Tag Archives: new york city

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!

That’s it for now. I’ve managed to beat the cold for the most part, so I should get back to the normal program for Sunday’s post! Until then,

CigarCraig

3 Comments

Filed under Events, Trip Report

Tagged as c-gars ltd, cigar, cigars, davidoff, De La Concha, Martinez, Nat Sherman, new york city

by CigarCraig | June 6, 2012 · 7:54 pm

A New York City Cigar Dinner Cruise and a Contest!

For the third year in a row my wife and sons and I were invited on a three hour New York City dinner cruise hosted by our dear friend Mitchell Orchant and his wife and daughter, along with Guy Hancock. Mitchell and Guy are international cigar merchants and host this party for their friends and customers. The venue was the Cabana, a Marco Polo Cruises boat out of the New York Sky Ports marina. We were able to board about an hour early, which was great since we had left home plenty early to avoid traffic and delays. We were each given really cool goodie bags with a couple cigars, some candies, little bottles of whiskey, cutters, matches, a lighter, all sorts of terrific stuff. There ended up being over 90 invited guests, and the boat had plenty of room on two decks. My sons both lit up the Grafton Reserva corona from their gift bags, which is a house brand for the Decent Cigar Emporium in Dublin, Ireland. This is made for them in the Dominican Republic and the boys enjoyed it and reported that it was a nice, mild smoke. I lit up a Room 101 Connecticut that I had gotten at the event I attended several weeks ago. The Room 101 Connecticut is a very nice cigar, rich and flavorful with a perfect draw. After we set out to cruise the East River, and we finished our first cigars, sushi was being served and a jazz combo was playing on the lower deck. A lavish buffet was set out with salad, chicken, eggplant and manicotti, everything one could want. Once again, Mitchell outdid himself and pulled off a fabulous evening. After dinner my son, Corey, and I lit up some special cigars that we brought back from Cigar Safari last year, Liga Privada Dirty Rats in a 7″ x 44 size. The additional length seemed to mellow the blend a little and it was a fantastic smoke, loads of flavor and the extra two inches really added to the cigar. My son Christian enjoyed an Acid Kuba Kuba. The weather, which was threatening, held off and it ended up being a really nice night, kudos to the captain for steering around what little rain there was. Of course, the views of the city from the river are spectacular. The new Freedom Tower is stunning and we got good views of the Statue of Liberty as well as the East River bridges. We saw some old friends, and met some new ones, as usually happens at these sorts of events. We always enjoy getting together with Mitchell of C.Gars Ltd. and his family, and thank him once again for including us. Thanks, as well to Guy of The Decent Cigar Emporium for also being a gracious host. All great folks whom I’m proud to call friends.

Contest

Mitchell was kind enough to provide me with an autographed copy of his book, “Once Upon a Time in Cuba” to give away to a lucky reader. Don’t worry, it’s mostly pictures! I’ll throw in some assorted goodies along with the book as well. Usual rules apply, leave a comment to enter, if you’ve won in the past six months you’re ineligible (excluding the Christmas Giveaways). I’ll close the contest and announce the winner on my Sunday, June 10, 2012 post. Many thanks to Mitchell at C.Gars Ltd. for providing these goodies.

See below for some pictures from the evening’s festivities.

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

CigarCraig

33 Comments

Filed under Contest, Events

Tagged as c-gars ltd, cigar, Cigar Safari, cigars, Contest, liga privada, new york city, Once Upon A Time In Cuba

by CigarCraig | June 26, 2011 · 6:01 pm

This Weeks Cigar Recap: 601, El Credito, Gurkha, Liga Privada, HC, Etc.

Here we go, another weeks worth of CigarCraig’s micro-reviews. I awoke today to find that ALL of the comments were gone from the site. Every comment ever! Of course, I am in a panic. Friday evening the site was inaccessible for a period of time, and I imagine whatever caused that problem must have had something to do with it. At this point I’m waiting for my hosting provider to correct the problem, and, since it’s the weekend, and the level 2 support folks don’t work weekends, I’m in limbo as far as my comments go. From what I can tell you can not leave a comment at this time. I’ll be working tirelessly with Network Solutions threatening them often to fix this problem, as well as a couple other issues I’ve found.

First up was a 601 Green, which came along with the La Bomba and a Murcialago courtesy of Eddie Ortega at EO Brands. This has long been one of my favorites, but I think it may have been an unwise choice for a Monday evening smoke after fighting off a migraine earlier in the day. It’s a powerful maduro cigar that is lush with heavy cocoa and coffee. Accompanied by an IBC root beer, it held my attention, but I couldn’t smoke this too far past the band. I do love these cigars under normal circumstances, but the migraines and the meds to get rid of them take more out of me than I had available to fully enjoy this one.

Wednesday’s walk to the convenience store started late, so I grabbed another El Credito La Parrita and took a little dog for a walk! As I start typing, I know this is another tangent, so I beg your indulgence. I have long felt that smoking time was more a function of length than girth. I maintain that a 5” cigar of 42 ring gauge will take just about as long as a 5” cigar of 60 ring. I’ve been trying to figure out a good way to test this theory, but there are so many variables and I just haven’t had the time to work out a good, scientific test to prove the theory. Something to work on, I suppose. Back to the cigar, I found this example to be a little bitter and off. The “war of flavors”, which this cigar is sub-titled by the factory, did not go well for me in this instance, I guess I lost. Anyway, people love these cigars, and I think it there’s a big cool factor in the format of these ugly ducklings, and I either hit one at a bad time or something.

Next up was a Gurkha Para la Gente Robusto that I had purchased at De La Concha in NYC a few months back. This is another of the cigars that were produced exclusively for the New York market in an effort to provide retailers some relief from the onerous cigar tax in that state. As of this writing, I understand that the state is working on a modification of that tax which would provide a cap so that a $10 cigar wouldn’t be jacked up to $17.50, but would be a more reasonable $11. For the tobacconists that are left in the state, I hope this goes through, as many have closed their doors in the last year due to this tax. Anyway, I have not smoked many Gurkha cigars. I have a perception that they either produce cigars that are ridiculously high priced and over packaged and marketed, or budget priced cigars that CI sells for $40 bucks a bundle and tries to make you feel like you’re getting a $50 cigar for two bucks. (at this point writing this feels like it’s more editorial on state taxes and brand marketing…sorry…off my soapbox now!). Anyway, the cigar was very nice. The short robusto size was just right for the time I had available and it worked very well. I like a nice Brazilian Matafina, which I believe this is wrapped with, and it was well balanced and smooth. The cheap bastard in me still recoils at a $8 robusto, but it was a special treat and a souvenir from a nice day in the city.

I decided I deserved a treat for getting through another week and grabbed a Liga Privada No.9 Flying Pig that I received at an even in Reno back in November of 2009. It’s a cool perfecto format dating back to the late part of the 1800s. Drew Estate has since released their T52 blend in this same size, and the Cubans (who, ironically, are suing Drew Estate for using the word “Kuba”), recently ripped off the size for a special release for one of their “Festival” humidors! My biggest complaint about this little piggie was that it was just too short! It’s 4” x 60, remember what I was saying about length and smoking time? This one just was gone too quickly. It did hold the ash for the entire time I was smoking it, which was probably under an hour, which is almost a tease, considering the hearty and delicious flavors that this fat little bastard provided. I would have loved to have smoked this for another hour, but the ash fell off with under an inch to go and I was beginning to burn my fingers. Plus, my wife said I looked ridiculous smoking the cigar with a 3” ash…. I’m glad I have another one of these that I was given at Cigar Safari, because I am confident that there are not a lot of these still around.

Finally, I spent Saturday with my family at Monmouth Park in New Jersey watching horses run around in circles with little men on their backs, which is always entertaining. I did manage to have a cigar, no small feat at a public venue in the Garden State. The cigar I chose was a HC Connecticut robusto which I had purchased several months ago at an event at one of the local shops. I was disappointed in the event, there was a rep there who represented Xikar, and other brands as well. The were offering a “buy 3, get one” special, and I still don’t think $25 for 4 robustos, especially ones I don’t end up enjoying represents a good value. The Habano wrapper was the best of the bunch, for me, at least. This Connecticut had an acidic bite to it that was off-putting. It got better as the cigar progressed, but was always there somewhere. I understand that they have dropped the price on these, which I think was a wise move, but I still won’t be buying any myself anytime soon, they just didn’t have what I’m looking for in a cigar. To the credit of the manufacturer, they are exceptionally well made, and I’m sure there are plenty of folks who enjoy these. It’s just not a cigar that suits me.

That’s it for now, I’m still annoyed with whatever is going on with my comments. It’s bad timing, that’s for sure. At this time, the Oja contest will be extended for another week after the comments are fixed, and I will asses the situation when my technical issues are resolved.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

1 Comment

Filed under Contest, Editorial, Review, Take a Cigar For a Walk

Tagged as 601, cigar, cigars, connecticut, Contest, drew estate, Flying Pig, general, Gurkha, habana, hc, La Gloria Cubana, liga privada, new york city, Oja, Take A Cigar For A Walk, Whippany, xikar

by CigarCraig | June 5, 2011 · 11:22 am

Cigar Adventures: NYC, an Alec Bradley New York, a Partagas, a Fuente and a Contest!

Last Tuesday was a day we had been looking forward to for some time. We, once again, had the honor and privilege of being on the guest list for a New York City Dinner Cruise hosted by our friend Mitchell Orchant of C-Gars Ltd. Mitchell is an old friend. We first “met” through an e-mail and continued through the alt.smokers.cigars usenet group back in the ’90s. We met face to face at a little herf in Vegas in 1999 known amongst those in the usenet world as “Boondoggle III“, which was held at the MGM Grand over a 3 day span. This event comprised about 300 people who only knew one another through the wild west of the internet, an oddity at the time! Anyway, we’ve been to Mitchell and his wife’s wedding in London, we’ve taken them sight-seeing in NYC, and been friends for a long time. Mitchell has taken to hosting this dinner cruise every year, which I reported on last year, which spends a couple hours cruising around Manhattan, with beautiful views of the skyline, the bridges, and the Statue of Liberty. I thought it would be appropriate to enjoy an Alec Bradley New York Robusto, which I had picked up at De La Concha on my last visit to the city. This is a very nice cigar! This was created for the ridiculously highly taxed New York State shops, designed to give the local tobacconists a little more margins in hopes that they can stay open!! Anyway, it’s a good cigar, pick some up if you see them in New York and support the oppressed businesses in the state.

Back to the event. In attendance were Marc Aub and Mike DaVersa of Brothers of the Leaf, LLC, makers of Palio cutters and Esencia cigars, whom I had met last year and seen at the IPCPR show last July. Always a pleasure to chat with Marc, who’s as passionate as they come about his products. Mitchell is the UK distributor for Palio Cutters, and just became the UK distributor for Arturo Fuente cigars, so, in addition to the fine Bolivar Belicoso Finos in the goody bag, there was a Fuente Hemingway Signature as well. These happen to be 2 of my all time favorite cigars that I rarely get to enjoy.We also got to catch up with some other old friends, Karen from Albany, George from South Jersey and even Barry from California. I finished the night off with a Partagas Petit Coronas Expeciale from a box I had been waiting to arrive at cruise time last year. I’ve really been digging these cigars and hope that the exchange rate comes down a little in the future so that I can get another box one day! I was even able to gift Mitchell a cigar, something that’s pretty rare as he always declines. I had an extra Partagas Serie P No.2 that I got at his wedding coming up on 5 years ago. The Hunters and Frankau rep was handing these out at the reception, and Mitchell’s dad insisted I get an extra to take home. I figured this would be a fitting “thank you” for the nice things he does for us. At the end of the night Mitchell opened a box of Opus X Perfecxion X and passed it around, to cap off the evening.

Contest!

One of the neat items in the goody bags, was a ring gauge guide. I managed to score a couple spares and will send one to a random reader who leaves a comment. Heck, these will be cheap to mail, make that two! So leave a comment to enter and see the rules on the winners and rules page, and I’ll make this one a short one and announce a winner on Wednesday if all goes to plan. Give Mitchell’s site a visit when you get a chance and see all the neat stuff he’s got. Also look for a mention of his book in the latest Smoke Magazine!

LAst night I selected a Fuente Anejo 50 that had been kicking around the box for a while now, maybe 4 years. It was the first of this line that I’ve smoked and boy was it tasty. It started a little slow, but it built into just the kind of cigar I like. It had the nice, dark flavors I like and just the right level of nicotine. Goes with out saying that it was well made, as it’s a Fuente. I know these are pricey and availability is spotty, but if you have the chance, smoke one, I don’t think you’ll have any regrets. I selected this in honor of Mitchell’s a fore mentioned acquisition of the Fuente distributorship in the UK.

That’s it for now! We have an update from Tommy Berry coming up next time, so until then,

CigarCraig

Watch for a new discount code from StogieBoys.com coming soon.

8 Comments

Filed under Contest, Events, Review

Tagged as botl, C-Gars, c-gars ltd, cigar, cigars, Contest, esencia, fuente, new york city, Orchant, palio, Partagas, Take A Cigar For A Walk

by CigarCraig | March 25, 2011 · 10:29 pm

La Gloria Cubana Serie N Contest and a Visit to NYC!

In honor of La Gloria Cubana Serie N Day, I’ll be giving away two (2) Five packs of Serie N JSB (5½ x 54) to two people who leave a comment on this page. Winners will be drawn randomly on or around Wednesday, March 30, 2011. I will also be giving away five packs for the next 3 weeks, so stay tuned!

I had the honor and pleasure of participating in the Serie N day webcast, and, in case you missed it, I asked how they could possibly manufacture the Serie N cigars with the light tobacco leave “N” and sell it for a reasonable price. Having recently seen all the steps that go into the manufacture of a cigar, it’s incredible that the cost can be kept as reasonable as it is, and the “N”s are hand applied. If you look at a box of Serie N cigars you will notice that all the “N”s line up and are nice and straight. This is a testament to the attention to detail paid to this one little distinctive feature. The cigars smoke great, and if you like maduro cigars with some oomph to them, the La Gloria Cubana Serie N is well worth a try. General Cigars was very generous in providing samples as well as the cigars for these contests, many thanks to all involved in this very special event. It was fun to participate in this event, and I always appreciate the opportunity to embarrass myself!

We took a family trip to New York City today (Saturday) and I had an opportunity to stop by De La Concha and pick up a few cigars. It’s very convenient that the store is right around the corner from Tiffany’s, where my wife always likes to visit. Of course, I spent more than I normally would on cigars, but I wanted to try some of the New York only cigars that have been released recently. I picked up a La Aurora Broadway, a couple sizes of the Alec Bradley New York Series and a Gurkha Para la Gente. These cigars were created specifically to help out New York State cigar retailers after the cigar taxes were raised. The cigars were pricey by my standards, but probably provide the retailer with better margins than other cigars. I wanted to pick some up as much for the novelty as anything, and I’ve never had a Gurkha, believe it or not. Maybe I’ll have a “NY Cigar Week” in the coming months! As a side note, we walked at least 50 blocks on our visit, but I passed on having a cigar because it was so crowded, cold and windy I wouldn’t have enjoyed it. How many miles is 50 city blocks?