Thursday night we took a ride back to Cigar Mojo in King of Prussia, PA, it seems they were having another Drew Estate event. In attendance representing Drew Estate were our local rep, Chris Stone, along with his boss, Dave Lafferty. They had all the usual Drew 
Estate and Joya de Nicaragua cigars for sale, including plenty of Liga Privadas. I picked up some Nica Rusticas, Undercrowns and Joya Antaño Dark Corojo and smoked an Undercrown Robusto. Although I like the Corona Viva the best in the Undercorwn line, I can’t find fault with any of the other vitolas. The robusto was awesome, bold and full of flavor. Event at Cigar Mojo are always awesome, and I love getting to catch up with old friends. Once again, if you find yourself in the Philadelphia, PA area, stop in to Cigar Mojo and tell them CigarCraig sent you, they are sure to charge you extra! August 12th they are having a La Flor Dominicana event and Litto Gomez will be there.
Friday I just didn’t know what I wanted to smoke, so I picked out a cigar that I blended last year at Cigar Safari. For some reason I had them made in a 6 x 54 size with a San Andrés wrapper, Cameroon binder and a mix of Nicaraguan and Brazilian fillers. I think this is a tasty smoke, although I still think it has too much going on flavor-wise. I should have used a more neutral binder I think. It’s out of balance with the sweetness of the San Andrés and the Cameroon fighting a little. As always, the construction was perfect as they have these rolled by the Liga Privada pairs. I have a few of each of the cigar that I’ve blended over the last few years left, it’s interesting to see how they age.
Saturday I took an afternoon walk with a cigar that the folks at Best Cigar Prices sent a few months back. I has smoked a few and I didn’t have very good luck with them so I decided to hold off on mentioning them here. I think they were over humidified, so a couple months in the humidor were beneficial. the Eterno Maduro is made for BCP by Perdomo. It comes in Connecticut shade and Maduro, and I was pretty pleased when they sent the maduro to try. I don’t know where this wrapper comes from, but I don’t think it’s Connecticut Broadleaf, San Andrés, or even Brazilian, my guess would be a Nicaraguan Habano variety. It started out very strong and spicy, and was quite enjoyable. A little bit of age did wonders, as I found this to be quite enjoyable. These are reasonably priced and quite tasty.
Saturday evening I took another short walk with a short cigar, the new Villiger Trill in the Torpedo Gordo size. This is a 4″ x 62 topedo with a Habano wrapper grown in the Dominican Republic. It’s a Dominican puro, but has a lot of flavor and certainly isn’t mild. The size is fun, it’s not really a short smoke as it took me well over an hour to finish it off. Thanks to Robyn, our local Villiger rep for providing a sample. Visiting with the folks at Villiger is always a highlight of my IPCPR trips, they are one of the stops I missed most by not going. Villiger still hasn’t updated their website with information about their new lines, but Cigar-Coop and Halfwheel have the information.
That’s it for now. We’re going out house shopping today, hopefully we come home with one! The FDA comment period is soon going to be over, so make sure you’ve voiced your opinion! If the FDA has their way, events like the one I went to at Cigar Mojo will be a memory, and Mojo’s beautiful and well stocked humidor will be off limits to all but the staff. The future is bleak for premium cigars if the FDA regulates them, so don’t let that happen. It’ll get real boring when I’m talking about the same cigars every week because there’s nothing new ever. I was amazed to hear reports from IPCPR that the seminar they had on the FDA regulation was sparsely attended, are the retailers so rich that they can afford to go out of business? I doubt it. The retailers need to educate their customers about this and time is running out. Go HERE and follow their lead.
Until the next time,
CigarCraig
I haven’t burned a perdomo yet that didn’t need some good humidor rest. Old school all the way. Those eternos in maduro is a nice flavorful burn and the price is right.
I, too, like the “Cuban Corona” (the Undercrown “Corona Viva”) vitola. I don’t know whether it’s the cigars themselves or the size, but I find myself purchasing that size whenever it is available. Other examples include the Cabaiguan Guapo 46, the Tatuaje La Casita Criollo, the San Cristobal Guapo (which is a tad longer, but has the same RG) and one or two of the Tatuaje Reservas. I think that maybe RGs in the 46-48 range are ideal for showcasing a primo wrapper. At least it seems that way to me. Many articles that I read which were written by blenders seem to show a tendency toward that particular bore on the cigars they use for “taste tests”.
One more short comment on the Undercrown, which I think is ALWAYS a good choice: A week or so ago, I lit one up and actually got a very strong taste of “Coca Cola”. No joke !!! That is the only cigar that ever presented that particular flavor to me. It was quite the surprise.
A good article as always. You give me good buying ideas every time I read your articles. Thanks and keep up the good work.
Hey Craig, its been along time since I have stopped by and for that I’m very sorry, Life has gotten in the way of pleasure I think, great job and looks like I have a lot of catching up to do! I’ll see you soon I hope.