Tag Archives: vegas de santiago

by | June 7, 2015 · 10:01 am

Rosalones, Vegas de Santiago, SOF Cigars and a Contest Winner

CraigonACBoardwalkLast Sunday my wife and I took a trip over to Atlantic City to walk on the boardwalk and just get away for a bit. As soon as we got there I lit up a La Sirena Devine while we strolled on Steel Pier and along the beach. It was windy, and I had some trouble keeping it burning right, but it was a great cigar, and nobody seemed to care I was smoking it!  After a nice dinner, we went back out to walk it off, and I lit up a Tortuga El Coyote Negro No. 500. I guess I was in a belicoso kind of mood, that was two in a row!  Great cigar, but it had gotten a little chilly, Tortuga500so we went into the casino and wasted some time at some slot machines while I finished my smoke. They have signs in the smoking section saying you can only smoke if you’re playing a machine!  We found a big machine with a bench for two in front of it, which was perfect, and the game ended up paying off, so we just about broke even. Great cigar though, I can’t get enough of the Tortuga line.

 

Rosalones_Gran ConsulBack in the spring of 2013 I had the privilege of attending Drew Estate’s Cigar Safari with a bunch of fellow bloggers and cigar media types.  One of the cigars that was available for us to sample over the course of the trip was a cigar from Joya de Nicaragua called Rosalones. At that time it was just for the European market, but several of us smoked these and were quite impressed.  Several months later this brand made it’s debut at Cigars International.  This week I smoked a Rosalones in the Gran Consul size, the same 4¾” x 60 torpedo shape that’s available in the Antaño 1970 and Dark Corojo lines.  I’m a sucker for figurados, and I think this is a fun shape to smoke. It’s got the smoking time and coolness that I like in a large ring gauge, without the need to unhinge my jaw. This is a medium bodied smoke, with rich, dark flavors, and a perfect burn. These are really quite reasonably priced as well.  If you like Joya de Nicaragua’s offerings, you’ll like this cigar.

 

vegas de santiago lanceroLast week I heard about the passing of Rudy Niehaus, who was a principle in the Vegas de Santiago cigar company out of Costa Rica. My dealings with Rudy and his wife Lani, who passed away a few years ago, goes back more than a decade, when they were a sponsor of a cigar event my wife and I organized at the Freehold Raceway in New Jersey.  I’ve been smoking Vegas de Santaiago cigar on and off ever since, and the Secretos de Maestro line has always been my favorite.  A few years ago I expressed interest in the Secretos del Maestro Laguito No.  1 size in their Oscuro wrapper. I’ve been sitting on a couple of these and decided this week was a good time to smoke one.  Laguito No. 1 is traditionally 7¼” x 38 , but theirs is closer to 7¾” long, but is still finished with the traditional pigtail cap. It’s a very elegant cigar, very rich and savory in flavor, but lacking the sweetness that you’d expect with an oscuro wrapper. It’s a very good cigar, and I don’t think you can get these anywhere but directly through their website, and they are not very expensive at all! If I’m not mistaken, this same factory is responsible for the MBombay, Byron, Bandolero and Atabey lines. My condolences to the family on the passing of their patriarch.

 

SOF-AD_650Yesterday I selected a new cigar that I had an initial hesitation about responding to the request to send a sample.  I’m pretty much a pacifist in nature. I certainly support our military and veterans, don’t get me wrong, but they are and have been far better suited to doing what they do than I ever would have been. I recognize that, and I’m comfortable with it.  So when I got an e-mail from Tim Lawson of SOF Cigars, I considered giving him a “thanks, but no thanks” reply.  Soldier of Fortune (SOF) cigars is a veteran owned brand made in The DR, and the AD (Almost Dead) has a dark brown Brazilian Arapiraca with a proprietary binder and filler. They had me at Arapiraca, and i was interested.  I smoked the toro, 6″ x 50 with a little bun-style pigtail cap.  I really, really enjoyed this cigar.  It had a flavor like strong black coffee, a hint of nice bitterness, but a sweetness as well. It was perfect constructed and had a great burn and draw.  There’s a story that goes with this which explains the date 17-NOV-03 on the band, which relates to what I assume is the brand owner’s experience as a “contractor” in Iraq, a harrowing tale of nearly being killed in an ambush.  I have a hard copy, and will update to include a link to the story if I can find it! So far, these are only available at www.StogiePlace.com, and are priced in the $6-8 range which is quite fair for this quality and flavor! Thanks to Tim for the sample and for his service. I have no idea what factory in Santiago is making these, but something in the back of my head makes me think of PDR cigars, and I’m probably way off and an idiot for even guessing.

 

modiglianiI think that’s it……wait, I need to select a winner of the Toscano cigars from ItalanSmokes.com and the Screwpop cigar cutter from Screwpoptool.com!  I was a little disappointed with the turnout for this contest, but I guess this is a bit of a niche item and not everyone is adventurous. Still, we had 41 entries, allowing for a couple of side comments that didn’t count, and Random.org spit out the number 5, so by my figuring, Sean Kevin Conroy is the winner.  Please send me your address so I can ship you goodies!  Thanks to ItalianSmokes.com and ScrewPopTool.com for providing the goodies, now I have to see what I can scrounge up for the next contest!

 

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

 

CigarCraig

 

 

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by | February 1, 2012 · 8:53 pm

A Toraño, a La Palina and a Vegas de Santiago Cigar

We have been having unseasonably nice weather here in south-eastern PA, so I’ve taken to smoking some larger cigars than I normally would this time of year.  Last winter we’d had probably four feet of snow,  not conducive to enjoying a fine cigar. Daytime highs near 60 have left the evenings prime for long walks with excellent cigars.

 

Sunday afternoon I selected a Toraño Loyal BFC, and I think, like the Emilio BMF, I know what the letters stand for.  This 6″ x 60 cigar could be considered a Big Fricken Cigar.  I had picked this up sometime over the last few months at a local shop, and it wasn’t awfully expensive, because, let’s face it, I don’t buy too many cigars that are awfully expensive.  This was a nice, medium bodied cigar that smoked very well.   At the price point around $5, this is a really tasty, well made cigar.

 

For Tuesday’s evening walk I was joined by a La Palina El Diaro Torpedo, which I receive a month or so ago from the folks at La Palina, who is also an advertiser on this site.  The cigar is a classic torpedo size, 6 1/8″ x 52, which is always  a favorite of mine.  I have to say that I think I like the robusto better in this cigar.  The torpedo was good, don’t misunderstand, but is lacked something that the robusto had.  I think i found the smaller size slightly more refined than the torpedo.  As I was smoking it, I couldn’t help but wonder what this blend would be like with a maduro wrapper.  Again, a very nice cigar, but something was missing for me.

 

Tonight’s cigar was a  Vegas de Santiago Secretos de Maestro Don Luis Laguito  No.1 maduro.  This cigar came into my possession  over a year ago after a conversation with Rudi and Lani, the manufacturers in Costa Rico.  I have had an association with this folks going back to a couple of events my wife and I hosted which they generously donated their cigars for the attendees.  Vegas de Santiago makes some really nice cigars at a very reasonable price.  They send me some of these cigars in what they refer to as a maduro wrapper.  This is maduro in the sense that the Cuban maduro cigars are, darker than their “natural”, but not the dark, heavy wrapper that we see in a broadleaf or Mexican maduro.  The cigar is a beautiful chocolate brown, and it well made with a nice pigtail cap.  I enjoyed the heck out of this cigar, except that there were a couple hints of ammonia near the end,  which confused me since these have been buried in the humidor for over a year.   An enjoyable smoke on a relatively balmy evening (for February 1st, light jacket and no gloves is a treat!).

 

My wife has been doing some research and in so doing came across the Philadelphia news papers archives.  Here’s a comic from the Philadelphia Inquirer dated June 6, 1922 that is as relevant now as it was then.  You may need to click on the image to open it in a new window to read it.

 

On a final note, I’d like to welcome my newest advertiser, 1st Class Cigar Humidors.  They have some really nice stuff on their site if you are in the market for a humidor or accessories!

 

That’s about all I have for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | January 27, 2011 · 7:38 pm

Cigar Ramblings: Hamilton, Maria Mancini, Vegas de Santiago – Thursday January 27, 2011

It’s been a while since I wrote a proper post. It’s been a hectic winter here and circumstances just have not been conducive to smoking some of the cigars I’d like to smoke! However, I need to begin training for my March CigarSafari trip. I’m really looking forward to visiting Nicaragua and Drew Estate, and, considering I will probably smoke a few of their products, I’m going to try to avoid them over the next several weeks. I’m hesitant to smoke something new or unusual considering the winter weather we’ve been having, so I’ve been smoking some cigars that are fairly plentiful in my humidor.

Last week I took a walk with a Hamilton House Torpedo, which was actually quite nice for a cigar that costs around $40 for a box of 25 delivered. I purchased these after I interviewed Mr. Hamilton and still don’t have any more information about who makes them, or what tobaccos are in the blend. I definitely taste Cameroon in these, which I like. I shared these with 4 of my readers and would be interested to hear their thoughts, feel free to use the comments here. I think these were an exceptional value and may have to get another box when these are gone, although I wish I could get BestCigarPrices.com to provide me with some information. I know that George Hamilton no longer is involved and seemed a little surprised that they were still around.

I saw an article in the Philly news about these “Blunt Wraps”. The jist of it was that Philadelphia wanted to ban the sale of these things, and the state of Pennsylvania said that they don’t have the authority to ban a tobacco product. I’m not for banning the sale of any legal tobacco product necessarily, but seriously, how would one legitimately use these? I assume they are a homogenized tobacco sheet like one would find on a mass market, machine made cigar. Who among us would have a use for this? I understand the desire to ban these as “drug paraphernalia”, which seems to be the only conceivable use for such an item. Someone please enlighten me as to why someone would buy “Blunt Wraps” if not to roll up and smoke a non-tobacco product.

This week I grabbed a Maria Mancini Robusto Larga for my walk. This is a toro sized Honduran cigar that is a little pricier than the a fore mentioned Hamilton House. I picked up a couple 5 packs of these last year at JR’s in Whippany, NJ. for a little under $10 each. I have a suspicion that one of the 5 packs was mis-marked as maduro, as the wrapper was very dark on this one and a couple others in the box (I routinely break up five packs and put them in an old box for storage). It was a very enjoyable cigar though and it burned perfectly, and I suspect it was a maduro because the flavor was a little bit different than that of the natural wrapper, at least that was my perception. Anyone who has read this blog or known me for any period of time knows that the Maria Mancini line is one of my favorite cigars of any price range and I have had one size or another in my humidors for the last 12 or 13 years. These are $2 cigars that very rarely disappoint.

I’ve been thinking about what to take to CigarSafari. I figure it would be stupid to take any Drew Estate cigars, but I also think I may be a little insulting to take other stuff. I’m on the fence…I don’t want to show up empty handed, but I don’t want to offend anyone either. I kind of assume there will be sufficient cigars available there for smoking during our stay. What do you think the etiquette is for something like this?

This evening I decided I wanted to smoke a Vegas de Santiago Secretos de Maestro Don Luis maduro Lancero.   Several months ago Rudi and Lani at VdS sent me a 5 pack of these after asking which of their cigars I liked.  I told them I liked the shorty and the torpedo but would be interested in hoe the blend would lend itself to a lancero, and, while I was dreaming, in maduro.  Lo and behold a few weeks later maduro lanceros arrived.  I wanted to let these rest a while and tonight I could wait no longer.  I’m really looking forward to smoking the next one either in an indoor situation, or at least a warm, possibly sunny outdoor situation. Still, it was a very nice smoke, pretty smooth and well balanced with a nice flavor.  These cigars can be purchased quite reasonably with an e-mail to Vegas de Santiago or through thier website.   They have a Yahoo group, and will accept orders via e-mail.

This has been a bit of a rambling post, but I suppose I wrote a few meandering posts like this last winter. Look forward to more of these, and I’m hoping to get some more “guest reviews” in the near future to break up the monotony a little.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | August 21, 2010 · 1:01 pm

The Week(s) In Cigars – Friday August 20, 2010

Haven’t had the opportunity to talk about any of the cigars I’ve smoked recently, so here’s a little rundown of the past couple week’s highlights.

Back on the first night of our vacation in New Orleans I went to the hotel pool with my sons and fired up a Flor de Gonzales 90 Miles Robusto.  I’ve enjoyed the 5 pack I won on MyCigarAshes.com several months ago.  They are a nice, smooth tasty cigar that is well made.  If the Flor de Gonzales sandwich cigars are good, and I think they are, (especially for around $2.00 for a large torpedo or Churchill), these are even better.  Recommended.

The next night, as I had mentioned in my previous article, we found ourselves at Tobacco Exchange where I picked up a couple Tabacos Baez  Robustos.  Tabacos Baez Serie Sf cigars are made at Pepin Garcia’s My Father tabacalera in Nicaragua, they are 70% long filler and 30% short filler. It was one of the more reasonable priced cigars in the shop at $3.75 each.  I found it to be a well made cigar that was mild to medium bodied.  I enjoyed mine, but my eldest son felt that it didn’t have enough flavor.  He’s still learning, and has been smoking the occasional Acid and was particularly impressed with a Liga Privada T52, so I really wasn’t surprised by his impression.  I found it to be an acceptable cigar that fit the situation for me, which was standing outside in New Orleans on a hot and muggy evening enjoying The Tobacco Exchange’s block party.

We went out to dinner with our old friends, the Sakas, as well as half the cigar store owners in the state of New Hampshire (2 of them at least, how many people can there be in New Hampshire anyway? :->), but oddly didn’t manage to smoke any cigars.  Steve did pass around a box of Dirty Rats, the first I’d seen with Liga Privada bands and box.  The Dirty Rat box was unique in that it had a notched strip at the head of the cigars to protect the pigtail cap and held 10 or 12 cigars (memory fail…).  I still have a handful of the pre-production Rats floating around the humidor someplace, these are really beautiful cigars. The restaurant was not smoke friendly, but the food was very good, I had a hanger steak which melted in my mouth.

Monday night my boys and I took a wander on Bourbon Street where I smoked a Partagas Petit Coronas Especiale which was just fantastic.  I really enjoy these cigars from Germany.  While we were wandering around we stopped for a while at the Cigar Factory of New Orleans little shop and watched a gentleman bunch cigars and load up molds.  He was a very skilled torcedor and it was educational for my sons.  I had a nice chat with the shop keeper about their cigars, even though I had gotten the whole story before at the main store.  I always enjoy hearing someone speak passionately about his product. I am looking forward to smoking the three cigars from Cigar Factory New Orleans in the near future.

Tuesday morning before we left I stopped in the IPCPR show I introduced myself to Pete Johnson and he very generously gave me an El Triunfador which must have been a No.2, if I remember the size correctly.  I smoked it while I walked around the show floor and found it to be a solid smoke.  It was satisfying without being overwhelming, which was a good thing for the early hour. Pete was a very nice guy, and I haven’t smoked s many of his cigars as I would like to have, so I was grateful for the gift.

After getting home it was back to business as usual.  I have been pretty lazy and have been avoiding some of the new cigars I received at the show and stuck to cigars I could smoke without worrying too much about them.  Smoked my last Vegas de Santiago Secretos de Maestro 4″ x 60, which was nice, but not as good as I remembered.  I had a really nice Chateau Real Maduro Gran Templar, which is a 6″ x 52 Toro.  The Chateau Real line is among my current favorites as far as flavor and consistency goes.  Smooth, low maintenance cigars that always seem to deliver for me.  I like them in both wrappers, but prefer the maduro.  I also smoked a Puros Indios Vieja corona which was OK, and a Maria Mancini Robusto Larga, which was better that the Puros Indios, but the PI wasn’t bad for a $1.00 cigar.  I have to say that the Maria Mancini was better than twice as good as the PI, despite being twice the price at $2.00.  The worst cigar I had over the last 2 weeks was a Vegas de Santiago Chaman Panatela Extra.  These just don’t do it for me, but are well made and certainly a quality cigar.  Not sure what it is that I don’t like about them, maybe a grassy profile or something.

That’s the catch-up for this week.  I have some interesting new cigars from the show that I’ll be getting to in the very near future.  I am really no good at reviewing cigars, but I do know a good cigar from a bad one, and I know what I like.  Hopefully folks can pick out some value from my brief impressions.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | July 4, 2010 · 7:54 pm

Holiday Weekend Cigars,- July 4, 2010

I started off the weekend with a really nice CAO VR maduro Moby, a 6″ x 50 toro, although it seemed more like a 46 ring gauge than 50. This came in a sampler my wife gave me back in February.  It’s Nicaraguan and Mexican fillers dressed in a beautiful dark and oily  Brazilian wrapper.  I like this cigar.  It’s a solid, maduro cigar.  I’m not sure I think it’s a $6 or $7 cigar, but I did enjoy it and if it were in the $3 range it would represent a good value.  I believe this is a Cigars International exclusive.

Last night, between dinner with my wife, daughter and her husband and the local fireworks display, I lit up another Partagas Petit Coronas Especial from the box I received last month.  It seems that a couple weeks rest really settled these down.  It was a nice, smooth cigar that made me very pleased that I made the purchase.  At right around $5 each, this is a very nice old style Havana cigar.  It has the little zing that tells me what I’m smoking.  The construction seems superb as it burned really well.  I smoked it to a finger burning nub, then moved to the front porch to watch the fireworks.

Today I lit up a Montecristo No. 1 to celebrate the birth of our nation.  I almost always smoke something a little exotic on the 4th, as I think that our nation has some basis in civil disobedience.  I also think our southern neighbor makes some darned tasty cigars.  This particular example came into my possession around 2004 as a gift, and was at least 5 years old if not more at the time.  Time has been good to this cigar as it was smooth and flavorful, with that little bit of citrus that I’ve found in Montecristo No. 4s in the past.  It has suffered some unfortunate wrapper damage, but burned as if nothing were wrong, even with an excellent draw.   An exceptional cigar.

I would like to direct you to another hysterical video of one of my cats selecting a winner in my Vegas de Santiago contest, but, alas, I cannot.  I don’t know if the cat union won’t allow them to work on a holiday or what, but I just could not get one of them to do a damned thing today.  I’ll try to get something tomorrow, but if I don’t, I’ll have to select the winner in a more mundane fashion.  I sincerely hope it doesn’t come to that.

Well, that’s all I have for now, I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday and wish me luck getting these cats to do one little thing I ask of them.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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