Tag Archives: Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival

by Craig Vanderslice | August 21, 2019 · 9:49 am

The Tale of Two Archetype Axis Mundis and News: Ventura Rolling Event at Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival

I’m going to tie these two things together, because they are directly related! Last month I had the pleasure of attending Michael Giannini’s rolling event at the PA Barnsmoker, and I applied the wrapper on an Archetype Axis Mundi toro. To be honest, Henry from Drew Estate jumped in and over my protestations, helped a little more than I would have liked, not understanding that I had done this before and really wanted to just have advice and not as much help. I didn’t want to be rude and say “dude, back off”, but I did make remarks like, “sorry, I haven’t done this since Willy showed me in 2013”. Anyway, I applied the wrapper and it came out pretty good, but it wouldn’t win any beauty contests. I struggled throughout the process to figure out which side of the leaf was the outside and which was the inside. Yesterday I decided to smoke the cigar and see how it was, and follow it up with the production version to compare. I watched a movie on the porch and smoked the cigar I “rolled”, and I enjoyed it a lot. The burn and draw were perfect, although it burned faster than I would have liked, although, now that I look up the running time of the movie, it did burn for an hour and forty-five minutes, so it didn’t burn that fast. It tasted great, just like the production Axis Mundi I smoked later in the evening. I have to say, I liked the draw on the one I rolled better than the production version, it was more easy and open, and the regular version had a firm draw, and needed a few relights. It was a humid day yesterday, so it’s hard to knock a cigar when the ambient conditions aren’t optimal. These have a nice espresso flavor with a tangy spice, very nice cigars made at Drew Estate, hence their presence at the Barnsmokers. The Toro is 6″ x 52, although my version seemed a tad fatter. It was a fun experiment, and who can argue smoking two great cigars in one day!

If you happen to be in Colorado Saturday, I’d encourage you to go to the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival. I attended this event back in 2014 and it was a fantastic event. There are going to be a ton of great folks there, and Michael Giannini will be doing a rolling event as well (see below). RMCF is really one of the great events in the country, I’m fortunate to have attended and would love to go back to that beautiful area.

News:

Ventura Cigar is Rolling into the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival

Michael Giannini to Host rolling event at this year’s festivities

Bringing their signature unconventional approach to their cigars, Ventura Cigar Company will be hosting a cigar rolling event at this year’s Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival. Held on August 24, 2019 in Broomfield, Colorado, the Rocky Mountain Cigar festival brings together aficionados of spirits, cigars, wines, and food, with a full day of sampling, music, games, and activities. It’s an ideal setting for Ventura Cigar Company to showcase products with attendees, but they’ve decided to take it to the next level by holding a rolling event to share the craft behind their blends. Led by Michael Giannini, industry icon and General Manager for Ventura Cigar Company, the rolling event is expected to draw several hundred people, offering a hands-on approach to cigars.

Guests of the rolling event will be treated to a VIP experience, as they roll their own Axis Mundi cigars, a popular blend from Ventura Cigar Company’s popular Archetype brand.

“Sometimes, to really appreciate the experience, you have to get your hands dirty,” says Giannini. “It’s not enough to simply smoke a cigar. To really savor it, really understand it, you have to know the backstory. We’re giving people a chance to be part of the backstory. To roll the cigar themselves, engage in the process of creation, and then truly enjoy the smoke. It’s going to be great, and I’m excited to be a part of it.”

Michael Giannini Rolling Event at Pennsylvania Barn Smoker.

To find out how to reserve a spot at Michael Giannini’s Rolling Event, please visit https://rmcigarfestival.com/tickets/. For more information about Ventura Cigar Company events, or any of our cigars, please visit venturacigar.com.

About Ventura Cigar Company

Ventura Cigar Company (VCC) is a unique cigar brand born in sunny Southern California that is on a mission to create memorable, complex cigar blends that excite the senses and reward discriminating palates. Their flagship Archetype, Case Study, Project805, and PSyKo SEVEN brands offer multiple award-winning blends that earned 90+ ratings in Cigar Aficionado, Cigar & Spirits, and Cigar Snob. And Archetype’s Axis Mundi won #13 Cigar of the Year for 2017 from Cigar Aficionado. Ventura Cigar Company also distributes Tommy Bahama Luxury Cigar Accessories and the 4th Generation Tobacconist and Comoy’s of London lines of pipe tobacco products, extending its reach and tradition of offering top-quality tobacconist products. Pipes and blends under these brands are cultivated through generations of craftsmanship, making them longtime favorites of pipe tobacco enthusiasts.

That’ all for today,

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under News, Review

Tagged as Archetype, Axis Mundi, Barnsmoker, cigar, cigars, drew estate, Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival, Ventura

by CigarCraig | October 1, 2014 · 9:56 pm

Roberto P. Duran and Azan, La Flor Dominicana and Quesada Oktoberfest Cigars and News

It’s October, hard to believe it’s autumn already and summer is gone. I’ve been all over the place in my cigar selections this week, only one minor theme this week, and that was sampling some of the new cigars from Roberto P. Duran. Last year I smoked a couple of the Azan line last year and was enthralled with the White, very high quality and unique flavor. I was excited when Gabriel Piñeres of Creativas, who is the PR firm for Azan/Roberto P Duran, sent me the new Roberto P. Duran cigars, along with the Azan Maduro Natural. The cigar I smoked was the Cacique Guama (6×60), which has a beautiful light brown Ecuador Criollo 99 wrapper, with Nicaraguan and Central American fillers. Cacique Guama was a Tainos Chief from Baracoa and great fighter against the Spanish occupation of their land, the line pays homage to Roberto Duran’s family and his family’s city of origin in Cuba. This cigar smoked very well, although some humidor time will benefit the samples I received. It’s apparent that quality materials were used, it’s a very smooth and flavorful smoke with a hint of strength. I thoroughly enjoyed it, this company is making some very nice cigars.

Monday I selected a cigar that came from the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival that I haven’t smoked before, but has been on the market for a while. The La Flor Dominicana Air Bender Torpedo appears to be a Tobacconists’ Association of America (TAA) exclusive shape, as I don’t see this shape listed in the regular production. This is listed as a strong cigar, as many in the LFD lines are, but I found it to be reasonably mild for some reason. It had a really nice flavor, and burned perfectly. I’m a reasonably recent convert to the LFDs, and I’ll be interested in trying other sizes in the Air Bender line, as I enjoyed the flavor, but maybe this size, ot this particular example, just wasn’t ideal for me. I generally like shaped cigars (actually, I don’t really discriminate), perhaps the chisel shape or a robusto will be a better fit for me.

Tuesday I took my evening walk with the Azan Maduro Natural Campaña. The Campaña size is a traditional Cuban vitola, the Bolivar Belicoso Fino, the Romeo y Julieta and Sancho Panza Belicosos fall onto this category. It’s 5½ x 52 with a tapered head. The Azan line began in Cuba in the 1920s by a Chinese immigrant,Kwan Ben Sen, who adopted the Cuban name Domingo Azan. Roberto Duran is descended from this family. As I said before, I loved the Azan White, and given my affinity for maduros I was excited to try this cigar.
The wrapper is a high priming Corojo grown in Ecuador, with Nicaraguan binder and fillers from Esteli, Jalapa and selected tobaccos from other Latin American regions. This cigar was a treat. It was solidly medium bodied and had very nice flavors of cocoa, coffee and earth. It burned well and should age well. This cigar exceeded my expectations.

Tonight, since it’s October first, I thought I’d smoke the Quesada Oktoberfest Krone, a 5″ x 43 corona. Now, I know I haven’t been a beer drinker for the better part of 25 years, but I do know that Oktoberfest is in September, but it still seemed appropriate. This cigar is blended to pair with Marzen style beers, I chose a root beer as usual. This is a strong Dominican cigar that’s loaded with flavor. The only other Quesada Oktoberfest cigar I’ve smoked was the Smoke Inn Microblend Dunkel, which was excellent. This corona was equallly excellent. It had bold flavors, burned perfectly, and my only complaint was that it was too small, I would have liked to have smoked it longer. Still, it was good for an hour or more, and look forward to smoking this line again.

I’m running out of videos from the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival. Here’s on with Terence Reilly of Quesada Cigars:

News

Travis Lord, formerly of Famous Smoke Shop, Best Cigar Prices and PipesandCigars.com launched a new website called www.Cigar.Careers which is a Monster.com, if you will, for the cigar industry. You can submit a resume and look at available job postings.

In other news, Facebook has been abuzz with rumors of a major announcement today. Jonathan Drew posted his press release on his Facebook timeline tonight: “HERE IS MY PRESS RELEASE: “I’m back on Weight Watchers” – JD” Good luck to JD on his future endeavors.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Azan, cigar, Cigar Careers, cigars, LFD, Oktoberfest, Quesada, Roberto Duran, Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival

by CigarCraig | September 21, 2014 · 10:26 am

Epic Cigars: Maduro Reserva, Corojo Reserva and Habano

When we were out in Colorado last month for the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival, we went to an event the night before at Havana Manor in Longmont, CO. with Pete Johnson and Janny Garcia. It turned out to be a cigar industry who’s who, and we ran into a bunch of friends. While there my buddy Storm Boen (Op: Cigars for Warriors) introduced us to Dean Parsons of Epic Cigars. Dean is a hockey player from Newfoundland (the Canadian province where they make the enormous dogs) who relocated to the Caribbean and got into the cigar business. Sounds like a logical progression, right? I decided to sample his wares this week, so I could slip in this video from the festival.

As if you’d expect anything else, I started out with the Epic Maduro Reserva 60×6. Brazillian Arapiraca wrappper with a Cameroon binder. Just now reading that I know why I was totally blown away by this cigar. I love that combination of wrapper and binder, you don’t see it every day. It had a very unique (and delicious) meaty flavor, like smoking a perfectly cooked steak. Just enough fat, pink in the middle, mouth watering! This is a flavor bomb of epic proportions, and certainly aptly named. This is a cigar I’ll be looking for as it really performed well in all departments, it was a hat trick, great flavor, burn and draw. It was a beautiful looking cigar too!

Friday I selected the Corojo Reserva 54×6. I appreciate the clever names Dean has given each vitola! This cigar has Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers like the Maduro, with a Corojo Ecuador wrapper over a Dominican Piloto Cubano binder. This was another great burning cigar with excellent flavor. It didn’t have the uniqueness I was hoping for, but it certainly was a solid, satisfying cigar in the medium to full flavors range. An interesting side note, Dean was telling us that he sent Altadis a cease and desist letter over the Montecristo Epic when it came out, and instead of the giant company crushing the little guy with litigation, they signed a coexistence agreement!

Yesterday I smoked the third cigar in the Epic line, the Habano. This was released at this years IPCPR show, and it has a n Ecuador Habano wrapper, a Cameroon binder and the Dominican/Nicaraguan fillers like the rest of the line. Once again, the construction on these was perfect. The burn never needed correction, and the draw, while a little snug, was acceptable. I thought it has a nice spicy and earthy flavor. Perhaps if I had smoked the maduro last, I would have enjoyed this and the Corojo more, but the Maduro set the bar high and similar flavors I was looking for in the Habano and Corojo weren’t there. I think the Epic lineup plays a full three periods, for sure.

I may smoke some goodies from Michael Giannini’s Foundry line this week, then next Saturday I’m going to attend The Smokin’ Goose, a multi-vender festival hosted by Goose’s Tobacco Outlet and Cafe. This is being held at the historic Sunny Brook Ballroom & Convention Center in Pottstown, PA. It’s only a few miles up the road and I’m looking forward to seeing this inaugural event succeed so close to home. So, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Review, Video

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Epic Cigars, Goose, Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival

by CigarCraig | September 17, 2014 · 10:26 pm

Asylum and CLE Cigars, a Leccia Luchador and News

This week I decided to smoke a couple cigars from Fabricas Unidas, Christian Eiroa’s company, mostly because I wanted to slip the video I shot with Christian at the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival, but the cigars are good too. Christian was one of the guys I became acquainted with through the old alt.smokers.cigars Usenet group back in the ’90s. That being said, I’ve purchased just about every cigar that he’s been associated with that I’ve smoked. No mooching off this guy! Anyway, I had an Asylum Premium Toro that I purchased the end of last year (literally, it was December 31 of last year when I went to a local shop to meet a friend for a smoke). I’ve really enjoyed the Asylum line, it’s Nicaraguan and hits my palate just right. I’m glad they made the Asylum 13 Ogre line in more reasonable sizes than the 7″ x 70, although that was a tasty smoke too. The Asylum Premium Toro is a tasty, medium bodied smoke with perfect construction. This is a perfect after dinner cigar that was quite satisfying. I think there was a short Torpedo in the goodie bag from the Rocky Mountain Festival that I’m looking forward to smoking. Tom Lazuka and Christian have a hit with the Asylum line.

Last night I dug out a CLE Corojo Corona that I had purchased at Corona Cigar‘s Sand Lake location back in 2012 when the IPCPR show was in Orlando. At the time I found both the Corojo and the Cuarenta had a mineral taste that was quite off-putting to me. Apparently two years in the humidor has alleviated that problem. The Corojo is a Honduran puro and their corona is 5¾” x 46, which is just about the perfect size, actually a corona gorda in traditional terms. I thought this was a smooth, flavorful smoke with a good draw and burn. I used a V-cut which worked very well. I can’t find a thing wrong with this cigar now, and I may have to pick some more up and smoke one “fresh” to see if I get that flinty taste and these just need humidor time.

Here’s the short video. Christian had apparently stepped on some glass somehow the night before and was limping around. I think there were some spirits involved. I believe Rafael Nodal knows the story…

News

Once again we have big news, General Cigar Co. has brought Sam Leccia on. Barry Stein broke the news this morning on TheCigarAuthority.com. From the press release: ” General Cigar Company is excited to announce today they have hired Sam Leccia as “Cigar and Blend Specialist.” General Cigar has also acquired the Leccia Tobacco Company cigar brands, as part of the Foundry Tobacco Company, and will market and distribute the Black, White and Luchador lines, effective today.” I’m actually less surprised by this than I was with the Toraño acquisition, but I am a little surprised that Sam relinquished his independence. In honor of this occasion, I selected a Luchador El Hombre robusto for this evening’s walk. I maintain that the Luchador is one of my favorite new cigars this year. It’s like jalepeño dark chocolate with it’s spice and semi-sweet chocolate flavor. For me, it’s the ideal combination of flavor and performance, and always makes me with it was longer. I smoked this one until my fingers burned. Best wishes and congratulations to Sam in this new chapter in his story, I hope it works out well for everyone involved!

That’s it for now! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under News, Review, Video

Tagged as Asylum, cigar, cigars, CLE, Eiroa, General Cigar Co., leccia, Luchador, Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival

by CigarCraig | September 10, 2014 · 9:14 pm

A Tortuga, a Couple La Palina Cigars and Some News

First, let’s get some news out of the way. I know you all like contests, and my friends at Joya de Nicaragua are having one. From Sept. 9th to Sept. 24th every 4 days they will draw a winner for a box of the new Joya red. They are giving away a box of each size over the two week contest. I’ve had the good fortune of smoking several of these in the toro, robusto and corona size and they are terrific cigars. Head on over to JoyaCigars.com/winjoyared/ or click the graphic on the top of the right sidebar and enter to win.

Monday evening I selected a cigar I picked up on my birthday at Cigar Mojo, who was recently selected as an appointed Tortuga Cigars merchant. I had smoked the Tortuga Reserva Maduro “El Coyote Negro” with Victor Vitale a few months ago, but it was my second cigar and I wanted to give it a re-do. I smoked the Cedro No. 600, which is a 6½” x 56 toro. This has a dark Brazilian maduro wrapper, and it’s a shame to cover the majority of this beautiful wrapper with a cedar sleeve! I think this may be my new favorite Tortuga, and I do love them all. It had a great balance of strength and flavor, exhibiting the dark, cocoa flavors I enjoy. I’m so glad I smoked this with a clean palate, as I failed to properly appreciate it the first time. Thank you to Trae at Cigar Mojo for making a birthday present of this cigar, I would happily have paid for it with the rest of cigars (and a Xikar Ashtray Can) I bought. Great cigar, no question.

Tuesday I enjoyed a La Palina Classic Robusto. This is a 5″ x 52 robusto made in the PDR factory in the Dominican Republic. This also has a Brazilian wrapper, but this time it’s a Habano, with Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. I was torn between the robusto and the lancero in this blend, and decided to go with the robusto since it’s starting to get dark earlier, which I hate. This cigar has a nice, nutty and earthy flavor with a bit of sweetness. It’s perfectly constructed, the draw and burn were excellent, it behaved very well. I gave this one a straight cut, I tend to rotate between cutters, and happened to have a double guillotine on me this time. Tasty smoke.

While I was at the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival I talked to Bill Paley and got this video. I tried using iMovie on the iPhone to create this one, I’m nit sure I’ve gotten the hang of it yet. While I’ve been using the iPhone and iPod Touch to take the videos for the last couple years, I’ve been using Windows Movie Maker. I thought I’d give this a try.

Tonight I took my evening walk with a La Palina Maduro 40, which is a 6″ x 40 short lancero. this cigar is made in Honduras, and has my favorite San Andrés maduro wrapper. It also has a double binder form Honduras and filler from Nicaragua. I love this cigar, it’s sweet and spicy, flavors of bitter sweet chocolate and coffee, and quite satisfying. It had a great burn and draw, this time I happened to have a punch in my pocket, the first generation ScrewPop punch, which was the perfect size for this cigar. It was a nearly perfect smoke which has been in my humidor since the end of last year. I think I enjoyed this more in the warmer weather than the one I smoked back in January. Whether it was the age of the cigar, or the difference in weather, I don’t know. I just know I like it. I smoked a couple La Palina cigars because the article I wrote on the Mr. Sam for Prime Living magazine was published this week. You can read it at Prime-Living.com (page 53 on the online version).