Tag Archives: Epicurean

by | March 4, 2015 · 10:54 pm

A Mia Dora, a CAO Cigar, a Psyko Seven, a Epicurean, a Jingle and Conan in Cuba

Emilio_Mia Dora_RobustoI received a nice bunch of cigars from Gary Griffith of The House of Emilio this week which included some new coronas from some of the great companies in their stable, as well as a couple of the Emilio Mia Dora robustos. I had one I picked up at an event a few months back that I had been waiting for the right time to smoke and figured now tat I had a couple more, the moment was Sunday.   This cigar is a 5″ x 50 robusto with a Habano wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and filler.  The cigar is a tribute to Gary’s fiancé, Dora.  The cigar smoked very well, producing copious amounts of smoke and a savory flavor. Much like Gary’s Draig line, there is a distictive charred meat flavor to my palate.  I look forward to sampling this cigar again.

 

CAO_Area9_VT6Monday I grabbed another cigar from the CAO Area 9 collection, the VT6. This collection of six cigars are all from the original CAO lines which have been in storage for anywhere from five to twenty years, and could be anything CAO made during that time period. I know I had smoked this cigar before, and have a feeling it may have been a Gold Vintage. I was a slightly box pressed toro with what looked to me like a darker Ecuador Connecticut wrapper, and had a sourness that I don’t particularly appreciate in a cigar.  It burned reasonable well, and was certainly well aged.  This is a fun sampler, the only cigar that one can identify by appearance alone looks to be a CAO America, which I don’t think I’ve ever smoked.  I grab one every now and then when I am feeling experimental.

 

PsykoSeven_RobustoTuesday I selected a cigar I’ve wanted to revisit since I first smoked it over a year ago when I sat in on the Cigar Authority show. I only got to smoke about half the cigar during the show, and I wanted to finish it, but the second half got cleaned up in the aftermath of the show.  I came by one at the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival and was very happy. This robusto is a generous 5½ x 50, and features a primary band that covers the majority of the cigar, which a secondary normal band underneath so you don’t forget what you are smoking. The cigar is buttery smooth, and has a very pleasing mellow flavor. I really enjoyed the heck out of this milder cigar, it’s got a Dominican Hybrid wrapper, Mexican Sumatra binder and multi-country blend in the filler.  There seem to be some terrific cigars coming from Ventura Cigars, and I think this is one of them.

 

Epicurean_Carnavale_Petete CoronaTonight I dipped into the cigars from Gary Griffith and selected a petite corona from Steve Ysidron’s Epicurean Carnavale line. I was looking for a fairly quick smoke, and this seemed to be the smallest of the selection.  This cigar is listed in several outlets, both media and retail, as 5½” x 48, and is most definitely not, even with the box press, it’s a 40 ring gauge if anything.  It is a really comfortable and elegant size, much like a short lancero. There can be no mistake that this was the petite corona as it said so on the barcode sticker. this cigar was probably my favorite of the week so far, and the Psyko Seven set the bar pretty high. It had a nice sweetness that was a nice digestif to the Fish and Chips dinner I had at a nearby brewhouse. The burn and draw were perfect and is smoked longer than I anticipated, as evidenced by the late hour this edition will be posting. I can’t think of an Epicurean Cigar that I didn’t really like, and this is the best of the bunch.

 

Today my wife presented me with a jingle she had made for me through a site called Fiverr, and I think her $5 was money well spent. Here it is with a video visualization.

 

httpv://youtu.be/P6HYezkmeto

Tonight on TBS is Conan O’Brien’s Cuba show which could be quite interesting.  Conan is a laugh riot, and I try to stay awake late enough to watch the show. I have the DVR set just in case. I thought it was funny when the show’s twitter account followed me today (@TeamCoco), then I received an e-mail with a list of links to the show segments in my e-mail. I guess it’s pretty cool that they sought out my site, it shows that my Google ranking isn’t too awfully bad, I guess! If you miss it tonight, here’s the list of links they sent:

“Conan In Cuba” Open

http://teamcoco.com/video/conan-in-cuba-open

CONAN Highlight: Watch the first four minutes of Conan O’Brien’s one-man mission to meet the Cuban people and make some friends.  (live now. Worldwide)

More from tonight’s show (TBS 11/10c) – live 5:30 am ET:

Conan Joins A Cuban Salsa Band

https://teamcoco.com/node/88071

Conan learns the importance of the Cuban clave beat and wows the band with his 8th grade Spanish skills. (live 5:30am ET. Worldwide)

Conan Takes A Cuban Spanish Lesson

https://teamcoco.com/node/88072

Thanks to Maestra Yolanda, Conan masters the Spanish tongue twister about three sad tigers. (live 5:30am ET. Worldwide)

Conan Visits The Havana Club Rum Museum

https://teamcoco.com/node/88073

Conan learns the rich history of Cuban rum before tasting a flight of Havana Club’s best with his guide Gretel. (live 5:30am ET. Worldwide)

Conan Learns To Dance Cuban Rumba

https://teamcoco.com/node/88074

Dancing is a huge part of Cuban culture, inspiring Conan to take an intensive lesson to master the erotic rumba. (live5:30am ET. Worldwide)

Conan Visits Havana’s El Malecón

https://teamcoco.com/node/88075

Conan makes friends with Cuban youth on the famous waterfront promenade, and picks up a few bad habits… (live5:30am ET. Worldwide)

Conan’s Havana Rooftop Sunset

https://teamcoco.com/node/88076

Conan admires Central Havana at the end of the day, and imagines how CNN would report on it. (live 5:30am ET. Worldwide)

Conan Visits A Cuban Cigar Factory

https://teamcoco.com/node/88077

Conan tries his hand at rolling La Corona cigars, but unfortunately his stogies just don’t measure up. (live 5:30am ET. Worldwide)

Conan Dines At A Cuban Paladar

https://teamcoco.com/node/88078

Conan enjoys authentic Cuban cuisine at a paladar, a family-run restaurant located in a private home. (live 5:30am ET. Worldwide)

Conan Says Goodbye To Cuba

https://teamcoco.com/node/88092

Conan recounts the wonderful time he had in Cuba and the amazing people he met. (live 5:30am ET. Worldwide)

That’s more than enough for now. I was going to tell a story about my first major cigar herf experience, but I’ll save that for another post.

 

Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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by | October 30, 2013 · 6:54 am

IPCPR 2013 – Epicurean Cigars, Gonzo Vintage 2007 and AG Azul Vintage 2008

Sunday afternoon I found myself browsing the expansive humidor of the Cigar-ette City store in Peoples Plaza shopping center in Newark , Delaware. This is the flagship store of the Delaware Cigars chain which is managed by Emilio Cigars’ Gary Griffith. Jim was working in the humidor and was very helpful and knowledgeable. This humidor is stacked to the rafters with just about everything you could imagine. It would be no problem to stock the humidors of the three or four stores closest to my home fully and still have a great stock left over. They had a full compliment of the Liga Privada Serie Unicos on hand (I can’t remember if I saw Dirty Rats…I’m sure they were there), as well as what looked like full lines from Don Pepin, Tatuaje, etc, etc. It’s an overwhelming selection one could easily go broke quickly. I selected a handful of cigars, including some Emilio AF1 and 2 coronas, a La Musa Melete, and a few of the Gonzo Vintage 2007 Lanceros from Epicurean Cigars. Since I had a few hours to kill, and the state of Delaware bans ALL indoor smoking, even in cigar shops, I pulled a folding chair out of the car and sat on the sidewalk in front of the store to enjoy a cigar.

 

Epicurean Gonzo_LanceroThe cigar I chose was one of the Epicurean Gonzo Vintage 2007 Lanceros. I’m kicking myself a little for not getting a robusto or two to sample, because this box pressed lancero was a terrific smoke. For my palate, Connecticut Broadleaf over a San Andrés binder is a double whammy flavor explosion, and this perfectly built panatela was as rich, dark and flavorful as I had hoped. I’m glad I got two, and I’m glad Gary had just sent me one recently. I’m salivating thinking about it, and may just smoke another one this week. I must make a point to sample more sizes, perhaps they will be a little less expensive here in Pennsylvania. Two thumbs up on this one. This is a cigar that is right up my alley, perfect in every regard, burn, draw, flavor and appearance.

 

After I packed up my impromptu sidewalk cigar lounge, I headed back to the university where my wife was busy doing some research, and parked my butt on a bench and lit up an Emilio AF1 Corona. You may recall in my last post I wondered out loud if one existed and lo and behold it did! I snagged a couple, and I do believe I liked the AF2 better in the corona size than the Broadleaf wrapped AF1. For me I think the AF1 works better in the larger ring gauge. I’ll let the other ones I bought sit in the humidor for a little bit too. Maybe the wrapper overpowered the filler on this one, I don’t know, I just felt like the toro version suited me better. Not that I didn’t enjoy the heck out of it, I certainly did!

 

Epicurean AG Azul_ToroMonday evening I pulled one of the other Epicurean cigars that Gary had sent me, the AG Azul Vintage 2008 in the toro size. This is a nicely presented cigar with a shiny foil band and a cedar sleeve hiding a flawless sun-grown Ecuador Habano wrapper. This has a Honduran binder and Nicaraguan fillers from Esteli and Jalapa . I found this cigar to be on the low end of medium, but full of flavor and a perfect burn. I love it when a cigar burns flat and even, I find that miraculous considering that the various tobaccos in the blend may burn at different rates. When everything combusts completely and at the same time it just makes the cigar experience that much more special for me. I know, I’m weird. I’m full of regret once again, because I was going to grab a couple of the AG Armando Gutierrez Vintage 2007 too and I decided to wait and see what this 2008 was like. I’ll have to try that one when I go looking for more of the Gonzo! Another great cigar from Steve Ysidron and Epicurean Cigars.

 

Here’s the final video from the 2013 IPCPR show. As it turns out, it’s Steve Ysidron talking about his Epicurean Cigar line! What a happy coincidence!

 

http://youtu.be/jMZ-R-7r-hQ

As it works out, last night I couldn’t help but take another of the Gonzo Vintage 2007 Lanceros out for a walk and it was perfect again. Loads of dark, rich flavor and a perfect burn.  My only regret was that it wasn’t larger as the lancero only lasted just under and hour. It reaffirms my desire to try these in a larger ring gauge.  Yum.

 

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

 

CigarCraig

 

 

 

 

 

 

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