Tag Archives: Smoke Inn

by CigarCraig | December 19, 2015 · 6:37 am

CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways 2015 Day 9: Smoke Inn Microblends

Several years ago Abe at Smoke Inn, a chain of ten (or eleven?) stores in Florida, launched his Microblend series. He’s had some of the greatest cigar manufacturers on the planet making small batch, store exclusive cigars for him, including Fuente, Padron, Tatuaje, et cetera. This year Abe has provided two ten count packages of his most current Microblend releases, the Illusione Pactum and the Pope of Greenwich Village from Drew Estate. The Pactum is a 5½” x 56 San Andrés wrapped robusto with high priming Nicaraguan filler, a Box of 15. The Pope of Greenwich Village is 6″ x 40, and has the San Andrés wrapper also, with a Connecticut Stalk-Cut Habano binder and fillers of Brazilian Mata Fina and Nicaraguan tobaccos and comes in a bundle of 10. They both sound delicious, don’t they? Thanks to Abe and his Smoke Inn staff for sending these along. Abe also has a weekly radio show and podcast, Kiss My Ash Radio, which broadcasts every Saturday at 10am Eastern, check it out. Steve Saka is the special guest on today’s show.

This is going to cause some confusion….Yesterday’s winner of the Punch Signature Robustos from General Cigar Co. is Eric. I know there were at least two Eric’s who entered, so it’s the one who didn’t use his full name (sorry Eric W! Try again today). So the Eric who posted around 11:46 AM EST yesterday needs to send me his info. I smoked one of these last night (not from your box!) and it’s a really nice smoke, sweet tobacco goodness and great construction. Thanks to Victoria and all the folks at General Cigar Co.!

You know what to do now, leave a comment here, check back tomorrow to see if you won!

RULES

All you have to do to enter is to leave a comment on the post of the day, if you can, try to post what you know or how you feel about today’s present, the folks donating the gift should get some feedback for their troubles! It’s not a condition to win, but it’s nice to have something to read. We did this last year and it benefits everyone. Once you’ve won, you’re out, let everyone else have a chance. Must be over 18 to win. Also, be sure to visit the links for each item. Comments on Facebook, Twitter, or anywhere else will not count, but feel free to spread the word!

Until tomorrow,

CigarCraig

122 Comments

Filed under Contest

Tagged as 12 days, cigar, cigars, Contest, drew estate, illusione, Kiss My Ash Radio, Pactum, Pope of Greenwich Village, Smoke Inn

by CigarCraig | September 27, 2015 · 3:20 pm

Big Delicious, Villiger San’Doro and Southern Draw Kudzu Cigars

Following on the heels of the Johnny Tobacconaut, I came across a lonely Room 101 Big Delicious that is a Smoke Inn exclusive and was released with much fanfare a year or so ago. This is a cool 6¼” x 52 figurado with a dark Habano 2000 wrapper. You don’t see “Habano 2000” used that much any more, it got such a bad rap for not burning when it came around in the early part of the century (that makes me feel old…, it was around 2000). The wrapper hangs over the foot so one really gets a nice taste of it off the light. When I see a wrapper folded over the foot, or some variation of that, I tend to just stick the cigar in my mouth and light it up, I figure toasting will burn off that extra wrapper leaf before I get to enjoy it! Anyway, this cigar was sitting in the humidor, all alone and needed to be smoked, so I smoked it. It was still big, and still delicious. It burned well, had loads of deep, rich flavor and was quite satisfying. These are still available from Smoke Inn and aren’t too expensive compared to a lot of other cigars. I don’t know that age has really improved this cigar, so if you get some, smoke them, I don’t believe they are regular production so they are what they are, still Big, still Delicious! The Website calls it the “The bastard child of Matt Booth and Abe Dababneh!”, I prefer to think of it as their “love child”.

While looking through the IPCPR samples, my eyes landed on a Villiger San’Doro Maduro in a toro size. This year they released the San’Doro line in three wrapper, the Maduro, the Colorado and the Claro. While the Colorado and Claro are made at Tabacalera Oliva in Esteli, the Maduro I smoked is a Brazilian puro made in Viliger’s factory in Bahia, Brazil. I’ve smoked Brazilian puros before, and when I smoked this one I didn’t know it was a puro. This was a nice, sweet maduro with lot of great flavor. I have samples of the claro (Ecuador Connecticut) and Colorodo (Habano from Nicaragua) in the humidor and I’m looking forward to smoking them, although I expect them to be completely different. I’m not entirely sure when or if these are going to be offered in the U.S., there seems to be a lot of information pointing towards a European release this month. I suppose someone will let me know!

I smoked a really nice Sindicato Hex Perfecto, and another Leccia Luchador Frogsplash this week, but i’ve discussed those before and there’s nothing really interesting to report. I did receive some goodies from Southern Draw Cigars and couldn’t wait to dig into the Kudzu after having a good experience with the Firethorn a week or so ago. The Kudzo Toro is 6″ x 52 and has the covered foot again. Both the Kudzu and Firethorn come in four sizes, a Pigtail capped Petite Corona, a 5½” x 52 Robusto, the Toro and a 6½” x 60 Gordo. The Kudzo has a dark Habano Oscuro wrapper and Binder and fillers from Nicaragua. It starts off with a punch, and I began to question the wisdom of lighting this up before I had dinner. While it was a stronger cigar, my poor dining judgement didn’t come into play, as it smoothed out and was a solid medium to full cigar which I found to be quite enjoyable. It had some wood and chocolate flavors and smoked evenly until I put it down with under an inch left. I’m quite impressed with this line in my limited experience with them, although they are made at the A.J. Fernandez factory so I shouldn’t be surprised. Thanks to Robert Holt for sending some samples along, very good smokes.

That’s it for today, I don’t usually do two posts in one day, so don’t get used to it! While I’m thinking of it, next Saturday, October 3rd, from Noon to six is The Smokin’ Goose festival in Limerick, PA. This was a great time last year, and this year they are having it right at the store instead of off site. I plan to be there and am looking forward to it. Check out The Smokin’ Goose website for tickets and information. A portion of the proceeds go to Cigars For Warriors. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

4 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Room 101, Smoke Inn, Southern Draw, Villiger

by CigarCraig | January 4, 2015 · 10:36 am

Tops of The Year, Roberto P. Duran Winner and General Nonsense

Today’s post is going to be a little of everything. It’s my last day of a 14 day vacation, and I really want to get something accomplished today, so I want to get this done! I’ve got some top “x” lists, Some cigars I smoked, and a contest winner! I’ll start with some cigars I smoked that I found interesting. I generally spend the end of December smoking either cigars that are featured in the giveaways, or cigars I’ve featured in the past and want to revisit, or special occasion cigars. I smoked a bunch of each this year. Around Christmas I smoked a Padron 1964 Exclusivo and a Drew Estate Serie Unico Feral Flying Pig. The Pig was a bit of a surprise, it was the first of this size I’ve smoked. It was super smooth and full of rich flavor and I swear I got some cinnamon at the halfway point. This example came back with me from Nicaragua a year and a half ago, and I would have picked up a couple more when I saw them locally except for the $19 price tag. The Feral Flying Pig was a “wow” cigar for me, perhaps the best cigar I smoked all year. My wife got me this cool cast iron pig holding what looks like a tobacco leaf for me for Christmas. The Exclusivo was pretty darned good too!

New Years Eve we stopped in to Cigar Mojo in King of Prussia, PA for a smoke and I picked up some of the Rocky Patel Prohibition cigars that I’ve been wanting to try. These come in glass jars, and one has a San Andrés wrapper and one has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, and both are a 6½” x 52 toro. It seems that most of the Rocky Patel cigars I have, or have had, are a toro size, is it just me? Anyway, I smoked the San Andreas on New Years Eve and it was a good Mexican maduro smoke. It was a little smoother than the typical “dirty” sensation you get from Mexican tobacco, and was an enjoyable smoke. I smoked the Broadleaf version New Years Day, after a fun afternoon with my family in our annual tradition of watching the Winter Classic hockey game on TV, while eating and playing with the granddaughters. I think I liked the Broadleaf version better, it had a nice sweetness that I really liked. I will smoke a few more of each, as I tend to like both San Andrés and Broadleaf about the same. Good smokes, interesting packaging as they come packed in glass jars within wooden crates, an homage to bootlegging practices during prohibition. Of course, the parallel being drawn is cigars to liquor prohibition in the ’20s, which it what “they” are trying to do to tobacco, and we know how well prohibition worked out! It gave us organized crime and NASCAR!

Tops

I’m far too lazy to compile my own list of great cigars I smoked over the year. There are a lot of exceptional cigars out there, it’s really hard to go wrong. Quite a few of my colleagues in the blogosphere like to make them, so here’s a short list of some that I came across in no particular order of preference.

http://tobacconistuniversityblog.blogspot.com/2014/12/top-10-dumbest-of-2014.html

http://archive.aweber.com/nomadcigar/GIVxr/h/My_Top_Cigars_of_2014.htm

http://www.stogiereview.com/2014/12/15/top-10-cigars-tgt-edition-2014/

http://www.casasfumando.com/top-10-cigars-2014-tony-casas-edition/

http://www.askmen.com/top_10/travel/top-10-cigars.html

http://top25.cigaraficionado.com/

http://www.thecigarnut.com/the-cigar-nuts-countdown-2014-number-1/

http://www.leafenthusiast.com/cigar-review/

http://www.leafenthusiast.com/daves-choice-cigar-of-the-year_2014/

http://www.cigar-coop.com/p/the-cigar-countdown-began-saturday.html

Keep an eye on Halfwheel.com, they usually go through all the sites and put together a consensus, which goes through a bunch of the various top whatever lists. Keep an eye open for that in the coming weeks. I think my favs of the year were the Arandoza Red Label (with the White Label right up there), and anything Tortuga. There are far too many great cigars out there!

My list, once again, is a tribute to you, the reader. Here is this year’s top commentors of 2014! Thank you all for reading along and participating! Without you all I’d be talking to myself!

Contest

Of course we start off 2015 with another great giveaway! Thanks to Roberto Duran Cigars for providing a box of the very tasty Doberto P. Duran Premium Rio Toa. I smoked the Cacique Guama 6 x 60 last night and really enjoyed the smooth, well balanced and complexity of this cigar. It’s sophisticated. The winner of these is really going to enjoy them, I think. Also thanks to the other generous sponsors who over did it and left me with more than I could give away in the 12SDoCG, even in 14 days, as well as the odds and ends I had laying around! Smoke Inn, Drew Estate, 2 Guys Smokeshop primarily. This time I let RaffleCopter do the heavy lifting for me. It makes things easy for me, but I want to know how you all felt about it. I thought the turnout was rather low, and I don’t know if RaffleCopter is off-putting or what. Either way, we have a winner. Here’s the screenshot of RaffleCopter’s selection. Congrats to Mark!

That’s more than enough for today! Time to get on with the last day of vacation!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

15 Comments

Filed under Contest, Editorial, News, Review

Tagged as 2 Guys Smokeshop, cigar, Cigar Mojo, cigars, Contest, drew estate, Roberto P. Duran, Smoke Inn, The Cigar Authority

by CigarCraig | December 26, 2014 · 8:37 am

CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways 2014: Wrap Up!

Well folks, it’s finally over! It was a great couple weeks worth of great cigar giveaways! We had a never before seen 14 days! For that we have a bunch of folks to thank. Please let all these folks know that we appreciate their generosity. Nobody HAS to give away their cigars! We certainly appreciate the opportunity to make a bunch of folks happy and maybe turn people on to some new cigars and brands. Thanks to the following sponsors:

Gurkha
Drew Estate
Smoke Inn
Joya de Nicaragua
Arandoza (three times!)
Tortuga
United Cigar Retailers
General Cigars (CAO, Foundry and Cohiba)
Nomad Cigars
Miami Cigar and Company

The Flor de la Reine was the only cigar in the whole 14 days that I had never smoked, but Barry at The Cigar Authority (which is associated with United Cigar Retailers) gives it the thumbs up, so I didn’t have any reservations about including it. The rest I had smoked in maybe a different size or shape, but I’ve sampled the brand and they are all cigars I really like. There were a total of 274 cigars, three hats, two ashtrays, two t-shirts, two backpacks, a knife, a metal poster, a lighter and a cutter. Shipping costs are yet to be calculated, but I should loo for an official shipping sponsor for next year! Also, there are a couple of people who I missed seeing this year. Please join me in remembering George Satterfield and Dawn Christopher, who’s untimely departure from this plane of existence left huge voids in their families lives. I never met them, but they were frequent visitors to the site, and the 12SDoCG event. I missed seeing their comments, and their families have my sincere condolences. If it means anything, I dedicate this year’s contests to their memory. On a positive note, the next contest will be on New Years Eve, and I’m wiping the slate clean, everyone is eligible to enter this one, and it will be some good stuff!

Winners!

You probably want to know who won the crazy Day 14 prize from Miami Cigar and Company, right? The lucky recipient of the box of Nestor Miranda Collection Habano 46×6, T-shirt, ashtray and back pack is comment number 110, as selected by the random number generator at Random.org. I adjusted for a post from a prior winner and arrived at Joe K as the winner! Joe, send me your address so I can get this to you! I actually met Joe at an event a few months ago, so I might be able to save some shipping money and meet him for a smoke someplace!

Finally, the winner of the Arandoza White Labels back on day 7 never sent me his address, and I tried e-mailing twice and both e-mails came back as undeliverable So I picked another name from Day 7’s comments! Smokin_Dave, please send your address! (I’ll e-mail and hope you gave the right address). It’s probably best if you enter a contest to check to see if you won (although I’m guilty of forgetting that myself!), but at least leave the right e-mail address! I’m not selling the addresses to spammers or anything, I just would like to be able to contact you to send you cigars!

That’s all for now! I hope you all enjoyed the last few weeks! Thank you for participating, I wish I could send each of you a box of great cigars, but I can’t so you’ll just have to keep taking your chances on these contests!

Until the next time,

CigarCriag

22 Comments

Filed under Contest

Tagged as 12 days, cigar, cigars, Contest, drew estate, Flor de la Reine, Foundry, general cigars, Gurkha, joya de nicaragua, Nestor Miranda, Nomad, Smoke Inn, Tortuga, United Cigar Retailers

by CigarCraig | December 13, 2014 · 6:46 am

CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways 2014 Day 3: Smoke Inn

Day 2 is in the books and we are going to keep forging ahead! I’m up at the crack of dawn on a Saturday and can’t think of anything to write, so the winner of the Drew Estate present is Matt Henrich! Many thanks again to all the folks at Drew Estate for providing these gifts!

Smoke Inn/Kiss My Ash Radio

Day 3 brings us to the fine folks at Smoke Inn and Kiss My Ash Radio. Since today is Saturday, if you are reading this early enough, you can tune into Kiss My Ash radio and listen live at KissMyAshRadio.com from 10am to noon Eastern Standard Time, or download the podcast and listen whenever you want. Abe at Smoke Inn has provided two boxes from his Microblend series, the 601 La Bomba Bunker Buster, a 5½ x 56 box pressed Figurado (box of ten) and the Quesada Oktoberfest Dunkel, which is a Broadleaf wrapped version of the Oktoberfest line (box of 15). These are both delicious, both limited production and will look great sitting on the rim of the huge KMA Ceramic Ashtray. A KMA cap rounds out today’s present. Could I have split this up into two spectacular days? Sure, but whats the fun in that? Thanks to Abe and his gang at Smoke Inn and Kiss My Ash Radio!

Rules

All you have to do to enter is to leave a comment on that day’s post and if you like, in one sentence tell us what comes to mind when you think of Smoke Inn. It’s not a condition to win, but I’d like for the folks who make this all possible to come away with some consumer feedback. Also, be sure to visit the links for each item. Comments on Facebook, Twitter, or anywhere else will not count, but feel free to spread the word!