A UF-13 in Atlantic City, Leaf by Oscar, and a Tatuaje at Cigar Mojo with Victor Vitale

LigaPrivada_Serie Unico_UF13From the “I’m not as young as I used to be” file, I’ve been paying for having some fun on Sunday. Sunday my wife and I decided to pay a visit to Atlantic City for some fun. We played some slot machines and I enjoyed the heck out of a Drew Estate Liga Privada Serie Unico UF-13 Dark while playing. It’s nice to smoke a great cigar indoors once in a while! There was even a nice little cigar shop in Resorts International that had a decent selection. By the way, one way to feel young is to go to the buffet at 5:30. We were well below the median age there. We ended up leaving AC at 5 am so I could get to work more or less on time, which made for a long day.

 

 

Monday evening, with my butt dragging, I fired up a cigar from “Island Jim” of Leaf and Bean in Pittsburgh. This cigar is called “Leaf by Oscar” and has been getting a lot of buzz lately. These are presented wrapped in a tobacco leaf as opposed to tissue or cello. They have a unique look on the shelf. George Rodriguez of Rodrigo cigars (who is partnered with Jim) sent me one of each wrapper and I (of course) selected the maduro first. My apologies for not taking a better photo of this cigar. Under that outer leaf is a beautiful dark wrapper. It’s the LeafbyOscarSamplercolor of semi-sweet chocolate (ironically, I think semi-sweet chocolate is contributing to my migraines lately…). The wrapper is Nicaraguan maduro and the guts are Honduran. This cigar was very tasty and burned perfectly, as straight and even as any cigar I’ve ever smoked, with a nice, flat ember. It started off with a nice spice and mellowed to a rich, chocolaty experience. I enjoyed the heck out of this and had planned to move on to one of the others Tuesday.

 

Tatuaje_TraeHowever, Tuesday I left work and drove down to Cigar Mojo in King of Prussia, PA to meet Victor Vitale of Legacy Brands for a smoke. In the month or so since I first visited this shop Trae and Wade have done a great job stocking the humidor and getting some displays and furniture in. It’s becoming a very nice shop with a great selection. The lounge is comfortable and the clientele seems to be friendly. They already have a good number of lounge members. I picked out a cigar I hadn’t tried before, the Tatuaje Havana VI Artistas torpedo and chatted with Trae until Victor arrived. I don’t smoke a lot of Tatuajes for some reason. Maybe because I’m afraid I’ll find yet another cigar that I love, but is priced higher than I like. This Havana VI is a little more reasonably priced, about $7 here for the classic torpedo size. I found that the ash dropped easily, much to the proprietor’s dismay. It had a nice flavor and burned well. I’ll smoke it again after some humidor time (I always Tortuga 215_Cedrobuy two). I had a great visit with Victor, and smoked another of his new Tortuga Reserva Cedros which was really, really good. I have it on good authority that the Reserva Cedro line will be out soon in three sizes, if you can find some, give them a try. They aren’t a typical Nicaraguan puro. It’s a refined smoke that exudes quality. I’d say that even if Victor wasn’t a friend, and I’m glad he’s back in Philly so we get to see him a little more often! I’ll probably be back at Cigar Mojo soon, it’s not really close to home, but it’s a nice place, and Trae and his Dad, Wade are doing it right. Good stock, nice atmosphere.

 

I just started evaluating a device from Elertus that wirelessly monitors my humidor. I placed the Smart Sensor in my Adorini humidor in the living room for now, but I’ll try it out in the coolers eventually. This is a neat device. It monitors temperature and humidity, and sends alerts to my cell phone and e-mail if conditions change outside the limits I set. It also senses movement and alerts me (someone moved my humidor while I was at work today!). This would be a reasonable investment for a store owner who wants to know if his walk in humidor needed attention. It’s got features I don’t really have use for, like door sensors, light sensors, and it will even alert you if the WiFi loses connection. You can monitor the status on the website, or on iOS or Android apps. It’s pretty spiffy. I’ll report later on how it works over the course of a few weeks in a few different humidors.

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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9 Comments

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9 Responses to A UF-13 in Atlantic City, Leaf by Oscar, and a Tatuaje at Cigar Mojo with Victor Vitale

  1. Mrs. cigarcraig

    No one moved your humidor today! We took the dictionary that was next to your humidor off the shelf. Tell your humidor that loose lips sink ships! # HateNarcs 😉

    • Craig

      MRS CIGAR CRAIG IS AWESOME. The UF-13 looks great. A buddy of mine brought some of the Leaf back to California from his trip to Pittsburgh. I honestly wasnt to impressed, but I honestly dont remember the one I smoked. As they say, to each their own.

  2. commish

    The Leaf by Oscar looks very inviting. Need to look into that one. Your cell phone should be going off NOW if that is working properly!

  3. commish

    Agree on the Leaf cigars. Need to get a couple of them ordered for Christmas

  4. KRUK

    While you get to enjoy Mr. Vitale’s company down there, the entire North East misses him! Especially New Hampshire! Not the same without him! Cant wait for those Cedros! YUM YUM IN MY TUM TUM!

  5. Brian

    I’ve had the UF-13 Lancero which was released a few years ago in Chicago at Casa De Monticristo. I felt it was one of the best Lancero’s I’ve ever smoked. It’s a coincidence that you reviewed the UF-13, I smoked my last one yesterday.

    Regarding the Tatuaje, I myself have never had one I didn’t care for. I alway’s say you can’t go wrong with any Pete Johnson blend.

  6. Brian

    I purchased a few boxes of the UF-13 Lancero when they were released in Chicago at Casa De Montecristo a few years ago. Right out of the box they were good, as they sat in my humidor a year later they were much better. I smoked my last one just this week, it had about 3 years of age and was one of the better Lancero’s I’ve ever had. I will certainly try to get my hand’s on more.

    Regarding the Tatuaje I’ve always said you can’t go wrong with any cigar that’s been blended with Pete Johnson being involved.

  7. leighann

    Coach Ditka goes to Mickey Blakes in Southington and smokes a cigar and plays some golf. Back9Network shot a piece with him during this visit and it’s something any cigar lover would love. http://www.back9network.com/article/coach-ditka-unwinds-at-mickey-blakes-cigars/

  8. Was that “nice little cigar shop in Resorts” happen to be near Margaritaville and also sell wine? If it was, we built those humidors as well as the walk-in, counters & lockers for Cigar Mojo. Trae, you look very dashing leaning on the counter!!! lmn