Sunday my wife and I decided to take nice long walk before the heat of the day kicked in. We needed to tire out the son’s dog, so she came along. I grabbed a Gurkha Cellar Reserve Churchill since I wanted something reasonably mild for an early cigar, yet big enough to last the entire walk. For some reason I have trouble walking now without a cigar! Anyway, this is a nice enough cigar, it’s pretty big at 7″ x 54, and it’s well made. The dog got a kick out of running into the creek, and we managed a 3 mile walk (through the park with the “no dogs” signs….oops! what’s next, no smoking”) I’m not a huge fan of Criollo wrappers, but I like this one enough for it to hold my interest through out the smoke.
After a day spent doing something other than what we had planned, I finished the day with an E-Doble from Smoke Inn. This is such a beautiful cigar, burned perfectly even, has a terrific flavor, it’s hard to believe it’s a $50 per bundle cigar. I can’t even begin to recall how many cigars I’ve smoked that have cost two or three times the price of this and was dissapointed by them. Eric Espinosa (of EO Brands, 601, Murcialago, etc.) has a winner with this one. I can see myself getting a bundle of these at some point, and I want to turn my brother-in-law on to them as well. This is a cigar that he will enjoy, as will just about anyone especially if you don’t have a lot of cash to drop on cigars. Really, really good. Thanks to Abe at Smoke Inn for sending me samples, I’m super impressed.
Monday evening my hand came out of the humidor holding a Romeo, the new offering from Altadis and Romeo y Julieta. There are a few in the Romeo y Julieta range that I like, but most of them don’t do it for me. This was a good cigar, the ash held for nearly half of it’s 5″ length, which I found to be impressive. I suppose it was stronger than many cigars in the range, it wasn’t unpleasant at all, it just wasn’t really my cup of tea. No fault to the cigar, it’s just me. Technically it held up it’s end of the deal, it burned perfectly, and produced mouthfuls of smoke, and the wrapper was very pretty. Try it if you get the chance, never rely on my tastes, I like Hamburger Helper for crying out loud!
News
Lot’s of news coming out recently! Emilio Cigars had the Draig K leaving the factory at the end of the month. The Draig K is a terrific cigar if you like a good maduro. Gary also has the AF Suave hitting the shelves by the end of this month. I haven’t had the opportunity to smoke this one, but it’s an Ecuadoran Connecticut wrapped cigar reportedly on the milder end of the Emilio range.
General Cigar has the Hoyo Reposado Box a Day Giveaway going on, the CAO Last Stick Standing promotion, as well as a Father’s Day contest on the La Gloria Cubana site. I’ll have more on the Hoyo de Monterrey contest in the near future. Follow the links for information on these promos.
Butthead’s Tobacco Emporium in Connecticut will be hosting what’s belived to be the first Virtual Cigar Workshop with José Blanco of Joya de Nicaragua on Thursday June 21. José does an excellent presentation on cigar blending that’s a real eye opener. He has cigars made with 4 different wrappers so one can taste how the wrapper effects the flavor of a cigar. There’s some video and my impressions on my post from last year’s IPCPR show where I caught his blending session. It’s a pretty cool experience and I recommend it highly. there is info available on the Butthead’s Tobacco Emporium site.
That’s about all I have for now, except to announce that if the winner of this month’s contest doesn’t contact me by Sunday, I may have to select another winner! I e-mailed directly, I shouldn’t have to work this hard to give stuff away! Until the next time,
CigarCraig
Friday was the end of a long week, and, more importantly, the beginning of a long weekend! What better way to start it off than with a favorite, the 
