirena Prince that I picked up at the Delaware Cigar Festival was in order. This robusto is a little hard to find behind the enormous band. Fortunately, once the large band is removed, a smaller one is still there so you don;t forget what you are smoking. I found this to be a tasty treat, wrapped in a dark, broadleaf wrapper. I quite enjoyed this cigar, it burned perfectly and had a unique flavor that defies my ability to describe. All I know is that I liked it, and thanks to Chris Lenzo of Miami Cigar and Co, for hooking me up with this after someone bought up all of the cigars they had brought to the expo!

Saturday turned out to be a very nice day, so I grabbed a Jesus Fuego 777 Maduro Belicoso for my evening walk. I really like these cigars. They have all of the deep, dark flavors I want out of a maduro. I had previously only smoked the coronas, but this Belicoso came from the hand of Jesus Fuego himself at the IPCPR show. Terrific cigars and not unreasonably priced. The burn was a little ragged in the first half, but ended up being perfect in the last half. Jesus Fuego is pretty consistently coming out with some great cigars. You can see a little video I took of him here.

As I write this I’m enjoying a La Gloria Cubana Artesanos Retro Especiale on a mild evening. I’m contemplating taking a ride up to Easton, PA next Saturday to attend the LGC Event at Famous Smoke Shop. I haven’t been up there yet and look forward to seeing the new store. I’m also plotting something special for the Christmas holiday season, so stay tuned! Finally, don’t forget to check out the special deal mentioned in my last post. Get your free calendar and a cigar from PipesandCigars.com !

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

CiagrCraig

3 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as 777, broadleaf, cigar, Cigar Safari, cigar store, cigars, drew estate, Famous Smoke Shop, general, general cigars, IPCPR, Jesus Fuego, joya de nicaragua, La Sirena, Miami Cigar and Co, Thanksgiving

by CigarCraig | August 28, 2011 · 8:00 am

End Of The Week Cigars and News: Alec Bradley, J.Fuego, Best Cigar Prices and Irene

After a long day, and getting a late start on my evening smoke, I selected the Alec Bradley Family Blend D3 (4½” x 58) that I purchased on my Father’s Day Cigar ride. It is a beautiful cigar, short and fat, with a fanned little pigtail not unlike a Liga Privada Unicos Dirty Rat. That’s where the similarities end. This cigar had a unique flavor, not one I usually find in a cigar, which really made me happy. Was it a, dare I say, fruity flavor? I was talking about this with my wife and she asked if it was like sex in your mouth, which I didn’t quite understand and decided that no, it was not like that at all! What does that even mean? Whatever it was it was quite refreshing and a cigar I look forward to re-visiting the line.

News

In the news, it looks like another major internet retailer is moving to Pennsylvania. BestCigarPrices.com announced that it was relocating from New York State to North-eastern PA this week. Since PA is friendly toward tobacco products tax-wise, and New York state isn’t, this move doesn’t surprise me. It also gives us another business to fight any future proposed taxes on cigars and other tobacco products (OTP) as they are proposed, and they are pretty regularly. I think this brings us to five of the larger internet cigar retailers that are headquartered in PA. Now, if one would just move to my area…

Saturday evening had us waiting for the arrival of Hurricane Irene. We are about an hour west of Philadelphia, and aren’t expecting a direct hit. Certainly we are in far less danger than many in the path of this large storm, but our town has a creek running through it that is prone to flooding. We are on high ground, but it’s possible that the roads leading to our neighborhood will be impassable at some point. I am hopeful that the trees behind us stay put and everything clears out tomorrow. Obviously, our thoughts are with those directly effected by this storm. Anyway, I took a Jesus Fuego Sangre de Toro Robusto out on the front porch for my evening smoke. This was a sample from the IPCPR show, given to me by Jesus Fuego himself, who may be the most under rated manufacturer in the business. I’ve enjoyed his 777 line quite a bit, in the maduro and corojo wrappers, although I’ve been mixed on the Xikar HC line that he makes as well. This Sangre de Toro was a really nice cigar. It was solidly medium to me, and had some very pleasant flavors. Again, it was a refreshing cigar, rich and a little spicey, and burned perfectly. I finished it just as the wind was beginning to blow the rain on the front porch.

Here is a little video of Jesus Fuego telling me about the Sangre de Toro as well as his other lines:

I should have included this warning when I first started posting videos, but remember to turn your volume down after watching so you don’t blow your speakers the next time you get an e-mail!

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

CigarCraig

1 Comment

Filed under IPCPR, News, Review, Video

Tagged as 777, Alec Bradley, cigar, cigar store, cigar stores, cigars, drew estate, IPCPR, J. Fuego, Jesus Fuego, sangre de toro, xikar

by CigarCraig | April 1, 2011 · 6:27 pm

Take a Cigar For a Walk – Catching Up…

I’ve been busy reporting on my trip, then the La Gloria Cubana festivities, but I’ve been taking cigars for walks all along. I’ve been hoping to hear from Tommy but he hasn’t responded to my e-mails lately. I can only assume he’s busy with work and family, but I hope everything’s OK with him. I also am waiting for another guest “Take A Cigar For A Walk” report that I will post when I receive it. I don’t have exact dates for the cigars that follow, I could look them up but I’m too lazy and I figure it really doesn’t matter to my readers much anyway!

Back on St. Patrick’s day I took a Camacho Corojo Monarca Candela for a walk. I enjoy the occasional green cigar, and this is a powerhouse. I’m coming to the end of a box of these that I bought 2 years ago or so. The cigars from this box all have had a very loose draw, and I’ve come to the conclusion that the punch is the way to go with these. Great burn, that almost refreshing grassy organic flavor from the candela wrapper. Nice cigar.

My next TACFAW cigar was a 777 Maduro Corona. I picked up a few of these at my local shop around Christmas and really enjoy them. Well made, nice dark maduro flavors. I should try the 777 Corojo next time as I’ve heard good things about them. I can’t find a website for Jesus Fuego, can anyone point me to it?

After that I grabbed the last of the CAO Italia robustos I had. I want to like these. The examples I had didn’t burn worth a damn, they all ran up one side, burned unevenly, needed constant attention. I enjoy the flavor, the bit of Italian leaf gives them a little bit of a unique flavor, but the burn problems detract from the experience for me.

I was in a lancero mood one night and grabbed a Rocky Patel Olde World Reserve Maduro Lancero. I had picked this up last summer on a visit to a shop about an hour away. I took the scooter for a spin and met up with Walt White of StogieReview and Dave Wagner of Oliva at Sire Stogies in Gilbertsville, PA. This one behaved much better that the one I smoked in the shop. Burned great and had a nice flavor. Good for 2 laps around the neighborhood (about 1.6 miles) and a cool down.

Sunday’s walk cigar was a La Gloria Cubana Serie N JSB. I enjoyed the one I smoked during Friday nights webcast so much I had to spark up another one. Don’t worry, I’m not dipping into the contest prize stash, but I will need to show some restraint! I did a little shopping around and found that several of the larger internet retailers are selling the Serie N for very good prices. One could get a box of 24 for under $90 delivered, which is not a bad price for these cigars.

Last night I dug out a Don Tomas Classico Corona Grande for my walk. I only have a couple of these left from a box I got a few years ago. I have enjoyed them quote a bit and the fact that they are tubed makes them a nice cigar to grab and throw in you r pocket. I gave this a punch since it’s a 44 ring and I’ve been playing with the punch lately for smaller ring cigars. I enjoyed this cigar while I took a nice long walk, but when I got home I noticed that I had some brown stains on my fingers. It seems there was some brown goo coming from the punch, which I clipped off as soon as I noticed. I didn’t taste anything, and I’ve had this happen in the past but haven’t experienced it in many years. I noticed afterward that my fingers smelled like I had been sifting through some Marlboro smoker’s ashtray, it was terrible! I had to use a scrub brush on my hands to get the smell off. I love the cigars, but I don’t want to have that happen again!