Tag Archives: san lotano

by | November 11, 2012 · 9:54 am

A Brick, a San Lotano and a La Aurora and Some News

The second half of my week started with taking a walk with my youngest son and his dog. A few weeks ago Sheryl at StogieBoys.com sent me a few samples of various vitolas of The Brick Box Press by Toraño. All three of these sizes were pretty large for me for cold weather, so I grabbed the smallest one, a 5½x60 “Robusto” that appears smaller due to the square press.  The other two cigars were a torpedo and Churchill, both longer than I wanted for a cold evening. I had first experienced this brand back in 2004 when my wife and I held a cigar event at the Freehold Raceway in New Jersey. The folks at Toraño were very generous and sent a bundle of Brick torpedoes along with a box of Exodus 1959 to give to the attendees and at the time I thought it was a decent bundle cigar.  Really nothing memorable, but not a bad cigar. I enjoyed this box pressed version, it wasn’t incredible, just a quality cigar at a reasonable price. The 60 ring gauge in the box press was very manageable.  It burned well and while one dimensional, it had a pleasing flavor.  I’ll smoke the larger sizes as the opportunity arises,  I neither like to freeze my buns off for two hours nor waste a cigar putting it down prematurely. Thanks again to Sheryl at StogieBoys.com for providing me with samples and for working with CigarCraig.com.

 

Friday evening I grabbed a cigar I purchased a few weeks back at Total Tobacco in Newtown Square, PA.  You should know after reading a little bit that I am a self-proclaimed cheap bastid.  When I visited this store on it’s grand opening I picked up some cigars that I hadn’t tried and I don’t see everywhere.  One of those cigars was this San Lotano Oval Maduro robusto.  I love the Oval, I love the San Lotano Maduro so I felt compelled to shell out nearly $10 (ouch) to try this cigar that surely would be a home run.  Obviously, the shape is unique, and very comfortable in the hand and mouth.  The cigar was pretty terrific, but it wasn’t really that much more terrific than the regular San Lotano Maduro that I could justify the up-charge.  This is just my opinion, mind you, the Oval IS a terrific cigar, the draw was effortless and it was loaded with all of the dark, rich flavors that I love.  Just for me, for a couple bucks less I’m happier with the regular maduro.  I’m happy I took the plunge and gave it a try, we have to do that from time to time.  There can be no doubt that A.J. Fernandez is a superstar in the cigar world. As an aside, I have never been quite so proud as when he thanked me for doing what I do in English, which is not a language in which he is fluent.

 

Saturday was a pretty nice day, the temperatures were back in line with what they should be this time of year, perhaps a little warmer. My wife and I spent a fun afternoon babysitting out 1½ year old granddaughter, so we were pretty worn out!  After dinner I selected a La Aurora robusto from the IPCPR show that was nice and dark.  I wasn’t sure what this was to begin with, I thought it looked maduro, but I wasn’t sure.  My bro Barry from Miami Cigar and Co. suggested it looked like the new Cameroon line, which it turned out being, of course.  I was thrown off by the appearance and the flavor.  This didn’t look like a Cameroon wrapper, it was dark and smooth, I expect a milk chocolate brown with lots of tooth.  The flavors were deep and dark, maduroish, not the signature Camerooniness that I know and love.  This will sound strange, but I love the La Aurora brand, but I’m often not fond of many of their cigars.  generally there’s a little something that doesn’t appeal to me.  However, this Cameroon was awesome.  The best La Aurora cigar I’ve ever had.  It was rich, complex and loaded with flavor.  I smoke a lot of different cigars, and it’s rare that I have one that compels me to want a box, but this one is the one.  The worst part about it was that it was too short.  DAMN it was a great smoke!

 

News

Not to knock off ACigarSmoker.com‘s Sunday links, here are a couple links that caught my eye this week:

From the Miami New Times Blog: The Wynwood Cigar Factory: Smokes and Street Art Galore (Photos)

A bit of local (to me) from The Canadian: UFO: Cigar-like craft hovers over Philadelphia

From the LA Times, a little dated but appropriate for today: Veteran loves his cigars

Fine Tobacco NYC debuts their Sunday Cigar Shots: SUNDAY CIGAR SHOTS VIA #FINETOBACCONYC – NOVEMBER 11TH, 2012

And to be a little ironic, from ACigarSmoker.com: Sunday Links – 11/11/12

 

It’s supposed to be a nice day here in PA, so I’m off to see what kind of trouble I can get into.  Happy Veterans Day in the US and Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in other parts of the world. Smoke a nice cigar today and dedicate it to all who have served.

 

Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

 

 

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by | June 24, 2012 · 8:39 am

Accessory/Website Review, Flor de Gonzales, San Lotano, KMA, Alec Bradley and Partagas

Last week I received an e-mail from CigarBargains.com about a Combo Cigar Cutter/Knife w/ Belt/Money Clip.  CigarBargains.com is a site run by CheapHumidors.com which allows one to negotiate with “Suzy” and work the price down.  I thought it would be a neat experiment and always kinda wanted a knife like this, knowing full well it would be crap for properly cutting a cigar (more on that later).  I buy stuff for a living, Buyer is actually my job title, so I know how this works.  I start out looking at the shipping and deciding how much I’m willing to pay. In this case, the farther under $10 the better.  Their starting offer for this item was $10.99, so my opening offer was $3.  “Suzy” replied with “I might have peed myself a little at your offer of $3.50. You need to be closer to $9.68.”.  This went on for a while, with various comments about needing a new purse, feeding the kids and such.  When all was said and done, I ended up getting this for $9.05 delivered, which met my requirements.  Shipping from Florida was reasonably quick as I received it on  Thursday after completing the transaction last Friday.  As anticipated, the knife does a reasonably good job of mangling a cigar, I had the strangest cut, but I have to admit it cut cleanly and I ended up having an excellent smoking experience.  I think it would work better using the blade to make a V cut, or, and I haven’t tried this yet, putting the cigar in the hole, putting the blade up to the cigar with a little pressure, and rotating the cigar, then pealing off the cap.  It was a worthwhile experiment, and there are some decent deals to be had with enough patience to follow through with the negotiating.

 

The cigar I cut with the new knife was a Flor de Gonzales 90 Miles Robusto, the last of a 5 pack I won well over 2 years ago.  I’ve enjoyed smoking these cigars, the construction was flawless and the flavors agreeable.  The poor cut, while offensive to my CDO (OCD in alphabetical order as it should be)  addled brain, was not a factor and didn’t take away from the experience.  It was a smooth, flavorful medium bodied smoke which I enjoyed to the fullest. The two years or so of age didn’t hurt this cigar either.

 

Friday evening calls for a little bit of a special cigar, so I selected a San Lotano Habano Lancero for my evening walk.  I had picked this up at a San Lotano event at Olde World Tobacco in Lancaster, PA several months ago.  This is a beautiful 7″ x 38 lancero, with a nice little pigtail cap.  I went back to my regular cutter for this one, no reason to risk mangling this cigar.  Burn was perfect.  I love it when a cigar burns with a nice flat ember, not pointy, all the tobaccos burning at exactly the same rate.  It’s a miracle that this can be accomplished and I always appreciate it it when I see it.  AJ Fernandez makes some terrific cigars, this was no different.  I love the lancero format.

 

Saturday morning I had the great pleasure of being the guest on Kiss My Ash Radio‘s Bloggers Corner segment.  I was nervous as hell, and there were some things I planned on mentioning but missed. Fortunately, Abe had done a piece on pairing root beers with cigars, which I’ve been doing for years.  I wanted to suggest Victory Brewery‘s root beer, as it is exceptional and made right here in my home town.  I even had notes and in my nervousness I didn’t look at them!  Oh well, I hope I didn’t make too much of a fool of myself, I appreciate being invited on the show.   Saturday afternoon I stopped by JM Cigars in Exton, PA to say hello to Jon Lipson, the Alec Bradley rep, who was having an event there.  I picked up a few American Classic Blends in Corona and Robusto and smoked a Corona while catching up with Jon and the folks at the shop.  For an absolutely stunning day I was surprised at the traffic in the store.  I guess I figure people have better things to do on a stunning Saturday, I know I did.  I enjoyed the American Classic Corona very much and went home to change the oil in the scooter and mow the lawn.

 

To finish up the day I fired up a Partagas 1845 Gigante that I received in a sample pack from General Cigar.  It’s a 6 x 60 that feels much bigger for some reason.  I took my son’s dog for a nice walk and enjoyed the heck out of this cigar. So far I think I liked the Robusto better, but this monster was very good, burned well and lasted for quite a while.  So far I’m impressed by this line, although I really can’t think of a Partagas cigar I really haven’t enjoyed, General Cigar Co. or otherwise.  Dirty little secret: Havana Partagas Presidente is one of my all time favorite cigars.  Give the Partagas 1845 a try, it’s a very tasty smoke.

 

I’m off today to Whippany, NJ to meet up with ACigarSmoker.com‘s Peter Glad at JR Cigars‘ store and lounge.  It’s always fun going to the store there and having a nice lunch and cigars, and I’m looking forward to meeting Peter.  Of course, stop on by if you’re in the area and say hello and join us for a smoke!

 

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

 

 

 

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by | May 27, 2012 · 8:26 pm

End of the Week Cigars: Villiger, a Special Fuente, a La Gloria Cubana and a San Lotano

Wednesday evening I was , once again, in experimental mode…OK, that’s a lie.  The truth is that I have one coolerdor that has some small sampler boxes floating around in it and this particular one was down to two cigars, so I wanted to get things tidied up a little.  Regardless of the truth, I picked out this Villiger 1888 robusto from said dwindling sampler.  I recall enjoying the 1888 Fuerte quite a bit, so I was curious about  the regular 1888.  This was the robusto, and was a nice looking cigar with a milk chocolate colored wrapper.  I enjoyed it quite a bit, it was medium bodied, well made and consistent in flavor through the smoke. It wasn’t mind-blowing, but certainly a good cigar.  I would certainly smoke this cigar on a regular basis, but I never seem to see these in my local shops. Thanks to Anne at Villiger for sending me the samples and for providing a really nice gift in last December’s 12 Days giveaway!

 

Thursday I decided to dig into the new cigar from Smoke Inn‘s Microblend series, the Arturo Fuente Solaris.  This is a 6″ x 49 belicoso that Fuente had made 6 years ago in a small batch and found a home for it at Smoke Inn.  It’s unlike the other cigars in the microblend series in that they had no hand in the blending of it.  Still, having a super exclusive Fuente product is a big deal.  The sun grown wrapper is quite light on this cigar, and it’s very visually appealing. I’ll be the first to say that Fuente makes some great cigars, however I don’t often find myself smoking them.  I’ve smoked many over the years, and gravitated toward smaller sizes in the Hemingway and Don Carlos lines.  I expected to be wow’d by this cigar and I was impressed with it over-all. This is a cigar I wouldn’t have had the chance to try if it weren’t for the generosity of Smoke Inn.  Be sure to give them a visit when shopping online or in the South Florida area.

 

Friday was the end of a long week, and, more importantly, the beginning of a long weekend!  What better way to start it off than with a favorite, the La Gloria Cubana Artesanos Retro Especiale Cubano.  I brought this box back with me from the Dominican Republic and really enjoy them when I have time for a large cigar.  It’s 6½” x 58 and is a good, smooth hour and a half or so of relaxation.  As has been customary lately, I took my son’s new dog for a walk along with this cigar.  A mile long walk and I still had three quarters of the cigar to relax on the front porch with for a while.  I’ve had the pleasure of smoking a bunch of these since their release and am always delighted by the interesting flavors.  I love a lot of the La Gloria Cubana line, and this is among my favorites.

 

Saturday turned out to be an interesting day.  First, I received a call from my friend Greg saying he noticed a new cigar store in the area.  It turns out to be a new location for a shop that has been around a while. More on that in a bit. Several months ago my wife and I had been to a unique little vintage record store and noticed some cigar box art in one section of the store. I had done some housekeeping in the basement and had a dozen or so empty cigar boxes laying around, and my wife and I took them down to see if they wanted them. They were thrilled with the boxes and insisted upon trading them for a very rare record that the proprietor had found for my wife.  I love the artistry of cigar boxes, but we tend to take them for granted. It’s so cool when someone who has little interest in cigars is so appreciative of them.  On the way home we stopped at the cigar shop.  I have been to several locations of this local chain, and have only been impressed by one of them.  This shop has moved into a free standing, ex-convenience store which has had more businesses in it over the last 20-some years than I can remember.  I had a job interview in one of them 10 years ago.  They have a Montecristo lounge which looks nice, and a huge walk-in humidor that needs more stock, needs to have the split and broken cigars removed, and needs more price labels on the boxes.  I’m a self proclaimed cheap bastard, and price plays a part in my buying decisions, so I don’t like surprises at the register and won’t buy what isn’t priced.  I picked up a couple of the new Romeo by Romeo y Julieta just because I’ve been wanting to try them, but I can’t see visiting this shop often. It is located in  such a place that there are a couple friends I could meet up there for a smoke, and I really hope they make it, but they need to fix a few things.  I came home and smoked a San Lotano Oval Toro because I saw them there but I was scared off by the condition of some of the cigars around them.  The Oval is a fantastic smoke and couldn’t have been a better end to the day.  Deep, rich flavors and a perfect burn.  These are pricey, but delicious and I look forward to trying the maduro.  It’s a neat shape too.

 

That’s it for now.  More great cigars to smoke!  Since my son got his dog, I’ve been taking her on my evening walks with me.  I’m open to suggestions on “Dog Walker” cigars!  There will, no doubt, come a time when the weather is less than ideal for enjoying a fine cigar, so what does everyone keep on hand for those occasions?

 

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | April 22, 2012 · 10:36 am

An Emilio Draig K, a Diamondback, and a San Lotano

Thursday had turned into a stressful day, and when my wife suggested a walk into town, I knew I wanted a terrific cigar to take along.  So many choices, so I came across a pre-release sample of the new cigar from Emilio Cigars and Gary Griffith, the Draig K.  This dark, oily toro just looked like it was the cigar I was looking for. I had actually just about settled on a Liga Privada T52 when I was distracted by the Draig.  Made in the Placencia factory, the only details I recall are that it features some Colombian tobacco in the filler.  I love a maduro, and I loved this cigar.  It was exactly the rich, satisfying smoking experience I had hoped for.  There were a couple points where it stopped wanting to burn and needed a relight, and there was a small tunnel about 4 inches in, but the flavor and texture of the smoke kept me relighting it down to a ¾” nub.  Yummy cigar. Yet another cigar I’m going to have to get my hands on when they hit the streets!  Thank you, Gary, for the opportunity to sample this fine cigar.

 

Friday night finally rolled around and I was in an experimental mood, so I reached for the IPCPR show sample of the Diamondback robusto from Altadis.  First, from the department of cynicism, one can’t help but draw a comparison between this cigar and another 5″ x 54 shade wrapped cigar with “diamond” in it’s name.  Pre-conceived notions aside, this was a very nice cigar.  It was solidly constructed, burned even and cut cleanly.  If you like shade wrapped cigars, you may want to try these out, considering you can get them by the box for under $50.  Not a bad cigar at all. My only complaint was that the draw was a little tighter than I’d prefer, making me have to work a little harder than I’d like.

 

Saturday was another beautiful spring day.  Showers were in the forecast for later, so I hit the back deck with a San Lotano Maduro lancero.  I’ve very much enjoyed past San Lotano maduros, so expectations were high, as I love  lancero format as well.  This was a terrific cigar, although comparing it with its fatter brethren is a little unfair.  Certainly, smoking the lancero is a little different experience,  one cannot expect the same flavors as a toro or robusto due to the difference in the filler proportions.  Where I find the larger ring gauges in this line to be rich and creamy like smoking a chocolate bar, the lancero was more like bittersweet chocolate.  In no way do I mean to imply that this is a bad thing, as the lancero was a fantastic smoke.  I spent nearly 2 hours nursing every last bit of tasty smoke from it, awfully sad to put it down when it decided it’s time had come. I had picked this up several months ago when I visited Gary Griffith at his People’s Plaza Cigar-ette City store.

 

News

 

I’m sure most of you have already done this, but if you haven’t, please head over the the White House website and sign the petition that’s there.  Here’s a terrific video from Bill Spann outlining the importance of this fight to keep the FDA out of our humidors.

httpv://youtu.be/7bfqIFGu9WM

It looks like there should be no problem getting to 25,000 signatures, but I think we often over-estimate the number of internet cigar nuts out there.  If cigar smokers are a small subset of the general population, and PREMIUM cigar smokers represent a very small subset of those, then those of us who carry our passion for cigars onto the internet are a VERY small part.  It’s important to spread the word and get others on board with this.  It will not be a happy day if the FDA is allowed to regulate premium cigars!

 

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

CigarCraig

 

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by | January 22, 2012 · 11:46 am

A Couple of San Lotanos and a Visit to Olde World Tobacco

When was the last time you had two darn near perfect cigars in a row?  This was the case with the last two cigars I had: a San Lotano Habano Lancero and a San Lotano Maduro Robusto.  Thursday I took a drive after work to Lancaster, PA to a shop called Olde World Tobacco.  I can remember visiting this place when it was just a counter in a leather shop, maybe a dozen years ago.  It’s developed into quite a nice shop.

 

My primary motivation for going was to meet John Demharter, a manufacturers rep for many of my favorite cigars.  He was there with the San Lotano line and I was in the mood for an indoor cigar so I took the forty-five minute drive.  I grabbed a couple cigars and lit up a Habano Lancero.  Up to this point I’d only had the Oval, which, of course, is an exceptional cigar.  The Lancero was smooth, rich and delicious.  I sipped it, as one should with a cigar of this shape, and finished with about a half and inch left. I had a really nice time talking with John, who is a very nice guy, despite the fact that he’s from Pittsburgh and is probably a Penguins fan.

 

Olde World Tobacco is a fairly well appointed shop.  There is a coffee bar as you walk in, a small seating area with 3 tables, then the counter.  Humidor cabinets line the other two walls.  The cabinets seemed to be fairly sparsely stocked, but there is a nice selection there and the prices seemed fairly reasonable.  The area where the shop is located is basically a tourist area, there are outlet malls, a children’s theme park that been there since I was young (which is a long time!) and lots of Amish attractions, so one might expect prices to be a little higher than normal.  There seems to be a regular crowd of guys there smoking, who seemed to be having a good time, and the staff was very attentive.  This store features a Diamond Crown Lounge, and when you get past the shop in front, you move into a series of rooms with leather chairs and TVs that look very comfortable.  There are also some private lockers and I’m told they have an area outside for warm weather events.  It was a very nice experience and I’d go back or stop in if in the area.

 

My Friday night walk featured the San Lotano Maduro Robusto that I picked up at the event.  I’m a sucker for a box pressed maduro, and this one looked too delicious to not smoke.  It’s funny how one can have dozens of choices, but that one new arrival begs to be smoked.  And I’m glad I did, however I’m disappointed that I only bought the one!  It was the perfect choice, like smoking a nice dark chocolate bar.  Rich, cocoa-coffee, sweet and creamy  flavors that I was very sorry to put down when it started burning my fingers.  Have I mentioned that I love a properly made San Andreas Mexican maduro wrapper?   I loved the way it burned, a nice, flat coal.  It is such an accomplishment to blend a cigar that all the tobaccos used burn at the exact same rate.  It’s a rare and beautiful thing.   I can’t wait to smoke more of these, and look forward to a maduro Oval one day!

 

That’s about it for now.  We had a little snow here in SE PA this weekend, it should be gone by Monday.  This winter is turning out a lot better than last year, snow wise, which is a nice change of pace.  Once again, if you haven’t sent letters to your elected officials what are you waiting for?  Our rights and privileges are eroding as we speak, and the FDA will completely screw up an age old industry.  People like Snoop Dogg releasing news that he is bringing a cigar to the market that will be sold in two packs retailing for $1 do more to damage the industry than just about anything.  Here’s the link again: Cigar Rights of America and IPCPR.

 

Also, you might notice some layout changes.  I got a new logo, thanks to Amy at Brandland –brandland.etsy.com, and am in the process of tweaking a new theme.  Let me know what you think!

 

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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