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September 25, 2019 · 5:52 pm

Vegas Del Purial and Micallef Herencia Cigars

First off, for some reason the e-mails that usually go out when I put a new post up are not going out due to some issue Google Feedburner is having with my RSS feed. Please bear with me while I sort that all out. It’s a bit of a mystery. Second, we had a nice time at the wedding we attended over the weekend. I shared some cigars with the groom and his brother that we had smoked together twenty years ago when we met. It was probably more sentimental for me than for them, but oh well! It was an atypical wedding and reception, but it was fun and an interesting weekend! Third, You might remember that I’ve reviewed some items from Groovy Groomsmen Gifts and Groovy Guy Gifts, well the same folks have launched www.memorableretirementgifts.com. They are offering a selection of cigar accessories too, similar to the other sites. I’ve found them to be great to deal with, and they source their items from a reputable company. I haven’t even replied to the email yet about trying out any of their items, I don’t need to know more than I already do to recommend them.

When I was in Florida I met up with PJ and René and Juan Nuñez for a smoke, and Juan just stopped in as I was getting ready to leave. I’d been wanting to meed him, as he had sent me one of his Coyaba cigars a few weeks prior, and Kevin, who manages one of my local Cigar Cigars shops, speaks very highly of him. Juan handed me a Vegas Del Purial Gran Reserva Super Toro from El Galan Cigars. This is a Nicaraguan cigar with an Ecuador Sunatra wrapper and was really very well made. Of course, I love a toro, so a Super Toro must be that much better, right? This is a 6 ¾” x 54 cigar, so yeah, it’s a super sized toro, I’m OK with it. Flavor-wise, I found it to be on the leathery side, without a hint of sweetness. While this isn’t typically my go-to flavor profile, it was a tasty cigar, it was obviously made with well aged tobaccos, as it was smooth and there were no harsh or off-putting flavors. I’d certainly smoke this again, it just isn’t my normal preference. A+ for burn and draw though, and it was a satisfying cigar! Many thanks to Juan for sharing this with me and I hope the next time we meet we have time to sit and share a smoke!

Today I had the day off, and I’ve managed to get a few things accomplished. My wife and I took a morning walk to the store, while there I got a hair cut, I came home and got some yard work done, then I donated a pint of blood. After all that I fired up a Micallef Herencia box pressed torpedo that I had bought several months back at a Micallef event. This 5½” x 52 cigar boasts 4 year aged tobaccos, Nicaraguan Habano filler, Ecuadorian Sumatra binder and Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers. The website says that the “Pleasure Period” is 50 minutes. I have to disagree with this, as I am 50 minutes into the cigar as I’m typing this, and haven’t hit the half way point yet, and haven’t had an unpleasureable moment yet. I love a cigar that has a flat ember, all the tobaccos are burning at the same rate. It isn’t a sweet cigar, it’s on the savory side, but it does have hints of sweetness and is really quite delicious. There’s a bit of spice too which is nice. I don’t usually smoke while I write, so this is getting a little more detail, but it is getting more spice near the end and I have about 2″ to go and it’s still smoking well. I’ll be putting it down soon and getting dinner, then I’ll find something to smoke for an evening walk. Maybe it’ll be another Don Juan Calavera, I’ve been really enjoying them a lot, or perhaps it will be something special from the cigars PJ gave me in Florida “for my birthday”. It’ll have to be something pretty good after this one.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, El Galan, Micallef, Vegas Del Purial

April 7, 2019 · 10:40 am

Some New Cigars: The Cajun and the Strata, and a Micallef Ligero

I received some beautiful cigars from a gentleman named Kenny New, who’s the president of QRI, an environmental consulting company in Louisiana. He’s gotten the bug, and decided to get into the cigar business, and has come up with two cigars, the Cajun and the Strata, and was kind enough to share a couple with me. The Cajun has an Ecuador wrapper which is Oscuro in color, with a binder from Esteli and fillers from Esteli and Jalapa. The Strata is a triple barber pole wrapped cigar withe Maduro, Habano and Connecticut, Esteli binder and fillers from Jalapa, Esteli and Condega. Both are made in Esteli in an undisclosed factory (I tried), and both are presented in a 6 x 54 toro. Both are priced at $10, and $180 for a bundle of 20, which can be mixed, and are available directly from Ken until he gets his Keneaux Hattuk Cigar Company webpage live. webpage

Of course, I smoked the Oscuro Cajun first, as is my way. Given the name, I expected more spice from this, but it wasn’t quite the spice-bomb I thought it would be. It was a terrific smoke. It starts off with a smooth, cocoa with a hint of spice, and the flavor builds throughout the smoke. The strength starts medium and builds too, but it never is a full on spicy cigar like the Cajun name might imply. That’s OK, though, it’s a Hershey’s Special Dark bar in a cigar, and I love that. As far as construction goe

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s, it was about as perfect in burn and draw as a cigar could be, whoever is making these knows what they are doing. When asked, Kenny was direct in saying that the factory wished to remain anonymous until he got a larger following, so please buy a bunch of these, I want to know!

Last night I smoked the Strata, and I admit I’m as much a sucker for a barber pole as I am a maduro. I know that the spiral wrap doesn’t cause flavor changes or anything, but the three wrap

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pers often lends an interesting mix of flavors that I think is really interesting. Such was the case with this cigar. It was smooth, with the creamy, nuttiness of the Connecticut, some of the spice of the Habano and some of the cocoa of the Maduro, combining into a nice melange, if you will, of flavor. It built up a little bit on intensity through the smoke from medium to medium-plus, and one it got mid way through where they band would have been it began to tell me it was quitting time. Saka and I had this discussion Sunday about Connecticut cigars turning bitter around the band, I noticed a little bit of this, and I wondered which was the base wrapper. Maybe I’ll go dissect the butt later and see if I can see, as if it really makes a difference. Bothe cigars have really neat bands with metallic green accenting Kennys Company logo, no expense was spared on the bands, nor the cigars, obviously, as both are of the highest quality, and all the tobaccos are aged at least 5 years. Nice work, I’m quite impressed!

Friday evening I went to the CigarCigars store in Phoenixville, PA where they were having a Micalef event. Back in 2017 when I was at the IPCPR show I saw their bit, elaborate booth and had never heard of this brand. I avoided it, not knowing what it was all about, and having a lot of other ground to cover. Recently a fairly local guy took over as a sales rep for the company, a guy who managed one of the CigarCigar stores for a long time, and had a long history in the cigar industry, and I actually knew from long ago in the old usenet newsgoup days. SO I figured I’d been hearing a lot about this brand it was a good time to go see Paul and see what Micallef cigars were about, or at the very least learn how to pronounce it (it’s a hard “C”). This Micallef guy is a millionaire who lives in Texas who decided he wanted to have his own cigars made, came across some guys with a Cuban pedigree going back to the 1930s. The long story is out there, brevity is my middle name (my parents had a weird sense of humor). I picked up a bunch of the Micallef cigars, and smoked the Grande Bold Ligero in the Gordo size. When one see the word “Ligero” on the band, one thinks “strong”, but this has two ligeros, but the origins of the ligeros they use balance out the strength and it’s not a strong cigar at all. Flavor wise it was good, but I was chatting and not really paying as much attention, but the one thing I noticed was the great burn. Besides being very cool to the touch around the burn line, the ember was very flat, and it always impresses me when all the tobaccos used burn at the same rate. I’ll be smoking others from this brand over the coming weeks.

That’s all for now. I have a new humidor I have been seasoning and need to fill, and decommission another one. I’ll be working on an article on that in the near future. It’s a beautiful day today and I have the day off, so hopefully I’ll get a cigar or two in. Until the next time,

CigarCraig