Category Archives: Editorial

by Craig Vanderslice | January 7, 2024 · 10:32 am

Gurkha, Adrian Magnus and HVC Cigars, and a Story

Seems like almost a replay of last week, eh? Some of the same brands, different cigars. I smoked the Adrian Magnus XO, which is Cognac infused, and decided it wasn’t for me. Besides the fact that I haven’t touched spirits in over 30 years and have no frame of reference for that flavor palate, it just wasn’t my cup of tea. Less said about it, the better, but if you like that sort of thing, go for it. So I hoped for some redemption with the Gurkha 35th Anniversary Toro. This has a Habano wrapper, Indonesian binder and Criollo 98 Nicaraguan Esteli fillers in a 6″ x 54 format, made at the Artista factory. I don’t usually look up the stats on cigars before smoking them, but I was not at all surprised when I read that this was predominantly Criollo. This is a really nice looking cigar, the Habano wrapper is a nice café au lait brown, and it was well made. Criollo tobacco has a tart bite that I don’t care for, going back many years. So much for redemption. If I smoked cigars I really liked all the time this would be a boring blog. If you like Criollo tobacco, you’ll really like this Gurkha 35th Anniversary, and it’s reasonably priced.

Adrian Magnus does made some really good cigars, and the Supremos is another one that I tried and really enjoyed. Maybe I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the Imperials, but I certainly liked it more than the XO. This is a medium bodied cigar made in the Dominican Republic in a 5″ x 50 format. It boasts seven year aged tobaccos, and to my eye, the only way I could tell it apart from the Imperials is by the color of the band. Again, the company is not forthcoming with blend details. The flavor is different though, so it’s definitely more than just the age statement. This starts with a sourness, not off putting, but like a sourdough bread. Eventually a sugar cane sweetness takes over, not excessive, but enough to be interesting. I enjoyed this one, but find myself wanting to go find an old favorite to smoke.

I have a story to tell that I probably should have told nearly 2 years ago when it happened, but I had some reasons for holding off. Since I just heard that the store has closed, I’m going to put it out there. When Son’s Cigars opened up in late 2020 I was told by the manager that if I ever wanted part time work to let him know. It wasn’t until the winter of ’21 that I was in the position to work some extra hours, and I offered my services for Friday nights. Knowing the manager (who has since moved on to another shop), I trusted that compensation would be handled at some point, I wasn’t looking to get rich, but I wasn’t looking to do volunteer work either. Over the course of three months I put in over 40 hours before I said “enough is enough”, I gotta start seeing a paycheck here, and the fun started. I was told that the owner, who also owned a shop or two in NY, and owns a cigar brand, hadn’t approved my hiring, so I couldn’t be added to the payroll. He offered to compensate me with a store gift card. Then, he came back and reneged on that and said that my purchases using an employee discount was equal to the compensation I was due. I could have made a scene, I only mentioned it to a couple people, and I avoided the owners offer to meet to tell me his side of the story because I really didn’t want to hear it, I’ve heard plenty of stories about this guy and just wanted to chalk it up to experience. It was just better for my sanity to let it go and walk away. I spent a few Friday nights smoking cigars and helping customers select cigars that they might enjoy. In the future, I’ll get some details ironed out up front, I was dealing in good faith, and that was taken advantage of. I think the manager was complicit in this as well, he had to know, as I knew he was getting screwed over by the owner as well. I wish he’d have been a friend enough to cut things off before I had to. I distanced myself from the establishment, I even gave back a sample of the owners cigar to his distributor at the trade show on principle. I’ve left the names out to not be a complete d*ck, but it’s not hard to put things together. It’s a shame that Son’s wasn’t handled better, but there are better places around now. Karma gets you every time. I have Cigar Mojo less than a mile away, which has a much nicer lounge, and the selection is getting there…

Speaking of Cigar Mojo, I stopped in yesterday looking for something that I hadn’t smoked before, but I felt would scratch that itch I was having. I was fortunate to run into Trae, one of the owners, there and we had a nice chat. I ended up getting a couple HVC Black Friday 2023 Petit Gordo that I hadn’t smoked. This turned out to have been a great choice. The Petit Gordo is 4½ x 56, just the right size for a hockey period! It has a Mexican San Andrés wrapper with a Nicaraguan binder and fillers from Nicaragua, which are lower primings. This is a medium bodied cigar, like a larger Black Friday Firecracker, without the kick! It was smooth and chocolaty, not that it didn’t start with some spice, it did, but it was quite good. It scratched my itch and I’m glad I got more than one and there’s a bunch of them a mile away if I want more! I need to sample more of the HVC line as I have always enjoyed the ones I’ve smoked. I haven’t met Renier Lorenzo, but I’ve heard good things about him. I’ll grab some more HVCs.

That’s more than enough for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 35th Anniversary, Adrian Magnus, Black Friday, cigar, cigars, Gurkha, HVC, Supremos

by Craig Vanderslice | November 19, 2023 · 10:23 am

Aragón, Krakatoa, and Ozgener Cigars

It was another weird week for me at the day job, but that’s another story. I also finally smoked some of the Aganorsa Connoisseur Club Over-runs from 2021 that Trash Panda had that had finally dried out enough to smoke, and they were really quite good, but, sadly, are now sold out, so I’m not even going to mention them. It amazed me that it took three full weeks outside of the humidor for them to dry out. you could almost wring them out when you took them out of the “freshpack” they were so wet. Very good though, and I’m hit or miss on Aganorsa cigars. Anyway, enough about something that doesn’t exist, before I move on to cigars that do, there’s a little Pennsylvania legislative news that I’d like to touch on. Recently the industry groups like PCA and CRA have sent their members emails to contact legislators about a bill regarding indoor smoking that would close certain loopholes. The last bill left exemptions for certain situations. Apparently, in their great wisdom, they have decided to exempt cigar stores, lounges and cigar bars from this round of prohibition, which I suppose is a win. I don’t know that private clubs fares as well, which confuses me, as the are, uh….private? Anyway, keep on your legislators whenever these things come up, they have a responsibility to at least listen to you.

I have a co-worker who enjoys cigars, and I give him a few here and there. I was surprised when he handed me a cigar, because that not usually the way it works! I was even more surprised when it was something I hadn’t heard of, as was he. The cigar was called Aragón, and is a collaboration between three gentlemen (the “about” page is lacking in details), Carlos Abreu, Gregg Zahour (my co-worker’s connection), and Seth Joyner (some sort of football player or something like that). I smoked the Toro San Andrés, a 6″ x 52 cigar with a San Andrés wrapper and what they describe as a Dominican with a Special Blend of exotic tobacco for both the binder and the filler. I believe these are made in the Dominican Republic. This was a nice cigar, although it started out on the sharp side, but mellowed slightly. It retained some spice and earth throughout, whatever that “exotic” tobacco was, it was noticeable, almost reminded me of perique. It was a very interesting cigar, and these aren’t priced outrageously like a lot of small companies almost have to be. $11 a cigar really isn’t out of line for what is probably a pretty small production. Nice work, I need to do some more research on this as there’s a few local connections.

Friday was a physically taxing day, and I just wanted to relax when I got home. I should have dragged my ass a mile down the road to Cigar Mojo to hang out with Micky Pegg again, but my comfy chair and a Muestra de Saka Krakatoa called to me. Parking is a bitch over there on Friday nights and it’s not a great walk, not that I was up to it. Sorry, Micky, I’m a slug. Anyway, I settled in with the Krakatoa, the 6th cigar in the Muestra series. This is a 6″ x 48 with a cool pigtail cap. Saka calls it a “unique “volcano” spiral colita”, kind of pretentious, don’t ya think? It’s too pretty to cut off, though, but it must be done. This cigar was just what I needed after the day I had, it was perfection. It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, a Sungrown Nicaraguan binder, and a blend of Nicaraguan Grown Broadleaf, Cuban Seed Criollo and a potent Corojo ligero in the filler. It’s great. Expect to see this, whatever your feelings on the matter, place highly on the Halfwheel Consensus, along with the Papa Saka and Red Meat Lovers, for two reasons. They are great cigars, and Saka time his media sample kits to encourage their inclusion. He knows what he’s doing. There’s a sweet spice at work throughout the cigar, with a hint of sugar cane near the end. This cigar made me happy, I’d probably even drop $18 on one. Maybe my favorite MdS to date.

Finally, a few weeks back while visiting the aforementioned Cigar Mojo location, I picked up an Ozgener Family Cigars Aramas A52. I had planned to smoke this earlier, but stuff came up and it got back-burnered. Last night I got to it. For those unaware, Ozgener is Tim Ozgener, son of Cano A. Ozgener, who founded CAO. Tim was running CAO when it sold, and took a decade off to pursue some other entrepreneurial interests. This Aramas is his second line in the Oz family series, after the Bosphorus, and is made at the Alianza factory under the supervision of Ernesto Carillo. I’ve always liked Ernesto’s stuff. This is another San Andrés wrapped cigar, with a Ecuador Sumatra binder and Dominican, Nicaraguan and Connecticut Broadleaf fillers. Hat tip to Developing Palates for the details, the Ozgener website is under construction. Minor criticism: it’s been over a year since Oz family launched and a functional website can be put together in a few hours? Remind me what year it is? Anyway, The cigar was great, lots of chocolaty, coffee flavors as one might expect. There was a hint of a licorice sort of flavor near the end that amused me. The draw was a bit snug, I might have liked it to have been a little more free with the smoke, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable smoke.

That’s all for today. I hope everyone who celebrates has a good Thanksgiving. Enjoy some great smokes after the gluttony, I know I will. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Aragón, Aramas, cigar, cigars, Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust, Krakatoa, Muestra De Saka, Ozgener

by Craig Vanderslice | September 10, 2023 · 11:07 am

Meeting George Hamilton, a New Travel Humidor and Some Big Sky Cigars

Yesterday we took a ride south to Maryland and went to the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention pretty much with one goal. George Hamilton was there signing autographs. Since he has a bit of history in the cigar world, and on CigarCraig.com, I wanted to finally meet him.

I had visited his cigar bar, Hamilton’s, in the New York, New York Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, and smoked his H.Upmann cigars in 1998, long before I had the opportunity to interview him (September of 2010, with the audio released in podcast form in May of 2018), He’s a longtime cigar smoker. When I talked to him in 2010 I realized how much he actually knew about cigars.

I made up a pack of some of my favorite cigars, a Fuente Don Carlos No. 2, a Diamond Crown Maximus, a Cohiba Red Dot and a Sobremesa Short Churchill (largely due to an anecdote Steve Saka recently shared about George asking him his thoughts on his cigar at an RTDA show in the ’90s). George was very excited by the gift, and said he was going to share them with his son who was in the Peace Corps. Also, we had a copy of his book, “Don’t Mind if I Do” which we had him sign while we were there. All in all, it was a very nice interaction, although he didn’t remember our conversation we had, not that I expected him to, heck, it was 13 years ago, and he’s a big movie star! I’d have fallen over if he had remembered. I would have loved to have been able to sit down and have a cigar with him. I imagine he’d have some great stories from his long Hollywood career!

While we were wandering through to Nostalgia Convention marketplace, and I was commenting on just how much ridiculous “stuff” there was, I saw an item that looked like it could be useful in our world, and bought it for $20. Some of you might say, Craig, you idiot, that’s a watch case, and I’d say, sheesh, who needs a military grade, crush proof, waterproof box for a couple watches? Hey, I have watches, I have a nice Seiko (an anniversary gift from an old job), and a few Timexes, all with dead batteries (except the Timex I got for my 15th birthday that works perfectly if I wind it up, they really do take a licking!), and I guess if you spend thousands on a watch you want to protect your investment. On the other hand, some might make the same statement about needing a case like this for cigars, and I have a half a dozen or so travel humidors of various sizes. I digress, this caught my eye because of the geek factor, it was white with a Captain Marvel shield on it! It’s branded to go with Invicta’s line of Marvel watches, which, if I were wearing something other than a very expensive Fitbit that I get calls and texts on and provides me with various biometric feedback, which my 45 year old Timex does not, I might be into. I ordered some acoustic foam panels to cut to fit, but in the interim, the trays from my 20 year old Pelican travel humidor fit nicely. This thing will hold a crapload of cigars, easily 30, and, I’ll probably set it up as an overflow desktop humidor, because it looks frickin cool! Sure, you can go to Harbor Freight and get a nice case cheap, but it won’t look this good at the next herf, where you’ll either be revered or ridiculed. You can find them on Ebay!

I smoked some cigars this week from Big Sky Cigar Co., they generously sent me a bunch, thanks to their west coast regional, Kap, for the referral! More to come, but I got to two of them this week that I wanted to talk about. I started with the Big Sky Blackfoot. This is a 6″ x 54 toro with a San Andrés wrapper and Dominican binder and fillers. Big Sky works with Chico Rivas in the DR, a name I’ve been hearing a lot lately. This cigar didn’t taste at all like I expected it would, it had more of that dark fruit sort of taste, less of the coffee and earth I would have thought. This is a the fourth and last in the series of cigars based on rivers in Montana, and was just released at the PCA show in July. It was a neat cigar, certainly something different. Thumbs up.

Next I smoked the Bighorn 2.0, another San Andrés wrapped cigar, this time over Nicaraguan binder and filler. This one seems to be made in Esteli, at the TACASA factory, which, if memory serves, is the factory that makes, or made, Ortega cigars most recently. This cigar was much more along the line of what I expect from a San Andrés wrapped cigar. Loads of dark roast coffee and rich soil. It had a nice construction and was thoroughly enjoyable. I have several more cigars in the Big Sky line to sample, and am looking forward to them. This is a small brand that seems to have some legs.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Big Sky Cigar Co., Bighorn, Blackfoot, cigar, cigars, George Hamilton, travel humidor

by Craig Vanderslice | July 10, 2022 · 11:06 am

PCA 2022: Day One Thoughts and West Tampa Tobacco Co

I’m traveling light on this trip so I’ve only brought my iPad and phone so the post might look a little weird. I’ll clean them up when I get home and get the computer out. In the meantime I thought I’d share some of my thoughts on the first day of the PCA show. I guess I should mention the night before the first day which included a cocktail party hosted by Ace Prime in Crowned Heads. This was very well attended, although the setting was a little weird to me. And the past these cocktail parties have been a little more elegant let’s say. This was more minimalist in the unadorned event space at the convention center. This made the acoustics rather bad as otherwise not much fabric present to soak up any sound. But there are a lot of people there people seem to have a good time and I was able to sample Tim Ozgener’s new Ozgener Family Cigars Bosporus in a short robusto size. I thought it was very good, but I’ve enjoyed a lot of Luciano Marielle’s cigars. As it’s rather impossible to properly evaluate cigars at the trade show, I’ll revisit it later and report back.

The breakfast meeting seemed rather poorly attended, I’m not sure if it was the omission of the word “breakfast” in the description on the schedule, or what, but the available seating was maybe % used. I was thankful for the breakfast available, and found elements of the business meeting interesting. Considering my PCA affiliation, there wasn’t a lot that interested me. Thanks to Nick Melillo for putting out a spread.

It’s been five years since I’ve been to this show, and the show floor is much smaller than it was. The absence of the large companies like General and Drew Estate account for a small part of that, but smaller, less ostentatious booths are the big difference. In previous years I’d often get lot, and it was difficult to get from one side of the show to the other quickly. The compressed space is much easier to navigate and the show feels more crowded. My observation was that booths were busy and doing business. Today will prove interesting, I’ll have the benefit of a cameraman, as CigarProp Kevin has left and his friend Ed offered his assistance. My wife would warn him against this, as she’s done it in the past. I will do my best to collect some interesting content.

I had a chance to talk to Ricky Rodriguez about his new cigars and company, West Tampa Tobacco Co., I think you’ll find this pretty interesting:

I will add some more photos in when I get home. Watch for more videos over the coming days! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, PCA, Ricky Rodriguez, West Tampa Tobacco Co.

by Craig Vanderslice | April 17, 2022 · 9:42 am

Upmann, CAO and Black Label Trading Co. Cigars and a Rant

There seem to be few cigars in Altadis portfolio that fit my preferences. I probably say this every time I post about an Altadis cigar, and it probably doesn’t endear me to the marketing folks there! I do have some friends there that are aware of my feelings. I keep trying though. There are exceptions, and I can pretty much count on enjoying anything Altadis produces in conjunction with A.J. Fernandez. I smoked the z Nicaragua Heritage by A.J. Fernandez in the Toro size this week and was pretty surprised. This is a 6″ x 54 toro with a Brazilian Mata Fina wrapper. The binder and fillers are all Nicaraguan tobaccos grown by A.J. Fernandez. I found this to be a powerhouse cigar, much stronger than I expected. I likened to to the Gispert Intenso. I personally liked it a lot, but I wouldn’t recommend it to someone who enjoys the original H. Upmann by A.J. (which I also enjoy!). It’s a totally different cigar, the difference between a Latte and an espresso, I would imagine.

I’ve had the occasion to smoke a couple of the new CAO Pilón Ańejo cigars over the past couple weeks, and the one I smoked yesterday was fairly impressive. The first one I smoked maybe wasn’t rested sufficiently from it’s travels. This 5½” x 54 robusto has an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper. The blend is rich and savory, consisting of Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers, a Honduran Habano binder and Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers. Curiously, this is a different blend than the original Pilón, which has an Ecuador Habano wrapper and Nicaraguan binder. That kind of blows my plan of doing a back to back comparison between the two! I like Sumatra wrapped cigars, so this one works for me. It was a good, smooth cigar without any problems. I found it to be enjoyable, pleasing woody flavors without much sweetness. A good cigar. I may still pull out a Pilón from the original release and see how it stack up against this one, just for kicks.

OK, here’s my rant of the week. I know it’s Easter Sunday, and happy Easter and passover for those of you who celebrate. Earlier this week the CRA posted this meme, and the subsequent apology, on their Facebook page, and it caused a bit of a kerfuffle.

There were those who defended it, thought it was funny, etc. While it might be funny in a Facebook group that is predominantly a men’s social group, it’s not the kind of thing I believe the folks at Cigar Rights of America should be devoting their resources to. Let’s set aside the misogynistic nature of the meme, make no mistake, the divisiveness of the message was no small part of the backlash that this caused. I take issue with the fact that I’m paying the CRA to advocate on behalf of the cigar industry, and I have been since 2009. It’ not a lot of money, but the point is that our money isn’t to pay for an entertaining Facebook group. Whoever is running things there, and I don’t think that’s clear since Glynn Loope left, should be posting legislative updates up the page, not funnies. The CRA complains about membership and wants to be taken seriously and fails to set a good example of why they should be in a public forum. I hold them to a higher standard. I think their apology missed this point. Anyway, that got my hackles up this week!

Last night I went over to Son’s Cigars where James and Angela Brown (and Levi) from Black Label Trading Co. were there holding an event. This was possibly the biggest event at the shop since they opened last summer. Angela Brown is rarely at events, and I had only met her at an IPCPR show several years ago, so it was nice to see her again. there was a contingent there from Mane Street Cigars in Woodbridge, NJ for the event, and I’ve known Alex, who manages the shop, for many years (here’s the story of when I met Alex). I selected and smoked a Lawless Churchill, 7″ x 48 (close enough), with an Ecuador Habano Rosado wrapper and Nicaraguan Binder and fillers. This was a delicious cigar, it’s really right in my wheelhouse. It has rich, dark fruit and cocoa flavors. I must grab a handful next week when I’m back at the shop. It might be one of my favorites in the line. Lovely cigar, lovely people, good times.