Tag Archives: tobacco

by | May 31, 2017 · 9:00 pm

World Know Tobacco Day and an Archetype Axis Mundi Corona Cigar

I read somewhere that today is World Know Tobacco Day, so I said to myself: “hey, I know tobacco, and I really like it!” It’s been said that tobacco cultivation has been done for ten thousand years in the Americas, the indigenous people used if medicinally and ceremonially long before Europeans “discovered” the Americas. The Europeans took a shine to it, and its use was met with mixed opinions, some of the  more enlightened (tongue firmly planted in my cheek) thought people with smoke coming out of their mouths an noses was a sign of demonic possession while others saw the economic potential. Our beloved nicotiana tabacum  was the currency that underwrote the war of independence and made the United States the independent country that it is today. Of course, nobody remembers that, and it’s again demonized by the less enlightened. Just the other day I was yelled at by a woman on our local multi-use trail where Macha and I take our daily walks. She ran past me and yelled “how can you be smoking on a trail where people are running?” I chuckled at her rudeness, an imagined that it offset any of my own rudeness for daring to enjoy a legal product. I wonder how people can live in a world where people do things that they don’t like. I don’t appreciate all the sweaty, stinky runners and cyclists disturbing my relaxation on the trail, but I’m not so rude as to point it out! Perhaps if I had a stick up my ass I’d have a different opinion. Anyway, tobacco is now grown in beautiful countries, tended by passionate and caring people, rolled into cigars by artisans and smoked by intelligent and humble people like us. Hopefully now you know tobacco a little better and can properly celebrate this World Hedonism Organization (WHO) holiday with a fine cigar. I got that all right, didn’t I?

 

Archetype_AxisMundi_CoronaI celebrated tonight with a cigar from the folks at Ventura Cigar Company, the folks that make the Psyko 7 and Project 805 cigars. I’ve been a fan of the Psyko 7 line since I had one in late 2013 as a guest on The Cigar Authority radio show. I have a neat Psyko 7 humidor that my wife won that works quite well, and have a cool light-up Psyko 7 Maduro sign hanging in the smoking porch. So I was pretty excited when I saw the Archetype line displayed at the IPCPR show last year, but I couldn’t really find anyone in the Phillips and King International booth to help me. Not their fault, they were busy and I’m not the guy at the show that’s high on the priority list. I managed to get my hands on some of the Archetype Axis Mundi Coronas, which was tonight’s smoke. I also got some of the Initiation in the same size, and the one I smoked last night tasted great, had a really unique flavor that I loved, but half way through it died on me, one of those strange situations that blowing through the cigar gives plumes of smoke, but drawing gets nothing. I tried and tried, but it frustrated me. I have more, I’ll come back to that one at a later date because I really liked the flavor. To be fair, it had spent a couple of hours in a case in my pocket on a humid evening, which may have contributed to my problems. The Archetype Axis Mundi has a Habano Ecuador Maduro wrapper, Indonesian Sumatra binder and Nicaraguan Habano filler. This is on the stronger end of the spectrum, had a great burn, although I let it go out a couple of times because I was trying to maximize the time smoking. It was great for a three-mile walk on the trail where nobody complained. It had some burned wood, savory and sweet dried fruit kinda flavors with a hint of spice. I really enjoyed this, I’ll be on the look out for larger vitolas in both this and the Initiation lines and would recommend it highly.

 

That’s all for now, unless you’re looking for Father’s Day gift ideas, then Holt’s has a nice selection on their Father’s Day Cigar Deals page, or the folks at Stage V Clingers are still running a special on their four-pack with the “StageVdad” code. Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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by | October 5, 2014 · 9:13 am

A Tortuga Event, a Tatuaje and a San Cristobal

Thursday evening Victor Vitale had whiskey\espresso and cigar tasting event at Cigar Mojo. Of course, it’s not hard to convince me to pay Mojo a visit,  and when someone of Victor’s stature is there it’s a no-brainer.  Upon arrival I immediately purchased a handful of the Tortuga 215 Reserva Coyote Negro in the 600 and Belicoso sizes. I promptly lit up a 600, which is 6½” x 56, a reasonably large cigar.  Obviously, the Tortuga line is one I’ve enjoyed over the years. Victor is a good friend, and we are lucky to have him living in the area. Over the course of the evening I enjoyed the heck out of the Coyote Negro, as well as an original 215 Reserva Alma box pressed robusto. The Brazilian Mata Fina wrapper on the Coyote ads a great sweetness that I love. The Reserva Alma (5″ x 54, named after my grandmother…not really…) I smoked was truly exceptional, well balanced, refined and delicious. Victor was offering whiskey and espresso, I had two espressos over the course of the evening which went well with both cigars I smoked. Victor’s Legacy Brands is making some great cigars, if you have a Tortuga Appointed Merchant in your area, give this line a try.

 

 

Tatuaje_Black_CoronaGordaFriday I had a bit of a trying day, forgetting my wallet, having a migraine that would revisit me several times during the weekend…that sort of thing.  I stopped by the Lightn’Up/CigarCigars shop on my way home and said hello to Chris Stone, who was having a Drew Estate event at the shop.  Without a wallet I was able to resist the urge to buy any more cigars, and with the migraine I was anxious to get home, medicate and eat dinner. After doing that and recovering a little, I took a walk with a Tatuaje Black Corona Gorda which was a gift from a gentleman I met at the Casa de Montecristo in Chicago on my recent visit.  Connor was a gracious host while I visited the lounge there, many thanks for this beautiful cigar!  This cigar in the classic 5 5/8″ x 46 corona gorda size has a closed foot and a fuma style cap.  I rather expected a more “Cubanesque” experience from this, I got a pure Nicaraguan flavor bomb.  This may have been one of the best Tatuaje cigars I’ve smoked, which isn’t say a lot since I haven’t smoked all that many.  Very full flavored and well made. This is a great size, I wish it had been longer.

 

SanCristobal_Revelation_LegendSaturday afternoon I took a walk with the dog and a San Cristobal Revelation Legend.  This cigar came from the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival goodie bag. The Legend is a 6 1/8″ x 52 Box Pressed Toro made in the My Father factory for Ashton Distributors. This uses the same wrapper as the Ashton VSG, and is a full flavored, spicy cigar. The band is beautiful as is the overall appearance of the cigar. I found this to be very enjoyable and wonder why it took me over a year to sample this line.  Highly recommended if you like full bodied cigars.

 

On a related note, this morning we had an oracle come to the house to “smudge” or burn sage and give a traditional native american blessing to the house to encourage it to sell.  We are settling on a house on Friday and life will be easier by several orders of magnitude when the house we are currently living in sells. One of the things Maxx, our oracle friend, asked was if we had any loose tobacco around so that she could bless the property outside. Oddly, I happened to have saved the outside leaves from the Leaf by Oscar cigars. She shredded the leaves and spread them around the periphery of the yard. She kindly sent me the following explanation:

Semah, or tobacco, is one of the four sacred plants. It represents the Eastern Direction and the mind a place of new beginnings. The Anishinaabe use a form of tobacco known as kinikinik, or a red willow mix. Because it opens the door to the creator, when tobacco is used to make smoke, it is one of the most sacred of plants for Native people. Some elders say that tobacco is used to connect the worlds since the plant’s roots go deep into the earth, and its smoke rises high into the sky. This plant is highly respected and highly honored. Giving tobacco is a beautiful way of our people. Ceremonies using tobacco invoke a relationship with the energies of the universe, and ultimately the Creator, and the bond made between earthly and spiritual realms is not to be broken.

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Traditional Use
Itis wise to burn tobacco before storms. It is used to pray that powerful storms won’t hurt our families. To pray with tobacco in your Native language is very powerful. It can make a difference in the physical world.

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Purification

Tobacco is used in the offering of prayer to the Creator, acting as a medium for communication. It is either offered to the fire, so the smoke can lift the prayers to the Creator, or it is set on the ground in a nice, clean place. It means we come humbly to our creator. We proclaim our innocence. When you want to speak to the creator, we are told to make an offering of the tobacco plant.An Elder will take tobacco ties and offer them to the fire or offer it back to Mother Earth on behalf of the Sacred Circle

 

I have been burning tobacco here for some time now, and I thought it was for my pleasure, but it seems to have a deeper meaning. Hopefully the house sells soon!

 

That’s it for now, until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

 

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by | November 16, 2011 · 7:50 pm

A Book Review, an EPC New Wave, and a Joya de Nicaragua

When I’m not listening to podcasts or socializing when smoking a cigar, I’m usually reading. Sometimes it’s something in the fantasy genre, or something having something to do with Cuba or cigars.  When the opportunity came my way to read and review a book about growing tobacco, I had to jump at it.   Now, I have a black thumb, I don’t know what’s a weed and whats a regular plant, and I’m not a fan of gardening.  My wife, daughter and son-in-law are the gardeners in the family.  Along with the several visits to cigar country I’ve made this year, I knew the subject matter would leave me overwhelmed and confused.  Fortunately, “How To Grow Your Own Tobacco Freom Seed To Smoke” by Ray French, breaks the process down pretty neatly.

 

I started reading this with a nice little E.P. Carillo New Wave Connecticut Stellas (5.125″ x 42) that I had recently purchased at one of the nearby shops, G&G Cigars In West Chester, PA.  This lovely little corona isn’t your standard, mild Connecticut shade wrapped cigar.  Side bar: There seems to be a trend toward Connecticut shade wrapped cigars that aren’t mild, leaving us stuck with silly cliches like “this isn’t your mother’s shade cigar” or nonsense like that.  I blame Christian for starting this with the CT (I’ve grown weary of typing Connecticut) shade Camacho.  Always the trendsetter, that guy…Anyway, good cigar, look forward to trying it in a larger size one of these days.

 

Back to the book.  Mr. French touches on several varieties of tobacco that he’s grown, some of which are good for cigars, others for cigarettes, pipes and chew.   As I said before, there are SO many steps involved with getting one darned plant to grow, it seems impossible that they can plant fields of the things and have enough of a harvest.  I may have to get my hands on some broadleaf seed and try this out on a small scale.  We are fairly avid composters, although our yard lacks sufficient space to plant more than a few plants.  It might be interesting to follow the steps in the book and try to make some tobacco grow here in south-east, PA.  I know the Amish grow varieties of tobacco all the time, so it can’t be as hard as it sounds (if any Amish folks are reading this…..er…..strike that…).  Beside discussing soil and fertilizers, he talks about insect control as well.  Everything is approached organically too.

 

I read the second half of the book with an old favorite, the Joya de Nicaragua Antaño 1970 Robusto Grande.  This is a strong cigar that’s supposed to be a strong cigar!  Not as strong as it’s Dark Corojo sibling, it’s still a nice, full-bodied cigar with loads of flavor.  I can remember years ago smoking the JdN and not caring for them, I suppose because they were pretty mild in the late 90s.  Then they came out with the Antaño line, and I really started to enjoy them.  Having visited the factory, I find myself with a deeper appreciation for their cigars.  One of my favorites now is the Cabinetta, which is a milder cigar. Figure that one out!

 

Anyway, the book, “How To Grow Your Own Tobacco Freom Seed To Smoke” by Ray French, is a nice primer if growing your own tobacco is something that piques your interest. I especially like the detailed journal provided at the end to track the various stages of planting, growing, harvesting and curing, as well as links to sources to purchase seeds on line. Thanks to the publisher, Cool Springs Press for contacting me and providing me with the copy.  The book is available at Amazon.com and, I’m sure, your local book store.

 

That’s it for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

 

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by | November 6, 2011 · 9:19 am

A Bunch of Cigars, A Shop Visit, and A Contest!

After a busy few weeks of chronicling my trip to General Cigar Dominicana, it’s time to try to get back into a normal routine. I haven’t smoked too many cigars since my return.  When I got back I had a terrible cold, so I didn’t waste too many cigars, and the ones that I optimistically tried tasted pretty bad.  I kept it to cigars that I knew pretty well to gauge my taste buds.  After a week or so, I was pretty well back to being able to enjoy a cigar.

 

One of the first cigars I had was a sample from the IPCPR show.  I ended up with a bunch of cigars from Brun Del Re, a cigar maker from Costa Rica.  This was a cigar from their Don Corazza line, which is a cigar made from Dominican and Nicaraguan tobaccos.  The size was a 4″ x 60 which isn’t listed on their website.  The cigar started with a nice, unique flavor, which turned a bit sour in the second half.  I have a robusto in this line yet, as well as robustos in three or four of the other lines.  Unfortunately, I have some pre-conceived notions about show samples from companies like this.  It’s not fair, I know, but there have been so many cigars I’ve smoked in the past that have just been “same old, same old”, and failed to impress. These are nice looking sticks and I’ll certainly smoke them with an open mind.  I may not get to the rest of the samples until spring, as I smoke fewer cigars in the colder weather, and tend to stronger ones.

 

I enjoyed a Monte Pascoal Robusto as well last week, courtesy of Wes Gensel, of Monte Pascoal cigars.  This is a Brazilian puro, was awarded the best Brazilian cigar by Cigar Journal Magazine at their awards ceremony last July in Vegas, and is a very nice smoke.  Perfectly constructed and a pretty cigar with a nice flavor.    This is the first larger vitola I’ve smoked and I actually liked it better than the petite corona. On the full side of medium, this is a cigar you should try if you get a chance.

 

Last weekend we had an unusual October snowstorm, which dumped about 4 inches of wet snow on our area.  We were fortunate to not lose power as many in the area did, nor did we have any limbs down on our property.  I took my usual Saturday walk with a Cuban Crafters Powerhouse.  I chose this because it was a cold and nasty day and I wanted something that would cut through the crappy weather.  I mentioned somewhere that if I’m going to have my cigar get wet while I’m smoking it, I prefer it’s on a 90 degree day in a pool.  As rotten as the weather was, this strong cigar was quite enjoyable.  Any cigar that can hold up to wet snow and still provide a satisfying experience must be OK.  This is a 6″ x 54 pigtailed toro that has a Nicaraguan Ligero binder, which strikes me as unusual.  This is probably the first Cuban Crafters branded cigar I’ve really liked, but certainly not the first from Tabacalera Estili and Don Kiki Berger.

 

Halloween is always a traditional stogie night for me, and this year I opted for one of the coronas that I blended at Cigar Safari.  The first one of these I smoked was at the 3 month mark, and it was spectacular.  This one, while really good, was not as good as the first.  I suppose as these age they will certainly change, I’m hoping that they will get better rather than worse.  I shared one of these with my son yesterday and he enjoyed it.  Seven left.

 

My mid-week walk got off to a late start so I stuck with a shorter smoke.  A Gran Habano Habano #3 that was sent to my by one of my readers, Lloyd Ladrillono.  I’ve been seeing these in catalogs, and they had a really interesting booth at the trade show which I never managed to visit, and the cigars look great and seem to be priced well.  Lloyd was kind enough to share these with me and I appreciate it.  I really enjoyed this robusto, it had a sweetness that I like a lot.  This cigar hit me just right, it worked the way it should and tasted great.

 

I finished off the work week with a Murcielago Toro Grande which I bought at the Delaware Cigar Festival from Eddie Ortega. I like Eddie a lot, and I like the Murcielago more.  The San Andreas maduro wrapper is beautiful and delicious.  This one went a little sour at the band, but I think some humidor time will solve that problem.  If I can keep my hands off the couple I have left, I’ll see if that’s the case, but this is a perfect cold weather cigar for me.

 

Saturday I took a drive to Pottstown, Pa. and paid a visit to Cole’s Tobacco.  My wife had seen a picture of the store on one of the local radio station’s websites and did some research which led us to the visit.  They have been there for a century and it’s the first I’d heard of it.  In addition to a reasonable sized walk in humidor, they sell roll-your-own tobacco, candy, all kinds of stuff like an old fashioned news stand.  They had the largest selection of Lars Tetens cigars I’ve seen in 15 years, we picked up a bottle of Lars’ Steak Sauce for the heck of it, I certainly wasn’t going to smoke any of his cigars!  Anyway I walked out with a couple of Kristoffs that I hadn’t seen before, and had a nice chat with the proprietor, a young guy named Courtney.  No lounge that I saw, but not a bad place to get some cigars if you find yourself in downtown Pottstown, PA.

 

To wrap the week up I smoked a Oja Anniversary perfecto on my Saturday walk.  This is a semi-box pressed cigar with a Brazilian Samba wrapper that is rustic and oily.  It has a very dark, rich flavor and burned well, despite it’s rough appearance.  This was a sample sent to me by Luis Garcia, the brand owner.  This is one of the cigars made by Kiki Berger in Nicaragua that I alluded to earlier that I really like, the whole line is good, but this anniversary edition is really nice. It commemorates the brand’s first anniversary, which is a little odd, but the cigar works, so who cares?

 

I haven’t had a contest in a while, so I have a Drew Estate cap and a Liga Privada cutter to give away this time.  I might as well throw in a Stogieboys.com Cigar Journal along with it as well as a C-Gars Ltd. ring gauge card. I can’t be trusted NOT to include a cigar or two in a prize package. Leave a comment for a chance to win, and a Tweet with a link to this page (mentioning @cigarcraig so I see it) will get you an extra entry.  I’ll draw a name at random next Sunday, November 13, 2011.  Good luck!

 

That’s it for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | October 23, 2011 · 4:40 pm

General Cigar Domincana Trip Report: Introduction and Blending Exercise

Time for some details!  Last week, accompanied by 14 fellow bloggers and all around cigar fiends, I had the distinct pleasure of touring the General Cigar Company‘s Santiago, Dominican Republic facilities.  Most of us converged on Sunday at the Miami Airport, as well as Michael Giannini, Yuri Guillen and Rick Rodriguez. Those of us who had met previously greeted one another and those of us who had not met made introductions. Upon our arrival in Santiago, Victoria McKee Jaworski, Director of Public Relations for GC, met us at the gate and shepherded us to a private lounge while our checked bags were retrieved, then filed smoothly through immigration. We got a firsthand look at the mayhem of driving in the DR, as a couple of young men on what appeared to be Honda Cub mopeds, or knock offs, with no lights, helmets or anything were literally run over by an SUV trying to pass our bus. Welcome to Domincan Republic! Leave the driving to the professionals! Ironically, Micheal Giannini had just been telling us about how the local law enforcement handles such incidents, they just take everyone to jail. We arrived at the Hodelpa Gran Almirante Hotel and were already checked in and there was even a gift bag in the room waiting for us. We quickly met up at the pool bar for cigars, beverages and snacks, and got to meet Benji Menendez and hang out with the group for a while. Already this was a great day!

 

Monday started with a fine breakfast in the hotel, followed by a presentation at the factory where we met Jhonys Diaz, the VP of Operations and his staff. They presented us with a slide show while we had coffee and cigars. The presentation touched upon every aspect of the operation, from seed to box, as well as the social programs they provide for the people. One really gets the feeling of family there, it’s quite amazing.

 

After the presentation, we moved through the factory to our first exercise, blending. Arranged on tables were about 15 piles of leaves, with bags of “fumas” in front of each. The fumas were small cigars of each single leaf. The idea was to smoke each one to get the flavor, then try to determine which ones would taste good together. This activity will burn up your tongue! Whoever suggested starting with the Ligero is an evil bastard! Like most things we’d see over the course of the trip, this is not an easy thing. The next step was to choose a couple tobaccos and have them rolled into another fuma, which we smoked, when that was a big mistake and tasted terrible, you made another. Of course, Michael, Benji, Rick, Yuri etc, were on hand to guide us. I have yet to try mine, and I have rather low expectations, no fault of the materials or guidance.

 

After the blending session it was lunch time. We were served a lovely buffet of Dominican fare (loved the rice and bacon!) in the conference room, along with coffee and cigars. We all relaxed in the air conditioning and reflected upon the difficulty of the blending exercise. By the way, it sometimes takes a year of trial and error to come up with a blend for a new cigar, so we shouldn’t feel too bad. Still, when one has the opportunity to actually play with different leaves like that it is a special event.

 

After lunch we were handed over to Edmundo Garcia, the Tobacco Operations Manager. He took us to one of the warehouses where the bales of tobacco are stored. This is another area where it’s amazing how they track everything with precision. Every bale is marked with the variety, size, color, etc, and kept in the climate controlled warehouse. They actually have tobacco beetle traps all over the place so they can react quickly if beetles are detected. Skip Martin (@chiefhava) was trying to weasel bales the whole time we were there, but he did ask some very good questions along the way, ones I wouldn’t have thought to ask.

 

Next we moved to one of the areas where they condition the leaves and hang them to rehumidify them. Then we saw pilons, or huge stacks of the leaves where the leaves ferment.  There is a dizzying number of steps in the process, sorting, re-sorting, shaking, stacking, re-stacking.  Each step is vital to the proper processing of the leaves and is carefully documented along the way.  If you think the cigar your smoking is a simple pleasure, and that cigars are expensive, you have to see it first hand to know how many people and how much time is involved.  The tobacco they were sorting to go into the production area was from 2003, to give an example of the time the tobacco spends in aging for a premium cigar.

 

After a very long day at the factory, having worked on blending, having toured several aspects of the manufacturing process, a weary group returned to the hotel, then went to a very nice Italian restaurant for a sumptuous feast, and another chance to enjoy one another’s company.  Of course, we capped off the night with more cigars by the pool, and eventually retired to rest up for another action packed day.  Throughout the day we were fed a delicious diet of Macanudo, Partagas, La Gloria Cubana and Cohiba cigars.  Sometimes we dismiss these cigars as pedestrian, however I’ve mentioned before, and it came up among the group, that these are fine cigars, and when you’ve seen all that goes into making them, you change your thought process a bit.  Personally, I’ve never strayed too far from the “Classics”, but still returned to some old favorites.

 

Watch for Day Two, coming soon!  That’s it for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

 

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