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
