Tag Archives: Corojo

by | January 14, 2024 · 9:41 am

Belvedere Cigar Lounge Some Epic Cigars, and a Trinidad Espiritu No. 3

Thursday evening my wife had a thing she wanted to go to in New Jersey, and she found a cigar lounge three miles away I could visit! It turned out that Belvedere Cigar Lounge in Lawnside, New Jersey, was hosting Irving Rodriguez of Epic Cigars doing a cut and light event.  I know Irv, and I love Epic Cigars, so it was a no brainer. Honestly, it wouldn’t have mattered, the lounge is really nice.  It’s 1300 square feet, has seating for a little over 40, and has some massive TVs and a sound system. It has 24 hour member access, with a BYO bar. I would have been happy to buy a couple cigars from their modest, but well curated, retail selection and enjoyed one there.  As is was, I spent the better part of an hour enjoying a delicious Epic Habano and talking with Irv.  I’ve known about Epic cigars for the better part of ten years, and been a fan of them. They are made in the same factory that Kristoff cigars are made in, are really tasty, and always well made.  Dean, who sold the brand to Nat Cicco Cigars a few years back, is a cool dude who I like to call a friend.  The Habano should be first on your list of Epic cigars to try, it’s got a nice sweetness I like. It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, a Cameroon binder (this might be the seced sauce!), and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. I had the 5½ x 52 Robusto. I love maduro cigars, but the Habano might be my favorite in the line.  

 

Of course, I bought a handful of cigars while I was there, why wouldn’t I? I was rather hoping they would have the tenth anniversary, but that wasn’t available, so I bought some Habanos and Corojos.  Friday I smoked an Epic Corojo in the toro size. The Corojo has an Ecuador Corojo wrapper, Dominican binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. They call the 6″ x 54 toro a Double Corona for some reason.  Great cigar, although on the leathery side of the spectrum to my palate. It was much more savory than the Habano, it really lacked any sweetness at all. I enjoyed it before heading in to watch a Flyers game.  on a side note, last week’s weather took out our power for 14 hours overnight, and in the process somehow damaged our Verizon set top box. After the customer experience I’ve had trying to get the situation resolved, I think this might be the impetus to “cut the cable” finally, and ditch the TV service.  I’ve been hanging on mostly for access to the Flyers games, but I  think there’s enough alternatives available now that we can ditch the $100 a month.  That’s today’s project.

 

Yesterday I picked up a couple cigars that I hadn’t smoked before, one of which was the Trinidad Espiritu No. 3. I was really looking forward to trying this one, I loved the No. 2, and the No. 1 was pretty good too.  The No. 3 is a tribute to Mexico, with a San Andrés wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and fillers, made by AJ Fernandez in Nicaragua.  This was very different from the No.2, now that I’m thinking of it, I’d have swapped the two based on flavor. I thought the 2 tasted more typical of a San Andrés than the 3. There’s an interesting exotic spice flavor present, with an overall savory base flavor.  I thought it was really interesting, far more interesting than the La Gloria Cubana TAA 2023 cigar I bought and was severely disappointed by. I love La Glorias, but this one had nothing going for it. It didn’t draw well, it didn’t have much flavor, and just wasn’t good. I thought TAA cigars should be a good representation of a brand?  The LGC is a pass for me, but the Trinidad Espiritu line is a winner, and there are not a lot of Altadis cigars that I can say that about (ironically, almost all the Altadis cigars I like are made in one factory). 

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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by | April 30, 2023 · 9:44 am

Nomad, Cert Maith Bruscar, La Gloria Cubana and Macanudo Cigars

This week was challenging.  I had a tooth pulled on Monday, and I’m not altogether sure that one or more of the medications I’m taking isn’t affecting my palate.  Let’s start out with my pre-procedure cigar, a Nomad SA-17 Shorty, which is 4″ x 56.  I’m unsure of the provenance of these cigars, they were a generous gift from a friend, and I want to say that they are pre-Ezra Zion because they have Fred’s twitter name on the band, but anecdotal evidence would suggest that they were recently purchased.  If I recall, these were made at A.J. Fernandez’ factory, and has a San Andrés wrapper over Nicaraguan guts. Perhaps it’s a bit uncool to smoke a cigar right before going to the oral surgeon, like eating Oreos before going in for a cleaning, but it is what it is.  I knew I was going to be taking a few days off from cigars, nobody wants dry socket!  This is a great cigar, loads of earthy, coffee and cocoa flavors.  Burn was perfect, and this little cigar lasts almost an hour.  Many thanks to Phil for sharing these with me! 

 

On to some new stuff!  Like I said, after a couple days off cigars, and between an antibiotic and a rinse, my palate may be off, or maybe not!  I tested this theory by smoking a cigar from Kevin at Trash Panda Cigars, the Cert Maith Bruscar.  I hope Kevin made sure this name wasn’t already trademarked before using it!  Cert Maith Bruscar is Gaelic for “Real Good Trash”, in keeping with the Trash Panda theme, and is an homage to Kevin’s probably 8th or 9th great grandfather, who came to the US in 1679 from Ireland, around the same time my ancestor came from The Netherlands.  This is a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper cigar that has a Cameroon binder and fillers from Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and US.  I typically like the combination of Broadleaf and Cameroon, this is an interesting blend. The first time I smoked this my wife commented on the aroma, which she characterized as fruity.  This is consistent with what I perceived as the dominant flavor, which I called citrus.  I struggled to gut much else around the citric tang, it was a good cigar, performed well, and certainly was unique. I smoked a couple of these (before and after dental work) and had the same experience.  On paper I’d expect this to be a cigar for me, in practice, while it was a good cigar, I’m just not sure about the dominant citrus flavor. This just might be me, as Kevin said he didn’t get that from this cigar.

 

New from Forged Cigars is the La Gloria Cubana Corojo de Oro.   Last year they had the Criollo de Oro, with a hybrid of Criollo and Pelo de Oro tobaccos. This has a hybrid of Corojo and Pelo de Oro (I think that means “golden hair”, it’s a narrow leaf if I remember correctly from my visit to the Garcia’s farm in 2011).  I’m much more a fan of Corojo than Criollo, and I liked the Corojo de Oro much more than the Criollo de Oro.  This was a 6″ x 50 toro, with a Ecuador Habano wrapper, the hybrid tobacco as the binder, and Brazilian Mata Fina, Dominican Piloto and Nicaraguan Ometepe in the filler blend. I found this to be a well balanced cigar, with some sweet earth, and some spice.  I’m not sure how many La Gloria Cubana marques there are now, I like a lot of them (the Serie S was a miss for me, and I love San Andrés), but it just seems like I don’t see many of them in stores. 

 

Finally, I tried a new Macanudo Inspirado, the Tercio-aged.  Tercio refers to the practice of wrapping the bales in palm bark to age as opposed to burlap.  In this case, the Dominican Piloto Cubano filler component is aged in Tercio, while (because they mention that specifically and omit the rest), the San Andrés wrapper, Indonesian binder and Columbian fillers are aged in burlap bales. For me, this cigar was a great representation of the concept of body vs. strength. The flavors were very interesting, some baking spice, sweet earth (again) and some pepper spice.  The smoke was very thin, not a lot of body, but the flavor was there.  It was a little strange, and I’ll have to revisit this again. Maybe it was just me.  I liked the cigar overall, might me my 4th favorite Inspirado (another line with a lot of extensions!). 

 

That’s more than enough for me today. Next Sunday may be tricky, as we are taking a weekend road trip. Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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by | April 3, 2022 · 10:41 am

Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua, Aladino Vintage and Punch Rare Corojo Cigars

I had an interesting week, so I smoked some interesting cigars, at least to me. I had a situation which required fasting, so I smoked a Perla Del Mar Connecticut which was really quite good, and after breaking the fast, I had a Diamond Crown, keeping it in the family, and also fairly mild! But let’s start with the Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua in the Vibrato size. This is a 6″ x 54 box pressed toro with a dark Nicaraguan Sumatra wrapper. It’s a puro, all Nicaraguan. This cigar was in a sampler I received at the TPE show from the Altadis USA booth. There were some Upmann and Romeo cigars in there too. I think it’s weird that this size isn’t lists on the Altadis website, so maybe it’s new.  As folks who have followed along may recall, my preferences don’t generally favor Altadis products, with some exceptions, notably the cigars made by A.J. Fernandez, and the occasional Montecristo here and there. I’m not entirely sure why this is, it just is. Different strokes, I guess. Anyway, this one was exceptional. It was CA’s cigar of the year in 2019, I guess, and I remember smoking it back then, but this one was much better, darker, more rich and dense. There was a sweetness, which I attribute to the Sumatra. I enjoyed this cigar so much more than I remember liking the cigar of the year when I smoking it in early 2020. The size was to my liking as well.

 

Friday evening one of the cigars I smoked while working at Son’s was an Aladino Vintage Selection Elegante, which is the 7″ x 38 lancero. For some reason I was in a Lancero mood. It seems that the interruptions, interactions, et cetera, involved in smoking while working retail lend themselves nicely to the pacing required to the enjoyment of a lancero. At least for me. This cigar has a Habano wrapper, and, unlike the next cigar I’m going to talk about, has Corojo binder and fillers. Of course, the Eiroa family is well known for Corojo tobacco. I can’t tell you how many Camacho Corojos I smoked back in the early 2000’s. This was a very good smoke, again with a hint of sweetness, but overall just good, clean tobacco goodness. Even after having smoked a very good Oliva Masterblend 3, not nearly as good as they used to be, by the way, the Aladino Lancero was excellent. I think it smoked for nearly 2 hours. 

 

Yesterday I smoked the new Punch Rare Corojo Aristocrat. The funny thing about this cigar has always been, despite the name, it has never had any Corojo tobacco in the blend. It has an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper, Connecticut Broadleaf binder and Nicaraguan, Honduran and Dominican fillers. I never could figure out why they called it Rare Corojo, obviously the Corojo is so rare in this cigar that it’s non-existent! Let’s talk about the size of this cigar for a minute. It’s a 6 1/8” x 40/54 figurado. The press release says “This special size was originally made at the Villazon factory, commissioned by Frank Llaneza who founded Punch in Honduras. Frank made what he referred to as a baseball bat-size cigar for Red Auerbach and Art Rooney, two sports legends.” It reminds me of the Cuban Partagas Presidente, but I looked it up and that’s only a 47 ring gauge, and an eighth of an inch longer. I love the size and shape. I also love the flavor, and always have enjoyed the Rare Corojos, despite the name thing. That hint of sweetness from the Sumatra that I love, and it builds in strength. I dig it.

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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by | November 21, 2021 · 11:07 am

Alec and Bradley Blind Faith, Perla Del Mar Corojo Toro and Platinum Nova Corona Cigars

While we were driving home from South Carolina a few weeks back we took a rest stop at the JRs in Selma, NC. It’s been a few years since we were there, it’s downsized a bit. We were expecting to shop for some bed linens, alas that part of the business is gone, and it’s just a tobacco store. Right inside the door of the cigar department was a large area of stuff marked down 50% off. I immediately rescued a partial box of Sobremesa, and a box of RomaCraft Intemperance. I was told that it was stock from another store that had closed. Upon catching wind of my purchase, Saka (who, by the way, for some reason hasn’t bothered to share any of my Stillwell Star posts, while sharing other content creators work, I thought we were friends…I’m not mad, just disappointed) put his people on JRs about this. My assumption is that he has an agreement with his accounts that he’d rather buy back inventory than have it discounted. I just wanted to spare him the indignity of having it on the discount rack (and get a killer deal on some Short Churchills!). This is all a lot of words leading into talking about the Alec and Bradley Blind Faith. My wife was actually suggesting I buy a box of these, and I didn’t want to without having smoked a few. I know it’s a ridiculous problem to have, and sounds like bragging, but I’m pretty strapped for storage space. I had to shoehorn the little box of Intemperance in, no way I’d fit a box of A&B. Anyway, I bought a couple singles, and I smoked one this week. It’s weird, you know, I went into it hoping I didn’t love the cigar and kick myself for not listening to my wife! When your wife tells you to buy a box of cigars you should do it, right? Anyway, this has a Honduran wrapper, Honduran/Nicaraguan double binder and NIcaraguan fillers, made at Raices Cubanas in Honduras. I would have tolerated having a box in the humidor, but I’m not kicking myself for walking away, let’s put it that way. It’s a good smoke, tasty. Nothing wrong with the burn and draw, nice presentation, and it’s a shame that these were on the discount rack. Honestly, there was a LOT of stuff that was in that area that shouldn’t have been. I could have gone broke, but I’d have had to go back to using coolers for storage. 

 

Last year J.C.Newman re-packaged the Perla Del Mar line, and introduced the Corojo to the mix. Late this year they added the Toro to the Corojo family. I’ve long been a fan of the Maduro, but the Corojo might be my new favorite.  This line is another great example of how the wrapper changes the flavor of the cigar. They use the same blend across all three lines, with only the wrapper changing, so smoke all three to get an idea of what the wrapper adds. In the case of the Corojo, which covers Nicaraguan binder and filler, by the way, it adds an almost candy sweetness, as opposed to a dark chocolate sweetness in the case of the maduro. It’s a terrific cigar, well made, nicely box pressed, I just wish they had been a little more creative with the band, the old one was prettier, the new one makes me think of another cigar company. It’s a great cigar and well priced, so screw the band, I’m a fan.

 

Last night my wife and I went to the movies, probably the first time in nearly two years. The dine-in feature was sub-par, had to order at the bar and food was served in takeout containers, whether that’s life in the pandemic world or life in the short-staffed world, I’m not sure. Call me old fashioned, but if I’m asked to put a gratuity on my check up front without knowing what kind of service I’m going to get, I’m going to tip conservatively. Maybe that works against me? I have no way of knowing. The food was pretty good though, and the movie was entertaining (discount tickets). We got home and I hung out on the porch to watch the last period of the Flyers game with a Platinum Nova Corona from the 2020 TPE. I’ve been passing by these because they are fairly small for me, but it was late, and I didn’t want to be up all night. This is a (ridiculously) expensive cigar, at $23, it’s a pigtail capped 5″ x 43 Ecuador H2000 wrapped cigar with Dominican Piloto Cubano binder and Dominican fillers. The cigar ended up being good for nearly an hour and a half, but I had to relight it a few time. It had a definite floral flavor, nearly perfumy. I rarely get this flavor, it’s not one I’m particularly fond of. I smoked an Undercrown 10 earlier in the day that was more to my liking, much less flowery. It’s not that I didn’t like it, it’s just that it’s not one I’d gravitate to on a regular basis. not offensive, not bad, just not me. 

 

That’s more than enough from me today. What do you all think about doing a CigarCraig.com Secret Santa again?  Weigh in in the comments. If we get more than one person I’ll make it happen! Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig 

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by | June 2, 2019 · 9:54 am

A Couple of CLE Cigars, Villiger La Vencedora Churchill and Joya de Nicaragua

Last week when I was at Goose’s in Limerick I picked up some CLE cigars I hadn’t tried before, the Prieto and the Corojo, in the Toro size. Christian Eiroa is another one of those guy who was a regular in the alt.smokers.cigars Usenet group back in the ’90s, so I’ve known him a long time. That being said, I’ve bought every cigar made by him or his family I’ve ever smoked, going back to the Camacho days. Not complaining, just saying that I always pick up a few of Christian’s cigars when I see them to give them a try, as he’s an old friend and I try to keep up with what he’s doing. That being said, I haven’t really found a CLE cigar that’s hit my palate right yet. I’m going to go a little bit backwards in today’s post and talk about last night’s cigar first, the CLE Corojo Toro. This was a surprise, because I really expected to like this cigar, like I loved the Camacho Corojo of old. Oddly, is had a metallic component to it that I just couldn’t wrap my palate around. It brought to mind the same experience I had with the CLE Corojo from the original 2014 release (I had bought some at Corona Cigars during the 2014 IPCPR show). I suppose if this is something you like in a cigar, and I guess a lot of people do because they seem to sell a lot of them, it’s a great cigar, and there was nothing wrong with the construction. It’ll just have to be a pass for me, not my cup of tea.

 

I had better luck with the CLE Prieto Toro a few days prior. This one is a box pressed Broadleaf cigar, what can go wrong with that?  Again, the Prieto had a beautiful burn. The flavor was what one expects, some coffee, some cocoa, all pretty good. Here’s the thing though, I expected to be really impressed and I was just mildly impressed, ya know? I Know what I liked from the old days of what Christian did, and I really like many of the Asylum offerings (admittedly, I have not tried any of the 70 or 80 ring gauge cigars save for one Ogre, which was quite good although obscenely large). Maybe I expect too much, or perhaps my palate just isn’t in tune with what Christian is going for with his CLE line. I just haven’t found the right one for my palate. I have an Eiroa  The First 20 in the humidor on deck, maybe that will be the one that trips my trigger!  I like the presentation of the line, the tissue paper sleeve over cello is a classy touch, and offers some protection over nothing at all. Christian is vehemently anti-cellophane, but the market requires some barrier between the consumer and the leaf, so the paper is a nice compromise.

 

Next up are two cigars that are made at the Joya de Nicaragua factory in Esteli, first being the Villiger La Vencedora. This isn’t a new brand, it’s been around since last year. It was billed as Villiger’s first full bodied offering, which may or may not be true, I thought the Trill was on the fuller side of medium, but that’s all pretty subjective anyway.  The La Vencedora is one of my favorites in the line, although the new La Meridiana is gaining ground. I recently received some Churchills from Villiger and had to give one a try (although, I’m quite sure I’ve smoked this size before). I like a Churchill, although this is a 7″ x 50, that’s OK, I like this size too. (a Churchill is 7″ x 47 traditionally, everyone takes liberties with the names). This is a good, stronger cigar that I find quite satisfying. There’s a nice spice from the Habano Oscuro wrapper grown in Nicaragua. It is a NIcaraguan puro, so the spice is consistent throughout, and it has the espresso flavors I like too.  This is a nice long smoke and one that I find enjoyable.

 

Finally, I smoked the new Joya de Nicaragua Seleccion de Torcedor Exclusivo de TAA.  This is what Joya has to say about this program:

Inside our factory, you will find a dedicated group of people working passionately to deliver the best-handcrafted cigars. Our team focus is to always create, always improve. As a result of this commitment, we are introducing Selección de Torcedor, a new program that we are launching this 2019 through our good friends at TAA.

From now on, every year, Joya de Nicaragua’s torcedores will select a special blend and size. After that, it will be shared with a selected group of retailers around the world. To give our friends overseas a piece of what our torcedores are working on the factory floor thrills us.

Also, this program will work as a way to know the acceptance of the product by consumers. If it turns out to be well received, we will certainly make this special blend into a regular one.

The blend in 2019’s Selección de Torcedor is a very approachable smoke, smooth yet flavorful. With the selection of tobacco, this cigar unquestionably reflects the historic ties between Nicaragua and the US.

“We are very excited that consumers in the US will enjoy Dr. Cuenca’s favorite vitola with a rare piece that we’ve been working at the factory for quite a few years. I’m sure they’ll enjoy this 6×52 toro. As much, as we do in the factory.” – Said Mario Pérez, JDN’s Factory Manager.

This an interesting cigar in that it isn’t the strong blend of the Antaño at all, it’s on the milder side, but loaded with flavor.  It’s rich and quite tasty, and, of course, the size is perfect.  If you can get your hands on these, they are well worth trying!

 

That’s all I have today, I’ve got a lot to do and little time to do it in!  More stormy weather is expected and one cant cut the grass in a thunderstorm! Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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