A La Palina, a Guayacan, Some Upcoming Events and a Contest!

Those of us who live in the colder climates may look forward to cigar events to enjoy cigars and the camaraderie that goes along with them.  While I have been to many events over the years, from Buffalo to North Carolina, and from New York City to Las Vegas, these events have evolved from intimate gatherings to events with thousands of attendees and all of the great cigar makers attending.  I’ve recently run across a couple that were announced that I won’t be attending, but are worth looking into if you want to attend a cigar event.  Of course, keep an eye on CigarEvents.com to find things going on in your area.  The first event to keep an eye on is a charity event in Washington DC, the DC Tweet-up 2013 on March 13 and 14. This event has a meet-up Friday night and a bus crawl Saturday.  In May is the New Jersey Cigar Festival at the Park Avenue Club in  Florham Park, NJ. Next, JR Cigars is having a cigar event in North Carolina on June 8th with cigars and Barbecue and other fun. Of course, Smoke Inn has their Great Smoke on February 16 in Florida, Cigars International’s CigarFest is no doubt sold out as tickets went on sale yesterday, and the Delaware Cigar Festival is generally held in September.  Add these events to the many cigar store events and there should be no shortage of opportunities to hang out with like minded folks and smoke cigars!

 

A while ago I smoked a La Palina Classic and was underwhelmed.  It was a nice cigar, but didn’t really seem all that special. The one I smoked was a sampled from the IPCPR show.  Friday night I picked out another Classic Robusto to give it a second chance. This one came from La Palina as well, but had rested in my humidor for the last four or five months.  I really enjoyed this robusto quite a bit, it was well balanced and had a little bit of savory sweetness that was very nice. It was perfectly built and a nice medium bodied smoke. I think if this came wrapped in the San Andreas Maduro wrapper they used on the Maduro I’d be in heaven!

 

Saturday afternoon I selected a Guayacan Torpedo for my afternoon walk.  This is a cigar that is distributed by Gary Griffith and was included with a bunch of brands in his stable.  So far I’ve been pretty impressed with the cigars he’s distributing, they all have a little bit something special, and this Guayacan was no different.  What a nice smoke!  I love a cigar that burns perfectly, and this one did, as well as having a great draw with only a small bit of the tip cut off.  I’m impressed with this and most of the cigars that Gary has been distributing, every one seems to have something that appeals to my taste buds with few exceptions.

 

Contest!

I think it’s time for another contest, it’s been a month. A couple of weeks ago I told you about the ScrewPop punch. I’ve been using this punch quite a bit lately and it works very well so I have one of those to give away. The size of this punch very nice for a corona or petite corona so I think it would work well on something like a My Uzi Weighs a Ton Bait Fish. So how about we also throw in a 5 pack of the My Uzi Weighs a Ton Bait Fish and a cool hat to go with it. Not a bad little prize! So you know the rules, leave a comment and I’ll pick a winner on Wednesday. The six month time-out for previous winners is in effect, so if you won something in the last 14 contests you aren’t eligible to win. Thanks to Brett at ScrewPop and Drew Estate for the goodies!

 

That’s enough for today, I understand there’s some game on tonight, so enjoy the festivities surrounding that!  Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

Share

56 Comments

Filed under Contest, Review

56 Responses to A La Palina, a Guayacan, Some Upcoming Events and a Contest!

  1. kekoa kai

    Always enjoy your comments. I guess it was good luck that I haven’t won something in the last 14 contests! Thanks.

  2. David Verna

    Sick of the cold weather Craig, not sure how you do it. Enjoy the game & great contest as always.

  3. Steve C

    Thanks for your contest, and for your reviews! Hope you have a great game day!

  4. Dennis

    I love contests. And I’ve never tried the bait fish. Yummy

  5. The Commish

    To COLD in Wisconsin to enjoy. I’m craving a great cigar bad!!!! Thanks for the suggestions as always.

  6. Lloyd L.

    Haven’t smoked the MUWAT yet, but I really like what’s been coming out of Drew Estate lately.

  7. MattSRoss81

    Great contest, Craig – thank you. Hopefully we’ll see each other at one of those events – maybe NJ Cigar Festival.

  8. freakboy791

    The Bait Fish are delicious. Craig, have you gotten your hands on any Liga Papas Fritas? Those are even better. Thanks for the contest.

  9. Rachel M

    My husband would love these! Thx for another great contest!

  10. foozer69

    another great contest!! thanks for the contest!

  11. Craig

    Looks like another great contest, have always wanted to try these out!

  12. George Maitland

    Thanks for the Guayacan notes. I enjoy the baitfish but really enjoy the +11.

  13. Patrick L.

    Awesome contest, enjoy your reviews.

  14. Swede214

    Thanks again Craig, nice ”stuff”, cigars smokers always love to get cigar stuff.

  15. Nathan Zimmerman

    Thanks for the La Palina review…I have been curious about them but my B&M does not carry them. I’m not so curious anymore. Oh, and by the way, don’t forget about the Western Pennsylvania Cigar Crawl coming up in May…always a good time.

  16. Christopher Burke

    Great contest and great insight on some sticks! Thanks!

  17. George Satterfield

    Craig sure would love to give the baitfish a try. bout time for another contest. Peace Mon..

  18. Kim Ramos, AKA: HV1

    Craig Great Review, keep it up for us B/SOTL. Winning this contest will be great.

  19. Sounds like a lot of great stuff going on around the East Coast. And thanks for the contest!

  20. paul1954

    I don’t use a punch very often, and I have not yet tried a MUWAT, so put me down for this contest. Thanks!

  21. Marty Mitchell

    Once again an excellent contest! Once again I would live to get my hands on those sweet prizes! Great contest Craig!

  22. Dbell

    Super bowl power outage = time for cigar craig! Thanks for the contest.

  23. Doblemaduro

    Thanks for all you do Craig for making the cold winter go a little faster by following your cigar exploits.

  24. Paul Tyler

    Awesome prize pack…thanks Craig. My local B&M guy is in to the punch cut these days…tried it the other day and liked it quite a bit. Would love to add that style cutter to my accessories.

  25. Garry Cawthorn

    Very Nice!! Thanks again for the chance to win some Sweet stuff….

  26. Eric F

    Awesome contest! I have been looking for a new punch cutter to try out!

  27. 007MI6

    Nice prizes as always Craig! Still need to try those Baitfish, so what better way than this?! Thanks for the giveaway!

  28. Michael Leal

    Nice… DE goodies! Good luck to all.

  29. Victor Soriano

    Cool prize pack, would definitely like to try out a MUWAT. Good luck to all!

  30. Dana Hamilton

    I really enjoyed the MUWAT line of cigars, tried the 6×60, been told a baitfish is a great one also!!

  31. Seddi

    Will be attending an event this Thursday with JDrew appearing for Drew Estates. Every Thursday they(Jungle Jims) have a cigar tasting with prizes, etc. Even with it snowing outside, the covered porch with heat, was filled last week.

  32. Ignem

    Love the contest; thanks for running it! I’ve never tried a punch cutter!

  33. Travis S

    Great contest. That Screwpop thing is pretty sweet. Well, and the cigars too.

  34. I’ll have to see if I can find one of those Guayacans. Sounds right up my alley. I’ve not tried the Bait Fish either, but love the other MUWAT offerings. Perhaps I’ll win some here!

  35. Jeff Ketcham

    Another awesome contest! Wish I could win.

  36. Jim Lewis

    Great prizes! I would like try try the bait fish and the hat is awesome!

  37. Anthony Allen

    Sure would like to win the #MUWAT swag just tried one for the first time this past weekend, and I’m hooked.

  38. John Tooke

    Thanks for the chance to win. Looking forward to trying MUWAT.

  39. Nicholas Smith

    Not really into the punch but I’d be willing to try it along with a Baitfish. Also I could use a new hat to cover this bald head of mine.

  40. Paul C.

    Thanks for the contest. Bait Fish sound great!

  41. Cgarman23

    I’ve haven’t tried the baitfish and cutter is cool. Thanks for the contest

  42. Steve Galczynski

    I love a punch depending on the cigar. Im also a fan of the Shuriken cutter now

  43. Parker Grant

    Those bait fish look like a trophy fish to me! Would be perfect size for this cold weather.

  44. Bill Williams

    thanks for having the contest and love your reviews. Lots of review sites around, but nice to fine reviews that likes similar flavor profiles as I like.
    Thanks again

  45. Josh

    Stuck up here in Maine. The temperature changed from 48 to 4 degrees in one day last week. Still made time to light up in the cold weather.

  46. Jon Czapla

    Always looking for a new way to smoke a fish.

  47. BrewCityRider

    Thanks for the contest! Would love to win something like this.

  48. David Ozzy

    Yet another great contest, thanks!

  49. Rick Bruce

    Thanks Craig. Keep up the great work!

  50. cigarguyjoe

    That is so true for Chicago people w want to smoke

  51. Great reviews and you have to be excited for the DC Tweet Up keeping fingers crossed I can some how make the trip myself!

  52. Michael Snider

    I am a brand new cigar smoker. I am looking to try as many new ones as possible. Maybe winning 5 good ones will convince my wife to let me buy a small humidor.

    Thanks for all the info by the way. I read it through zite.

    Mike

  53. Brian L

    Hey, I’d be interesting in winning something. 😛 Liga Privada is my fav brand myself.

  54. John sigmon

    I could try one of those

  55. Smokey

    Awesome, another contest. I hope I win this one!

  56. I would love to win this. Thanks for holding the contest.