Tag Archives: Epic

by Craig Vanderslice | October 9, 2022 · 10:02 am

Epic, La Sirena and Brickhouse Cigars

There was a lot of news last week, and I didn’t get to most of them, but one I wanted to touch on was from Scandinavian Tobacco Group, STG, owner of General and Forged Cigars and. Cigars International. The press release was announcing an exclusive with Southern Draw, but what I found interesting was that this was the first time I had heard of Cigora, as explained below:

About Cigora
Launched in August 2022, Cigora is an exclusive cigar community and ecommerce site that represents the future of cigars online. With a clean, modern aesthetic, the site includes a robust online forum with informative content, unique discussion boards, and an ecommerce section that features top-shelf cigars as well as rare, limited-edition releases from brands including but not limited to Davidoff, Ashton, Tatuaje, Viaje and others. A rewards program, invitation-only virtual events and exclusive members-only content round out the site’s wide range of offerings.Cigora is open to all consumers of legal smoking age.

I don’t have a problem with this, I just find it curious that I hadn’t heard about it. Maybe it’s all over the Cigarworld forums, which is General’s online presence. Does Cigora replace Cigarworld? It’s hard to tell. I see some familiar names in the forum, so I’m not sure how this escaped my notice. That being said, I’m terrible about participating in website based forums! Still, it’s something I’ll explore.

Let’s get to the cigars! After a couple of trade show samples that I just didn’t like, I tried a new-to-me cigar from Dean Parsons’ Epic Cigars. Dean gave me this one at the TPE show, it’s the Epic Police 299, which is an homage to his police service in Canada. The 299 is his regimental number in the department. The cigar is made inthe DR, has a Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper, Cameroon binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. It’s a 6½” x 54 cigar. I like that size, it’s a wonder it lasted this long in the humidor. This was a terrific cigar. I am a fan of the Epic Maduros, and the San Andrés, and this was a nice addition to the line. I got some espresso, and dark fruits, and it burned very well. It was a nice recovery from a couple not-so-good cigars the night before.

I finally had the right amount of time yesterday to smoke the new addition to the La Sirena Mexican Mermaid line, the 4×54. Any guesses what size it is? They skipped the large band on this one, going with just the small band that they usually put under the big one. I really like the Mexican Mermaid blend, it suits my palate perfectly. It’s unlike other San Andrés blends in that it’s a little meatier I think. I liked this new size, better than the “Lancero”, which is more of a lonsdale, but not quite as much as the Toro. That might change as I will certainly try to sample more of these in the future. It’s a nice little size.

Finally, it’s Bricktoberfest this month, and J.C. Newman has come out with a special Bricktoberfest 2022 Brick House cigar, a pigtailed 6″ x 52 cigar, a limited edition with a Nicaraguan wrapper from Jalapa and dual binders from Estelí and Condega over Nicaraguan fillers. The are running a promotion where if you buy 7 cigars you get a boot-shaped beer glass, which they erroneously call “Das Boot”. Of course, in German, Das Boot means “The Boat”. It should be “der Stiefel”, but the boot shaped glasses have a long history for some reason. Some stories about military hazings involving drinking beer out of an actual boot or something. The cigar was quite good, and I like the Brick House line, especially the maduro. I found it quite enjoyable, it’s a fairly straightforward cigar, but what it has tastes good to the end.

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

CigarCraig

Comments Off on Epic, La Sirena and Brickhouse Cigars

Filed under News, Review

Tagged as Brickhouse, Bricktoberfest, cigar, cigars, Cigora, Epic, J.C.Newman, JC, La Sirena, Mexican Mermaid, Police 299

by Craig Vanderslice | February 3, 2022 · 8:39 pm

TPE2022: Epic Cigars and Nat Cicco Cigars

Here’s another little video from last week’s Tobacco Plus Expo. I hadn’t seen Dean Parsons for a while, since he sold his company to Nat Cicco and went to work for them. I also had never smoked a Nat Cicco cigar until just tonight. I selected the Liga No. 4 in the Aniversario 1965 line. This was a square pressed Toro with a closed foot and a pigtail cap and a dark Ecuador Habano wrapper. It was a beautiful cigar with some strength and loads of dark, rich flavor. It was chocolaty, earthy with some spice, right up my alley. It was a really beautiful cigar, and I really enjoyed it. I’ve known Dean since 2014 and enjoyed many of his Epic cigars. It was great seeing him at this show.

I hope you enjoy my video content. It was challenging doing it alone, without a cameraman, but I think I was able to pull it off. If you’ve watched the evolution of my video coverage I hope there’s been some improvement over the years. It’s not my main focus, but I try to at least make them audible. I have a couple more to feed in over the next couple weeks. Stay tuned.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

Comments Off on TPE2022: Epic Cigars and Nat Cicco Cigars

Filed under Review, TPE, Video

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Epic, Nat Cicco, TPE, Zander-Gregg

by Craig Vanderslice | April 18, 2021 · 10:06 am

An Epic Habano Lancero, a Havana Q and Cigar Socks

Earlier in the week I was hunting around for something to smoke and I took a rummage through the lancero section of the humidor and came across a couple Epic Habano Lanceros. I have a handful of Epic Lanceros I’ve picked up over the years, and really enjoy them. They are made in the same factory in the DR that makes Kristoff cigars, who really isn’t known for that vitola, although I think they do have a few. Their Lanceros are 7½” x 40, and are loaded with flavor. It’s woody, spicy with some sweetness and overall a great smoke. I enjoy the Maduro the most in the Epic line, but this Habano is really nice. I have to look, I might have a Corojo too, I know I have some Maduro Lanceros (I have several different band designs as they changed over the years). I hope since Dean has sold the brand (but is still involved) that nothing changes, because the cigars have always been really good.

J.C.Newman sent me some of their Havana Q cigars to try recently, so I’ve smoked a few lately. This is a sub-$3 cigar made in Nicaragua. I’ll be right upfront in admitting that I have become a bit of a snob when it comes to cigars. I generally smoke one a day, and I want that one to be decent one. I have stayed away from “cheap” cigars unless I’m doing a task in the yard or something where having a cigar will reduce the profanities (I could have used one earlier in the day yesterday!). A cigar to me is a reward after a day’s work, usually, not something I need to get through the day. That being said, I’m atypical, and some people like to have cigars throughout the day, and inexpensive cigars like the Havana Q are a great option. I found this to be a fairly mild cigar, and slow burning for what I suspect to be mixed filler. It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers. The resealable “humidor” bag packaging is nice for the casual smoker, toss a Boveda pack in and you’re good, or smoke them up in a week or two, whatever your custom. Bottom line is, I’ve had far worse cigars for more cash.

Let’s talk about socks for a few minutes. I got another new item from my friends at Groovy Groomsmen Gifts, this time it’s some cigar themed socks. They have a couple styles actually, among their large sock selection. Back in 1987 when I got married, I got my groomsmen some beer mugs, because, believe it or not, I was more into beer then that cigars, although we did smoke some cigars at the wedding reception (don’t ask what, they weren’t premium). If I were doing it now, you’d better believe I’d be outfitting my groomsmen in these “Smoke Stacks” socks from Groovy Groomsmen Gifts! I’d be wearing them with my custom Vans, and probably a cigar themed bow tie and cumberbund (are they back in style yet?) Groovy Groomsmen Gifts, and Groovy Guy Gifts, have a lot of nice cigar related accessories, if you are in need of customized gifts, give them a look.

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

CigarCraig

1 Comment

Filed under Review

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Epic, Groovy Groomsmen Gifts, Habano, Havana Q, J.C.Newman, Socks

by Craig Vanderslice | January 24, 2021 · 10:24 am

A L’Atelier La Mission 1959 and Other Various Cigars

I had ordered a A L’Atelier La Mission 1959 from Scotty’s Cigars last week (unfortunately they only had one left in stock or I would have gotten more), and I’ve been trying to smoke some of the cigars on Cigar Aficionado’s list that I hadn’t smoked before. I must have smoked another La Mission somewhere along the line before, as I found a band while wading through thousands of bands for my wife who is working on a cigar band table project. More on that as it nears completion. I will say that going through all the bands I’ve saved it’s pretty amazing to see what cigars I’ve smoked. Some I don’t remember! I find a band and think, what the hell is this?

The L’Atelier La Mission 1959 is a 4¾” x 52 box pressed robusto-ish cigar with a pigtail cap. It has a San Andrés wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers and is made at the My Father factory in Esteli. I had originally selected another cigar that was a toro size, as I thought that I wanted a longer cigar (as I usually do). To my great disappointment, when I checked the internal humidity with my Humidimeter, it had arrived a little on the humider (not a word, I know) side than I’d like, so I decided to let it (all three measured the same, by the way, and were the only these in the shipment of ten cigars that were high) sit in the humidor to dry out for a while. The Humidimeter has saved me from disappointment on many occasions. It turns out that the La Mission 1959 ended up burning for well over an hour and fifteen minutes, filling the time I had allotted for a cigar perfectly, allowing me to watch the Flyers game inside on the TV instead of on the iPad (it turned out to be a horrific game, my time would have been better spent having another cigar and playing solitaire). The La Mission 1959 was awesome. It has some strength, with rich cocoa and some spice, but it’s refined. I very much enjoyed it and it’s certainly worthy of mention on the CA list. I just wish Scotty’s had more in stock when I made my purchase!

Funny enough, a few of my cigar selections over the last few days were predicated on my wife’s table project, and her being short a band and it being easier for me to smoke a cigar rather than sifting through years worth of bands. At one time it was like archaeology, I put them in a vase, and based on the layers, if I had an idea when I smoked a cigar I could find a band. I’d periodically dump the vase, bag up the bands on the bottom, and try to maintain the integrity of the timeline. This project has disrupted the dig, and the spoils pile is all over the place. I’ve found bands from 15 years ago near bands from last week. It’s ridiculous. I don’t know what to do any more. I may have to start writing the date on the back of each band. The has been a small glimpse into my cigar pathology. That being said I smoked an Epic Corojo and a Freyja Valhalla that were outstanding. I need to find more Freyjas, they seem to be rare these days. There used to be a couple of local sources that had them, I’ll have to check around. Epic, of course, is now under the Zander-Greg company, but I only have a bunch of old cigars hanging around. I don’t expect they’ve changed, I believe they are still produced in the same factory, the factory that Kristoff Cigars are made in.

That’s about all for today. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

1 Comment

Filed under Review

Tagged as 1959, cigar, cigars, Epic, Freyja, L'Atelier, La Mission

by Craig Vanderslice | December 1, 2019 · 12:07 pm

An Epic Maduro, A Cohiba and a Couple of Joyas and a Rant

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and had plenty to eat and adequate cigars! I took some along to the feast I attended, but it was too windy and cold to enjoy one, so I waited until I got home and enjoyed an Ashton VSG on the porch. I usually reach for a classic cigar of some sort on days such as this, and after spending over five hours in the car and a long day of eating, the VSG was a delightful end to a long day. Because of the holiday it was a slow news week, and I was lazy about a midweek post, so I slacked off this week. Let’s make up for it today. Early in the week I dug deep in the humidor and pulled out one of the original Epic Maduro Double Coronas from my stash of Epic cigars. I knew it was an old one because it only had the Epic band, no second band with the “maduro” designation. Oddly, the website incorrectly lists the Double Corona as 5″ x 54, when it’s clearly 6″, Dean will need to look into that. This maduro is a Brazilian Arapiraca, over a Cameroon binder with Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers made in the Charles Fairmorn Factory in the DR, the same factory that makes Kristoff cigars. I think the Cameroon binder is one of the things that makes me love this cigar, I’m drawn to maduros with a Cameroon binder, Cro-Magnon immediately comes to mind. Age has been kind to this cigar, it was smooth, rich, with coffee and sweetness and some earthiness. According to Dean Parsons, Epic Cigars have been in “10x production” and have something new planned for 2020. I’m excited as I’ve never met an Epic cigar I didn’t enjoy!

Also this week I smoked a Cohiba Connecticut again. I had listened to Sean Williams on a podcast and he talked about this cigar and I realized I hadn’t smoked it in a long time, so I thought I’d smoke one. Funny thing is I had hung out with both Sean and Dean at a shop in Philly a few years back, before Sean was with General Cigars, I hadn’t made that connection until just now. Anyway, I like their idea of a Robusto, it’s 5½” x 50, and it has an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper, San Andrés binder and the fillers are Brazilian Matafina, Jalapa, Nicaragua and Piloto Cubano and Olor from the DR. I actually found this to be almost off-puttingly strong to start! Maybe my expectation of a mild cigar was the problem, but it just seemed overly powerful. It settled down, and was very good. It isn’t a mild cigar, it has some oomph, but it does have the creamy, grassy flavor of the Ecuador Connecticut. Overall it was a very good, satisfying cigar and, of course, the construction was spot on, and for a $16 stick, it certainly should be, heck, and $8 cigar should be constructed right, or a $4 cigar for that matter. If it isn’t made right, what’s the point? In another website gripe, Cohiba needs to update their website.

Let’s take a break and let me get something off my chest. Long time reader Bob L. brought up a great point on a Facebook group yesterday regarding the etiquette behind using a product I’ve promoted here on my site. I feel that since I’ve used the product and endorsed it, I should weigh in here in more detail than I did in response to his post. Bob’s question was, more or less (I was going to quote it verbatim, but the post must have been deleted from the facebook group because I can’t find any reference to it!), is it appropriate to use the Cigarmedics HumidiMeter on a cigar in a store before you buy it? The short answer is “NO”, but I think some common sense reasoning and explanation is in order. After you buy the cigar it’s yours to do with as you please, but once you stick the probes of the Cigarmedics HumidiMeter in the cigar it belongs to you in my opinion. You’ve “broken the seal” by penetrating the cigar, no different from licking it or cutting it. In that thread there was some discussion of the utility of the tool in general, bruoght up by Skip Martin, who made some valid points. It’s important to know that this tool should be used to set a baseline. Different blends will smoke better at different moisture contents. It takes a while to get to know the acceptable range where generally cigars can be expected to perform well. Too wet and too dry should stick out like a sore thumb. Remember, as nice a tool as the HumidiMeter is, it’s a consumer item and is inexpensive, it’s not a lab grade instrument like Saka has, and Saka knows what absolute moisture level each one of his blends (he would say “ligas”), should be to smoke right. Also keep in mind that the HumidiMeter converts the absolute moisture number to a Relative Humidity equivalent number that we can relate to our humidors. This is all going a long way to say not to use the HumidiMeter in a store before you buy a cigar!

OK, The last two cigars I smoked were, once again, from my friends at Joya de Nicaragua. It seems like just last week I included a pair of Joyas in my Sunday Post, in actuality, it was. For some reason, some Joya de Nicaragua Numero Uno L’Ambassadeur ended up in my humidor, and I really needed to smoke one. This was originally the Number 1, only available as an event only cigar, or, before that, as a diplomatic gift for ambassadors from Nicaragua. It’s a Lonsdale with a fantail cap, measuring 6 5/8″ x 44, and has an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper over Nicaraguan fillers, just like the Joya de Nicaragua Classico. These are not a cheap date either, and come in a beautiful blue lacquer box. Like the above mentioned Cohiba, also not inexpensive, this is a Connecticut cigar with some strength and loads of flavor. Skip the narrow ring gauge, wrapper to filler ration BS, smoked slower, this was a smooth as silk smoke, creamy, elegant with enough spice to keep it interesting. Super yummy, and deserving of the accolades it’s received, and many thanks to my friends at JdN for sharing these with me!

Finally, I decided to give the Joya Black another try. Since these came out I wanted to like them. It has a San Andrés wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and filler, what’s not to like, right? It’s always perplexed me why I didn’t love this cigar. OK, the first few I smoked I struggled with poor draws, tight, either over-humidified, or over-filled, not sure which. I let them sit in the humidor for a long time, smoked some from different batches, couldn’t really get any flavor. I decided to give one another go, this time in the Double Robusto shape, 5″ x 56. Draw was perfect, burn was perfect, it was either very mild, or there just wasn’t a lot of flavor. I remain perplexed. There is a sour note when I do get some flavor, and it just doesn’t seem to be a cigar I enjoy very much. I don’t get it. This is a real scratcher for me. I should absolutely love this cigar, it’s from Joya, it’s got the right components, what the heck? I the “Joya” series, I really like the Silver and Cabinetta, and I’m pretty apathetic about the Red, and the one that should be at the top of my list based upon my overall likes, is at the bottom. Weird stuff, man.