Tag Archives: Macanudo Millionaire

by CigarCraig | October 2, 2011 · 5:18 pm

October Is Here: Berger & Argenti, Chateau Real and Macanudo Contest Winners!

It’s autumn here in south-east PA, and the evenings are getting shorter. This time of year I tend to gravitate toward maduro cigars more, not sure why that is, I just do. I have my winter stock of smaller, maduro cigars in half of a box of Chateau Real Small Clubs and three quarters of a box of Hoyo de Monterrey Sabrosos all ready for the cold winter walks. I have a severe dislike for fall and winter, so next spring can’t come soon enough.

Earlier this week I had a yen for a Berger & Argenti cigar, so I grabbed a Classico Belicoso that I received at the IPCPR show. This one wasn’t quite as tasty as the Mooch Schnorr, but it was still very nice, and for some reason the 5¾” x 50 belicoso shape felt very elegant in the hand. I know, that sounds a little un-manly, but it’s seemed like it would feel just right while wearing a tuxedo, and what’s more man;y than a tux. I don’t know where that while line of thought came from, but it did, and there it is. As I said, this was a very tasty smoke and burned nicely. I have enjoyed the heck out of the recent samplings from Berger & Argenti. I’ve still got some Mooch maduros and Entubar Quad Maduros to look forward to. The Entubar is a very good candidate for my annual Halloween cigar.

Friday evening I just wanted something good and familiar, that I wouldn’t have to think about much, so I grabbed a Chateau Real Maduro Gran Cru Perfecto from my dwindling supply. I love the Mexican maduro wrapper on this cigar. I don’t think they are making the Chateau Real in maduro any more which is a shame, I guess I didn’t buy enough of them to keep them in production. It’s a nice, medium cigar that always hits me right, always draws well and burns straight, and I will be sad when these are gone! Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the Claro version of this cigar, but it’s quite a bit different with the maduro wrapper. Thinking about it makes me want another! Will power….

I need to select a pair of winners. The Macanudo Millionaire contest closed last week, so I hope everyone got their entries in. These Macanudo four packs are quite unique in that the cigars are all 6 x 60 versions of the regular line, the maduro, the 1968 and the Crü Royale. So, the winners, as selected at random using the random number generator at Random.org. The numbers generated were 1 and 6, which correspond to kekoa kai and Kyle! Congrats gentlemen! Make sure you get in touch with me with your contact info so I can send out your prize!

That’s all I have for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Contest, Review

Tagged as Argenti, Berger & Argenti, cigar, cigars, Classico, Contest, drew estate, Entubar, general, general cigars, IPCPR, Kiki Berger, macanudo, Macanudo Millionaire, Millionaire, Mooch

by CigarCraig | September 25, 2011 · 8:45 am

G.A.R., Liga Privada, Veritas, a Contest Winner and Another Macanudo Contest!

This nice looking G.A.R. Opium STK toro was handed to my by my old friend Frank Seltzer at the Drew Estate blogger party at this years IPCPR show. He gave it to me without any comment at all, and I’m sure he has no affiliation with Gran Habano. I started removing bands (three of them in all, the foot band had to go first!) and lit this puppy up. To start out, it’s a nice looking cigar, 6” x 50, which oddly felt larger than 50, but I measured it and it certainly was a 50 ring gauge. It smoked very well, and while I didn’t taste poppy seeds or any other interesting flavors, it was a nice, solid, tobacco flavored cigar. It’s a good cigar although not one I think I’d go out of my way to find. I need to try more cigars from George Rico and Gran Habano.

Friday I celebrated the end of another week with a Liga Privada No.9 Parejo. I’ve been sitting on this particular one for about 2 years, and, wow, what a wonderful cigar. Perfectly made, perfect balance of flavor and strength. I actually purchased this at an event at the Wooden Indian (the old store) where we first met Marvin Samel. Just a super cigar that I smoked to within a half inch of it’s life. I still have one of the first Liga Privada No.9 cigars with a plain band from 2007. Mike Staiber, formerly of Drew Estate, presently of Oliva, gifted me this cigar at an event a while back. I’ll probably let it get to five years old or so before I fire it up, just to see how well it aged. It’s all I can do to keep my hands off the meager supply I have, they are so good.

Saturday I took a walk with a Veritas MMXI 6” x 60 Maduro, which I got at the Delaware Cigar Festival. This was about the blackest maduro I’ve seen in a long time. I’ll be honest, my first thought is that it was dyed, and the contrast between the fillers and wrapper was quite stunning. Whatever the process involved, I enjoyed the cigar quite a bit, it needed a couple touch-ups but burned nicely. I’m told that these are made by Blue Mountain Cigars in Esteli, and the maduro cigars pictured on their website look just as black. Like I said, I enjoyed the heck out of the cigar. This is the cousin of the Veritas DEA 7¼” x 58 Solomon Connecticut cigar that is accompanying the Rosie Napravnik bobblehead that some lucky reader is going to win.

Contest!

Thank you to everyone who entered. It’s been a little amusing to me to see how many visits I had this week from people searching the phrase “Rosie Napravnik Bobblhead”, or something similar. Thanks go to Delaware Park for unwittingly providing part of the prize, and Veritas Cigars for allowing me the opportunity to purchase the other part of the prize! So, as usual, I assigned each entrant a number based the time of their entry. Swede214, please send me your contact information so I can send you your prize!

Another Contest!

I still have some Macanudo Millionaire 4-packs to give away, and I better do it quick since the deadline for entry is September 30, 2011. So I’ll hold my October contest a little early. Leave a comment on this post to enter, I’ll select a winner next Sunday, October 2. Don’t forget to visit MacanudoMillionaire.com to enter to win the trip to Vegas and a chance at a million bucks!

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

CigarCraig

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Filed under Contest, Events, IPCPR, Review

Tagged as Blue Mountain Cigars, cigar, cigars, Contest, delaware cigars, Delaware Park, drew estate, esteli, general, general cigars, IPCPR, liga privada, macanudo, Macanudo Millionaire, Veritas

by CigarCraig | September 14, 2011 · 8:29 pm

Cigars So Far This Week: a La Palina, a Macanudo and Contest Winners!

Once again I’d like you to welcome a new sponsor, and an old friend, C-Gars, Ltd. The folks in the vast C-Gars Ltd empire are top notch when it comes to customer service. Check out their vast selection of cigars and accessories from around the world. I also heard from another old friend from the alt.smokers.cigars days who has revamped his site, The Cigar Diary. Tony’s site has some great information and a place to store and share your tasting notes. Thanks, Tony, for hunting me down after all these years!

A few weeks back I received a couple of La Palina El Diario Gordos in the mail from Courtney at La Palina. I had recently enjoyed the robusto in this line that was a sample from the IPCPR show, and was looking forward to trying other sizes. The Gordo is a 6″ x 58, which is a hefty cigar. I can’t figure out why I keep reaching for these enormous cigars lately. I love coronas and lanceros, and I always felt that 52 ring gauge was about as big as I’d care for, but all of these gorilla finger sized cigars are sneaking into my rotation! One thing I’ve noticed, and please tell me if you’ve noticed this too, but the last couple of 6 x 60s I’ve smoked (or close), seem to have….what’s the word I want?….clogged in the final 2 inches. It’s not like they are plugged suddenly, but hey seem to slow down a bit. Perhaps a year in the humidor would solve this. I’ve gotten away from the point, the La Palina is an exceptional cigar, really nice, sweet flavor and a perfect burn, even in this large size. It took me in excess of one and a half hours to smoke this one.

Tuesday evening I grabbed my last Macanudo 1968 robusto and really enjoyed it. I smoked one of these walking around Vegas in July, and I really like them. They have a bit of a unique flavor that I can’t pinpoint, but it’s good. The cold draw tasted like milk chocolate. As one would expect, the construction is perfect and it burned without need for correction. This is a solid cigar in my opinion, and one I would enjoy having in my humidor at all times. Certainly this is not a Macanudo that your typical Macanudo smoker is going to appreciate, it’s on the full side of medium from my perspective.

Contest!

Speaking of Macanudo, I need to pick a couple winners for the latest contest. I’ll be mailing out two Macanudo Millionaire 4 packs to the winners, provided they send me their contact info! The four-pack includes 60 Ring gauge versions of the Cafe, Maduro, 1968 and Crü Royale (again with the 60 ring!). I hope I win! OK, I’m kidding, I’m not eligible. For the first time, I added Twitter submissions for an additional entry and several people took advantage of that. I resorted to the tried and true method of selection: listing each entry as it comes in, numbering them, and using the random number generator to pick the winners. Boring, I know, but until I build a “wheel of fortune” out of dry erase board, this will have to do. So the random number generator produced the numbers 2 and 13, which by my records corresponds to a tweet from @TriumphCIO and a comment from Spidey55! Congrats to the two of you, please e-mail me your contact info so I can mail out your prizes! Once again, my gratitude to General Cigars for providing the prizes and for their support! I’m truly thankful for the relationship I’ve developed with them and the generous support they give to the cigar media community!