Tag Archives: La Zona

by Craig Vanderslice | March 17, 2024 · 10:33 am

Knuckle Sandwich, Julius Caeser, Postanie and Aganorsa Cigars

I smoked a good variety of cigars this week, the next couple weeks will probably be featuring some retailer exclusive cigars, so I figured I’d mix it up. I had picked up the Knuckle Sandwich 56 Maduro on a recent visit to the Wooden Indian, it was on the high side of what I like to spend, but I wanted to try it. This cigar is made by Espinosa, at the A.J.Fernandez’ San Lotano factory, for Guy Fieri’s 56th birthday. Obviously, it has a 56 ring gauge, and looks to be made using the San Lotano Oval molds. I like a 6″ x 56, and I liked the Oval shape. It has a San Andrés wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers. Can anyone tell me why the word “Sandwich” sounds like “Sangwich” when persons of Cuban descent say it? I went through a phase of smoking cigars with the ring gauge of my age for a while, now that I’m 60 I’m over that. I loved this cigar, which is a shame because it’s limited and expensive. It started with a nice spice over cocoa, and mellowed into a chocolaty treat, with a hint of the spice. I dug it, even though when I met Guy at the PCA show a few years ago he really could have cared less and my request for Erik Espinosa to get in the picture with us was ignored. I don’t get starstruck and fawn over celebs, some of them don’t like that. Anyway, I don’t regret the purchase at all, it wa sa really good smoke, probably the best I had all week. It was my Pi Day treat.

We are in the midst of a string of March holidays, so on Friday I was compelled to smoke a Diamond Crown Julius Caeser Toro. We all know that March 15 marks the day that Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC. We know the exact date because he invented the calendar we use. He instituted that just a year before his death. Anyway, he was a heck of an Emperor, but I guess his friends thought he was a dick, so they stabbed him. I may be oversimplifying things a little. A few millennia later some Hungarian folks named their son after him, and US immigration screwed up the spelling on his paperwork and Julius Caeser Newman started a cigar company that makes some great cigars. The Diamond Crown Julius Caeser is made at Tabacalera A. Fuente, has an Ecuador Havana wrapper, Dominican binder and Caribbean and Central American fillers. They could just say Dominican, Nicaraguan and/or Honduran fillers, but they can be vague if they want. I enjoy Diamond Crown cigars, from the mild Diamond Crown, to the bolder Maximus and Black Diamond, and this falls in between. I find the flavor to be largely sweet wood, which is a nice change of pace for me. I like this cigar a lot, I remember smoking one of these a long time ago with a shop owner who has since passed, before a big celebrity cigar launch dinner. It didn’t give me any stabbing back pain either.

Saturday ended up being a Connecticut Shade day, which isn’t normal for me, but I had a couple shade cigars I hadn’t smoked yet, so I figured I’d give them a go. The first one I have smoked, but there’s a new size launching at the PCA show that I had a chance to smoke. It was the Powstanie Connecticut Justice, a 5½ x 46 Corona Gorda which Mike Szczepankiewicz blended nine years ago for the birth of his son. This is made at the Nica Sueño factory like the rest of the Powstanie cigars. I really like the Robusto that Mitch shared with me late last year. This shape seemed different, it didn’t have the character that the larger ring had, although I still found it to be exceptional. This was a really good shade cigar with some body, which I think must come from the PA Broadleaf binder in large part. For someone who doesn’t gravitate to shade wrapped cigars, this is a really good one, and worth a shot, but I don’t even think it’s due to be released until next month, some additional age won’t hurt this one. If you come across any Postanie cigars, try them, they are all really quite good.

Finally, I smoked an Aganorsa La Validacion Connecticut Robusto that I got at the Wooden Indian a few weeks ago when Fabien and Mike King were there doing an event. Aganorsa is a brand I struggle to find a favorite in. There’s a few I like, and some I don’t, and I can’t seem to remember which is what. So I buy them and smoke them and enjoy them or not and start the cycle over again. I don’t care for Criollo ’99 too much, so that probably has something to do with it. I think this series is one I like, and I definitely liked this Connecticut. It was medium bodied, nutty with some wood and spice and really a nice cigar. I’m going to remember that I really like the La Validacion line (I just went back and checked and I did like the Maduro and Corojo!).

Today is Green Cigar Day, or as some call it, St. Patrick’s Day, so pick out a nice Candela and drive the snakes out of your country! Why have none of these companies made a Candela Culebra in honor of St. Patrick driving the snakes from Ireland? Because it would suck and it wouldn’t sell, that’s why. I’ll suggest it to Saka. I mentioned him making a Candela Lancero on my last Podcast episode with him and he poopoo’d it, now he’s making a lancero box featuring the candela. I’d write more today but I used a lot of letters on Mike Szczepankiewicz name. Anyway, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 56, Aganorsa, Aganorsa Leaf, cigar, cigars, Diamond Crown, Espinosa, Guy Fieri, Julius Caeser, Justice, Knuckle Sandwich, La Validacion, La Zona, Powstanie

by Craig Vanderslice | January 9, 2022 · 10:35 am

Stolen Throne War Council and Sensei’s Sensational Sarsparilla Cigars

It was implied in my last post that the Stolen Throne Three Kingdoms was among my favorite cigars of the last year, and honestly it was right there at the top. I keep going back for more of this cigar, there’s a sweet flavor that I haven’t been able to put a name to, and it wasn’t until I smoked the War Council yesterday that I think I finally am able to label that flavor. A little bit about the War Council cigar: it’s a 6″ x 46 corona extra, not a skinny toro, or whatever the site that sold them called it. Silliness. They made something like just under 1900 of these, and I was gifted one of these by Kevin and JR of Stolen Throne when I met them a few weeks ago. It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, undisclosed binder and Nicaraguan and undisclosed or Honduran (sources vary), fillers. Best I can tell it contains tobacco, that’s a safe bet. It’s very good tobacco. I’d be remiss if I failed to mention that this cigar was the cigar of the year for 2021 at Kaplowitz Media, after smoking it, I don’t find that at all curious. Going back to my tasting notes, I thought it had loads of the same sweet flavor that I love in the Three Kingdoms, which I’m now going to recognize as “sugar cane”. Since my palate is less refined than most, that sweetness carried throughout the cigar for me, and was dominant, and I loved it. I find the Three Kingdoms more balanced for my palate, which is fine, it’s obviously in greater supply, but the War Council was definitely a treat! I love smoking special cigars, but I don’t like falling in love with them! Thanks guys fr the opportunity, and I learned something from it!

I made a little exception to my own rule with this next cigar, although I suppose it’s not the first time. I generally let other media entities promote their own wares, unless there’s some reciprocity. This particular cigar is now in general distribution, so I’m giving it a pass. as the post title implies, the cigar in question is the Sensei’s Sensational Sarsaparilla, which is part of the Espinosa portfolio. I picked up one of these to sample at an Espinosa event at Son’s a few weeks ago. This originated with the Cigar Dojo, who has done an amazing job with coming out with their own cigars in small batches. This is the maybe the third one that has “made it”, following Drew Estate’s Dogmas in Maduro and Sungrown. It’s pretty impressive, the only other cigar that I can think of that’s similar is DE’s BOTL (RIP TP), which, while is a great cigar, hasn’t seen the success. It’s a 5½” x 52 Belicoso, with a San Andrés wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, and fillers from Condega and Estelí. Reading the blend, this cigar doesn’t taste anything like it should. I expected dark, cocoa/ coffee, and I got an almost saccharine sweetness. It was more of the sweetness, maybe the Sarsaparilla thing got in my head, but I got the sweet flavor through the cigar. Not that it was a bad thing, it was just not what I expected. It was another good cigar from La Zona, and a lot of my favorite cigars are/were made at La Zona (for other people, ie: La Sirena, the former Cornelius and Anthony and Arandoza).

That’s all for today. The new e-mail alert system should work on this post! I’ve been working on it for a week and hopefully I’ve just about got things ironed out. When it works like I think it will I’ll kill the Feedburner e-mails so everyone doesn’t get two! Fingers crossed again, thanks for your patience, and there’s two of you who may have gotten both e-mails last week! until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Espinosa, La Zona, Sensei's Sensational Sarsaparilla, Stolen Throne, War Council

by Craig Vanderslice | January 5, 2020 · 11:24 am

Happy New Year Cigars, a Cornelius and Anthony, and a Warzone

Happy New Year to everyone! I hope everyone stayed safe and enjoyed whatever celebration you chose to partake in. I enjoyed a 5 year old Padrón 1964 Anniversary Exclusivo Natural which was magnificent. It was from a box which was a gift from Padrón from my first magazine article which featured them in Prime Living Magazine in 2014, signed by the senior señor Padrón. I’ve heard people say that Padróns don’t age well, but I beg to differ. This cigar smoked just fine. Perhaps it’s because it’s the natural wrapper variety, I’m not sure. I love the Maduros, but these Naturals have been fantastic cigars, and I’ve been savoring them because it’s a special box, ya know? One of these days I’ll get around to trying a 1926 or one of the other anniversary cigars, but the 1964s are so good, and not outrageously priced, how can one go wrong? I was in bed early, but neighborhood fireworks upset the dog.

I went looking for an interesting New Years Day smoke, something to smoke between watching the Mummers Parade, and the NHL Winter Classic. I remembered that I had a couple of Montecristo Le Cigares des Artes 2000 Millennium Edition that had been gifted by a great friend probably 18 or 19 years ago. These originally came in a really neat box with artwork by Michael Delacroix. You still see the Delacroix art in Montecristo branded lounges, so now you know it goes back 20 years. I little useless trivia fr you. Anyway, this was a Churchill sized cigar of Dominican descent, which caused me some concern about how this might have held up over the last 20 years. I chose the one with the broken tube, I don’t know how it broke, it’s been moved around from humidor to humidor over the years, I’m not a fan of glass tubes for this reason. I’m far too careless for fragile things that are meant to protect fragile things. There’s a reason egg cartons aren’t made out of glass. Oddly, the cigar had some white spots on it, mold or plume, hard to say. I’d have said it was mold but it seemed unlikely, it dusted right off, and there was no intrusion into the foot. If it was plume, it was the blotchiest plume I’ve seen. Regardless, it had no bearing on the smoking experience, however, I would not have bought a cigar that looked like it looked. The cigar started off very mild, as expected, but it built up in flavor as time went on and ended up being a very enjoyable and flavorful cigar. It had the delicate sophistication of a well aged cigar. I’ve smoked plenty of old cigars before, and this was one of the better ones. It held up well. I have smoke a Padrón Millenium in the past few years and it has also held up, but it wasn’t as impactful as it was when it was younger, and, not having smoked the Montecristo in it’s youth, I have nothing to compare it to. I would say that if you have these, smoke one! Why not? It’s fun to smoke a well aged cigar now and then. I still have a Cuban Romeo y Julietta from 1977 someplace that I’ll smoke one day.

I followed up the old Montecristo with a favorite flavor-bomb, the Cornelius and Anthony Señor Esugars Toro. This was made at La Zona by Espinosa. I have asked Steven Bailey directly about the future of Cornelius and Anthony and gotten no response. I’ve talked to high level sources at both factories that made his cigars and pretty much confirmed that he is out of the premium cigar business. Unless the brand is bought by someone, and, considering the history and branding were so intimately tied to the Bailey family I don’t see it happening, I fear the brand is dead. It’s a shame. Cornelius and Señor Esugars toros have been two of my favorite cigars over the past 3 years. The Gent, Venganza and Meridian are really good cigars. Daddy Mac never really did it for me, and the Mistress is the only cigar that ever made me barf. I hope that Espinosa recycles the blends and someone lets me know what the Señor Esugars blend becomes, because I absolutely love that cigar! Now I have to ration out the last box I have, as well as the Cornelius Toros and handful of Lonsdales! Adios Cornelius and Anthony! We saw the writing on the wall…stock up while you can.

On to a newer cigar! This week I stopped in to CigarCigars in Downingtown, PA to see Kevin, the manager there. Kevin asked me if I knew anything about the CigarMedics Humidimeter, and, whattayknow, I do happen to know about it! I went over to demonstrate it to him. We talked about the relative merits of the Humidimeter, I shared my experiences and knowledge, and he felt like he could find some good uses for it in the shop and ordered one. This was on a Thursday evening, and he received it the next day! Talk about great service. If you look in the right hand sidebar on this site, you’ll notice that there is now an ad there for CigarMedics, so if you find that you’d like more information, or want to get one for yourself, there’s a quick and easy way to get there! Welcome CigarMedics to the CigarCraig family! Like I said, I went to CigarCigars, and I picked up a couple cigars I hadn’t smoked before. One of them was the Warzone, the collaboration between Espinosa and General Cigar Co. I got the 5½” x 52 Robusto. This is made at the La Zona factory with a Cameroon wrapper from General Cigar (who has used amazing Cameroon wrapper on cigars for years, Partagas come immediately to mind), and it being distributed by General. I’ve been anxious to try this cigar, I’m a fan of Cameroon, a lot of the La Zona (see above), and a lot of General, so this cigar had a lot going for it out of the gate. I was encouraged by the Humidimeter readings off the shelf, Kevin does a good job keeping the stock in the store right. It’s a humidified store, no small feat. The Warzone was much as I expected, nutty “Camerooniness”, medium bodied, smooth and delicious. I have another that I’m looking forward to smoking (thank you Kevin!) and really concentrating on, I was busy talking and in a store, one can’t completely concentrate on a cigar that way. I picked up a couple of Black Label Trading Company Morphines while I was there too, a great corona gorda (I smoked one last night, great flavor, the draw got snug, I noticed a gob of tar on the head. Fortunately it didn’t touch my lips or tongue. I wiped it off and the draw opened up! I hate that liquid tar build up. if it hits your mouth you’re done!). The also have some of the Dunbarton Tobacco And Trust line there.

That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigar store, cigars, Cornelius and Anthony, Espinosa, General Cigar Co., La Zona, Le Cigares des Artes, Montecristo, padron, Señor Esugars, Warzone

by CigarCraig | August 5, 2018 · 10:20 am

La Sirena LT Double Corona Corona and Other Cigars

Back in 2014, La Sirena Cigars acquired Old School cigars, which went back to about 2007, when Danny Ditkowich and his partners founded the brand.In 2014, Arielle Ditkowich,the president of La Sirena, bought the Old School brands and folded them in to La Sirena, briefly marketing them as Jaxx by La Sirena, Jaxx LT by La Sirena and Stixx by La Sirena. What was cool about this, in my opinion, was that it gave the company some pre-predicate date blends, as well as relationships with two more factories (Jaxx LT at Plasencia in Honduras and Jaxx at Rocky Patel’s Tavicusa in Nicaragua). Of course, La Sirena remains a family operation, with father, Danny involved in the day-to-day operation as well as Mariah adding another face to the brand selling and marketing. Danny is also a partner in the Tobacco Plaza retail store in Great Neck, Long Island, a store I look forward to visiting one of these days (add it to the list!). So that sets up a some back story behind the La Sirena LT, which debuted (that’s an awkward word…”debuted”…so is “awkward”…I digress…) at the 2016 IPCPR. This year they added a new size, a double corona, which is a massive 7 ½” x 52 to the line. Danny was kind enough to send me a couple of these to try, heavily over-packaged, I might add, but assured to make it to me in pristine condition, which is much appreciated.

Before I get to the LT DC, since I wanted to give the cigars a rest from their short journey, even though they came in a ziplock with a Boveda, packed in a cigar box, in a bubble UPS mailer, overnighted only about 140 miles, I decided to smoke an old favorite, a La Sirena Trident of a newer vintage. I’ve smoked a bunch of the original, My Father made Tridents, but this is from a newer box, which is out of La Zona. I really enjoy the heck out of these cigars, over the last I don’t know, seven years or so, La Sirena has been a go-to brand for me. There’s something for every occasion in the portfolio, and the Classic line is great evening cigar with some strength and body, and spice. I still have a few of the Don Pepin Tridents left, but it’s unfair to judge a cigar with five years of age to a newer one and expect a fair comparison, but I think the new and the old compare favorably.

Thursday evening I decided the La Sirena LT Double Corona had enough time to recover, so I took it for a walk. I mentioned the Jaxx LT above, and the La Sirena LT is the same blend, made at the same factory, Plasencia’s El Paraiso in Honduras. As I said above, this is a 7½” x 52 cigar, set aside two and a half hours if you smoke at a reasonable rate. The usually large looking La Sirena band looks normal on this cigar, and it lacks the small under-band, but it does have a secondary foot-band. Many of the regular La Sirena cigars have a small band under the large one, so those with short memories, like myself, can remember what we are smoking when we take the large band off! Obviously, due to its excessive length, this cigar starts out pretty mild, but it builds up pretty quickly to a reasonably robust smoke for a Connecticut (Ecuadoran). It has a rich flavor, with the sweet grassiness you expect from the Connectucut, but it’s not without body. Like I said, set aside a good amount of time to dedicate to this large cigar, I walked a mile, and still had a whole toro left when I got home! This was perfectly built, burn and draw were as they should be. These carry a $10 MSRP, which seems quite fair in this day and age.

I had to continue the La Sirena theme, so Friday I went with another large vitola, from yet another factory that they have making their cigars, Quesada in the DR. I really enjoy the Oceano line, I went with the Atlantic, the large belicoso in the line, at 7″ x 52. This has a Dominican Habano Vuelta Arriba wrapper, Dominican Criollo binder and Dominican Criollo Visos and Ligeros and Nicaraguan Viso in the filler blend. Oddly, it’s a stronger blend than the La Sirena line, certainly the strongest in the portfolio in my estimation. I’ve had this box for about two and a half years, and they just keep getting better and better. It’s kinda on the sweet, peppery and earthy side of the flavor spectrum to me. I really like the blend. I featured the Indian in an article for a 2014 issue of Prime Living Magazine.

I was going to include one more cigar, a Perdomo Factory Tour Blend Connecticut Robusto that I smoked last night, but I’m thinking it might not fit in with the overall theme. I came across the cigar while rooting around one of the trays in the cabinet humidor (that sounds pretentious…) and remembered sitting with Dave Garafalo and Mr. Jonathon at the “Gala” opening party at the 2016 IPCPR. I put Gala in quotes because that year was about the worst opening reception I can recall in the 8 years of IPCPRs I’ve been to, the food ran out in the first 15 minutes, the cash bar was stupid expensive ($6 for a water, granted it was Fiji, but still!), it was lame. Last year, and what I’ve heard from this year, General Cigar Co. has demonstrated what an opening gala should be. But, since few of my readers can experience that, since IPCPR is an industry event, that really doesn’t mean a lot to most of you. Anyway, we were hanging out with Dave and Mr. J chatting, and Roy Kirby, Dave’s Perdomo rep, came over and handed us these Perdomo Factory Tour Connecticut cigars. He didn’t have to, it was very nice of him to do. I guess this one got shuffled to the back and overlooked over the last two years, it’s not like I could miss what it was given the enormity of the band. I guess it was the week for large banded cigars. Anyway, it was a nice, Connecticut cigar, lots of flavor, and you don’t have to take the factory tour to get them. It has a Ecuador Connecticut wrapper, Jalapa binder and Esteli fillers. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but, I’m still not going to say too much about it…

I posted episode 6 of the CigarCraig Podcast on Friday where I said my peace about the Altria FDA letter, but I’ll add this: Of course I support the exemption of premium cigar from FDA regulation and everyone who’s fighting for it. I just happen to be realistic in my thinking. I think Altria could have worded their response a little better than “we agree with the FDA that there is “no appropriate justification to exclude premium cigars from regulation”, but, as has been pointed out, they supported the passage of the Tobacco Control Act from the get go, as it helps them from a monopoly standpoint. Anyway, I stand by my belief, as pessimistic as it may be, that regulation is inevitable, and Altria’s letter was more positive than negative in that it provided for a common sense definition of what a premium cigar is and that they should be treated with more lenience. That’s it for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, La Sirena, La Sirena LT, La Zona, Oceano, Perdomo, Plasencia, Quesada, Tobacco Plaza

by CigarCraig | November 12, 2017 · 10:26 am

Cornelius and Anthony Cigars Event at Wooden Indian

Still trying to shake this cold, nothing tastes right which is the worst! However, when one of one’s favorite cigar brands is doing and event at one’s favorite cigar shop, one has to bite the bullet and man up. I’ve gushed about The Wooden Indian often. I have about a dozen cigar stores within a 15 mile radius of my house, and I visit them all periodically, but the one that’s the furthest, Wooden Indian, is the one where I feel like I’m welcomed as part of the family. I know the people at all the other shops, I like them and all, and they all have their forte, but I find myself at Wooden Indian most often. I suppose it helps that my daughter and her family live about a mile from the place and I can stop in and say hello, but it’s the staff and events that make me stop in the shop. It should be made clear that I’m not the consumer who stops in the shop for a daily smoke, I’m happier smoking from my own humidors on my walks or on the porch, so I generally only go to shops for events or to meet up with someone. I value my friendship with Dave and his staff at Wooden Indian, there are many great shops in the greater Philadelphia area, but this one stands out.

I got a message from Jose Galvez, who’s our area rep for Cornelius and Anthony Cigars, as well as other La Zona partner brands, to stop in to the Wooden Indian as they were having an event. Of course, when I received this message I was already on my way. In addition to my frequent gushing about the shop, I’ve also heaped praise on the Cornelius and Anthony brand, as they are probably my favorite overall brand of the last two years. The Miami made Cornelius line I put right there with Davidoff, Sobremesa, and whatever other high-end, medium and complex and delicious cigars you can think of. Their other lines, the Daddy Mac, Venganza, Meridian, and the new Aerial and Señor Esugars are all excellent cigars made at La Zona. In addition to really liking the cigars, I find the aesthetic part of the experience very pleasing, the bands are classy and appealing to me, and the box art is very cool. I bought a handful of cigars and lit up a Señor Esugars Corona Gorda which I could actually taste. I won’t say it tasted like it should because of my cold, but it didn’t taste terrible and I nursed about two hours out of it. It’s always nice to see Todd Vance, Cornelius and Anthony’s Director of Sales, and we were entertained by his playlist, which featured both kinds of music, county and western, although I found the country rendition of Purple Rain slightly disturbing. I can’t wait for this funk to lift from my head so I can just spend a week smoking through the Cornelius an Anthony line, which is highly recommended by me, for whatever that’s worth.