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IPCPR Thoughts and Highlights – Part One

We got back from the IPCPR show yesterday, and it was a whirlwind 3 days at the show. I didn’t do the video interviews like I’ve done in the past, I figure other people are doing them and I don’t do what everyone else does. The only one I did I posted Sunday, and I’ll try to fix the audio when I get a chance. I will have a video montage of the “secret question” which I did for fun. Two years ago I put together the montage (here), and when I get the video put together I’ll post it. It’s a bit of fun and something different. I encourage you to visit my colleagues sites who did run around interviewing everyone, I just didn’t have it in me this time around. Obviously when I got Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust‘s Steve Saka alone at the end of the first day, and was the first blogger type to have talked to him, I had to scoop the competition. I’m not proud of my competitiveness in that regard, but I am proud to have gotten the first interview with Steve out. I asked some questions I’m sure nobody else did.  I’ve known Steve for nearly 20 years, which might have given me a little advantage. I’ve gt samples, and you’ll hear more about them as I smoke them. They are taking a rest in the humidor, and I even shipped a box back that’s due tomorrow.  Anyway, here’s the quick day by day recap.

 

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Friday we drove two hours to Newark, NJ for a 5am flight which took us through Chicago then finally to New Orleans.  Once checked into our hotel, the Hilton Riverside, which is next to the convention center, more or less, we walked to get our badges. This convention center had to have been nearly a mile long, it’s one enormous building, and the IPCPR was on the far end. We went to our hotel and took about a three-hour nap before heading back to the convention center for the gala grand opening reception, which followed the Government Affairs Briefing. This has been poorly attended in the past, and it was quite important to those who make a living in the cigar industry, so it was a stroke of genius offering cocktails to the attendees. The gala offered food and a cash bar, which was exorbitantly expensive. We caught up with quite a few old friends here, spending some time with the Two Guys Smoke Shop crew, as well as many others.  I had run into Scott Weeks of Recluse Cigars, who handed me a Recluse Amadeus in Connecticut and the new Habano, and I smoked the Connecticut at the event, which is a great Connecticut shade cigar, lots of flavor. I can’t wait to try the Habano version, as I’ve been a Recluse fan since their release.  I also smoked something else, but I can’t recall what it was. The evening was sponsored by Fratello Cigars. It was a fun evening, but even after the nap we were running at a sleep deficit, and wanted to be awake for the opening of the show.

 

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Saturday morning we arose refreshed and went to the opening breakfast at the convention center. Smoking is allowed at the breakfast, but I was holding off until we got to the show. There is a business meeting that takes place, with recognition of the outgoing and incoming presidents and the introduction of the new IPCPR IMG_1761CEO, as well as some industry awards. All quite uninteresting to the consumer, but the officers and board of directors do this in their spare time on a volunteer basis, so there behind the scenes work deserves recognition. They always have a keynote speaker, and this year it was Larry Winget, a motivational speaker who was quite insightful and entertaining. I bought his book. He and I have a similar sense of humor, and many of his observations were quite funny. Breakfast was good, the coffee was great and it was a nice way to spend the morning. The show floor opened to the masses at 10:30 and we ran into quite a few old friends on what seemed like a half mile walk to the entrance of the show.  Upon entering, IMG_1780Drew Estate‘s elaborate and expansive booth is straight ahead, so it was mobbed. We had a couple of appointments in the afternoon, so we went to the far end of the show floor and wandered, saying hello to friends, meeting up with fellow bloggers and media types, and getting the lay of the land ( taking note of where the food court was, bathrooms, etc. The first appointment was with Victor Vitale of Tortuga and Legacy brands, where I was reintroduced to IMG_1779the new Tortuga Connecticut, which was my first cigar of the show.  This is a very smooth, creamy cigar with great flavor. I have smoked it before, and it’s a very enjoyable Connecticut, not to be missed. You may begin to notice a trend, I do’t smoke a great many milder cigars, but I’ve been to enough events and trade shows that I know how much it can suck if you blow out your palate early with strong cigars. I typically don’t go through a ton of cigars on the show floor as it’s awkward talking to one manufacturer about his cigar with another manufacturers cigar in your mouth (in the interview with Steve Saka I was smoking the new Leccia Luchadore, more on that later, but I couldn’t put it down and Steve didn’t have any samples of the Sobremesa). Victor was struggling with having his display cases broken and not having the right furniture, so it was a rough show for him, but he kept a smile on his face. This is another trend we saw: broken displays and what appeared to be poor service by whoever was in charge of moving things around with at least one booth never receiving a couch or chairs.  I attended a media briefing at Rafael Nodal’s Boutique Blends/Aging Room booth with was informative, with Rafael telling us about his current selections.  This factory continues to put out some great cigars, I just enjoyed the joint venture between Rafael and Altadis, the Romeo by Romeo y Julieta Aging Room Small Batch F25 in the Cantoar belicoso size and it was very nice. Not a show sample, by the way.  After visiting with Rafael and his boys we went to the General Cigar booth for our traditional 3:00 on the first day of the show tour.  General always rolls out the red carpet for us, and we saw some great looking new products including new branding on the Macanudo line, a Partagas Aniversario which looks really tasty, Bolivar and Ramon Allones reboots from the Foundry division as well as the Leccia Luchador El Gringo line extension (I mentioned before that I smoked it and really liked it, despite the example I smoked being a 70 ring). CAO has the Pilon, Margaritaville and added a round cigar to their Flathead line, the Steel Horse, paying homage to the motorcycles as opposed to the automobile reference in the previous five sizes. More about all of these as I smoke them after the samples have a chance to rest. Cohiba has a new very expensive Luxury Selection No. 2, which is beautiful, and Dunhill has the Heritage and Seleccion Suprema. Finishing off the tour was the Toraño line with the repackaged Brick bundle brand. I like a lot of cigars in the General Cigar portfolio, so I am looking forward to trying a bunch of the new cigars. Stay tuned for a giveaway here in the near future so you too can try some!

 

We free-ranged around the show floor some more until getting to sit down with Steve Saka after the show closed. I had to get the video interview out, which meant napping in between video processing, editing, and uploading over hotel WiFi so I could publish it for you first thing Sunday morning.  Needless to say, the first day was fun, exciting and tiring, and I’m going to Post about days three and four on Sunday.  Lots of great cigars and great people.

 

Until the next time,

CigarCraig`

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Macanudo, Leccia, Tortuga and Montecristo Cigars

Macanudo Estate Reserve_NoIIISunday was supposed to be much warmer, in the 50s, but I don’t think it got out of the 40s. I still managed to get two cigar walks in. I started with a Macanudo. I know what you’re thinking, but this was the Estate Reserve no. III robusto from the 2013 IPCPR show. The Estate Reserve uses Dominican tobacco for the binder and filler, which is aged eight to ten years, and a proprietary wrapper leaf grown by a private grower in the Connecticut river valley. The cigar is silky smooth and loaded with clean, nutty flavor. I was struck by how slow this cigar burned. I smoked it well over 90 minutes, and it was even and never required any extra attention. I would almost go as far as saying it’s worth the hefty price tag, but I have trouble justifying any cigar that exceeds the $10 price point. I’m a cheap SOB.

 

LecciaWhite_RobustoI followed it after dinner with a Leccia White Robusto from last year. The big difference between this and the same sized Macanudo was the burn time. I barely got an hour from this rubusto. Granted, they were stored in different humidors but the difference was startling. It still was a tasty smoke. The African wrapper gives a nice flavor, and the Pennsylvania seco in the filler gives an interesting pop, even if it’s only the faintest hint. It’s a very tasty cigar and I hope it doesn’t change with the change of ownership. I prefer this over the Black, as I am not the fan of the fire cured tobacco that others are, but I like the Luchador even more, and that would have been my choice, but I only have two left. I’ve only smoked this in the robusto, I’ll have to try another size one of these days to see how it stacks up. Sam makes great cigars, I look forward to see what he does with the tobaccos available to him now at General.

 

TortugaReserva_ElCoyoteNegro_500Monday I smoked another Tortuga Coyote Negro No. 500, the cedar wrapped belicoso with the Brazilian Mata Fina Maduro wrapper. I had heard a lot from Victor over the last week or so, he appeared on The Cigar Authority (again!) and I understand he made an appearance on the local Cigar Time show that the guys at Cigar Cigars (a Southeast PA chain of 10 stores, one of which is two miles from home). which plays on a local cable access channel. It’s a pretty bad show, but it’s about cigars, so it gets points for that. Anyway, the Coyote Negro is a really tasty cigar that I’ve talked about a lot so I won’t spend much time on it except to say that if you can find anything from the Tortuga line buy it and smoke it, you won’t be sorry. This coming from one of the few Tortuga Appointed Cigar Blogs. 🙂

 

Montecristo_Monte_CondeTuesday I selected a Montecristo Monte Conde, a 5 1/2 x 48 corona gorda (for want of a better size name) that came from my trip last year to the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival. I don’t give Altadis quite enough exposure so I figured it was about time. This cigar burned well and the Ecuador Habano wrapper gave a nice flavor to to mostly Dominican cigar. There’s a Nicaraguan Corojo leaf used as half of the double binder. It started pretty mild, and built to a solid medium. I like the size, and it was a nice smoke. it had a cute little pigtail cap too. I will try to get to some other Altadis cigars as I come across them in the humidors. When the cabinet arrives I’m sure I’ll find some as I move cigars in, along with some other forgotten goodies.

 

That’s about it for today, until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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Snow, Blue Mountain Cigars, Snow, a 601 La Bomba, a UF-13 and Ice

This winter has been pretty, er…wintery?  We had a mild couple winters in years past, so this one just seems rough, but it’s probably not that bad.  Today we had ice and a lot of broken branches and trees.  It’s going to be a mess to clean up.  As long as there’s no property damage we’ll be fine.  It’s resulted in a couple “snow days” which has given me some time to smoke cigars!  This week, so far, I’ve chosen some old favorites, along with something completely different.

 

BMC_El ThreesomeSunday….what happened on Sunday?  It seems so long ago.  Oh yeah, it was Groundhog Day and the furry little bastid saw his shadow. That and there were a lot of new commercials on TV.  IT was a reasonable nice day, so I figured it was a good time to take a chance on a cigar from the IPCPR show, a 6″ x 60 BMC El Threesome from Blue Mountain Cigars. They say that this cigar not only has three different wrappers (Connecticut, Habano and Maduro), but also has three different blends. The cynic in me finds this hard to believe, it looked to me like a Connecticut shade wrapped cigar with overlays of Habano and Maduro. I guess I’d have to see them being made to actually comment on this with any authority. The cigar started as you would expect, I guess, with a fairly mild and typical Connecticut shade flavor, and it did have noticeable transitions when it burned from wrapper to wrapper. I liked the end of this cigar more than the start, and it’s always interesting to see how the wrapper changes the flavor. If this does, indeed, have three different blends (would that make it NOT a long filler cigar but a mixed filler?), I didn’t get that big a flavor change, it was subtle. this is not a new factory, it’s been in Esteli since 1995, and they make cigars for other people.  I’d welcome comments from the folks at Blue Mountain on this cigar, I thought it was an interesting and entertaining cigar, and I’d love to see a video of these being rolled.

 

601_La Bomba_AtomMonday was a snow day.  When I heard pouring rain, then sleet, then saw it dump about 4 inches of wet, heavy snow in an hour, I decided to stay home.  We ended up with about 10 inches and wore ourselves out shoveling the slop. I decided this wasn’t the time to fool around, and went straight for the 601 La Bomba Atom, a 5½ x 46 corona gorda with a long “Fuse” pigtail. I absolutely adore this cigar. I don’t find this vitola to be quite as strong as some of the larger sizes, but it’s loaded with flavor, and it’s a flavor I really like. This is another great cigar from Erik Espinosa’s La Zona factory (although I can’t say for sure if this wasn’t from an older box from the EO Brands days, which would mean it was made in the My Father factory). If you have a fondness for stronger cigars, you can’t go wrong with this one. I really want to try the La Bomba Warhead, I just haven’t come across them in a shop yet, and I’m really looking forward to the Bunker Buster, Smoke Inn‘s next micro-blend.  This is one of those cigars I reach for when I want a “sure thing”.

 

UF-13 DarkTuesday I grabbed a Drew Estate Liga Privada Serie Unico UF-13 Dark, a birthday present from Steve Saka last August. I don’t like taking cigars from the unemployed, but he was insistent. It was a lazy selection. We had another forecast for snow and rain and ice and stuff, so I wanted a satisfying smoke.  This is just such a smoke. the presentation is awesome with the fan style pigtail.  I just know when I select one of these it’s going to make me happy.  It burned perfectly and tasted great.  I have trouble finding fault with any of the Liga Privada line.

 

Today was quite an adventure.  We awoke to freezing rain. After Monday’s wet snow clung to the trees, there was excessive weight on a lot of branches and we had limbs coming down left and right.  Fortunately, no damage was done, but there were a great many road closures and getting to work was tricky.  At one point I stopped on one local thoroughfare and helped clear a tree from across the entire multi-lane road.  One lane going one direction and two going the other. Last I read about 90% of our county was without power, luckily we have auxiliary power, so I can post as usual. I took a walk tonight with a two plus year old Macanudo 1968 Robusto which was quite nice. It has developed a sweetness over the years and hit the spot after a long day.  It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it hits me just right.

 

I was quite honored to be included in the Famous Smoke Shop Blog‘s “Top 10 Cigar Blogs of 2013”.  Famous Smoke Shop is a supporter of CigarCraig.com, and has recently upgraded their advertising here (look for a new ad on the left side bar coming soon). These guys have been around a long time, as a matter of fact, I signed up on their site in the late 90s and still get alerts when some old favorites come into stock. I should probably go in and edit those alerts, as I probably wouldn’t be interested in some of those cigars any longer anyway. Check them out if you are ever in Easton, PA, they have a nice shop, lounge and restaurant. In addition to their blog, they also have the CigarAdvisor online magazine, as well as the annual Cigarnival. Thank you to Famous Smoke Shop for their continued support and recognition!

 

Also, please join me in welcoming La Sirena Cigars to the CigarCraig family. La Sirena Cigars recently went out on their own after a long association with Miami Cigar and Co. and produce some really tasty cigars. I smoked a Merlion just last week.  I look forward to featuring more of their cigars in the coming weeks. I’m quite pleased to have another cigar manufacturer represented here.

 

That’s about it for now.  Sunday’s post will be up in the air a little, as I have some travel plans.  If nothing else, I’ll have something ready Saturday morning and set it up to go out Sunday. Until the next time, Stay safe!

 

CigarCraig

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An Ora Vivo, a Macanudo, a Padilla and the Gurkha Cigar Contest Winner!

Wow. Monday was a huge day as far as website traffic and comments went. It actually eclipsed my best day ever, last December when I was giving away a bunch of Drew Estate cigars and swag! I seem to have severely underestimated the Gurkha Nation, they are a force to be reckoned with! We have a crazy number of entries, stay tuned for the winner announcement after we talk about a couple cigars I smoked this week!

 

OraVivo_7x58Sunday afternoon I took a really long walk with a Ora Vivo Armand Assante 7½” x 58. This is a cigar that was released that the 2013 IPCPR show by Victor Vitale’s Legacy Brands. I published a story and video about it here. This example was a gift from my dear friend Mike Perry up in New York State, and I’ve since purchased a robusto while I was in New Hampshire a few weeks ago. Who would have thought I would smoke this great big cigar before the much more manageable 5” x 54 in October when it’s getting cooler and the days are getting shorter! The one word which comes to mind with this cigar is “elegance”. The band is beautiful, the wrapper is flawless and the smoke is smooth and tasty. It’s an expensive cigar, but I smoked it for two-plus hours and enjoyed every bit of it. Another winner from Victor Vitale. This would be incredible in a lancero!

 

Macanudo Estate Reserve_NoIIIMonday evening I stepped out of my comfort zone a little and selected an IPCPR sample from the General Cigar booth. Macanudo Estate Reserve is the new ultra-premium offering commemorating the brand’s 45th anniversary.  Most Macanudos have a Mexican binder, this one has a Dominican binder that’s 8-10 years old, covered with a Connecticut Shade wrapper.  The cigar is beautiful to look at and burned perfectly, with an equally perfect draw.  The No. III I smoked was a standard 5″ x 50 with a perfect round head.  It was mild and smooth and not without very nice flavors.  At $14 a piece, it should be perfect, as far as I’m concerned, but I’m a picky bastard. These are presented in boxes of ten in individual coffins at retail.  It would make a spiffy gift for the guy who likes milder cigars, that’s for sure. It’s one of those cigars that I’m thankful to have the opportunity to smoke.

 

Padilla StudioTobac_FiguradoTuesday afternoon we settled on our old house, which had been on the market for the last year.  To celebrate, after my wife and I went out to a nice dinner, I pulled out a Padilla Studio Tobac Figurado which had been given to me by my favorite local cigar rep, Oliva‘s Mike Staiber.  This is a 6″ x 60 perfecto which was a joint venture between Padilla Cigars and Oliva’s Studio Tobac arm.  It uses an Ecuador Habano wrapper and Nicaraguan fillers.  To be honest, I expected to have my head blown off, but this cigar bordered on mild.  I’m not complaining, mind you, it was great fun to smoke and super tasty.  I never had to touch it up, and really had a hard time putting it down.  It was awesome.  This is another once in a lifetime smoke for me, probably, and it was worth the time spent smoking it for sure.  It was later than I usually go for a smoke, usually in that case I’d pick something smaller, but this was a celebratory smoke and I wanted something special. I got something special, it was delightful down to the tiniest nub (and I think I’m officially allowed to use the word “nub” since I’m talking about a cigar from the same manufacturer of the Nub line!) Thanks Mike!

 

Contest Winner

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OK, I know, everyone just wants to know who won the Gurkha prize pack I put together.  As I said earlier, the turnout was awesome.  We had 193 entries, almost doubling up the previous best showing.  If this is any Random_10232013indication, this Christmas contests is going to be pretty rough (for me!).  Anyway, I plugged 193 into the Random.org random number generator and it spit back the number 65.  Give me a while to figure out who that was…..OK, I’m back.  The winner is Gabriel!
contest_10232013I need you to e-mail me your contact information so I can get this out to you.  I don’t want to have to chase you down!!  Thanks to everyone for entering! Contests are always a lot of fun, which is one of the reasons I torture myself and my family every December for 2 weeks! Many thanks again to Gurkha for making this possible.

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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C-Gars Ltd., Club Macanudo, the New Palio Lighter, the La Palina Maduro Toro and a Cain F Cigar

Sunday my wife and I drove up to Manhattan to meet up with our good friend Mitchell and his wife, along with some of his other friends at Club Macanudo.  We got into the city early, so we wandered around Central Park a bit, even rode the Merry Go Round, visited Tiffany’s and just enjoyed a nice spring day.  For those who don’t know, Mitchell operates  C.Gars Ltd., the mail order division of Turmeaus Tobacconists established 1817, along with  Robert Graham,  Global Whisky ShopAgedcubans,  Humidorsonline,  Havana Samplers,  LCDH Hamburg,  Great Gifts Etc.  Mitchell is also the international distributor outside of the US for Palio, as well as several other brands that he sells in the UK and the rest of the world.  We settled into Club Macanudo to smoke some cigars and socialize.  The club is a beautiful space with a bar, private lockers and a full restaurant, serving a Sunday brunch menu until 7 pm.  Jenn and I shared a delicious french toast and fruit bowl after I finished my first cigar, a Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No. 2, which Mitchell had handed me when we arrived.  This was a delicious cigar, on the milder side for a Havana, but full of flavor and perfectly constructed.  I don’t smoke many Havanas any more, as much as I enjoy that distinctive little flavor that only a fine Havana has, a twang, if you will.  I think the cigars coming from Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Honduras MO_ClubMacare more interesting and superior in many ways.  This was an exemplary smoke though, very nice.  Looking at the cigar menu there was a bit startling.  New York cigar prices are already high, but the prices there were more than double NY retail prices.  I was going to joke that their prices were higher than Mitchell’s, but I try to avoid insulting my host if I can manage it!  I didn’t take detailed notes, but I recall seeing a cigar that is $6.00 here in PA being $25.  As I said, shocking.  Fortunately,  I had cigars with me, but Mitchell shoved a Partagas Serie D No. 4 in my paw so I had to smoke that.  He mentioned that it was young and possibly quite strong, but I’m a fan of the Cuban Partagas line and found this to me a nice smoke.  On the fuller side of medium with a very nice flavor.  Perhaps with five years of age this will be a stellar smoke, but it was pretty darned tasty now.  It’s always a great time hanging out with Mitchell, his lovely wife and his group of friends, and it’s nice to get a day away with my wife!

 

Palio_LighterAs if these special cigars weren’t a treat enough, Mitchell gifted me the new Palio Lighter in matte black, with “Seleccion Orchant 2013” inscribed on it. I’ve been lusting after this lighter since I spoke with Marc Aub of BOTL, LLC at the IPCPR show last August and he was showing it off (video here).  This is a substantial lighter with a large fuel capacity, a fuel window and covers over the jet, as well as the filler hole.  They’ve made it very easy to adjust the flame height with a little drop down turny thing on the adjustment screw (pardon the technical jargon).  This is a brilliant lighter which I’m proud to have in my possession.  It lights a cigar very nicely too.  I’ll use it non-stop (except when I travel) and report on how it performs, but I have no doubt it will be flawless.

 

LaPalina_Maduro_ToroThe first cigar I lit with the Palio lighter was a La Palina Maduro toro.  I fell in love with the Robusto in this line last year when it was released, although I only smoked a few samples.  Its everything I desire in a San Andreas wrapped cigar: smooth, chocolaty, and delicious.  Of course it’s well made, although the draw could have been a little bit better.    I enjoy the heck out of most of the La Palina cigars I’ve smoked, but this maduro is my favorite hands down (who among you who reads regularly is surprised?).

 

CainF_575x50Tonight I grabbed a Cain F 5.75×50 that probably came from the IPCPR show last year.  This turned out to be a poor choice for me, not because it wasn’t a great smoke, it was, but it was just too strong for me tonight. I’m tired and it kind of kicked me in the butt.  It made it more difficult to sit down and write this post! I should have chosen something milder!  Still a nice smoke, but strong.  I think I like the tubed lancero best in this line.

 

News

I came across this in my inbox today and thought I’d pass it along since it struck me as a unique promotion that I’ve never seen before:

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On Thursday, April 25th, cigar superstar Rocky Patel will be here at BestCigarPrices taking your calls!* Order any in-stock box of Rocky Patel cigars between 4-5pm ET for a chance to talk to Rocky LIVE while he personally hand-signs your box of cigars. CALL TOLL FREE 1-888-41-CIGAR.

 

Sunday’s post will be a rare guest post, since I will be travelling to Nicaragua for Cigar Safari.  I’ll be touring the Drew Estate operation along with several of my blogging brethren (and some real journalists :-)).  Expect another full report akin to my last report from March of 2011.   Many thanks to the folks at Drew Estate for this opportunity!  So stay tuned, I’ll try to get something posted while I’m there, internet access willing!

 

Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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