Tag Archives: chateau real

by CigarCraig | December 16, 2018 · 10:45 am

Alec Bradley Magic Toast, Gran Habano Gran Reserva2012 and Assorted Dark Cigars

I found myself on a dark cigar kick this week. All I was reaching for were the darker wrappers, Partagas Black. Leccia Luchador, Perdomo 20th Maduro, incidentally, all favorites over many years that fall into the “comfort food” category, so I guess that says something about the time of year and my frame of mind. One night I work late, and my new job does have me working the occasional closing shift, I grabbed an old Chateau Real Maduro Small Club Corona, one of the remaining few from a box I bought when they discontinued these back around 2011, I guess. This is still a fantastic blend, and it’s a darned shame it was discontinued. I had occasion to ask Jonathan Drew personally why it was dropped, and he blamed me for not buying enough! I tried, sorry folks. I smoked a lot of these in this size and the perfecto size, and really liked the maduro and shade versions, but I think they were maybe too expensive for the time they were introduced, and, at that time, they were one of the first non-infused cigars Drew Estate sold (people seem to forget about La Vieja Habana). Happy to say that the Chateau Real Maduro held up nicely over the years, I still have a small stash, and if you see these in the wild, pick them up!

I also smoked the RoMEo San Andrés again, which continues to be my favorite in that line, and one of my favorites in the Altadis portfolio, as well as smoking the La Gloria Cubana Esteli in the toro size. Oddly, the LGC Toro didn’t captivate me as much as the little robusto did, but maybe with some humidor time my mind will change, or maybe it just wasn’t the right cigar for me? It happens. A Joya de Nicaragua Antaño Dark Corojo El Martillo always hits the spot and is an all time favorite. Like I said, I didn’t really stick to one wrapper type this week, but they were all darker, on the fuller side cigars, I craved full flavored cigars this week for some reason, whether it’s the weather, or the stresses of the season. I’ll try out a Connecticut wrapped cigar today and see if I find it satisfying!

One of the new-to-me cigars I picked up last week was the Alec Bradley Magic Toast in a 6″ x 52 Toro size (who woulda guessed I’d buy the Toro?). This came recommended by Kevin, the manager at the CigarCigars shop in Downingtown, PA. If you mention CigarCraig to him he’ll add 10% to your total at the register! 🙂 I’ve been wanting to try this cigar, named for raising a glass to honor someone or something, rather than bread browned on both sides, presumably by supernatural forces. The cigar has a Honduran wrapper, one would think it’s from the very special crop of tobacco which was shown to Alan Rubin by flashlight on night which prompted the opening of a rare bottle of whisky prompting the toast for which this cigar is named, bound with both Nicaraguan and Honduran leaves, with Honduran and Nicaraguan fillers. The results of the blend delighted my palate. While I love a cigar that has a balance of the bitterness of espresso with some semi-sweet chocolate sweetness, this had the coffee flavor, with some earthiness, and it worked really well. There was spice there too, and I really liked it. I want to put some more of these in my humidor. (Jon, are you reading this? Just checkin.) I suppose when I stop by the shop next Ill grab some more of these, as well as Alec and Bradley’s Blind Faith, which I’ve been wanting to try as well. The Magic Toast is a winner, if you like cigars I like, give this one a try.

Last night I lit up a Gran Habano Gran Reserva No. 5 2012, which was announced last month. This is what they have to say about the cigar:

Gran Habano’s Gran Reserva cigars are made using the top 10% best leaf from the yearly crop and aged for an extra seven to eight years prior to the cigar being rolled. It is then aged for a period of four to six years additionally as cigars. The 2012 installment has been aged an additional three years longer than any other prior Gran Reserva release.

I smoked the Gran Robusto, which is the perfect size for me, 6″ x 54, and it’s nicely presented in a cedar sleeve. Looking at said sleeve, there’s no mistaking this from the Gran Reserva 2011, this is for certain, as it has “Gran Reserva 2012” printed on it several times around the circumference of the sleeve. not a criticism, just an observation. Just like the 2011, it’s got a Nicaraguan wrapper and binder and Nicaraguan and Costa Rican fillers. The cigar smoked brilliantly, the draw and burn were perfect. For a mid-December evening in PA, it wasn’t freezing cold, but it was damp out, raining outside, but the cigar was unaffected by this. Ironically, George Rico was in Philadelphia doing an event at Twin Smoke Shoppe the night before. I might have been able to make it there if I wanted to spend hours mired in traffic on a rainy night after a long day at work. I wimped out and opted for an evening with a cigar at home. Anyway, The Gran Reserva 2012 is another cigar that I found to be very enjoyable and one I’d happily smoke on the regular.

That’s enough for today. I guess I need to start scraping together some stuff to give away starting this week! I have a few things in the vault that are pretty nice, unfortunately just a shadow of days gone by. It’ll still be fun! Stay tuned! I’ll dust off my Santa hat. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Alec Bradley, chateau real, cigar, cigars, Gran Habano, Gran Reserva 2012, Magic Toast, RoMEo San Andrés

by CigarCraig | April 20, 2014 · 3:46 pm

Chateau Real, Flor de Nicaragua, Nestor Miranda and Draig Cigars

I honestly cant recall the circumstances on Thursday that led me to a short smoke, but I dipped into my dwindling supply of Chateau Real Small Club Corona Maduros for a quick, but delicious smoke. Sadly, Drew Estate discontinued this line, I suppose because everyone didn’t like them as much as I did. I personally believe the price point was a little high for a mild to medium traditional cigar from a company who, at the time, was known for their infused cigars. I bought a box of these and the Gran Cru Perfectos several years ago on clearance and still have a few of each left. The San Andres maduro wrapper is dark and oily, and it’s a mocha flavor bomb. It sets a benchmark for how a cigar should burn and draw too, as they are always perfect in that regard. These are great little 30 minute smokes, and I’ll be sad when they are gone. I think these were Drew Estate’s second foray into the traditional cigar market, that is if you count La Vieja Habana The Early Years in with the regular La Vieja line.

Friday evening I grabbed a cigar that I had seen in the same box the Chateau Reals were in, and I couldn’t really recall where it came from. The cigar was a toro called Flor De Nicaragua, and I had a suspicion it was from Joya de Nicaragua, which was confirmed through Instagram correspondence. Apparently, this is made for the European market and must have followed me home from Nicaragua lat year. This size is called the Magnum 52, and is 6″ x 52, with a light wrapper with a reddish tint. The website lists this as colorado claro, and I’m always concerned that people will think the wrapper was grown in Colorado. Not the case, of course, as colorado is another word for red in Spanish. The cigar was a treat to smoke, I found it to be milder than many of the Joya offerings, but loaded with flavor. This is a cigar that I’d love to get my hands on again. They offer it in some excellent sizes, a traditional corona gorda and a 4 ½ x 56 Grand Cańon specifically pique my curiosity. This is a nice smoke, perhaps we’ll see these in the USA like the Rosalones last year.

Saturday afternoon I selected a cigar that Will Cooper (Cigar-Coop.com) sent me last year around my birthday. He sent a far nicer selection than I deserve, and included in this was a Nestor Miranda Grand Reserve 2011. Since is was a special occasion (Saturday, nice weather, done working in the yard, you know…), I decided this one was the next up for the afternoon walk. This has a Nicaraguan Habano Oscuro wrapper, although some older reviews list it as Conecticut Broadleaf, I’m inclined to think is was the former based on the flavor. I have smoked the 2012 which has the Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper and it was decidedly different. These were made in the My Father factory in Esteli, and it certainly smoked like a cigar that would be made there. It’s also noteworthy that this is a box pressed torpedo, which is neat. It was a really good smoke, lots of rich flavors with the pepper you’d expect and some sweetness. I enjoyed this cigar until I burned my fingers. Thank you, Will, I wouldn’t have otherwise had the chance to smoke this rare gem.

When Gary Griffith of Emilio Cigars comes across a really special tobacco, he creates a blend around it and releases it in his limited Draig line. It’s a shame that he mis-spelled Craig, but I appreciate the sentiment. Seriously, Draig is the Welsh word for Dragon, and there’s a dragon on the bands of the cigars in this line. I had the good fortune of smoking a couple of the Draig K a while back, and didn’t really “get” the blend. There was an inflammability in the wrapper, and what looked like it should be a cigar I’d like, wasn’t. So the Draig Cayaquero sat on the top shelf of my humidor for a while, begging to be smoked, yet scaring me a little, would I like this iteration of the Draig? Like it’s predecessor, this cigar had a unique flavor, unlike anything I can remember. Unlike the Draig K, I liked it and it burned perfectly. It was savory, meaty, and different. I don;t know how many of these are out in the market place, but if you see them, give one a try.

OK, I’ve just listed four cigars that are hard to find, sorry about that. I’ll try this week to stick to new and/or readily available cigars. Please bear with me if I smoke something that I’ve featured here before (I do that from time to time anyway). Now, it’s a beautiful Sunday, time to find something for today’s after brunch and hockey walk.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as chateau real, cigar, cigars, Draig, drew estate, Emilio, Flor de Nicaragua, joya de nicaragua, Nestor Miranda

by CigarCraig | October 16, 2013 · 8:25 pm

IPCPR 2013 – 262 Cigars, a Paradigm and an Ideology

I still have a couple videos left over from last July’s IPCPR show so tonight I’ll feature a couple cigars from 262 Cigars. These crazy guys are making some great cigars. Sunday evening my eldest son and I took a walk, he with an Oliva O Robusto and me with the 262 Paradigm Short Robusto. At 4”x 52, this is a nice sized cigar for a one mile walk. It’s a tasty smoke, it made me wish it was longer. I’ve smoked this cigar before, actually a little over a year ago, when I posted the video of my talk with Clint Aaron at the 2012 show. Have I had this cigar for that long? I seem to remember picking this up at an event at Ned’s in Newtown, PA last winter where I hung out with Clint and smoked a lancero. Wherever this one came from, I liked it. The size is handy and fun and the smoke is tasty. Smooth and sweet.

Monday I finally smoked the 262 Ideology Corona that was a sample from the 2012 show. This 5½”x 42 corona is the perfect size. It’s on the mild side, but I think the smaller format ratchets up the intensity of the flavor so it doesn’t seem so mild. Super smooth flavor with a sweetness similar to the Paradigm. While I enjoyed the heck out of this on my evening walk, this would be a great cigar in the morning with a hot mug of coffee. Both this and the Paradigm smoked well with a V-cut, burned straight and drew perfectly. If you haven’t tried the 262 line, give them a look.

Here’s the video from July:

http://youtu.be/DB0tvDAI1C8

I think I still have a 262 Paradigm Lancero floating around someplace, I just didn’t have the time to smoke that one this week. I look forward to getting a hold of the 262 Revere Lancero, as well as the 262 Paradigm Corona. Great stuff coming from Clint and the 262 Cigars gang!

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

CigarCraig

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Filed under IPCPR, Review, Video

Tagged as 262 Cigars, chateau real, cigar, Ideology, IPCPR, paradigm

by CigarCraig | August 4, 2013 · 12:58 pm

IPCPR 2013 – Acid Shorty, Natural Shorty, San Bajito Robusto and Shorty Rossi

The IPCPR show always seems to have it’s share of celebrities, Arnold Schwarzenegger was spotted at the show on the first day (not by me!) as well as Mike Ditka, and previous years have seen the likes of Ron White and Dennis Rodman walking the floor. Shorty Rossi, the star of Animal Planet’s Pit Boss, has also been a fixture at the show for a few years. I met up with him this time and he took a few minutes to tell me about some of his new cigar offerings being distributed through Meier and Dutch, which is the wholesale arm of Cigars International. I had the opportunity to smoke a couple of them this week, here’s what I thought:

The Acid line isn’t one I gravitate to, I can usually smell them a mile away, and except for a late night Kuba Kuba Maduro in Nicaragua a few years ago, I haven’t really had too much to say about the line. I’ve been to the factory, I’m confident that they use the finest materials, and I know they are rolled very well. So I was a little hesitant to choose the Acid Shorty Friday evening for my walk, after a long week I usually select a “sure thing” from the humidor. This is a 4″x 60 cigar with a very sweet cap, candy sweet, diabetic coma inducing sweet. It also had an herbal aroma off the foot. It turned out that this was a very nice cigar. It didn’t have the cloying incense, aroma-therapy kind of flavor I expected. It was medium bodied with a nice, sweet tobacco flavor. I enjoyed this cigar once the sweet cap was gone. I’d smoke this again.

Also from the Drew Estate factory is the Natural Shorty. This is a 4″x 50, a little more manageable than the 60 ring, and the perfect size for a rainy Saturday afternoon walk. Again, the sweet gum on the head was overwhelming. This is “short and sweet” taken to the extreme. I’ve smoke a few of the Naturals, but none recently, and I remember them using some fairly unique tobaccos, Turkish, maybe some Perique or something from Louisiana or something. This is one that I wished was longer, because it was a nice smoke, again, once the sweet cap was gone. Unique, for certain. Again, I’d smoke this again, but I’d probably try to wipe some of the sugar off first…it’s just too much for me.

Shorty Rossi made his first entry into the cigar world with Cigar International‘s Diesel Shorty. I didn’t have any of those, although I like the Diesel line in general. He does have a line called San Bajito, and Niko of Meier and Dutch (and also a regular on the Over a Cigar show on Blogtalk Radio) was kind enough to provide me with a 4½” x 60 robusto. I enjoyed this cigar after dinner on the patio. This cigar is made in Nicaragua, and was a really nice, smooth, flavorful smoke. I got a nice sweet tobacco flavor at one point, no sweet cap on this one, just nice, sweet tobacco. I want to smoke more of these, especially after a few months time-out in the humidor. Shorty did a nice job blending this cigar.

Have a look at the video, Shorty give us some insight into how he ended up in the cigar industry as well how he got into the dog rescue business.

One of the things I appreciate about all Shorty’s cigars is that a portion of the proceeds go toward his Pit Bull rescue. The dog pictured above, the one I walk every night, is actually my youngest son’s dog. She is a Pit Bull/LAb mix that we got from our local SPCA. She’s a sweet dog whose enthusiasm can be mis-interpreted as aggression, but she really just loves everyone. We think she may have been given up because, we were to find out, she has seizures, and is now on medication to control them. So I believe in Shorty’s Pit Bull mission, and wish him continued success. His dog, Hercules, was there throughout the show and provided some comic relief at one point when he cleared the booth with a gaseous emission. I wish I had the video recording for that!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Celebrity Cigar Chat, IPCPR, Review, Take a Cigar For a Walk, Video

Tagged as chateau real, cigar, cigars, drew estate, IPCPR, Pit Boss, San Bajito, Shorty Rossi

by CigarCraig | May 19, 2013 · 10:36 am

Some New Cigars: Cuban Grande from Perseo and Michael Lington Cigars

First order of business: I have yet to hear from the two (2) winners of my last contest. I’m itchin to put together the prize packs, but I need smoke770 and PapaLloyd L. to send me their current addresses! You’d think it would be easier to give stuff away! I may have to add a rule stating that any prizes unclaimed after thirty days will be donated to Cigars For Warriors ! So let’s go guys, e-mail me so I can ship this stuff out! I need the humidor space. 🙂

After wrapping up a couple weeks worth of Cigar Safari reporting it’s time to get back to boring you to tears with the cigars I’ve smoked this week. I decided to dive into some of the new and unusual stuff I’ve been generously gifted recently. As far as cigars I smoked on Cigar Safari, they were all pretty darned good! Keep an eye out for the new Kentucky Fire Cured which will be released under the My Uzi brand. It’s unique, and if you like a smoky, barbecue flavor it’s a must try. This thing has the powerful aroma of campfire off the foot, and has a smokey taste that’s not overpowering. It wasn’t up my particular alley personally, but I look forward to trying it when the production starts. Jonathan Drew is VERY excited about it and it will be worth a try, for sure.

A few weeks ago on my New Jersey adventure, I met up with Matt R. (@MattSRoss81) and he handed me a bunch of cigars on the flawed premise that I had sent him cigars and he “owed” me. Nothing could have been further from the truth, but all were cigars I hadn’t tried yet, and of particular interest were a pair of 6″ x 60 cigars called Cuban Grande, from Perseo Cigars (Roxor). I can’t find any information about these on their website, or elsewhere, so I’m going to stick my neck out a bit and hope I don’t hurt any feelings! This is a well made cigar with a fairly common looking, dry, medium brown wrapper, probably habano, which has a very nice aroma. The burn was very nice, it had a pleasing flavor, but wasn’t especially unique or special. I would put this in the “budget” category and say it’s a nice everyday smoke and hope it isn’t too expensive. I’ve fallen into this trap before and had the same thoughts about a $12 “super premium” cigar, on the other hand I’ve had cheap bundle cigars that smoked like premiums, so who am I to judge. I appreciate Matt sharing these with me, I always enjoy trying new things, and this was a nice smoke.

Yesterday I dug into some cigars that another loyal reader and friend, DB (@USAF_test) sent along. When I met DB in California a few weeks back he told me about this friend of his who is a Jazz musician and cigar lover who has his own line, Michael Lington Cigars. He sent me a Classic Robusto and a couple Connoisseur Toros. I selected the Toro first, since I was taking a long walk and needed a larger cigar. As an aside, I like a regular old 6″x 50 toro, in these days of chubby cigars, this almost feels like a corona. Anyway I used the V-cutter and got a really open draw. Looking into the cut, one could see that the cigar was loosely packed (it seems like a lot of cigars I’ve smoked lately have been very tightly packed, so this was a welcome change). One of the striking details of this cigar was the dark grey ash. It burned well, it tasted good and was a good smoke that lasted well over an hour, which was a concern initially based on the draw and fill). These are available through Butthead’s Tobacco Emporium‘s online presence, Fumée, and are fairly priced.

My evening walk featured the Michael L ington Classic robusto, which is wrapped in what I assume to be Ecuador Connecticut. this is a very pretty cigar, the V-cut showed a more dense fill than the Connoisseur, and the draw was perfect. I’ve given up on having expectations based upon wrapper color, so I wasn’t surprised when I got loads of medium bodied, flavorful smoke. Oddly the dark grey ash was very similar in appearance to the Connoisseur, strange given the vastly different wrappers. I enjoyed this cigar, although, like it’s sibling, it was a nice, everyday kind of cigar that isn’t priced badly. Too many celebrities decide to put their name on a cigar and price it in the stratosphere, kudos to Mr. Lington for putting his name on a solid smoke at a good price. I hadn’t heard of Michael before DB brought him to my attention, but he’s a gifted alto sax player (my dad teaches alto sax so I’ve grown up hearing it played!). I hope he doesn’t mind, but here’s a video from his site of him playing God Bless America at a Dodgers Game (being a Flyers fan, this one jumped out at me. He’s no Kate Smith, but he’s pretty good!)

httpv://youtu.be/e_rDU26nV2I

There you go, three cigars that are new and interesting. Over the last few weeks I smoked some old favorites that I’ve posted about before. Having a few weeks worth of trip report posts allowed me to catch up a little and smoke some cigars without having to pay attention to them and document them. It’s nice to just grab a cigar and smoke it once in awhile! Also, please join me in welcoming Best Cigar Prices to the CigarCraig.com family. These guys have been around for a long time and have terrific customer service. I looked to them way back when I interviewed George Hamilton as they carried a Hamilton House cigar that was dirt cheap and not too bad. They were very helpful on the phone on a Saturday and I ended up ordering a box as well. Fine folks, check them out. Thanks to them for the support, and thanks to Matt and DB for sharing these cigars with me!