Tag Archives: Villiger

by Craig Vanderslice | February 12, 2023 · 10:57 am

Villiger de Nicaragua, Alec Bradley Fine and Rare and Bocock Brothers Cigars

I’ve been getting into a pattern of smoking what I want to smoke in the beginning of the week, then smoking new cigars for here at the end. So Thursday I smoked a Villiger de Nicaragua torpedo which I had received in a package from Villiger a week or so ago. This is a $15 limited edition ciga made in Villiger’s factory in Esteli, Nicaragua. It’s a pointy 6″ x 52 box pressed torpedo, with an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, San Andrés binder and Nicaraguan and Pennsylvanian filles. This cigar has nice, dark, rich flavors. It’s. got some spice with dark chocolate, very nice smoke. It burned without incident, it was among the best cigars I had all week. Very nice. VIlliger opened their factory in Esteli in September of 2021, they are also making La Meridiana, San’Dorp, La Vencedora, La Libertad, Casa De Nicaragua, and Corrida in that factory now.

I had a trying Friday, so I went to the special humidor where I keep the Secret Santa cigars I received this year. I chose the next Alec Bradley Fine and Rare in the series I received, the 2018 Second Edition. This is the JRS10=(86) blend, all of the Fine and Rares are a blend of ten tobaccos, and they keep those tobaccos to themselves. This one was a 6½” x 56 Gran Toro. I needed a great smoke and I got just that. This is outside of my normal comfort zone, it’s bright, floral, slightly fruity, but it sure tasted good. Perfect construction was a big factor in my enjoyment, if I had encountered one of those cigars that produced loads of smoke when blown through, but you don’t get any when you draw, I would have been homicidal. Why does that happen, by the way, it really pisses me off, I had it happen yesterday. Anyway, the Fine and Rare was just that, thanks again to Mitch for sharing with me, very generous.

Finally, I went into some cigars that I got at last year’s TPE show. I thought about going this year, but I have some scheduling conflicts which made it impossible. I did a video with Bryant Bocock then, and have smoked a few of their Bocock Brothers cigars, but came across this 5″ x 50 World Traveller, which I initially thought was Habano, but now that I think back it might have been the Maduro. I like the rooster on the band, I suppose “cock” in the Bocock name is the reason they use that imagery. I like chickens, we have a few. This was an interesting cigar, it had a nice, meaty flavor. Very dense, rich smoke. I know it was 5″ x 50, but it somehow seemed thinner to me, which was OK, it was the right size cigar for the time available. I know they were doing some cigars with AJ Fernandez, although this wasn’t one of them. It was different from your standard maduro, I enjoyed it quite a bit, I need to see if I have some more floating around.

That’s all for now. I know I’m from the Philly area and should be losing my mind over the Super Bowl, but I honestly don’t give a rats ass about football. Good for them if they win, I hope the city survives the carnage whichever way it turns out. Thanks to all this Philadelphia has become known for having the grease all the light and traffic signal poles so fools won;t climb them, when there are so many other great things about the city to focus on. Whatever, I guess it’s good for business. Until he next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Alec and Bradley, Bocock Brothers, cigar, cigars, Fine and Rare, Villiger, Villiger de Nicaragua, World Traveller

by Craig Vanderslice | October 2, 2022 · 10:41 am

Villiger Miami and Exclusivo USA and an Abuelo Cigar

It’s raining, 54 degrees and I’m not having a cigar on the porch as I type this. Autumn is here. Soon I’ll have to close in the porch for the winter, because, you know, I need to have a comfortable place to smoke! Over the last few days I’ve enjoyed some cigars, let’s talk about them a bit. When I was at the PCA show I talked to my old friend Rene Castenada, who is the president of Villiger North America. Rene gave me a pair of their Villiger Miami Laguito No. 1 cigars, and I received another pair in the mail later. This blend originated as Rene’s special cigar to gift people, and is being released as a limited edition. in this Lancero size (7½” x 38) and a Robusto, made in the ABAM factory in Santo Domingo, DR. The wrapper is Ecuador (Connecticut Desflorado), and the fillers and binder are Dominican. I shouldn’t really care for this blend, but I really enjoyed it. It was kind of nutty with some sweetness. Like the Joya de Nicaragua Numero Uno, it’s a really good cigar that is accessible to most palates. I smoke Lanceros very slowly, so as not to overheat them, which brings up a point I often make about the small ring myth. Small ring cigars taste different because they burn hotter, it has nothing to do with some magical ratio. Tobacco flavor is dependant on varietal and primings, wrapper tobacco isn’t some special leaf with loads more flavor than the rest of the components of a cigar. Small ring cigars can taste sharper and be perceived differently because of the temperature of the combustion. I get so tired of the myth of the wrapper to filler ratio. Watch the ash on this one, it’s a bit messy!

This week I got another new cigar from Villiger. This one, the Villiger Exclusivo USA, is made at La Zona, like their TAA release. This was a box pressed toro, and it also comes in a box pressed torpedo. I like the sizes, 6″ x 52 and 54 respectively. The make-up of this one is a Nicaraguan Habano Rosado wrapper, Jalapa Binder and Esteli, Jalapa and Condega fillers, making it a Nicaraguan Puro. I’m a fan of a lot of Espinosa’s La Zona offerings, this one is no different. It’s a really good tasting Nicaraguan cigar, with some Espresso notes and sweetness. I liked it, maybe not as much as the TAA cigar, but it was really quite good. I’m not real sure of Villiger’s presence around the world in the premium cigar space, obviously they are huge in the “mass market” cigars internationally. I kind of thought a lot of their premium cigars were US exclusives!

Yesterday I smoked an Abuelo Nieto, which I had been looking forward to trying for quite some time. This is a cigar from United Cigar Group, made by Julio Eiroa celebrating Dave Garofalo’s grandparenthood. It’s funny to see guys my age and older becoming grandparents for the first time, I’ve been at it for eleven years! Anyway, I’ve heard rave reviews of this cigar, I was anticipating a great experience. It’s a good cigar, well made, good flavors. It didn’t bowl me over, it was just very nice. I think I’d opt for any number of Aladino cigars over this, but I like the branding, and appreciate the sentiment!

That’s all for today. I’m hoping that this week is a little bit lighter on the news than last week was. There were a ew items I didn’t post, some because I didn’t find them interesting, and some that I just didn’t get around to. I’m not dedicated to news, so I pick and choose. Anyway, I’ve got some stuff to do on this rainy Sunday, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Abuelo, cigar, cigars, Exclusivo USA, miami, United Cigars, Villiger

by Craig Vanderslice | June 12, 2022 · 11:09 am

Villiger TAA, Punch and Partagas Cigars

I was going through some of the newer cigars I have and realized there was one I hadn’t written about yet, but more on that in a bit. I want to start off talking about the new Villiger TAA Exclusive for 2022. This cigar is interesting for a couple reasons. Foremost, it’s made at Espinosa’s La Zona factory. Villiger has been making cigars with a lot of different companies, Joya de Nicaragua comes to mind, as well as having their own factory in Brazil. I suppose logistics would make it less favorable to make the cigars in Brazil, but I would think they’d want to highlight that operation. Villiger is still not very well known in the premium market, and may still suffer from the abysmal way that they handled changing their outside sales model (stranding reps on the road around the holidays isn’t a very nice way to sever ties!). I’ll tell you this, I’ve always enjoyed their premium cigars, and have had a good relationship with them for a decade or so, through various regimes. This TAA exclusive is a good cigar. It has a San Andrés maduro wrapper with NIcaraguan binder and fillers. It’s a box pressed 6″ x 52, and is priced at $10. Honestly, it tastes like a cigar with that blend should taste, and I liked it. Does it have any overly distinctive flavors? Not really, but it’s a good, solid Mexican maduro, and if you like those, you’ll enjoy this. Of course, that;s m take, and someone with a more refined palate will have a different take.

I made plans to be in Las Vegas for the weekend of the PCA show, although I have no plans to get into the show. There are a couple avenues I could take to get in if I wanted to, but I’m on the fence as to whether I want to do that or catch up with people after hours. I neither want to waste the trip, nor compromise my position on media being admitted to the show (I want to do it the right way, their version of that is selling me a membership which gets me nothing but entry to the show, my version is the media being invited to promote the show). I still have some things to work out. Anyway, I smoked the newest cigar from Punch this week, The People’s Champ. The blend on this was basically crowd-sourced. Apparently there’s a “Punch Brotherhood” group of Punch enthusiasts that were polled on what they wanted in a cigar, and this is what they came up with. I maintain that this is rarely a good idea, and cigar making should be left to the experts. The blend is a Honduran Talanga Habano wrapper, San Andrés binder and fillers from the DR, Brazil, and Nicaragua. There’s a lot going on there. These will be in 5 and 10 packs and will SRP for $6.49 for a 5″ x 50 robusto, so at least it’s not an expensive cigar. I found the flavor to be very pungent, with some spice, which could be confused for acidity, I suppose. I’m guess some age will do these a lot of good. I put this down for a while while running an errand, and came back to it a few hours later and finished it and it was a little better. I am hopeful that the enthusiasts who suggested this blend enjoy it, it wasn’t for me.

I realized that I hadn’t yet mentioned the Partagas Añejo Petit Robusto here yet, and thought I’d fix that. This s a cool little cigar, available in two 4½” sizes, one with a 49 ring (Partagas has a thing for 49 ring robustos historically), and 60 ring. This cigar is unique in that it is a barber pole presentation, with Cameroon and Connecticut shade wrappers, with the CAmeroon being from 1998. Something makes me think I saw bales of Cameroon tobacco from 1998 when I was at the factory in 2011, it sticks in my head because Skip Martin was trying to buy them. I could be wrong. This is a cool little cigar. It has the nuttyness of the Cameroon, tempered by both age and the Connecticut. Some Mexican leaf in the filler blend, along with Dominican, adds some body. I liked it, it smoked well and tasted great. If you want to be entertained, Kaplowitz did a twelve part review series on this cigar, which is quite creative. Start HERE. It would have been nice if he had linked his table of contents to the actual articles, but he’s kinda lazy. He puts the burden on the reader to use the search feature, I’m a nice guy, I’ll do it for you (HERE). I think the takeaway here is I’m a nice guy, and that Kaplowitz character…he’s creative, give him a read.

That’s all for today. This week is the Battleship, Beef and Bourbon for the Ship Red Meat Lovers Club event. Don’t forget to check out www.battleshipbeef.com and come out and join the fun. I’ll be there with Kevin and Jess from Cigar Prop, and Saka and a few other people. I can’t wait to have a cigar on the deck of the ship! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Añejo, cigar, cigars, Partagas, punch, TAA, The People’s Champ, Villiger

by Craig Vanderslice | June 5, 2022 · 9:12 am

Liga Privada H99, Villiger San D’Oro and Nica Rustica Adobe Cigars

Monday was Memorial Day and that called for some special smokes. I pulled out the Liga Privada H99 that Joe Gro of Drew Estate gave me back in January at the TPE show. I’m not sure why I had been waiting to smoke this, but I figured a nice afternoon off was a great time to light it up. According to the Drew Estate Website: “Maintaining the core tenants of the Liga firebrand, the H99 features a Corojo capa from the heart of the Connecticut River Valley, where we grow the mighty leaf that graces Liga Privada with a San Andres Otapan Negro Último Corte capote over a core blend of well-aged Nicaraguan and Honduran tripa leaf.” I like how this is written, it’s an obvious nod to the original creator of the Liga Privada line, who else uses terms like “capa”, “capote”, and “tripa” instead of wrapper, binder and filler? 😀. This cigar burned very nicely, and was less like a Liga Privada cigar than I expected. I suppose it was more on the T52 end, obviously, it wasn’t as heavy as it’s broadleaf counterparts. I found it has a bit of spice, some salty, savoriness, and a hint of sweetness. It was very good, certainly worthy of the occasion. As I often do, I finished the holiday weekend off with an old favorite, this time it was a Fuente Hemingway Classic, as aptly named as a cigar could be.

I slacked off this week and didn’t write a midweek post. Pure laziness on my part, I have no excuse. I did smoke some cigars I really like though, a Stolen Throne Three Kingdoms, an Undercrown 10, and a new Perla Del Mar Maduro (more on that another time). Another one I revisited was the Villiger San’Doro toro. I found a three pack in the humidor and decided to smoke one and had forgotten how much I liked this cigar. This one is the Colorado, with a ruddy brown Ecuador wrapper, and Nicaraguan binder and filler. I’m not sure how old this three pack is, but I think it’s newer, which means these were made at Joya de Nicaragua. I probably have an old one around that was made at Placencia if I dive into the humidor a little deeper. I really enjoyed the flavor of this cigar, it had a cane sugar sweetness that I like a lot, but it was intermittent, so it didn’t get boring. I know Villiger premium cigars don’t get a ton of traction, but they tend to be pretty good, as far as I’m concerned.

Yesterday I stopped in to the Wooden Indian where they were having a Drew Estate event featuring the new Nica Rustica Adobe, which they had in limited supply. I picked up five toros and smoked one there in the Liga Privada Lounge, while catching up with Dave, Dan and their excellent staff, as well as Ray from Drew Estate and Matty Rock, famous for being Matty Rock. I had my choice of the three vitolas the Adobe is available in, and stuck with the Toro, even though I haven’t had the robusto yet, but I didn’t really like the gordo I tried inthe Freestyle pack. I’ve smoked a ton of Nica Rusticas, I really like them. We even went to the Belly launch event in Kentucky back in 2015. This was the third Adobe I’ve smoked and it’s growing on me, I’m liking the smoothness and balance. It has a bit of a creaminess, the Habano wrapper instead of Broadleaf makes a big difference. When this was the Freestyle live mystery cigar I had no idea this was what it was going to be, although I know one person in particular nailed it. you can’t beat the price, both versions are going to have a place in my humidor I think.

That’s all for today! It’s been a beautiful weekend, and I need to get out and get some things done, maybe smoke some more cigars! Don’t forget to check out www.battleshipbeef.com and come out to the Battleship, Beef and Bourbon for the Ship Red Meat Lovers Club event. It should prove to be an orgiastic feast of the senses! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Adobe, cigar, cigars, colorado, drew estate, H99, Liga Privada No. 9, Nica Rustica, San'Doro, Villiger, wooden indian

by Craig Vanderslice | April 10, 2022 · 9:37 am

EP Carrillo Short Run, Nica Rustica and La Libertad Cigars

I’d like to have a week go by without incident. This week it was a leaking pipe, which required calling a plumber to come and cut holes in some walls to fix. It took time away from my day job that I made up, which meant I skipped my regular Friday evening working at the cigar shop. If it isn’t one set of pipes, it’s another, so it seems! I had just passed the kidney stone, finally, last week. That only took a month. But I’m able to take some solace in a cigar here and there. Earlier in the week I smoked an E.P Carrillo Short Run Retro 2022. I smoked this in the Short Play size, which is 5″ x 50. This has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Ecuador binder and fillers from Nicaragua, Mexico and Honduras. Boy, this was a great cigar! I did a little reading about this blend, and Ernesto says that he used Honduran tobacco in the blend for the first time in 14 years, the last time was as a binder in the La Gloria Cubana Artesanos de Miami. As one might imagine, the Short Run was right up my alley, rich cocoa and espresso, with some earthiness. It was really exceptional. I can’t recall if I smoked any of the previous Short Runs! I may not have come across them or had the opportunity. Give this a try, they aren’t even that expensive!

Yesterday I tried out my first of the new Nica Rusticas from Drew Estate. I’ve smoked many Nica Rusticas. I’ve often said that I’d buy two or three of them to one Liga Privada any day of the week. It’s been one of my favorite Broadleaf cigars for a long time. However, I haven’t had one since they repackaged them, and I’ve been worried that they changed. I’ll admit that I haven’t smoked a great many of the Short Robusto vitola, but I think this one started out making me a bit concerned. It didn’t seem to have the depth of flavor that I was used to, but eventually it came around and developed into what expected. It burned for an unusually long time for a 4½” x 50 cigar. I took a walk, which ended just before it poured rain, and spent a total of about 90 minutes smoking the cigar. Also, these don’t seem to have the same ridiculous amount of smoke pouring from them as they used to. I believe this is a process change, but I’d have to visit the factory again to confirm this. I can’t believe it’s been eight years since I was there. I want to go back. Anyway, now I have to smoke an El Brujito, maybe an old one against a new one to see how they compare.

Last night I dug into a package I received from Villiger Cigars in January and smoked a La Libertad Gran Toro. This is almost a Nicaraguan Puro, the binder is from the DR. The wrapper is Criollo grown in Jalapa, with fillers from Jalapa and Esteli. They have moved production to their own factory in Esteli, which is new. The old version had an Ecuadoran wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers, so this is a completely new blend. Oddly, there is a familiar flavor to the wrapper on the lips. I can’t explain it better than that of Red Man chewing tobacco, and I think of that every time I put a La Libertad to my lips, regardless of the vintage. Weird. Obviously, there’s no hint of this flavor once lit, I don’t think, I’ve never smoked Red Man chewing tobacco. I can’t imagine that gooey stuff would burn well. A few years ago I wrote a post comparing to iterations of this cigar (here) , do I have to root through the humidor and see if I can compare the three? I doubt I still have one of the originals, but it’s hard to say, I’m a bit of a packrat. It was a good smoke, although I found the flavors to be a little muted. There were some hints of wood, spice and a little sweetness. René Casteñeda gave me a corona at the TPE which I’ll have to give a try, oddly, the 6″ x 54 Gran Toro may not have been the best expression of this blend. For another take on this, check out my friend, Kap’s, review.