It’s autumn here in south-east PA, and the evenings are getting shorter. This time of year I tend to gravitate toward maduro cigars more, not sure why that is, I just do. I have my winter stock of smaller, maduro cigars in half of a box of Chateau Real Small Clubs and three quarters of a box of Hoyo de Monterrey Sabrosos all ready for the cold winter walks. I have a severe dislike for fall and winter, so next spring can’t come soon enough.
Earlier this week I had a yen for a Berger & Argenti cigar, so I grabbed a Classico Belicoso that I received at the IPCPR show. This one wasn’t quite as tasty as the Mooch Schnorr, but it was still very nice, and for some reason the 5¾” x 50 belicoso shape felt very elegant in the hand. I know, that sounds a little un-manly, but it’s seemed like it would feel just right while wearing a tuxedo, and what’s more man;y than a tux. I don’t know where that while line of thought came from, but it did, and there it is. As I said, this was a very tasty smoke and burned nicely. I have enjoyed the heck out of the recent samplings from Berger & Argenti. I’ve still got some Mooch maduros and Entubar Quad Maduros to look forward to. The Entubar is a very good candidate for my annual Halloween cigar.
Friday evening I just wanted something good and familiar, that I wouldn’t have to think about much, so I grabbed a Chateau Real Maduro Gran Cru Perfecto from my dwindling supply. I love the Mexican maduro wrapper on this cigar. I don’t think they are making the Chateau Real in maduro any more which is a shame, I guess I didn’t buy enough of them to keep them in production. It’s a nice, medium cigar that always hits me right, always draws well and burns straight, and I will be sad when these are gone! Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the Claro version of this cigar, but it’s quite a bit different with the maduro wrapper. Thinking about it makes me want another! Will power….
I need to select a pair of winners. The Macanudo Millionaire contest closed last week, so I hope everyone got their entries in. These Macanudo four packs are quite unique in that the cigars are all 6 x 60 versions of the regular line, the maduro, the 1968 and the Crü Royale. So, the winners, as selected at random using the random number generator at Random.org. The numbers generated were 1 and 6, which correspond to kekoa kai and Kyle! Congrats gentlemen! Make sure you get in touch with me with your contact info so I can send out your prize!
That’s all I have for now, until the next time,
CigarCraig
Comments Off on October Is Here: Berger & Argenti, Chateau Real and Macanudo Contest Winners!
I realized that my last post had “and Some News” in the title, and I failed to include said news. Bad form on my part! While I go back and edit the title, I’ll say here that the news I was going to mention, while no longer breaking news, is that José Blanco joined Joya de Nicaragua this week in the capacity of Senior Vice President. I met José at the IPCPR show, as well as Dr. Cuenca, his new boss, both are fine gentlemen. I had the pleasure of visiting the Joya de Nicaragua factory last March and, while I loved their cigars before, I developed a special fondness for them that comes from having a personal connection. If I can blend what I think is an excellent cigar at that factory, José will be able to do amazing things there. Best wishes to José and Joya de Nicaragua from everyone here at CigarCraig.com!
I had purchased an Alec Bradley American Classic Blend for myself for Father’s Day, and I came across another one in my IPCPR samples, and I was in the mood for a big cigar, so I grabbed this 6×60 Gordo and took it for a walk to the store. It’s got a beautiful band, and a really nice looking wrapper, made me really look forward to smoking this one. This is made at the Plasencia Factory in Esteli, and had a Honduran Connecticut wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers. I really enjoyed the flavor, although I wish it had produced copious mouthfuls of smoke so that I could get more of the flavor. It took a little bit to get a good mouthful of smoke, which was a little frustrating considering the huge girth on this cigar. I’ll happily try this cigar again, and will try to get some different sizes in the future.
Friday brought the beginning of the Labor Day weekend, so I grabbed a CAO OSA Sol Lot 54 and enjoyed it on the front porch. This 6x 54 version didn’t impress me quite as much as it’s 5x 50 little brother, but it was a darned fine cigar. I don’t know exactly what made the 2 cigars different to me, maybe the Robusto seemed a little cleaner to me if that makes any sense. I suppose there are a dozen variables to consider, what I had to drink and eat, the weather, my mood, so my opinion really doesn’t matter in the end! Perfect burn and draw and a pleasing flavor. Lasted a good hour and a half on a beautiful late summer evening. I look forward to the CAO website having some information on it about this new cigar! 😉
For my Saturday evening walk to the store, I selected a Macanudo Crü Royale Robusto that I received at the IPCPR show. I had gotten one of these at the show last year and thought it was a really nice cigar, and this one was no different. It’s not a mild cigar and, along with the 1968, is a really good, flavorful cigar. It goes without saying that the quality of the construction is excellent. I’ve smoked Macanudos that I could barely taste, but they’ve ALWAYS been perfectly rolled. I like these a lot and they are priced well and they will be releasing a couple new sizes (if they haven’t already) in a tinned 4 3/16″ x 36 and a Poco Gordo at 4 x 60, to satisfy that 60 ring gauge demand. Nice cigars for sure, something that any cigar smoker is sure to enjoy. While I’m thinking of it, head on over to the Macanudo Millionaire site and enter their contest to win a trip to Vegas and a chance to win a Million bucks.
Contest
Sticking with the Macanudo theme, General Cigars provided me with some of their Macanudo Millionaire 4 packs featuring 6 x 60 versions of the Cafe, Maduro, 1968 and Crü Royale cigars. I’m going to select 2 winners on or around Wednesday, September 14, so leave a comment on THIS post saying something a little more substantive than say “comment” or “hello” to enter! This time, as an added twist, I’ll count tweets which include @cigarcraig and the link to this article, doubling your chances to win! Usual rules apply, Lloyd is ineligible this time around! 🙂
All of my cigars this week were ignited by a lighter that was provided to my for evaluation by Aaron at ButaneLightersWolesale.com. The lighter is the Ergonomic 4.5″ Cigar & Pipe Butane Torch Lighter, which is a nice looking lighter. It’s hefty, which makes it a little heavy in the trouser pocket, but has a nice feel in the hand. My initial complaint is that on the lowest flame setting it doesn’t light for me, and on the highest setting the flame is just adequate. I let Aaron know this and he is looking into it with the manufacturer, which is a good sign that he’s a internet retailer with integrity. This particular model wouldn’t be my personal first choice, but my wife thinks it’s cool looking, which it is. Check out the site, http://butanelighterswholesale.com/, he seems to be concentrating on the “good lighters at a reasonable price” market segment, which fits my lighter philosophy just right. I’ve owned a couple of fairly expensive lighters in the past and they’ve all crapped out after a while, and the cheaper lighters seem to last forever. I’ll keep using this lighter exclusively and see how it holds up, and see if I can adjust the flame setting a little better. I like to see a good 2″ blue flame on my single torch lighters. Thanks again to Aaron for thinking of me.
That’s it for now, enter the contest, visit my sponsors and enjoy your Labor Day Weekend!
Joya de Nicaragua Cabinetta Robusto – I just love these cigars. I loved them before I watched them being rolled in the factory, and I love them more every time I smoke one.  Such a good cigar. Well balanced, great tasting and beautifully constructed.  To me they are special because I watched them rolled in Nicaragua, and they are reasonably priced (which is astounding considering the extra steps taken in the rolling process), and suite my taste buds. If you haven’t tried these, you should. I will purchase a box of the lanceros at some point, it’s just a matter of time…
Brick House Mighty Mighty 6¼” x 60  – For some reason I’ve been in the mood for large cigars, and this was a big one. This line has been around a while and received glowing reviews and is another reasonably priced cigar. I picked this one up on my Father’s Day cigar run. Very nicely made with rich flavors. A most enjoyable 90 minute vacation in a cigar.  This line received an award from Cigar Journal magazine for the best value Nicaraguan cigar last month at the IPCPR show, an event which I was fortunate enough to attend. This is made by the folks at J.C.Newman in Nicaragua based on one of the company’s first brands in the US. Again, a very nice cigar for a fair price.
Berger and Argenti Entubar Double Corona (7 5/8†x 54) – Another large cigar, this one carrying a warning band at the foot advising to toast the entire foot, not just the protuberance of ligero, under penalty of death. I was tempted to ignore this sage advise, but having spoken to both Kiki Berger (who gave me this sample) and Al Argenti at the show, I decided not to risk it and did as instructed. There is something to be said for the entubado method of construction as the burn and draw were spectacular on this cigar. It tasted good too, the Ecuadorian ‘Desflorado’ Connecticut wrapper, which seems to be all the rage these days, was very nice (I believe “Desflorado” means “deflowered”, and I was under the impression that all of the tobacco plants except for the absolute healthiest and strongest specimens have the flowers removed, so I’m not sure what this means in the description, but it is a cool sounding word!).
Broadway by La Aurora – I picked this up last March on a family trip to NYC at De La Concha. This is a cigar that La Aurora made specifically to help New York tobacconists survive after the 75% Tax on cigars was put into place. I picked up similar themed cigars from Alec Bradley and Gurkha while I was there. This is a nice cigar that starts out with a little kick. It’s a 5¾ x 54 with a unique double wrapper of Ecuador Sumatra and Nicaraguan, with Dominican Corojo binder and Dominican, Nicaraguan and Peruvian fillers. Mine burned fairly well, although my son, who smoked one with me, had some trouble with the burn on his. We may need to check his humidor, I can imagine with a double wrapper, the right humidity is going to be the key to a good burn with this. I’m trying to figure out how they manage to reduce the manufacturing cost of this cigar for sale in New York, but use two wrappers. It seems counter-intuitive, but I suppose it works, because the cigar is pretty tasty.
Here is a quick video of Kiki Berger from Cuban Crafters at last month’s IPCPR show. I’ll take this opportunity to thank Don Kiki again for taking the time to talk to me, hooking me up with a Cuban coffee and some samples, and giving me this spiffy new Perfect Cut cutter. I’ve been using this a lot in the last few weeks and I like it a lot. Unlike similar cutters that I like a lot, this one has a resin (plastic) body that is very light in the pocket. My other favorite cutter is all stainless steel and quite heavy. This one does a great job, has a cool hole in the back so you can cut a torpedo and doesn’t drag your trousers to the ground!
In the News
Here are a few interesting links I came across this week, the first is about an old brand that was made up the road from me in Reading, PA. The second one isn’t really cigar related, but is a cool article about a Beatles themed bar in Havana.
Also, many thanks to our local newspaper, the Daily Local News for including this site on their Blogtown page and featuring it on the front page of their site yesterday!
Contest!
I need to select a winner of my General Cigars prize pack. As you can see, the prize pack has doubled since I announced it a week ago, thanks to Victoria at General Cigars for sending along some more goodies. Be sure to get on over to http://www.macanudomillionaire.com and enter to win a trip to Vegas and a chance to win a million bucks. We had 17 entries, with one being disqualified since he won in the last 6 months. So I entered 16 into the random number generator and it spit out the number 11 which corresponds to Paul. Please drop me an e-mail with your address so I can get this out to you! I hate to have to work too hard to give stuff away, so get your contact info to me with me having to chase you down! 🙂
That’s all I have for now, and I think we can all agree that it was enough…so until the next time,
Earlier this week I had a yen for a Berger & Argenti cigar, so I grabbed a Classico Belicoso that I received at the IPCPR show. This one wasn’t quite as tasty as the Mooch Schnorr, but it was still very nice, and for some reason the 5¾” x 50 belicoso shape felt very elegant in the hand. I know, that sounds a little un-manly, but it’s seemed like it would feel just right while wearing a tuxedo, and what’s more man;y than a tux. I don’t know where that while line of thought came from, but it did, and there it is. As I said, this was a very tasty smoke and burned nicely. I have enjoyed the heck out of the recent samplings from Berger & Argenti. I’ve still got some Mooch maduros and Entubar Quad Maduros to look forward to. The Entubar is a very good candidate for my annual Halloween cigar.
Friday evening I just wanted something good and familiar, that I wouldn’t have to think about much, so I grabbed a Chateau Real Maduro Gran Cru Perfecto from my dwindling supply. I love the Mexican maduro wrapper on this cigar. I don’t think they are making the Chateau Real in maduro any more which is a shame, I guess I didn’t buy enough of them to keep them in production. It’s a nice, medium cigar that always hits me right, always draws well and burns straight, and I will be sad when these are gone! Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the Claro version of this cigar, but it’s quite a bit different with the maduro wrapper. Thinking about it makes me want another! Will power….
I need to select a pair of winners. The Macanudo Millionaire contest closed last week, so I hope everyone got their entries in. These Macanudo four packs are quite unique in that the cigars are all 6 x 60 versions of the regular line, the maduro, the 1968 and the Crü Royale. So, the winners, as selected at random using the random number generator at Random.org. The numbers generated were 1 and 6, which correspond to kekoa kai and Kyle! Congrats gentlemen! Make sure you get in touch with me with your contact info so I can send out your prize!
