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by | September 28, 2011 · 6:30 pm

A Trip to the Wooden Indian, a Cain, an A.Turrent and a Monte Pascoal

Sunday afternoon I decided to take a ride to see my daughter and son-in-law and my 5 month old grand-daughter.  I visited with them until it was nap time (the baby’s, although I could have taken one myself!).  Anyway, they happen to live in the same town as one of my favorite area cigar shops, the Wooden Indian.  I got there within a half hour of their closing, so I took a look through the humidor to see what was new.  They have a very nice stock, which includes a smattering of nice boutique brands that aren’t always available in stores closer to home.  Normally I’ve visited this store on days when they are having events, and haven’t really taken a close look at their stock.  Neither needing more cigars, or wanting to spend a lot of money, I settled on a pair of Cain Daytona coronas, which ended up under $5 each.  I hadn’t yet smoked the Daytona, although I do have a couple lanceros in the humidor at home.  I had a nice ride home and after dinner I sparked one up.  This is now my favorite Cain.  I love the flavors in the line, but the Maduro and Habano and “F” series tend to be stronger than I prefer.  Somehow nausea detracts from the cigar experience.  Anyway, the Daytona is full flavored, yet not so strong as to cause the world to spin.  Top notch cigar and priced fairly.  It’s all I can do to not smoke the lanceros now!

 

Monday was a long day at work so my evening was slightly shortened.  I grabbed a shorter smoke in an A. Turrent Tripple Play Robusto.  I had the good fortune of meeting Enrique Seijas at the Altadis booth at the IPCPR show and he gave me a thorough tour of the booth.  One of the sample pack s he gave me included this cigar.  The Triple Play is an all maduro cigar, with a San Andreas wrapper, a  Connecticut Broadleaf binder, and fillers from Nicaragua, Mexico and Honduras.  Since I love Mexican maduro, and broadleaf, I figured this would be a good fit for me.  I did enjoy the cigar quite a bit, although I had to touch up the burn a few times.  Nice cigar that I look forward to trying again, although I can see where it may not be for everyone.

 

Tuesday evening I grabbed a Monte Pascoal  Minuto on the heels of an e-mail from Wesley Gensel announcing an article in Smokeshop Magazine about the brand.  I met Wes at the IPCPR show in New Orleans and spent some time with him at the show this year, where I first enjoyed this cigars.  The Monte Pascoal was also awarded the best Brazilian cigar by Cigar Journal magazine at an awards ceremony at this years show in Las Vegas, which I was privileged to attend.  These cigars are Brazilian puros, made with Mata Fina and Mata Norte tobaccos.  I really enjoy this little 4 3/8″ x 42 petit corona.  It had a very rich flavor and was quite satisfying.  I look forward to trying the larger sizes, but this Minuto is a very nice little smoke.

 

Here is a video of Wes from the IPCPR show last July:

 

 

That’s it for now!  Don’t forget to enter this weeks contest to win a Macanudo Millionaire 4-pack!  Leave a comment on my last post to enter.  I failed to mention that there would be TWO winners again!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | September 18, 2011 · 11:18 am

The Delaware Cigar Festival and Another Contest!

Saturday, September 17 marked the long awaited fifth annual Delaware Cigar Festival, organized and hosted by Gary Griffith, the Premium Cigar Manager of Delaware Cigars and the creator of Emilio and Grimalkin Cigars.  The event took place at Delaware Park, which is already one of our favorite places in the area to go and waste some money on the ponies, or drop some pennies in the slots.  The event was unique, as it is a big herf disguised as a charity event, although Gary won’t use the charity aspect to promote it.  The format is that the manufacturers and reps sell their samples for $3 each, with all of the proceeds going to charity, which this time benefited the family of a slain police officer (news report here), this was just in the last few days and quite tragic.

 

Photo Courtesy of Charlie Greenbacker

For your entrance price you got a bag with about 20 or 25 cigars (nice stuff too, I looked!) and assorted swag, a nice picnic buffet with burgers, dogs, chicken, ribs and beans, and the opportunity to talk with the assorted cigar makers and reps who were there.  Brands represented were:  Inked Magazine, Rocky Patel, Arturo Fuente/JC Newman, Emilio Cigars with brand creator Gary Griffith, Drew Estate, Altadis USA, Oliva, Perdomo, La Sirena with Brand Ambassador Arielle Ditkowich, La Flor Dominicana, Cigar Rights of America, EO Brands with Eddie Ortega, Miami Cigar, General Cigar, 262 Cigars, Kristoff Cigars, El Primer Mundo with Sean Williams, Veritas Cigar Co., and The Cigar Agency. Keith Park from Prometheous was also there.  All of these companies donated TONS of stuff, either cigars that were sold for $3 each, or stuff to be raffled off (we bought 10 tickets didn’t win a darned thing!).  The attendance was capped at 300 people, including staff, press and exhibitors, so it was a nice sized crowd. It was rarely a problem to have a chat with the vendors.

 

In addition to getting to schmooze with some of my friends on the manufacturers side, I was able to hang out a bit with some fellow blogger types such as Barry from ACigarSmoker.com, Walt  from StogieReview.com and Michael from CigarEvents.com.  I also had the great pleasure of meeting one of my readers, Charlie, who won big in the raffle give-aways!  These events are always about the people, and you just don’t meet nicer folks that those associated with cigars for some reason!

 

What a wonderful event that I would recommend highly next year if you are within a 3 or 4 hour drive.  Gary is a fine gentleman and I appreciate him welcoming myself and my wife for the afternoon.  It’s refreshing to see a retailer put on a “not for profit” event, and to have so many people there enjoying cigars and camaraderie.  I’d love to see more manufacturers participate in the future as the event is for good causes and shows the cigar business in a positive light.   The only downside was that the weather could have been a little nicer, it was overcast and under 70 until we drove off the premises, then the sun came out and it was nice!  Hardly anyone’s fault.  I managed to win about $4 on the ponies over the course of the day too!

 

In honor of the event, I’m going to have another quick give-away!  I know, I JUST had one that ended this week, but we got a couple Rosie Napravnik Bobbleheads at the park for Racing Fan Appreciation Day and I thought I’d combine it with a beautiful Veritas Connecticut Salamone that I purchased from the Delaware based Veritas Cigar Co. at the event.  So leave a comment to enter, and I’ll pick a winner next Sunday, September 25th.

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

CigarCraig

Photo Courtesy of Charlie Greenbacker
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by | August 17, 2011 · 6:36 pm

Top Shelf Cigars in Skippack, PA, An Emilio And A Cusano CRA

Sunday we took a drive to Skippack Village, PA to check out Top Shelf Cigars.  Skippack Village is a quaint little shopping area with all kinds of little shops and businesses.  We located the cigar shop, which is tucked away in the back of a building.  It was pouring, which it hasn’t really done all summer, so I shouldn’t complain, but couldn’t it rain overnight, or during a working day?  It should always be nice and sunny on days off….but I digress.  The shop has a nice little patio area, and I’m told that they have an event there on the first Thursday of every month with a cook out and specials which is very popular.  I may have to try to catch one of these events in the near future.  Anyway, it’s a nice little shop.  They have cabinet humidors lining the outside walls with a counter in the center, so the store is in a “U” shape. On one side they had a couple couches and a TV.  The humidors were well stocked, which is a departure from the mostly empty boxes I’ve seen in a lot of stores recently.  I was impressed with the selection, they had a fair amount of what I consider to be reasonably priced lines, which are often absent in some of your nicer shops.  Most of the major brands were represented, as well as a selection of their house brand, which I believe the gentleman there said was made by the folks at Don Leoncio/Pinar del Rio.  They didn’t have a lot of the new items in yet, but were making room.  The regular Cain line was marked down, for example, and, as if I needed any more cigars, I felt compelled to pick up a couple each of the Habano torpedos and Maduro 660s for $4.95 each.  If you find yourself in the Montgomery County, PA area stop in and have a cigar.  I’m pretty picky about cigar shops, and this one carries my seal of approval (worth the paper it’s printed on…..)

 

Some of this weeks cigars:

 

Emilio AF2 – the last of a pair that Gary Griffith sent me.  I finally got to meet Gary at the IPCPR show. Yup, the guy operates not 25 miles from my home and I have to go 3000 miles away to meet him, pathetic, I know.  Gary is a great guy, and introduced me to a few folks at the show which I’m grateful for.  He also is 3 for 3 with the cigars he’s generously shared with me, the Grimalkin, and the Emilio AFs 1 and 2.  I really dig all of them, and really can’t pin down a favorite, I like each one for different reasons.  The AF2 is just a lovely medium to full bodied cigar that I enjoyed with my last bottle of Reed’s Ginger Brew, on my front porch watching the rain come down.

 

Cusano CRA Edition – I don’t have too much information on this, except that it came as a result of my renewal of my Cigar Rights of America membership last December.  It has what I’m going to guess is an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper that gave the smoke a dry mouth feel and had a little bit of acidity.  Not a bad cigar, but, to me, it wasn’t particularly memorable either.  Unfortunately I went 0 for 2 on the CRA cigars, as the Casa Fernandez wasn’t exceptional either.  Can’t complain, they only cost me $2.50 each over and above the cost of the membership, and are for a good cause.  Every year I hope for a CRA edition Opus or Liga Privada…hasn’t happened yet.  Still, it’s nice for the sponsoring manufacturers to provide some different cigars for joining. If I may vent a little: As a CRA member, I find it a lttle insulting when the CRA gives away a years membership, AND a 10 pack of the CRA edition cigars with the paid admission to certain events.  I don’t want to take away from the events, because we NEED cigar events, and the CRA NEEDS members to fight so that we can continue to HAVE cigar events.  But I feel like giving away the memberships ($35 for the membership, $99 for the 10 pack of cigars, $125 for admission to an all day event, admittedly a great deal for the attendee) defeats the purpose of raising funds for the organization.  I guess I feel like my contribution is going toward giving other people free memberships instead of fighting for our freedoms.  Of course, the gamble is that all the people receiving the free memberships will join next year, but I think the majority will either expect a free renewal at the event next year or won’t even think about contributing because it doesn’t represent a value to them (it was free).  Anyway, I think giving the memberships away dilutes the funds available to fight the fight, and I don’t think I like that…your opinions and comments are welcome and appreciated, maybe I’m not seeing the whole picture and someone will set me straight!  Again, no offense to the event that I have quite obviously failed to name, I wish I could attend, it sounds like a good time!

I haven’t really dug into the trade show samples this week, but here’s a fun little video from the show:

That’s about all I have for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | July 24, 2011 · 9:18 am

Las Vegas Trip – IPCPR Day Two – Monday July 18

Monday is the opening day of the IPCPR show and it starts with a breakfast meeting. The buffet is quite generous and the coffee was hot and in good supply. Oddly there were no ashtrays on the tables, and I didn’t see a lot of folks smoking. Plenty of time for that. Some of the highlights of the meeting were Joe Rowe’s retirement as Executive Director and William Spann being appointed his replacement as CEO. All of the important folks at the IPCPR were recognized and awards were given. The IPCPR does a lot in the way of lobbying to try to keep our beloved hobby from being crushed. Every chance you get, please visit the IPCPR website and use their tool to send a letter to your representatives. I’ve put a widget on the right sidebar that will take you right there. It’s especially important to contact them regarding FDA regulation and remind them that in addition to regulation crushing the cigar business in the US, closing small businesses, it will decimate the economies of the cigar producing countries who will turn to us for aid. This has been a public service announcement.

 

After the business portion of the meeting, the guest speaker was introduced. Ron White is a brand ambassador for Zino Platinum and entertained us with his humor. OK, I’m understating this as he was fricken hysterical. We got a 15 minute show which was packed with non-PC humor. He’s a funny, funny guy who loves cigars and is very passionate about them. He could be seen walking the show floor later in the day, and did a meet and greet at the Davidoff booth on the following day. It was a very cool breakfast.

 

Breakfast wrapped up and everyone gathered at the entrance to the exhibit hall waiting to enter. I quickly found out that “media” was allowed in ahead of the retailers so I set up next to Jerry Cruz of Stogie Review and took the very boring “stampede” video which I posted last week. It’s always quite impressive to see the waves of humanity entering the exhibit space, which, I might add, it enormous. I took a quick wander around the perimeter and spent the day talking to people and getting little videos which I will present to you throughout the coming months. The bigger booths seemed the busiest on day one, and there seemed to be a lot more people here than there were in New Orleans last year. Drew Estate‘s booth was packed for almost the entire 3 days I was at the show, and General Cigar, Alec Bradley, Davidoff, Oliva, Altadis, Perdomo, Fuente, to name a few, always seemed to be busy.

Today’s video is a brief chat with Bill Paley of La Palina Cigars.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbcUsEfafnI

 

 

By the way, I had a relaxing afternoon yesterday with my wife, an Oja Connecticut Destacado and a bottle of Reeds’s Ginger Beer in my in-laws pool. It was a wonderful way to beat the 100+ degree heat here in PA. I hope to get there today and repeat the experience.

 

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | February 5, 2011 · 9:07 am

This Weeks Cigars: Nub, Tabacos Baez, Punch, Partagas – Saturday February 5, 2011

I’m making every attempt to get into shape before going to Nicaragua, despite the terrible weather, which has been less than ideal for outdoor smoking.  I’ve kicked up the evening walk routine which I used two years ago to lose 23 pounds. Walking makes the cold bearable.  I need to build up my stamina so I can handle the physical rigors of travel as well as the anticipated non-stop cigar consumption.

I started the week with a Nub Cameroon 358.  I picked up a few of these at an event last year and felt like smoking one.  I enjoy these cigars quite a bit despite my initial feeling that they were gimmicky.  I like the Cameroon wrapper over the Habano, but have yet to try the Connecticut or Maduro.  These have that delicious Camerooniness that I enjoy, especially in the winter.  My only complaint is that these are too short, which I know is the point, but I’d like it to last a little longer. They are also tricky to finish while wearing gloves.

Next up was a Tabacos Baez Serie SF Robusto which I picked up in New Orleans.  This is a budget priced, mixed filler cigar that is purported to be 75% long filler and 25% short.  I’ve smoked a few of these and never noticed anything that would indicate it was different from a long filler cigar.  Tasty cigar, on the milder side of medium in strength and body, a very nice cigar for any time of day.

Wednesday brought freezing rain and ice, which canceled work for the day, and gave me an opportunity to take an early walk and enjoy an Upper Cut by Punch Robusto.  This cigar was in a sampler that I received last year from General Cigar.  This cigar features filler tobacco from Ometepe, Nicaragua as well as Dominican and Nicaraguan tobacco.  In truth, I chose poorly when I selected this cigar, as it turned out to be a little colder and windier than I anticipated.  This would have been better saved for a warm spring evening on the front porch, but it was still an enjoyable cigar which burned well and had a pleasing flavor.  This has a foot band, and I hate those, but I’ll pick up a few more of these in the future anyway.

I wound up the week with an old favorite, the Havana Partagas Petit Coronas Especiales.  These are a perfect sized cigar for me at 5.2″ x 42 and a really nice, fairly priced Havana.  They have that little something that only Cuban cigars have and I really enjoy.  It burned well and was very satisfying on my evening walk.  I’ve had these for almost a year and they keep getting better. I hope I can hold on to the rest of the box for a few more years to see how they age.

That’s about it for the week, it’ll be interesting to see what the next week has in store.  There is talk of more winter weather in our future, I’ll be very happy when spring is here!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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