Vintage 2006 | CigarCraig's Blog

I experimented a little this week with posting some news as I received it (or as soon as I was able). I didn’t get any complaints, so I’ll keep doing it when I can. I realize other sites do this and it’s a little redundant. It looks like the traffic numbers were up a bit this week, so I guess it doesn’t hurt. Anyway, I went on a bit of a San Andrés bender this week, with a sprinkling of PA broadleaf in there to change things up a little. I decided to try the Rocky Patel Vintage 2006 San Andreas that was a sample from the IPCPR show last year. I like that the robusto in this line is 5½” x 50 as opposed to the standard 5″ length. I’m not sure what took me so long to get to this one, it has a beautiful dark, oily wrapper, which is from the 2006 crop year. The name of this cigar confuses me. It’s San Andreas, not San Andrés, the latter being the region in Mexico where the leaf is grown. I know it’s a common mistake, one I was guilty of myself early on, maybe there’s another reason it’s marketed this way that’s not obvious? Anyway, this is made at Rocky’s Tabacalera Villa Cuba S.A. factory in Nicaragua, the first of the Vintage line manufactured there. I picked it up because the orange bands and the dark wrapper were close enough to the Flyers orange and black, and the Flyers were playing that night (and suffered a humiliating defeat). I also had been neglecting it since last July, so it was time. Good smoke, perfect construction, and a great experience. If you like the earthy espresso flavors of the San Andrés wrapper, you’ll like this one.

Continuing the San Andrés trend, I went with the Aladino Maduro Elegante from JRE Cigars. I bought a couple each of these and the toros from 2 Guys just before becoming unemployed, at the time (and maybe still?) they were the only ones who had them. the Elegante is the most reasonably priced cigar in the range, oddly, and it’s a lancero. Being a lancero, the flavor is different form the toro, and I don’t think it’s because the Lancero is round and the toro box pressed. I thought it was a little “dirtier” tasting, if that makes sense. The extra heat sharpens the flavors of the already earthy Mexican wrapper. It’s a 7″ x 38 traditional lancero, and the San Andrés wrapper covers Honduran Corojo filler and binder. The profile is coffee heavy, which I like. I still have a couple more Aladino Maduros in the humidor, it’ll be interesting to see how they are in a few months.

As long as I was smoking San Andrés wrapped cigars, I had to smoke an Undercrown Maduro (I don’t remember these being called maduro until the Shade came out, they still were, obviously, but I thought they were just “Undercrown”). Always a good smoke, the Belicoso is basically the toro with a pointy head. I also had a couple of cigars from Southern Draw with PA Broadleaf wrappers, the Jacob’s Ladder and a Quick Draw, both incredible cigars. Speaking of Southern Draw, Robert Holt was on KMA Talk Radio yesterday, and I can’t wait to listen to the show. Also on the same show, CigarProp Kevin was on and I’m sure he mentioned the Kickstarter he just launched for a new item he’s making. In two days he’s halfway to his goal, and the product is a useful item for all of us. It’s a tool specifically to bleed your butane lighter. Although some may argue, there’s always a little bit of non-butane that gets into your lighter when you fill it. Call it air, propellant, whatever, it gets into your lighter and degrades the performance over time. I’ve used a small Philips screwdriver over the years and always worried about damaging the fill valve doing it this way. This tool lets you safely bleed the lighter, just don’t do it near and open flame! It can also empty a lighter if you need to fly with it or mail it, but the primary purpose is to let the air out so there’s more room for gas and your lighter work right for a long time! I’ve been bleeding (or purging) my lighters for years and have a drawer full of working lighters. I use Kevin’s Cigar Props daily, the quality is excellent. Finally, I’m sad to see the unrest in Nicaragua this week. I’ve visited the country twice, and yearn to go back. Hopefully things return to the tranquil place I remember.