Tag Archives: CIGARtist

Contest Wrap-up, a Meet-up at JM Cigars, an Event at Mojo and a RoMaCraft Neanderthal

CC_Logo_xmas_sOK, a regular, non-contest post. How do I do this again?  It’s been a crazy couple weeks, hasn’t it?  Besides the 234 cigars, three ashtrays, two cutters, a lighter, and various other items, including one of a kind art and jewelry, there were some major holidays in there too. Time spent with family is the best part of the holiday for me, but doing this 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways is a load of fun too.  My unending thanks to the following companies and individuals who made all this possible, in no particular order: Eric Whitfield, Broc Jackson, Jack at Duran Premium Cigars, David and his crew at 2 Guys Smokeshop, Victoria at General Cigar Co., Fred at Nomad Cigar Co., Victor at Tortuga Cigars, Jason at Best Cigar Prices, Abe and his gang at Smoke Inn, Mel and Ron at MBombay Cigars, Bianca at Gurkha and the folks at Joya de Nicaragua and Drew Estate! As I say every year, I could do this on my own, but it would cost me a fortune! Thanks to all of them and all of you for coming back every day and entering! Next year I have some different plans, but it should still be fun, that is, unless the FDA ruins everything!   We’ll remain positive, keep calling your elected officials and letting them know that premium cigars should be exempt from regulation, and keep up your CRA memberships!

 

One of the things I did last week in, an effort to save on shipping and meet some new friends, was to hand deliver winnings from Days five and six. It turned out that Mike and Andrew were reasonably close by so we met up at JM Cigar in Exton, PA for a smoke.  Of course, I spent easily twice what I would have spent on shipping on cigars, but that’s way more productive. While shopping I came ERHacross a lone El Rico Habano Maduro Gran Habanaro (double corona) in a box and it look so lonely I had to add it to my cart, so to speak. I haven’t smoked an El Rico in ages, I can remember back in the ’90s when this was one of the strongest cigars on the market, a real powerhouse. It was Ernesto Perez Carillo’s brand that took a back seat to La Gloria Cubana, and I smoked a bunch of them.  It’s a minor brand now with General Cigar Co., only available in three sizes and maduro, where the original version was a natural wrapper. I thought the 7½ x 54 size would be a good size for sitting in the lounge, getting to know new friends, kinda cigar. It was good, but not as good as I remember my last one being, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing as I didn’t want a cigar that would distract me from conversation. As it always seems to be, meeting up to deliver a prize beats USPS every time, I felt like I have a few more friends now, and look forward to meeting up with Mike and Andrew again soon.  Thank you to them for adding to the spirit of the season!

 

Perdomo20thThursday I ran down to Cigar Mojo in King of Prussia, PA as they were having a Perdomo event and raffling off a tremendous Perdomo 20th Anniversary humidor. I like the Perdomo 20th a lot, especially in maduro, so I bought a hand full (as if I needed more cigars!) and got one chance in the drawing. The winner was a guy who bought a bunch of boxes of the 20th Anniversarys, so it’s hard to begrudge him the win. It was a beautiful box, but I don’t know where I would have put it, so it worked Perdomo20thHumidorout in the end. I thoroughly enjoyed a 20th Maduro Churchill while hanging out and talking to our local Perdomo rep, Joe Winder (who is probably the very first cigar company rep I ever met many years ago at a cigar event in Pittsburgh), CRA Ambassador and all-around good guy, Alan Price, who was working at the shop, owners Wade and Trae and various other customers.  I didn’t win the humidor, but I did put some great cigars in my humidor and had a relaxing afternoon.

 

Padron64AFHemingwayAs it was a special occasion, I selected some other great cigars that are worth mentioning. For the second year in a row, I took my Christmas Eve walk with a Padron 1964 Anniversary Maduro Exclusivo, obviously a classic Nicaraguan maduro that’s like desert in cigar form. Absolutely delicious. Christmas day, after the kids and grandkids left, I sparked up a Fuente Hemingway Signature Maduro, again, a spectacular cigar that’s not unreasonably priced.  It was rich, burned perfectly and hit the spot. Yesterday Macha and I took a four mile walk with a favorite Nica Rustica Belly, maybe I’m on a bit of a Maduro kick?  I must be, because last night I lit up a cigar that caught my eye and I bought while at Mojo, a RoMa Craft Neanderthal HN, with a San Andrés wrapper. Of all the great cigars I’ve RoMa_Neanderthal_HNsmoked over the last couple weeks, this might have been my favorite. This cigar has a couple of distinctions, first, it has a flat head, and a slight taper at the foot, which I didn’t really notice until I looked at the photo, and it still looks like a robusto, as the size is listed at 5″ x 52/58. Now that I look at it, it may taper from head to foot. It could have been shaped like a pretzel for all I care, it tasted fantastic. Not only does it have a beautiful dark and oily San Andrés wrapper, but it has a Connecticut broadleaf binder, and fillers from Pennsylvania, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. About half way in to the cigar I got a really interesting and delicious spice, which really intrigued me. This was a $12 cigar and honestly, I don’t think I realized the price point when I bought them, I might not have taken the plunge. I’m glad I did. I’ve heard from people That this was a super strong cigar, and it didn’t hit me that way at all, it was full-bodied and loaded with flavor, but I didn’t feel the nicotine at all. Stellar cigar from Skip and Mike at RoMa! I used a punch in the flat head of the cigar if anyone was curious.

 

Cigartist1You probably want to know who won the final bonus day contest, the great painting “Wind” by Eric “The Cigartist” Whitfield. It looked like only those who really wanted and appreciated this item entered (or everyone is sick to death of my contests), so I consulted Random.org and got the number 37, which corresponds to KRUK, who I know will give this a good home, despite the relative creepiness of his comment :-).  Bryan, please send me your address so I can forward it on to Eric.  Thank you all, and don’t despair, there could well be a Happy New Year contest!

 

That’s plenty from me, until the next time,

 

Cigar Craig

 

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CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways 2015 Last Day: The Cigartist

OK, seriously, this is really the last day. I’m not kidding. This one is going to run a little longer than the rest, I’ll pick a winner on Sunday, so be sure to check back.  This is a very special item, and original painting by Eric Whitfield, The Cigartist! This painting is titled “Wind” and is 16″ x 20″ acrylic on stretched canvas.  This is a serious piece of art, selling on his website for $350, so it’s a very generous offering from Eric, and some lucky person will have this to hang in his home.  Eric has all of his exceptional pieces on his site, so check it out and purchase some.  I’m sure he can work with you on custom work as well.  This really should be some sort of charity auction or something, but I don’t know a good way of doing that! I’m expecting that only people who really want this painting are going to enter, as this should definitely got to a loving home!

 

Cigartist1

 

Yesterday we added an extra day, which we’ve done in the last two years as well, and it was some Drew Estate Kentucky Fire Cured Fat Mollys and a matching Sterling Silver necklace.  I, kind of begrudgingly, smoked a Fat Molly yesterday, and it was pretty darned good. I’ve not been a fan of the KFCs in the past, and I still don’t like that campfire aroma, but it was not bad at all, and it burned perfectly.  I have a few more floating around the humidors that I won’t be afraid to smoke now.  Hopefully Miguel Rocha is also a fan, because he’s the winner and needs to send me his address!  Thanks to Broc as well as the crew at DE for making day 13 special! Don’t forget to visit Broc’s site and check out all his great jewelry!

 

You know what to do now, leave a comment here, check back Sunday to see if you won!

 

RULES

 

All you have to do to enter is to leave a comment on the post of the day, if you can, try to post what you know or how you feel about today’s present, the folks donating the gift should get some feedback for their troubles! It’s not a condition to win, but it’s nice to have something to read. We did this last year and it benefits everyone. Once you’ve won, you’re out, let everyone else have a chance. Must be over 18 to win. Also, be sure to visit the links for each item. Comments on Facebook, Twitter, or anywhere else will not count, but feel free to spread the word!

 

Until tomorrow,

 

CigarCraig

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A Don Pepin Garcia, Alan Price, Eiroa Maduro and a Matilde Cigar

As we’ve been working on the new house, we figured since we have a great enclosed cigar porch, we should have an annual cigar party.  We just need to figure out when to have this party, so we’ll take suggestions. Whoever comes up with the best date to have this event will get free admission (airfare, lodging not included).  We kind of thought Columbus Day would be a good time. It gives us plenty of time to prepare, and the only really important thing Columbus did was to introduce tobacco to the west.  Getting lost and stumbling upon some islands isn’t really a great accomplishment.  Give us your thoughts!

 

DonPepinGarcia_SeriesJJ_RobustoSunday I pulled out a Don Pepin Garcia Series JJ Robusto from a Five Pack I bought at JR Cigars in Whippany, NJ back in June of 2012.  These have been hit or miss with me, and I only have one left so I must have smoked a couple over the years, or gifted one her or there. This one, like the first one I smoked, was a little tighter on the draw than I’d like.  It had a nice flavor, medium to mild with a little sweetness and maybe a little earthy and woody.  I just wish that it had produced more of that tasty smoke, it’s production was a bit thin. Was this cigar really rolled in Miami? I was actually surprised to find this five pack in JRs, I wouldn’t be surprised now, but I was surprised then. Many who have followed others in the blogosphere will understand why I chose that particular cigar.

 

AlanPrice_ToroMonday I chose a cigar I bought last week at Cigar Mojo. A few months ago Alan Price, part time tobacconist at Mojo, Cigar Rights Ambassador and all around good guy, went to the Rocky Patel factory in Honduras.  He ended up taking delivery (earlier that day) of one hundred cigars that he had blended on that trip.  This cigar had a Sumatra Oscuro wrapper, Viso Honduras binder and fillers of Ligero Jamastran, Viso Jalapa & Ligero Jalapa. I admit that I rushed to smoke this, as it really needed some humidor time after it’s long journey.  The blend certainly has a lot of potential, and I’m glad I bought two so I will have one to smoke in a few weeks or so after it’s had time to acclimate.  It was a beautiful cigar with a rich and oily wrapper.  It’s always fun for me to smoke a cigar that a friend blended, one gets a glimpse into the other person’s tastes.  The cigar was very smooth and tasty, but it’ll really shine in a few weeks I hope.  Alan says there’s only about eight left, so this is a rare cigar, I guess.

 

Eiroa_Maduro_RobustoTuesday I smoked the Eiroa Maduro in the robusto size.  A few weeks ago I was in one of my local shops, JM Cigars, and Jeff, the proprietor had a CLE event earlier in the day (I had stopped in earlier too, before the event, and missed it). He gave me one of the leftover giveaway cigars.  I suppose, for want of a better comparison, this is Christian Eiroa’s incarnation of the Camacho Triple Maduro, as all of the tobacco used is cured maduro.  The cigar was rich and loaded with cocoa/espresso and burned reasonably well.  I  liked it well enough, but the $10 price tag will probably prevent me from smoking too many of these.  I appreciate Jeff giving me the opportunity to try this cigar though, it’s much appreciated.

 

Matilde_Renacer_RobustoTonight I decided to retry a cigar I bought a pair of back in July when I was at the Casa de Montecristo store in the Chicago area. I bought a few Matilde Renacer robustos and smoked one on the drive home from Chicago and it was a big problem, it burned poorly and was really not a great experience while driving. There was a leaf in the blend that wouldn’t burn, and it left a core in the middle. Like I said, not a good driving cigar.  This one burned much better after a few months in the humidor and was a nice, medium bodied smoke. I found it on the mild side, with a nice, yet rather unremarkable flavor.  Maybe I’m still a little off from the cold I had a couple weeks ago, or I’m just making choices that don’t align with my palate.  I’ll keep trying though!

 

News

I received an e-mail today from George Rodriguez of Rodrigo Cigars with a contest I thought I’d pass on. What stood out to me was that I met Eric Whitfield, the CIGARtist, a few weeks ago and his work is amazing. We actually talked about buying one of his pieces for our new house.  Anyway, check out George’s contest and take a shot at winning this unique and functional work of art (and some great cigars)

 

To celebrate the release of the long awaited Corona Project my buddy Eric Whitfield, aka the CIGARtist painted this beautiful one of kind travel humidor.

I’m giving it away to one lucky ”Amigo” and I’m gonna fill it with a selection of savory Rodrigo Cigars, including the new Corona Project! 

ENTER THE GIVEAWAY HERE

And make sure you visit our buddy Eric aka the CIGARtist and check out his beautiful cigar themed art!

Your amigo…-George

PS Just think how cool you’re gonna feel when you roll up to your next herf with this bad boy 😉

ENTER THE GIVEAWAY HERE

 

That reminds me, I need to start working on the 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways. It’s not as easy as it looks mooching all the great cigar and stuff for the giveaways!

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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