Tag Archives: Martinez

by Craig Vanderslice | March 29, 2020 · 10:40 am

Another The Clown, Martinez and Platinum Nova Cigars

Funny thing, I’ve been on a two cigar a day thing this week, which is more than normal. It’s not like my schedule has really changed too much, but it’s psychological, I suppose. I’ve been taking an afternoon and evening walk when possible, just to get out of the house for a little bit. I also haven’t been smoking many new cigars, which doesn’t give me a lot to talk about here. Follow my Instagram (or Facebook) feed to see what I’ve been smoking and feel free to interact with me on those platforms. A few of the cigars I smoked this week I feel like talking about, first of which is The Clown. This is the latest cigar from Danli Honduras Tabacos, the little Honduran company that I’ve been enamoured with over the last year. This is the company which make the Don Juan Calavera, Flor Maya and Marchetti cigars which have become go-to cigars for me. The Clown is a Doble Capa cigar, with Mexican Maduro and Jamastran Connecticut wrappers in a Barber Pole configuration. It has a Nicaraguan Habano binder and the fillers are secos from Jalapa and Condega in Nicaragua and Visos from Jamastran and Copan in Honduras. You’ll notice there’s no ligero in the blend, so it’s a very smooth, medium bodied cigar, but it has a lot of sweet, nutty flavors, and is very well balanced. This is a cigar that is perfectly suited for any time of the day, great for any experience level, and just an all around wonderful cigar. It looks nice too, and the presentation is nice, as long as scary clowns don’t freak you out. I saw an online vender started carrying these saying they are the exclusive, however I know that isn’t the case, as I know of a few brick and mortar shops who have them. That being said, in the current state of things, it’s hard to say who’s open and shipping.

Yesterday I smoked a few new-to-me cigars, the first of which was a cigar that was given to me by the guys from Martinez Cigars in New York City at the TPE show. This cigar, the Forty Five Series in the Natural Robusto, celebrates their 45 years in business. From their website:

In celebration of 45 years in business, we are introducing our newest blend of cigars

“THE FORTY FIVE SERIES!”

This incredible cigar was Created by both of our Master Tobacconist Crystian Polanco and Marino Rosario.

You will encounter a nice progression of flavor beginning as a true medium body and building up to a rich robust full body cigar.

We combined four different fillers from Nicaragua and Dominican Republic, along with a rich Nicaraguan binder and finished off with a natural Habano or San Andres maduro wrapper.

I smoked the Natural wrapper version in the 5″ x 54 vitola, it’s also available in a torpedo, on the porch while watching a Harry Potter movie on the iPad. 😀 There’s an interesting quality I find across the board about the Martinez cigars, and maybe it’s hokey, but there’s a Havana style flavor profile that I get. It’s strange, but Whenever I smoke a Martinez cigar I’m reminded of a Cuban cigar for some reason. It’s probably just me, and I look at it as a good thing, I really enjoy the cigars. Of course, they have more complexity generally, and in the case of this Forty Five Series, it was just a really good smoke. The burn was perfect, it was full flavored with some spice and leather and coffee notes. I thoroughly enjoyed it. This is not an inexpensive cigar, it’s $15 before shipping on their site. I’d me interested to smoke this in the San Andrés wrapper, maybe when the dust settles, life returns to normal, I’llvisitt them in NYC again. Hopefully it’s before too many years pass beyond that 45th anniversary. In the mean time, here’s the interview from the TPE again:

The last cigar I had was last night. I took a break from the Harry Potter marathon for a while and smoked another cigar from the Platinum Nova line. This was another cigar from their Limited Edition (read: not cheap) line. Yesterday was rainy and about 50°F all day, so it wasn’t a beautiful day, so I wasn’t looking for three hour smokes. I chose the 5½” x 52 square pressed Legacy. This is a beautiful cigar with a Habano 2000 wrapper, Esteli binder and Dominican 98 filler (Criollo?) This cigar runs a whopping $31. I’ve had the good fortune to have smoked (not necessarily bought) some pricey cigars, many times they leave me wondering why they are price the way they are. Nova Cigars has several cigar that are in the $30 range, they have a factory in the US, they don’t make a great many cigars, they hold very high standards, and they produce a high end, luxury product, I get why they are priced where they are. In the case of this cigar, it tastes and performs at a very high level. Burn and draw are perfect, as should be expected. It had bright flavors, some complexity, although I can’t go as far as identifying the flavors that are listed on their website, but it was interesting and entertaining smoke that just made me happy, no small feat recently. Ari and Leo were very generous with cigars and their time at the TPE show! I appreciate them sharing these with me. And you know I occasionally incorporate a theme in my smoking routine, I was going to smoke a Joya de Nicaragua Quatro Cinco to follow the Martinez, but chose this, with the connection being that Ari and Leo both used to work for Nat Sherman in NYC.

Who has partaken in any virtual herfs? I want to get in on one, but haven’t found one that fits my time schedule. I have Zoom, would anyone be interested in setting up a herf? How should we schedule it? Reach out to me and let me know if you’d be interested. My best time is afternoons or early evenings Eastern Time. Anyway, that’s enough for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Danli Honduras Tabacos, Martinez, Nova, Platinum Nova, The Clown

by Craig Vanderslice | January 30, 2020 · 8:00 am

TPE 2020 Day 1: Martinez Cigars

I visited most of the booths at the show on the first day of the Tobacco Plus Expo, but one that caught my eye was the Martinez Cigars booth. Martinez is a little cigar factory in Manhattan, I’ve written about their cigars before and visited the factory and it’s a really neat place and they make some really good cigars. Forgive the fact that I cut my head off and tripped over my tongue and check out my interview with David and Jesus.

If you ever visit Manhattan, I recommend a visit to this factory, and pick up a few of their cigars. It’s well worth the time and the cigars are not disappointing. Stay tuned for more from day two. I don’t know what I’ll be seeing or who I’ll be talking to!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by CigarCraig | April 13, 2016 · 9:25 pm

Martinez Cigars Pasión Piramides

A couple of years ago I visited Martinez Cigars at 29th and 7th in Manhattan, and I picked up a selection of robustos, among them
the Pasión, which I enjoyed. The factory is a little store front near Penn Station, where they have three rollers producing all of their cigars. Two of them work in a pair, with one bunching and one applying wrappers, and the other guy spends the majority of his time rolling small cigars that they sell a ton of to mostly walk it customers. They have a basement aging room, where their cigars age for at least six months. I remember this from my visit, so if things have changed in the last year and a half since my visit, I apologize. If you find yourself in Manhattan,check this place out.

A few weeks ago, the folks at Martinez sent me a little three cigar box of their Pasión in the Piramides size, a 6″ x 52 figurado. The Pasión line is wrapped in a Nicaraguan wrapper with fillers from Nicaragua and Honduras. These are very nice cigars, they have a quality that reminds me of a Cuban cigar, both in the way they are rolled and the basic flavor. They are earthy with a hint of sweetness, but mostly a savory flavor. Considering these are manufactured in one of the most expensive cities in the USA, these are reasonably priced in the $10 range, and are well worth a try.

Many thanks to Chris at Martinez Cigars for sharing these cigars with me. That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by CigarCraig | November 26, 2014 · 9:39 pm

Gran Habano, Martinez and Foundry Cigars

The weather’s been all over the place this week, from 70 on Monday to a few inches of heavy, wet snow today. Between the weather, trying to get stuff done in the house so we can move in this weekend, and Thanksgiving tomorrow, it’s been a busy week. I still managed to get a few cigars in, they are helping me retain any sanity I have left. I started off Sunday afternoon with a nice cigar from Gran Habano, the Gran Reserva No. 5 2010 Gran Robusto. This is a 6″ x 54 toro presented with a cedar sleeve. The wrapper and binder are identified as Corojo 2005 and Habano 2005 respectively, with filler from Jalapa. I’m not entirely sure where the 2010 comes into play, or whether the 2005 wrapper and binder are crop years, but this is a really nice cigar. It burned perfectly and had a nice smooth spice. This was a full flavors smoke and considering it’s priced well, has the taste and feel of the well aged cigar that it apparently is. Certainly a cigar that would have a broad appeal and could be smoked just about any time.

Monday’s cigar was delicious, but it was a little over humidified, so I’ll revisit it at a later date. It didn’t smoke they way it should have and I always give cigars the benefit of the doubt when they don’t work right. Tuesday I decided to try a cigar I bought when I was in New York City a few weeks ago and visited the Martinez Cigar factory. This cigar was from their Pasion line, which is a blend of Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers with a Nicaraguan wrapper rolled right in New York City. When I tell you this factory is small, I’m not exaggerating. They have one and a half pairs of rollers! One roller concentrates on one line and makes a bunch of their small cigars every day, and a pair works in the normal fashion of a buncher and a wrapper. They age all their cigars in a basement escaparate. It’s a tiny little hole in the wall near Penn Station. The Pasion is a little rustic looking, but it had a free draw and had a very Cuban feel to way it smoked. The flavor had a nice spice and was smooth. This is a place to visit when in the big apple, especially if you’ve never seen cigars being rolled. The cigars are in the $8 to $10 range for the most part, which isn’t uncommon for NYC.

Tonight, in the snow, I smoked a Foundry Rare Air ET-P2 in a 5 ½” x49 robusto (the same size as the Partagas Robusto, which is an unusual size that I really like). The story with the Rare Air series is that they used some seeds from the 1960s that General Cigar has in their library of seeds, germinated and grown on their farm in Mao in the Dominican Republic. I had the good fortune to visit Mao in 2011, although it was before the growing season and was just being planted with some experimental crops unrelated to Foundry. As with most of the Foundry lines, there is little info about the blend, except that it’s grown in the Dominican Republic. I personally have really enjoyed the majority of cigars in the Foundry portfolio, and this was no different. It’s a dark cigar, with rich, lush flavors that suit my palate to a tee. It also has a little different something there that makes it unique, and special. This is one of those cigars that could be a go-to smoke, it’s a shame it’s limited. I’ll be interested to see how the other cigars in this line smoke. There are a lot of very reasonably priced cigars in the Foundry line, alas, this isn’t one, coming in just under $10. A fine smoke in my humble opinion.

That’s it for now. For all my American readers, have a safe and happy Thanksgiving! Try to find time to follow your feast with a nice smoke. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by CigarCraig | October 29, 2014 · 10:18 pm

A Quick Trip to New York City with Some Cigars and a Party

We had an exciting couple of days cigar-wise this week! After fighting with the cold that prevented me from enjoying much of anything for a few days, my wife and I took off Monday morning for the Big Apple, New York City. Of course, there are a lot of great cigar spots in the city. We took a walk toward one of my usual spots, De La Concha. Unfortunately, the shop is closed for renovations and will reopen sometime in the first quarter of 2015 as Davidoff of Geneva 6th Avenue. They had a temporary store across the street in a nonsmoking building so stopping in for a smoke wasn’t an option.

After wandering around some more, and checking in to our hotel on Times Square, we walked a few blocks down 42nd Street to the Nat Sherman Townhouse. Juan greeted us and showed me around, pointing out their cigarette selection, pipes, accessories and finally the humidor. Their humidor is nearly half filled with Nat Sherman cigars, and rounded out with an impressive selection from Padrons to Liga Privada. I noted some La Sirenas and Quesadas and many other great cigars you’d expect. I selected a Nat Sherman Epoca in the Breva corona size and sat down in a comfy leather chair. The shop is a gorgeous space, open to the second floor where the offices are. It’s beautiful. The staff is amazingly attentive and knowledgeable as well. The Epoca was a treat. It billowed sweet smoke and had a very unique exotic spice about mid way through. I rather regret only buying the one cigar to smoke, but I’ll try to find some in PA where pricing should be a little easier to take. It was an exceptional cigar. As we were getting ready to leave Michael Herklots stopped to say hello.

Monday evening we had the pleasure of attending a party at The Liberty Warehouse in Brooklyn to celebrate our friends Mitchell and Karyn Orchant’s birthdays, specifically Mitchell’s 50th. Mitchell and Karyn share the same birthday, however Karyn is much younger than her husband. The venue is amazing, overlooking the Statue of Liberty, and was lavishly decorated. There was loads of great food and a bar, and the entertainment for the evening was the Stan Rubin Orchestra, a 13 piece band playing all the big band classics. It was a beautiful evening so it wasn’t unpleasant to be outside, where there was seating and fire pits. There were loads of Mitchell’s US friends there, including many I knew from the cigar industry and the old Usenet days. Cigars were plentiful and welcome inside. I started with a Ramon Allones Specially Selected, and closed the evening with new Inka Secret Blend for the US market. This cigar was a 6″x 60 Peruvian puro. I’ve smoked the C-Gars Ltd. UK blends before and really liked them, and this version was also very good. I will revisit these in a couple of weeks, but this is a cigar to watch out for, and as soon as I know where these will be available I’ll let you know. I’m a sucker for cigars with Peruvian tobacco in the blend. It was wonderful to catch up with old friends. Mitchell really knows how to throw a party, it was quite a soiree. Thank you, again, to Mitchell and Karyn for a wonderful evening!

Tuesday we wandered around Manhattan and made our way to Martinez Cigars on 29th Street. This is a very small storefront where they are actively making the cigars. There were three men rolling, one pair and a gentleman that does his own bunching and wrapping. They have aging room in the basement where they age the cigars for six months after they are rolled. I bought a few of the cigars, and smoked a Flatiron No. 6 robusto. This cigar was terrifically constructed. It had some very interesting flavors that I’d characterize as “old school”, not unlike the Epoca from Nat Sherman. The burn was straight and even and it produced loads of smoke. If you find yourself in the city, stop in and have a smoke and watch the rollers practicing their art. We wandered back toward Times Square, where I believe you aren’t allowed to smoke, and got some dirty looks. Oh well, I was outside. If they were worried about the children seeing smoking, perhaps they should consider the paradox of Disney and Sesame Street characters wandering around along with patriotic women wearing nothing but a bikini bottom and body paint. Anyway, great cigars, great couple of days!