Tortuga, Box Pressed Liga Privada, and Black Label Trading Co. Cigars

It’s been a crazy week, I posted a contest on Wednesday, and a humor/ad post on Friday, more than my usual output.  I thought the Rocky for President was humorous, and while we all know it’s not a possibility Constitutionally, there are some very good points raised in the satire piece.  Thanks to my friends at Famous for letting me in on that one as well as sponsoring the contest! This week’s cigar coverage goes back to Sunday, when I selected a nice Tortuga 215 Reserva El Coyote Negra Cedro No.600 from the humidor. It had been a long day, we had a great breakfast with the kids and grandkids, which was only slightly diminished by a migraine. I wanted a sure thing after a day building a chicken coop with my wife, daughter, son-in-law and granddaughters, something great to  finish off a nice day. I really love this dark Brazilian wrapped cigar, a beefy toro at 6½ x 56.  It’s sweet, it’s full flavored and perfectly constructed.  The cedar sleeve gives it a little something different from most Brazilian Oscuros, and it’s among my favorite cigars of the last couple years. Highly recommended along with the rest of the Tortuga range.

Fast-forward to Thursday when I picked out the box pressed Liga Privada No.9 toro, which is exclusive to the Drew Estate Lounge at Corona Cigars in Orlando (officially called the Liga Privada No. 9 Box Pressed Toro Corona Cigar Company Exclusivamente) I believe there are eight exclusive box pressed cigars that Drew Estate has made for this lounge, a couple Tabak Especiales, a Herrera Esteli, a Natural, and Undercrown and Natural. The box press makes this toro feel like a corona gorda, whether it’s the press or getting used to ring gauges larger than 56, I don’t know. Anyway, it was a great representation of the Liga Privada No. blend. the draw and burn were perfect. This cigar has a flat head, like the aptly named CAO Flathead, and the less aptly named CroMagnon Neanderthal. I used the 9mm ScrewPop Punch on this one, as I generally do with similarly constructed cigars, it’s just easier than trying to cut it any other way.  This worked fine, the flavors were very much the same as its round counterparts, savory, satisfying and delicious. The press gives it a little bit of a different feel, but otherwise it’s quite similar. It’s nice to have options though. Is it too much to dream of a Nica Rustica box press?

Yesterday my wife and I took a walk to Panera Bread for lunch (free bagels every day this month, and I’m trying to reduce my carb intake!). For the walk home (it’s 1½ miles each way) I brought along a Black Label Trading Company Last Rites, which was given to me by the new Boutiques United sales dude, Alex (not to be confused with the old Boutiques United sales dude Alex, who is the new Drew Estate sales dude).  This is a chunky robusto, 5″ x 54, but also comes in a 6″ x 60 with box pressed versions of each, which is a unique and interesting twist. I smoked the round version, but now I feel compelled to try out the box pressed version, very clever sales ploy! I had my Xikar V cutter on me, so I gave this a V-cut and it worked out perfectly.  The cigar started out with a very intense “dirty” flavor, and I mean that in the best possible way. It was a like a really strong cup of black coffee, dark roast, much like the cup I was in the midst of drinking, only more like the pot that had been left on the burner for an hour or so. It settled down to a very enjoyable espresso/cocoa flavor after a while and finished strong (literally and figuratively).  I’ll definitely be looking to sample more in the Black Label Trading Co. Line, and now that they have partnered with the Boutiques United folks (previously known as House of Emilio) I’m sure I’ll see them around more as they have a pretty strong presence in my area.

That’s all for today, I did smoke a couple other cigars this week, the Rocky Patel Super Ligero Toro I smoked Friday to celebrate Rocky’s announcement (snicker) was much stronger than I remember and about kicked my a$$…I should probably stick with the lancero in this line, although I love the flavor. I also smoked a cigar that was highly recommended at a local shop that was just mediocre, which I alluded to in my Wednesday contest post. Not bad, but not worth typing about.  There was another sample of a new cigar that just wasn’t ready, so I’ll let the rest of the sample rest for a few weeks before taking about it. I’m against trashing a cigar in just about any circumstance. Anyway, thinking about checking out a lounge in Wilmington we recent;y heard about today, I’ll let you know how that turned out. Until the next time,

CigarCraig