Monthly Archives: April 2012

by | April 29, 2012 · 10:19 am

A Griffins, a Band and a Tortuga EL and Some News

Thursday was a big day for my youngest son and his band, Air Sur La Terre.  They’ve been playing together for a few short months and are really coming together.  They were interviewed on a local AM radio station in the afternoon, the podcast version can be heard here, and played at an open mike night at a coffee house in the area.  While at the coffee house, I decided to take a Griffins 500 for a little walk down the street to check out a new “smoke shop”.  I walked in, cigar in hand, and asked if smoking was permitted, and was told no.  So I turned around and left.  I noticed two cabinet humidors with what appeared to be a very modest selection of cigars.  They seemed to specialize in roll-your-own and “glass wear”, so you get the impression that premium cigars are not the focus.  Now I know, and don’t have to worry about going there again!  On my way back to the coffee house, I snapped a picture of the Griffins in front of the iconic Colonial Theater in Phoenixville, PA.   This theater was immortalized in the classic 1953 movie ” The Blob”.  The kids put on a great two song set, they have videos (I took them with my iPod, so please forgive the quality) as well as their single, “Fade Away” on their website.  The cigar is a classic Connecticut shade wrapped cigar with plenty of flavor and a perfect burn.

 

Tortuga Edicion Limitada 2011 Torpedo that Victor Vitale had sent me a while back.  The EL 2011 is made in the Dominican Republic with Honduran and Dominican fillers and Nicaraguan wrapper and binder.  It’s a pretty cigar, they wrapper is dark and a little mottled and it’s rolled with a very pointy head.  Draw and burn were very nice, although it needed a few touch ups here and there which can be contributed as much to the breeze as the cigar.  It had a really good flavor, and was solidly medium in strength to me.  If you can find these, try them.  I will admit that of the three cigars in this line, the EL 2011, 1948 Connecticut and 1950 Maduro, the EL was third on the list behind the Connecticut and Maduro, with the 1950 Maduro being my absolute favorite.  The Connecticut and Maduro each had unique flavors that really distinguished themselves to me, and the Edicion Limitada while an excellent cigar, didn’t hit me with any of those surprises.  This is an exceptional line which deserves your consideration, and Victor is a terrific guy, and I appreciate the opportunity to try these special cigars.

 

News

On the cigar event side, Butthead’s Tobacco Emporium announced that they are going to host a series of cigar events in their stores in Connecticut which they will stream live video from and offer the same deals to their on-line customers.  This is a pretty cool way to see what’s going on at the events if you can’t get to them yourselves, or live someplace where there are few events.  You can see the press release for this at Cigar Coop’s site here, and here is a sample promo video for your entertainment.

httpv://youtu.be/kJS4qV2yi_8

More News

In other news, You may recall a month or so ago I posted an article about the IPCPR‘s Internet Media Membership.  I’m pleased to announce that the organization had decided to change the membership in such a way that the benefits are more equal to the other membership levels.  I still need to figure out the details, but it looks like I’ll be attending the show.  Thanks to last year’s media members for their contributions and to Bill Spann and the board for their consideration.  Also, I’d like to welcome a new sponsor,  BnB Tobacco to CigarCraig.com.  They have a great selection and prices, so check them out the next time you shop.

 

That’s it for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | April 25, 2012 · 10:16 pm

A Ginger Beer Blind Tasting and a Nestor Miranda Cigar

Monday evening we decided to have a little blind tasting.  We gathered my 18 year old son, two of his friends, and my 22 year old son, and five premium ginger beers.  For the uninitiated, ginger beer (or brew in some cases) is akin to ginger ale, but generally stronger in flavor. I have long been a fan of a frosty long neck bottle of ginger brew with a nice, strong cigar.  We collected sixpacks of Gosling’s Stormy Ginger Beer (in cans) and  Saranac Ginger Beer in bottles, four packs of Reeds Extra Ginger Brew and Maine Root Ginger Brew and a lone bottle from a four pack of Appalachian Brewing Co. Ginger Beer.   My lovely wife passed out cups of each one at a time and we judged each on fizziness, sweetness, spice, finish and overall satisfaction.  We used a 5 point scale with 1 being worst and 5 being best.

 

 

Gosling’s Stormy Ginger Beer averaged 2.8 for fizziness, 3.4 for sweetness, 3.4 for spice, 3.0 for finish and 3.0 overall satisfaction.  Some of the comments were that it smelled gingery, was balanced, mild, sweey and spicy.  I enjoyed it as a step up from ginger ale and a refreshing beverage.  This one is a bargain at $2.99 for a six-pack of cans.  I’d be interested in trying this in bottles.

Maine Root Ginger Brew averaged 2.2 for fizziness, 3.0 for sweetness, 4.6 for spice, 4.2 for finish and 3.8 for overall satisfaction.  Some comments were that it has a floral aroma, was strong, complex aromatic, spicy on the back of the throat, a spicy MoFo, and a lasting aftertaste. Personally, this is my second favorite of the group, it’s ginger ale on steroids, with a very strong ginger bite. Pricey at over $5 per four-pack, but very tasty.

Appalachian Brewing Co. Ginger Beer averaged 3.6 for fizziness, 2.8 for sweetness, 2.8 for spice, 3.2 for finish and 3.0 for overall satisfaction.  Some of the comments were that it has a citrus aroma and flavor, not much spice, sweeter and not as spicy, and smells fruity, very fizzy.  I was rather surprised by the low sweetness rating, as this ginger beer is heavily honeyed, and is, to me, very sweet.  I think this one was in the neighborhood of $5 per four-pack as well and is nice if you like honey more than ginger.

Reeds Extra Ginger Brew averaged 3.0 for fizziness, 3.2 for sweetness, 3.0 for spice, 3.2 for finish and 2.9 for overall satisfaction. Comments were that it had a faint ginger smell, strong, aromatic with a fine finish, spiciest, very faint ginger smell, very nice and enjoyable.  This was my introduction to ginger brew going back twelve or so years. We probably should have gotten the regular ginger brew for this test, but I just love the Extra, and actually wanted to see if I could pick it out of a line up.  I did identify it immediately, I’m pleased to report. Great stuff and when you can find it under $5 a four-pack it’s even better!

Saranac Ginger Beer averaged 3.8 for fizziness, 4.0 for sweetness, 2.5 for spice. 3.4 for finish and 3.2 for overall satisfaction.  The comments were a citrusy smell, taste like cat litter (?) light spice, very sweet, fine fizz, light finish and smooth and sweet.  This is both the closest to a ginger ale of the bunch as well as one of the least expensive at around $4 for a six-pack.  I’m confused by the cat litter comment, as that’s not generally a complimentary comparison.

 

It looks like the Maine Root was the over-all winner, although I think we need to work on the rating system a little.  It certainly competes favorably with my favorite, Reed’s, and will be welcomed into my refrigerator.  We’ll work on a root beer tasting next as there are some excellent examples around.

 

Tuesday night I took a long walk with a 7″ x 54 Nestor Miranda Special Selection which was a gift from my buddy Barry Stein when he announced that he was going to work for Miami Cigar and Co.  I don’t see this size listed, so I don’t know the story behind it, but it sure was good!  It burned perfectly even though I was walking briskly and there was a bit of a breeze.  I walked over three miles and this cigar really kept me entertained.  At one point I tasted an exotic spice of some sort that I recognized, but couldn’t place.  It was a terrific choice, and I thank Barry for sharing it with me.  I’ll certainly be on the look out for more of these.  This was the first I’ve smoked and I really enjoyed it, even if it’s not a style of cigar I normally gravitate to.  Terrific smoke, and the Maine Root Ginger Brew was an excellent chaser for this cigar.

 

That’s it for now, until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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by | April 22, 2012 · 10:36 am

An Emilio Draig K, a Diamondback, and a San Lotano

Thursday had turned into a stressful day, and when my wife suggested a walk into town, I knew I wanted a terrific cigar to take along.  So many choices, so I came across a pre-release sample of the new cigar from Emilio Cigars and Gary Griffith, the Draig K.  This dark, oily toro just looked like it was the cigar I was looking for. I had actually just about settled on a Liga Privada T52 when I was distracted by the Draig.  Made in the Placencia factory, the only details I recall are that it features some Colombian tobacco in the filler.  I love a maduro, and I loved this cigar.  It was exactly the rich, satisfying smoking experience I had hoped for.  There were a couple points where it stopped wanting to burn and needed a relight, and there was a small tunnel about 4 inches in, but the flavor and texture of the smoke kept me relighting it down to a ¾” nub.  Yummy cigar. Yet another cigar I’m going to have to get my hands on when they hit the streets!  Thank you, Gary, for the opportunity to sample this fine cigar.

 

Friday night finally rolled around and I was in an experimental mood, so I reached for the IPCPR show sample of the Diamondback robusto from Altadis.  First, from the department of cynicism, one can’t help but draw a comparison between this cigar and another 5″ x 54 shade wrapped cigar with “diamond” in it’s name.  Pre-conceived notions aside, this was a very nice cigar.  It was solidly constructed, burned even and cut cleanly.  If you like shade wrapped cigars, you may want to try these out, considering you can get them by the box for under $50.  Not a bad cigar at all. My only complaint was that the draw was a little tighter than I’d prefer, making me have to work a little harder than I’d like.

 

Saturday was another beautiful spring day.  Showers were in the forecast for later, so I hit the back deck with a San Lotano Maduro lancero.  I’ve very much enjoyed past San Lotano maduros, so expectations were high, as I love  lancero format as well.  This was a terrific cigar, although comparing it with its fatter brethren is a little unfair.  Certainly, smoking the lancero is a little different experience,  one cannot expect the same flavors as a toro or robusto due to the difference in the filler proportions.  Where I find the larger ring gauges in this line to be rich and creamy like smoking a chocolate bar, the lancero was more like bittersweet chocolate.  In no way do I mean to imply that this is a bad thing, as the lancero was a fantastic smoke.  I spent nearly 2 hours nursing every last bit of tasty smoke from it, awfully sad to put it down when it decided it’s time had come. I had picked this up several months ago when I visited Gary Griffith at his People’s Plaza Cigar-ette City store.

 

News

 

I’m sure most of you have already done this, but if you haven’t, please head over the the White House website and sign the petition that’s there.  Here’s a terrific video from Bill Spann outlining the importance of this fight to keep the FDA out of our humidors.

httpv://youtu.be/7bfqIFGu9WM

It looks like there should be no problem getting to 25,000 signatures, but I think we often over-estimate the number of internet cigar nuts out there.  If cigar smokers are a small subset of the general population, and PREMIUM cigar smokers represent a very small subset of those, then those of us who carry our passion for cigars onto the internet are a VERY small part.  It’s important to spread the word and get others on board with this.  It will not be a happy day if the FDA is allowed to regulate premium cigars!

 

That’s all I have for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

 

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by | April 18, 2012 · 7:12 pm

A Gran Habano, a Broadway Series and a Contest Winner!

Sunday was a beautiful day. I slept in a bit after working at my part time job until 3am, went out to breakfast with my lovely wife, then came home to have a nice cigar before settling in to watch the Flyers playoff game. I had a Gran Habano Gran Reserva torpedo floating around the humidor that one of my loyal readers had shared with me. Todd at Kutztown Tobacconist  recommended this same cigar to me, so it looked like a good cigar for a nice afternoon. It turns out, I made a good choice. The cedar sleeve came off and underneath was a nice, clean wrapper leaf, very pretty. It was smooth, well balanced and flavorful. It went well with the bottle of Appalachian Brewery Ginger Beer, which I found to be a little sweeter than I’d prefer, but a nice, tasty ginger beer. I still prefer the bite of a nice Reeds Extra Ginger Brew, but this one is a nice change of pace. The Flyers game was fantastic…

 

Monday I selected a Broadway Series by La Aurora, which was a gift from my bro Barry Stein, formerly of acigarsmoker.com, currently of Miami Cigar and Co. First, let me say that I really like the La Aurora Company, and Miami Cigar And Co. All the folks involved with these companies are top-notch. I have smoked La Aurora cigars for years, the first box of cigars I ever purchased was La Aurora Bristol Especiales back around 1996. There’s something about the flavor profile of a lot of the cigars from La Aurora that just doesn’t float my boat. I don’t quite know what it is, the construction is always excellent, and they generally burn well. I’ve had this cigar before, which was made by La Aurora for the New York tobacconists to be able to sell at a reasonable price in their high-tax environment. I like it. Maybe I’m starting to “get” the flavor profile from La Aurora, there were several times when I got a flavor that caught my interest. Really nice smoke, if you can find these, try a few. I’ll keep trying the cigars from these companies for sure. Thanks again to Barry for the smoke!

 

 

 

Contest!

 

It’s Wednesday, and I promised to announce the winner of Sunday’s contest. I was surprised by the number of entries, thank you all for reading and leaving a note. So I’ve consulted the great Random.org’s random number generator and it tells me that comment number 5  is the winner.  Doug Bryant:  please e-mail me with your address so I can get these goodies out to you!  Many thanks to the companies who, either directly or indirectly, made this contest possible!   Camacho, Joya de Nicaragua/Drew Estate, StogieBoys.com, Gurkha, Oliva, The Griffins, Joya de Nicaragua, and General Cigar Co.  As promised, a similar, but doubled, package will go to Cigars4Troops.

 

That’s it for now, until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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by | April 15, 2012 · 9:38 am

It’s Contest Time Again! Cigars and Swag

I realized I haven’t had a contest for a while, and I came across some stuff laying around the CigarCraig.com herfquarters, so it’s time to give stuff away!  This is a multi-vender prize package, there’s a calendar from Camacho, there’s a hat and cutter from Joya de Nicaragua/Drew Estate, there’s a Cigar Journal from StogieBoys.com.  I’ve also put together a cigar pack with cigars from my humidor from Gurkha, Oliva, The Griffins, Joya de Nicaragua, and General Cigar Co., including a La Gloria Cubana Artesanos de Tabaqueros that is not in regular production (Sumatra and Broadleaf…delicious!).  All cigars are ones I smoke pretty regularly and enjoy.   I’ll put together a similar cigar package to send to Cigars4Troops, but I’ll double the amount of cigars, and try to scrounge up some cutters.

It’s easy.  Leave a comment, and on Wednesday, April 18  I’ll select a winner randomly from the entrants.  The winner will get the stuff pictured above, and I’ll send at least 20 cigars to Cigars4Troops.

If you haven’t already, get on over to https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/#!/petition/not-allow-fda-regulate-premium-cigars/BKspSSnN and sign the petition.

 

That’s all I got, good luck, go Flyers!

 

CigarCraig

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