Tag Archives: Patina

by Craig Vanderslice | December 22, 2024 · 10:50 am

Catastrophic Failure, a Couple of Adventuras and a Patina Cigar

I was passing through the Harrisburg area last week and made a quick stop at Harrisburg Beer and Cigar where I grabbed a couple “new to me” cigars for this week. The primary motivator was the Catastrophic Failure from Powstanie Cigars. I thought this was a terrible name, but I was intrigued by the thought of a Sumatra wrapped cigar made by Nica Sueńo. I also was interested because Kaplowitz gave it an A-, high praise. These are very limited, 500 ten count bundles, and I got the last two that they had. This is a 5½” x 52 box-pressed robusto,with an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper, Mexico and Pennsylvania double binder, and fillers from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. Lots to look forward to here. I lit this up on Wednesday, when I participate in what I call a support group, several cigar guys on a video call smoking and shooting the shit. This is a really nice cigar, well behaved, which isn’t surprising considering the factory. It has what I think of as a hard candy, but it’s a spiced hard candy, and I haven’t been able to find it in the wild. I really enjoyed it, the PA and San Andrés binder seemed to add quite a bit to the blend, beefed it up, I guess. Definitely not a Catastrophic Failure, but I think the Szczepankiewicz boys like irony. Including their name in a post almost uses up my allotted number of letters.

James happened to be there at Harrisburg Beer and Cigar (because he works there) and gave me a couple of exclusive cigars to HB&C/BL Luxuries which I found interesting. These are variations on the King’s Gold and Queen’s Pearls in ADVentura‘s The Royal Return line (they should offer seconds as the Jester’s Junk, just a thought…), in a barber pole format. Here’s what confuses me: These cigar look identical except for the band. They’ve added a Ecuador Connecticut wrapper to the Broadleaf wrapper on the King’s Gold and vice versa to the Queen’s Pearls. I thought James said the two were the same blend with opposite wrapper but I think I better understand, unless the only difference between the two is the wrapper, in which case I’m still confused. I don’t know a lot about ADVentura, typically the Henderson Ventura blends don’t particularly appeal to me. I warned James about this. These are sold in ten count boxes containing five of each. I smoked these on consecutive evenings, starting with the Queen’s Pearls. This has both Ecuador Connecticut and Broadleaf wrappers, an Ecuador binder and Dominican, Ecuador and Nicaraguan fillers. I got a distinct cinnamon bun flavor on the cold draw, which was weird. This didn’t continue when it was lit. It had some citrus tang and woody/leathery flavors throughout. Maybe a little creaminess. While not my preference, it was a very good cigar.

The Royal Return King’s Gold Barber Pole is also a 6″ x 54 toro with a Broadleaf and Ecuador Connecticut striped wrapper, San Andrés binder, and fillers from DR, USA and Nicaragua. I should like this one more, right? I remember smoking the “normal” King’s Gold and was neither repulsed nor impressed, it was just a decent cigar. Like an idiot, I forgot to look for that Cinnabon flavor on the cold draw, I just dug with in. I think this is a little more cocoa/coffee forward than the Pearls, with the same wood/leather undercurrent, of which I’m not a fan. Great burn and draw, enjoyable flavor, these are very nice. I imagine smoking these two at the same time they would be hard to tell apart, at least for me. I could definitely tell they were closely related. I appreciated being allowed to smoke these, thanks to Nick and James at Harrisburg Beer and Cigar/BL Luxuries.

I spied a freshpack of Patina Robustos on the rack and picked one up because I like Patina cigars, and Mo the owner, and I don’t see them around much. James brought out a Patina LE 2024 robusto that has recently come in. I think this is one of the reasons my bill was so high, I didn’t ask questions, I just bought. This is a 5″ x 54 Robusto with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, San Andrés binder, and fillers from the U.S. and Nicaragua. It’s made at NACSA, which is where the Broadleaf Dunbarton cigars and several other brands, are made. NACSA is an older factory, owned by the Oliva tobacco company and perhaps Lew Rothman still has a stake. For many years this factory pumped out tons of JR Cigars bundles. It’s become a major player in premium cigars largely due to Saka going in to make Mi Querida and teaching them how to make excellent cigars. I wouldn’t normally spent close to $20 on a robusto, or any cigar for that matter, but this was an excellent cigar, right up my alley. Rich, meaty, espresso/cocoa, al the things I love in a cigar. To be honest, if I smoked this blind I might have guessed it was one of Saka’s broadleaf blends. I’m sure Mo will be pleased that I say that. It’s a great cigar, my favorite of the week.

That’s all for today, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and happy holidays to everyone. Until the next time (when I should have a holiday giveaway, I guess!),

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Adventura, BL Luxuries, Catastrophic Failure, cigar, cigars, Harrisburg Beer & Cigar, Kings Gold, LE 2024, Patina, Powstanie, Queen's Pearls

by Craig Vanderslice | July 31, 2022 · 9:21 am

West Tampa Tobacco Cigars, a Street Taco Carnitas and a Patina Sumatra

I’ve started smoking some PCA show samples now that I feel fully recovered from the post-Vegas Covid situation. I started out revisiting the West Tampa Tobacco Co. Black and White. Rick went out of his way to give me a 6×60 from a bundle, that had never been in a box! This is significant because I told him about an experience I had initially with the cigars I had sourced locally. This was the first cigar I smoked, and it was very good. If you refer back to the video interview with Rick (HERE), he explains how the Black and White have the same wrapper, it’s just fermented differently. The Black has nice espresso notes and is up my alley. The construction was perfect and everything tasted the way it should.

I had another West Tampa Tobacco Co.White Toro that Ricky also gave me, which was also very good, but I find the Black suits my palate more. The White has more of a woody character, with some citrus tang to me. Rick explained that the White was blended more for the European palate, with the wrapper being highlighted, and the darker wrapper Black highlighting the filler blend. I like them both, but the Black is better for me. I still have to try the robusto. GOod stuff from a very small factory in Esteli.

Thursday evening I had the pleasure of being a guest on the All About Wine Podcast, of all things. We had a panel of folks talking about cigars. I pre-gamed with a Rojas Cigars Street Taco Carnitas, the Connecticut shade version of the Street Taco. This has an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers. I had the 5″ x 50 robusto. Oddly, this comes in a Robusto and Toro, with the 5½” x 46 Short Corona being the closest thing to a small ring gauge in the line. I think of a corona being 5″ x 42, so I’m not sure I understand the name. Regardless, the robusto was very good. It was creamy, with some oomph to it. There was some spice and it wasn’t a mild Connecticut. Considering that shade wrappers are fairly low on my preference list, this one was very good.

Finally, when I met with Mo Maali at the show, he gave me a Patina Sumatra. This is his new release, which excited me for a few reasons. First, I’ve enjoyed the Patina line in general, Maduro and Habano, I don’t think I ever had the Connecticut (see above). They are made in the NACSA factory where Mi Querida cigars are made, as well as several others! I want to say that factory mad the majority of JR’s Alternatives bundle brand, which is millions of cigars. NACSA is one of the largest factories in Nicaragua. The other reason I was looking forward to this is because I really love Sumatra wrapped cigars! This one didn’t disappoint. It had the sugar cane sweetness that I really like. It burned perfectly and gave me a great experience. Check out my video with Mo here. Good stuff!

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Black, Carnitas, cigar, cigars, Patina, Rojas, Street Taco, Sumatra, West Tampa Tobacco Co., White

by Craig Vanderslice | July 15, 2022 · 8:00 am

PCA 2022: Patina Cigars

There are a few people in the cigar industry who crossover into different areas. Mo Maali is one of those. In addition to being the owner of Patina Cigars, he’s also on a podcast called Sultans of Smoke. Mo is one of the people who are in my ear on a fairly regular basis, so I may know him better than he knows me. There are a few people like this in the industry, I’m doing my best to interview them all. Mo displays his Patina brand in the Sutliff Tobacco booth, along with several other brands. As Mo explains in the video, the distribution arrangement with Sutliff relieves a lot of pain points for a small brand. Enjoy the video!

Patina cigars are really quite good. I’m looking forward to trying the new one, and I’ve enjoyed the core line quite a bit. I’d have smokied it by now if it wasn’t for this Covid nonsense. I seem to like a lot of cigars made in the NACSA factory.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Patina, PCA, Sultans of Smoke, Sutliff

by Craig Vanderslice | February 6, 2022 · 10:44 am

TPE2022: The Brands of Sutliff Tobacco Distributing, Patina, Emperors Cut, Etc.

No video this time, I should have done some videos in the Suliff booth, but it was the first day when I visited, and it was very busy. On Wednesday, the first day if the show, my plane landed around 11:30 and I got an Uber right to the show, I think I was on the floor by 12:45. I actually wasn’t really planning to get to the show at all on Wednesday, but things worked out better than I expected. I decided it made more sense to go right to the Convention Center than to try to check in the hotel early and goof around with that sort of stuff. It also helped that I ran into Mark Weisenberger, of Box Press Sales and Marketing, on the plane and shared the Uber with him to the show. So I used Wednesday to get my bearings and come up with a plan for the next couple days. Back to the Sutliff booth. I’ve known Anne Dinkins at Sutliff for years, she used to be my contact at Villiger Cigars years ago. I make a point to stop and say hello to her if nothing else. She, in turn, introduces me to the brands that Sutliff distributes. This year there were a few new ones that I didn’t know much about, and a few I had known for a while.

One brand that was there that I really like was Patina Cigars. I was happy to meet Mo Maali, I hear him all the time on his Sultans of Smoke podcast so I feel like I know him. I may have met him before…I feel like he knew who I was. Social media can blur the lines between what’s real and not sometimes. I feel bad that I didn’t spend more time with him, and regret not circling back and doing a video with him. Patina is a great line of cigars. They are made in the same factory that Saka’s Mi Querida cigars are made in, NACSA, so the quality is top notch. I smoked a Patina Habano that I had in my humidor when I got home and it was spectacular. It had that cane sugar sweetness that I love. I know it’s one that I’ll be grabbing at Son’s the next time I get over there (which needs to be soon). Mo handed me a Maduro, which I definitely need to sample. I’m a big fan, I hope he gets out this way for a visit one of these days, I know he works with several stores in the Philadelphia area.

There were several brands in the Sutliff booth that I’ve featured on these pages before that I was able to put faces with names finally, Desiree from Drunk Chicken Cigars and Steve Zengel of Los Caidos Cigars. There were also a few people I’ve known for a long time, like Enrique Seijas of Matilde cigars and Eddie Tarazona of…what was the name of his company? Oh, right, Tarazona Cigars 😁. I finally met Marcel and Henderson of Adventura Cigars, who might have had the busiest corner of the booth. Henderson gave me a Queens Pearls, which has been getting a lot of buzz, and I smoked it this week and it was OK, I may have to pick up another one to give it a second shot. A friend gifted me a Kings Gold which looks more to my liking. Honestly, it takes a heck of a Connecticut cigar to get my attention.

Anne seemed most anxious to introduce me to Greg Willis of Emperors Cut Cigars. It turns out that Greg had e-mailed me several years ago about advertising and I was, let’s say, diplomatically dismissive. We had a good laugh. I smoked the Natural Pleasure Gan Robusto yesterday. This was a 5½” x 56 cigar made in Nicaragua, with a Colorado Maduro wrapper, Ecuadoran binder, and fillers from Estelí, Nicaragua. It was an earthy Nicaraguan blend with very little sweetness. It was very different than what I expected. I think it was more on the umami side of the flavor spectrum that what I typically am drawn to. That being said, it certainly performed well and it wasn’t off-putting in any way. I enjoyed it as a change from what I typically enjoy. Make sense? Maybe not, but I look forward to trying the Jazz series cigar Greg gave me.

Sutliff’s booth was very busy when I was there, of course they are also, probably primarily, a pipe tobacco company, so there was a lot of pipe tobacco displayed in the booth as well. As I don’t care about that, I don’t cover it. I always enjoy seeing old friends and meeting new people though! I hope I didn’t miss anyone. Thanks again to Anne for taking time to show me around.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Adventura, cigar, cigars, Drunk Chicken Cigars, Emperors Cut, Los Caidos, Matilde, Patina, Sutliff, Tarazona, TPE

by Craig Vanderslice | August 18, 2021 · 9:30 pm

Patina Habano and Stolen Throne Call To Arms Cigars

Last weekend when I stopped by Son’s Cigar Lounge I picked up a few cigars I hadn’t smoked before. Even though they are still filling the humidor (it turns out my guess of 15% of capacity in Sunday’s post was spot on as confirmed by Vince), they have an impressive selection of boutique cigars. I bought some Patina Habanos, having not had that before, and having recently enjoyed the Maduro. These are made in the same factory that Dunbarton’s Mi Querida and Umbagog are made. This cigar has an Ecuador Habano wrapper and Nicaraguan and Pennsylvania fillers. This cigar is another example of a cigar that I enjoy in the Habano over the Maduro. There is a sugary sweetness that that I really enjoyed throughout this cigar. This is definitely an enjoyable cigar that I quite enjoyed. I’ve been hearing about this line for a while on the Sultans of Smoke podcast, on which the brand owner, Mo Maali is one of the hosts.

Tonight I smoked a Call to Arms Robusto from Stolen Throne Cigars. I’ve smoked the Crook of the Crown on several occasions, I was always drawn to the San Andrés wrapper on the Crook of the Crown, which is delicious, but I haven’t seen the Call to Arms until I saw it on Saturday. Of course, I picked up a couple robustos. The Call to Arms has a Sumatra wrapper, with Nicaraguan binder and fillers. I like the wrapper slightly closed over the foot of the cigar. I went into this cigar with an idea of what I thought I should be tasting, always a mistake. I didn’t get the sweetness I wanted, but it was a good smoke. It was on the earthy side, I suppose, and it burned perfectly. I have another one to which I will pay more attention, as I was involved in conversation while smoking this one. I certainly didn’t not like it, it was a perfectly good cigar, but I’m leaning toward the Crook as far as personal preference goes.