Tag Archives: Providencia

A Trinitas, a Couple of Southern Draw and a Couple of Joya de Nicaragua Cigars

I had had some plans this week that didn’t come together, more on that later, but I wanted to highlight a few cigars I smoked during the week, as I normally do on Sundays. First one that was really the standout of the week was the Providencia Trinitas Corona. This is a new size, adding to the 6″ x 52 perfecto (read about it here), with the same San Andrés wrapper, Indonesian binder and Nicaraguan Ligero fillers. In my February 2018 post I pointed out that they misspelled “lijero” twice in the description, and they still haven’t fixed it, I’m insulted that they don’t read ?.  Anyway, of course I’m a sucker for the San Andrés wrapper, and I’m not afraid of ligero, however it’s spelled, and despite my love of the toro, there’s something about a corona gorda that always appeals to me. I believe this one might be a little shy of a corona gorda, and a little more than a corona, listed at 5¾” x 44, it falls squarely in between the two. I actually find coronas to be too small for my liking, so this was outstanding, 46 ring would be perfection. Anyway, we’ve established that I approve of the size, wrapper and perceived strength profile. The flavor did not disappoint. Since it’s a smaller ring gauge, one has to smoke it slower or it overheats and has a sharper flavor, so I smoked it slowly and savored the spice, earthiness and cocoa/coffee flavors I like in this type of cigar. Despite the “tripple ligero” designation on the band, it wasn’t overly strong, just about the right amount of strength when smoked  at the right pace. Awesome cigar, just like it’s perfecto sibling. The folks at Providencia Cigars produce some darned tasty cigars! 

 

I revisited a few Southern Draw favorites this week.  I had every intention of heading out to Colmar, PA to the CigarCigars store there on Thursday for the Southern Draw event with Robert Holt, as I hate when he’s in the area and I don’t get to say hello, but a wicked toothache ruined my day, and I didn’t feel like going anywhere. I managed to get a dentist appointment and I had some interviews the following day I wanted to be prepared for, so I decided to stay home. I had pregamed with a delicious Southern Draw Rose Of Sharon Desert Rose the night before. This is a really tasty shade cigar, with what they describe as an Ecuador Cloud Grown Claro wrapper, which is probably a more accurate description of Ecuador Connecticut. It has Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan Ligero and Dominican Piloto Cubano in the filler as well, in a 5½ x 52 box pressed belicoso shape. It’s a stunning cigar in every way.  As great as the regular Rose of Sharon line is, the Desert Rose steps it up a notch in strength and body I think. It’s no mild Connecticut cigar, that’s for sure, it’s loaded with rich, creamy flavor, and is really a delightful smoke. When I decided not to go to Colmar (to be honest, my tooth hurt so bad, if I hit a bump in the car it hurt), I grabbed a Southern Draw Kudzu Lustrum. I figured at least I could be there in spirit. The Lustrum is the company’s five year anniversary cigar, made with some very special materials. The wrapper is a Nicaraguan Habano, but it’s the Media Tiempo priming, which is a notch above Ligero, and is rare, especially large enough to produce wrapper leaves. The binder is from Ometepe in Nicaragua and the fillers are undisclosed, although one might assume they are some variation on the Kudzu blend of Nicaraguan and Pennsylvania (if I remember correctly). This is made in a the same mold as the Rose of Sharon, a box pressed 5½ x 52 belicoso. This is another lovely cigar, for a whole different set of reasons. It’s got some spice and some coffee/cocoa and savoriness and I love it. The Kudzu is really good, this is a special Kudzu. Like all of the Southern Draw portfolio, these are both made at the A.J. Fernandez factory, and I can’t recall ever having a SD cigar with anything but perfect construction. I’m sorry I missed seeing Robert, he’s a super-nice dude.

 

Joya de Nicaragua has been dropping some goodies on me lately, and I love everything about JdN. They had announced the release of the Joya Copper, an addition to their Joya line (Red, Black, Cabinetta, Silver), exclusive to Cigars International. It was one of those press releases I didn’t share because a ton of other sites had posted about it by the time I saw it, and it wasn’t a wide enough distribution really. Raise your hands, how many people heard about the Joya Copper?  Anyway, long story short, the Copper Joya Copper comes in 4 vitolas: 4 ½ x 52 Consul (MSRP $6.60), 5 x 46 Corona Gorda (MSRP $6.30), 5 ½ x 52 Robusto (MSRP $7.10) and 6 x 50 Toro (MSRP $7.80). All come in boxes of 20.  I copy/pasted that part. It’s a Nicaraguan puro, with no other details about the blend. These will be sold in the CI stores only through the end of the year, and they will be available online after the first of 2020. I’m not sure why, but the packaging and band give me a golf vibe, with the dimpled background. So far, I’ve only smoked the Consul, the 4½” x 52 robusto size. It fit into the time I had available. I’m hoping these age well because it was a good cigar, but I found it to be unremarkable, and I suppose I expect to be more pleased with a Joya. Now, I’ve not had good luck wrapping my head around the Black and the Red, fine cigars, just haven’t tripped my trigger, so there’s that. I have the other three sizes yet to smoke, and these had only been in the humidor for a week, so let’s not jump to any conclusions yet. It was properly humidified, as I checked it with the Cigarmedics Humidimeter. Back in 2013 when I went to Cigar Safari with a bunch of bloggers, we discovered a cigar that, at that time, was only being sold in the Spanish market called Rosalones. We smoked a bunch of them and some of us were taken with them. They must have listened to us, or it was a coincidence (probably the later), but Rosalones showed up after that in the catalogs. At some point I bought a ten count box of them in the Gran Consul size, with is a 4¾” x 60 figurado that Joya de Nicaragua has used on their Antaño 1970 line, and Saka used on the Todos Las Dias Double Wide Belicoso. I don’t know that this size is even around any more and I only have a few left, but boy is this a good smoke! For an inexpensive cigar, these deliver the goods. Medium bodied, classic Nicaraguan richness. I’d have to see what’s out there now and sample them, but these have aged well and are just dandy smokes. 

 

Well, that’s more than enough for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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Providencia Bloodshot, Infringement, and Killshot Cigars

On Saturday a New Jersey based Facebook Group held a herf  at Mane Street Cigars in Woodbridge to celebrate a year of existence. I would have gone, but I had to work, and I had that other thing to go to in NJ that day. Ray Zinar, one of the principals of Providencia Cigars was in attendance, and they featured several of the Providencia cigars at the herf.  Ray had sent me a few of their new offerings a few weeks ago, so I figured it was a good time to try some of them out.  I noticed a bit of a violent theme to some of the names, I started with the Providencia Bloodshot. There’s usually a story behind Providencia’s cigar names, but I didn’t get any with these.  This Bloodshot is a limited edition 6″ x 52 Toro with a San Andrés wrapper, Indonesian binder and Ometepe Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers. Of course I’m going to select the dark toro first, right? This was a nice cigar with the beautiful dark and dirty flavors from the Mexican wrapper and that special spice from the Ometepe. While the draw was a tad resistant, it was super tasty, and burned very well. I’ve found myself enjoying more cigars from Honduras lately. 

 

Next up was the Providencia Infringement. This is a 7½” x 38 Lancero, with a Habano wrapper, Indonesian binder and Honduran and Nicaraguan fillers. I’m going to make a guess here. This is purely speculation on my part, but I think this is a the same as the La Misión that was released about one year ago. The wrapper is much prettier on the Infringement, the name of which might hold a clue as maybe there was a trademark dispute with the name or something.  Did I hear that? I don’t remember honestly, but the blend seems the same, the size is the same, and I enjoyed this one as much as I enjoyed the previous one last year. For Lancero fans, this was a treat to smoke. The burn and draw were perfect, requiring gentle draws to keep from over-heating it, of course. I’ll say it again, the small ring cigars taste different because they burn hotter, so smoking them slowly and not letting them overheat is the key to proper enjoyment in my opinion. Leather, coffee and cocoa, a very good cigar with a nice, long burn time. I still have a La Misión  and the fun thing to have done would have been to have smoked them back to back to compare.  I didn’t do that, maybe I’ll smoke it tonight, or not, we’ll see.

 

Finally, last night I did smoke the KillShot Limited Edition. We get back to the violent named cigars, which seems inconsistent with the first couple cigars they produced, the El Padre and El Santo, which seemed very serene and pious. These last few have taken a more sinister turn. Perhaps Ray can weigh in in the comments section with some context. The Killshot is a 6½” x 42 Corona Larga with a Sumatra Colorado wrapper, Indonesian binder and Nicaraguan Ligero/Honduran fillers.  Like all Providencia cigars, it’s made Honduras. The company website lists this cigar as Medium, I don’t agree. I found this to be, by far, the strongest of the three outlined here today. It had loads of spice right from the start, which carried through the cigar. I don’t mind the size at all, the long corona was a nice presentation, and, kind of like the lancero, the smaller ring requires a slower approach. Still, it was stronger and I liked it. Sumatra has a different vibe than most other tobaccos and the spice complimented the homemade sausage, egg, cheddar and feta pizza my wife had made for dinner. 

 

I’m still trying to get a face to face meeting with Ray. Our schedules never seem to line up. Seems he’s a south Jersey guy who lives in Texas, so he gets to my general area now and then.  Saturday just didn’t work out, as much as I would have enjoyed attending the Jersey Cigar Club’s anniversary herf.  I met Angelo, the founder, at the PA Barnsmoker and look forward to hanging with him again, and I’ve known Alex, who manages Mane Street Cigars for several years. Sometimes it’s hard to get to do everything you want to do!  Anyway, that’s all fo now. I think I’ll motor off and visit a new lounge in the area.  Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig 

 

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News: Providencia Cigars Announces La Misión Lancero

­I had the pleasure of smoking this Lancero a week or two ago and it definitely is worthy of consideration.  Here’s the official details from my friends at Providencia Cigars:

Providencia Cigars is pleased to announce their latest, limited production, cigar – La Misión.

La Misión (The Mission) brings the company’s production line to five blends, joining the ranks of the El Santo, El Padre, Trinitas, and The Hostage. With the addition of La Misión, the company completes the story of Providencia Cigars Founder Jim Faber’s mission to Honduras which started as a professional soccer player and turned into a mission to organize youth soccer camps to get boys and girls off the street in a gang littered environment.

Jim Faber, founder of Providencia Cigars, states:

I never imagined that a short term mission trip to Honduras would turn into 15+ years of my life living and working with some of the most amazing people in the world.  “La Misión ” (the mission) is a tribute to the all the hard work and sacrifice that so many people made over those years. I was just honored to be a small spoke in the wheel in God’s vast and eternal plan.

La Misión will be available in a single 7.5 x 38 lancerofinished with a traditional pig tail cap.

The multi-country blend of La Misión starts with rich Honduran and Nicaraguan filler that is bound with a sweet Indonesian leaf all wrapped with a well-aged, dark Honduran Habano wrapper. As with all cigars produced by Providencia Cigars, the Honduran leaf used in La Misión is planted, grown, and harvested by Providencia Cigars on a private farm in Honduras.

Medium to full in strength, the La Misión blend offers a balanced profile of pepper, cocoa, and spice with an undernote of caramel sweetness.  

La Misión comes packaged in 10 – count cedar boxes and bundles of 11 with an MSRP of $9.99 per cigar/ $99.90 per box/bundle. Current production is limited to 1,050 cigars.

La Misión is produced at the La Pequena Vega Cigar Factory in Danli, Honduras.

Providencia Cigars will be taking orders and shipping La Misión starting this week.

Artwork for the La Misión was done by JT Design Studio who designed the cigar bands as well as the inner box lids.

Product photography was done by DiaVita Photography  

About Providencia Cigars

PROVIDENCIA CIGARS has three founders, Jim Faber, Reed Grafke and Raymond Zinar. Ray, Jim and Reed became friends with Javier Mendoza, a second generation plantation owner and master blender who founded La Pequena Vega Cigar Factory in Danli, Honduras.

Javier’s family plantations and drying barns are located in in the region of Trojes, Honduras, a mountainous valley nestled along the border of Nicaragua. With the perfect combination of sun and shade, plus water from mountain aquifers and Cuban-like soil, the Trojes region of Honduras produces a uniquely flavored tobacco that is highly prized in the premium cigar industry.  

For more information visit their website at www.providenciacigars.com or contact Providencia Cigars via email at info@providenciacigars.com

Hi-Def Photos are located here.

About JT Design Studio

With more than 20 years of experience in the graphic design industry. JT Design Studio specializes in custom graphics for your business to help you stand out from your competition. They offer web design and hosting services, branding, print materials, embossing, foil, die-cuts, yard signs, banners vehicle graphics, mailing services and much more.

You can contact JT Design Studio at jtdesignstudio@yahoo.com and on Facebook at JTDStudio.

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Hostage and La Misión from Providencia Cigars, Buenaventura, and a Contest!

Providencia_Hostage_ToroThis week I dug into the new cigars from Providencia Cigar Company. I warmed up last week with an El Santo, the box pressed toro with a Nicaraguan Sumatra maduro wrapper.  I really enjoy that cigar, and was excited to sample the Hostage, their newest release.  This release came with a story of Providencia Co-founder Jim Faber’s abduction at gunpoint on a Honduran youth soccer field (the story is here in the news item I posted earlier this month). Considering it’s speculated that Jim’s abductors were Mexican gang members, it’s ironic, or perhaps fitting, that this cigar has a San Andrés wrapper. The wrapper is roughly the same shade of brown as the El Santo, which isn’t as dark as many San Andrés maduros, but the real difference to me lies in the flavor. This cigar had a unique flavor that I didn’t expect. It was a warm, fresh-baked bready flavor, not the dark coffee, cocoa flavors I  thought I’d get. I think there were some almost floral notes as well, very interesting and entertaining. I am very interested in smoking another one and probably will in the very near future. I have to find out who has these in the area, I know the guys who own Providencia have some south Jersey roots, we have to get them to visit Philly one of these days!

Providencia_LaMission_LanceroAnother new cigar from Providencia hasn’t had the official press release come out yet, but I smoked it anyway because it looked really intriguing and I couldn’t wait, was a 7½” x 38 Lancero called La Misión.  This cigar has a Honduran Habano wrapper, an Indonesian binder and Honduran and Nicaraguan filler and, as I said, is a traditional Laguito No. 1 in the Cuban Vitola de Galera.  As with all of Providencia’s cigars, I believe this to be made in Honduras, and this is a difficult shape to produce, so I was quite pleased when it burned perfectly and was a pleasure to smoke until it burned my fingers. Flavor-wise, it was good, although perhaps I was spoiled by the unique flavor of the Hostage. I enjoyed the flavors it produced, they were good flavors of properly processed tobacco, with the cocoa and coffee flavors I like, with a leathery feel, and it was completely enjoyable.  I loved the size, considering I’m not a fan of short small ring gauge cigars, I do like me a lancero, and I like them a lot. I look forward to sharing the story of the La Misión when it comes out, and appreciate to folks at Providencia sending me their new goodies to try.

Curivari_BuenaVentura_BV560Several weeks ago I stopped into one of the nearby CigarCigars stores to chat with Kevin, the manager there, and he had a box of Curivari Buenaventura BV 560 on the counter and said they sold like crazy, and at $5 and change, I guess I could see why. Since I had never smoked any of the Curivari line before, let alone the Buenaventura, and had heard of them, of course, I figured it was a no-brainer to give one a shot. Kevin did say it was a great cigar, and I agree with his assessment, it was a great smoke, I enjoyed it very much. Don’t let the 560 in the name fool anyone, it’s actually not 5″ x 60, it’s 5½” x 56 (I did some research considering Curivari doesn’t seem to list this line on their site with is befuddling, so I looked at several retailers and went with the consensus, with one large one seeming to have incorrect info). I’m hoping this is a regular item in the stores, because this is a winner at a great price, it’s another cigar with a really nice flavor, it’s sweet and earthy, not heavy and burdensome on the palate, a very good smoke.

Contest!

Contest_Bleed ToolTime for another CigarCraig giveaway! This is a good one!  Last week Kevin at CigarProp.com shipped out his Kickstarter round of the Lighter Bleed Tool 2.0.  The Kickstarter was fully funded in something like 2 days, which is crazy, and it’s a super-useful tool. I’ve been using the 1.0 version religiously whenever I fill a lighter and it’s great, I never have to worry about damaging the fill valve of my expensive (or cheap) lighters with a screwdriver or other non-purpose-built tool when I bleed my lighters. Kevin very generously provided a Lighter Bleeder Tool 2.0 in Aluminum for today’s giveaway!  Since I can’t not include cigars, I am CigarCraig after all, and since Kevin just did a whole series of reviews on his Youtube channel of  Cornelius and Anthony cigars, and since Cornelius and Anthony cigars are among my favorites anyway, I selected a five-pack from my humidor to accompany the Lighter Bleeder Tool 2.0 for this giveaway! Let me tell you, the cigars I selected DO NOT SUCK! They are cigars that are my favorites and are hard to part with! Who knows what else might fall into the box while it’s being packed up. Check out Kevin’s videos, they are a hoot, leave a comment on this post to enter, and I’ll select a comment at random next Sunday, October 7, 2018. Must be of legal age to win, you know the rules. If you don’t win a bleed tool, they are available on Amazon too!

That’s all for today, hard to believe it’s the end of September already. I have to start thinking of wrapping the cigar porch for the cold weather smoking! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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News: Providencia Cigars Announces Release of “The Hostage”

Here’s some midweek news from Providencia Cigars about their much anticipated new release: 

 

Providencia Cigars is pleased to announce the release of The Hostage, the company’s latest limited production launch. The Hostage is the 4th production blend for the young Texas cigar company and it promises to be as bold as the story behind the name.

The Hostage tells the harrowing story of Providencia Cigars founder Jim Faber who was held at gun point in the parking lot of a youth soccer field in Honduras. As explained by Jim:

“Through my soccer work and mission in Honduras I got close to the mayor of the town and was eventually asked if I would consider helping young members of a gang get off the street through my soccer camps and school.  Accepting the challenge, I developed a friendship with the young players and their parents as we helped to turn their lives by way of soccer.  

One day at the field, I was abducted by some men who forced me into a car. Some of the dads stepped in to help me amidst a flurry of gun fire and I was eventually able to get free.

I was later told by the US Military investigator that a Mexican gang had moved into the country and they believed it was these gang members that tried to kidnap me.”

Faber, who lived in Honduras from 1997-2011 has a deep love for the area and the citizens of this beautiful Central American country. It is this love that drove him to create a cigar and pay tribute to those that saved his life that day.

The Hostage is a limited production, 6 x 52 box-pressed toro with a blend described as:

Wrapper – San Andrés

Binder – Indonesian

Filler – Nicaragua and Honduran Ligero

This cigar offers the experienced palate, a complex flavor profile down to the finish with a solid full-strength body of smoke.

The Hostage comes packaged in 10 count cedar boxes and bundles of 11 with an MSRP of $9.99 per cigar/ $99.90 per box/bundle. Current production is limited to 1,050 cigars.

The Hostage is produced at the La Pequena Vega Cigar Factory in Danli, Honduras.

Providencia Cigars will be taking orders and shipping The Hostage starting this week.

Artwork for The Hostage was done by JT Design Studio who designed the cigar bands as well as the inner box lids.

About Providencia Cigars

PROVIDENCIA CIGARS was founded by three compadres: Jim Faber, Reed Grafke and Raymond Zinar. Ray, Jim and Reed then befriended Javier Mendoza. Javier is a second-generation plantation owner and master blender. He founded La Pequena Vega Cigar Factory in Danli, Honduras.

Javier’s family plantations and drying barns are in the region of Trojes, Honduras, a mountainous valley nestled along the border of Nicaragua. With the perfect combination of sun, shade plus water from mountain aquifers and Cuban-like soil, the Trojes region of Honduras produces a uniquely flavored tobacco that is highly prized in the premium cigar industry.

For more information visit their website at www.providenciacigars.com or contact Providencia Cigars via email at info@providenciacigars.com

About JT Design Studio

JT Design Studio offers custom designed marketing pieces to meet your unique business objectives. JT Design Studio has 20+ years of experience in branding/logo design, social media marketing, custom website design and high-quality printing services.

Owner, Jennifer Rose, is an avid cigar smoker and has been an active supporter of the cigar industry for the last 5 years.

For more information visit their website at http://www.jtdstudio.com/ or send an email to jtdesignstudio@yahoo.com.

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