Tag Archives: Ortega

by Craig Vanderslice | January 15, 2023 · 10:31 am

Cubao, Wunderlust and Protocol Cigars and Gigantar!

I was poking around one of the humidors and realized I’d smoked a few Cubao Cameroon Churchills from Ortega Cigars and never mentioned them here. Eddie is still making some great cigars, he’s using the TACASA S.A. factory. This cigar has a Cameroon wrapper, like the name suggests, Indonesian binder and Nicaraguan fillers. It smoked well and had a pleasing flavor. There was the nutty Cammerooniness that is inherent in the wrapper. Well worth $20 for a five pack, as all of the cigar I’ve smoked from Ortega seem to be. Shop Ortega Cigars and sign up for his email list, great bargains and cigars! I am especially fond of the Serie D Maduros!

I smoked another cigar from my Secret Santa this year, a Wunder|lust Fiorella, from RomaCraft. This is a brand that’s only sold in Germany, from what I can tell. The cigar is a corona gorda, 5 5/8″ x 46, has a Mata Fina wrapper from Brazil, Indonesian binder and, one would suspect, although it’s not disclosed, Nicaraguan fillers. The Europeans seem to like Brazilian tobacco, brands like Villiger actually make cigars there for the European market. For those who don’t know, this size is named for Skip Martin’s youngest daughter. I love the size, always been one of my favorites after the toro. Clearly, this cigar has Manbacco and Tastoterone, like it’s sibling blends, with a bold punch to start out. It continues to be a full bodied cigar for me, surprised the Europeans like this so much. I love the coffee notes and heavy tobacco. This is probably hard to get, but definitely worthwhile!

Yesterday I had a chance to talk to someone I featured in my “Celebrity Cigar Chats” back in 2010, Jim Babjak, guitar player and founding member of The Smithereens. We went to the unveiling of the Illinois Rock And Roll Museum‘s newest piece, which will be on their Rt 66 building. It’s a 24’ guitar sculpture, Gigantar, which was made by Shannon, world famous for her airbrush paintings. This is an impressive sculpture which will be making its way to it’s new home from The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ, which is where the unveiling took place. Jim and Dennis Diken, the drummer for the Smithereens, were there for the unveiling, and Rick Nielsen from Cheap Trick (another cigar guy), will be in Joliet, IL for the dedication. It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen Jim an Dennis, and while it was too cold and windy outside for us to smoke, I gifted Jim a couple cigars. I’ve been a fan of the Smithereens since the ’80s and it was really cool to talk to Jim about cigars!

Last night I grabbed another Churchill, the Protocol Cyber Crimes Unit, from a Protocol Churchill sampler I bought from Discount Cigar Warehouse, and I think some of these may be exclusive to that store. Anyway, I’ve been rather looking forward to smoking this cigar, it’s a Nicaraguan puro with a Rosado Nicaraguan Habano wrapper, which smoked much darker than that, if that makes sense. I absolutely loved this cigar. It has a creaminess, but with heavy cocoa flavors. Bittersweet chocolate came to mind. I thought it was great and have to get some more. Good stuff!

That’s enough for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

2 Comments

Filed under Events, Review

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Cubao, Cyber Crimes Unit, Fiorella, Gigantar, Illinois Rock And Roll Museum, Ortega, Protocol, RoMaCraft, smithereens, Wunderlust

by Craig Vanderslice | July 11, 2021 · 10:26 am

La Alianza Rosado, 1881 Perique, Murder Hornet and LCA Thoughts, and Ortega Serie D Connecticut Cigars

While roughly half of the cigar industry is in Las Vegas at the PCA show, I’m here maintaining the status quo. I have my reasons for not going, ranging from not being ready to travel, to being unwilling to commit resources to something that has failed to appreciate it in the past. I hope everyone has a great show and enjoys themselves, and there’s a lot of folks I miss seeing and meeting. I have been scounging to find new cigars to smoke, so one that was new, to me, at least, was a La Alianza Rosado which was gifted to me by my friend Patrick. I’m not sure if this is a catalog exclusive or what, but it was the Churchill Extra at 7″ x 54, and has Nicaraguan binder and filler with an Ecuador Sungrown (?) Rosado wrapper. Of course, this wrapper description doesn’t really tell us much. Rosado is a color, Ecuador is known for its cloud cover so the sungrown part is sketchy, unless it’s grown in a sunny part of Ecuador, which is could be, I suppose. I don’t know Ecuador very well. It’s made by Ernesto Carillo, so that’s good enough for me. A little shopping around tells me it’s a reasonably priced cigar, at around $7, and I’d have to say this is an outstanding value. I really enjoyed the cigar, it burned well, and reminded me a little bit of the third iteration of the El Rico Habanos, the ones Holts sold in the paper bundles around 2000. They weren’t like the strong ones in the mid ’90s, they were more medium bodied, and had a nice, sweet flavor. This was a nice smoke! Thanks PJ!

My next selection goes back about five years into the humidor. Since Saka is going on and on about making cigars with pipe tobacco, I thought I’d smoke a cigar with some Perique in the blend. I wrote this in 2016 about the 1881 Perique Maduro by Tabacalera Incorporada: “The cigar has a Dominican maduro wrapper, binder form the Philippines (from a 1997 crop), and the filler is 18% Perique from a farm in Louisiana owned by Daughters & Ryan and Philippine leaf. Perique is typically a pipe tobacco, it’s usually blended because it’s very strong, and has a distinctive flavor. This type of tobacco was being cultivated in Louisiana by the local Native American tribes when Europeans wandered into the area in the 1700s.” At that time Daughters & Ryan was distributing this line in the U.S., but I don’t think that’s the case any longer. After five years in the humidor, the cigar is still very good. The fruitiness and sweetness I noted five years ago are still there, it’s still a unique cigar, although the flavors are less distinct, they’ve melded a little over time. It was a very enjoyable smoke, and that’s not something I thought I’d ever have said about a cigar from the Philippines!

While I was at the LouLiga Lounge last week I picked up a Room 101 Murder Hornet, which is a Limited Cigar Association release. The LCA is part of the Privada Cigar Club, which is directly associated with the LouLiga Lounge, I would venture to guess they are partners in some manner. That’s irrelevant to this. I’m going to be a little controversial. The LCA is the company that put out cigars like the Cigarbon, Cookie Monster, Death Bucket, etc. They create a stir, always sell out, in kind of a hit and run sort of fashion. I assume it’s the same model as Caldwell’s Lost and Found and a lot of Cigar Federation’s cigars, short runs that they pick up in factories and repackage. I’m sure there’s great margine and these are really good for retailers. I personally don’t care for the branding, especially the stuff which could potentially be perceived as having appeal to children. Hate groups like Tobacco Free Kids would be all over the Cookie Monster and you could explain it until you’re blue in the face (yeah, I know), and it wouldn’t matter, you’ may as well be injecting babies with heroin. Anyway, I’m not a fan of the whole thing, I’m sure the Privada Cigar Club is great, and I’m sure retailers love the LCA, but as a consumer, and a fairly traditional old dude, I’m not feeling it. that being said, the Murder Hornet was excellent. It’s 5 ½” x 44 corona and is made at the Raíces Cubanas factory in Honduras. It’s a bit of a throwback (sic) to the old Room 101 cigars, I suppose, as it’s Honduran, at least I suspect some of it is. It wasn’t killer strong, it was well balanced, some sweet leather and nuts, and enjoyable. Not a huge corona fan, but I smoked it slow and rather enjoyed it.

Finally, I had forgotten to smoke the Ortega Serie D Connecticut that I had bought a while ago in the sampler. I corrected that problem last evening. This was new to me, I don’t think Eddie had a Connecticut in his original Serie D line up. This one has an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper, Ometepe binder (that’s interesting!) and Nicaraguan fillers. I would recommend going on the Ortega website and buying these, because they are very good. I have a few shade cigars I really like, but most of them are on the lower tier and I put off smoking them, as evidenced by this one. Ones I like a lot, coincidentally, are made in Honduras. This one is rich and creamy. It is smooth with no bitterness or grassy flavors. It’s like a good coffee with cream and sugar (I drink mine black, so call it an iced coffee with cream and sugar). I really enjoyed it and ordered more. Eddie’s cigars are really good!

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

CigarCraig

1 Comment

Filed under Editorial, Review

Tagged as 1881 Perique Maduro, cigar, cigars, La Alianza, LCA, Murder Hornet, Ortega, Privada, Room 101, Serie D, Tabacalera Incorporada

by Craig Vanderslice | June 6, 2021 · 8:13 am

More Ortega Cigars: The Jalapa, M3 and Cubao

I worked on finishing off the Ortega sampler that I ordered, so far I have my favorites, and I still have the Serie D Connecticut yet to smoke (I’ll probably smoke it today). I found a Cult cigar from a few years ago in my humidor which is made at the same factory which I may smoke later as well. The Cult cigars were made for Quality Importers, where, ironically, Eddie Orega spent a short time working, which may explain his association with the TACASA factory. I started out with the Jalapa Habano, which has a plain band which is reminiscent of another brand, and I hope that doesn’t cause any problems down the line. This was a tasty cigar, fairly heavy on the spice, which I wasn’t expecting. The wrapper is a Jalapa Habano, the binder is San Andrés and the fillers are Nicaraguan. I enjoyed this cigar, and I’m really interested in smoking the Maduro version, and I’ll order some once they show available on the website. I notice a lot of things are out of stock on the site right now, I’ll ask Eddie when he’s expecting a shipment. He does seem to have the samplers available though! Anyway, the Jalapa Habano was a good smoke.

The M3 Habano was next, and it has the same wrapper as the Jalapa, with difference being the binder which is is from Nicaragua in this case and the fillers from Nicaragua. This was a bit less spicy, but also had a little kick. Something I notice with the entire range of cigars is that either they all seem to burn a little faster than I’m used to, or maybe time is just passing faster this week. It’s not as if they are loosely rolled or anything, they all have burned perfectly, I don’t know the answer. Perhaps it’s just the style in which they are made. It could just be that they are good and they are gone and leaving me wanting more. Let’s go with that. Again, I’d be interested in trying the Maduro version.

Finally, and perhaps my favorite of the bunch next to the Serie D Maduro, is the Cubao Habano. This is one of the original brands from EO Brands that was originally made by Pepin Garcia. It’s now being offered in four wrappers, Habano, Maduro, Sumatra and Cameroon. I’ll take a sampler of Cubao please! If I had any complaint it would be that my device spellchecked “Cubao” to Cuban” and I didn’t catch it and had to edit my social media posts. The Cubao Habano hit my palate just right. It had the perfect balance of sweetness, spice and earthiness. I dug it. I smoked it later than usual, and it wasn’t so strong as to cause me any more trouble sleeping than usual. This was a terrific smoke and I greatly enjoyed it. I’m tempted to shop for some five packs as the Cubao seem to be in stock. Good stuff from a great guy. I’m looking forward to smoking that Serie D Connecticut later!

I still have to put together a contest, I’ve been slacking! I’ll work on that. There’s a chance I’ll be talking to Kaplowitz on his Instagram Live or Facebook Live this afternoon, so keep an eye out for that (he’s very entertaining). Until the next time,

CigarCraig

2 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Cubao, Habano, Jalapa, M3, Ortega

by Craig Vanderslice | June 2, 2021 · 10:27 pm

A Few Ortega Serie D Cigars

As I mentioned in my Sunday post, Ortega Cigars is a new partner on the site. I purchased the sampler that’s featured in the ad that’s running currently, and it arrived promptly. It’s an amazing deal, I almost feel guilty recommending it, as it must be a big losing proposition. Anyway, Like I said before, I’ve known Eddie Ortega for many years. I believe I met Eddie at a local shop here when he had a 601 La Bomba Event, back when they were made by Pepin Garcia. It was about ten years ago because my then 21 year old son was with me and he had his first taste of Zacapa rum courtesy of Eddie. I’ve only made it through three of the seven cigars so far, but I’m pleased with the new offerings. The first cigar I tried out of the pack was the Serie D Habano. This was a powerful cigar with a lot of pepper. It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, Indonesian binder and Nicaraguan fillers. I don’t remember the old version being this spicy, but this one was very good if that’s the kind of cigar you like. All the cigars in the sampler are the toro vitola, which, of course, is great for me. The burn and draw were perfect.

The second one I tried was the Serie D Black. I think I remember this cigar coming out at the tail end of Eddie’s first go around, and I wanted to try it but never got the chance. The Serie D Black sounds like it should be a maduro cigar, but it isn’t. It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and fillers. While this is very close in make-up to the Serie D Habano, it was very different in flavor, much smoother and mellower. This was a pretty nice cigar!

Tonight I smoked the Serie D Maduro, a sharply box pressed toro with a San Andrés wrapper, Indonesian binder and Nicaraguan fillers. This is probably the Ortega cigar with which I was the most familiar, obviously it’s been years since I’ve smoked one. I still have one left, although there’s no sense trying to compare a several year old cigar to a new one. Eddie’s using a different factory, TACASA S.A., which has made cigars in the past for Veritas, as well as having worked with Quality Importers, where Eddie worked at one time and who distributed Ortega cigars a few years ago. The new Serie D Maduro is a tasty Mexican Maduro, with some spice and rich earthiness.

I still have four cigars to go in the sampler, I’m interested in the Serie D Connecticut, not that I typically gravitate toward Connecticuts, but I don’t recall that wrapper in the original lineup and I’m curious to see how it smokes. The Cubao was a great cigar that I look forward to revisiting as well and the M3 and Jalapa look really interesting, both featuring Jalapa tobacco. I’m excited. Welcome back Ortega Cigars!

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

CigarCraig

1 Comment

Filed under News

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Ortega, Serie D

by CigarCraig | August 18, 2013 · 12:29 pm

IPCPR 2013 – Ortega Cigars: a Cubao, a Serie D and Minis

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Eddie Ortega and his cigars, going back as far as the REO. While I haven’t gotten around to sampling any of his Wild Bunch series, I have enjoyed the heck out of the Serie D line. At the show Ortega Cigars re-released the Cubao line, and I smoked No. 5 Friday evening, at least I think that’s what it was. I should have measured it because there’s still some confusing information on the internet about this line. Many retailers still list this as an EO Brands line. It’s still made by Pepin Garcia in Nicaragua in the same blend as before. Sumatra wrappers aren’t always my first choice, but this is a darned tasty and perfectly constructed cigar. I certainly look forward to smoking more in this line.

Eddie was a tough guy to get to talk to at the IPCPR show, but I finally got a few minutes in between customers near the end and talked to him about his new cigars. Here’s a short video:

Saturday afternoon I smoked the Ortega Serie D no. 8 natural. This is a brilliant cigar, although not as brilliant as the maduro in my opinion. I always appreciate a well made cigar, and these always burn perfectly. Its got a pleasing flavor that’s satisfying and always makes me a little sad when it’s finished! Perhaps I need to get larger sizes! The maduro Serie D is awesome! Side note, when you see a picture like this one it means I was either too lazy, too negligent, or in too big a hurry to smoke the cigar to take a proper picture. Fortunately I compulsively put almost every cigar I smoke on Instagram. Sorry. 🙂

New at the show this year are the Ortega Minis. These are 4″x 38 little guys sold in 4 packs in Connecticut, Habano and Maduro wrappers. Many have speculated about the packaging for these, as they come in a cardboard box reminiscent of a Marlboro cigarette pack. Certainly the argument can be made that the premium cigar industry wants to distance itself from anything to do with cigarettes, and I have to agree. However, Eddie likes the packaging and it is what it is. The cigars are pretty amazing. Last night I started with the Ecuador Connecticut wrapped version, then smoked the Habano. They were both tasty smokes, with my personal preference leaning toward the Habano. The Connecticut was good, don’t get me wrong, and it wasn’t a mild and flavorless cigar at all. If anything it had a little acidic bite that will mellow with age. The Habano was full flavored and both cigars burned perfectly. I actually used the 5 Star Perforator on both with good results. I smoked the Maduro after the trade show closed in Vegas, sitting outside by a fountain at one of the entrances to the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace. Regular readers will not be surprised that this was my favorite of the bunch. It was rich and full of my favorite cigar flavors of espresso and cocoa. I will be picking up some of these, regardless of what I think of the packaging. These are all cool little smokes, they are like smoking half a lancero. Pretty darned yummy.

That’s it for now. We are having a little graduation/birthday party for our oldest son, Corey today, so I have to get ready for gusts to arrive and fire up the grill. I think today may be a lancero day for me, I’ve got a few in mind, unfortunately, an Ortega Serie D Maduro isn’t one of them (but is on my wanted list!).