Tag Archives: Rojas

by Craig Vanderslice | April 23, 2023 · 9:10 am

Some Rojas Cigars, Tacos and More

Thursday I had a choice to make, go to the Rojas event at Cigar Mojo (10 minutes away), or go to the Tim Ozgener event at the Wooden Indian (closer to a half hour with traffic). I chose the easier route, and was not rewarded. I chose poorly. It turns out that Noel Rojas was stuck in Nicaragua, and wasn’t there as advertised. It was disappointing, but at least I got to meet Albert, the VP of sales, and hang out with Mark Weisenberger, the local broker who reps the line. Had I known that Noel wasn’t going to be there I would have gone to the Wooden Indian. Anyway, I picked up some Street Tacos and smoked them. I’ve written about the Carnitas before, smoked one last night and it’s a good Connecticut cigar. At the event I smoked the Barbacoa, the 6″ x 50 Toro, which has a Maduro Ecuador Sumatra wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers. It’s earthy with some cocoa and a little pepper, not a bad smoke.

Since I bought a handful of cigars, I got a couple extras, one of which was the Rojas Unfinished Business, also in a 6″ x 50 toro. This one has a dark Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and fillers from Nicaragua and Mexico. It had some dried dark fruit notes and a little citrus tang. It seemed to be well constructed, if not slightly underfilled, giving it a shorter smoking time than I would have liked. It was a beautiful cigar, and I like the signature closed foot, which makes lighting easy. I just realized I smoked this last August, sorry about that. It’s getting hard to find new cigars to feature here. This is one of the reasons I only smoke new-to-me cigars at the end of the week. I like to smoke what I know I like the rest of the week.

Finally, yesterday morning I had some time to kill, so it seemed like the perfect time to smoke the little Breakfast Taco, again, with a Sumatra wrapper. This is a 4″ x 44 perfecto, just a wee thing. Ecuador Sumatra with Nicaraguan binder and fillers. This little cigar was good for about an hour, but, to me, it was pretty potent. If I hadn’t eaten, cut the front lawn, done some other chores first, it may have been too much. It’s a strong little guy with excellent construction and a fun shape. No closed foot on this one, but the “nipple” perfecto end. I feel compelled to search out he maduro in this shape. The cigar had good favors, not unlike the Barbacoa. You know me, I have a fairly simple palate. While the shade version doesn’t interest me, I do want to try the Maduro.

I still like the Stolen Throne line made by Rojas better than the Street Tacos line, and am probably more disappointed that Lee Marsh was in the area last week and didn’t reach out than I was that Noel wasn’t at the event. Noel does make some good cigars, and, if nothing else, I saved some time and money going to this event than if I had gone to the other one! That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Barbacoa, Breakfast Taco, cigar, cigars, Rojas, Street Taco, Unfinished Business

by Craig Vanderslice | August 28, 2022 · 9:59 am

A New Rojas and a Couple More PDR Cigars

I smoked a few more new cigars this week, but I’ll revisit them another time because I was less than impressed with them. It’s not that they were bad, it’s just that either they needed more time, or weren’t the ideal size. I’ll get back to them eventually. I was really impressed with the Rojas Unfinished Business. I see where Rojas has been celebrating the grand opening of their factory in Esteli, I know a few people that were there. I’ve really enjoyed the recent Rojas cigars I’ve smoked. The Street Tacos, and the cigars by Stolen Throne have been impressive. There’s a few I need to smoke yet, but, overall, Noel is making great cigars. I night have an old Guayacan cigar in the humidor someplace! Anyway, I smoked the Unfinished Business Toro this week that Noel gave me at the PCA show and it was really to my liking. It has an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and fillers from Nicaragua and Mexico. The blend hits a lot of “likes” for me. It was dark and rich, with all the flavors I like, espresso, a little spice, and some sweetness. I very much enjoyed this cigar. Definitely a future revisit.

I’m catching up on the PDR cigars, I think I only have one more in the queue for now. I actually need to organize the humidor I put these in to make sure I’m not missing any! I started with the A. Flores 1975 Serie Privada Maduro in Robusto. This is a 5″ x 50 robusto, and PDR has done a great job with consistency in branding with the little paper sleeves on each cigar and the name of each cigar on the band. The look is uniform and quite classy. This cigar has an Ecuadorian Habano Maduro wrapper, Nicaraguan Habano binder and Nicaraguan Habano and Dominican Corojo fillers. Oddly, this is not a sweet maduro, but more on the savory side. Burn and draw were acceptable and it was an enjoyable smoke. In the past few years I’ve gotten away from the Robusto size, but on a Saturday when I am going to smoke two cigars, this fit the bill.

I followed the Serie Privada Maduro with the A. Flores 1975 Gran Reserva Maduro, also in a robusto size, after dinner. This cigar has a Mexico San Andres Maduro wrapper, with Olor Dominican Republic binder and Dominican Corojo and Nicaraguan Habano fillers. It seems to go without saying that all of PDR cigars are made in the Dominican Republic. The PDR originally stood for “Pinar del Rio” after that region in Cuba, but they recently changed it to “Puros Dominican Republic” to better reflect the brand and factory. It was still on the savory side for a maduro, but had more spice and a hint of sweetness. It must be the Dominican Corojo that has the savory component. I enjoyed it while listening to Will Cooper guest on The Cigar Authority (I think he’s now one appearance behind me!). He gave me a shout-out and I appreciate that! He referenced my interview with George Hamilton (available here in the archives and still out there on my long defunct podcast, which is one of the few that Coop has never been on!). I always thought Hamilton missed the mark by not having a lighter wrapper under the band, so when you took the band off it looked like a tan line. The A. Flores 1975 Gran Reserva Maduro was good.

That’s all for today. Tomorrow marks the thirteenth anniversary of CigarCraig.com, looking forward to year 14! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as A.Flores 1975, cigar, cigars, Gran Reserva, PDR, Rojas, Serie Privada, Unfinished Business

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!