I smoked a selection of cigars this week that I recently picked up on several shop visits that were all new to me. A few weeks back I stopped in New Tobacco Village in Whitehall, PA and one of the cigars I picked up was the VegaFina Exclusivo USA Patriot. VegaFina has a very small footprint in the USA, but has a pretty wide range available in Europe. I’ve smoked a few over the years, and, much like a lot of the Altadis portfolio, wasn’t too enamoured with them. I figured I’d give this one a shot. It came out almost a year ago, is a 6″ x 54 toro, has an Ecuadorian wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. It was a nice smoke, rather light bodied with some wood and citrus tang. Not my favorite profile, but it was a perfectly good cigar. I try to smoke cigars that aren’t in my wheelhouse, once in a while I find a gem, but it wouldn’t be a cigar I’d buy a box of.
I stopped into CigarMojo (the King of Prussia, PA location) last week and smoked a really good Dias de Gloria Brazil and picked up a couple other cigars that I had wanted to try. The first one I smoked was the Tatuaje LLE Broadleaf Reserva. I love the Broadleaf Reservas as a rule, and this lonsdale size look really good. This is a relatively new release, and pretty reasonably priced at $11. The cigar is 6¾” x 42, has a rich Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers, made in the My Father Factory. I went into this cigar knowing that I had to relax and take it slow, there’s not many things worse than overheating a really good cigar, and this was a really good cigar. It starts out spice heavy, and then the cocoa/coffee flavors come through. I might have to get some more of these before they are gone as they only made 1500 boxes.
Yesterday was busy, we’ve been re-doing our foyer after putting it off for almost ten years, which involved stripping the painted wallpaper off (which my wife handled) and patching and sanding the bare drywall. It must have been a thing in 1959 to go straight to wallpaper, because the walls hadn’t been painted. Walls I can handle, the ceiling is giving me problems! I don’t care for working over my head. I also cut the front lawn and forgot, for the second week in a row, that there was a yellowjacket nest. Bastards got me three times, maybe I’ll remember next time I mow! After a while I gave up and sat down with a cigar, and I chose an Umbagog Bronzeback which I had picked up at Harrisburg Beer and Cigar last month. Of course, I very much love the Umbagogs, so I’d been looking forward to smoking this one. This Bronzeback is to Umbagog kindof what Triqui Traca is to Mi Querida. It comes in one vitola, 5″ x 48, and has a lower priming Broadleaf wrapper than the regular Umbagog line (which uses the wrapper leaves Saka deems as not pretty enough for Mi Querida). This has some exotic spices along with some earthy sweetness, not quite as chocolatey as the regular line. I loved it, it was the right size, and right flavor for the time. It’s a little more of a premium offering than its predecessors, a little fancier band and packaging, and a little higher price tag, but well worth it.
Finally, another cigar I picked up at Mojo that I have been looking forward to trying was the newish Drew Estate Blackened S84 Shade to Black. I really like the M81 from time to time, so I was interested to see what an Ecuador Connecticut Shade wrapper over Connecticut Broadleaf binder and Pennsylvania and Nicaraguan fillers would be like. Of course I got the 6″ x 52 toro. The binder and fillers are fermented to a Maduro. I was hoping to really like this, but it wasn’t really my thing. It seemed too strong for the wrapper, which while it added some nuttiness to the blend, was easily overpowered. I understand the idea, and it’s different. but it didn’t really work for me. I’m wired to associate shade wrappers with a more delicate blend, I guess. I’m glad I gave it a shot, and I might try one again, but my preference leans toward the M81 (which is named after the year I graduated high school).
That’s all for now. I’m going to try to go on a little cigar adventure this week, I won’t say anything until it gets worked out. Until the next time,
CigarCraig
