Tag Archives: Murcielago

by | October 13, 2024 · 10:01 am

Sweet Jane, Murcielago and Alec Bradley Filthy Ghooligan Cigars

As October moves along, we get closer to Halloween (and eventually winter, ugh), so I figured I’d string together a few cigars following that theme.  I’m omitting the obvious, mostly because I haven’t gotten out and found any yet, but there are other options.  It brings up the question: do we really need holiday themed cigars?  No, of course not, but it gives the marketing guys something to do.  Drew Estate recently added the Sweet Jane Dia de los Muerto cigar to the very popular Deadwood line.  It’s a 6″ x 50 box-pressed toro, with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper with binder and fillers from Nicaragua (although some sources say “undisclosed”, we are pretty sure there’s some tobaccos more usually associated with pipe tobacco). This has a sweet cap, and is aromatic. There are some baking spices, some cocoa, and it’s a nice change of pace.  The sample I picked up locally, and at $12 I only grabbed one to try, ended up with a tunnel about half way in, but it eventually worked itself out.  This is frustrating with any cigar, but more so as the price goes up.  A $12 cigar should always burn right. I do enjoy the Deadwood line once in a while, and I see the appeal to the occasional smoker.

 

My local TAA shop had the Espinosa Murcielago de Oro TAA 2023 in stock, so I grabbed one of those on my last visit.  I’ve been a fan of the Murcielago line going back to 2011 or so, when it was still Espinosa and Ortega (EO Brands). I miss Eddie Ortega, I need to see what he’s up to.  It’s not meant to be Halloween themed, but I figured the bat  thing would fit in here. The original has a San Andrés wrapper, This one, and the name gives it away a little, has a shade wrapper. I thought it seemed darker than usual, but that’s OK.    It’s presented in a 6″ x 54 oval-pressed toro format, made at A.J. Fernandez’ San Lotano factory.  This was a bold cigar, not as mild as one might think.  I liked it, but it sorta seemed like a strong cigar with a shade wrapper, maybe some Cafe con Leche flavors?  Nice cigar, probably another cigar that’s near $12, I think I’ll stick with the maduro version.  I’ll have to stop back in and see what other TAA cigars they have that I haven’t tried. 

 

Finally, Alec Bradley has added a cigar to their holiday offerings.  They have had success with the Filthy Hooligan, which started out in 2012 as a Candela cigar (I still have one someplace), and morphed into a Candela/Jalapa barber pole with Honduran and Panamanian fillers, a Sumatra binder. Then they added the Shamrock, with Honduran Candela, Habano and Habano Maduro triple wrap. This year they decided to jump on the Halloween bandwagon with the Filthy Ghooligan. These are all in the Alec Bradley Black Market family and are limited releases. First, I think it’s silly.  I get the play on words, but Ghoul is spelled with a U, and while the band is cute, it pushes “Marketing to children” to the line a bit.  I know this isn’t the case, but I’m more of a traditionalist.  That being said, I don’t mind a Barber Pole style cigar.  This one has Ecuadorian Habano and US Broadleaf wrappers, making a nice light vs. dark brown spiral.  It has Indonesian Besuki binder and Nicaraguan Jalapa,Estelí, and Condega fillers alongside Dominican Piloto. It smoked well, has a decent flavor, some leather and dark chocolate with some spice. I did smoke a Shamrock later in the day and I can see the family resemblance.  The Candela makes the shamrock a little brighter in flavor.  I do. find myself wanting to smoke more maduros in the fall, so I suppose this is a good choice.  Overall, not a bad smoke

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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by | July 8, 2018 · 10:40 am

Some Classic Fuentes, A La Madrina and a Murcielago Cigar

Once again, there’s been a lot of news in the cigar world this week, the best of which was the announcement that the warning label requirement has been delayed (here, and Forbes has a nice piece about it too.).  I don’t understand the logic behind requiring cigar boxes to have warning labels covering 30% of the box when cigarettes have no such requirement, nor do I want my website covered in warning labels. It’s ridiculous. We better start putting warning labels on cars, trucks and buses, then! It’s all quite annoying. What’s also annoying is the next time there’s a call to action in the cigar community and there are less than 30k responses, there’s a certain Facebook group that likes to brag about how many members it has, but that number doesn’t mean crap if they don’t do anything when it matters! Contacting your elected officials really does make a difference, unlike the FDA, these people are obligated to read your opinions. Let me get off my Sunday morning soapbox and get on to this week’s cigars!

 

HdM Epi 2It was Independence Day week, also my wedding anniversary, and I used to smoke a nice Havana cigar as a form of civil disobedience to celebrate, but that’s not that much of a thing any more, it’s just a tradition now. I selected my last Hoyo de Monterey Epicure no. 2 that was gifted to me around six years ago, so I figured it would be ready to go. For a change, I only had to have one Cuban cigar, because this one worked right!  It was sweet, floral and medium bodied, and the floral finish stayed with me quite a long time. We went to a friends for a picnic and I enjoyed the finish throughout the day (I had packed plenty of cigars, but it turned out to be a non-cigar crowd, so I waited until I got home). This one came from an Englishman, and it was really quite good. People

 

ArturoFuente_Anjejo50After the picnic, while sitting on the porch listening to Pennsylvanians enjoy their newly legal big-boy fireworks which scare my poor dog into hiding under an end table, I lit an Arturo Fuente Añejo No. 50. I had smoked a Hemingway Classic earlier in the week, there are certain cigars I like to keep in the humidor and smoke every now and then, these are two of them, although the Añejo is less of a “classic” than the Classic, I Fuente_HemingwayClassic_Maduroguess.  The aptly named Classic has basically tasted the same for the last 20 years that I remember smoking them, an amazing feat. The Añejo is a particularly appealing cigar to me. It has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper aged in Cognac barrels, and the binder and filler was originally the Opus X blend, because they lost an Opus wrapper crop one year and put broadleaf on instead. Whether this is still the case or not, I don’t know, but it’s a delicious cigar with great flavor. I can’t wait to brew up a Moka pot of Fuente Espresso with one of these.

 

La Madrina ToroI continued working through the Dapper Cigars samples from last year’s IPCPR show, and the La Madrina captured my attention. Like the El Borracho last week, they go into detail on their website about the make-up of the blend which borders on the ridiculous. Here’s what they have to say about the blend of the La Madrina: Wrapper: Ecuador / La Luchita / Cuban Seed Habano / Oliva Tobacco Co; Binder: Mexico / San Andrés / San Andrés de los Perros S.A. de C.V.; Fillers: Nicaragua / Esteli / Guadalupe / Oliva Tobacco Co.; Nicaragua / Jalapa / Cofradía Relleno / Oliva Tobacco Co; Dominican Republic / Habano ‘92 / (Undisclosed) / Oliva Tobacco Co, U.S. / Pennsylvania Broadleaf / Lancaster Leaf Tobacco Co.. We are seeing more and more vague blend descriptions due to looming FDA regulations, and I made the comparison last week to Steve Saka, and he’s said himself that he’s backed off from specificity in this regard for this reason. They can pretty much say “US tobacco” and “Imported” tobacco, and get away with just about anything. Anyway, that’s a whole ‘nother discussion. The La Madrina was a tasty smoke, which I enjoyed to a finger burning little nub. This was the 5 ¼” x 54 Toro (confusing, the Robusto is 5.62 x 50 and the Toro is 5 ¼ x 54, and Dapper Cigars website doesn’t come up in a google search…so much confusion!)  Anyway, there is a lot of nice flavor going on with this, nuttyness, dark chocolate, rich tobacco, I liked it a lot. It’s interesting to see PA Broadleaf in the filler, I have some cigars with PA tobacco lined up this week. Good stuff.

 

Murcielago_ToroGrandeLast night I smoked the new Espinosa Murcielago made at AJ Fernandez new San Lotano Factory in Ocotal, Nicaragua. The size was a Toro Grande at 6½” x 54 with a box press, a San Andrès wrapper and Nicaraguan fillers. I’ve been a fan of the first two iterations of this brand, and was hopeful that this would continue to work for me, and wasn’t disappointed. Great smoke, nice balance of spice and sweetness, with the dark flavors I love. It was an easy two hours of enjoyment, the construction was what one expects from AJ Fernandez, and is consistent with Espinosa’s  brands.  This size might be a CI exclusive, I picked it up at the Hamburg store last winter when we were there for an Espinosa event, as I don’t see the size listed on the Espinosa website (also hard to find in a Google search, whats up with that, is is just me?) The Bat continues to impress, loved it when it was Eddie Ortega’s favorite cigar and it was made at My Father, love the third generation.

 

That’s enough for now. It’ll be interesting to see what this week brings as the IPCPR starts next weekend. will it be a busy news week again or will everyone be busy moving stuff to Vegas, bitching about various things, heat, unions, viruses, etc…I’ll miss seeing everyone, but some things I won’t miss!  Safe travels to everyone going!  Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

 

 

 

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by | March 7, 2012 · 8:43 pm

A La Gloria Cubana, a CAO and a Murcielago – Cigar Weather is Returning!

We left off on Sunday having had a nice Camacho Havana with my son and brother-in-law, and it seemed like a 2 cigar day, so I selected a La Gloria Cubana Artesanos de Tabaqueros Rothschild that I got last December when I went up to Famous Smoke Shop in Easton, PA to hang out with Michael Giannini.  This was the version that starts our with a delicious Connecticut shade wrapper, then transitions to the Ecuador Sumatra wrapper.  These are tasty little buggers, and I like them.  This is a size that I believe is only available at their events, and it’s a shame, because it’s a great size and fit the time I had available perfectly.  This unusual presentation really highlights the effect the wrapper has on the flavor of a cigar.  I normally wait to remove the band, but with this one I took it off before I started, since it’s located so close to the foot.  Expertly crafted, perfect burn, great smoke!

 

Monday evening I grabbed a few year old CAO Brazilia Gol.  A few years back my wife got me several samplers of CAO cigars, and this is about the last of them.  Really nice, dark, oily, sweet Brazilian wrapper surrounding tasty Nicaraguan fillers.  There’s a handful of CAO cigars that I have enjoyed over the years, and this is one of them.  Smoked this to a finger-burning nub.  This one pre-dated the acquisition of CAO by General, but I’m sure that the current offerings are just as tasty, something I will explore the next time I see these in the shop.

 

Today we had temperatures in the 60s, making for a fine evening to smoke a cigar without gloves, cold toes or shivering.  It was a very pleasant night for a walk with a nice, big cigar.  A few months back I won a beautiful Griffin’s humidor from a Facebook contest that I either forgot, or didn’t realize I had entered.  This is a lovely box, and I recently loaded it up for convenient upstairs storage, mostly with gifts, samples or singles purchases.  I had pretty much been smoking out of the coolerdors for the last bunch of years, which are kept in the basement.  I’m now fortunate enough to have two gorgeous desktop humidors, the first of which my wife had made for me for our tenth wedding anniversary, and it holds all those “special” cigars and doesn’t get opened very often.  I’m rather enjoying going to this new humidor to pick a cigar, and will keep rotating singles out of the coolers for daily smoking.  Tonight I selected a Murcielago Toro Grande that was basically a gift from my amigo Barry Stein on the DR trip last October.  I had given Barry a Hoyo de Monterrey when he was without a cigar, and he later responded with this cigar.  It’s among my favorite maduro cigars.  I can’t think of a San Andreas Maduro wrapped cigar I don’t enjoy, and this one has all the components that I enjoy, a little bit of strength, sweet where it needs to be sweet, with a fine balance.  Perfectly made, a great cigar.  I know this is one of Eddie Ortega‘s favorites, which is the reason I so look forward to trying his new Serie D line.  The Murcielago is a cigar well worth sampling.

 

In the News

Click to Enlarge

Just for fun, here’s another clipping from the archives of the Philadelphia Inquirer.  This article is from the June 28, 1835 edition.  It’s not easy to read, so click on the image to make it a little bigger.  If only this attitude continued today!

 

 

 

That’s it for now, until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

 

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by | November 6, 2011 · 9:19 am

A Bunch of Cigars, A Shop Visit, and A Contest!

After a busy few weeks of chronicling my trip to General Cigar Dominicana, it’s time to try to get back into a normal routine. I haven’t smoked too many cigars since my return.  When I got back I had a terrible cold, so I didn’t waste too many cigars, and the ones that I optimistically tried tasted pretty bad.  I kept it to cigars that I knew pretty well to gauge my taste buds.  After a week or so, I was pretty well back to being able to enjoy a cigar.

 

One of the first cigars I had was a sample from the IPCPR show.  I ended up with a bunch of cigars from Brun Del Re, a cigar maker from Costa Rica.  This was a cigar from their Don Corazza line, which is a cigar made from Dominican and Nicaraguan tobaccos.  The size was a 4″ x 60 which isn’t listed on their website.  The cigar started with a nice, unique flavor, which turned a bit sour in the second half.  I have a robusto in this line yet, as well as robustos in three or four of the other lines.  Unfortunately, I have some pre-conceived notions about show samples from companies like this.  It’s not fair, I know, but there have been so many cigars I’ve smoked in the past that have just been “same old, same old”, and failed to impress. These are nice looking sticks and I’ll certainly smoke them with an open mind.  I may not get to the rest of the samples until spring, as I smoke fewer cigars in the colder weather, and tend to stronger ones.

 

I enjoyed a Monte Pascoal Robusto as well last week, courtesy of Wes Gensel, of Monte Pascoal cigars.  This is a Brazilian puro, was awarded the best Brazilian cigar by Cigar Journal Magazine at their awards ceremony last July in Vegas, and is a very nice smoke.  Perfectly constructed and a pretty cigar with a nice flavor.    This is the first larger vitola I’ve smoked and I actually liked it better than the petite corona. On the full side of medium, this is a cigar you should try if you get a chance.

 

Last weekend we had an unusual October snowstorm, which dumped about 4 inches of wet snow on our area.  We were fortunate to not lose power as many in the area did, nor did we have any limbs down on our property.  I took my usual Saturday walk with a Cuban Crafters Powerhouse.  I chose this because it was a cold and nasty day and I wanted something that would cut through the crappy weather.  I mentioned somewhere that if I’m going to have my cigar get wet while I’m smoking it, I prefer it’s on a 90 degree day in a pool.  As rotten as the weather was, this strong cigar was quite enjoyable.  Any cigar that can hold up to wet snow and still provide a satisfying experience must be OK.  This is a 6″ x 54 pigtailed toro that has a Nicaraguan Ligero binder, which strikes me as unusual.  This is probably the first Cuban Crafters branded cigar I’ve really liked, but certainly not the first from Tabacalera Estili and Don Kiki Berger.

 

Halloween is always a traditional stogie night for me, and this year I opted for one of the coronas that I blended at Cigar Safari.  The first one of these I smoked was at the 3 month mark, and it was spectacular.  This one, while really good, was not as good as the first.  I suppose as these age they will certainly change, I’m hoping that they will get better rather than worse.  I shared one of these with my son yesterday and he enjoyed it.  Seven left.

 

My mid-week walk got off to a late start so I stuck with a shorter smoke.  A Gran Habano Habano #3 that was sent to my by one of my readers, Lloyd Ladrillono.  I’ve been seeing these in catalogs, and they had a really interesting booth at the trade show which I never managed to visit, and the cigars look great and seem to be priced well.  Lloyd was kind enough to share these with me and I appreciate it.  I really enjoyed this robusto, it had a sweetness that I like a lot.  This cigar hit me just right, it worked the way it should and tasted great.

 

I finished off the work week with a Murcielago Toro Grande which I bought at the Delaware Cigar Festival from Eddie Ortega. I like Eddie a lot, and I like the Murcielago more.  The San Andreas maduro wrapper is beautiful and delicious.  This one went a little sour at the band, but I think some humidor time will solve that problem.  If I can keep my hands off the couple I have left, I’ll see if that’s the case, but this is a perfect cold weather cigar for me.

 

Saturday I took a drive to Pottstown, Pa. and paid a visit to Cole’s Tobacco.  My wife had seen a picture of the store on one of the local radio station’s websites and did some research which led us to the visit.  They have been there for a century and it’s the first I’d heard of it.  In addition to a reasonable sized walk in humidor, they sell roll-your-own tobacco, candy, all kinds of stuff like an old fashioned news stand.  They had the largest selection of Lars Tetens cigars I’ve seen in 15 years, we picked up a bottle of Lars’ Steak Sauce for the heck of it, I certainly wasn’t going to smoke any of his cigars!  Anyway I walked out with a couple of Kristoffs that I hadn’t seen before, and had a nice chat with the proprietor, a young guy named Courtney.  No lounge that I saw, but not a bad place to get some cigars if you find yourself in downtown Pottstown, PA.

 

To wrap the week up I smoked a Oja Anniversary perfecto on my Saturday walk.  This is a semi-box pressed cigar with a Brazilian Samba wrapper that is rustic and oily.  It has a very dark, rich flavor and burned well, despite it’s rough appearance.  This was a sample sent to me by Luis Garcia, the brand owner.  This is one of the cigars made by Kiki Berger in Nicaragua that I alluded to earlier that I really like, the whole line is good, but this anniversary edition is really nice. It commemorates the brand’s first anniversary, which is a little odd, but the cigar works, so who cares?

 

I haven’t had a contest in a while, so I have a Drew Estate cap and a Liga Privada cutter to give away this time.  I might as well throw in a Stogieboys.com Cigar Journal along with it as well as a C-Gars Ltd. ring gauge card. I can’t be trusted NOT to include a cigar or two in a prize package. Leave a comment for a chance to win, and a Tweet with a link to this page (mentioning @cigarcraig so I see it) will get you an extra entry.  I’ll draw a name at random next Sunday, November 13, 2011.  Good luck!

 

That’s it for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | September 21, 2011 · 8:38 pm

Cigars So Far: Kristoff and CAO, A Schnorr, and Some 7-20-4s

I forgot to make mention of the cigars I smoked at the Delaware Cigar Festival. As I said, the format was that cigars were for sale at the vendors tables. $3.00 per cigar, with 100% of the proceeds going to charity, which was the family of a local police officer recently killed in the line of duty. I purchased a handful of cigars, some I wanted to try and some favorites I don’t see very often. Obviously, in most cases $3.00 each is an excellent deal for a lot of the cigars that were offered. I started with a Kristoff Corojo and I regret not getting a second one of these. Very nice cigar and a nice way to start the day. I also smoked a CAO OSA Sol Lot 50 that, while not as good as the first one I smoked, was very nice. Buy the time I picked up the OSA it had been out on a table most of the afternoon, not right out of a humidor. No worries as I did get another one of these. When I buy singles I like to buy in pairs for some reason. I also picked up some Murcielagos from Eddie Ortega as well as a bunch of other assorted goodies.

 

Sunday I closed out the weekend with a Berger & Argenti Mooch Schnorr which was a sample from the IPCPR show. I love the name of this, even though it’s a little redundant. For those who don’t know “Schnorr” is a Yiddish term for a mooch. I know this because I have a good friend who refers to another friend as such, and it cracks me up. So while I was at the show in July, having a Cuban coffee with Kiki Berger in his booth, he made sure I had some samples. In my limited experience at the IPCPR shows, Cuban Crafters has always been very generous with samples, however, a great many over the years have not been to my liking. This led me to avoid Cuban Crafters over the years, and it wasn’t until spending an excellent evening in Esteli with Mr. Berger that I re-thought that position. I’ve since enjoyed several other cigars that carry the Berger name. The Mooch Schnorr was really a very tasty cigar, I enjoyed it quite a bit. I would even go so far as to say it was the best cigar all week. It was smooth and flavorful and perfectly built. The sample I grabbed did have a small crack just below the cap line which gave me a few problems initially, until I patched it with part of the cap, which solved the problem completely. I smoked this down to a finger burning nub, and was sorry to see it end. The Schnorr is a nice size (robusto) and a tasty, well balanced blend. I can’t wait to dig into the rest of the samples from the show. I have some maduros and some more of the Entubar line to try.

 

By the time I was ready to sit down and enjoy a cigar on Monday it was getting fairly late. I was rooting through the humidor looking for something small and settled on the 7-20-4 Dogwalker that Kurt Kendal gave me when I met him at the 2010 IPCPR show. Don’t know why it took so long to get around to this one, it jsut did, what can I say.  The Dog Walker is a handsome little cigar, 4¼” x 40, with the same straight “pigtail” as the rest of the line.  It was definitely full flavored and may have been on the verge of being strong,  I enjoyed it quite a bit and it lasted close to 45 minutes before I put it down to go in for the night.  I don’t have a dog to walk, but my cat, Frank, hung out with my on the porch while I smoked it.  Nice little cigar and Kurt is a nice guy.

 

I visited Kurt at this years show and he gave me his 7-20-4 1874  blend to try.   While the regular line is made in Honduras, the 1874 is made in Nicaragua, with a lovely Nicaraguan wrapper.  This one had a very open draw, so I smoked it slowly.  It was a really nice smoke, I think it was a little bit milder than the Dog Walker, but had a more balanced flavor.  There was a taste in there that I really liked, can’t place it, but it was good. The sample I smoked was a robusto and I would happily smoke it again.  Nice job on this line extension.

 

As long as I’m ending on a 7-20-4 thing, here’s a little video Kurt took with me at the show.  Standard disclaimer applies: Don’t forget to turn down your PC speakers after watching so you don’t blow your speakers on the next Windows Error chime (or whatever weird sounds Macs make)!

 

 

That’s it for now, don’t forget to go to my previous post and enter the current contest!  Until the next time,

CigarCraig

 

 

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