It’s Labor Day weekend here in the US, the last official weekend of summer. It’s been a weird summer (again) and has gone by too quickly. Today is looking like it will be a beautiful day as I sit on my porch writing this enjoying a La Sirena LT, one of my favorite shade cigars. It won’t be long before it won’t be comfortable enough 
to do this! Summer still has a few more weeks left, I am going to try to make the best of it! Anyway, I smoked a few cigars this week, as usual! First up is the Tradecraft Azorian toro, which is 6″x 52. This cigar is blended by Rob Blumenthal and Wiber Ventura and manufactured at Ventura’s factory in the DR. It has a high priming Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, a Sumatra binder and the filler blend is PA Ligero, Ecuadorian Habano 2000 Ligero, Corojo Ligero and Criollo 98′ seco. On paper it seems like it would be a strong cigar, but I didn’t find it to be anywhere near as strong as the Room 101 17th, for example. It did have a lot of flavor, which I characterized as a warm spiced bread with some sourness. I admit that many cigars from the Ventura family don’t fit my preferences, and this, sadly, was one of them. So far, after a very limited sampling, the Gladius is up my alley. Next week I’ll get to the Vitruvian. Because it wasn’t my thing, doesn’t mean it’s not a really good cigar, burn and draw were perfect, and I enjoyed it for what it was.
I found a lonely Asylum 13 robusto in the humidor, and I couldn’t find anything on my own site about it, so I figured I’d throw it in here. I had a crazy day on Friday, having to do a couple of emergency deliveries at work (I’m not typically a delivery guy, but Veterans needed their medical equipment, and it fell to me to handle things, so I handled things. Anyway, what better cigar to wrap up the day with than an Asylum 13. Honestly, of the cigars that Christian Eiroa has put out after selling Camacho, the Asylum line is the only one I really like. They are priced OK, and suit my preferences, in reasonable sizes, that is. This one was a 5″ x 50, and its a Nicaraguan puro. It’s sweet and earthy with some cocoa and espresso. Right up my alley. This line comes in a lot of sizes, from a Lancero up to a 8″ x 80. I probably would try the 70 ring, but I can’t see smoking an 80. I really enjoyed that cigar, a little time in the Asylum took the crazy out of my day!
Lars Tetens passed away this week. He was a wild dude, I only met him once about 11 years ago, even though he (I believe) lived an hour or so north of me. My earliest memories of visiting a local cigar shop in the mid-90s is of Lars Tetons (Phat) cigars being displayed by themselves in the humidor. They had an odd aroma, and it turns out that Lars pioneered the process of infusing botanicals in cigars, which I believe were originally made at the Martinez factory in NYC. I’ve heard him interviewed and to hear him tell it, he started in the cigar business when he was six or seven years old, not long after losing his virginity. (look up his KMA interview, nevermind, I did it for you!) He was a wild story teller, and I’ m not even sure any of that was 
possible. He was certainly an entrepreneur. He may have been overlooked if Alan Ruben of Alec Bradley cigars hadn’t partnered with him briefly in 2019 and put him back on the map if briefly. He was very nice to me when we met, and gave me a handful of cigars, the last of which I smoked yesterday. The fact that he was around my age (a little younger) disturbs me greatly. The cigar was a Limited Edition 1980, for which I can find no information. I think he told me when he gave it to me that he had rolled it himself in 1980, which I dismissed as marketing hype at the time, but it’s completely plausible given it was Lars Tetens! All I really know is that the cigar had been in my humidor for the last 11 years, and it had a rustic look. If the cigar had any of Lars’ “conditioning”, as he called his infusion process, it had long since faded, as it had a nice sweet tobacco flavor. It was a Churchill, but burned fairly fast, I think it lasted around 75 minutes. It was actually very good, but I imagine it is a unicorn that I will never see again (I searched, can’t find any mention of it). I have smoked very well aged cigars before, and this was definitely one of them! RIP Lars, you’re contributions to the cigar industry, while nontraditional, are significant.
That’s all for today, until the next time,
CiagrCraig
