Tag Archives: Southern Draw

by | January 17, 2020 · 12:00 pm

News: Southern Draw Cigars to reveal the CEDRUS Lancero at TPE 2020

Here is some pre-TPE news from Southern Draw Cigars. So far Southern Draw is one of the only appointments I have at the show so far, so I encourage people to reach out to me and make appointments before I get booked up 😊. Seriously, I’m looking forward to seeing everyone at the show, although it’s looking like it’s falling at a time of great personal change for me! More on that as the situation unfolds. I dig the Southern Draw lanceros, looking forward to the Cedrus in this format.

 

NO price increases for 2020!

The love of lanceros, those long, thin cigars is nothing new for the Southern Draw Cigars family as they are our true favorite smoking experience.  The family never likes to show up empty handed to a trade show or event, so it is excited to share something new with TPE 2020 attendees.  

“Southern Draw Cigars has been quietly enjoying this size for several years (in fact I am smoking one as I draft this PR) and plans to reveal the CEDRUS Lancero 7.5×40 in celebration of our first ever attendance at the Tobacco Plus Expo in Las Vegas, NV.  From January 29th – 31st.  The family and the CEDRUS lancero may be found in a quaint little corner of Booth #4059.  We have previously offered a lancero size in each of our core blends including the popular Rose of Sharon, Firethorn, Kudzu and Jacobs Ladder and this new addition will complement the CEDRUS line nicely.  Although lanceros reportedly do not make up a large portion of sales for most brands, Southern Draw Cigars has been blessed with solid sales over the previous five years, sales that are on par with our more traditional robusto and toro sizes.  We will have a limited number of samples on hand and will be taking pre-orders for April and July 2020 deliveries,” per Robert Holt.

Southern Draw Cigars is also pleased to announce that it has NO plan for a price increase for 2020.  Sharon Holt a.k.a. The Rose of Sharon shared the company’s thought process, “We wish to avoid spending too much time on price increase (and justification) discussions with our staff and current valued retailer partners.  The family believes this is time that should be spent on value increasing discussions instead. Southern Draw has been blessed by the patience and loyalty of our partners and consumers, which more than warrants this important decision.”  

The company would like to share some of the reasons that a 2020 price increase on current products wouldn’t be productive:

  1. SDC would like to hold on to our retailers and customers during this time of gloom and uncertainty in the industry by providing quality products at fair prices and an incentive for consumers not to turn to bargain or overall cheaper products.  
  2. A price increase would likely increase churn in the essential life blood of brick and mortar shops operating in states with higher than average tobaccos related taxes.
  3. SDC has been blessed with a growth rate of >100% per year over the last 6 years, a 4% – 5% price increase now won’t really matter over the next 5 – 10 years, however the churn and the loss of referrals and consumer support will adversely impact our growth rate.
  4. A price increase on current products and with existing partners will take a lot of time and energy away from family, sales representatives and brokers, if sales are soft or growth declines, the opinion will likely be that it was due to the price increase.
  5. A one-time price increase may solve immediate increased labor, legal and logistical costs but when it is done, it hasn’t fixed any real issues.  We need to support the industry more and proactively work together on long term solutions that benefit the industry.  

Southern Draw Cigars plans to introduce more expensive product offerings in 2020 and when it has been determined a price increase is necessary, the company will make every effort to telegraph it well in advance and then apply it equally to all products in an attempt to mitigate any issues.  

CEDRUS Lancero

Country of Origin:  Nicaragua

Factory:   AJ Fernandez Cigar Co., Estelí, Nicaragua

Wrapper:  Besuki, Indonesia

Binder:      Habano 2000- Estelí, Nicaragua

Viso:          Piloto Cubano – Dominican Republic, Criollo 98 – Estelí, Nicaragua

Seco:         Habana 92 – Quilali, Nicaragua

Ligero:      Corojo 99 – Jalapa, Nicaragua

Size:

Lancero 7.5×40 (box pressed)

Number of Cigars – 50,000 per size the be released for 2020 

Packaging:  20 count boxes (standard SDC boxes) and a limited number of 20 count refill bundles 

Price – $10.20 MSRP (same price as the robusto size of all core bend cigars) 

Ship Date – April15 & July 15 & October 15, 2020 

Soli Deo Gloria – 

 

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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 | November 10, 2019 · 10:39 am

Villiger Cuellar Black Forrest and Assorted Cigars

I’ve been smoking some random favorites this week, along with revisiting some cigars to re-evaluate my opinions on them. I spent a while with my web host’s support folks trying to iron out some back-end issues I’ve been having and I think something got fixed with the RSS feed and Google indexing. The e-mails seem to be going out again and searches don’t seem to be coming up in Chinese anymore! That was annoying! Spending ten years creating content, I’d like my legacy to be properly preserved in google searches! So it’s all sorted out, I think. I’ve been looking at new WordPress themes too, I’ve been using the same site design since 2012, and it might be time to refresh it a bit. When I find the right layout, you’ll know it! Anyway, Here’s some of my thoughts on some cigars I smoked this week. 

 

Southern Draw Jacob’s Ladder Brimstone – I love the shape, it’s perfectly constructed, and I really want to love the cigar, and it’s great, but I think I like the regular Jacob’s Ladder better. There’s something about the regular line that is richer, maybe the added strength of the Brimstone overpowers he blend for me. If I had smoked this before the regular line I might have had a different opinion, but I feel a little disappointed when I smoke these. I want it to be a better Jacob’s Ladder, and for me it just isn’t, something gets lost. 

 

Cornelius and Anthony Daddy Mac – As everyone should be aware, I have a fondness for everything in the Cornelius and Anthony line, except, maybe the Daddy Mac. I’ve always said I liked it, but it was my least favorite in the line, and the second half of that statement id certainly always been true, but it’s time to stop sugar coating it and just give up on the Daddy Mac. The cigar just doesn’t appeal to me. That’s not to say it isn’t a good cigar, and there are plenty of people who love it, it’s got that leathery, earthy profile that I don’t personally dig. I need to reach out to Steven Bailey and ask him what the future of Cornelius and Anthony looks like. I’ve been seeing a lot of posts from this weekend’s LaZonaPalooza and the name C&A hasn’t come up. Inquiries at a recent visit to El Titan de Bronze, where my favorite Cornelius is made were not exactly positive. I need to know how I should ration my existing stock. 

 

Speaking of cigars made at LaZona, I also smoked a La Sirena King Poseidon, the brand’s 6″ x 60 vitola. This is another small brand that I’ve had a long time affinity for. The 6″ x 60 size was an experiment, and I like it a lot, but I think I like the Trident, the Churchill size, better for a large vitola in this line. I love the Trident and Devine (belicoso) sizes the best in this line.  I still have a couple of the Tridents from a box that was made in the My Father factory, they are Devine…no that’s the Belicoso…you know what I mean. La Sirena’s family of brands, including Merloin, Oceano, and the 10th Anniversary, have a little something for everyone, and I enjoy the heck out of them. 

 

Let’s talk about this new cigar from Villiger, the Cuellar Black Forrest. This is made at the Tabacalera Palma in the Dominican Republic, which is where the Cuellar Krēmē is made, as well as one of my favorite Villiger cigars, the long gone and poorly named Trill. It’t box pressed and has a San Andrés wrapper and Dominican binder and filler and has a really interesting aroma out of the box. They often send samples in really nice little boxes of two or three, and while the presentation is top notch, one can’t help but think they might be better served saving that expense. Just a thought. This is a beautiful smoke, and everyone has been smoking this and raving about it. It was different from what most think of San Andrés wrapped cigars. It didn’t have the heavy earth that is associated with Mexican leaf, but would still qualify as earthy I guess. It was solidly in the medium category and smooth, consistent with it’s Cuellar Krēmē sibling, it compliments it well as the maduro counterpart if that is the intent. I can recall smoking a Krēmē at the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival in 2014 and really enjoying it, and I might have one of similar vintage someplace in the humidor. This was a nice smoke that I’ll look forward to smoking again.

 

That’s all for today. until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

 

 

 

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by | August 18, 2019 · 9:10 am

Southern Draw 300 Hands and Tatuaje Mexican Experiment and ME II Cigars

Wednesday evening I finally got around to trying the Southern Draw 300 Hands Connecticut in the Piramides size. This is a 6 1/8″ x 52 figurado, a classic size, with a US grown Connecticut shade wrapper, a Peruvian binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. Like all Southern Draw cigars it’s made at the AJ Fernandez Factory in Nicaragua. The wrapper is on the darker side for a Connecticut shade, and I found the flavor to be less grassy than most cigars in that genre. It smoked very well and was a very enjoyable cigar, well priced, with proceeds going to help less fortunate people in Nicaragua.

 

Thursday I stopped into the Downingtown CigarCigars shop to see Kevin, the manager there, looking for some “white” cigars for this coming Thursday’s Diner en Blanc. While I didn’t really find anything there, I did pick up some new cigars to try, including the Tatuaje Mexican Experiment and ME II in the Churchill sizes. I got a few others that will come up later as I get around to smoking them, and there was a E.P. Carillo event there which I hung around for the start of. Ali is the new EPC rep, and I’ve known here for quite a few years. I enjoyed a Seleccion Oscuro robusto there while talking with Kevin, which is one of my favorites in the EPC line. You know what I found really interesting about the Tatuaje Mexican Experiment and ME II?  They are priced at $10 (in no cigar tax PA) for any size. The box pressed 6½” x 48 Churchill seemed like the logical choice to me, so I picked up one in each blend. I started with the Mexican Experiment, of course, it would be insane to smoke the II first. There’s not much blend information about the to cigars, they have a Mexican San Andrés wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers, and are made at the My Father factory in Nicaragua. Honestly, I’d have to smoke these side by side to really be able to say what the difference is, perhaps the ME II was a bit more spicy than the Mexican Experiment. Both cigar were solidly in my wheelhouse, loaded with lush, heavy tobacco flavors with dark chocolate and espresso. I smoked these fresh from the store, for the most part, I should probably grab a few more to leave in the humidor for a year to see how they age, I suspect they would be spectacular, or more so, having spent some time resting.  I got my start smoking Mexican cigars back in the 90s, my father-in-law turned me on to Te-Amos and I found the maduros to be to my liking and I smoked a bunch of them. My first box buy was a box of toros, and I used to buy the Te-Amo segundos by the bundle. At the time Mexican cigars were not exactly considered the cream of the crop, I guess I was ahead of the curve! There is a difference between a blend and a puro, and all Mexican tobacco might be overwhelming, I get that. Certainly these two Tatuaje cigars are great for my palate, and I really enjoyed the Churchill size. The other three sizes offered (Robusto (5” x 54),Toro (5 ¾” x 50) and Belicoso (5” x 52)) are actually pretty close together, made it hard to make a selection. 

 

Off to work another Sunday, 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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