Tag Archives: leccia

by CigarCraig | July 3, 2013 · 11:08 pm

A Gurkha, a Couple More Villiger NicaRomas, a Leccia Black and a Guest Cigar Review

It’s the eve of Independence Day, and I have a four day weekend ahead of me. Â Then it’s five long work days before heading to Vegas for the IPCPR show. Â I’ll be throwing out videos and photos from the show as wireless access allows. Â We are looking forward to bringing unique content from the show. Â Gee, I hope there’s something new and interesting there to see! Â Anyway, I smoked a few cigars this week. starting with a Gurkha Ghost Asura (6″x52) Sunday evening. Â This is a cigar that was released at last years IPCPR show, and has a Brazilian Arapiraca Maduro wrapper. Â I picked this cigar up a few weeks ago at SeÃ±or Juan’s Cigars in Belmar, NJ. Â It being New Jersey, it was not inexpensive! Â Anyway, this is a heck of a nice cigar. Â It burned very nicely and had a pleasing flavor with some coffee flavors. The website notes cinnamon in the profile, which I didn’t get, but will look for the next time I smoke one. Â In truth, I’ve only ever gotten cinnamon once in a cigar, and that was a Havana Bolivar Coronas Gigantes many years ago which was gifted to me by my friend Bruce at a party at my house. Â I can still remember smoking it in the house and looking at it in amazement. This was many years ago! Anyway, The Ghost was a nice cigar, and the holographic band is pretty darned cool.

Monday evening I grabbed the Villiger NicaRoma Habano for my evening walk. Â Once again, this is a budget cigar made with 60% long filler and 40% picadura (scraps). Â This one, as the name implies, has a Habano wrapper. One would never know this is a mixed filler cigar as it burned well and, with a V-cut, it didn’t leave scraps in the mouth. Â It’s a solidly medium cigar that has a nice flavor and is a pleasure to smoke. Â I think I liked this as much as the Maduro I smoked last week.

Tuesday I selected the Villiger NicaRoma Connecticut, similar to the above cigar, but with a Honduras grown Connecticut wrapper. Like it’s siblings, this isn’t a pretty cigar, just a solid mild to medium cigar with a decent flavor. Â I enjoyed this one quite a bit, Â I would rank this third after the Maduro and Habano, but that’s just my personal preference. Â These all have Nicaraguan fillers and binders, with the only difference being the wrapper. Â Nice, smooth, flavorful cigars that won’t break the bank. Try them if you see them.

Recently I send some of these to a reader who left a comment that prompted me to declare a spontaneous contest. Â Agent86 smoked a couple of the cigars, including the Villiger NicaRoma Maduro and was kind enough to send a review. Â So Agent86 is now an honorary Craig for the day, here’s his thoughts on the Maduro:

Agent 86 reporting from a top secret assignment. Â Recently I had the pleasure of trying a couple of smokes courtesy of our own CigarCraig. Â This was a pleasant surprise and the smokes were different enough to draw me out of my semi-retirement to report on them.

First up is the NicaRoma Maduro from Villiger. Â I know Craig recently reviewed these on here, but I want to see if I had any impressions different than his. Â This was a Toro with a Mexican San Andreas Maduro wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and filler. Â Craig has more information in his write up about the actual make of this cigar.

After unwrapping the cigar I took the time to feel and smell it. Â The feel of the cigar is really loose, almost too much so for my preference. Â The smell was actually very non-descript without anything in particular to set it apart. Â After lighting it produced a dark grey and black ash that flaked and crumbled quite frequently. Â The cigar also was prone to going out in the first half requiring three relights.

One thing that is very unusual to my tastes with this cigar is that it actually seemed more like two cigars. Â The first half was a medium flavor, medium strength cigar with a lot of bitterness and kind of a “tarry” flavor to it. Â Not altogether good or bad, just kind of uninspiring. Â The second half is a different story. Â After the halfway point the cigar started to really open up and the flavors expanded. Â The bitterness I detected faded down to a tolerable level and there were some really good flavors with just a bit of spice. Â The really strange part was that the strength increased too. Â By the time I got down to the last couple inches it was actually pretty strong and left me feeling more than a bit light-headed.

I’m not positive on what the pricing on these would be around where I live, if they were available, but as a budget cigar it would work for a pleasant change of pace. Â If it came out at 7 bucks or higher though I think I would stick with a Gran Habano #3. Â This is a competent budget smoke, but not something I think will ever replace any of my regulars.

Thank you to Agent86 for sharing his experience with that, and considering his second review, I chose to smoke a Leccia Black myself tonight. It’s a unique smoke, for sure. Â The example I smoked was a bit tighter than I would like, but it still had the smoky, barbecue flavor that the “Darkfire” tobacco that is featured in this cigar. This is a nice smoke, and I have one more that I’ll let rest for a while. Â Here’s what AgentCraig86 had to say:

The second cigar that I would like to review is the Leccia Tobacco Black, also courtesy of CigarCraig. Â This, as was mentioned on here, is part of the new line from Sam Leccia, Black and White. Â I have had mixed impressions of Sams cigars in the past when he was working for his previous employers, so I really didn’t know what to expect.

The Black Robusto I picked out had a nice firm construction and the “cow pasture” smell I expect from a good stronger flavored cigar with the added boost of a smoky odor that was particularly pleasant. Â The cigar lit well, burned evenly and had a nice grey ash that held together 3/4 of the length of the smoke.

The flavors started out pleasant, but not anything really different from any other medium/full flavor cigar. Â After the first couple inches though things really changed. Â A nice strong smoky flavor similar to that of good barbecue or a pleasant campfire started to make itself known. Â This flavor continued all the way to the end of the cigar and remained on the taste buds even after the cigar was done. Â The strength of the smoke never went beyond medium for me, but the flavors stayed nice and strong, but never overpowering. Â It was so pleasant I was able to smoke this cigar far past where I normally would have. Â Also, something was different about the cigars construction since it never became too hot for my fingers or lips. Â I guess all the time rolling Nubs gave Sam a few extra tricks for helping someone squeeze out those last few minutes of cigar enjoyment.

If this cigar becomes available locally and isn’t too expensive I could easily see it becoming one of my regular smokes.

Reporting from parts unknown, Agent 86 is out.

Once again, thanks to Agent86 for sharing his experiences with us. Â I’m always happy to include reviews from readers, especially on prizes they won here, even if it was an impromptu contest I made up on the spot. Â There are rumors of some pretty good contests coming on the horizon, so stay tuned!Â Also, if you’re shopping this weekend, take a look atÂ BestCigarPrices.com, they have a special Â page with some specials for CigarCraig.com readers.

That’s it for now, please try not to blow anything up this weekend! Â Keep it safe and smoke a bunch of great cigars! Â I’ll be enjoying a cookout tomorrow with family and will smoke something exceptional after they’ve left (I make a point to wait until the grandchildren leave before sitting down to enjoy a smoke). Â My wife and I also celebrate our wedding anniversary on July 4th, so Happy Anniversary to my greatest supporter.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

6 Comments

Filed under Guest Review, Review

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Ghost, Gurkha, leccia, Villiger

by CigarCraig | June 16, 2013 · 10:18 am

Leccia Tobacco, a Black and a White at the Event, and Custom Rolled Cigar

For some reason I’m a sucker for cigar events (go figure!). I happened to notice that Sam Leccia was travelling with Jack Toraño, the marketing director for Toraño Family Cigar Co. who is distributing Leccia Tobacco’s new offerings. So Thursday evening they were doing an event at the CigarCigars stores in Colmar, PA. They couldn’t have the event at the store that’s 10 minutes from home in Phoenixville, noooo…..it had to be 50 minutes away. I normally wouldn’t gripe about driving an hour to have a smoke, I do it all the time, but weeknights are tough. Anyway, I got there about 7 and the OverACigar internet radio show/podcast guys were just starting their show live in the shop. I’ve been listening to their show for a while (I’m a podcast junkie, what can I say) and it was interesting to see the process. Jack and Sam were both featured prominently in the 2 hour show. For those who aren’t aware, the show is live on blogtalkradio.com on Thursdays generally, and available on iTunes and their site. It’s just a bunch of guys talking as if they were in a cigar lounge, with cigar talk and industry guests thrown in here and there. They turned out to be a really nice bunch of guys, despite what you hear on the show :-).

I bought some of Sam’s new cigars, the Black and the White, all in the robusto size. I started with the Black, which features the Kentucky “Darkfire” fire cured tobacco. It’s certainly a unique flavor. When I was in Nicaragua I smoked a prototype of the My Uzi Weighs a Ton Kentucky Fire Cured and the aroma off the foot was unmistakable “campfire”. The Leccia Black is more subtle. The smokiness is there, and the hand of leaves Sam had with him had the same pungent aroma, but it’s not overwhelming in the cigar. At one point Sam added a strip of the darkfire tobacco to the wrapper of the cigar I was smoking. The wet leaf didn’t burn particularly well, but you could taste the additional smokiness. When Sam set out to make a distinctive cigar, he achieved his goal with this one!

Moving on to the White, this is also something a little different. It’s made in an undisclosed factory in Nicaragua, and has some Pennsylvania broadleaf in the filler blend of Nicaraguan fillers and an African Sun Grown Wrapper (I forgot to ask if this was Cameroon, I suspect it is. It had a familiar sweetness I get from Cameroon wrappers). I’m going to have to smoke one on a fresh palate because, let’s face it, firing this up 15 minutes after finishing the Black is no fair way to assess a cigar. I will say that I really enjoyed the cigar and the flavor was, once again, distinctive (and good!). As I said, I’ll give one a try again in the very near future and I’m sure I’ll enjoy it.

On my way out the door, Sam insisted on rolling me a custom cigar. This one is the White blend wrapped in Ecuador Connecticut Shade, and accented with some of the Darkfire, actually the foot is totally enclosed in this beautiful, dark leaf. So Friday evening I sparked it up after dinner and a swim. The closed foot was amusing. I’m used to testing the draw after cutting and forgot about the foot and thought it was plugged. Once I remembered what was going on, I hit it with a triple flame torch and was off to the races. The first half inch was loaded with the smokey flavor that that fire cured tobacco brings to the table. It’s subtle, not overpowering, but certainly noticeable. The shade wrapper added a completely different component to the experience. Where the White blend is usually wrapped in African Sungrown, this shade wrapper really mellowed it out a little. It was a shame to burn up soch a beautiful creation, and I still have a couple cigar Sam wrapped for me years ago that are just too pretty to set fire to, but I’m glad I experienced the various flavor changes that the two wrapper modifications make. As Sam was rolling this, I asked him not to get too fancy with it so I wouldn’t feel bad smoking it. He still created a stunning masterpiece, and despite having been wrapped twenty-four hours earlier it burned remarkably well. Thank you to Sam, Jack, Scott of CigarCigars and Bobby Hershman for putting on such a great event which I would have been disappointed to have missed.

That’s it for cigars here, we are recovering from the Ticked Off Music Fest, which went off without a hitch (but nobody came to me to mooch a cigar, I had plenty to share!) It was a busy day, a late night, but satisfying to help spread the word about Lyme Disease. Today is Father’s Day, so at some point I’ll be setting fire to one of my last traditional Father’s Day cigars, the Esperanza para los Niños, which was made by Christian Eiroa back in 1998 to benefit children orphaned by Hurricane Mitch. It’s always interesting to see what yet another year of age has done to these. In two years I’ll have to start a new tradition as I will have exhausted my supply of those maduro beauties. To the father’s out there, have a great day!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

4 Comments

Filed under Events, Review

Tagged as cigar, CigarCigars, cigars, leccia, Toraño

by CigarCraig | November 3, 2010 · 7:30 pm

Sam Leccia at Old Havana Cigar Co., a Nub, and a Camacho – Wednesday October 3, 2010

I’ll go a little out of order this time. Tuesday evening my son Corey and I took a short drive down to Old Havana Cigar Company just south of West Chester PA. They were hosting an event featuring Sam Leccia. Sam greeted us when we arrived as he was taking a break, then we popped into the walk-in and selected some Nubs to smoke. I grabbed a few of the Cameroon 358s as I hadn’t yet tried them, my Nub consumption had been limited to the Habano wrapper and I love a good Cameroon wrapper. The store was packed, and I can only assume there were a bunch of folks in the lounge, but didn’t make it that far to see. Corey went with a Nub Cain Maduro and enjoyed it quite a bit. Here are a couple very raw videos I took with my phone of Sam wrapping a couple cigars, the second of which he gave to Corey.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPQ72RbvP5g

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=430zvaf1N0I

Pictured here are the custom wrapped cigars that Sam gave Corey and I. He told Corey that he’d have to smoke his, because the bunch he used was one of the original release of the Nubs. I know that I couldn’t bring myself to smoke this one or the last one he gave me, which is similar to the one he made in the first video. It’s amazing the detail he puts into these cigars, they are beautiful works of art. Sam is a tremendous guy and if he makes an appearance in your neighborhood make a point to go see him. Old Havana Cigar Co, is a nicely appointed shop located in a strip mall between West Chester, PA and Wilmington Delaware. They have a broad range of cigars in a large walk-in humidor, as well as a spacious lounge in the back. The access through the humidor is reminiscent of the set up at Holt’s in Philadelphia, but I think the lounge is larger. The front of the store features Humidors, cases and other accessories. Sam had his rolling table set up in the front of the store.

The Nub Cameroon 358 was a nice smoke that I enjoyed despite a sinus infection and a very smoky room. The cigar burned very well and, like I told Sam and have always said about the Nub line, would be much better if it were a little longer. Still I spent an hour or so with this cigar that the box said was good for 38 minutes (a very clever idea, putting the smoking time on the box).

Sunday was Halloween, which is always a traditional cigar night for me. I grabbed a nice green Camacho Corojo Candela Monarca and sat on the porch with my wife, the gas heater, and all the trick-or-treaters. We live in a development that is fairly large and it’s not unusual to get 150 or more kids visiting us. The cigar was awesome, I really enjoy these every now and then for a change of pace. This box has been pretty consistent in that this cigars all have had a very loose draw. I’ve come to compensate for this by piercing the cap instead of cutting it, but I was distracted and lopped off the cap. I was careful not to over draw and nursed the cigar for the duration of the trick-or-treating.