Tag Archives: Maria Mancini

by | April 20, 2011 · 11:23 pm

Wednesday Cigar Recap: Maria Mancini, Rocky Patel, StogieBoys.com and a Contest!

Seems like it’s been a busy week so far!  This post is going to be a little scattered, so please bear with me!  The good news is that the weather in south-east PA is getting more and more Spring-like, which means that it may be warm and sunny one minute and cold and rainy the next! I’ve smoked a few cigars so far this week, and had some other random cigar experiences.

 

The other night I took a Maria Mancini Magic Mountain for a walk.  This is one of my go-to cigars, one I grab when I want a good, familiar cigar that I don’t have to think about too much.  It’s a 6″ x 54 square presses torpedo that is a blend of Honduran and Nicaraguan tobacco that I believe is made by the Placencias in Honduras.  I rarely have had a bad cigar from this line and they always satisfy me.  The fact that they are so inexpensive is a major bonus.

 

This evening I went to Old Havana Cigar Co. in West Chester, PA to a Rocky Patel event.  Rocky was there, along with Mark, the local sales rep, as well as Alan Price, our local CRA ambassador and rep for a couple new lines.  I picked up an Edge Missile maduro and wandered into the lounge.  One odd thing that happened was that I heard my name from across the room and it turned out to be a dude I went to elementary school with.  I couldn’t believe he recognized me,  since elementary school was a LONG time ago.  It was nice to catch up with him over a cigar.  The shop there was very busy, it can get pretty raucous there.  I’ve only really gone to events at this particular store, and it always seems to be a big party going on.  Terrific if you’re into that sort of thing, I like a quieter environment personally.  Anyway, I got to talk to Rocky for a bit, as well as Alan, whom I’ve met several times.  I watched a little of the Flyers/Sabres game and then called it a night.  I enjoyed the Edge quite a bit, I don’t smoke a great deal of Rocky Patel cigars, and I honestly don’t know why, I generally enjoy them when I do.  It was full of flavor and constructed perfectly.

 

A week or two ago I purchased a Groupon for Stogieboys.com, ya know, when your wife and daughter both e-mail you a Groupon deal, you better jump on it.  Sometime in the near future I will make a $40 or so purchase which I only paid $20 for!  I’m sure I can find something.  Anyway, I e-mailed the site with a question, and received a reply from Paul Eusanio, one of the principles of the company.  I ended up having a nice phone conversation with Paul, who told me about the company.  They appear to have a pretty good selection and their pricing seems competitive.   He also offered me a discount code to pass on to you, my loyal readers.

Here are the details:

Promo code:    CigarCraigBlog (enter in promo code box in shopping cart)

10% off next order

Expires 6/30/11

Head on over to http://www.stogieboys.com and have a look.  Paul also provided me with some of their Stogie Register Cigar Journals to give away, so leave a comment and I’ll select a random bunch of people to send these to.  I’ll announce how many when I announce the winners sometime on Sunday, April 24, 2011.  These will be mailed via USPS media mail because I ain’t made of money ya know!

 

That’s enough for now, I have a lot of exciting things coming up in the near future so stay tuned!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

 

 

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by | January 27, 2011 · 7:38 pm

Cigar Ramblings: Hamilton, Maria Mancini, Vegas de Santiago – Thursday January 27, 2011

It’s been a while since I wrote a proper post. It’s been a hectic winter here and circumstances just have not been conducive to smoking some of the cigars I’d like to smoke! However, I need to begin training for my March CigarSafari trip. I’m really looking forward to visiting Nicaragua and Drew Estate, and, considering I will probably smoke a few of their products, I’m going to try to avoid them over the next several weeks. I’m hesitant to smoke something new or unusual considering the winter weather we’ve been having, so I’ve been smoking some cigars that are fairly plentiful in my humidor.

Last week I took a walk with a Hamilton House Torpedo, which was actually quite nice for a cigar that costs around $40 for a box of 25 delivered. I purchased these after I interviewed Mr. Hamilton and still don’t have any more information about who makes them, or what tobaccos are in the blend. I definitely taste Cameroon in these, which I like. I shared these with 4 of my readers and would be interested to hear their thoughts, feel free to use the comments here. I think these were an exceptional value and may have to get another box when these are gone, although I wish I could get BestCigarPrices.com to provide me with some information. I know that George Hamilton no longer is involved and seemed a little surprised that they were still around.

I saw an article in the Philly news about these “Blunt Wraps”. The jist of it was that Philadelphia wanted to ban the sale of these things, and the state of Pennsylvania said that they don’t have the authority to ban a tobacco product. I’m not for banning the sale of any legal tobacco product necessarily, but seriously, how would one legitimately use these? I assume they are a homogenized tobacco sheet like one would find on a mass market, machine made cigar. Who among us would have a use for this? I understand the desire to ban these as “drug paraphernalia”, which seems to be the only conceivable use for such an item. Someone please enlighten me as to why someone would buy “Blunt Wraps” if not to roll up and smoke a non-tobacco product.

This week I grabbed a Maria Mancini Robusto Larga for my walk. This is a toro sized Honduran cigar that is a little pricier than the a fore mentioned Hamilton House. I picked up a couple 5 packs of these last year at JR’s in Whippany, NJ. for a little under $10 each. I have a suspicion that one of the 5 packs was mis-marked as maduro, as the wrapper was very dark on this one and a couple others in the box (I routinely break up five packs and put them in an old box for storage). It was a very enjoyable cigar though and it burned perfectly, and I suspect it was a maduro because the flavor was a little bit different than that of the natural wrapper, at least that was my perception. Anyone who has read this blog or known me for any period of time knows that the Maria Mancini line is one of my favorite cigars of any price range and I have had one size or another in my humidors for the last 12 or 13 years. These are $2 cigars that very rarely disappoint.

I’ve been thinking about what to take to CigarSafari. I figure it would be stupid to take any Drew Estate cigars, but I also think I may be a little insulting to take other stuff. I’m on the fence…I don’t want to show up empty handed, but I don’t want to offend anyone either. I kind of assume there will be sufficient cigars available there for smoking during our stay. What do you think the etiquette is for something like this?

This evening I decided I wanted to smoke a Vegas de Santiago Secretos de Maestro Don Luis maduro Lancero.   Several months ago Rudi and Lani at VdS sent me a 5 pack of these after asking which of their cigars I liked.  I told them I liked the shorty and the torpedo but would be interested in hoe the blend would lend itself to a lancero, and, while I was dreaming, in maduro.  Lo and behold a few weeks later maduro lanceros arrived.  I wanted to let these rest a while and tonight I could wait no longer.  I’m really looking forward to smoking the next one either in an indoor situation, or at least a warm, possibly sunny outdoor situation. Still, it was a very nice smoke, pretty smooth and well balanced with a nice flavor.  These cigars can be purchased quite reasonably with an e-mail to Vegas de Santiago or through thier website.   They have a Yahoo group, and will accept orders via e-mail.

This has been a bit of a rambling post, but I suppose I wrote a few meandering posts like this last winter. Look forward to more of these, and I’m hoping to get some more “guest reviews” in the near future to break up the monotony a little.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | September 11, 2010 · 6:29 pm

This Weeks Cigars: 777 and Dona Flor – Saturday Sept 11, 2010

I started the week off with a cigar I had picked up at my local shop because I was looking for something new and interesting, I had seen this booth at the IPCPR show and it was very busy, and the cigar wasn’t priced outrageously.  I grabbed a pair of Jesus Fuego 777 maduro coronas.  I enjoyed this cigar on my deck on a beautiful Labor Day afternoon.  For it’s size, 5 ½” x 46, it smoked for nearly an hour and a half, and it was a nice, full flavored cigar.  I liked the way it burned and drew, and it had nice, dark flavors.  This is a nice cigar that I look forward to smoking again.  While $4.50 a stick is right on the edge of my comfort zone for a corona, I think this one worth is as it burned a long time and delivered a nice smoking experience.

Later in the day I took my first Geocaching trek with a Maria Mancini Magic Mountain.  I was successful in finding my fist cache, and left the cigar band in the container.  It would have been easier if I had followed my GPS to the cache instead of listening to my sons, who thought they knew where they were going and led me on a bit of a wild goose chase.  The cigar was good as usual, but since we were out longer than I had anticipated, I had some walking to do without a cigar in my hand.

I figured I’d dig into some samples from the show and opened up a 3 pack from Dona Flor, which from Menendez Amerino out of Brazil.  I had met the US Representative for this line at the show and he was kind enough to send me home with a selection of their cigars.  The first cigar I chose was the Dona Flor Robusto, a really ugly and rustic cigar.  While I have enjoyed many a cigar with Brazilian Mata Fina and Arapiraca in the blend, I have to say that this cigar didn’t do it for me.  It wasn’t distasteful really, but it wasn’t really any different from any of a hundred different oddball singles I’ve smoked over the years.  I had a very similar experience with the Selecao, which had an equally ugly wrapper.  I smoked the Selecao on another geocaching expedition, which was as disappointing as the cigar as we knew we were in the right area, but the cache eluded us.   Like the regular robusto, this was just an OK cigar, nothing really bad, but not really exciting either. The final cigar in this sampler is a Puro Mata Fina.  Like the others, it’s a 5″ x 52 which feels more like a 50 ring gauge, but that may go back to my perception being thrown off by the ever increasing large ring cigars.  This cigar was the best of the three in my opinion.  It wasn’t quite as ugly, although it had some prominent veins under a matte brown wrapper.  The triple cap was nicely applied.  While still not exactly my cuppa tea, it was a nice hour long smoke that had a reasonably good flavor.

I really wanted to like these Brazilian puros, and the Puro Mata Fina came the closest to being a satisfying cigar.  I did enjoy meeting Wesley from CigarFromBrazil.com and always appreciate the opportunity to try some new cigars.  My tastes and preferences aren’t always in sync with everyone else, so if you come across the Dona Flor line and they are priced reasonably, give them a shot.

That’s about it for now!  Congrats to J.A.S., he won some cool Drew Estate stuff last week, he should be receiving his prize sometime in the next few days.  Keep an eye out for the next contest.  Also, thanks to any who’ve helped out my wife in her AIDS Walk LA drive (see the thermometer on the right).   I’ll be walking along with her on October 18, cigar in hand.

Have a great weekend!

CigarCraig

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by | August 21, 2010 · 1:01 pm

The Week(s) In Cigars – Friday August 20, 2010

Haven’t had the opportunity to talk about any of the cigars I’ve smoked recently, so here’s a little rundown of the past couple week’s highlights.

Back on the first night of our vacation in New Orleans I went to the hotel pool with my sons and fired up a Flor de Gonzales 90 Miles Robusto.  I’ve enjoyed the 5 pack I won on MyCigarAshes.com several months ago.  They are a nice, smooth tasty cigar that is well made.  If the Flor de Gonzales sandwich cigars are good, and I think they are, (especially for around $2.00 for a large torpedo or Churchill), these are even better.  Recommended.

The next night, as I had mentioned in my previous article, we found ourselves at Tobacco Exchange where I picked up a couple Tabacos Baez  Robustos.  Tabacos Baez Serie Sf cigars are made at Pepin Garcia’s My Father tabacalera in Nicaragua, they are 70% long filler and 30% short filler. It was one of the more reasonable priced cigars in the shop at $3.75 each.  I found it to be a well made cigar that was mild to medium bodied.  I enjoyed mine, but my eldest son felt that it didn’t have enough flavor.  He’s still learning, and has been smoking the occasional Acid and was particularly impressed with a Liga Privada T52, so I really wasn’t surprised by his impression.  I found it to be an acceptable cigar that fit the situation for me, which was standing outside in New Orleans on a hot and muggy evening enjoying The Tobacco Exchange’s block party.

We went out to dinner with our old friends, the Sakas, as well as half the cigar store owners in the state of New Hampshire (2 of them at least, how many people can there be in New Hampshire anyway? :->), but oddly didn’t manage to smoke any cigars.  Steve did pass around a box of Dirty Rats, the first I’d seen with Liga Privada bands and box.  The Dirty Rat box was unique in that it had a notched strip at the head of the cigars to protect the pigtail cap and held 10 or 12 cigars (memory fail…).  I still have a handful of the pre-production Rats floating around the humidor someplace, these are really beautiful cigars. The restaurant was not smoke friendly, but the food was very good, I had a hanger steak which melted in my mouth.

Monday night my boys and I took a wander on Bourbon Street where I smoked a Partagas Petit Coronas Especiale which was just fantastic.  I really enjoy these cigars from Germany.  While we were wandering around we stopped for a while at the Cigar Factory of New Orleans little shop and watched a gentleman bunch cigars and load up molds.  He was a very skilled torcedor and it was educational for my sons.  I had a nice chat with the shop keeper about their cigars, even though I had gotten the whole story before at the main store.  I always enjoy hearing someone speak passionately about his product. I am looking forward to smoking the three cigars from Cigar Factory New Orleans in the near future.

Tuesday morning before we left I stopped in the IPCPR show I introduced myself to Pete Johnson and he very generously gave me an El Triunfador which must have been a No.2, if I remember the size correctly.  I smoked it while I walked around the show floor and found it to be a solid smoke.  It was satisfying without being overwhelming, which was a good thing for the early hour. Pete was a very nice guy, and I haven’t smoked s many of his cigars as I would like to have, so I was grateful for the gift.

After getting home it was back to business as usual.  I have been pretty lazy and have been avoiding some of the new cigars I received at the show and stuck to cigars I could smoke without worrying too much about them.  Smoked my last Vegas de Santiago Secretos de Maestro 4″ x 60, which was nice, but not as good as I remembered.  I had a really nice Chateau Real Maduro Gran Templar, which is a 6″ x 52 Toro.  The Chateau Real line is among my current favorites as far as flavor and consistency goes.  Smooth, low maintenance cigars that always seem to deliver for me.  I like them in both wrappers, but prefer the maduro.  I also smoked a Puros Indios Vieja corona which was OK, and a Maria Mancini Robusto Larga, which was better that the Puros Indios, but the PI wasn’t bad for a $1.00 cigar.  I have to say that the Maria Mancini was better than twice as good as the PI, despite being twice the price at $2.00.  The worst cigar I had over the last 2 weeks was a Vegas de Santiago Chaman Panatela Extra.  These just don’t do it for me, but are well made and certainly a quality cigar.  Not sure what it is that I don’t like about them, maybe a grassy profile or something.

That’s the catch-up for this week.  I have some interesting new cigars from the show that I’ll be getting to in the very near future.  I am really no good at reviewing cigars, but I do know a good cigar from a bad one, and I know what I like.  Hopefully folks can pick out some value from my brief impressions.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | July 21, 2010 · 5:12 pm

Mid-week Cigar Post: Cohiba, Punch, Maria Mancini – Wednesday July 21, 2010

Saturday, after posting about the recent Cohiba judgment in favor of General Cigar, I pulled a Cohiba Puro Dominicana out of the box of goodies my friend Jason sent me some time ago. Cohibas, Dominican or Cuban, have never been in my regular rotation. I’ve always enjoyed them, but they just don’t really have the “bang for the buck” that falls into my comfort zone. I smoked this particular cigar, which measured about 5½ x 50 and it was OK…good cigar, but not mind-blowing. With about 2 inches or so left it didn’t want to stay lit. I was a little bored with it anyway so I let it go out. Since I couldn’t find this listed in my 2008 Perelman’s Guide, I assumed that it was a sample from last years IPCPR show. I looked on line and was stunned to find that these retail for between $13 and $16 each! Well, there are a lot of cigars that cost a lot less that I enjoy a lot more, heck, one can get very nice Cuban cigars for half that or better (not that I advocate any illegal activities such as purchasing contraband cigars). I would almost be more inclined to pay that much for a Havana Cohiba…almost. I would like to try the Lancero one of these days, but I’m not going to go out of my way to get one.

Sunday after grilling some very interesting seafood sausages we found at Trader Joes, I lit up a Punch Gran Puro Rancho. The sausages were interesting, a casing stuffed with shrimp, scallops and white fish which I grilled until they were nice and hot with grill marks. We ate them on some Amorosos rolls, but we just weren’t sure how to condimentize them. I suppose tartar sauce would have worked. Anyway, this isn’t a grilling blog, it’s about cigars. The Gran Puro was a nice cigar, not overpowering and it worked well after the seafood sausage. It had the consistency I expect from a Punch. Burned and drew nicely. A very pleasant hour or so spent smoking while I walked to the convenience store to collect my lottery winnings ($7 in the Powerball! Woohoo!).

Tuesday brought the first really disappointing cigar I’ve had in a while. I was in the mood for a Maria Mancini, and grabbed a Robusto Larga. These are stored in the same humidor as the rest of the cigars I have been smoking, but this cigar seemed like it was over-humidified. It tasted fine, but the smoke took some effort to get to and just felt damp. It wasn’t plugged, nor did it have any wrapper flaws, it just seemed too wet. I stuck with it for a while, but did put it down sooner than I would normally. I shouldn’t be to upset that a $2 cigar wasn’t great, but I’ve had a lot of luck with this line. I have so little time in my day to enjoy a cigar that when I get a dud it hurts a little.

Blowing Off Steam

It seems that rants have become fashionable in the cigar blogosphere, so here’s mine:   Foot bands.  I don’t like ’em.  They make the first part of the cigar taste funny….ok, kidding here, I do take them off before I light ’em, but that’s a pain as far as I’m concerned.  If I have a cigar with a normal band I leave it on until I get to the point where it’s going to be in the way, unless it’s coming off by itself. Foot bands have to be removed, no ifs, ands or buts.  Sorry Rocky, Sam, whoever else uses foot bands, if I’m cigar shopping I’ll probably pass unless it’s a single I really want to try.  I wouldn’t buy a box of foot banded cigars as that would just drive me insane.  Since I have to take the band off to light it, besides possibly damaging the foot of the cigar, I sometimes forget what it is I’m smoking!   And how are my pretentious friends supposed to know that I’m smoking?  Where’s the fun in that? So if you are coming out with a new cigar, skip the foot band, stick with the traditional placement. While your at it, don’t pattern the band after the Cuban Cohiba either, that’s just cliche and hokey.

That’s all I got for now,Time to go smoke a cigar.

CigarCraig

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