Tag Archives: Cigar Safari

News: Drew Estate Announces Soft Re-Opening of Cigar Safari

Here’s some news that’s near and dear to my heart.  I’ve had the great pleasure of having attended two Cigar Safaris, the first in 2011 as a consumer (as my site was just getting off the ground, and the resulting blog posts were a great help in establishing my credibility), and the second in 2013 was with a group of bloggers whom I consider great friends to this day. I encourage anyone with a love of cigars to take such a trip if you have the opportunity, it’s a great education and a load of fun. I’m happy to see that the political climate in Nicaragua is such that these trips are once again possible.

 

Drew Estate Announces Soft Re-Opening of Cigar Safari

Today Drew Estate announces the soft re-opening of the Cigar Safari Program, the ultimate experiential cigar tour to Esteli, Nicaragua hosted at La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate for 4 days and 3 nights.

 

Since 2008, Drew Estate has been the industry leader in cigar tourism through their Cigar Safari program. Safari presents an opportunity for Consumers and Retailers to take a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Drew Estate’s Nicaraguan cigar factory and explore the eco-tourism of Nicaragua. At La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate, our guests learn the entire process of creation from seed to cigar, including the magic experience of blending their own cigars. While visiting Subculture Studios, attendees will have Drew Estate’s very own art team custom paint an item of their choosing. The experience is truly unforgettable and unique among cigar manufacturers.

 

The 2020 season will be used as an incubator season for a variety of planned enhancements and limited to only 5 trips. These enhancements will be fully unleashed during the 2021 season.

 

From the Wynwood Safehouse, Founder and President of Drew Estate Jonathan Drew enthusiastically adds, “There is nowhere in the world like Nicaragua for cigar enthusiasts. As the global cigar culture has shifted focus from Cuban brands to the enlightened age of “New World Brands” – Nicaragua is unquestionably front and center. Drew Estate has believed in Nicaragua when others simply did not, and we’ll never waver from Nica as our conceptual lens. Your brothers and sisters at La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate are waiting for you with open arms, and plenty of gallo-pinto and Flor de Cana… so let’s get it poppin’.”

 

For more information regarding Cigar Safari, please visit www.cigarsafari.com

ABOUT DREW ESTATE

Founded in New York City in 1996, Drew Estate has become one of the fastest growing tobacco companies in the world. Under their mantra “The Rebirth of Cigars”, Drew Estate has led the “Boutique Cigar” movement by innovating new elements to the tobacco industry with their unique tobaccos and blending styles that attract new and traditional cigar enthusiasts. In their Gran Fabrica Drew Estate, the Nicaraguan headquarters, Drew Estate produces a variety of brands such as ACID, Herrera Estelí, Herrera Estelí Norteño, Isla del Sol, Kentucky Fired Cured, Liga Privada, MUWAT, Larutan by Drew Estate, Nica Rustica, Pappy Van Winkle Barrel Fermented Cigars, Tabak Especial, Undercrown, Florida Sun Grown, and Java by Drew Estate.

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Ora Vivo, La Aurora, Atabey, AJ Fernandez Enclave and New World Cigars

It’s been such a busy week, ran the 5K without dying, tried to cut off my thumb, colonoscopy,  and a birthday, along with having our bathroom renovated and working on remodeling thee downstairs powder room.  If only I didn’t have a 9-5 job taking up valuable time during the day! (I’m looking for a new job,mine’s going away in a few months, so careful what I wish for, right?). Anyway, I still managed to get some great cigars in starting with  a Nica Rustica Belly after the 5K. I bought a bundle at the release party in Kentucky last month and the extra few weeks in the humidor has done well for them. I though maybe it was a bit wet in July, although it OraVivoEurope_CoronaGordamay have just been the cigars that handed out at the event.  They seem to be ready now and was a great two-hour warm down after the run.  Sunday afternoon I started the powder room project, and after getting some stuff done I took a walk with an Ora Vivo Armand Assante European edition, a generous gift from Kruk in New Hampshire. Kruk is probably a bigger fan of Victor Vitale‘s work than I am, and apparently  bought many boxes of the European Edition when they became available. He very generously sent me a couple, and I did my best to compensate him with a few cigars.  Anyway, the European edition comes in a Coronaish size, 5 ½” x 46ish, not too far off the 5½” x 48 Cedro No.5 size I like a lot.  This cigar burned perfectly, it had a smooth, refined Nicaraguan flavor and was very elegant. This is a great cigar for any time of the day, but I can easily see sparking one up with a morning cuppa joe.  I don’t have many negatives to say about this line in general, but this corona may be the best of the bunch.

 

LaAuroraUntamed_Extreme_RobustoMonday’s evening walk was accompanied by a new offering from La Aurora, a line extension to their Untamed line, the Extreme in a robusto.  I  really likes the Untamed, it was bold, had some strength, and was very satisfying. This Extreme takes it up a notch, with some more of the heavy, espresso and cocoa flavors and a kick. I would venture to guess that this also has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, with was beautifully dark and oily. It’s a powerhouse, and I can’t find a lot of info on it at this writing.  I loved it, and I really liked the regular Untamed line as well. These may be my favorites in the La Aurora line (although the Preferidos are pretty good too…and the Puro Vintage…and the Corojo…).

 

Atabey_RitosI celebrated  a successful colonoscopy with a special cigar, the Atabey Ritos, the newest size in the line, a 6 1/8″ x 55 cigar that has what appears to be a beautiful Connecticut shade wrapper. These are made in Costa Rica under the careful supervision of Nelson Alphonso, the man responsible for the Cuban Cohiba Behike packaging as well as the designer of the Padrón 50th anniversary humidor. This was a trade show sample from David Garofalo, who distributes the brand. It’s not a cheap date, MSRP is around $33,  but it IS a spectacularly good smoke. It simply could not have burned better, the burn was straight with a flat ember and perfect draw. It had sweet woody, earthy notes and was quite the elegant cigar.  Often times high-end cigars are lost on me, I really don’t have a sophisticated palate, but this was a great smoke.

 

AJF_Enclave_RobustoI  followed that up on Thursday with a new cigar from AJ Fernandez, the  Enclave in a 5″ x 52 robusto size. This cigar has a Habano Rosado wrapper, Binder from Cameroon and fillers that are described as AJF Piloto Cubano and AJF Select Nicaraguan, which leads me to believe they were grown on the company’s own farms and are top-secret varieties. Is the Piloto Cubano Dominican?  Don’t know, bit what I do know is that this was a stout, powerful cigar with great flavor.  It was spicy and woody, and I really liked it. I think this is a winner, and AJ Fernandez has his share of winners in my book.  I will certainly sample other sizes in this line, there is a Figurado that looks really cool.

 

AJF NewWorld_NaveganteWithout even thinking on Friday I grabbed a New World by AJ Fernandez for my evening walk.  This one was in the 5½” x 55 Navigante size. While this isn’t a new cigar, it’s a good one, maybe not quite as powerful as the Enclave, but a super tasty blend of tobaccos from Esteli, Condega, Jalapa and Ometepe in Nicaragua.  this one had the coffee/chocolate flavors I really like in a cigar.  I want to say I remember this, as well as the Enclave, being a collaboration between Abdel and his father Ismael, and there are certain similarities, chief being I really like both of them!  The New World Connecticut is a winner in my book too, but that really doesn’t mean a lot considering I really enjoy most cigars from this factory. Abdel is a tobacco genius and is only in his thirties.

 
DECSCCBlend2013Saturday was my birthday (thanks in advance for any well wishes) and after a nice afternoon with my granddaughters and family, I picked one of my last three cigars I blended on my 2013 Cigar Safari trip.  These had a San Andres wrapper, Cameroon binder, and fillers from Brazil and Esteli if I remember correctly.  I thought it from the beginning, and it remains true, but there are just too many flavors going on in the blend, it’s very busy. That’s not to say I don’t like it a lot, and it always brings back memories of a great trip, as well as providing a relaxing celebratory smoke. I’m going away for a few days and packed some favorites to relax with, it will be nice getting away with no events or other things to do, it’s been a long time since we just went somewhere to be human beings instead of human doings.

 

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

 

CigarCraig

 

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Cigar Brothers, Wooden Indian, Cigar Mojo and the Fratello Bianco Toro

I had a pretty busy week this week, visiting cigar store and hanging out with some great folks, smoking great cigars!  I was actually planning to stop in to Smoke Cigar Lounge in Manyunk, PA, just outside Philadelphia, but traffic was backed up, and it sounded like they were having a street festival on the main street there, so we gave up on that idea and stopped at a new shop only a few miles from home called Cigar Brothers in Berwyn, PA. This shop is an old house, and the downstairs part is the store, all humidified with the cigars out on  shelves. The selection was very good,lots of boutiques as well as old standards. I grabbed a few CAO Flathead Sparkplugs CAOFlatheadSparkplugand some Rocky Patel Super Ligeros and chatted with the properly named co-owner, Craig. The lounge is upstairs, basically two rooms and a hall with a bathroom. It’s not a great space for an event, as there’s no one large gathering area, but it’s nice for just hanging out with a few people. It’s bright and comfortable and well ventilated. I smoked the CAO Sparkplug there, as we had spent the afternoon in traffic and Craig was closing in an hour. I love the Flathead line, and really like this little cigar.  It’s rich, full-bodied and burns right.  We had a great afternoon talking to Craig and hanging out in this new shop that I think will do well.

 

Nica Rustica_El BrujitoThis weekend was Famous Smoke Shop’s Cigarnival event, which I’ve attended in the past, so there have been a bunch of “cigarlebrities” in the general vicinity.  Wednesday my oldest son and I went down to the Wooden Indian in Havertown, PA where they were having a Drew Estate event with Chris Stone and Pedro Gomez.  Pedro runs the Cigar Safari and tours the US doing events in the off-season.  My son hadn’t seen him since we were in Nicaragua in 2011, so it was a nice reunion and it was nice to go out and have a cigar with the kid for a change. I went with another favorite, the Nica Rustica. It looks like it’s a Maduro week!  Great cigar, great friends, and a great shop. I even won an Acid Fat Tips t-shirt, who remembers those? I never smoked one, but it was supposed to be a mass market Acid with a plastic tip, but it never really caught on.  Anyway, if you haven’t met Pedro, don’t miss the chance, and if you have, well, you know why I’m recommending you meet him! I didn’t take one darned picture the whole evening dammit.

 

Mojo1Thursday found me at Cigar Mojo for a packed house. Earlier in the day they had visits from Nick Perdomo and Jesus Fuego, but the evening event featured Aging Room Cigars and Rafael Nodal, along with his sons Carlos and Rafael Jr.  I continued the maduro theme with an Aging Mojo2Room Maduro that was the free cigar with purchase, Rafael said the bundle came from his personal humidor and they were from the initial release. Once again, this was a nice smoke, very rich with a nice sweet mocha vibe, fortunately I picked up a few more, as well as some Mojo3Havao. I generally run into someone I know there and caught up with some old acquaintances from another shop I’ve been to. I had a nice time conversing with Rafael and his sons, Rafael is one of the nicest guys around.

 

Fratello_Bianco_IIFriday evening I was back in my routine of taking Macha for a walk and enjoying a cigar, and I selected a Fratello Bianco II Toro to celebrate the end of another week. Omar made this cigar with me specifically in mind! (I have an e-mail from him saying that, but I don’t really buy it…). The San Andreas wrapper is a beautiful dark brown with a sheen of oil, it’s dark, even though the cigar is named “White”. It has a Dominican binder and fillers from Nicaragua, Peru and Pennsylvania, my home state (maybe Omar wasn’t blowing smoke up my skirt after all! **now there’s a mental image for you!**).  If I knew nothing more than the composition of this cigar I’d figure it was a really good chance I’d love it, but I also know where it’s made and the guy behind it, there would have to be something monumentally wrong for me not to like this cigar.  As it turns out, all my preconceptions did not lead to disappointment.  The Fratello Bianco is a brilliant cigar. It has the similarity to strong, bitter black coffee that I like, as well as a solid core of savory flavor and perhaps a hint of sweetness. This is an after dinner espresso (double, it was a 6″x 50 toro after all).  I dig it, I can’t wait to smoke the 5″ x 56 III and the corona that Omar so generously sent to me, and buy some of these when they hit the stores. I may even put the mooch on Omar at the trade show in a few weeks (naw, I’ll leave the samples for the retailers…). This is a winner, hands down.  Molto buon sigaro!

 

So ends another week. It did nothing but rain yesterday, so I got nothing done save for smoking a nice Inca Secret Blend Imperio after dinner on the back porch, breaking my maduro binge.  If you happen to find yourself in Easton, PA today (Sunday June 28), Rafael Nodal is going to be playing piano at Leaf, the great restaurant at Famous Smokeshop.  Going to events at shops is a great way to increase your appreciation for cigars, as well as add some new stock to your humidors. Support your local retailers, and Cigar Rights of America while you’re at it!

 

Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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Birthday Cigars, a Contest Winner and Random Sunday Nonsense

I’ve been a slug this week.  We’ve had a busy week here with our youngest going to the National Outdoor Leadership School for 3 weeks, my birthday, along with my wife planning my party on Saturday, as well as it being a holiday weekend.  Autumn bums me out a little too, so the specter of summer ending is tough for me.  I’ve been just grabbing smokes without concern for writing about them and just enjoying them.  I’m old. You kids get the hell off my lawn!  Anyway, I’ll get back on track this week.

 

CC_CigarSafariBlend2013Thursday was my birthday, and I wanted to smoke something special. I couldn’t really decide what I wanted to smoke, so I went with one of the cigars I blended at Cigar Safari last May.  This is the third one of these I’ve smoked, and it’s an enjoyable smoke for me.  I used a San Andreas maduro wrapper over a Cameroon binder, along with fillers from Brazil and Nicaragua.  Obviously a cigar of your own blending is special, and there’s only seven of these left on the planet, so they are quite rare.  I enjoyed the heck out of the cigar, although if I were to do it again I would’t have selected the 6″ x 54 size. The 5×44 size I made two years ago was nice, I shouldn’t have gone quite so much larger.  I still love them and they are a special cigar to me.  It was a great way to celebrate my 50th birthday.

 

LaGloria_SerieR_BlackSaturday we went up to Cigars International in Hamburg, PA to have some cigars with some friends for a few hours.  I tried the newish La Gloria Cubana Serie R Black for the first time. The La Gloria Serie R Esteli is a brick and mortar only,  while the Black is just for online and catalog sales.  Buying this in a brick and mortar location of a major catalog merchant blurs the lines a little bit, but at least it gave me the chance to try this without springing for a five pack and shipping. It was a fine cigar.  I think the Esteli version is a richer cigar, a little deeper in flavor than the black.  Granted, this was smoked off the sales floor and hasn’t had the advantage of aging, but the Esteli samples haven’t really either.  Of course, I’m a La Gloria Cubana fan, and pretty much enjoy everything from the line.  I picked up some more of the Rabitos de Cocina and Serie Ns while there.I also smoked a Don Pepin Garcia Original Lancero, a gift from Graham of Over a Cigar podcast and The Cigar Lounger magazine.  This is a fantastic smoke.  I love the Lancero shape, it’s a perfect format for a social situation.  It needs to be smoked slowly, and a good one can be a distraction from conversation.  We had a great time at the Hamburg CI, managed to be the last people out of there sometime after 11.  I had friends from high school, as well as friends from the cigar world there and everyone had a great time.  Thanks to everyone who made it out.

 

 

baconjamsWednesday I offered a contest featuring The Bacon Jams from my friend Bruce at www.TheBaconJams.com.  I’m going to send a taster with the three flavors to the winner, and a couple cigars could fall into the box too, it’s happened before.  This seemed appropriate since yesterday was International Bacon Day.  I don’t know about you, but every day is a good day for bacon, and this Bacon Jam makes it easy to enjoy it’s bacony goodness.  The odds are better than most of my contests, and I have to say I’m a little disappointed in the response. I consulted Random.org, and the random number generator gave me the number 2.  So I am the winner….no that’s not right….jjo is the winner!  Please  send me your address and I’ll get this out as soon as I meet up with Bruce for a cigar or two this week.

 

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

 

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Drew Estate Charity Event at the Wooden Indian in Havertown, PA

Yesterday was The Wooden Indian‘s annual Drew Estate event with auctions benefiting TECHO, who helps build affordable housing in Esteli, Nicaragua.  Chris Stone and Pedro Gomez of Drew Estate were there as well as the local Xikar rep, Rich.  Both companies contributed many items for the raffle, which, according to Chris Stone, raised $5000.  This kind of money can build houses for three Pedro_WI 08102013families in Nicaragua!  For those who don’t know Pedro Gomez, he has been working at Drew Estate for seven years, and running the Cigar Safari for the last five years.  Pedro knows everyone in Esteli, keeps the tours running smoothly and serves as the translator and tour guide.  Pedro recently moved to the US to do events as the Drew Estate Factory Spokesman. It’s an opportunity that only a few folks from Esteli get, and he’s dedicated to bringing the same professionalism to the events in the US that he brings to the Cigar Safari.  Fortunately for Cigar Safari attendees, he will be back in Nicaragua for the three months a year that the run the tours!  I’m not sure if the Safari would be the same without Pedro’s expert guidance!

 

Auction_DE-WI 08102013In addition to the company reps, this event brought people from far and wide.  There were Drew Estate Ambassadors, several members of the Facebook C.A.T.S. (Cigar Aficionado Trades and Sales) group and others.  As I said before, they raised $5000, and the two big ticket items were a custom Humidor finished by Jessi Flores, the creative director at Subculture Studios at the Drew Estate Factory in Chris Stone_Humidor08102013Esteli,and a basket loaded with rare and unusual Liga Privada cigars.  The Humidor went home with our local Cigar Rights of America ambassador (and Emilio Cigars rep) Alan Price.  There was a group who conspired to win the basket, four gentlemen from the C.A.T.S. group who called themselves The A-Team, complete with t-shirts! They were smoking Liga Privada A’s at the event (which were eventually replaced by more A-Team 08102013when the won. They had a bundle of No. 9 Tubos (these were Steve Saka’s pocket cigars from what I know, so I guess they didn’t need them anymore!), a bundle of Velvet Rats and various other rare and unusual Ligas.  Quite a score, and I hope they didn’t have any fights over anything there was fewer than four of! Congrats to all the winners, and a job well done to Dave Mayer and his Crew at the Indian, the folks at Drew Estate and Xikar.

 

HE_UCWhile I was at the event I picked up a few more Joya de Nicaragua Cabinetta Lanceros and smoked on while there. This is a sentimental favorite as it will forever remind me of my first trip to Cigar Safari, as Jonathan passed around a bundle on the bus before they were released, and we watched them rolling them at the Joya de Nicaragua factory.  It’s also a darned fine smoke suitable for any time of day and should appeal to a wide range of tastes.  Later that evening I pulled out a Herrera Esteli Lonsdale which was equally as fabulous as the Cabinetta.  This burned perfectly and was sweet and smooth and delicious. This is another cigar that’s appropriate at any time.  Loaded with flavor!  As I write this I’m working on an Undercrown Corona Doble.  Certainly larger than I usually smoke, but great for a gorgeous Sunday afternoon on the deck typing away.  Whereas the JdN Cabinetta and the Herrera Esteli are loaded with complexity and subtlety, the Undercrown is dark, rich and bold.  All great cigars!

 

La-Gloria-Cubana-Gilded-Age-Toro-CigarsDon’t forget to go back to Friday, August 9th’s post and enter to win a box of La Gloria Cubana Gilded Age Toros courtesy of Famous Smoke Shop!  There’s only another 5 days to enter, and I know this is longer than most of my contests, but I wanted to give plenty of people a chance to enter.

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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