Thursday evening my wife and I went into Philly for a show, and stopped into Holts for a quick cigar before hand. I picked out a Tatuaje Verocu No. 5 and we hung out in the lounge and watched the beginning of the Flyers home opener. The Verocu No. 5 is a 4″ x 40 little guy, with tons of flavor. It has an Ecuador wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and filler and is a terrific little treat. It went great with a cup of black coffee, and a relaxing hour in Holt’s lounge. It had that great cocoa and strong, black coffee flavor I love, with a hint of spice. These are very good cigars. Pete Johnson happened to be doing an event at Holt’s other location the same night, and was going to be in the downtown store Friday. I was sorry I didn’t catch up with him, but we had a nice evening anyway.
Friday I decided to give a reasonably new cigar a second chance, since to first one had some construction issues. I’m not going to name names in fairness to the cigar, as my experiences may have been atypical, but I will talk about the experience. Clever readers who folow me on social media will be able to connect the dots. This cigar has been resting in the humidor, along with all the other cigars I regularly smoke, since it came home from the IPCPR back in July. Basically, it burned and smoked like it was wet. Perhaps this particular wrapper, which is touted as a new hybrid leaf, just holds a lot of moisture and needs to be dry boxed or stored at a lower humidity. It just seemed wet to me. It wouldn’t stay lit, and when it was it had that steamy quality to 
the smoke. It was one of those rare cigars that makes me wish I carried a back-up on my walks. When I got home I did something I rarely do and abandoned it and lit up a short robusto from Dunhill, their new Aged Maduro. This just looks like a delicious cigar, but it had a funky flavor that I wasn’t expecting. I’m going to give this one a second chance as maybe my palate was out of whack from the first cigar, it’s not fair to make a judgement under those circumstances.
Yesterday I went up to Cigars International in Hamburg as they were having a big Drew Estate event, and it was a rainy, ugly fall day. The CI store there is a destination, and adult Disneyland, and it’s hard not to spend five hours there. I went up with Mike C., and met an old friend there, and said hello to a bunch of my Drew Estate friends. I couldn’t decide on a DE cigar to smoke, it seems I’ve smoked everything I wanted to smoke from them, and had plenty in my humidor at home, so Mike and I went off the menu and picked out a couple Tatuaje Avion 11, a 6¾ x 52 perfecto. This was a beautifully crafted cigar with an Ecuador wrapper again, and Nicaraguan binder and filler much like the aforementioned Verocu. It started off with a blast of spice, settled into a rich 
espresso and cocoa flavor, and finished of with some more spice. I noted that the burn was just about perfect, with a nice, flat ember that I really enjoy, as it shows the care that went into blending a cigar in a way that all the components burn at the same rate, a rare feat. After that I picked up some RoMaCraft Cromagnon Fomorian candela robustos, to finish off the afternoon. While this probably should have come before a full-bodied cigar like the Avion, it still has the horsepower to keep up, and I like the refreshing kind of feeling the candela wrapper gives this cigar. Of course, Jonathan Drew was scheduled to be at this event, and hadn’t shown by the time we left. It was nice to see a lot of my DE friends though, and we had a nice afternoon of conversation and cigars.
That’s all for today, until the net time,
CigarCraig
I started dipping in to the PCA show samples, and and one that caught my eye was the Dissident Bloc. This isn’t a new cigar, but it was one I hadn’t tried before. I spoke with Cyn and Josh Coburn, the new owners of the brand a the Oveja Negra booth. They seem to have a passion for the brand. I smoked the corona gorda size, 5 5/8″ x 46, one of my favorite sizes after toro. The cigar has an Ecuadorian Maduro wrapper, whatever that is, Ecuador (again, could be anything) binder and Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers. This cigar was my cup of tea. It had dark, rich espresso flavors, and I quite enjoyed it. I wish it had been larger, because it left me wanting more. I like most of the cigars made at Oveja Negra, and this one is no different. 
My video interview with Tatuaje Cigars Pete Johnson has quickly jumped into the top five viewed videos on Youtube! The numbers are relative, I don’t consider myself a “Youtuber”, it just a place to put videos to me. Anyway, I smoked the new Tatuaje Havana VI Verocú Blue in the No. 1 size, which is a 6¼” x 52 Toro. This cigar has a shade grown Nicaraguan wrapper, and is fully composed of tobaccos grown by the Garcia family. The Verocu is one I usually grab when I stop at Holt’s in Philly, I like them. This one is more on the creamy side, with coffee and cocoa. It performed well and is one I will revisit. It was a very nice cigar. 
