Tag Archives: MBombay

by Craig Vanderslice | May 16, 2021 · 10:37 am

Black Lion Luxuries Cigar of the Month Club for March

First off, I noticed that my e-mail notifications suddenly started working again, something that’s been screwed up since I updated my site to SSL. I still have some work to do with my host, I think, I just need to get on the phone with them and fight, the people I’ve talked to don’t seem to know what an RSS feed is, and it’s a little important in the blogging business. I will need to find a new e-mail service in the near future anyway and I need to have the RSS stuff working right. Enough of the technical details that you don’t care about, let’s talk about some cigars. I’ve recently been re-introduced to the Cigar of the Month Club business model, and the folks at Black Lion Luxuries shared theirs with me and I wanted to tell you all about my experience. First, I’m a little behind, so I opened the March pack, which included five cigars. I’m led to believe that the reasonable expectation is four cigars, and for $30 ($about $38 delivered, depending on where you live), that’s a pretty darned good value for the cigars I’m seeing in these packs. I went through the pack this week, and let me tell a little about them.

I’m not going to do a paragraph on each cigar, I smoked them at my leisure, for my own enjoyment, concentrating on the overall experience of the cigars as delivered by the vendor if that makes sense. I do have to some comments though. Regarding the Eiroa cigars: I’ve actually known Christian Eiroa for a long time, we go back to the Usenet days like Saka, and I know him personally, but he’s never, in 20 years, handed me a cigar. I’ve bought a bunch of his cigars, I used to love Camachos, but I haven’t loved the CLEs I’ve bought for some reason. These two Eiroa First 20 Years are a different story, with a nod going to the 646, which was truly exceptional. I haven’t had a cigar this good from Christian Eiroa ever. I believe Will Cooper gave the 550 a number one cigar of the year a few years ago, and I can’t find fault with that assessment. There have been times I’ve spent $30 on 2 cigars and not enjoyed them as much as these two, and there were three more really good cigars left in the pack!

OK, one more paragraph. I happened to work out that Mel Shah of MBombay cigars had a birthday this week, so I smoked the MBombay Classic Torpedo in his honor. I’ve lost touch with Mel, and I’m not sure what’s going on with the brand, but they are really good cigars. This is another cigar which which I have some history, first, the factory that makes these makes Vegas de Santiago in Costa Rica, and that name probably doesn’t mean much to most people, but it’s a brand that I’ve smoked a bunch of years ago. It’s also the same factory that makes the Byron and Atabey cigars. It’s a delicious Connecticut Shade cigar that deserves a try, it’s one I’ll gravitate towards if I crave a shade. If the Eiroa 646 wasn’t the best cigar in the bunch, the Todos Las Dias was. I’ll admit it took me a few cigars to warm up to this blend, but it’s delicious, and my favorite size, the 6″ x 52 toro too. Finally, the Punch Rare Corojo Pita, another Toro, which is the only sub-$10 cigar in the pack, and a really tasty smoke in my opinion. I’ve always liked the Rare Corojo, despite it not being Corojo, and hardly being rare.

I have to say, pick any three cigars in the Black Lion Luxuries Cigar of the Month pack, and you’ve got your money’s worth, the other two are gravy. All of the cigars smoked perfectly, and arrived in pristine condition. I realize they are only making a short trip from Harrisburg, PA to my home in suburban Philadelphia, but with today’s USPS, that potentially could be a long trip! These five cigars made for a great week of smoking for me, first impressions are extremely good for Black Lion Luxuries Cigars, and they seem to have other good deals on the website as well! I look forward to getting into the April selection! By the way, Check out RonRealTV, Ron helps in the selection of the Cigar of the Month Club cigars, and has a popular YouTube Channel! Thank you to Black Lion Luxuries Cigars for sharing their CIgar of the Month Club with me.

That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Review, Stores

Tagged as Black Lion Luxuries, cigar, cigars, Eiroa, First 20 Years, MBombay, Punch Rare Corojo, Todos Las Dias

by CigarCraig | December 27, 2015 · 9:51 am

Contest Wrap-up, a Meet-up at JM Cigars, an Event at Mojo and a RoMaCraft Neanderthal

OK, a regular, non-contest post. How do I do this again? It’s been a crazy couple weeks, hasn’t it? Besides the 234 cigars, three ashtrays, two cutters, a lighter, and various other items, including one of a kind art and jewelry, there were some major holidays in there too. Time spent with family is the best part of the holiday for me, but doing this 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways is a load of fun too. My unending thanks to the following companies and individuals who made all this possible, in no particular order: Eric Whitfield, Broc Jackson, Jack at Duran Premium Cigars, David and his crew at 2 Guys Smokeshop, Victoria at General Cigar Co., Fred at Nomad Cigar Co., Victor at Tortuga Cigars, Jason at Best Cigar Prices, Abe and his gang at Smoke Inn, Mel and Ron at MBombay Cigars, Bianca at Gurkha and the folks at Joya de Nicaragua and Drew Estate! As I say every year, I could do this on my own, but it would cost me a fortune! Thanks to all of them and all of you for coming back every day and entering! Next year I have some different plans, but it should still be fun, that is, unless the FDA ruins everything! We’ll remain positive, keep calling your elected officials and letting them know that premium cigars should be exempt from regulation, and keep up your CRA memberships!

One of the things I did last week in, an effort to save on shipping and meet some new friends, was to hand deliver winnings from Days five and six. It turned out that Mike and Andrew were reasonably close by so we met up at JM Cigar in Exton, PA for a smoke. Of course, I spent easily twice what I would have spent on shipping on cigars, but that’s way more productive. While shopping I came across a lone El Rico Habano Maduro Gran Habanaro (double corona) in a box and it look so lonely I had to add it to my cart, so to speak. I haven’t smoked an El Rico in ages, I can remember back in the ’90s when this was one of the strongest cigars on the market, a real powerhouse. It was Ernesto Perez Carillo’s brand that took a back seat to La Gloria Cubana, and I smoked a bunch of them. It’s a minor brand now with General Cigar Co., only available in three sizes and maduro, where the original version was a natural wrapper. I thought the 7½ x 54 size would be a good size for sitting in the lounge, getting to know new friends, kinda cigar. It was good, but not as good as I remember my last one being, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing as I didn’t want a cigar that would distract me from conversation. As it always seems to be, meeting up to deliver a prize beats USPS every time, I felt like I have a few more friends now, and look forward to meeting up with Mike and Andrew again soon. Thank you to them for adding to the spirit of the season!

Thursday I ran down to Cigar Mojo in King of Prussia, PA as they were having a Perdomo event and raffling off a tremendous Perdomo 20th Anniversary humidor. I like the Perdomo 20th a lot, especially in maduro, so I bought a hand full (as if I needed more cigars!) and got one chance in the drawing. The winner was a guy who bought a bunch of boxes of the 20th Anniversarys, so it’s hard to begrudge him the win. It was a beautiful box, but I don’t know where I would have put it, so it worked out in the end. I thoroughly enjoyed a 20th Maduro Churchill while hanging out and talking to our local Perdomo rep, Joe Winder (who is probably the very first cigar company rep I ever met many years ago at a cigar event in Pittsburgh), CRA Ambassador and all-around good guy, Alan Price, who was working at the shop, owners Wade and Trae and various other customers. I didn’t win the humidor, but I did put some great cigars in my humidor and had a relaxing afternoon.

As it was a special occasion, I selected some other great cigars that are worth mentioning. For the second year in a row, I took my Christmas Eve walk with a Padron 1964 Anniversary Maduro Exclusivo, obviously a classic Nicaraguan maduro that’s like desert in cigar form. Absolutely delicious. Christmas day, after the kids and grandkids left, I sparked up a Fuente Hemingway Signature Maduro, again, a spectacular cigar that’s not unreasonably priced. It was rich, burned perfectly and hit the spot. Yesterday Macha and I took a four mile walk with a favorite Nica Rustica Belly, maybe I’m on a bit of a Maduro kick? I must be, because last night I lit up a cigar that caught my eye and I bought while at Mojo, a RoMa Craft Neanderthal HN, with a San Andrés wrapper. Of all the great cigars I’ve smoked over the last couple weeks, this might have been my favorite. This cigar has a couple of distinctions, first, it has a flat head, and a slight taper at the foot, which I didn’t really notice until I looked at the photo, and it still looks like a robusto, as the size is listed at 5″ x 52/58. Now that I look at it, it may taper from head to foot. It could have been shaped like a pretzel for all I care, it tasted fantastic. Not only does it have a beautiful dark and oily San Andrés wrapper, but it has a Connecticut broadleaf binder, and fillers from Pennsylvania, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. About half way in to the cigar I got a really interesting and delicious spice, which really intrigued me. This was a $12 cigar and honestly, I don’t think I realized the price point when I bought them, I might not have taken the plunge. I’m glad I did. I’ve heard from people That this was a super strong cigar, and it didn’t hit me that way at all, it was full-bodied and loaded with flavor, but I didn’t feel the nicotine at all. Stellar cigar from Skip and Mike at RoMa! I used a punch in the flat head of the cigar if anyone was curious.

You probably want to know who won the final bonus day contest, the great painting “Wind” by Eric “The Cigartist” Whitfield. It looked like only those who really wanted and appreciated this item entered (or everyone is sick to death of my contests), so I consulted Random.org and got the number 37, which corresponds to KRUK, who I know will give this a good home, despite the relative creepiness of his comment :-). Bryan, please send me your address so I can forward it on to Eric. Thank you all, and don’t despair, there could well be a Happy New Year contest!

That’s plenty from me, until the next time,

Cigar Craig

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Filed under Contest, Events, Review, Stores

Tagged as 12 days, 2 Guys Smokeshop, Best Cigar Prices, cigar, Cigar Mojo, cigars, CIGARtist, Contest, drew estate, General Cigar Co., Gurkha, JM Cigars, joya de nicaragua, MBombay, Neanderthal, Nomad, RoMa Craft, Smoke Inn, Tortuga

by CigarCraig | December 14, 2015 · 6:25 am

CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways 2015 Day 4: MBombay Cigars

It’s day four already, it’s hard to believe. Today we have another great offering, this time from the folks at Bombay Tobak. MBombay Cigars are made in the same factory in Costa Rica that makes the Atabey, Byron and Bandolero cigars that we saw here on Saturday. They come from Mel Shah, who owns Fame Cigar, Wine and Microbrew Beer Lounge in Palm Springs, CA. I’ve smoked a handful of the MBombay line and found them to be of the highest quality, and the Classic Connecticut might just be my favorite Connecticut cigar in the last year or so. Mel and his staff have provided a six cigar sampler of some of their more special cigars. There’s a Classic Belicoso, a Corojo Oscuro Perfecto, a KeSara Solomon, a Habano Churchill, a Mora Toro and a KeSara Vintage Reserve Nikka. I’m also going to include a $10 Amazon gift card courtesy of CigarCraig.com.

It was nice to see the outpouring of love for Fred Rewey and his Nomad cigars! I really wanted to smoke the lancero last night, but I also wanted to save it for a time when I am back to the normal posting routine so I can give my opinion on it, and I only have one on hand at the moment. Instead I had a S-307 robusto which was awesome. Keep up the great work, Fred, and thank you again for providing yesterday’s gift! I’m certain Gary Walston will also be thanking Fred, because he was the winner! Gary, please send me your address so I can send the Nomad H-town Lanceros along to you!

You know what to do now, leave a comment here, check back tomorrow to see if you won!

RULES

All you have to do to enter is to leave a comment on the post of the day, if you can, try to post what you know or how you feel about today’s present, the folks donating the gift should get some feedback for their troubles! It’s not a condition to win, but it’s nice to have something to read. We did this last year and it benefits everyone. Once you’ve won, you’re out, let everyone else have a chance. Must be over 18 to win. Also, be sure to visit the links for each item. Comments on Facebook, Twitter, or anywhere else will not count, but feel free to spread the word!

Until tomorrow,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 12 days, Bombay Tobak, cigar, cigars, Contest, MBombay

by CigarCraig | December 6, 2015 · 10:24 am

EP Carillo, MBombay, Henry Clay, and Señorial Cigars

After today’s post, the next time you’ll hear from me will be Friday’s kickoff of the 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways! I don’t want to hype it too much, because the last couple years have set the bar pretty high, but I don’t think there will be too much disappointment. As usual, I stress out about things, getting photos and presents and having posts written and ready to go, but as my wife always reminds me, usually the only way people know there were problems is if I tell them, otherwise it looks like everything goes off without a hitch. There are always things that make me crazy, but it’s too much fun to give up on. The upside for me is I get a bit of break from having to pay attention to the cigars I smoke over the two-week period, and I try, whenever possible to smoke what’s being given away. Anyway, I know you all are looking forward to the chance to get some great cigar goodies for the holidays, and I’m looking forward to sharing them with you.

I managed to smoke a few interesting cigars this week, and one of them was an EP Carillo Robolo, which is an exclusive size for Best Cigar Prices, who shared some samples with me. The Robolo size is 4½” x 60, and I have to admit, I really enjoy the size. It’s a happy medium ass far as I’m concerned. It’s a little longer than the Nub sizes from Oliva, it’s not the time commitment of a 6″ x 60, and most of the examples I’ve smoked in this series have smoked very well. Best Cigar Prices has just about every major brand you can think of made just for them in this size, Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta, Alec Bradley, Boutique Blends, the works. Anyway, I found the EPC Robolo to be quite delicious, it had some woody notes, and sweet creamy coffee. I liked it a lot. I’ve been pretty much un-Wowed by the EPC offerings, which is odd considering I am/was such a big La Gloria Cubana fan, but this one does it for me. Don’t forget you can use the code CRAIG1099 at BestCigarPrices.com for a discount and cheap shipping!

I also received some MBombay KeSara Vintage Reserve Nikka samples last week, and after a rest in the humidor I decided to give one a spin this week. This cigar is a very col size, 6½” x 46, with a pigtail cap. The tobacco in this Vintage Reserve line is aged three years longer than that in the regular KeSara line, and the Ecuador Connecticut wrapper is aged in hybrid Spanish Cedar and Sandlewood boxes for up to none months. I can’t pick out Sandlewood in the flavor, but I will say that the cigar is quite tasty and burns perfectly. I love the size, it’s a very elegant and refined cigar, and of the highest quality. I’ve enjoyed many cigars from this company, I think their regular old Connecticut Churchill is one of the best in the category of Connecticut wrapped cigars. It may be an obscure brand right now, but they make some great smokes. By the way, these come from the same factory in Costa Rica that makes the Selected Tobacco cigars (Atabey, Byron, Bandolero) and Vegas de Santiago. Very high quality cigars come out of that facility.

I had a cousin of mine comment that I should get a hand tattoo since I post pictures on Facebook and Instagram with a cigar in my hand, so the only tattoos I am likely to get on my hand are going to be in my hand in the form of a cigar, in this case, the Henry Clay Tattoo. Not that I’m anti-tattoo, it’s just not my thing, I’m a live and let live kinda guy. I bought a couple of these cigars a few months ago at The Humidour in Maryland, and the one I smoked there was great, it just burned a little wet, not much, but a little. After a few months in the humidor, this cigar was perfect. Unlike the original Henry Clay cigars that Pete Johnson modeled this after in his collaboration with Altadis, it’s aesthetically beautiful. The Henry Clays I remember from the 90s came tied in a wheel of 50, and were packed wet, so they came in all kinds of gnarly shapes. The Broadleaf wrapper on this was dark and oily and had a nice sweetness, while it still had a heavy, savory meatiness that is quite satisfying. These were a limited edition that sold out at the trade show, so I’m not entirely sure how many of these you’ll find in the wild, but it’s a great smoke, try one if you find them.

Yesterday we stopped in at The Wooden Indian in Havertown, PA where Jose Blanco and his wife, Emma Viktorsson were having a Las Cumbres Tabaco event. Little did I know, there was also a four store cigar crawl going on where four stores in the area had a van load of customers travelling to one another’s stores. While we were there the bus from Sir Stogies in Gilbertsville, PA showed up with about 15 guys. I ran into Walt White from Stogie Review who is a regular up at that shop, who I hadn’t seen in a long time. We got the heck out of there before the buses from Cigar Mojo and Top Shelf Cigars got there. I kinda would have liked to have known about this event in advance, it seems like a fun day, although we already had plans later on. Maybe the next time. Anyway, I bought some Señorial maduros in the lonsdale size (and I have a mental block with the name, I always spell it Señoreal, which is incorrect. It’s right there on the band, I don’t know what my deal is with that) and some Freyja “Sessrúmnir” Corona Largas, and lit up the Señorial maduro. What a great medium bodied smoke with loads of flavor, although what would you expect from Jose Blanco? Dave always puts on great events at The Wooden Indian, and Jose and Emma are great folks. We left there and went to a great Beatles symposium in New Jersey (“Ticket to Rider” review here) to cap off a great Saturday.

That’s all I feel like writing about now! I need to do some more prep work for the contests and get to spending a relaxing Sunday at home! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Review

Tagged as cigar, Cigar Crawl, cigars, EP Carillo, Freyja, Henry Clay, MBombay, Senorial, Tattoo, wooden indian

by CigarCraig | September 10, 2015 · 6:41 pm

MBombay News and Cigars and the Ventura Psycho Seven Contest Winner

Since Mel at MBombay Cigars sent me the news item below and asked me to post it, I thought I’d smoke a couple of the samples he gave me at the IPCPR show when I met up with him and his crew. Tuesday I selected the MBombay Corojo Oscuro. Of the four cigars they gave me at the show, they all look basically the same, same bands, same general wrapper color, and the same robusto format. If Ron hadn’t written the line name on each cello I would have been lost. Anyway, these are all made in Costa Rica at the Tabacos de Costa Rica factory, all have a covered foot, and all seem to smoke very well. The cigar labeled Corojo Oscuro had a very rich flavor, sweet and spicy at the same time with some leather too. It really didn’t look like what I associate with “oscuro”, it was the same milk chocolate color the other samples are, although the photos do show a difference. I guess my eyes are going too! Good smoke, still prefer the classic in this line.

Last night I smoked the MBombay Habano, with the visual characteristics as the previous cigar, but with a bit more of a creamy and savory flavor to go along with the bit of spice. This one was very solidly packed and burned a long time for a 4½” x 50 robusto, although I would have liked to have had better smoke volume, it was a bit tight and took some effort to get a satisfying mouthful of smoke. Still tasted great, and I have a Kecara and Mora still to smoke, and I still have a Maduro from the original release floating around. I still lean toward the Classic as a very nice, refined Connecticut shade cigar as my favorite, which is odd as I generally prefer heartier blends. I haven’t had many cigars from this factory (and I have smoked a bunch over the last 10 or so years) that have been bad, Mel made a great choice having his cigars made in Costa Rica.

MBombay Offers A Chance to Attend one of Cigar Aficionado’s Big Smoke Evenings!

In an effort to provide Aficionados & Aficionadas a cigar Experience to remember, Bombay Tobak is offering a Drawing for 5 Tickets each to either Big Smoke Las Vegas or Big Smoke New York! The Deal…. BUY ANY 3 MBombay cigars at any MBombay Retailer, receive a Raffle Ticket to enter the Drawing… SIMPLE! Seek an MBombay Retailer near you by visiting www.bombaytobak.com.

MBombay is a Nationally Distributed Brand of Boutique cigars that incorporates Sophistication, Complexity, & Harmony of Flavors in their tobacco blends. Offering 5 different lines, their vitolas are truly unique in their smoking Experience… a definite must try for all cigar lovers!

This “Big Smoke Promotion” will start on September 1, 2015 and run through October 23, 2015 for the Las Vegas, NV venue, and through November 12, 2015 for the New York venue. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to attend one of the Cigar Industry’s most sought after Events!

Contest

I intended to post this yesterday, but I was still seeing some entries come in so I figured I’d let it run thru Wednesday like I said I would and push-off posting until today. There were 77 entries for the Ventura Psycho Seven prize pack, and Random.org generated the number 30, so the winner is Dan Colley! Dan is a pretty regular participant in the comments here, I’m sure I’m not going to have to chase him down for his address! Congrats Dan, please e-mail me you’re coordinates so I can ship these goodies to you.