Tag Archives: tatuaje

by CigarCraig | December 28, 2011 · 10:31 am

CigarCraig’s Top Cigars Of 2011

Once again I’d like to thank everyone for making the 12 Days of Spectacular Giveaways a huge success. I certainly couldn’t have done it without stuff to give away and people to give it to and the great support I had at home. It was tons of fun but it was a loads of work and quite tiring. I’ll plan on doing it again next year but will do a few things a little differently on the back end. Congrats to all of the winners and thanks to everyone for making it a great year on CigarCraig.com!

Everyone’s publishing their “Top Whatever” lists, and I’ve avoided doing anything like that over the years since I don’t really have a quantitative method of reviewing cigars, if you even want to call it reviewing. I know what I like, I know how a cigar works and I also feel that nobody sets out to make a crappy cigar, so there must be someone, somewhere who likes a given cigar, no matter how offensive it is to me. Also keep in mind that I’m not the kind of guy who runs all over creation looking for the hip boutique cigars, I’m just as happy with a Partagas Black as I am with some limited edition cigar that only comes out on arbor day and had 7 bands on it (happier, no doubt) So with all that in mind, let’s take a romp through what tripped my trigger over the last year!

You’d be hard pressed to find a list without the Tatuaje La Casita Criolla on it, and I have to concur, this is one of the cigars this year that really made me happy. Broadleaf. That’s all it is, Broadleaf. I love Broadleaf. I only smoked the corona size, but to me it compared favorably with the Liga Privada Serie Unico Dirty Rat in flavor and balance. Tasty, tasty cigar! I purchased these at a local shop and they weren’t too much more than $5 or $6 each.

A group of cigars that have received favorable reviews everywhere and are on everyone’s lists are the Emilio and Grimalkin cigars from Gary Griffith. The Emilio AF1 is a nice, dark, heavy, seriously yummy cigar, it’s sibling, the AF2 is different, perhaps a brighter flavor, but equally well made and delicious. The Grimalkin is a different beast, subtle, complex, an orgiastic feast of the senses. I have not had the occasion to purchase these, all of the samples I smoked were provided to me by Gary, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t buy them in a heartbeat. Gary and his partners are producing exceptional cigars, and I’m quite happy to know him.

I have also been enamored with the La Gloria Cubana Artesanos Retro Especial and the CAO OSA Sol this year, both new cigars from General Cigar Co., and I’m not just saying that because I had the great fortune of visiting their Dominican factory. One of the many eyeopeners on that trip, besides revisiting some of their classic cigars and finding them to be outstanding, was the time and passion that goes into making every cigar. It almost has to be harder to make a million great cigars that are great year after year thank to make a batch of a couple hundred thousand that are gone when they are gone, right? The La Gloria Retro has been excellent and tasty in all the sizes I’ve tried, cigar after cigar, and the CAO OSA Sol seems to shine in the Lot 50, or robusto size, but is a nice enough cigar across the board. Both are in the medium range with lots of flavor.

One of my favorite finds of the year has to have been Oja Cigars. I met the brand owner, Luis Garcia, on my trip to Nicaragua, and we hit it off pretty good. His cigars are made by Tabacalera Esteli, which is owned by Kiki Berger. There haven’t been a lot of cigars from Cuban Crafters that have floated my boat, but the Oja line is really nice. I think my favorite cigar of the year was a Connecticut Toro I enjoyed in the pool on a hot summer day, but that had as much to do with the circumstance as with the cigar. The line is solid, full bodied (even the Connecticut) and tasty. The Anniversary, with a Brazilian maduro wrapper outshines them all. It’s a little more refined and complex. I love the whole line and look forward to seeing them in stores in my area.

I should mention Adrian’s CroMagnon by Michael Rosales and Skip Martin, which is another cigar that’s been on everyone’s list. I’ve only smoked a couple samples that Skip gave me, but they are definitely up my alley. Also, for much different reasons, I really like the Berger and Argenti Mooch line, especially the Schnorr. The name cracks me up, but the cigar is a solid, flavorful medium bodied cigar. Also the Undercrown and My Uzi Weighs a Ton were on everyone’s list for good reason, and I enjoyed the samples I had. Alec Bradley is making fine cigars, Toraño is making fine cigars, La Palina, El Primer Mundo, Oliva, everyone seems to be making fine cigars! It’s a good time, there are so many choices!

That’s about all I can think of at the moment. Honestly, there were a LOT of great cigars this year.

Until the next time, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

CigarCraig

17 Comments

Filed under Editorial, Review

Tagged as af1, af2, Alec Bradley, broadleaf, cain, CAO, cigar, cigars, connecticut, drew estate, El Primer Mundo, Emilio, general cigars, Grimalkin, La Casita Criolla, La Gloria Cubana, La Palina, Oja, oliva, tatuaje, Toraño

by CigarCraig | September 11, 2011 · 8:15 am

Weekend Cigars: A CroMagnon, A La Casita Criolla, G&G Cigars, and a Marco V

First off, I’d like to welcome our latest sponsor, CigarChoice.com. Â As with all of my sponsors, please pay them a visit and consider them when doing your online shopping! Â You will find their ads in the right-hand sidebar, as well as on the CigarCraigsList and Links pages. Â I appreciate their support, but my opinions or my content will never be effected by outside sources!

After the torrential rain subsided this week, I was in the mood for something special, so I grabbed a CroMagnon Cranium that Skip Martin handed me at Â the IPCPR show. Â I guess this makes me a cigar weasel, but I suppose I’m in good company (this is a bit of an inside joke among those who follow Skip on Twitter). Â This line is a collaboration between Skip and Michael Rosales of Adrians Premium Costa Rican Cigars, however it’s manufactured in Esteli, Nicaragua with Nicaraguan tobaccos wrapped in a Cameroon binder and finished off with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. Â The cigar is rustic looking, but solid. Â I anticipated loving this cigar, and I was right, broadleaf AND Cameroon? Â Lovely combination!. Â It had just the right punch and deep, dark flavors that were the perfect ending to the week. Â Highly recommended, although only available from Havacigarshop.com.

I had some time on my hands Saturday, so I paid a much overdue visit to G & G Cigars in West Chester, PA, just 10 miles down the road from home. Â I run into the owner, Doug, at the IPCPR show more than I do in his store. Â Why? I guess I just don’t get out much. Â The shop is in the middle of a busy college town/county seat in part of what was once the Warner Theater. As a long time area resident, I can remember going to matinees in that theater, but it’s been closed for decades and is currently being renovated into a hotel. Â The shop is well appointed, has a generous selection of cigars and was staffed by a very nice gentleman named Tony, who made me feel quite welcome. I picked up a couple of the new La Casita Criolla corona from Tatuaje Cigars, since I had read about these, and they sounded like something I’d like. Â These are made entirely of Nicaraguan Broadleaf, which is quite unusual. Â Again, I was right, I DID like it. Â This corona burned great, and had tons of dark, rich flavors, which came as no surprise. While $6.50 is generally outside of my comfort zone for a corona, I really wanted to try this one. Â I was invited to sit in their members only lounge, and enjoyed a good hour or so with a diverse and interesting group of gents. Â The store has a membership program where for $50 per year you can use the lounge and attend monthly special events. Â On the one hand, I find it odd to not have a place open to the regular (non-member) clientele to enjoy a cigar after purchasing it, as well as having events that aren’t open to the general public. Â However, it is a small shop, and they’ve obviously found something that works for them. Â Very nice shop, and a very nice cigar to go along with it.

As I’m writing this, I’m enjoying a M. Vito x Marco V Cuban Perfecto Platinum Reserve, which was given to me by Marco V at the IPCPR show. Â It’s a big, beautiful, dark perfecto wrapped in Brazilian Arapiraca. Â I’m finding it to be on the lighter side of the medium that it says on the website, but it still has a nice flavor and is generally well behaved. Â I selected this so that I could include a video from the show of Marco, as well as a video of a gentleman who was sharing his booth, Gunnar, who’s a very interesting German fellow. Â Since it seems to be football season, it’s only appropriate to show off Gunnar’s creation, The Football Cigar, which is an actual premium cigar, despite it’s novelty appearance. Â The Marco V is a nice cigar, the ash is a little flakey, but it’s pleasant and well made. Â Both Marco and Gunnar are really nice folks and I thank them for taking their time with me at the show.

Here’s Marco telling us about his line of cigars:

And here’s Gunnar talking about his Football Cigar:

That’s it for now, don’t forget to write to your elected officials imploring them to co-sponsor the legislation that’s in both the House and the Senate to save Premium cigars from certain destruction at the hands of the FDA (right sidebar). Both Cigar Rights of America and the IPCPR have excellent tools on their sites to make writing to your legislators easy. Â Also, only a few days left to enter the Macanudo Millionaire 4-pack contest where I’ll select two lucky winners on Wednesday, September 14! Â Go HERE to enter!

CigarCraig

2 Comments

Filed under IPCPR, Review, Stores, Video

Tagged as broadleaf, cigar, cigar rights, cigar store, cigar stores, cigars, Contest, FDA, Football, G&G, IPCPR, La Casita Criolla, maduro, Marco V, tatuaje, The Football Cigar, twitter

by CigarCraig | August 11, 2010 · 4:00 pm

My Latest Cigar Adventures, IPCPR Show – Wednesday August 11, 2010

My family vacation to New Orleans this past weekend allowed me the opportunity to make a quick stop at the annual International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers convention. The IPCPR’s annual show is where all of the manufacturers and distributors gather to sell their wares to the retailers. I had 3 hours to spend at the show as I had to catch a plane, so I tried to visit as many old friends as I could and meet some new ones. As I was standing in the wrong line to register I met Wesley Gensel, who handles several brands of cigars from Brazil. He had been interviewed not long ago on Dogwatch Cigar Radio, real nice guy. I moved from the “exhibitors” line to the empty “retailers” line and got my badge and waited to enter the show where I struck up a conversation with Thomas Bender and a couple of his cohorts from Cigar Weekly. I also ran into Mark Aub from Brother’s of the Leaf/Palio whom I had met a couple months ago.

At about 10 minutes to 10 they opened the doors to the show. I remember two years ago when we visited the show in Vegas it was like opening the floodgates when the show opened. This time it wasn’t quite so crowded. I’m not sure if it was a lower turnout or the exhibit space was larger, but it just seemed like there was a lot more room to move. I headed over to the Drew Estate booth (which was awarded “Best in Show”) and Steve Saka was there, who is an old friend, and I introduced myself to Jonathan Drew and Johnny Brooke, whom I hadn’t met before. It was nice to see Marvin Samel again, as well as Dave Lafferty and Kevin McCormack, the sales guys for my area. The booth was loaded with sneakers. Racks of hightops on the floor and shelves of them around the perimeter. Very cool and quite different. I didn’t notice if Saka was wearing a pair of Liga Privada Chuck Taylors or not.

I stopped and introduced myself to Pete Johnson of Tatuaje and Dion Giolito of Illusione cigars. I stopped to see Charlie Toraño, who’s booth was quite busy, said hello to Sam Leccia and Dave Weber at the Oliva booth. Stopped by the Camacho booth to see Christian Eiroa, and ran into old friend Bobby Holstein from Fuji Publishing, who used me to mule a cup of Scotch to Saka. I also stopped by the CAO booth to see Paul Spence, whom I’ve met on several occasions before, and said hello to Jon Huber on the way out. I was able to meet Bob and Dale from Dogwatch Cigar Radio finally, after having corresponded with them for quite a while, and ran into the crew from Stogie Review, of whom I’d only met Walt White prior. I also ran into Scott Smyth of Scott Smyths World of Cigars while talking to Kurt Kendall of 7-20-4 Cigars, both of whom were very nice guys. I also ran into Abe Dababneh of Smoke Inn, whom I had met at the 2008 show. He is on the IPCPR board and gave me some very interesting information about why they have restricted the number of passes available to retailers for the show. It seems that some retailer was buying additional passes and reselling them to their customers for a profit. They currently only allow two passes per store from what I’m led to believe. I may have to break down and get press credentials the next time I go!

One of the highlights for me was visiting the General Cigar booth. I had been contacted (me and a bunch of other blog types) by Victoria McKee Jaworski, General’s Director of Public Relations, some time ago and stopped to say hello. She was busy with a customer, but her assistant gave me the tour of the booth, introducing me to the brand managers and providing me with samples of some of the new offerings. In the not so distant future I will be smoking a new Macanudo, the Cru Royale, a couple new La Glorias and a new Hoyo de Monterrey. What is most interesting about these new offerings is that they are not ridiculously priced. I’m especially eager to try the LA Gloria Cubana Serie N, which is Nicaraguan and will have an “N” made out of light colored tobacco leaf as part of the wrapper. The presentations of all of these new items are very impressive and will stand out on tobacconist’s shelves. They also have some pretty cool items that will be coming out for the holidays, various collections and samplers with lighters and ashtrays and such. They also showed me a Partagas 150 humidor and a La Gloria Cubana Travel bag which were beautiful and very high end. Along with the samples, they provided me with a CD with photos of everything, which is good because I took a bunch of pictures at the show on the macro setting and everything came out blurry…anyway my visit to General’s booth was extremely positive, and I’m pleased that they see a value in what people like me do (free advertising?) and really go a long way to make us feel welcome at what is supposed to be a selling show.

I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t find the La Aurora booth, either it was hidden away or not as big as I expected, or I was just in such a hurried and sensory overloaded state that I missed it, hard to tell. There were a few other blogger types that I had hoped to run into but didn’t, but in three hours I managed to cover a lot of ground and make some good contacts. I wish I had some good pictures, but there will be plenty floating around.

In an unrelated note, I received an e-mail while I was away telling me that CigarCraig.com was included in an article, Top 50 Cigar Appreciation Blogs For Becoming a True Aficionado”, which is pretty cool! I appreciate being included in their list.