Tag Archives: La Palina

by CigarCraig | September 10, 2014 · 9:14 pm

A Tortuga, a Couple La Palina Cigars and Some News

First, let’s get some news out of the way. I know you all like contests, and my friends at Joya de Nicaragua are having one. From Sept. 9th to Sept. 24th every 4 days they will draw a winner for a box of the new Joya red. They are giving away a box of each size over the two week contest. I’ve had the good fortune of smoking several of these in the toro, robusto and corona size and they are terrific cigars. Head on over to JoyaCigars.com/winjoyared/ or click the graphic on the top of the right sidebar and enter to win.

Monday evening I selected a cigar I picked up on my birthday at Cigar Mojo, who was recently selected as an appointed Tortuga Cigars merchant. I had smoked the Tortuga Reserva Maduro “El Coyote Negro” with Victor Vitale a few months ago, but it was my second cigar and I wanted to give it a re-do. I smoked the Cedro No. 600, which is a 6½” x 56 toro. This has a dark Brazilian maduro wrapper, and it’s a shame to cover the majority of this beautiful wrapper with a cedar sleeve! I think this may be my new favorite Tortuga, and I do love them all. It had a great balance of strength and flavor, exhibiting the dark, cocoa flavors I enjoy. I’m so glad I smoked this with a clean palate, as I failed to properly appreciate it the first time. Thank you to Trae at Cigar Mojo for making a birthday present of this cigar, I would happily have paid for it with the rest of cigars (and a Xikar Ashtray Can) I bought. Great cigar, no question.

Tuesday I enjoyed a La Palina Classic Robusto. This is a 5″ x 52 robusto made in the PDR factory in the Dominican Republic. This also has a Brazilian wrapper, but this time it’s a Habano, with Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. I was torn between the robusto and the lancero in this blend, and decided to go with the robusto since it’s starting to get dark earlier, which I hate. This cigar has a nice, nutty and earthy flavor with a bit of sweetness. It’s perfectly constructed, the draw and burn were excellent, it behaved very well. I gave this one a straight cut, I tend to rotate between cutters, and happened to have a double guillotine on me this time. Tasty smoke.

While I was at the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival I talked to Bill Paley and got this video. I tried using iMovie on the iPhone to create this one, I’m nit sure I’ve gotten the hang of it yet. While I’ve been using the iPhone and iPod Touch to take the videos for the last couple years, I’ve been using Windows Movie Maker. I thought I’d give this a try.

Tonight I took my evening walk with a La Palina Maduro 40, which is a 6″ x 40 short lancero. this cigar is made in Honduras, and has my favorite San Andrés maduro wrapper. It also has a double binder form Honduras and filler from Nicaragua. I love this cigar, it’s sweet and spicy, flavors of bitter sweet chocolate and coffee, and quite satisfying. It had a great burn and draw, this time I happened to have a punch in my pocket, the first generation ScrewPop punch, which was the perfect size for this cigar. It was a nearly perfect smoke which has been in my humidor since the end of last year. I think I enjoyed this more in the warmer weather than the one I smoked back in January. Whether it was the age of the cigar, or the difference in weather, I don’t know. I just know I like it. I smoked a couple La Palina cigars because the article I wrote on the Mr. Sam for Prime Living magazine was published this week. You can read it at Prime-Living.com (page 53 on the online version).

I’d like to welcome CigarSmokes.com to the CigarCraig family. This Spain-based company caters to my non-US audience providing Havana cigars.

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

CigarCraig

5 Comments

Filed under Review, Video

Tagged as cigar, cigars, La Palina, Prime Living, Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival, Tortuga

by CigarCraig | January 5, 2014 · 11:53 am

First Cigars of 2014: a La Palina, a Cain and a Los Blancos Nine

I see it’s going to be one of those winters! We’ve already had about 4 snowstorms, and we’re seeing single digit temps for the first time in quite a few years. I yearn for spring! I would rather smoke cigars without gloves and six layers! I have no problem going to any one of a number of local shops in the area, but that gets expensive, and I’ve got a ton of cigars here at home that need smoking. Of course, when I go to a shop I can’t just buy one cigar and smoke it, I have to buy two, then something else catches my eye and I have to get two of them. It gets hard to keep up! Then, I do something stupid like buy a box of cigars just because I dig the box and I think it’ll look good on the bookcase! Not only do I buy the box, but I add on a five-pack too! (remember the Famous-Smoke.com coupon codes folks!) It’s crazy. At some point I send a bunch to Cigars for Warriors and give a bunch away, so it all works out, I suppose. Where was I going with this? Oh, it’s been wicked cold (as they say in New England) here in PA. Let’s see if that slows me down any…

New Years Day 2014. We had my daughter’s family over to watch the Winter Classic which was fun. I spent more time playing with my grand-daughters than watching the game, but it looked like a great game with stoppages every so often to shovel the snow off the ice! After they took off, I grabbed a cigar I’d been looking forward to smoking and took the dog for a walk. The La Palina Maduro has been a favorite of mine since it came out last year. I was excited when a pair of Petite Lanceros showed up in my mailbox, and equally excited when I saw them on the shelf at Cigar Mojo last week (good to know a source of supply just in case I fall in love, right?). It seemed like a good cold weather choice, easy to handle with gloves, strong enough in flavor. I may like the larger ring gauge versions of the La Palina Maduro a little better, but this Petite Lancero was loaded with bitter sweet chocolate and coffee and was really quite enjoyable. For me, I think the larger rings make for a little creamier smoke. I will pick up a few more to have around, and I’ll look forward to smoking this again in the warmer months. Quite a good smoke, a great way to start the year.

Thursday evening is started snowing, so me and the pup went walking right after dinner. I’ve been in the mood for a Cain of some sort for a while. Are these falling out of favor? One of my local shop proprietors was a HUGE fan of these when they came out, now he says he will probably clearance them next month, they aren’t selling. I picked out a Cain Daytona 646, the milder blend in the Cain Line and fired it up. I love the sweetness of this cigar. I think I only have a 543 and a couple lanceros left floating around the humidors, but the Daytona is my favorite blend o f the line. I like the others after some aging time, and the Cain F tubed lancero is a clear winner, but the Daytona, to me, has the best balance and flavor. This cigar was great, although it was better after I put it down for a while to dry out, and re-lit it after shoveling the driveway. The snow didn’t do it any favors, my fault, not the cigars. I recently lost my local Oliva rep, so if someone from Oliva reads this and wants to chime in on the status of the Cain brand, please feel free!

Saturday morning I had my third appearance on the Kiss My Ash radio show in their “Bloggers Corner”. It’s always a huge honor for me, and I felt the best about my performance this time. I chose to resurrect a review of the Cigar Aficionado number one cigar of 2013, the Havana Montecristo No.2 that I did in 1996. I took part in a Monthly Officious Taste Test on the alt.smokers.cigars Usenet group which was put together by Steve Saka. This was probably the second monthly installment and this would go on for a few years as a feature on the CigarNexus website of which Steve was a part. Anyway, I called the Montecristo No.2 a “dogrocket”, which was the lowest possible rating. I can still remember the cigar as being acrid and nasty like
a pile of burning leaves in the autumn, you know, the wet, musty ones. I wish I had pictures of the cigar from 1996, but that was before digital cameras were anything really, and certainly before cell phones had cameras. Anyway, I though it would be interesting to read that review on the radio in contrast with Cigar Aficionado‘s recent number one rating. In their defense, it must have been a pretty good year for that cigar, as it was number two in Cigar Journal‘s rating, and I have had some spectacular No.2s over the years, but I’ve had some that were so-so too. I give Cigar Journal some leeway since they are truly an international magazine, but I don’t find that giving a Cuban cigar the number one spot does anything for US readers, and retailers. A high rating is a very big deal as far as sales go for a cigar, it’s a waste for a US based magazine to promote a product that can’t be legally procured. I’m not even going to get into the fact that this is an 80 year old marque which has been plagued with inconsistency over the years. Enough of that rant, Abe did let out that Steve Saka was going to be doing a regular feature on Kiss My Ash radio, so tune in to see what Steve has to say. He has a ton of tobacco knowledge and I’m proud to know him for these last 17 years or so.

Yesterday afternoon, although the temps barely got out of the teens, it turned out to be a nice day for a walk. I had picked up a couple of Los Blancos Nine robustos Tuesday when I visited my local shop (see first paragraph!). I’ve certainly know about this brand, and I’ve met David Blanco, but I haven’t smoked any cigars from them. The Nine looked tasty with it’s dark Oscuro Corojo wrapper. It’s a 5″ x 52 robusto with a Jalapa binder and three ligero fillers. This cigar blew me away with it’s flavor and construction. This is the best cigar I’ve smoked all year! The flavor was bold, which I need in cold weather, and it had the right amount of lush, heavy bitterness that I really enjoy. When I was burning my fingers on the very tiny nub of this cigar I was really glad my compulsion caused me to buy two of these! I can’t wait to smoke the other one. Damn great smoke and I’ll be looking to sample more form Los Blancos. It’s cool to find an exciting cigar like this one, not that there aren’t a load of great cigars out there, there’s more than ever, but this one was a surprise.

Once again, I’ve rambled on too long. I’ve got stuff I want to get done today and sitting here writing isn’t going to get those things done. I’ve got cigars to smoke before Wednesday rolls around!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

11 Comments

Filed under Editorial, Review

Tagged as cain, cigar, Cigar Aficionado, cigar store, cigars, Kiss My Ash Radio, La Palina, Los Blancos

by CigarCraig | December 20, 2013 · 6:47 am

CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways 2013 Day 9: Miami Cigar and Co.

The 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways train keeps a’rollin today, it’s day 9 and there’s light at the end of the tunnel. You all know that these contests run just about 24 hours, so there’s just about no “too late”. I close the comments right before I write the next day’s post, around 6:30am. And Ted, as much as I’d love to see everyone win, just handling 12 Days is plenty. We’re getting well over 100 entries a day, four months of contests would leave me dead, divorced, jobless and insane, in that order. I’ll have to ask that you be happy with 12 days right now! On with the show! The random number generator spit out the number 107, which is ironic I guess. It would have been awkward if that number had come up a day earlier. I arrived at the name Mike McDonald as the 107th comment. Congrats and send me your address so I can get this shipped to you. Thank you Courtney and Bill at La Palina Cigars for providing this wonderful box. They promise a load of new projects next year, so stay tuned! The fun continues with another spectacular offering from our friends at Miami Cigar and Co.:

Day 9

Under the tree today is a box of Casa Miranda Chapter Two Toros from Miami Cigar and Co. These cigars are made at the My Father Factory in Esteli, Nicaragua under the watchful supervision of Don Pepin Garcia. The blend consists of filler tobaccos from Brazil, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua wrapped in dark Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper. These Toros are 5½ x 54 and come 15 to a box. These look really good, I’m looking forward to smoking one one of these days (these ship direct from Miami Cigar and Co., so I won’t be able to pilfer any!)

Thanks again to Barry Stein at Miami Cigar and Company once again for providing this fine gift, and for his support over the years. Good luck! Let the comments begin!

Rules

Here’s how you enter: leave a comment. That’s it, plain and simple. Tweets don’t count, but feel free to spread the word, only comments on this page count as an entry. Each day there will be a different prize and the winner will be drawn from that day’s comments. The winner will be announced on the next day’s post. The contest is open to everyone, even if you’ve won one of my contests in the past six months, but once you’ve won, you are ineligible to win again in this series of contests. All prizes will be mailed as soon as I get a chance to go to the post office, or whenever the sponsor decides to ship, whichever is the case, so don’t make me chase down your address! If you won, please e-mail your contact information to craig@cigarcraig.com as soon as possible! That’s it, leave a comment to enter and good luck. Check back tomorrow to see if you won and enter tomorrow’s contest!

Until Tomorrow,

CigarCraig

132 Comments

Filed under Contest

Tagged as 12 days, Casa Miranda, cigar, cigars, La Palina, Miami Cigar and Co

by CigarCraig | December 19, 2013 · 6:50 am

CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways 2013 Day 8: La Palina Cigars

Good morning and welcome to Day 8. Before I announce the Day 7 winner, let me address a few items. First, Jason O asked in a comment if my daughter was named after the La Aurora brand, and the answer is no. She predates may cigar fascination by a few years, however that first box purchase was definitely influenced by the name. The box may be around somewhere and she may have it. <sarcasm>Second, kudos to Cigar Aficionado for naming a cigar that has been in manufacture for almost 80 years as the cigar of the year<\sarcasm>. Shouldn’t consistency be a criteria? Or availability? Sheesh. Anyway, you want to to know who won the La Aurora 107 Maduro Coronas, and that person is Jeff K! Please send me your address so I can pass it on to Señor Stein. Thanks to Miami Cigar and Co. and La Aurora for everything! Let’s get Thursday rolling!

Day 8

Today’s present comes to us courtesy of La Palina Cigars. La Palina is owned by Bill Paley, and is the resurrection of his grandfather’s brand. Bill’s father, incidentally, is the founder of Columbia Broadcasting System. The point is, Bill has some roots in the cigar business, and is making some darned tasty cigars. The winner of today’s present will receive a box of La Palina Classic Gordo. The Gordo is a 6″ x 60 featuring a Brazilian Habano wrapper, Ecuador binder and Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers. These are always welcome in my humidors.

Thanks to Courtney at La Palina for providing today’s present! You know what to do now!

Rules

That’s it, leave a comment to enter and good luck. Check back tomorrow to see if you won and enter tomorrow’s contest!

Until Tomorrow,

CigarCraig

128 Comments

Filed under Contest

Tagged as 12 days, cigar, cigars, Contest, La Aurora, La Palina, Miami Cigar and Co

by CigarCraig | November 13, 2013 · 7:36 pm

UF-13, Villiger and La Palina Lanceros and an OSOK Cigar

We’ve had a bit of a cold snap here in Pennsylvania. I don’t like it one bit! Not only is it dark when I get home, but it’s cold too! It gives new meaning to taking a brisk walk! I still need the exercise and so does the dog, so I grab a cigar and go! As I said last time, I’ve gotten the ball rolling for this years Christmas contests and am already 75% there with boxes of cigars already starting to roll in! Last year is going to be tough to top, but I’m certainly going to try! I smoked a Drew Estate Liga Privada Serie Unico UF-13 Dark to celebrate a productive and entertaining Sunday and it was darned good! This came from a box I received for my birthday. Every time I see the box in the humidor I hear a dozen little voices singing “smoke me”. The next time there will only be eleven voices! This is a nice smoke, and had plenty of horsepower for a brisk evening. I love the closed foot and the fancy fan/pigtail. This is probably my favorite of the Serie Unicos so far, although there are several I’ve yet to sample. Awesome smoke and I’m looking forward to further reducing the voices coming from that box!

Monday I came across a Villiger Talanga Selecto Lancero from the IPCPR show. I’ve been really looking forward to smoking this special take on the Talanga line. I’m a fan of the Villiger premium line. They do things right, and they make good cigars. Don’t base your opinion on their machine made lines, although the Export is a really nice little smoke. The premium lines are tasty and this lancero was no different. At one time the Lancero size could be counted on to have a hard draw, but I’ve smoked a bunch in recent years and never had a problem. This one has a beautiful Honduran grown Connecticut wrapper with a Jalapa Habano binder and Esteli Corojo, Ometepe Habano & Condega Habano fillers. It’s perhaps a little more refined than the regular Talanga line, which isn’t to say that line is unrefined, it’s very tasty. This Selecto line is a little more complex, perhaps. I’ve had both vitolas now (the other is a corona gorda, both excellent sizes) and enjoyed them fully. The Lancero was smooth, sweet and burned very well. It dropped the ash on it’s own, sometimes unexpectedly, but that’s not so big a deal since I was outside walking. I will certainly look for some of these to add to my growing selection of Lancero sized cigars.

Tuesday I celebrated, well….Tuesday, with another Lancero, this one a La Palina Classic that arrived in my mailbox last week. I think I saw that Cigar Aficionado gave this a 92 rating, and I think after some more humidor time I would agree. I was impatient with this one, I’m afraid. It was a great smoke, but could have burned better. Granted it was a breezy evening, but I had some burn issues that felt like it needed more rest, if only from it’s time in transit, Again, it’s a classic size, and a great way to really taste how much the wrapper brings to the table. This cigar is made in the PDR factory in the Dominican Republic with a Brazilian wrapper, Ecuador binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. This works out to be a smooth and flavorful cigar that was quite nice to smoke. I’ve not tried any of the top tier La Palina cigars, but the El Diario and Classic lines are quite nice, with, of course, the maduro in the El Diario line being my favorite in the range. The Classic line is on the low end of the price scale, but still runs from $6.75 to $8.50 per cigar. Nice stuff.

Prior to sitting down to write this post I pulled out a little cigar that was gifted to me last spring by my friend Alex Martiniez, the Stogiecop, the weekend I spent herfing around North Joisey. Alex gave me an Edgar Hoill OSOK Cultura which was in a white sleeve. This is probably one of the first cigars produced in Christian Eiroa’s Fábricas Únidas. It’s a Nicaraguan cigar and is a neat 4 ½” x 54 shaped cigar. Since it was cold and I had a lot to do tonight, I thought this would be a good time to light it up. This was a lot lighter in body than I imagined it would be, and really only approached the high side of medium when it got too short to smoke any more. It had enjoyable flavors, and I’ll have to revisit this cigar either on a warm day or indoors, as I’m afraid the cold air didn’t allow this cigar to shine for me. It could be that the cigar just doesn’t suit my preferences, but I like to give cigars a fair shot. I hate to say it, because I go back a long way with Christian, but his CLE cigars didn’t really hit me right either, so maybe it’s me. Either way, I’ll still keep trying, because that’s just the kind of open minded guy I am! Thanks to Alex for sharing this cigar with me.