Tag Archives: Flyers

by CigarCraig | April 15, 2018 · 11:41 am

A Couple of BSB No. 1 by Bernie Parent Cigars, an Aladino and a Vertias 3 Blend

It’s been a weird week. Readers who follow me on Facebook will already know that I’m currently exploring new employment opportunities. It’s time to get away from what I’ve been doing for the last 20 years and find something I like doing (that pays the bills, no easy feat, I think!). I appreciate everyone’s support, and I don’t put this out there for a pity party, but one never knows what opportunity might arise from making my availability public. Hopefully allows me to provide more content here for the time being. The casual observer will notice no change in my daily routine. Which brings me to Wednesday’s cigar. Since the Flyers were opening their Stanley Cup playoff series with the Penguins (I hate those guys), I decided an appropriate cigar was in order. As I had already had a very bad day, I thought a pick-me-up would be the broadleaf wrapped BSB No.1 40th Anniversary Bernie Parent by Rocky Patel Conn Smythe (mental note, I should review one of this series for a future Prime Living article as the name alone will account for much of the 300 word limit!). This cigar came from a special box released in 2015, celebrating the 40th anniversary of Bernie Parent winning the Stanley Cup, The Vezina Trophy (best goaltender) and the Conn Smythe Trophy (league MVP) two years in a row, something that has yet to be repeated. The box contains four cigars each of the three blends and an autographed puck. I bought a box at full price when they were released in 2015, which Bernie autographed and is still intact, and caught a deal on another box later that I’ve smoked/shared. The Conn Smythe has a Broadleaf wrapper and is a delicious toro, perhaps my favorite in the series, loads of dark chocolate and espresso. The cigar was just about the only bright spot of the day as the Flyers suffered a humiliating loss.

Thursday I got some yard work done, laid some groundwork for some income replacement, and took a walk with a JRE Aladino Maduro in a box pressed toro size. I recently heard the guys on The Cigar Authority rave about this, so I ordered a couple each of the toro and lancero. I generally let cigars rest, but I knew these were only in transit for a couple of days and the weather has been moderate so I felt confident firing one up. The Toro is a 6″ x 50 with a nice box press, and has a Mexican San Andrés wrapper and Honduran Corojo binder with Honduran fillers. I’ve been distracted lately, but this was a tasty smoke, and I look forward to smoking more of them, especially the lancero. It was medium bodied, burned great, and nice flavors of cocoa and wood. This is from the Eiroa family, Justo and Julio specifically, and the Aladino line is an homage to the Corojo blends of days past. Personally, I think I enjoy the JRE cigars more than Christian Eiroa’s CLE line, although I haven’t sampled all of both companies offerings, this opinion is based on limited samplings. I have purchased every Eiroa cigar I’ve ever smoked, save for one CLE sample from their first trade show. Christian is one of those old usenet guys I’ve known for 20 years too.

Friday was a chance for the Flyers to redeem themselves, and they did with an exciting 5-2 win, which included at least one Academy Award worthy embellishment, proving my opinion that Penguins don’t fly, they dive. I decided to try the BSB approach again (for those not in the know, BSB is an acronym for Broad Street Bullies, the Flyer’s nickname in the ’70s) and No. 1 is Bernie Parent‘s retired number. Interesting factoid: Bernie retired due to an eye injury, which led to massive improvements to today’s goalie masks. Anyway, I went with the Vezina, which is a Habano wrapped toro. Both the Vezina and the Conn Smythe are presented in a round format, while the Lord Stanley is box pressed. Maybe I’ll smoke a Lord Stanley today for game 3. Anyway, I think the Vezina was a tasty cigar too, although in a different way than the Conn Smythe. I think it’s more on the savory end of the spectrum, with more earth and wood notes. If you can find these stashed away anywhere I recommend trying them, especially if you are a hockey fan. I can’t say that I think they are a good value at the original price of around $13 each, but at half that they are great.

Finally, yesterday I rummaged through the humidor with what’s left of last year’s IPCPR samples, and came out of it with a Veritas 3 Blends, which is a barber pole wrapped cigar with Sun-Grown Ecuadorian Habano, Habano Maduro and Connecticut wrappers, San Andrés binder and fillers from Jalapa, Ometepe, Condega & Esteli Nicaragua. you’d think this cigar would have a lot going on given that blend of eight tobaccos. Maybe it had too much going on for my pedestrian palate to appreciate? I found it had a drying effect on my palate, and, as with many cigars wrapped in this style, it’s didn’t burn well. It sure was a pretty cigar, and it wasn’t offensive or really bad in any way, just not my cuppa tea, unfortunately. I like all cigars, there’s some I love, and I almost always smoke a cigar to the (sometimes) bitter end, and I did with this one too, although the crooked burn made me leave more behind than usual. Earlier in the week I had a Cornelius and Anthony Señor Esugars and a Nica Rustica, two “comfort food” cigars of mine, and all the other cigars I smoked during the week were pretty darned good, with this one being the least yummy of the bunch to me.

That’s all for now, I’m going to go out and make some money now, and fire up a cigar for the Flyers game later. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Aladino, Bernie Parent, BSB No.1, cigar, cigars, Conn Smythe, Flyers, IPCPR, JRE, rocky patel, Veritas, Vezina

by CigarCraig | April 2, 2017 · 9:59 am

A Montecristo Pilotico and a Gurkha Cellar Reserve Cigar

Yesterday was April 1, and I was tempted to post an April Fools post announcing that I was changing focus to vapes, but I wasn’t committed to the plan enough to register vanderslicevapes.com and put the web pages together. Maybe next year…wait, I’ve given it away, haven’t I? It would have been a lot of work and I didn’t have it in me yesterday and the idea didn’t come to me until yesterday. I did see some funny ones yesterday, though. Mark Weisenberger (I hope I spelled that right), the new VP of Marketing at Rocky Patel, and former Northeast sales manager, put out a press release about Rocky adopting Hamlet Peredes which was pretty funny. Of course, Fred Rewey of Nomad Cigars is a comedian, he announced his Nomad soap on a rope, is he planning on going to prison soon? Over on Halfwheel.com, Brooks continued his April Fools tradition of seriously reviewing absurd cigars, this time the 20″ x 80 La Aurora La Stravaganza. I think he’s still waiting for the smoke to travel the 20″ from foot to head! Happy April Fools! I failed to do any pranking at all yesterday.

Didn’t do a lot of smoking this week, instead I went to a Flyers game Thursday, in which they beat the Islanders mostly just in the first period, scoring 5 goals with two players recording Gordy Howe Hat Tricks! I had said there was no reason for me to go to the games any more since they closed the cigar bar and made the whole building smoke free, but we got tickets real cheap and hadn’t been to a game for a while. I loved it when they had the cigar bar there, it was preferable to go after the game and have a cigar while everyone else sat in their cars in the parking lot waiting to get out. Bernie Parent was always there to having a cigar, I wonder where he goes to smoke after the games now? So I took Thursday off, Friday it rained like hell and I decided not to go to a Romeo y Julieta launch event and camped out on the porch with a Montecristo Pepe Mendez Pilotico Toro. This was a re-do for me, Last September I wrote this:

Another IPCPR sample was a new one from Montecristo, the Montecristo Pilotico Pepe Mendez in the Toro size. This toro is a 6¼” x 52, and has an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, Dominican binder, and both Nicaraguan and Dominican Pilotico fillers. The Pilotico varietal is an old seed that Pepe Mendez brought from Cuba in the ’60s and revitalized in the Cibao Valley in the DR. There was some of this tobacco in the Montecristo 80th anniversary cigar that was out last year. It was hard to find anything bad to say about this cigar, it burned right, it had nice flavors along the leathery lines, with a hint of sweetness. It’s one of those cigars that is, no doubt, a very good cigar, but not in line with my preferred flavors. There are a few Montecristos I really like, most on the mild end of the spectrum. The box is cool with an old-timey suitcase motif, paying homage to Pepe Mendez’ travels in the 60s to find the right area to plant his prized seeds.

The one thing that changed this time was that I found that I enjoyed the leathery flavors more than I did previously. Perhaps some humidor time helped, or, just as likely, I ate something different this time that effected my perceptions. Whatever the reason, I enjoyed the flavor of this cigar and will smoke it again without hesitation.

Yesterday I was rummaging through the humidor looking for something to smoke and I came across the tray with the Gurkha cigars. I seem to have amassed a load of cigars, not bragging or complaining, but it sometimes makes it hard to make a selection, especially when I want to smoke something and talk about it here without smoking the same rotation all the time and getting boring (which is what the FDA wants, by the way, so head to CigarRights.org and use their forms to write to your elected representatives). So I grabbed the Gurkha Cellar Reserve Platinum in their Hedonism size. Gurkha also threw out an April Fools funny yesterday:

GURKHA UNVIELS THE ROYAL COURTESAN

The $1,000,000 Cigar Is The Most Expensive Cigar Ever

Fort Lauderdale, FL – Gurkha Cigars has created the world’s most expensive cigar ever! The handcrafted stogie retails for a cool $1,000,000 and is delivered to customers’ door by a messenger who will only handle the cigars with white (kit) gloves. The cigar is infused with Remy Martin’s Black Pearl Louis XIII, which retails for $165,000 per bottle.

The cigars are rolled by a select group of hand rollers who are blindfolded throughout the process to allow their senses to guide their movements naturally and minimize distraction during this artistic process. The cigar is made with filler from ancient lands in the Himalayas with tobacco that has been watered exclusively with Fiji water. The wrapper is gold leaf and the band is encrusted with diamonds totaling five carats.

“The Gurkha clientele is use to only the best and Gurkha continuously produces only the best,” said Kaizad Hansotia, CEO of Gurkha Cigars. “This cigar is only for those who want the most exclusive, most luxurious and most ostentatious experience a cigar can offer.”

Gurkha Cigars are known throughout the world for their premium and luxurious cigars, so it’s no surprise that they are the most sought-after cigars around the globe. Gurkha produces 12 million cigars per year that are sold in more than 70 countries worldwide. And while Gurkha is known for its exclusivity, it has an impressive array of 105 brands of flawlessly handcrafted, premium cigars created in a variety of strengths, tasting profiles, and price-points. No matter what your taste, there’s a Gurkha cigar that’s perfect for your palate. For additional information visit www.gurkhacigars.com.

###

It’s a little unfortunate that it didn’t occur to me until after I read it that it was an April Fool, I mean, a one million dollar cigar from Gurkha doesn’t seem that implausible at this point, right? Anyway, back to the Cellar Reserve Platinum. I like the Hedonism size (I kind of identify with the name too), it’s a fat, pigtailed perfecto along the lines of the Feral Flying Pig from Drew Estate’s Serie Unico line, 6″ x 58. It’s got an Ecuador wrapper and Nicaraguan fillers and just a pretty straight-forward leathery/nutty profile to my palate. It was good, burned right and whatever factory makes these does a good job. There are several cigars in the Cellar Reserve line that I like, and, for all the criticism Gurkha gets, I think their brick and mortar lines are pretty darned good. (note: looking back it appears that I smoked this and wrote about it back in September of 2015, fortunately, I liked it then too! I smoke too many different cigars and can no longer remember them all!)

OK, both cigars were re-dos….sorry about that! I’ll work on smoking some more interesting cigars this week! That’s all I have for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Flyers, Gurkha, Montecristo, Nomad, rocky patel

by CigarCraig | April 12, 2015 · 12:55 pm

Orchant Seleccion, My Father Cigars and a Cain F Lancero

For the first time in several years I went through the week without worrying about a mid-week post. Do you know what I did? I worried about it…this is going to take some getting used to! So Wednesday, instead of writing a post, I smoked a Orchant Seleccion by Oliva Shorty, a 5″ x 50 robusto which is only available in the UK through C.Gars Ltd., and is alleged to be based on the Oliva Serie V blend. I have now smoked all three vitolas in this line, and I think my favorite is the 4″ x 60 Chubby. I think this is ironic, in that it’s probably the least “British” size , but for me it was the most flavorful of the bunch. Now, one caveat: I’ve had something going on where I’m getting a bit of an odd metallic flavor no matter what cigar I seem to pick up, and It may well have something to do with trying a new toothpaste (it should be called “teethpaste”, shouldn’t it? there’s a joke in there somewhere, but I don’t want to offend my readers in West Virgina). This might have caused the problem, and I’ve had similar things happen before. Fortunately, I understand that the problem is with me, and not the cigars. Back to the Orchant Seleccion by Oliva, these are tasty, and if you’re in the UK and can get to one of Mitchell Orchant’s retail locations (I hear they deliver in London too), give these a try. These are a great “new world” option for those looking for a change of pace from the typical UK diet of Havana cigars. Thanks to Mitchell for sharing these tasty buggers with me.

Thursday evening my wife and I went to the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia to take in one of the last Flyers games of the season. We got some great lower level seats for a good price, and watched another loss against a team that was also out of the play off race. Hoe a team can dominate teams that are above them in the standings, and suck against teams below is a mystery I suppose we will never have an answer to. Anyway, as you’ve read here before, the Wells Fargo Center has a cigar bar where we watched the last 5 minutes of the game in a nice leather chair and a My Father Le Bijou 1922 Petite Robusto. On these occasions, I like to select a cigar that is just about long enough for the traffic to exit the parking lot, but not so long as to run into the traffic exiting the Phillies game traffic from the adjoining venue. This was just such a cigar, my first of this line, and I look forward to smoking it again. The Habano Oscuro wrapper was dark and oily and quite tasty. The cigar started with the signature Pepin Garcia spice and smoothed out into a rich, yet full strength smoke. Of course, as always, I stopped on the way out to say hello to the great Bernie Parent, a fixture in the cigar bar there during home games. He was smoking his BSB by Rocky Patel, of course, and was joking around with fans like he normally does. Great cigar, nice time in the lounge, kind of a lack-luster game, but lots of fun.

Saturday we had the memorial service for my father, which was held at the church where he had been the choir director for 33 years. He had also been a high school vocal music director and adviser for 30 years, so he had a significant impact on the community. It was humbling to hear the outpouring of appreciation for his efforts. I can only hope to accomplish a fraction of what he accomplished in his lifetime during mine. It was nice to see family that I haven’t seen in many years, it’s a shame that it takes occasions such as these to bring people together. When I got home, Macha and I took a nice long walk with a favorite cigar of mine, the Cain F Tubed Lancero. Frequently ligero is left out of the lancero vitola, it’s a thicker leaf, it burns slower than other primings, and causes more problems in that narrow format. In the Cain F case, the cigar is mostly ligero, and for some reason it’s just about the smoothest, most well-balanced Cain cigar I’ve come across. the burn was perfect, the draw was perfect, and it is very flavorful, and switching teethpaste helped considerably as the flavors were what I expected with only a little of the metallic twinge that I was dealing with all week. These are hard to find, but generally well priced at between $6 and $7 each, and are well worth it. One small gripe about the Oliva website, they seem to ignore the Can and Nub lines on the main site, not even linking to the Studio Tobac site where the Cain and Nub info resides. Again, companies make it hard to find info, where they could very easily make it simple. I happen to really like the Cain line-up, but this Lancero is the best of the bunch.

Please take a moment to visit some of our new (and not so new) site supporters by clicking on their graphics on the right and left sides of the page. Our latest additions are GetTheSmokeOut.com, GlobalCornerCafe.com, ItalianSmokes.com and ThompsonCigar.com. Of course I’d like to thank these latest supporters, as well as the rest of my loyal and long-time supporters. All of these companies help me do what I do, and I appreciate their confidence and assistance. I make it point of only advertising for companies I like and respect, so they all have my stamp of approval for whatever that’s worth!

It’s a beautiful day, finally, so I need to go try to get some things done in the yard that I’ve been unable to do due to the weather, so I’ll keep an eye out for something interesting to fill the mid-week void. Feel free to follow me on Instagram, Twitter of Facebook to catch my daily smoking ritual. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as c-gars ltd, cain, cigar, cigars, Flyers, My Father Cigars, oliva, Orchant

by CigarCraig | March 31, 2013 · 1:40 pm

Gurkhas and Nubs, ORTSACS and La Palinas – Cigars and Hockey

Today is Easter Sunday here, and we had the family over for breakfast. Not that I would normally have a cigar in the morning, but I usually spend my Sunday mornings writing, so that’s why today’s post is a bit later than usual. I will, no doubt, have a cigar later today when things settle down. It may not surprise you to know that I managed to smoke a cigar or two this week, here’s the rundown. The last part of the week was kind of a blur, so I’ll do the best I can. I stuck with some favorites, I needed a change of pace.

Thursday I went to the Flyers game with my brother-in-law, Jeff. On the drive down we fired up a couple Gurkha Seduction robustos. This is a cigar that really suits me. I love the flavor of this Ecuador Habano wrapped cigar, and it’s perfectly made. I’ve been using nothing but my new Xikar XV cutter since I got it, and the V cut worked perfectly. It was a delicious cigar that perfectly fit the hour long drive from home to the Wells Fargo Center in Philly. I would have preferred it if the Flyers had won, they blew a 2 goal lead then lost in a shoot out against the Islanders. After the game we retired to the cigar bar once again. I find sometimes my time is better spent having a cigar there as opposed to sitting in traffic. I had a couple Nub 464Ts in my pocket and I smoked a Cameroon. I hadn’t thought about it when I grabbed these, but I only had the V cutter. As it works out, the V cut on the torpedo wasn’t terrible, and it worked out OK on this tasty Cameroon wrapped cigar. The 464T is not a short smoke, we left about thirty minutes into the cigars and they just about lasted the drive back home.

Friday I took a walk with an ORTSAC 1962 Habano. This is a cigar that was gifted to me by Victor Vitale, cigar maker, importer & distributor a few months ago. It came in a neat little box with another Habano and two of the San Andreas varieties. It’s no secret that I adore the San Andreas, as a matter of fact, I will be on a mission to get some more of those in the near future. The Habano is no slouch either. It has a wonderful flavor and construction, and really works for me. Here’s a suggestion to Victor: package the Habano and San Andreas in either boxes of ten with five of each, and/or boxes of twenty with ten of each. I don’t know about anyone else, but that would make ME extremely happy, because now I’m not really sure if I like one better than the other! If I had both I could continue to argue this point with myself. Please let me know when and where these will be available! 🙂

Saturday afternoon my wife an I went to the Flyers game again, this time they beat the Bruins in regulation. (short side note: At the beginning of every game they bring five kids out to stand with the players during the singing of the Star Spangled Banner. There was one little kid, couldn’t have been more than six, who could barely stand on his skates Kudos to defenseman Bruno Gervais for holding this kids hand while he was out there. Seems like a little thing, but this little act of kindness was the highlight of the game for me. Well done Bruno!) Circumstances prevented us from attending the unveiling of a statue of Bobby Clarke and Bernie Parent hoisting the Stanley Cup after they won it in 1974, which is in front of the Xfinity Live entertainment/dining complex adjacent to the Wells Fargo Center. Also, due to some logistics, as well as the onset of a migraine, we decided to forgo the usual cigar bar visit and head home after the game. After getting home and medicating, I took the dog, and a cigar for a walk. I selected a La Palina El Diario robusto and gave it a snip with the Xikar XV. I am loving this cutter more and more every time I use it. Anyway, this is another nice, Habano wrapped cigar made in Honduras. It performed quite well, although the draw seemed to tighten up as the cigar burned. I gave it another cut with the V cutter, making an X which opened it up a little. By that time I was just about through with it anyway, but it was a great smoke. The meds I take for migraines can sometimes space me out a little, but the walk along with the cigar took my mind off, and by the time I was done with the cigar, the headache was pretty much gone and I was left with the fatigue which comes along with whole experience. I enjoy the El Diario line, although I find that they aren’t exactly priced like a “Daily” cigar in my world. The Classic and the Maduro are also excellent smokes, however I have not had any experience with the initial line of La Palina cigars, which are priced well out of my comfort zone. As I said, the cigars I have smoked are great, and you can’t beat the people in the company, great bunch of folks!

Don’t forget the promo codes currently available for you to use at these two sites:

You can use the code “MPCGRS10” on CigarFromBrazil.com to get %10 off any purchase on the site. The Monte Pascoal cigars are very nice.

ItalianSmokes.com has a special offer code for you, it’s CIGCRAIG10 and will get you 10% off your purchase of their selection of Toscano style cigars.

That’s it for today! Whatever way you are celebrating the day, enjoy yourself. I know I’m going to go ritually sacrifice some tobacco this afternoon.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Flyers, Gurkha, La Palina, nub, ORTSAC, xikar

by CigarCraig | February 6, 2013 · 7:13 pm

A Padilla, an Alec Bradley, a Hockey Game and Some Cigar News

A little snow here and there isn’t enough to deter me from enjoying a fine cigar! That’s what I did on Sunday. We’ve been getting off easy with little snow showers here and there, which is just fine with me. Sunday I took an afternoon walk with a Padilla Reserva. This is a 6” x 50 Toro with what looks like a nice Habano wrapper. I enjoyed the heck out of this cigar, although not quite as much as it’s maduro sibling. It had nice, smooth flavors that I found appealing. It performed flawlessly and was quite enjoyable. I think if I were to come across this cigar in a shop I’d pick a few up, provided they were out of the tasty maduro! Thanks again to Mike Staiber of Oliva for turning me on to these!

Monday evening I picked out a nice Alec Bradley American Sungrown robusto. I picked this up on a visit to the Cigars International store in Hamburg, PA I think, I probably picked up a couple another place too. Maybe I buy too many cigars? Anyway, I really like this cigar, and I like the American Classic with the Ecuador Connecticut Shade wrapper quite a bit too. I think the Sungrown has that extra little pop I need in the winter months. These have the added advantage of being very well priced, usually under $5. This is a great anytime cigar that is probably a cigar a broad range of people can appreciate. This is a great cigar to have around to share or smoke those days you have trouble deciding what to smoke and you just want a good cigar.

Tuesday night my youngest son and I went to the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia for the Flyers game. It was a great game with the Flyers winning over the Tampa Bay Lightning. After the game we stopped in the Cigar Bar in the center. This used to be Holt’s Cigar Lounge many years ago, and I don’t think it would be a bad assumption on my part that they still get their cigars from Holt’s, given the Holt’s cutter and matches that came with the cigars I purchased. I’m sure many wouldn’t be shocked by an $11 price tag on a Fuente Hemingway Short Story, especially in a cigar tax free state like PA. I rationalized it to myself figuring I was in on a free pass, and didn’t pay the membership fee that would come to something along the lines of $16 per game. We smoked out Short Stories while the 19,000 people outside were sitting in traffic and got to chat with Bernie Parent for a while. Of course, you may recall that Bernie has a cigar out, the BSB #1 Bernie Parent by Rocky Patel. He mentioned that they are going to add a Round Toro and a Box Pressed Torpedo to the line and use a band design featuring his crest. I am surprised that the Cigar Bar didn’t have the BSB #1 on their menu, but Bernie said they are working on it. It seems like an appropriate place to carry the cigar!

A Joke

A doctor on his morning walk, noticed the old lady pictured above:,

She was sitting on her front step smoking a cigar, so he walked up to her and said,

“I couldn’t help but notice how happy you look! What is your secret?”

“I smoke ten cigars a day,” she said. “Before I go to bed, I smoke a nice big joint.

Apart from that, I drink a whole bottle of Jack Daniels every week, and eat only junk food.

On weekends, I pop pills, have sex, and I don’t exercise at all.

“That is absolutely amazing! How old are you?”

“Forty,” she replied

Contest Winner!

The winner of the ScrewPop Punch and the 5-pack of My Uzi Weighs a Ton Baitfish and a MUWAT cap is MattRoss81! The Random Number Generator spit out the number 6, and The Commish had won a prize in the 12SDOCG’s (12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways) so he was disqualified! Matt, please send me your address! Thanks again to Drew Estate and ScrewPop for sponsoring this contest!