Tag Archives: cigar

Knuckle Sandwich, Julius Caeser, Postanie and Aganorsa Cigars

I smoked a good variety of cigars this week, the next couple weeks will probably be featuring some retailer exclusive cigars, so I figured I’d mix it up.  I had picked up the Knuckle Sandwich 56 Maduro on a recent visit to the Wooden Indian, it was on the high side of what I like to spend, but I wanted to try it.  This cigar is made by Espinosa, at the A.J.Fernandez’ San Lotano factory, for Guy Fieri’s 56th birthday. Obviously, it has a 56 ring gauge, and looks to be made using the San Lotano Oval molds.  I like a 6″ x 56, and I liked the Oval shape.  It has a San Andrés wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers.  Can anyone tell me why the word “Sandwich” sounds like “Sangwich” when persons of Cuban descent say it?  I went through a phase of smoking cigars with the ring gauge of my age for a while, now that I’m 60 I’m over that. I loved this cigar, which is a shame because it’s limited and expensive.  It started with a nice spice over cocoa, and mellowed into a chocolaty treat, with a hint of the spice.  I dug it, even though when I met Guy at the PCA show a few years ago he really could have cared less and my request for Erik Espinosa to get in the picture with us was ignored. I don’t get starstruck and fawn over celebs, some of them don’t like that.  Anyway, I don’t regret the purchase at all, it wa sa really good smoke, probably the best I had all week.  It was my Pi Day treat.

 

We are in the midst of a string of March holidays, so on Friday I was compelled to smoke a Diamond Crown Julius Caeser Toro.  We all know that March 15 marks the day that Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC.  We know the exact date because he invented the calendar we use.  He instituted that just a year before his death.   Anyway, he was a heck of an Emperor, but I guess his friends thought he was a dick, so they stabbed him. I may be oversimplifying things a little. A few millennia later some Hungarian folks named their son after him, and US immigration screwed up the spelling on his paperwork and Julius Caeser Newman started a cigar company that makes some great cigars.  The Diamond Crown Julius Caeser is made at Tabacalera A. Fuente, has an Ecuador Havana wrapper, Dominican binder and Caribbean and Central American fillers. They could just say Dominican, Nicaraguan and/or Honduran fillers, but they can be vague if they want. I enjoy Diamond Crown cigars, from the mild Diamond Crown, to the bolder Maximus and Black Diamond, and this falls in between.  I find the flavor to be largely sweet wood, which is a nice change of pace for me.  I like this cigar a lot, I remember smoking one of these a long time ago with a shop owner who has since passed, before a big celebrity cigar launch dinner.  It didn’t give me any stabbing back pain either.

 

Saturday ended up being a Connecticut Shade day, which isn’t normal for me, but I had a couple shade cigars I hadn’t smoked yet, so I figured I’d give them a go.  The first one I have smoked, but there’s a new size launching at the PCA show that I had a chance to smoke.  It was the Powstanie Connecticut Justice, a 5½ x 46 Corona Gorda which Mike Szczepankiewicz blended nine years ago for the birth of his son.  This is made at the Nica Sueño factory like the rest of the Powstanie cigars.  I really like the Robusto that Mitch shared with me late last year.  This shape seemed different, it didn’t have the character that the larger ring had, although I still found it to be exceptional. This was a really good shade cigar with some body, which I think must come from the PA Broadleaf binder in large part.  For someone who doesn’t gravitate to shade wrapped cigars, this is a really good one, and worth a shot, but I don’t even think it’s due to be released until next month, some additional age won’t hurt this one. If you come across any Postanie cigars, try them, they are all really quite good.

 

Finally, I smoked an Aganorsa La Validacion Connecticut Robusto that I got at the Wooden Indian a few weeks ago when Fabien and Mike King were there doing an event. Aganorsa is a brand I struggle to find a favorite in. There’s a few I like, and some I don’t, and I can’t seem to remember which is what.  So I buy them and smoke them and enjoy them or not and start the cycle over again. I don’t care for Criollo ’99 too much, so that probably has something to do with it.  I think this series is one I like, and I definitely liked this Connecticut. It was medium bodied, nutty with some wood and spice and really a nice cigar.  I’m going to remember that I really like the La Validacion line (I just went back and checked and I did like the Maduro and Corojo!).  

 

Today is Green Cigar Day, or as some call it, St. Patrick’s Day, so pick out a nice Candela and drive the snakes out of your country!  Why have none of these companies made a Candela Culebra in honor of St. Patrick driving the snakes from Ireland?  Because it would suck and it wouldn’t sell, that’s why. I’ll suggest it to Saka. I mentioned him making a Candela Lancero on my last Podcast episode with him and he poopoo’d it, now he’s making a lancero box featuring the candela. I’d write more today but I used a lot of letters on Mike Szczepankiewicz name. Anyway, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

😃+
Share

Leave a Comment

Filed under Review

Don Doroteo El Legado and Salt of the Earth Cigars

Don Doroteo came on the scene a few years ago, seemingly out of nowhere.  I probably wouldn’t have heard of them if not for a friend (who’s presence in cigar media I miss), who went from brobering for them, to working for them, to stepping away from the cigar industry altogether.  I didn’t pay much attention to them after that, until another friend, one of the best PR guys in cigars, started working with them and sent me some samples.  I was surprised by the presentation of the samples.  They came in a beautiful leather case with a cutter and lighter, very fancy, and, like the cigars, on the expensive side.  On the other hand, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, this is par for the course with Gabriel’s clients, he seems to get them to go over and above with the media packages.  Honestly, the quality of the case is amazing, I hope the cigars are as well.  Don Doroteo cigars wirkes with La Aurora in the DR, so that bodes well, it’s a sentimental favorite factory (and brand) for me.  I started with the El Lagado in toro.

 

The Don Doroteo El Legado is a beauty, with a Ecuador Sumatra wrapper and binder, and fillers from Columbia, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.  If you aren’t a Sumatra fan, this might not be for you.  Strike that, try it anyway.  It’s different from many Sumatra wrapped cigars I like.  It starts with some citrus tang, maybe some acidity, but settles down.  As it progressed it got sweeter, and I like some sweetness.  This was apparently rolled in 2008, which is funny to me, being cynical and all, since the company on;y started in 2021.  I suppose the fact that the namesake of the company was a tobacco producer who worked with La Aurora some 85 years ago ties things together.  Regardless, I found this cigar to be quite enjoyable.  

 

The Don Doroteo Salt of the Earth series has two blends, both utilizing Dominican Andullo tobacco in the blends.  This is more of a fermentation method than a variety, and it’s ancient.  They tightly twist the leaves into a rope or sausage, and wrap it in palm leaves and hang it for two years to ferment.  This has been used in a few cigars in the past, I can think of the La Aurora ADN,  the Ventura Project 805 (also made by La Aurora), and maybe the CAO Amazon Basin.  I started with the Piedra Viva.  This cigar has a Ecuador Cameroon wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan fillers from Condega, Dominican Corojo, Criollo 99 and the Andullo.  The literature lists a harvest date of 2016, but it doesn’t say which tobacco.  I suppose we can say that there’s 7 year old tobacco in the blend and be safe.  I pretty quickly deduced that there was Criollo in the blend, not a fan.  There’s a nice toastiness to the flavor and it was a little sour, but not in a bad way.  Of course, the burn and draw were excellent, when was the last time you had a poorly made cigar from La Aurora? 

 

Finally, I smoked the Piedra Angular, in the 5¾” x 54 size, the same size as the other two.  I usually include the sizes for each cigar, but I figured I wouldn’t be repetitive.  I like the size.  This one has a Dominican Corojo wrapper, over the same blend as the Piedra Viva.  This one also has some acidic bite to it, not sure if that’s the Andullo or the Criollo.  I like the citrus tang, it reminds me of something I smoked 20 years ago but I can’t remember what. Again, well made, and a nice cigar.  Both of the Salt of the Earth cigars did have a bit of saltiness, not sure if that’s put into my head by the name, or a real flavor component.  Good stuff.  All in all, these three Don Doroteo cigars were tasty. If you run across them in the wild, give them a look. I look forward to having an occasion befitting the use of that case though! 

 

Thanks to Gabriel and Juan Lugo for the opportunity to sample these! It’s been announced, Goose’s Cigar & Sonny’s Italian Food Fest 2024 tickets are on sale HERE.  May will be a busy month, so pencil this in for the first weekend!   That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

😃+
Share

Leave a Comment

Filed under Review

My Father, Metapa, and Perdomo 30th Anniversary Cigars

This week I smoked some cigars I bought on recent forays into some of my local cigar spots.  All were new to me, although not necessarily new to the market. This happens, I don’t always jump right on the new stuff, and sometimes I miss out!  Thursday evening I met up with my fellow Craig, and recent contest winner, at Cigar Mojo – The Grove, to  hand deliver his prize.  Shipping is always less expensive than visiting a cigar shop!  I picked up a few cigars, and lit up a My Father The Judge in the 656 Toro size.  This has been around for a while, I just never got around to it. Since Mojo carries a lot of My Father cigars I see myself catching up on them.  I’ll grab something I haven’t tried whenever I stop in.  This is a 6″ x 56 cigar, oddly they call their 6″ x 52 a Toro Fino, which seems like a toro to me. Maybe the 6″ x 56 should be a Toro Gordo and the 52 should just be the Toro?  Not my circus…anyway, this has an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, and Nicaraguan binder and fillers, with a nice box press. This got off to a slow start, good, although fairly mediocre.  It built up some sweetness, which I like, of course, and worked out to be a very enjoyable cigar, one I’ll smoke again.  Naturally, the company was exceptional, I always enjoy time with my fellow Craig. We’ll definitely have another Craig cigar summit soon.

 

Friday evening had us attending a middle school theatrical production that one of the granddaughters was in, so I got a late start. I was going to skip a cigar altogether, but I had picked up a Foundation Metapa Corona Gorda at Mojo and it wasn’t that big, so I figured I’d light it up.  Sometimes having a cigar too late gives me sleep issues, not the case this time, although I did get to bed a lot later than usual!  I wanted to smoke a Metapa because these are being rebranded to Aksum, I guess to keep in line with the Tabernacle/Menelik/Ark of the Covenant theme. I’ve heard mixed reviews on this cigar, and maybe it’s the Maduro vs. Claro?  I only had the maduro to chose rom, so that’s what I got, as if anyone would be surprised at that. This is a nice 5½” x 48 with a coil pigtail cap (I know there’s a name for it, just can’t remember it!).  This was the best cigar I had all week.  It started a bit heavy, cloying like licorice, which worried me.  It settled in to a really nice, dense dark chocolate, not much sweetness, the kind with a high cacao percentage. I found this to be quite enjoyable, whatever the name, and I might have to see if I can find the claro version (although I still need to try the Olmec Claro!).  It’s hard for me not to like Foundation Cigars, there seems to be something for everyone.

 

Last week I stopped in The Wooden Indian looking for some new cigars, and picked up some Perdomo 30th Anniversary Epicures in Sungrown and Maduro.  These come with a lot of hype, and my expectations were high.  I’m a big fan of the 20th Anniversary Maduro, probably my favorite Perdomo.  I thought the 10th Anniversary Sungrown was my favorite of that line, which, oddly, only really came out a couple years ago.  The 30th aren’t priced bad, I could see companies asking a higher price for  their anniversary cigars, but Perdomo does things right in this respect.  I admire them for keeping their cigars pried within reason.  I decided that yesterday was going to be Perdomo day, so I started with the Sungrown.  I chose the 6″ x 54 Epicure size because, well, that’s the size I like.  This has a 15-year-old bourbon barrel-aged Cuban-seed Nicaraguan Sun Grown wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers, and has a nice box press.  I think this one had a patch near the cap on the underside of the cigar, which I find to be unacceptable on a cigar like this, regardless of price.  This, of course, came off and I had to do some wrapper surgery because I don’t care for the mouth feel of a flappy wrapper.  Other than that, the burn and draw were very good, and the cigar had a sweet spice that was nice.  Not blown away, I’ll stick with the 10th Sungrown.

 

I had high hopes for the Perdomo 30th Anniversary Epicure Maduro.  This has the same 15-year-old bourbon barrel-aged Cuban-seed Nicaraguan wrapper processed to a maduro, not overly dark, but dark enough, with a nice oil.  This is a nice looking cigar, again, lods of hype, best Perdomo cigar ever, yada yada…It was a good cigar. It had rich dark roast coffee and cocoa and was very nice.  For me, I find that the 20th Maduro to have more that I enjoy, to be honest. I suppose I was expecting a more refined experience, and maybe my palate just isn’t acute enough to appreciate the subtleties of these cigars. I’m told that the 30th Connecticut is something special.  Given I was never a fan of the Champagne, I actually disliked it ( a rarity), I always pass on the Perdomo Connecticuts. Perhaps I’ll give this one a try, for science.  

 

The folks at Best Cigar Prices posted a  bunch of pictures of the cigarlebrities that will be at their Smoke-onos event in May, but they didn’t ask for my picture.  If you’re there, hunt me down!  Also, keep an eye out for upcoming details about a multi-vendor event at Goose’s Montecristo Lounge in Limerick, PA which will be in the beginning of May.  That’s more than enough for today, until the next time.  

 

CigarCraig

 

😃+
Share

1 Comment

Filed under Review

CAO Flathead Resonator and Punch Dragon Fire Cigars

I smoked some new stuff from General Cigars this week, both of which necessitated the use of my Adorini punch, which, in my opinion, is the finest punch on the market.  Adorini makes some excellent humidors, I have two and they are rock solid in form and finish.  I’ve had both for around ten years and they require zero maintenance.  I just throw some bovedas in every few months and they are good.  This punch has two sized punches, 9mm and 13mm, and I fund that I only ever use the larger one and there are only a few cigars that I use it on, CAO Flatheads, RoMaCraft Neanderthals, and now this Punch. The exception might be the smaller ring Flatheads,  but they are few and far between.  It’s good to have options though, and variety is the spice of life, which is why I find myself rotating through several cut styles. None of this has anything to do with the cigars, so let’s get to the CAO Flathead Resonator. First off, I think this is the first Flathead to come out in the post Rick Rodriguez era, Flathead was his baby.  It’s enormous at 8″ x 60, and took me a full 2½ hours to smoke. It’s a little surprising that they were able to pull this off in the age of Connecticut Broadleaf shortages, it takes a pretty large leaf to make 8″ cigars.  Like the rest of the line, this has a Connecticut Habano binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers, and is made in the STG Factory in Esteli. I’ve passed the factory on the way into Esteli on the Pan American Highway a few times, but it’s been over ten years, the town may have sprawled beyond there since.  I’d love a tour (hint, hint).  If you like the line, you’ll like this one, although it starts out a little mellower just by the nature of its length.  I had no need to touch it up over the course of the smoke, which would potentially last an entire hockey game, I think (I might test that theory today). It had the sweetness, with some black coffee and cocoa that I like, along with some earthiness.  All in all, an enjoyable, smoke, much more so than CAO’s last attempt at a 8″ x 60.

 

I suppose the elephant in the room is the question of whether General Cigar got permission from Gurkha to use “Dragon” in the name of the Punch Dragon Fire.  Considering the lack of news on a C&D or lawsuit, one might assume that they did. This is the sixth cigar in the Punch Chinese New Year series, the previous five of which had a takeout food theme (save for the Fu Manchu which took a brief departure into facial hair apparently).  They are sticking with keeping this in the budget price range, at $6.99 SRP, which is really good, I think. I have enjoyed the other releases in this series, and pick them up from time to time because they are wallet friendly and very tasty. I smoked a Kung Pow this week, which was the 2021 release, and enjoyed the crap out of it. This was a 6″ x 52 and features a short wrapper, where the first half inch is just binder and filler.  The Kung Pow had a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper over a Honduran habano binder and fillers from Brazil, Honduras, the Dominican Republic and Mexico.  It’s quite a blend for a $7 cigar!  The Kung Pow is quite good, if you find them around, buy them. They might have been a part of the Pu Pu Platter box that they had that had a sampling the first few years of releases.  I’ve gotten ahead of myself.  The Punch Dragon Fire is a flat capped, 5″ x 60 cigar with a little bit of the wrapper folded over the foot (I think Enrique Sanchez of 1502 calls it the flavor lock, or something like that). Like the Flathead, this is also bade at the Esteli factory, most Punches are made in Honduras. The wrapper is Mexican, binder is Nicaraguan from Condega, and the fillers are Nicaraguan, Dominican and Honduran. There is a fireworks vibe to the packaging on these, and the cigar packs a punch, so to speak.  I found it to be quite spicy, lots of pepper and nicotine. I enjoyed it, but I think it will improve with some age.  The band is nice as it has the year on it, for those of us who save bands, it’s a nice reference.  I like these two new General Cigar releases, even though they are both 60 ring, they are both up my alley.  

 

If you get a minute, reach out to my buddy Kaplowitz (kaplowitzmedia(at)yahoo(dot)com) and wish him a Happy Birthday today!  That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

😃+
Share

Leave a Comment

Filed under Review

Crowned Heads Mother Church a JR Cigars Exclusive and a Contest

Mother Church is a nickname for Nashville’s legendary Ryman Auditorium, the “Mother Church of Country Music”, and it’s the name of an exclusive cigar by Crowned Heads for JR Cigars.  This is a Churchill, I just got it…Church…Churchill?  andyway, I like Churchills a lot. It seems like maybe the wrong time of year for large cigars in the Northeast, but I have the time and a warm enough smoking area, so I’m good with taking an hour and a half or so for a smoke.  The Mother Church is 7″ x 48, has an Ecuador Corojo wrapper, Connecticut Broadleaf binder, and Nicaraguan fillers, made in the Pichardo factory in Nicaragua. 

 

 

I found this to be a woody and nutty cigar, I didn’t get any real sweetness, but there were some mild spices here and there.  The burn and draw were excellent, it was a very well made cigar.  I’d like to share some of these with someone, so let’s have a giveaway!  I have a five pack of Mother Church, and I’ll add five other cigars to go with them for a total of ten cigars.  Usual CigarCraig rules apply, leave a comment on this post to enter, you must be 21 or older to be eligible, and I’ll select a winner on Sunday, February 18.  The links in this post are affiliate links, any purchases thought those links may put a couple dollars towards my expenses! 

 

That’s all for today, until tomorrow, 

 

CigarCraig

 

Share

10 Comments

Filed under Contest, Review