Tag Archives: RoMaCraft

by CigarCraig | July 17, 2016 · 8:10 am

Intemperance, La Aurora and a Laranga Cigars

I don’t have a lot of cigars to share with you this time. I had a busy week with the video I posted and the various Leccia cigars I had to smoke for inspiration, yeah, that’s it…Bottom line is that the Desnudo cigars are really good, the Luchador line is also very good (the El Hombre is one of my favorites, the El Gringo line doesn’t excite me as much as the original line), whatever that Barber Pole cigar was was really good, and many of Sam’s other creations over the years have been to my liking. If we could just get him to dump the Penguins and become a Flyers fan…So I posted the video, and I posted Friday about the suit filed against the FDA. I hope this is effective, I know a lot of thought and preparation went into it, and I can’t imagine taking legal action against the US Government is a comfortable thing to do. Someone has to understand that it just isn’t right for an un-elected, bureaucratic department to cost so many jobs in so many countries. It’s wrong, it’s completely a tobacco vendetta, and it needs to stop. Rant over.

Friday I decided I wanted to smoke something from Skip and Mike’s RoMaCraft line, and while rummaging through my meager selection, I came across a box pressed robusto bearing the Intemperance band. I recognized that this was the BA XXI iteration of the Intemperance line, but couldn’t place where I got it. Once I figured out that it was the Intemperance BA XXI Revenge, a store exclusive to Outland Cigars in Charlotte, NC, I realized that it must have come from Will Cooper. My memory is not what it used to be. This cigar is 5″ x 56, basically a box pressed version of The Breach of the Peace. The wrapper is a Brazilian Arapiraca, not so dark, kind of a medium brown. They use an Indonesian binder (I’m typically not a fan of Indonesian tobacco, never have been, but I think lately it’s a pretty neutral, flavorless leaf that only serves to hold the filers together), and fillers from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. It was a very well balanced cigar, flavors of coffee with cream and a little sweetness, some pepper and a little cedar. I think I have a Breach of the Peace in the humidor, and definitely need to grab some more of this line the next time I see them. Congrats to Skip Martin on the recent birth of his third daughter!

Saturday I busted ass around the house in the morning, when out for a late lunch, then settled into the smoking porch for a cigar or two. I started with a La Aurora 1962 Corojo Robusto. I received a couple of these, along with it’s Connecticut counterpart, a few weeks back from Miami Cigar and Co. Regular readers may recall that I am a long time fan of the La Aurora brand, even though a great many of their offerings are not suited to my tastes. The first box of cigars I ever bought was La Aurora Bristol Especiales, which was under $40 at the time, my daughter still may have the box. Those cigars ended up having an odd, vegetable flavor that didn’t really do anything for me and taught me an early lesson about buying without trying. I do have a tradition of smoking a Puro Vintage 2003 whenever a granddaughter is born, but I can only accommodate two more granddaughters, not that we are expecting any more anytime soon. Anyway, my recollection is that the Corojo line has been around for a while, it’s made with Ecuador Corojo wrapper, Ecuador Sumatra binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. This example smoked a little wetter than I prefer, it was a humid day, but I enjoyed the flavor and will dry down the others and smoke them again. I must remember to open the bags before putting them in the humidor. I look forward to smoking the Connecticut.

A couple weeks ago I visited a local shop and the Espinosa Cigars Laranga Reserva caught my eye, and I hesitated to buy one until the shop manager came in a recommended it without any prior knowledge that I had been thinking about it. I’ll admit, the price played into my hesitation to try this cigar that I’ve heard a lot about over the last year. All they had was the corona gorda, which is a great size, so I lucked out. Still, a just under $10 corona gorda doesn’t sit well with me, but I guess I better get used to it. Probably at $8 I would have tried it long ago, but I have trouble getting past $9…cheap bastard as I am. Anyway, this cigar had a wide open draw, so I knew I wasn’t going to struggle with it like I did with the Aurora. I don’t know if it’s the reference to Orange in the name (Laranga is Portuguese for Orange, btw, and so named because the wrapper leaf has an orange tinge), or some other outside influence, but I really did get a citrus note. As with most cigars I’ve smoked from La Zona, and the list of cigars they make seems to grow daily, this was a really good smoke. It was well balanced with a ton of flavor.

That’s it for now. A week from now I’ll be traveling to the IPCPR show in Las Vegas, and I’ll be trying to bring you news, although folks like Cigar-Coop, Halfwheel, Stogie Review and Cigar Federation will have more detailed information. I’ll try to put a different spin on things, and I anticipate it being a busy show with a ton of new releases trying to get on shelves before August 8. I usually do something fun and silly for the show, but this year doesn’t seem to be the year to do something like that. Anyway, that’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Corojo, Intemperance, La Aurora, La Zona, Laranga, RoMaCraft

by CigarCraig | May 1, 2016 · 10:53 am

Fausto, CroMagnon and Sobremesa Cigars

A few weeks back when we were in Philly for the Pops concert, I made a stop at Holt’s on the way to the train station and picked up a couple Fausto Robustos in my continuing effort to familiarize myself with the Tatuaje range of cigars. Â Technically, I believe, this is called the FT127 Robusto, measures 5″ x 54, comes in a 25 count box (I wish everyone would go back to the 25 count over the 20 count), and has a dark Habano Ecuador wrapper, and Nicaraguan binder and filers. Â I took one of these along Thursday night when we went to Harrah’s Racetrack and Casino in Chester, PA to see Tom Keifer (of Cinderella fame) play in their “The Block” showroom. Â So 33 years or so ago I went to community college with Tom and hung out with him, obviously pre-Cinderella. A few years later when I was working in a record store, I opened a box of new releases to find a record from a band I had never heard of, Cinderella’s Night Songs, and recognized the guy on the jacket as my old friend Tom. I never was able to re-connect with Tom over the years, so after missing him at the pre-show meet and greet, we hung around afterwards by the tour bus, like fricken teenagers, only we weren’t the oldest ones there…and got to finally say hello and congratulate him on putting that community college music theory class (that we were both in) to good use. Â Prior to the show, after getting a bite to eat, while feeding slot machines, I really enjoyed that Fausto FT 127 Robusto. It was a hearty smoke, nice dark flavors right up my alley. what a perfect smoke with a great burn and draw, and loads of deep, rich flavors of espresso and cocoa (my favorites). It was a great night, the show rocked, I was glad to reconnect with an old friend after so long, and I am just getting caught up on the sleep I lost…defiantly getting too old for hard rock shows…but I really enjoyed it, and the cigar.

I had a very busy and frustrating Friday at the day job, so I wanted to smoked something memorable on my evening walk and unwind time. Â I had bought (not weaseled) a few CroMagnon Atlatl lanceros when we were at SMoKE Manayunk for the RoMaCraft event, and I only had room for one of them in the lancero section of the humidor, so that made my decision easy. An Atlatl is an Aztec spear throwing device, basically giving the spear thrower a mechanical advantage over just throwing the spear by hand, it’s a lever of sorts. These cigars are store exclusive/event only cigars, I felt compelled to add some to my lancero selection. On a side note, SMoKE has an unparalleled lancero selection, Kosta, the owner is a lancero fan and puts every one he can find in his generously appointed humidor. Anyway, the Atlatl has all the great flavor of the CroMagnon line, I sound like a broken record (for the younger readers, that’s a record with a scratch that skips and repeats itself over and over), but it has those coffee cocoa flavors I love, but in a sharper, more focused way due to the 38 ring gauge. I dig lanceros from time to time, but in most cases I enjoy the more rounded flavors from larger rings, so it’s often hard to compare the flavor of a lancero to it’s larger siblings, so I can only recommend smoking them all, in the case of CroMagnon, they are all good!

Wrapping up the week yesterday, I felt like I had a couple great cigars that were going to be a tough act to follow. I had spent the day cutting my lawn, spreading some mulch, taking Macha to a nearby town’s flea market kind of thing where my wife and daughter had a booth selling some stuff, and celebrating my granddaughter’s 5th birthday. It was a crazy day, and when I finally got home I went big. Several weeks ago we went to Famous Smoke Shop’s Leaf Cigar Bar in Easton, PA to hang out with Steve and Cindy Saka, and Cindy laid a couple of the new Sobremesa Elegantes en Cedros cigars on me, with the caveat to let the rest because they were “not ready”. I figured a month in the humidor would suffice. This line extension is supposed to be released at the July IPCPR show, is a 7″ x 50 cedar sleeved parajo. The blend is tweaked for each vitola in the line, so each size is designed to be a little different, but the addition of the cedar sleeve makes a very distinct change from, say, the El Americano toro, which is similar in size. The cedar flavor is quite dominant, and tasty! I really couldn’t imagine this cigar being any more “ready” as it’s burn was perfect, there were no construction issues at all, and I spent a wonderful two hours with this cigar just enjoying the crap out of it. It was the perfect end to a very good day.

That’s all I have for now, it’s a rainy Sunday here in PA, I may put a new lamp in the smoking patio and clean it up a bit, and catch up on some relaxing. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigar store, cigars, CroMagnon, Fausto, RoMaCraft, Sobremesa, tatuaje

by CigarCraig | April 17, 2016 · 7:40 am

Avo Syncro, RoMaCraft Cigars at SMoKE Manayunk and a Tatuaje

There are so many cigars out there, it’s really hard to smoke them all, yet I keep trying! I’ve smoked the Avo Syncro Nicaraguan in the Short Robusto and Toro size and, like many Avo cigars, I found them enjoyable, but isn’t really get what the hype was. Perfectly good cigars, but nothing particularly special to me (I really liked the XO though). A couple of weeks ago my friends at Famous Smoke Shop send me some of the Avo Syncro Nicaraguan and I was excited as I really want to like these and appreciate the opportunity to try them in another size. The robusto is a box pressed 5″x 50, with a milk chocolate-brown wrapper, which is actually Ecuador Connecticut, and it has some Nicaraguan Ometepe, Dominican and Peruvian fillers. It’s a solid smoke, medium bodied with some balanced and interesting flavors. So far, this might be my favorite in the bunch, it’s got a little sweet, and a little spice, quite entertaining. I may try to sneak another one of these in today, the Short Robusto might fit my walk today from the Philadelphia Art Museum to the Kimmel Center for the Philly Pops concert. Thanks, once again, to Cory at Famous Smoke Shop for sharing the Avo Syncro Robusto with me.

Friday evening we went down to SMoKE Manayunk to visit with Skip and Mike of RoMaCraft Tobac as they have been on a tour of Philadelphia cheesesteak purveyors and have been taking breaks to have cigar events. First, a little about SMoKE and Manayunk. Manayunk is a very hip main street area in Philadelphia, with loads of bars and restaurants, so there were a ton of younger 20-something folks around, and it was pretty impressive how many came in to hang out and smoke cigars. SMoKE is BYOB, so many people brought in their own beer, wine or liquor and they have refrigerators behind the bar. Kosta is the owner, and has a very good staff headed up by Spencer McGuire, who recently left his post as brand manager of Emilio Cigars. The staff is attentive, constantly emptying ashtrays and seeing to the customer’s needs, as well as helping people in the large and well stocked humidor. The lounge is 3000 square feet, has a very industrial, distressed feel to the decor, and is welcoming and comfortable. The only downside is the parking. I found out the hard way that on street parking can cost $26 if you exceed the 1 hour limit, which I guess I was supposed to know without signing close by (oddly, the “Parking Enforcement” vehicle was parked a car ahead of me and was there longer than I was…I hate double standards!). So the $10 lot nearby would have been a better deal it turns out. It was starting to get crowded when we left, which is pretty cool for a cigar lounge.

So I perused the selection of RoMaCraft cigars they had, and settled on a couple of the Candela Fomorians (I spelled that wrong elswhere), a Neanderthal Shallow Gene Pool, and a couple of CroMagnon Atlatl lanceros, since I like lanceros and Kosta has probably the best selection of that vitola in the area, so when in Rome…anyway, I lit up a Fomorian (along with Mike and Skip) and proceeded to hang out. I’ve known these guys since 2011, which is about when they launched the CroMagnon line, and they make some outstanding cigars. The Fomorian is the CroMagnon blend of Cameroon binder and Nicaraguan fillers, with the Broadleaf wrapper replaced with a fragile Candela wrapper in the 5″ x 56 EMH size. The combination is really quite amazing, there’s the sweetness of the Cameroon, the depth of the Nicaraguan, with that refreshing flavor of the Candela. Along with the long ago discontinued Camacho Candela, this is the best representation of a Candela cigar I’ve had the pleasure of tasting. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed a few, but this one has some giddyup to it, great cigar. I followed that with a little Neanderthal Shallow Gene Pool, the smaller (4½ x 52) sibling of the Neanderthal HN, which I absolutely loved. This cigar has a San Andrés wrapper and a Pennsylvania Double Ligero, which is unusually high in nicotine. You wouldn’t know it, the cigar is very smooth with a great flavor. If these weren’t in the $11+ range, I would smoke these all the time, so good. Interesting to note, lots of nicotine before bedtime makes for a restless night with crazy dreams, at least that was my experience. It could be that, as Skip pointed out, I’m the oldest young guy he knows, which I took as a compliment since I’m pretty old…anyway, it was a great night, smoking great cigars and hanging out at a great place with great folks.

Yesterday was a beautiful spring day, and after getting some things done around the yard, I relaxed on the porch with a Tatuaje Reserva J21. These are made in Miami with a Habano Ecuador wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and filer. This is a 5″ x 50 robusto and is quite an attractive cigar, listed as a full strength offering. This was exactly what I needed after working in the yard and running errands. It started out with some spice and moved to espresso, which we all know I like. It was refined and elegant, and I really liked it. I smoke fewer Tatuajes than I really should, because whenever I smoke one it’s a treat. For some reason, in my mind, it’s a cigar that’s special, in much the same way an Opus or Padron Anniversary is. I don’t why I feel that way, but it’s in my head for some reason, and I don’t end up picking them up as often as I should. I’ll work on changing that.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Avo, cigar, Cigar Lounge, cigar store, cigars, Famous, Famous Smoke Shop, Fomorian, Neanderthal, RoMaCraft, Syncro, tatuaje

by CigarCraig | July 5, 2015 · 10:02 am

Psyko 7 Maduro, Fuente, CroMagnon, Gran Habano and Punch Cigars

Here we are on July 5th already. It seems like the summer is flying by and it’s barely started. In two weeks I’ll be in New Orleans at the IPCPR show, doing my best to collect information about the newest and greatest products. I don’t think I’ll do too many of the video interviews this time around, but I do have a little something special planned. We’ll see how that all turns out. I managed to smoke a few cigars this week, let’s have a look.

I received some Ventura Cigar Co. Psyko 7 Maduro Robusto samples a couple of weeks ago, and was really looking forward to trying them out. I had first smoked the natural wrapper Psyko 7 back when I was a guest on The Cigar Authority show back in November of 2013 and was really quite impressed. This is another impressive cigar, right up my alley. It’s got a San Andrés wrapper, an Ecuador binder, and an interesting blend of fillers including ligero from Nicaragua and Pennsylvania, some Honduran and Dominican and Pelo de Oro from Peru! How can I not like this cigar! The samples I smoked burned perfectly and had great, complex flavors of espresso, cacao with a nice sweetness. I appreciate the extra half-inch on this 5½” x 50 robusto. This is right up there with the Fratello Bianco as one of my newbies of the year so far. Very nice smoke.

After I had some more dental work done Monday I celebrated after with an Arturo Fuente Double Chateau Sungrown. Boy, is this a tasty cigar! It’s 6¾” x 50 with a cedar sleeve (which I removed before lighting, of course) and a black foot band. The standard Cheateau series is more common in the Connecticut Shade wrapper, and I’ve enjoyed my share of those over the years, but this Ecuador Sungrown wrapper is quite special. It was solidly medium, but it had loads of great savor flavors. I would definitely say that in the Fuente line, save for the Hemingway, Don Carlos, Opus, etc, the sungrown wrapper is my choice.

When I visited Holt’s a couple weeks ago I picked up some of the CroMagnon Mode 5 perfectos from RoMaCraft as I’d yet to smoke that shape and have heard so many great things about it. It’s not a huge cigar, 5″ x 50 in a perfecto format, tapering at either end, your old school, 40’s Warner Brothers cartoon shape. It was quite the fun cigar to smoke, and it was loaded with great, meaty flavors that really made me smile. Burn was perfect, it was well-balanced and not the powerhouse one expects from the name. I look forward to seeing Skip and Mike at the show this year, it’s been too long and they are really making great smokes.

The folks at Gran Habano send a few samples a couple of weeks back, and the Gran Habano Corojo No.5 Maduro 2011 Gran Robusto caught my eye. This is a 6″ x 54 toro with a dark Nicaraguan Maduro wrapper, Costa Rican grown Habano binder and fillers from Jalapa and Costa Rica. This was a great spicy cigar with some bitter dark chocolate that was really to my liking. It burned well, the draw was good, and it was a cigar I’ll smoke again. I find the banding to be a little too close to Cuban Limitada bands, that’s probably what they were going for but I think a little originality from a company that definitely has some original products would be better. I’m not going to mistake that beautiful dark wrapper for any Habanos cigars, and I would probably choose this flavor profile over most Havanas as well.

Yesterday was the 4th of July. My wife and I celebrate our wedding anniversary that day, as the US celebrates another birthday. I always choose a special cigar to mark the event, and there’s generally an element of civil disobedience involved that I’d like to think the founding fathers would approve of. Yesterday I selected a Havana Punch Churchill that was a gift from a friend a few years ago who serves our country and will remain nameless to protect the guilty! This particular cigar had the distinction of bearing a “Vintage 1999” secondary band which denotes that it was selected by Hunters and Frankau (the UK importer of Habanos cigars) as an exceptional cigar. I agree with their assessment, it was an exceptional cigar. While the draw was a bit more snug than I like, it smoked very well, needing no corrections, and the smoke had a delicate flavor that was quite delicious. It had a bit of the unique Cuban spice, and was a milder, but very special cigar. It was the perfect way to celebrate a special day. I wish I could be as complimentary about the Rocky Patel Freedom I smoked later in the evening, there was a sour component to the savory flavor that didn’t do it for me, and I wished I had chosen better, but the red white and blue band seemed appropriate for the occasion. The Punch Churchill was sublime though, and I’m fortunate to have had the chance to experience it.

That’s about it for today. We’re heading in to Philly again today for tea, then maybe a visit to Smoke in Manyunk after. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, CroMagnon, fuente, Gran Habano, habana, Psyko, punch, RoMaCraft, Ventura

by CigarCraig | March 22, 2015 · 9:57 am

RomaCrafts, Perdomo and a Contest Winner

It’s been a roller coaster week, and things aren’t any better today than Wednesday. My 80-year-old father drove himself to the hospital last Saturday with tightness in his chest and just not feeling right, and on Wednesday, just when my mom thought she was going to bring him home, they found a thoracic aortic aneurysm and flew him to another hospital in the area that happened to have one of the few surgeons on the planet who could fix things. When they got him on the operating table the next morning his lung, kidney and liver functions were off and they had to get those things squared away before fixing things. So far, those areas are moving in a positive direction, and we are waiting for the surgeon to return from overseas mid-week. It’s hard on my mother, who won’t drive to the hospital, nor do I want her to, and not knowing what’s going to happen. I know this is more than belongs in a cigar blog, but it’s therapeutic for me to share, and I appreciate your positive thoughts and for indulging me.

In an attempt to process all that’s going on, and maybe escape a little, I’ve smoked a few cigars this week. most have been just random cigars that I didn’t feel like taking the time to document, but a couple of them are worth mentioning. a few weeks ago while visiting Cigar Mojo, I picked up some RoMaCraft cigars. I want Skip to know I bought his cigars and am not your run of the mill weasel. I smoked a CroMagnon Knuckle Dragger early in the week which was exceptional. I love the 4″ x 52 size for a satisfying smoke that doesn’t take all day. The Broadleaf wrapper over the Cameroon binder is a personal favorite flavor combo for me, I think the interplay of the different sweetness between the two leaves is really interesting. These are worth a try for sure, and are not unweaselably priced. I’ll grab some more the next time.

After a particularly trying week, I grabbed a favorite, the Perdomo 20th Anniversary Maduro in the Corona Grande size. This size was Nick III’s creation, is it a mini Churchill? A maxi corona? Maybe it’s an overweight lonsdale or an anorexic toro, I don’t know, but it’s just about a perfect size at 6½ x 48. Now I’m half expecting someone to come out with a line of cigars with a weight disorder theme, remember you heard it here first. Anyway, the Perdomo 20th Anniversary maduro has a Nicaraguan wrapper that’s aged in bourbon barrels an additional 14 months and is rich, smooth and very tasty. This is my favorite Perdomo cigar, bar none, and I needed a favorite to balance out the highs and lows of the week.

Last night I took a walk with another cigar from the RoMaCraft stable, the Aquitaine Cranium. This is the same blend as the CroMagnon from the binder on in, the difference being the Ecuador Habano Ligero wrapper. If you ever wonder about the claims about how much the wrapper contributes to the flavor and strength of a cigar, smoke a CroMagnon, then smoke the Aquitaine. The Aquitaine was SO much stronger than the CroMagnon, and I can’t attribute that to the size difference (the Cranium is a 6″ x 54 toro). It had an unbelievable amount of spice through the nose, and almost literally kicked my butt around the block. It tasted great, burned great, but was pretty darned strong. Skip and Mike and their crew down in Esteli are really making some great cigars. my only real gripe is that the bands, while very attractive and classy in their simplicity, are a pain in the tuckus. I would think the same effect could be achieved more cost effectively by making them a single band instead of one over top of the white base. As one who saves bands for no good reason, and probably due to the CDO, I like it when a band comes off easily and in once piece. These do not. I’ve now purchased far more than I’ve weaseled, which either means my weasel game is weak, or I have some integrity…not sure which it is…

Contest

I promised to announce a winner of the La Sirena Cigars sampler today and am a man of my word. I can’t say I’ll be as punctual with sending the winnings out with everything going on, but I will do my best. I was very pleased with the number of entries, 100 comments in a non-December contest is pretty darned good. Normally I would pick a random number, but this time I think I’m going to give the prize to the 81st comment, because my dad will be 81 in a couple of weeks and I really want him to reach that birthday. Whether that’s fair or not, I really don’t care, I’m going with it anyway! It’s not a plan I had more than 5 minutes ago. So lucky number 81 is ray jones. If you don’t send me you’re address I’ll eventually get around to harassing you by e-mail, but it will just be easier if you drop me a note. Again, I appreciate everyone’s positive thoughts and prayers to your respective deities. It’s no small comfort to know so many people care enough to spare a thought in their busy lives.

I had also made a bit of a contest (see the CigarCraig.com Facebook page) out of getting my Twitter followers to 2000, and that threshold has been met. I lack the energy to pick a winner, I want to disqualify the corporate Twitter users and keep it to individuals, so that will have to sit on the back burner for a bit. If someday you get a DM on twitter asking for your address, you’ll be the winner. I’ll get to it eventually.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Aquitaine, cigar, cigars, Contest, CroMagnon, La Sirena, Perdomo, RoMaCraft