Tag Archives: The Wise Man

by Craig Vanderslice | June 9, 2024 · 10:21 am

Some Wise Man Cigars, a Conspiracy and a Panacea

Last week I dropped by the Wooden Indian in Havertown, PA and picked up a couple of new cigars. I was actually looking for something else, which they had sold out of, so I had to pivot. I got some of the new Foundation Cigar Co. Wise Man cigars. The original El Güegüense and Wise Man Maduro cigars have been retired, and replaced by two new ones, both carrying the Wise Man name. These are being made by My Father Cigars. I started with the Wise Man Corojo in Toro size. This is a 6″ x 52 cigar with a Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper, Estelí & Jalapa binders and fillers from Esteli, Condega, and Jalapa. I really liked this cigar! It had what seems to me was a confectioners sugar sweetness. It had bright flavors, some light spices and really appealed to me. I was surprised and looked forward to the Maduro.

The following night I smoked the Wise Man Maduro, also in the 6″ x 52 Toro. This is the same blend as the Corojo: Estelí & Jalapa binders and fillers from Esteli, Condega, and Jalapa, but with a San Andrés Maduro wrapper. I expected to like this more than the Corojo, oddly, I was mistaken. This started out spicy and remained so through the cigar. I wanted some earthy, chocolaty coffee, but it was more like spicy burnt dark roast. It wasn’t completely off-putting, but I have to say that I liked the old blend better. Heck, I loved the Corojo, probably more than the original El Güegüense. Perhaps some aga will help the Maduro, but it didn’t appeal to me, I’m afraid. It’s very unusual that I don’t like a Maduro over something else, but it seems to be happening more and more lately. Is this a reflection of the maduro cigars or of my palate?

When I was at the Smoke-onos event, I talked to my old friend Michael Giannini, who was manning the Quality Importers booth with Alex Goldman. He showed off some of their newest accessories, and some of the things they can customize in their “Swag Bunker”. He also handed me a cigar with a plain white band (pre-production, I assume) that said Conspiracy (with a backwards N that I can’t manage to pull off with a standard keyboard). This cigar was shown at the PCA show, and was a collaboration between Alex Goldman (House of Oxford, Royal Gold Cigars), Michael (La Gloria Cubana, Foundry Cigars, Ventura) and Ernesto Carrillo (EPC, La Gloria, Etc.), made at the Casa Carrillo factory. I had the Ecuador Connecticut in the 6″ x 60 size because that’s what Michael handed me. I’d love to try the San Andrés version. Both of these have undisclosed binder and fillers, except that the tobaccos are from Ernesto’s factory. This was a decent cigar, with a darker shade wrapper. I enjoyed it while watching the Phillies play in London. If I’m honest, like it was hard to differentiate the baseball game being played in another country from one played here, the cigar was good, but not remarkably so. Both were a good product. Bring on the Maduro.

I pre-gamed game one of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals with a Flatbed Tobacco Co. Panacea Green 560 from the Grande line. Speaking of Panacea, please take note of their Daily Deal on my left sidebar. You can get some great deals on some great cigars. I’ve taken a shine to the Green Label, it has a Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper, Dominican Habano binder and Piloto Cubano, Olor Dominicano, and Nicaragua ligeros in the filler. This is a reasonably strong cigar, but not overwhelming. It has the flavors I look for in a cigar like this, some cocoa and coffee, with some spice. I rather enjoyed the 5″ x 60 format, it fit well into the time I had for a cigar, a little over an hour. It looks like today’s (Sunday, June 9), deal of the day is a 560 sampler, which would be a great way to try the Panacea offerings. I just might bite. Great line of cigars from a small, family company right here in PA.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Conspiracy, Corojo, Flatbed Cigar Co., Foundation Cigar Co., maduro, Panacea, Quality Importers, The Wise Man, Wise Man

by Craig Vanderslice | October 15, 2023 · 11:25 am

Some Foundation Cigars, a Big Payback and a Little Papas Fritas

I went and got a flu shot and a Covid vaccine yesterday and the combination has really kicked my ass. Can’t recommend that pairing. Not sure which one gave me the fever and chills, but it was a miserable night last night, and I’m not exactly Mr. Happy this morning. We’ll see if the grass gets cut today or not, or if any cigars get smoked. Anyway, I stopped in to Cigar Mojo Thursday for their Foundation Cigars event with Eduardo Aguilar and Miguel “La Chaveta” Montanez for a quick visit. I probably could have stayed for a while, but I wanted to watch the Flyers game in the comfort of my own lounge, and I was fighting off a migraine, and a smokey lounge isn’t great for that. So I did the grab and go thing, and went home and fired up a Tabernacle Havana Seed No. 142 Doble Corona and watched some hockey. The Doble Corona is a 7″ x 54 cigar, good for the pre-game show and into the second period. The wrapper is a Connecticut grown Havana No. 142, obviously, which is a hybrid seed which is dark and oily and really quite beautiful. The binder is San Andrés and the fillers are from Estekli and Jalapa in Nicaragua and JAmastran in Honduras. This is a rich, spicy cigar with some sweetness. I also picked up a toro and a lancero, which I haven’t gotten around to smoking yet. really looking forward to those. I love the original Tabernacle, but this one is something special.

Friday I grabbed a Foundation The Wise Man Maduro in the Robusto size. I like their Robusto because it’s 5½” x 50 and skirts the line between toro and robusto. This was the sequel to the El Güegüense, which people fumbled over pronouncing. It seems it was easier to just call the maduro version by the translation: The Wise Man. Hard to argue the logic. This has a San Andrés wrapper, a COrojo 99 binder from Jalapa and fillers from Nicaragua. Being a fan of the Mexican wrapper, it’s hard for me not to love this cigar, it’s one of my favorites in the Foundation line. It checks all the boxes for me, coffee, cocoa, some spice. I dig it. I was disappointed that the new offerings from Foundation were a couple weeks out at the time they had this event. I was hoping to get the new Charter Oak offerings, even though I’m not sure I get the trend of budget lines coming out with premium offerings (Rocky Patel Edge, Brick House come to mind). I still want to try them, I’m desparate for anything new at this point!

So desperate I am for something new that I decided to smoke the new Room 101 Big Payback Redux while watching hockey yesterday afternoon. I figured this would be good for the better part of the game. Here’s what Matt Booth has to say about this cigar: “It has been my life’s mission to produce a combustible vessel so engorged and far more magnificent than its standard counterpart in cylindrical presentation, and it’s my greatest honor to offer our people such a product that overflows with both girth and grandeur.” If you’ve ever heard Matt, you just read that in his voice. This is a 7″ x 70 cigar, outside my usual comfort zone. I’ll do a 60 no problem, but a 70 is just unwieldy. I can count the number of 70 ring cigars I’ve smoked on one hand. This is a $9 cigar, and that’s the point of the brand, to give back to the loyal Room 101 supporters with a good cigar at a reasonable price. I have to say, mission accomplished, it’s a tasty cigar. This is made in Honduras, using a Honduran Olancho San Augustin wrapper (STG must grow a crapload of this as it’s been popping up on just about everything in their portfolio for the last dozen years, including Cohiba), a Connecticut Broadleaf binder and Nicaraguan, Dominican and Honduran fillers. I actually really enjoyed the cigar, which is good, because it’s a three hour commitment (a colleague noted a smoking time of 4½ hours! In a row?). Smooth, sweet nuts and creamy coffee notes. I can’t say this will be a regular for me, but if I find I need a three hour cigar, I won’t hesitate to grab one of these.

In an effort to balance things out, and since the effects of the vaccines were beginning to kick in, I decided to have something small for mey Saturday evening smoke. I hadn’t gotten around to smoking the Drew Estate H99 Papas Fritas yet, and I had bought a few several weeks ago. I figured I had smoked a behemoth cigar earlier, might as well off set things with something on the small side. This is 4½ x 44 with a pigtail cap, and made from the trimmings of the Liga Privada line. Steve Saka launched this line when he was at DE to utilize some of the valuable bench trimmings, and named it after one of his favorite things. Oh, I know, you think I’m being mean, but I’ve known Steve for over 25 years, and his favorite things are cigars, food and booze, gimme a break. Anyway, the H99 version came out last year as one of the Freestyle Live packs, and I’m not sure it would have been a big mystery, although I never saw the Freestyle Live pack, it’s a fairly distinctive format. This isn’t a pretty cigar, but it is tasty, and it burns well for a short filler cigar. I like having some short smokes around, and this and the original Broadleaf version are good ones to have. I still haven’t had the Nasty Fritas.

That’s all for today, I feel like the fever has made me drone on a bit. I’ll read this later and maybe do some editing (probably not). Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Big Payback, cigar, cigars, drew estate, Foundation, Foundation Cigar Co., H99, Havana Seed No 142, Papas Fritas, Room 101, Tabernacle, The Wise Man

by CigarCraig | August 6, 2017 · 9:54 am

IPCPR 2017 – Foundation Cigar Company

Every once in a while Facebook chastises me for not posting enough on the CigarCraig.com Facebook Page. It’s funny, I post twice a week when I update here, but I guess FB is looking for interaction. SO I took the opportunity to ask what I should smoke Friday night, and offered a prize to the person whose advice I followed. There were some great suggestions I really wanted to go with, but I didn’t have and El Rico Habanos on hand (an old favorite), nor could I find the new Enclave Broadleaf from AJ Fernandez. Mike Weinstein suggested the Tabernacle from Nick Melillo’s Foundation Cigar Company, and I selected the Lancero for my evening smoke. I really love the Tabernacle line, it has a great Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper with Nicaraguan fillers and smoked perfectly. The narrow ring gauge intensified the Broadleaf flavor, and slow smoking produced tons of rich, sweet smoke. Happy and sad at the same time that I only bought two of these, but it was the last two, so I didn’t have much choice. Tabernacle is a great cigar, thanks to Mike W for the inspiration, I’ll get some goodies out to you this week!

At the IPCPR show I visited Nick at his booth, which won the award for the best medium-sized booth, and we did a little video presented below for your enjoyment. He was displaying the new The Wise Man Maduro, simplifying the name from El Güegüense, which I guess the masses had trouble with. He also had the Highclere Castle on display, as well as the Special El Güegüense Humidor that he shows in the video. I didn’t receive any samples, but will certainly be buying some Wise Man Maduros when I see them. I did come across a Charter Oak Connecticut Shade from last year’s show and smoked that yesterday, boy what a great little cigar in the 4½ x 50 Rothchild size. These are priced from $4-6 and are exceptional values. The burn was great, the smoke had a nice, sweet nutty flavor and it was perfect for the early afternoon. Smooth, creamy and tasty. Not real pretty, but great tasting, and the closed foot is a nice touch. For what it’s worth, I had a couple of the Upsetters line from last year’s show that I could have chosen, I’m just always leery of the infused cigars. One of these days I’ll work up the courage…

Next Saturday I’m fortunate enough to attend Drew Estate‘s Connecticut Barn Smoker, the first of these events I’ve attended. I’m looking forward to learning more about the way tobacco is farmed in Connecticut, I’ve seen farms in Dominican Republic and Nicaragua, and burly tobacco farms in Lancaster County, but haven’t been to a farm in Connecticut. I’m looking forward to the experience and will take plenty of video and pictures to share with you. I figured I better try some of Drew Estate’s new offerings and had to sample the Undercrown Sungrown as I’ve heard great things about it. I’ll say right now, based on one sample, this may be my favorite in the Undercrown range, and I really like the maduro and Shade varieties a lot. It has a flawless milk chocolate-brown Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, Stalk Cut Connecticut grown Habano (like the T-52 wrapper), and Nicaraguan fillers. Besides this being one sexy looking cigar, it tastes friggin great! It had a nice, warm bread sensation, with some sweetness and a hint of pepper. I only came home from the show with a couple of these, but I will be putting more in my humidors as this is wonderful cigar. I look forward to trying other sizes. Willy Herrera and his team killed it with this one. Very impressive.

Check out the video with Nick, once again, terrible camera work by me, but great content from Nick! I need to look into one of those stabilizing gimbal camera holders I guess.