Light’n Up | CigarCraig's Blog

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by CigarCraig | January 16, 2013 · 6:27 pm

A Cigar Shop Visit, a Cain, a Perla del Mar, a Rodrigo and a La Gloria Cubana

Sunday I decided to go hang out at one of my locals shops that I’ve been to a few times and had mixed feelings about, Light’n Up Premier Smokeshop in Ludwigs Corner, PA. This shop is about 5 miles from home and I pass it on my commute every day. In the past I’ve had less than competent service, and limited selection. This visit, along with my last, was better and I want to give another chance. I spent a few minutes browsing the humidor and found the selection to be adequate although sparse. There were numerous empty boxes on the shelves which I suppose is excusable in the off season, but not something I like seeing, especially when it’s something that interests me. I would have picked up a couple more of the Padilla Reserva Maduros if they had them, but they did not. I ended up picking up a Cain Daytona torpedo and smoking it in the shop while talking with Rudy, the gentleman working in the shop, and several of the patrons who came in for a smoke. I think there was a football game on the TV too. I also picked up a couple other cigars I wanted to try as well. The Cain Daytona Torpedo was an excellent smoke, I like all of the Cain cigars, but I think the smoothness of the Daytonas makes it my favorite. It doesn’t pack quite the punch that the rest of the line does. I spent about 2 hours at the shop and the worst thing I can say about this visit is that they close at 4 pm on Sundays, not that I would have hung out longer on this particular occasion, but it would be nice if they were open a little later.

After dinner I took the dog for a walk with one of the other cigars I picked up at the shop, a Perla del Mar 3¾x56 stubby, fat little robusto. I have a sample from the trade show floating around someplace in the depths of the humidor, but I was too lazy to fish it out and figured the shorter size would be better for a damp and dreary evening. By the way, don’t visit the website with a full bladder, just a bit of friendly advice. This cigar is from J.C. Newman and is made in the same factory as the Brickhouse and El Baton in Nicaragua. It’s a Nicaraguan blend with an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper. I found it to be a pleasant smoke, medium bodied and flavorful and well behaved. It’s a good, well priced cigar. Personally, I’d love to see a Brickhouse maduro in the same size.

Monday’s evening smoke was a Rodrigo Forteleza Absoluto, a sample I received from Gary at Emilio Cigars, the distributor for Rodrigo Cigars. George Rodriguez had sent me samples of his original line a while back and I really dug the lancero over the larger ring gauges, so, I was looking forward to smoking this pretty little pigtail capped corona (5 ⅛” x 43). It started out pretty bold, and continued to be a full bodied, full flavored smoke. This is a very nice cigar! I can understand why this had such critical acclaim. I found it to be quite a satisfying smoke. I’ll try this in a larger ring gauge one of these days when I run across them in a shop someplace.

Tuesday I was having a little trouble deciding what to smoke, so I went with an old friend, the La Gloria Cubana Retro Especiale Club. This is a cigar that I’ve smoked quite a few of, and 5¾“ x 47 is a really nice size for me. It’s a different cigar than what I generally gravitate toward, it’s bright and mellow as opposed to dark and spicy, but it provides me with a nice change and the cigar is interesting enough to keep my attention, but not particularly challenging to smoke. Once in awhile I just want to smoke a cigar without thinking about it too much and the Retro Especiale is one like that. This isn’t a knock on the cigar, quite the opposite. I’ve always enjoyed the La Gloria Cubana line and have some of the new Trunk Show samples to smoke, but they are just enormous! Too large for winter smoking. I also continue to beat myself up for not picking up the Rabito de Cochino 3 pack when I saw it at Cigars International on my last visit. That’s a cigar I’ve wanted to try and I can’t believe I didn’t grab one. I will, no doubt, smoke more Retros this summer.

I received an email today about a new product and I’d be curious to know what you think of it? I’m far too impatient to use matches to light my cigars, but this is a pretty slick match case/striker combo that could be a great gift item for the cigar smoke who has everything, and I’m told the target MSRP will be around $8, so it’s priced right. Check it out at http://www.quirky.com/products/215-Strike-new-match.

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

CigarCraig

6 Comments

Filed under Accessories, Review, Stores

Tagged as cain, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Fortaleza, general cigars, JC Newman, La Gloria Cubana, Light'n Up, Perla del Mar, rodrigo

by CigarCraig | June 19, 2011 · 7:58 pm

Father’s Day Cigars, A Ride, and a Big Oja Contest!

Today is Father’s Day, and recently on LivingSocial.com, which is a site like Groupon.com for the Philadelphia area, a local cigar store chain called Light’n Up Cigars ran a special for $20 worth of cigars for $10. Of course, I purchased one of these, and both my wife and daughter surprised me with one for Father’s Day. So this afternoon I hopped on the old scooter and took a ride to two of the shops in the area. You had to specify which of the 5 shops you wanted the deal at and I received certificates for two different shops. I headed to the Glenmoore, PA location with is about 10 miles or so from home. I shopped through the humidor for a bit and settled upon 3 cigars, an Casa Fernandez Aganorsa Leaf, an Alec Bradley Family Blend, and a Perdomo Reserve Champagne, all cigars I have yet to smoke. From there I took the 12 or so mile trip down PA Rt 401 and made my way to the Frazer, PA store. I selected a pair of Fuente Hemingway Best Sellers, and a Brick House. I thought both stores seemed a bit sparse in their stocks as there were a lot of empty boxes. The clerk in the Frazer store blamed the winter months and the economy, both valid points, but I would have expected more cigars in the store, especially with the added business coming in from the special coupon deal. I have one more coupon to use and the pessimist in me thinks I should probably use it soon, although my suspicions are probably off base and I’ll see the stocks restored in the next month or so. The Frazer, PA store has a very large walk-in humidor, while the Glenmoore store’s is smaller, but the later store has a more comfortable lounge area. The cheap bastard in me is appalled at 6 cigars for $40, but I guess the same cigars for $20 is a great deal.

As I compose this edition, I am smoking my annual Father’s Day cigar, an Esperanza para los Niños. I Have smoked one of these every Father’s Day since I bought a box in 2000. I detailed the background of this cigar in my June 20th post last year, so I won’t repeat it. I’m enjoying this tasty, well-aged cigar with an IBC root beer which was a gift from my son. As it has been for years, it’s a chocolaty maduro that’s burning very well and goes well with the root beer. This is a tradition which I can only continue for another 4 years, at which time my prized stash of these will be exhausted, never to be replenished. I will savor each and every one until then, and remember that they were made “For the Children”.

Contest

For the last couple weeks you will, no doubt, have noticed the name “Oja” coming up in my posts. I have been enjoying sampling these cigars made in Nicaragua and blended by Luis Garcia, whom I had the pleasure of meeting in Nicaragua. I most recently smoked the 6 x 60 Mestizo (Habana2000) Artefacto. I really enjoyed the sweetness that dominated this cigar. It was a really nice cigar and I seem to be getting used to this idea of 60 ring gauge cigars (a good thing, since I also received a couple of Jonathan Drew’s newest cigar, the My Uzi Weighs a Ton). The other two lines, an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper and a Brazilian Araparica wrapper, have also been very tasty, but this H2000 is my favorite of the bunch. Luis has very generously provided me with a BOX of the Oja Mestizo Artefactos which is the prize for this month’s contest! That’s right, a whole box of very nice cigars to be won by a lucky reader. The contest will run until Sunday, July 3, in honor of the July 4th holiday, and I’m going to have to make you work a little harder than the usual random selection that I normally do. In the comments of this post, place a link to a picture of ~~you smoking a cigar in a patriotic setting of some sort~~ any patriotic theme which includes a cigar or cigars. Let’s try to keep the photos g-rated and within the bounds of good taste (I have the power to edit and delete and disqualify at my discretion). I will close the comments at Midnight on Saturday, ~~July 2~~ July 9 and a selection committee of my choosing will select a winner. The only other proviso is that the photos must be publicly accessible, so all can enjoy, and I’m going to suspend the six month rule for this contest to give everyone a chance to win. This is a pretty big prize in my opinion, so let your creative juices flow! A big THANKS to Luis at Oja for providing such a great prize!