Tag Archives: Rose of Sharon

by | September 8, 2024 · 9:56 am

Don Doroteo and Southern Draw Rose of Sharon Cigars

I planned poorly this week.  I put a cigar into the rotation that I thought was new to me, until I smoked it and double checked and I had smoked it back in 2022.  I really like the H.Upmann by A.J. Fernandez line, and the Heritage is on the strong side, but very good.  I would say more, but I already wrote about it in an April, 2022 post (here). So that left me short for today’s post.  I need to go shop for some new to me cigars (not a mooch)!  Anyway, I was pleased to receive some cigars from the folks at Don Doroteo Cigars to try, the Don Doroteo El Alcalde torpedo, with an Ecuador Sumatra binder and wrapper, and fillers from Brazil and Dominican Republic, where the cigar was made.  These boast 15 year aged tobaccos, hard to believe from a fairly new company, you say?  Considering they work with La Aurora, one of the oldest cigar factories, this becomes more plausible.  If I remember correctly, the namesake of this cigar, Doroteo Delgado grew tobacco for the La Aurora company for many years, so there’s a connection. I think you have to like Sumatra tobacco to like this cigar.  It starts out with a sour citrus flavor to my palate, with some cinnamon notes in the second half. This is a very entertaining cigar, flavorwise, and the burn and draw were outstanding, as they should be in a $30 cigar. I’m hit or miss with cigars from this factory, but this one kept my interest. Thank you to Gabriel Piñeres for sending these along!

 

There’s an animated series called ” “Sammy’s Smokes” in production which is looking for voice actors.  Applications can be submitted here. Here’s the description from the site: “Seeking talented voice-over actors for an upcoming animated series, “Sammy’s Smokes,” which brings to life the quirky world of a smoke shop and its colorful employees and patrons. Set in the bustling city, this series combines humor, heart, and a slice of life, with each episode exploring the dynamics between the characters and their adventures within the community. We aim to capture a wide audience with our unique, engaging stories and vivid, dynamic animation style.”  I wish I had the credentials to apply, I don’t think I fit any of the profiles they are looking for. I’m looking forward to seeing this.

 

It’s been a while since I’ve featured a Casa de Montecristo exclusive, probably before it was a national chain.  I received a surprise package from Casa de Montecristo with a Southern Draw Rose of Sharon Dozen Roses.  This is a CdM exclusive, and is a Salomon measuring 7 1/8″ x 58, a formidable size cigar.  This has an Ecuador Connecticut shade wrapper over Nicaraguan fillers and binder, with some Dominican in the blend as well. It’s made at the A.J.Fernandez factory, like all of the Southern Draw line.  I’ve smoked a bunch of this size cigars from this factory, and they really know what they’re doing, I touched the nipple foot of the cigar with a torch and it burned and drew perfectly, and ended up with an even burn once it got going. This isn’t a mild Connecticut, like most of the Rose of Sharon line, it’s got some body and loads of flavor.  It has some baking spices and creaminess, with some leather.  It was really quite good, and I enjoyed it for nearly two hours.  Thank you Joe Gro for sending them!  These are available at Casa de Montecristo locations as well as on their website (link is an affiliate link). 

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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by | September 30, 2020 · 8:51 pm

News: Southern Draw Announces Two New Desert Rose Sizes

Here’s some news from Southern Draw Cigars. They’ve been quiet recently, but are breaking their silence with these two announcements, with the promise of more in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!  

 

Southern Draw Cigars, the family owned premium cigar brand announced two unique line extensions for the DESERT ROSE cigar blend. The first “new bloom” is the Famous Exclusivo (Famous Smoke Shop) and the second is for general distribution to all valued retail partners.

 

Leading off Southern Draw Cigars’ exciting 2020 Fall Release Collection, are two new renditions of the Desert Rose cigar blend. This includes sizes intended for any consumer who wants to experience the heartier Rose of Sharon blend in the ever-popular Toro 6.0″ x 52 and the company has heeded the overwhelming requests and now offers an elegant Lonsdale 6.0″ x 44. Southern Draw has also made a commitment to expand the award winning 2019 release Desert Rose Belicoso Finos 5.5″ x 54, production is set at 80,000 cigars per year and these are now available for purchase in standard 20 count boxes and a limited amount of 20 count bundles.

 

Commenting on these developments, Southern Draw Cigars’ Boss Lady and the namesake of the Rose of Sharon blend, Sharon Holt said “We had to wait much longer than desired but the Desert Rose now headlines the 2020 Fall Release Collection in sizes that I find most enjoyable, offering a wider variety of smoking experiences of the blend. Simply put, the two new sizes of Desert Rose provide consumers, what I personally consider the two best smoking experiences for the blend and I have tried it in many sizes and formats. That said, we understand that our customers are sometimes very focused on new releases, wanting products that are specifically tailored to uniquely highlight the blend, so these are my gifts to them. These product line extensions address this desire for new releases while honoring the character of the original blend and by working closely with Famous Smoke Shop over the last 18 months, we were able to bring yet another exciting exclusivo cigar offering to their loyal consumers.”

 

Southern Draw Cigars is elated to announce the Desert Rose Toro 6.0″ x 52 Famous Exclusivo. A toro size in an eye-catching round format, each cigar is dressed in the iconic pink main band with a unique Exclusivo secondary band each produced by Cigar Rings, Estelí, Nicaragua. Production of the Famous Exclusivo has been limited to just 250 boxes of 10. “Considering Southern Draw’s continually growing popularity,” added Jim Charnley, Director Purchasing & Merchandising at Famous Smoke Shop, “we’re expecting the cigar to sell out quickly. This is not one to sleep on.”

 

The Famous Exclusivo is available for purchase during a live virtual event hosted by Famous Smoke Shop & Southern Draw Cigars from 7 – 9 pm ET on September 30th . Now in their 81st year of operation as a private, family-owned business, Famous Smoke Shop owner Arthur Zaretsky noted a special connection with Southern Draw: “To work with another family-owned company, it’s a connection that allows our families to collaborate so easily, and create exciting cigars our customers will enjoy.”

https://zoom.us/j/95135283424?pwd=V1NvTU51cXl3ZElZaE00c0xDay9Idz09
Meeting ID: 879 7929 7165
Passcode: 176484

 

For those unable to attend the virtual event, all remaining 10 count boxes will be made available via the Famous Smoke Shop website on October 1, 2020 by clicking on the link: https://www.famous- smoke.com/brand/southern-draw-rose-of-sharon-cigars

 

The second Desert Rose line extension is a subtly sophisticated Lonsdale 6.0×44, also rolled at AJ Fernandez Cigar Co. in the traditional “redondo” format with a “flag” cap and packaged in artful 12 count box designed by Humidif Group USA, a shelf friendly design that offers an eye-catching display for the new size. Production is slated for 4,000 boxes per year and all valued retail partners can now pre-order the initial 1,000 boxes that are expected to begin shipping in October 2020.

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by | June 21, 2020 · 10:49 am

Providencia Spectrum and Espinosa Comfortably Numb Cigars and Other Stuff

Happy Father’s day. Later today I’ll smoke the last cigar from a box of cigars I bought for Father’s Day in 2000. It’ll be a hard cigar not to save, but I’m going to bite the bullet and light it anyway. I didn’t smoke the whole box one every Father’s Day, it took a few years for me to develop that tradition. I had smoked a few and shared a few, but over the years I had a few gifted to me as well to supplement the inventory, thanks to Mike Perry for extending my tradition for a few years by sharing some of his aged stash with me! So today will see the last Esperanza Para Los Niños toro, a cigar made by Christian Eiroa in 1999 with the help of some guys from a usenet group who met up in Danli and selected this blend and sold it with proceeds going to children orphaned by hurricane Mitch. $85 a box was a fortune for me at the time, a bargain now for an excellent cigar, which was heavy bodied, not unlike the old Camacho Triple Maduro. It’s always an adventure smoking a 20 year old cigar, I’m rather looking forward to it, but it’ll come with some sadness as I’ll never have another! I still have the box someplace though! 

 

On to some cigars I actually smoked! I went on a brief Southern Draw bender on the heels of their press release announcing the cancelation of all of their public events for the rest of the year due to pandemic concerns. Personally, I find this to be a responsible decision, as areas that seem to be lax in their preventative measures seem to have a higher infection rate, and who amung us doesn’t want to protect their families? I think the Rose of Sharon Desert Rose is one of the top Connecticut shade style cigars out there, and the Kudzu Lustron is definitely a top notch cigar as well! I smoked both, they are the same box pressed torpedo vitola and are delicious. Speaking of box pressed torpedos from a Texas-based cigar company, I also smoked a cigar from Providencia Cigars. This cigar is called Spectrum, and my assumption is that it has an autism charity connection, considering the colorful puzzle pieces on the band. I can appreciate this theme. If I were to guess, I’d say it was 5″ x 52ish, and the only information I have on it is that it has a Sumatra wrapper that was characterized as delicate and thin. I was advised to avoid wind and humidity due to the fragility of the wrapper, so I did. This is an abso-friggin-lutely delicious cigar! As with just about every Providencia cigar I’ve ever smoked, the cigar burned perfectly. This was the rival of another Sumatra wrapped, honduran made cigar I love in flavor, balance and overall enjoyability (Don Juan Calavera). There’s a sweetness that I really dig, I really have to buy a mixed bag of old-timey hard candy and try to isolate that flavor, but there’s a candy sweetness that makes this cigar a great desert smoke. Absolute joy. I don’t have any idea what the availability of this is or was, but try it if you can. 

 

I believe the Espinosa Comfortably Numb Vol.1 is a Meier and Dutch distributed brand, which is the distribution arm of Cigars International. I picked this one up a few years ago at the CI store in Hamburg when Erik Espinosa was there the day Cigar Fest tickets went on sale. I was just there for the spectacle of it all, hundreds of people lined up outside for hours in the freezing cold for tickets, not my bag, baby. This is a toro with an Ecuador Habano wrapper, Corojo binder and Nicaraguan fillers and is surprisingly mellow. It almost smoked like a shade wrapped cigar. It doesn’t have the grassy flavor, but it does have a sweet, nutty flavor that is pretty nice, and it seemed to have aged pretty well. I say “aged”, it was February of 2018 when I picked this cigar up, so, it’s hardly aged compared to a lot of things, but it held up. Tasty cigar, and not badly priced. I’d be very tempted to sample the madur version, the Vol. 2, the next time I happen to be in a CI store, or if I see it in a shop. Older folks will note the Alton Kelley/Wes Wilson inspired band design.

 

Speaking of “aging”, I smoked one of the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Famous Smoke Shop 80th Anniversary cigars from last October last night and it was spectacular. There’s not a lot of Saka’s cigars I don’t like, but this one is pretty special. Well, on with the day, have a great one, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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by | November 24, 2019 · 11:05 am

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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by | August 4, 2019 · 8:59 am

Smoking Some New Southern Draw Cigars This Week

I spent the week smoking some new cigars from Southern Draw Cigars, thanks to a generous care package from Robert and Sharon. They were very busy this year producing some new cigars and sizes, and this was their fifth year in business, which is quite a milestone, and they’e been very successful in a short time. If you follow this site, you saw a lot of press releases about these cigars in the weeks leading up to the IPCPR. This is largely due to their partnership with A.J. Fernandez, who makes all of their cigars, but Robert is very involved in all of the blending. He’s not an absentee brand-owner by any means, I’ve sat with him and had this discussion, and while he is relatively new to the industry, he gets his hands dirty, and spends time in the factory and buys the tobacco and really is involved in the process. I have a lot of respect for him and his family, and I’ve had he pleasure of meeting Sharon and her parents, and they are all super nice folks. SO I had to start the week trying out the Lustrum, with is the brands fifth anniversary cigar.

 

Lustrum is a take on the Kudzu, which was their first release. Makes good sense. I always enjoy a Kudzu, and I really enjoyed the Lustrum. The Lustrup is a 5½ x 52 box pressed Belicoso, with a Nicaraguan Habano Medio Tiempo wrapper, Nicaraguan Ometepe binder and Nicaraguan Proprietary fillers. Media Tiempo refers to a priming above ligero, which doesn’t happen on all tobacco plants, so it’s a small, rare leaf, with a lot of power and flavor. I loved the pepper, wood and coffee notes, and thought it was an amped up version of the Kuzdu. It was a special cigar and a nice celebration of Southern Draw’s five years. I liked this cigar a a lot, might be my second favorite of the new stuff, second to this next cigar.

 

From what appears to be the same mold, the next cigar I smoked was the Rose of Sharon Desert Rose. I know, I usually start with the maduro, I’m getting there. I’m very selective about the Connecticut shade cigars I smoke. Let me rephrase that, I’m not that selective about the ones I smoke, but the ones I really enjoy are on a pretty short list. Rose of Sharon is on that list. So I was excited to try the latest Southern Draw cigar with the pink band, the Desert Rose. They’ve used a heartier wrapper on this, calling it a Ecuadoran “Cloud Grown” Claro, which I suppose allows for it to be box pressed, where box pressing a thinner shade wrapper seems to be more difficult. The binder is Nicaraguan Habano  fillers of  Corojo 99 and Piloto Cubano ligeros from Honduras and the Dominican Republic. What all this ends up producing is a beautiful, medium bodied cigar, with a buttery smooth flavor, with a hint of spice. Pretty yummy.

 

Next up I made my selection based upon the time I had and I was in the mood for a double corona. Fortunately, one of this years Ignite cigars was a double corona, 7½ x 50, and is called Private Blend no. 3. There are two others, Private No.1, and Private No.4. I didn’t ask about Private No.2. Anyway, this year’s Ignite program includes a charitable donation to the Navy SEAL Foundation, and the band features the SEAL seal. This cigar has an Ecuador (presumably Habano) wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and proprietary Nicaraguan & Brazilian fillers. To me, this cigar had a totally different flavor profile than any Southern Draw cigar I’ve ever smoked, and I really enjoyed that. It was loaded with flavor, medium, smooth and rich, with some nuttyness, perhaps. This would be a great cigar for a long Sunday morning with a pot of coffee. a terrific cigar all the way to the end, and it took a good two hours to get to that end.

 

Ok, here’s the cigar you’d think I would have started this whole mess off with. If you know me, you know I love the Jacob’s Ladder. One time I was smoking my last one on a frigid winter night on a walk, and I noticed at one point that the cigar was no longer in my gloved hand and I panicked. I had to double back and luckily I found the cigar on the street, which, fortunately, was dry, as there was snow on the ground at the time. No damage, and I was able to finish the cigar, five second rule be damned. Anyway, I was excited to give the new iteration of the Jacob’s Ladder a try. This one is called Brimstone, and, as if it were possible, is another amped up version of the regular line. This guy is a 6″ x 56 perfecto, has a PA broadleaf wrapper, another US (PA?) maduro broadleaf binder and Ligero fillers from Nicaragua and the DR. This was a strong cigar. It’s a beautiful specimen, perfectly constructed, of course, and loaded with espresso and bitter dark chocolate and lots of pepper. It might have overpowered me a little, and maybe I like the regular Jacob’s Ladder more, but time will tell. Maybe this will be a better fall or winter cigar than a hot summer day cigar, who knows. This flies in the face of my usual tastes.

 

I wrapped up the week with the new size in the Cedrus line, the Toro. I have previously smoked the original size, the Belicoso, and I enjoyed it, but I’ve never been a great fan of the Indonesian wrapper. That being said, I like Sumatra wrappers, and that could be Indonesian, so maybe there’s some Indonesian wrappers I do like. Maybe I don’t know what I like. Either way, the 6″ x 52 toro is my favorite size, so that’s a plus. It has a Nicaraguan Habano 2000 binder and Nicaraguan fillers. I found this to be an interesting cigar. It started off rather spicy, with a tinglyness on the tongue. it smoothed out after a while, and continued with various spices throughout, and was a very entertaining ninety minutes of smoking enjoyment.

 

I didn’t get to the 300 Hands Connecticut, maybe tonight. Many thanks to Robert and Sharon for sharing their bounty with me.  There’s only so much time in the week. I have to work today, it’s been work, work, work the week! You can do me a favor though. I have an event coming up that that will require cigars with a “white” theme, so please suggest “white” themed cigars. For instance, in years past for this event I’ve smoked Montecristo White, Macanudo Inspirado White, Leccia White, and Fratello Bianco. See where I’m going with this?  Also, don’t forget to enter the contest that’s underway! That’s all for today, until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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