Tag Archives: Nomad

by CigarCraig | February 21, 2016 · 10:42 am

La Boheme, Nomad Therapy and a Quesada Cigar from Casa de Montecristo

Since we last spoke, which was only Friday, I’ve not had the chance to smoke too many cigars, but I did try to smoke good ones! I’ll have to rewind to Thursday, when I selected a La Boheme Pittore (5 1/8″ x 52) from a prior month’s Cigar Authority Care Package, to smoke while I listened to last week’s show. I should have smoked the Eiroa Classic Prensado, which I really look forward to smoking, but it was a 4″ x 48 size that I knew wouldn’t fit into the time allotted, it would leave me wanting. I’ll get to the Eiroa eventually, but I had the La Boheme that I missed previously, and I was looking forward to smoking Rafael Nodal’s latest creation too. The La Boheme, named after the famous Puccini opera (and I didn’t have to look that up, just so you know!) with sizes are named after characters in the opera, attempts to blend Rafael’s passions of cigars, music and Cuba, and I felt a little bad that I was listening to a cigar podcast while smoking this instead of listening to the opera. This is yet another cigar that I will be smoking again, it was very good, with a hint of that twang that’s a signature of most Havana cigars. Burn and draw were outstanding and it was a very enjoyable smoke. Another job well done from the folks at Aging Room Cigars.

Friday evening I celebrated the end of another week, as well as my youngest son’s 22nd birthday, with the Nomad Therapy Maduro Toro. This line is made at Tabacalera Fernandez in Nicaragua, and the maduro uses a Pennsylvania broadleaf wrapper, which Abdel Fernandez is reasonable famous for working with. Besides the PA wrapper, which I like a lot and it’s grown right down the road from where I live, this cigar had a Habano binder grown in Jalapa, and Nicaraguan filers. One can’t buy boxes of these, they are presented in trays that retailers can refill with bundles, lowering the cost. That’s not to take anything away from the premium nature if the cigar, it’s not a cheap bundle offering. I had no issues with the burn and draw, and the flavor was awesome! A little sweet, a little spice, a lot of flavor, and it’s right up my alley. Great, another cigar I need to buy…thank you to Fred for including this and it’s Connecticut Shade and Habano siblings with the 12SDOCG offering back in December!

Yesterday we had an odd February day with temps in the 50s, so I grabbed a big cigar and took Macha for a nice long walk, 3.1 miles to be exact. The cigar came in a selection of cigar sent to me by the online arm of Casa de Montecristo in Chicago, CDMCigars.com. I’ve been to the Casa de Montecristo in the Chicago area and it’s spectacular, and the members lounge which I weaseled my way into is just about as good as it gets. The cigar I selected was the Quesada Sellecion España Fabulosos, a 7″ x 54 corona doble. This line was originally blended for the Spanish market to offer an alternative to Cuban cigars, and was a bit of a unicorn for a while, now they are available in the US, although not widely. The blend consists of a Ecuador grown Arapiraca wrapper, Dominican binder and fillers from Connecticut (broadleaf), the DR and Nicaragua. Here’s wear my general laziness bites me in the ass. The cigar could have been a little dryer, and that’s my fault, as I placed the bag of samples, along with the Boveda pack, in the bottom of the cabinet. I’ve found before that this is a bad idea, and I didn’t learn. So I’ve removed the Boveda pack and put the rest of the cigars on the top shelf to lose a little moisture. While this cigar didn’t smoke as well as I’d have liked, it still was a terrific tasting cigar and smoked for over two hours. It was rich and creamy with hints of spice. I only have the H-Town lancero to compare this to, and it’s quite different, as the lancero is a lot more potent as one would expect. The folks at CDMCigars.com also included the Beli-Lance, a 7″ x 40 with a belicoso head, along with a bunch of other exclusive cigars that I look forward to smoking. If you find yourself in the Chicago area make Casa de Montecristo a destination.

That’s it for now, it’s supposed to be milder temperatures again today, but we may get more snow and winter stuff this week. Until the next time,

Cigar Craig

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Filed under Review

Tagged as Aging Room, Casa de Montecristo, CDMCigars, cigar, cigars, La Boheme, Nomad, Quesada, The Cigar Authority, Therapy

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 13, 2015 · 7:42 am

CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways 2015 Day 3: Nomad Cigars

Today we have something very special for you from Fred Rewey at Nomad Cigar Co. In addition to a Nomad T-shirt (Lg), a bottle opener/key ring, a rubber bracelet and some stickers, Fred sent along a box of his newest cigar, a new addition to Stogies World Class Cigars’ H-Town series, the H-town Lancero. This is a box of 10 San Andrés wrapped 7″ x 38 cigars marking his first use of the Mexican wrapper leaf. These are made at Tabacalera L&V in the Dominican Republic. In addition to the San Andrés wrapper, they have a Dominican Habano binder and fillers from the DR and Nicaragua. They only made 200 boxes of these, so this is a very special box indeed. Many thanks to Fred for providing today’s gifts. Stogies also offers a coupon code, use CRAIG10 to get 10% off your first order.

I’m looking forward to smoking the Nomad H-town Lancero later today, and I enjoyed a Byron last night. I know Mike Perry is going to enjoy the Selected Tobacco sampler. I’ve known Mike for a long time, and I’m a little bummed that this is shipping direct from 2 Guys, as I would have slipped some of his favorite bubble bath in with the package! I guess you have to know Mike to know how hard I’m laughing at that…. anyway, Mike, verify your shipping address with me so I can pass it on to David and his crew in New Hampshire.

Now is the Time to Contact

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan & Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell

Since the Tobacco Control Act took effect, cigar patrons, retail tobacconists and manufacturers from across the premium cigar industry have been fighting in Washington, D.C. to preserve the simple enjoyment of a premium cigar – to protect that enjoyment from a threatening bureaucracy at the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.

At this very moment, Congress is debating the federal budget, and regulations that can be addressed to prevent massive loss of jobs and the destruction of the cigar industry is a part of that debate.

The House of Representatives and the Senate needs to hear from you! Now is the time to add your voice to the fight to preserve premium cigars.

Please contact today, the Office of House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

and tell them Premium Cigars Must Be Exempt From FDA Regulation!

Please note, the lines may be busy, and voice mail box may be full, but please continue to reach out until your voice is heard!

If the FDA has their way, where will be no more giveaways like this! Take a few minutes and make the calls!

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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Filed under Contest

Tagged as 12 days, cigar, cigars, Contest, Nomad, Stogies World Class Cigars

by CigarCraig | May 31, 2015 · 9:02 am

Rocky Patel Super Ligero, Oceano, Nomad, and Romeo y Julieta Cigars at Mojo

Another week in the books. Last weekend turned bad with the new dog, who had to go back to the SPCA on Tuesday. It got the point where she was in attack mode whenever she saw another animal, and that can’t be allowed. Â So I took tomorrow off so we could have a weekend “do-over” and my wife and I are headed to the shore for some walking on the boardwalk. Â I have to pick out a few sure thing cigars to take along, as I’ve had a couple disappointments this week. What wasn’t disappointing was yesterday’s lunch with my wife at the Flying Pig Saloon in Malvern, PA. Naturally, I have a bit of a Flying Pig attraction, and this place is decorated with a ton of different flying pigs. My wife had a Havana sandwich, which was pork and peppers and pickles on a ciabattaÂ roll. I had the Cheesy Pig, bacon, ham cheddar and blue cheese in a triple decker grilled cheese/club sandwich format. Both were delicious, and they had ginger beer by the bottle! (for the beer drinkers, they also have what seems like hundreds of craft beers on tap and bottled). I should have followed that up with my last Liga Privada No. 9 Flying Pig, but by the time I got around to having a cigar, I had forgotten.

Havana

After the mayhem of the weekend, I found relief with a new-to-me cigar from Rocky Patel, the Super Ligero. I’d been hearing a lot about this cigar, and the band is certainly a bit different for RP, almost, dare I say, new Camacho-esque. Â Whatever band is on it doesn’t matter, this is a really tasty smoke, and right in my wheelhouse. It’s not overly powerful, as the name could imply, Super Ligero is the actual name of the leaf, not a description of its nicotine content. The cigar burned and drew perfectly, had a wonderful rich coffee, spice and cocoa flavor. Â I smoked the toro size, it seems to be a very common size for Rocky’s cigars, but I really am on the look out for the lancero. Â Whatever you might think of Rocky Patel cigars, this one is a winner and one I’ll go back to regularly. It wasn’t priced too bad either.

Once again, in response to a reader question, I revisited the Oceano Indian this week. Lonnie smoked one that was included in his contest winnings a few weeks ago and found it to be spicy and stout. Â This cigar is made for La Sirena by the Quesadas in The DR, and it is definitely a strong cigar. Â It’s certainly got some spice, and some chocolate notes, but still has a but of creaminess. I have had this example in the cabinet for a few months and it smoked perfectly. I really need to get some more of these, it’s a darned great cigar, but I haven’t really had any clunkers from La Sirena yet. Â I featured this in one of my Prime Living Magazine articles last year.

I grabbed a Nomad Â S-307 toro for a walk this week. I seemed to have accumulated a handful of Nomad cigars for some reason, and have them on the top tray of one of the desktop humidors, so they are staring me in the face every time I open the lid. So, being that I’m basically lazy, I grabbed the S-307 and went on my way. This cigar is made at the AJ Fernandez factory in Esteli, andÂ has an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, Ecuador Habano binder and Nicaraguan fillers. This was Fred Rewey’s first full production Nicaraguan cigar and he really nailed it. If you like cigars from AJ Fernandez, you are sure to enjoy this one. It’s sweet and spicy and a real treat.

Thursday we went down to Cigar Mojo in King of Prussia, PA for a Romeo y Julieta event hosted by Altadis‘ rep Tom Stroud. This is the second time in a week we’ve gone to one of Tom’s events. Considering I’ve not had a strong focus on Altadis products over the years, this is something unusual! Â As usual, I purchased a handful of cigars, Romeo’s and Vega Finas, mostly, and decided to give the RoMEo AÃ±ejo another try, this time in the toro vitola. We sat in the outside seating area as we had brought Macha along. I still need to revisit this cigar, as it really didn’t burn as well as I’d like. It was a bit over-humidified. It was a muggy day, and the cigars were out in the lobby, not in the walk-in humidor, so that may have had something to do with it. Cigars usually burn perfectly right from the Mojo humidor, and the Vega Fina Nicaragua I tried to smoke last night just smoldered, didn’t produce any smoke unless I really puffed on it, and pissed me off to the point where I chucked it before the half way point and lit up an Alec Bradley Nica Puro. I VERY rarely give up on a cigar like that, but life’s too short to waste an hour fighting with a cigar…I digress. Â The RoMEo AÃ±ejo wasn’t as bad an experience as the VF, and both show a lot of promise in that what flavors I did get tell me I’d really enjoy the properly performing versions. I’m really excited about the Romeo/Aging Room collaboration that should be in stores soon too.

That’s it for now, gotta get ready to hit the road. Don’t forget to go back to yesterday’s contest post and enter (maybe read the review too!). Those Toscano Modiglianos are darned tasty cheroots! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Events, Review

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Flying Pig, La Sirena, Nomad, Oceano, rocky patel, Romeo, romeo y julieta, Super Ligero

by CigarCraig | May 3, 2015 · 10:10 am

Another Nomad, a Joya de Nicaragua, Emilio Cigars and a La Aurora

Another week has gone by and another bunch of cigars smoked. After hanging out with Fred Rewey last week, I decided I had better smoke that Nomad S-307 Torpedo that I had removed from cello because I was going to smoke it, and put it away in favor of the Esteli Lot 8613 I was handed. I really hate trying to put cigars in cello tubes, I don’t know how the workers in the factories do it, but I suppose if you do it eight hours a day, you get pretty good at it. The 6 ½ x 52 torpedo has a nice box press, a rich Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, Ecuador Habano binder and Nicaraguan fillers. It’s rolled in the AJ Fernandez factory, but Fred had his hands in all aspects of the blending. I guess I’ve been picking these up here and there, because I find I have a good handful in the humidor, and I can’t get upset about that (I did find that Lot 1386 this week). The cigar is a great smoke, it’s earthy and spicy and has a hint of sweetness. It’s a cigar I enjoy quite a bit, as I said, I’m not unhappy about having a few of these in the humidor.

I went with a trusted friend on Thursday, the Joya de Nicaragua Antaño 1970 in the Gran Consul size. The Gran Consul is 4 ¾” x 60 cigar with a tapered head, making it feel like it’s not a 60 ring. I gave it a V-cut this time, and had a good burn and draw, and ample amounts of smoke. This is a tasty Nicaraguan Puro, and is full bodied and spicy. I prefer the Dark Corojo over this line but only by a slim margin. JdN is one of the few major cigar companies that I have a hard time thinking of a cigar they make that I don’t like. I have a slight bias in that I’ve been to the factory a couple times, but the cigars they make hit my palate just right almost all the time. I think the size of this particular cigar makes it fun and interesting to smoke, I guy I’m weird that way!

Friday there was some news that confirmed what many of us may have been wondering. It appears that Gary Griffith has retired from Delaware Cigars, Emilio and House of Emilio. Gary blended the Emilio brand, and built the boutique distribution company known as the House of Emilio. In his honor I smoked an Emilio AF 1 Toro that’s been hanging around the humidor for a couple years. I really like what Gary did with AJ Fernandez and the San Andres wrapper on this cigar, making it a sweet flavor bomb. I had my hand on the corona size, but decided to go with the Toro instead. The Toro is a little mellower than the corona, but I enjoy taking the additional time to smoke a toro. As much as I enjoy smaller cigars, I like my daily vacation to be a little longer sometimes! I know the House of Emilio will continue on supporting the six brands in it’s stable, and I hope the Emilio line lives on, both as an homage to the family that owns Delaware Cigars, and Gary who created it. I hope Gary comes out of hiding every once in a while, he’s an interesting guy with a great knowledge of tobacco and just a bunch of fun to be around. Enjoy your golden years with Dora!

Yesterday was a fun filled and action packed Saturday. We went to our eldest granddaughter’s 4th birthday party, then came home and did some yard work then drove my son back to his place in Philly. I was ready to sit down and relax with a fine cigar after that! But, as usual, I spent the first half of my cigar taking my evening walk, and it was a beautiful evening to do it. The cigar I selected was a La Aurora 100 Años Preferido No.1 which was a gift from Barry Stein back when he first sold his old website and took the job with Miami Cigar and Co. You may recall four years ago when my granddaughter was born, I happened to spend the afternoon with Guillermo Leon of La Aurora, and started my own tradition of smoking a Puro Vintage 2003 whenever a granddaughter is born (I can only have two more granddaughters kids!). Of course, the significance of all this La Aurora talk is that my daughter’s name is Aurora, so I’ve always been partial to the brand, even if there are quite a few cigars in their range that aren’t to my taste. The Cien Años is a cigar that I really enjoyed. The pefecto shape is really cool and fun to smoke, and it burned perfectly down to a finger burning nub. I really enjoyed this smoke on several levels, the cigar was great, and I made me think of my family and friends. Can’t ask for much more than that.

The latest issue of Prime Living Magazine should have hit the shelves in Texas, wherever fine magazines are sold, and in the Gentleman’s Room section you’ll find an article on the Macanudo Estate Reserve. You can read the magazine online if you are outside of their distribution area, or get to the article on their website. Also, if I had one complaint about the House of Emilio, it would be their website theme. I can’t tell you how off-putting that silly background is, the whole concept seems like it was stolen from another site…:-) On another note, the folks at The Cigar Cork sent me a sample of their cigar tube. I kind of tried to talk them out of it, but they were persistent. Now I need to figure out how to actually test and review it. I suppose I can put a cigar in it and leave it roll around the floor of the car for a few weeks and see what happens. If I carry this thing in my front pants pocket I’ll either get looks of disgust or admiration, neither of which I’m comfortable with…it’s a nice tube, certainly large enough for a 60 ring cigar, so stay tuned for more on that. Their retail presentation with the holders and actually selling cigars in them is pretty spiffy. Anyway, today is another beautiful spring day, and I’m not going to spend it sitting at my desk! Enjoy your week.