Tag Archives: West Tampa Tobacco Co.

by | December 10, 2023 · 11:01 am

Boliche Blvd, Some Classic Fuentes and a 1502 Cigar

This week I found myself out and about more than usual!  Monday I met up with my friend Steve Tabak from Tampa at the Cigar Mojo location nearest to me.  I stopped into the Cigar Mojo original location on Thursday for their Fuente event, then was back at The Grove location Friday for a 1502 event. That’s enough running around for me for this month!  Anyway, Monday I picked up a few of the new Boliche Blvd by West Tampa Tobacco.  I had smoked a pre-release sample several months ago before I knew exactly what it was, and was looking forward to trying it again.  This is made at the NACSA factory, which is the same factory that makes Dunbarton’s Mi Querida and Red Meat Lovers cigars, among others.  This is a 6″ x 60 and is presented in boxes of 50, it’s a big box, and they only made 500 boxes.  The blend has not been disclosed, all that is said is that the tobacco is sourced from the Oliva Tobacco Co., who owns part of the NACSA factory, so it could come from anywhere.  It’s a medium to full bodied cigar, and I’m standing by my original impression that it’s more on the savory side than sweet. I smoked two this week and enjoyed them, not as much as I enjoy the Attic, Red or even the Black, I’m afraid, but I like that sweetness for the most part. Definitely a high quality cigar and worth a try! I wish I had gotten a chance to catch up with Ricky while he was in the area this weekend, but I hung out with Steve, which is always cool!

 

I stopped in to the King of Prussia Cigar Mojo location (King of Prussia is the name of the “town” in PA, home of one of the largest shopping malls in the country), because one doesn’t often come across Fuente events, and I wanted to see what was up.  By the time I got there, maybe two hours after the event started, a lot of the selection was picked over. They had some nice sampler packs though, but I couldn’t justify the spend this time of year, I have a good many Fuente cigars in the humidor as it is. I did pick up some Hemingway Maduros,  Short Story, Best Seller and a Classic, as they are few and far between.  In my opinion, Fuente does some great work with Broadleaf, putting it on the Opus bunch to make the Ańejo made a better Opus, in my opinion. I think the Ańejo is about my favorite in the Fuente line. Don Carlos and Hemingways are a close second, and putting the Broadleaf on the Hemingway is a treat. The lounge was full at Mojo Thursday, so instead of sitting on their heated outdoor patio, I opted to go home and enjoy the Classic Maduro in my own heated patio.  I love the over-roasted coffee flavor of this cigar, it’s not subtle or complex, it’s just good, and it’s fairly priced.  I smoked the Best Seller yesterday and it’s more of the same, or I guess it’s less of the same, because it’s a smaller format!  The neat thing about the Best Seller is that it has a really tight draw until it burns past the “nipple”, then it opens up and is perfect.  The Classic is basically a Churchill in a perfecto shape, 7″ x 48,  while the Best Seller is 5″ x 55.  I’ve been smoking the Hemingway line for over 25 years and they never fail to disappoint. 

 

Friday I stopped back into the Cigar Mojo The Grove location, with is close to home, to see an old friend, Enrique Sanchez of Global Premium Cigars.  He was there with Ron Melendi, who is brokering the 1502 line in the Northeast. It’s been years since I have hung out with Enrique, it was great to be able to relax and enjoy a 1502 Ruby Toro with him and Ron.  The 1502 Ruby Toro is a 6″ x 50 with a box press, and is made by Plasencia in Nicaragua. The wrapper is Ecuador Habano and the fillers are from Esteli and Jalapa in Nicaragua. As much as I love the Black Gold (the Maduro in the 1502 line), this Ruby really does it for me. This isn’t a new cigar, if you searched it on my site you’d find that I mentioned it back in 2012, back when 1502 was part of the House of Emilio distribution group.  A lot has changed over the years, but this cigar remains consistent, it’s really good! There’s some spice and some citrus sweetness.  I arrived fairly late at the shop, hung with the guys until closing, then went home and finished the cigar. I did, indeed relax and enjoy this cigar. I enjoyed catching up with my old friend, and finally meeting Ron, whom I’ve known of for years, I used to visit his shop in New York City, De La Concha from time to time.  

 

I never said this was a new cigar blog, but a blog about my smoking experiences, although I do try to smoke newer stuff.  This week was some oldies, but goodies!  There are a lot of classic cigars that are worth smoking. I like to have certain Fuente cigars in my humidor all the time, I just love smoking them, and sometimes I don’t get around to them as much as I’d like.  In other news,  Secret Santa names have been selected and I’ll be working on putting my SS package together today. Don’t delay!  Finally, stay tuned for a giveaway or two in the coming weeks!  Tis the season!  Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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by | October 8, 2023 · 11:00 am

More Stolen Throne Cigars, a New West Tampa Cigar and a Big Sky Mad Minnow

This is going to be a wierd Sunday post.  I started out by getting some more Stolen Throne Yorktown Fleet cigars in both the Torpedo and Robusto sizes because I got some flack from last week’s post. If you’ll recall, I wasn’t a huge fan of the Yorktown Fleet, while being a huge fan of Stolen Throne’s three Kingdoms and Crook of the Crown. I like the Three Kingdoms so much that I said it was one of my favorite cigars of 2021. Look, not every cigar is right for everyone, and I certainly do my best to try to like every cigar I smoke, and find the good in everything, and there’s a lot of good things to say about the Yorktown Fleet cigars.  While they don’t have a flavor that appeals to me, they burn perfectly, and I smoked all of the cigars beyond the band, the last two, a robusto and torpedo side by side. That’s right, I smoked two cigars I didn’t particularly like back to back, just to make sure. Just so it’s documented that I tried my best to like these cigars. Buy one and try it for yourself.

 

Friday evening my wife and I took our granddaughters to the Cirque de Soleil show that was in town, so we got home kinda late. It’s fun to experience things through the eyes of children, the Cirque show was good and the Chocolate fondue beforehand was fun as well! This was the perfect opportunity to have the Big Sky Mad Minnow before retiring.  This is a small, 4¾ x 44, salomon (not salmon…Big Sky has a fishing thing going on) or perfecto cigar.  It’s got a Habano wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers. I’ll be honest, I was a little disappointed at first, because the draw was terrible, but I understand the shape of the cigar, and waited it out and it opened up after it got past the taper. This turned out to be a tasty little smoke, not to be oversmoked, lest it turn bitter. I ended up getting nearly an hour out of this little bugger, with some cocoa and pepper and a little hint of caramel flavors.  This was a nice way to end a nice day. 

 

From time to time knowing people has it’s upside, like when a friend shares something new he’s working on before it hits the market. I believe this is going to be the next release by West Tampa Tobacco Co., and he didn’t tell me I couldn’t talk about it, and he talked about it when he was at the New England Cigar Expo, so I’m going to tell you what I know about Boliche. This was a 6″ x 60 cigar, with a dark wrapper. It’s on the savory side, which makes sense since the name comes from a Cuban style of roast beef.  This is being made by a yet to be named factory, maybe not in Nicaragua, I’m actually thinking it’s in the DR, just a feeling.  From what Ricky says it’s going to be a limited run of 500 boxes of 50 and will be released at the March PCA show.  It was a tasty cigar, once again, I find myself preferring more sweetness lately, something I haven’t been getting this week, but I certainly look forward to hearing more about this new cigar! It would surprise me if anyone else posted anything about this cigar yet!

 

Finally, in the Sunday blog post about cigars I didn’t like (kidding, sort of, it’s not that I don’t like them, it’s just that they don’t suit my preference. They are all perfectly fine, high quality cigars, worthy of your time, money and consideration), I smoked a Stolen Throne Call To Arms Corona.  More of a lonsdale, this is 6″ x 46, which is a really nice size, has a Sumatra wrapper over Nicaraguan fillers and binder. This is similar to the Yorktown, which has a Maduro Sumatra wrapper, although it isn’t all that dark, and I don’t get the sweetness I like in a maduro. I smoked this to test a theory, and I proved myself right. I’m not a big fan of the Call To Arms either.  I generally like Sumatra wrappers, I’m not sure what it is that doesn’t hit me right with these.  It’s OK, I’m not upset, I don’t feel cheated or anything, there’s an ass for every seat, or some such nonsense, and Stolen Throne has two seats for my ass. I think Lee Marsh would rather I love two of his blends and not care for two, than just like all of them, at least that’s the way I’m going to spin it to him when he gives me crap about this…Probably going to smoke a Crook of the Crown today.

 

That’s more than enough for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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by | October 1, 2023 · 10:21 am

Brick House, West Tampa, Big Sky and Stolen Throne Cigars

I got a bit of a late start on Bricktoberfest, thanks to our friends at UPS, and maybe the weather. Every year (at least for the last 6) the folks at J.C. Newman celebrate Oktoberfest (which runs from September 21 through October 6ish I think) with a special release of their Brick House cigar.  This is presented in a toro with a pigtail cap and is in boxes of ten. If you go to a participating retailer and buy five of any Brick House cigar you can get a really nice  Brick House Pilsner Glass.  I really like the 2022 version of this, and I haven’t had a chance yet to smoke the two side by side. The 2023 version has a rosado Ecuador Habano wrapper, and is supposedly blended to pair with an Oktoberfest style lager. I’m far too far removed from beer consumption to know if that’s true, might be.  On it’s own it’s a solid cigar, if the Brick House blend is up your alley, and I like the Brick House line.  I’d love to see this offered with a Broadleaf wrapper one year, beer guys, back me up, would a maduro go well with a dark beer?  The Bricktoberfest is a tasty Nicaraguan cigar with some unsweetened coffee cocoa notes. Very nice.

 

Thursday evening I visited the CigarCigars store in Downingtown, PA, not far from where I lived when I started CigarCraig.com.  Speaking of beer, those familiar with craft beers will know the name Downingtown as the home of Victory Brewery.  I used to work in the adjacent building and would smoke cigars and drink root beer at their bar once in a while. Of course, that was over twenty years ago when such things were allowed!  I stopped in the shop because they were hosting Rick Rodriguez of West Tampa Tobacco Co. for the evening, and I try not to miss an opportunity to see my friend Rick. I bought a handful of West Tampa Red, Black and White, but I wasn’t allowed to smoked any of those, Rick had a West Tampa Red Lancero for me.  Last December when I saw him in Tampa he gave me the White and Black blends in the Lancero format and you might recall that I thought they were spectacular.  Considering I’m a big fan of the Red in the traditional sizes, I had high expectations. In this case, I’m not going to say that this was a better expression of the Red blend than the Toro or Robusto, it’s different, as the Toro and Robusto are different from one another. It was a spectacular cigar, and if these ever make it into the wild, give them a try.

 

I’m getting to the end of the Big Sky Cigar Co. Samples, I’m down to the small ones now, and I’m smoking the Yellowstone, which is the Ecuador Connecticut wrapped robusto in the portfolio. I’m on my second one this morning, I smoked one yesterday afternoon and was quite happy.  This has the lighter wrapper over some heavier Nicaraguan binder and fillers, so it’s not without flavor. The literature lists it as mild, but I don’t think that’s the case, I find it to be medium.  There’s some spices, pepper especially through the nose, and solid cafe con leche. Oddly, as I’m writing, and smoking the Yellowstone, I’m listening to Frank Zappa’s  Montana, and the Yellowstone River, for which the cigar is named, runs through Montana, though those dental floss plantations, no doubt. I’m happy smoking this cigar on a Sunday morning with coffee.

 

Finally, I happened to be in Havertown, PA yesterday and stopped in to the Wooden Indian because I saw that they had received a restock of the Stolen Throne Yorktown Fleet, and I’d been wanting to give that cigar a try.  Something makes me think there’s a tie in to Stolen Throne Cigars and the Yellowstone TV show, someone is going to have to let me know if I’m thinking of something else.  Not that it has anything to do with anything, just popped into my head.  I don’t think it’s a secret that the Crook of the Crown and the Three Kingdoms are personal favorites of mine, and I need to smoke more of the Call to Arms to form an opinion.  I do like a Sumatra, and the Yorktown Fleet is a Maduro Sumatra wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler, although the wrapper isn’t overly dark. I hate to criticize my friends at the Wooden Indian, but they need to put these back in the humidor as opposed to having them on the counter by the register, as I feel like the couple I bought were on the dry side. I am going to reserve judgement on this for when my remaining examples have some time in my humidor (internal moisture content read a little lower than I’d like, measured after smoking one). I didn’t find the flavors to be what I expected. Construction was perfect, and I look forward to smoking it again when it’s had some time, and I might look for the Robusto in another shop. I know Lee Marsh pretty well and I’m reasonably certain that what I smoked last night wasn’t his intention. Of course, my palate might have been out of whack too.  I’ll come back to this one.

 

That’s all for today, until the next time. 

 

CigarCraig 

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by | May 28, 2023 · 9:30 am

ATL and Luciano, Macanudo and West Tampa Tobacco Cigars

The highlight of the week for me was my interview with Marvin Samel (see video at the end of the post, or go back to the Friday post).  I really enjoy doing these interviews, hopefully they are enjoyable for you.  I didn’t mention it on the video, but I smoked a Liga Privada No. 9, the cigar I smoked for the first time when I met Marvin in 2009. Marvin was smoking a Havana Cohiba from a box he had bought in the Netherlands ten years ago. I guess we should have talked about the cigars, but I thought the behind the scenes movie stuff was really fascinating!  Anyway, I smoked some other cigars this week, starting with the Foreign Affair Toro Extra from Luciano Cigars.  Luciano debuted this cigar at this year’s TPE show, which I did not attend.  This cigar has a Sumatra Ecuador wrapper, Nicaragua & Ecuador binders, and fillers from Nicaragua, Costa Rica & Dominican Republic. One does not see a lot of cigars with Costa Rican fillers.  This cigar smoked very well, had a really interesting sweet spice, almost a ginger sort of flavor. I love a Sumatra wrapper, and this one was really nice, and probably accounts for the sweetness.  It was very good.  

 

The next cigar shares some traits with the Foreign Affair, in that it’s made in the same factory, since ATL Cigars partnered with Luciano for distribution, and one of ATL’s founders, Peter, has taken on an executive roll with the Luciano company.  I found the ATL Magic to be an exceptional cigar, very special.  I tried the ATL Wise Blood in the Gordito size, 4″ x 60 and was impressed.  This cigar has an Ecuadorian Habano Rosado HVA wrapper, Ecuadorian Connecticut binder, and fillers from three Nicaraguan regions. I happened to take Friday off, and after running some errands and doing some stuff, I smoked this cigar.  It had a hint of sourness, kind of the sourdough bread kind, which was interesting in a good way. I’m one of the odd set who doesn’t mind a 60 ring, I think it’s best in the shorter lengths, it’s certainly ridiculous in anything longer than six inches. Good smoke, looking forward to trying other sizes.

 

Continuing on the short and fat vein, yesterday morning I lit up a new Macanudo Gold size for 2023, the Gold Nugget.  This is a 4½” x 60, with the classic Macanudo Connecticut Shade wrapper, Mexican San Andrés binder and Piloto Cubano and Mexican fillers. The wrapper leaves come from early primings, making them smoother and cleaner looking than higher primings because they get less sun exposure.  I was trying to reupholster the seat on my scooter, and needed a cigar to reduce profanity.  If I can give any advice to someone who wants to try this, it’s to just buy an OEM seat cover and be done with it, it’s worth saving yourself the headache. So, as the scooter waits for it’s seat to come in, I enjoyed this Macanudo Gold. Fun fact, this blend is (or was) the favorite of Victoria Jaworski, the queen of public relations for Scandinavian Tobacco Group.  I smoked it early in the day, and it is a milder, creamy smoke, but it’s not without flavor, and delivered a really nice smoking experience for this guy who isn’t a huge fan of the Connecticut shade genre.  Like the Macanudo Inspirado White, it’s one I’ll go back to happily, whenever that shade mood hits me.  

 

Finally, I’ve been smoking a bunch of the West Tampa Tobacco Co. Red cigars lately after finding them in stock at my local shop.  I grabbed another robusto yesterday afternoon after smoking one earlier in the week. When I talked to Ricky Rodriguez last month (video HERE), we talked about the similarity between the Attic and the Red, they share all the same components, which are Mexican San Andrés Maduro, Condega Nicaragua Binder and Condega Viso, Esteli Viso, Esteli Ligero.  The robusto is a powerhouse compared with the Toro and Gordo, it packs a punch! There’s a lot of cocoa and coffee, which I love, and, especially the Robusto, a healthy amount of pepper spice. I think the Red is slightly less refined than the Attic, there must be some priming difference somewhere in the blend.  This isn’t a knock, by any stretch, it wouldn’t make sense to have the exact same cigar with different bands and prices (although inside sources tell me that the Attic is sold out at WTCC). I love this Red, and it seems like I’ve been smoking a lot of the Reds and Black’s recently! Great cigars from a great family company.

 

That’s all for today. It’s Memorial Day Weekend, so take a moment and think of those who perished so that we can relax with a great cigar. Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

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by | April 11, 2023 · 7:39 pm

A Video Interview with Ricky Rodriguez of West Tampa Tobacco Co.

I’m trying something a little new here. Ricky kind of encouraged this, I’ve been thinking about it for some time.  When I talked to him a few weeks ago he asked to do it, and I had to figure out how.  I did, and I think it worked out very well.  Rick and I talked for 50 minutes about the company, the cigars, the factory and several other topics.  Please give it a watch and let me know what you think. I hope to present some more interviews in this format.  Many thanks to Ricky of West Tampa Tobacco Co. for his time and his encouragement.  I smoked the Attic Series Attic along with Rick and it was as excellent as ever.  I’m looking forward to getting the West Tampa Red when it comes out next month, it’s really good too. 

 

 

Thank you to Kevin at CigarProp for his technical guidance, and to my friends on the Round Panel for helping me test it and work out the bugs. I have a lot of video content on my YouTube channel.  Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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