I hope everyone made it through the Independence Day holiday unscathed. We had some wicked thunder storms roll through right around sundown yesterday which knocked our power out until about 2am. In honor of the holiday, I smoked the range of United Cigars Firecracker cigars. These are little cigars, 3½” x 50, with a long “fuse” pigtail cap. These are all on the stronger side, I started with the Connecticut version with coffee Friday morning. It’s got the creamy/nutty flavor one would expect, with some added punch. It was a very good little cigars. Later in the day I fired up the Maduro, which was, once again, what one would expect, a strong, chocolaty smoke.
Yesterday I started my day with the Sungrown. I smoked this one in the car on my way to wander around Valley Forge National Park, and it fit in the twenty minute drive nicely. This definitely had the punch, with some wood, leather and spice. I was a little disappointed that the park was not showing the half-hourly film in their theater, but instead was holding some sort of court martial re-enactment. I wondered about this for a minute, then I decided to take a walk to one of the encampment areas, where they were demonstrating some musket drills. I can’t imagine the reenactors wearing wool uniforms in the near 100 degree heat. I didn’t hang out long, just long enough to soak up some of the history there. It was fairly crowded. I went there a lot as a kid, but particularly remember going there in ’76 when a bicentennial wagon train was traveling through. Anyway, the Firecrackers are good little cigars, but they are little, I wouldn’t have chosen such small cigars to smoke, but felt compelled due to the holiday. United cigars did make a special Firecracker for this year, the Independence Firecracker. Usually they have an established company make a Firecracker, I’ve smoked a bunch over the years, many have been a treat. The Mi Querida Firecracker actually spun off a whole line (the Triqui Traca). This one, like the above three, I believe, is made at the Arnold André Dominicana S.R.L. factory. It’s strong off the bat, with earth and leather. It has a Mexican Habano wrapper, Dominican binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan ligers in the filler. The 12 count tin box can be turned over and used as an ashtray. It’s neat, but why not make it 13 in a box? I’m sure they tried. Yesterday was also my wedding anniversary, so I picked up something special to commemorate the occasion. I selected the Rocky Patel Thirtieth Anniversary in the gordo size, it was more than I would usually spend, but what the heck. This one has a San Andrés wrapper, double binder from Nicaragua (Aged 7+ years), and tobaccos from Honduras & Nicaragua (Aged 5+ years) in the filler. This is a box pressed cigar. The color scheme struck my eye, it has a Tiffany blue footband, which is personally significant. My wife and I have exchanged items from Tiffany for anniversaries over the years. I looks a lot like the Rocky Patel 60, which I really like. I would have liked this cigar to have been a little dryer, as it smoked a little on the steamy side, but it had a really nice. flavor. It was earthy, with some dark chocolate and espresso, right up my alley. I doubt I’ll spring for another, but this was a nice treat. I didn’t want to smoke the same old Padron 1964 Exclusivo that I usually smoke (I lie, I almost always want to smoke one of those!). I can’t help but draw some comparisons though. Thirtieth was the closest I could come, maybe next year someone will have a fortieth anniversary cigar that will be appropriate!That’s all for today, until the next time, CigarCraig
I somehow chose three cigars with numbers in the names this week. Purely unintentional, but maybe I should buy a lottery ticket? Lets see, 19, two 10s, a 14 and a 30….how can we make that work? It would be a stretch…nevermind, I’ll save my money. I started out with the Casa 1910 Chuchillo Parado in a 5″ x 50 Robusto. This came from Freshbox Cigars, by the way, I’ll be announcing two winners at the end of this post who will get a Freshbox starter kit (and there’s some space in the humidors, extra cigars may fall in while I’m packing it! Anyway, I smoked a Casa 1910 Chuchillo Parado, which is a 5″ x 50 robusto and seems to be only available in this size. I was sure I selected the Toro, which is the Tierra Blanco, but either I goofed or they made a substitution. It seems I smoked one of the Chucillo Parado after the 2021 PCA show sometime, because it shows up in a blog post from January of ’22. I apologize, I try not to repeat cigars. I will make an exception because it was a worthy cigar, and it promotes the folks at Freshbox, who we have to thank for sponsoring this giveaway. I am plagiarizing myself a little in the next couple sentences. It’s a Mexican puro, with San Andrés Negro tobaccos wrapped in a Mexican Sumatra wrapper. It was a very nice looking cigar, not at all like the Mexican puros I started out smoking in the 90’s. Nor did it taste like those cigars, which were almost a dirty flavor. This had a unique spice component, which stuck to the palate, almost, like licorice, but not licorice, if that makes sense. This cigar smoked really well, and was quite satisfying. Maybe I remembered from a few years ago (not likely), but I nailed that the wrapper was a Sumatra variant, it has that odd sweetness. It was good, I stand by my previous comment that I’d buy tese again because I did (accidentally). Next up was another cigar generously gifted to me by Phil at CigarsComedyMusic.com, an SP1014 Red from Sanj Patel and Chico Rivas. This is supposed to be a Dominican Corojo Puro, which is certainly interesting. It’s also supposed to priced at 1992 pricing, which I don’t quite get because a $9 cigar in 1992 was a very expensive smoke. Opus weren’t $9 because they didn’t exist, but when they came out a few years later they were not far off. Unfortunately, $9 is reasonable now. This is another interesting cigar that I would try again given the chance. It starts with a sensation like warm, spicy bread, then the spice builds. It’s an engaging smoke, different enough to be interesting and enjoyable. One of these days I’ll venture to Sanj’s shop in new Jersey. Finally I decided to give the new Alec Bradley Thirtieth a try yesterday afternoon. This celebrates Alec Bradley Cigars Thirtieth anniversary, “Thirtieth” would be kind of a silly name otherwise. Since Scandinavian Tobacco purchased Alec Bradley, their release have been hit or miss, I have to say that none of their three iteration of the Chunk have been to my liking, which may be why you haven’t seen them appear here. I keep trying, and when one hits me right, I’ll let you know. Others have been OK, but this Thirtieth is really good. It should be good to celebrate a milestone, considering Alan Ruben started the company selling cigars to golf courses and ended up selling it fro $73m twenty five years later. This cigar is made at Raices Cubanas, where a lot of AB cigars were made from the beginning. It’s a blend of Nicaraguan and Honduran tobaccos, and it somehow has a delightful citrus tang, refreshing almost. It’s medium and eminently smokeable. I want another one right now! Maybe later. This is probably the best Alec Bradley cigar since the aquisition, and it should be. Nice work. It’s time to select a couple lucky people from the comments for me to ship some humidors and cigars to! I have consulted Google’s random number generator ( I think I’m going to look into a wheel next time, that looks fun), and was given the numbers 16 and 5, which correlated with DCT and Mike McCain! Please send me your contact information so I can ship these out to you. Thank you to Freshbox Cigars for providing these goodies! That’s all for today, until the next time, CigarCraig
United cigars did make a special Firecracker for this year, the Independence Firecracker. Usually they have an established company make a Firecracker, I’ve smoked a bunch over the years, many have been a treat. The Mi Querida Firecracker actually spun off a whole line (the Triqui Traca). This one, like the above three, I believe, is made at the Arnold André Dominicana S.R.L. factory. It’s strong off the bat, with earth and leather. It has a Mexican Habano wrapper, Dominican binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan ligers in the filler. The 12 count tin box can be turned over and used as an ashtray. It’s neat, but why not make it 13 in a box? I’m sure they tried.
Yesterday was also my wedding anniversary, so I picked up something special to commemorate the occasion. I selected the Rocky Patel Thirtieth Anniversary in the gordo size, it was more than I would usually spend, but what the heck. This one has a San Andrés wrapper, double binder from Nicaragua (Aged 7+ years), and tobaccos from Honduras & Nicaragua (Aged 5+ years) in the filler. This is a box pressed cigar. The color scheme struck my eye, it has a Tiffany blue footband, which is personally significant. My wife and I have exchanged items from Tiffany for anniversaries over the years. I looks a lot like the Rocky Patel 60, which I really like. I would have liked this cigar to have been a little dryer, as it smoked a little on the steamy side, but it had a really nice. flavor. It was earthy, with some dark chocolate and espresso, right up my alley. I doubt I’ll spring for another, but this was a nice treat. I didn’t want to smoke the same old Padron 1964 Exclusivo that I usually smoke (I lie, I almost always want to smoke one of those!). I can’t help but draw some comparisons though. Thirtieth was the closest I could come, maybe next year someone will have a fortieth anniversary cigar that will be appropriate!
That’s all for today, until the next time,
CigarCraig
