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Romeo y Julieta 1875 Nicaragua and a Partagas Serie D No. 6

Let’s talk a about a couple of completely different cigars! Yesterday I was out and about and I decided to stop in my local shop on the way by and see if they had anything new. There are shops in the same chain a few miles east and west that I would probably have had a better chance of finding newer stuff, but I had been running errands for a while and was tired of driving around. The only thing that struck me as new (judging by the self talker that said “new arrival”, which may or may not have actually been “new”), was the Romeo y Julieta 1875 Nicaragua. I picked up a few toros, what the hell. Historically, there have not been a lot of Romeos that have tripped my trigger in the 25 or so years I’ve been smoking cigars, at least not the ones made outside Cuba. I have to confess an affection for the RyJ Coronitas en Cedros as I bought a box to share at my daughter’s wedding that was spectacular, so that’s a sentimental favorite. It’s Valentine’s Day weekend, what’s more romantic than a cigar named after a couple who committed suicide together in the name of love? Anyway, the cigar is a 6” x 52 Nicaraguan puro made by Plasencia for Altadis, who is owned by someone now.

 

Quick aside: with all the discussion of General Cigar splitting off a bunch of their brands into the new Forged Cigar Company, has anyone considered that they could be positioning their portfolio of legacy Cuban brands for sale? It seems funny to me that they have placed all of the old Cuban brands under this umbrella, leaving the brands that have the brand ambassadors, like Macanudo, CAO and Cohiba (not a legacy Cuban brand, but a post-embargo brand), with General Cigar. It seems like a nice package deal to sell to, I don’t know, maybe whoever just bought the Altadis brands like RyJ, Upmann and Montecristo (along with the portion of Habanos). It would tie things up pretty nicely  from a trademark standpoint. Just a thought, probably doesn’t make sense, but what makes sense? Wait, Punch isn’t included in Forged, that throws a monkey wrench into my theory, and why does “Forged” have to be so similar to “Foundry”? Couldn’t they come up with something more original? There’s something funny about the Punch trademark that I can’t recall. It’s all very confusing.

 

Back to the 1875 Nicaragua, it’s a nice cigar. Oddly, still not my cuppa tea for some reason, but a perfectly good cigar. The construction was perfect, and it smoked for a good two hours plus. Why is it that the cigars you love don’t seem to smoke long enough and the one that you tolerate last forever? It was woody, with some subtle spices, but more on the leathery/earthy side than I prefer, which seems to be the trend with the RyJs to me. I think the Reserva Real Nicaragua was one I liked, which seems consistent because I recall liking the original Reserva Real. Different strokes, right?

 

Back in May of 2018 my wife and I took a trip to Rome, Italy to see the sights. Of course, I took some cigars with me, but I picked some up while I was there. Toscanos were very inexpensive there, and I bought some that I hadn’t seen here. I’m pretty sure I had Toscano Garibaldi’s before they were available in the US. I think a 5-pack of Toscanos was €7 or something. I probably still have some I haven’t opened. That was also at the time that you could still legally buy Cuban cigars abroad. I don’t desire a lot of Cubans, but I do like one now and then, so I picked up a five pack of Montecristo No.5 and a five pack of Partagas Serie D. No.6, both  small cigars. I hadn’t smoked any of them until last night when I was looking for a short smoke and came across the pack of D No. 6 and opened it up. This is 3½” x 50, a nice little smoke for under an hour. Of course, it’s a Cuban puro, and one never knows if you’re going to get the one that’s plugged or not. Cuban Roulette? This one wasn’t, and it was a good smoke, typical Cuban twang, and what I like in a Cuban Partagas, which is my favorite Cuban brand anyway. This was a pretty cool little smoke, I’m sorry I didn’t get more than one of the five packs.

 

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

 

CigarCraig

 

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News: Diesel Announces Launch of Esteli Puro

Here’s some news from General Cigar. I am going to have to get out and shop for some new cigars one of these days! Diesel’s offerings have been hit and miss with me lately, I either really like them or I don’t. This one sounds promising. I kinda like the large ring gauges across the range.  

 

DIESEL PRESENTS “ESTELí PURO”

 

A highly-anticipated release from Diesel is set to make its debut next month. Called “Estelí Puro,” the full-time addition to the Diesel lineup was created in collaboration with AJ Fernandez. 

 

This tobacco-forward release is poised to become a core product in the Diesel portfolio.

 

The collection harnesses the strength and complexity of Estelí’s renowned tobacco which comes from the darkest and most dense of Nicaraguan soils. Each of the tobaccos that comprise Diesel Estelí Puro were hand-selected from AJ’s farms to meet specific requirements set forth by the Diesel team. The wrapper was harvested from La Lilia, the binder from San José and the fillers from several plots including AJ’s celebrated San Lotano farm.

 

Senior Brand Manager Justin Andrews said, “Estelí Puro represents the future of Diesel in that the story of the blend is told by the tobacco itself. With Estelí Puro, we made a collection that is completely unique in its bold flavor profile, yet has many of the attributes that have made the other Diesel expressions a cigar of choice among dyed-in-the-wool smokers. This is a cigar that demands the smoker’s full attention with deep and balanced flavor, a strong presentation and an attractive price point.”

 

Blended by AJ Fernandez, handcrafted at Tabacalera AJ Fernandez in Estelí, Nicaragua and developed by General Cigar’s Justin Andrews, Diesel Estelí Puro is made with hand-selected leaves that are cultivated, processed and aged by AJ’s team. Heady aroma and spice dominate, lending body and dimension to the cigar, and delivering a smoke for experienced palates.

 

Diesel Estelí Puro will be available in three sizes, sold in 20-count boxes and will begin shipping to retailers on September 1.

 

Robusto 5.25” x 54 — SRP per cigar $8.99

Toro 6” x 54 — SRP per cigar $9.49

Gigante 6” x 60 — SRP per cigar $9.99

 

About Diesel

Handcrafted by artisans in Estelí, Nicaragua, Diesel cigars are “bold by design.” The brand challenges the current conventions of the handmade cigar category through the bold, unapologetic style of its Cigar Master, AJ Fernandez. Diesel cigars are unified by their deeply complex flavor which is achieved through AJ’s steadfast adherence to time honored cigar making techniques and his insistence on using the highest quality tobacco. The Diesel portfolio includes Delirium which debuted earlier this year; Hair of the Dog which was released in 2019; Whiskey Row which launched two expressions, one in 2019 and one in 2018, and Diesel Grind which debuted in 2017. For more information, visit www.dieselcigar.com.

 

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Macanudo, Partagas and CAO Cigars – Maduro Week

A few weeks ago I received some samples from General Cigar Co, including the new Macanudo and Macanudo Maduro Gigantes, measuring 6″x60. I’ve become a fan of the Macanudo maduros, sure they are a mild cigar, but they have a load of flavors that I like. When I was visiting the factory in Santiago last fall, by the 3rd day I had smoked so many cigars, and I lit up a Macanudo maduro and first, I could taste it, and second, it tasted good. I probably smoked nothing but the Mac Maduros for the rest of the day. So, I was excited to try the 6″x 60 Gigante. Many say that this format waters down the blends, but I haven’t really found that to be the case.  I admit to really enjoying the 60 ring cigars, I feel like it’s a guilty pleasure, but I haven’t really had a bad 60 ring cigar.  I’ve mentioned before that 50 ring feels puny now, a robusto feels like a quick smoke.  The Macanudo was a very tasty cigar that was good to the last drop and had the exceptional construction one would expect.

 

I sometimes get in a bit of a rut, and smoke a few related cigars in a row, and this was one of those weeks.  Monday’s cigar was a Partagas Black Label Magnifico.  This a jet black 6″x54 toro that I revisited in the DR, and remembered how much I enjoyed them.  The dark, Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper is oily and beautiful.  It is a bit stronger than the Macanudo, of course, but packed with flavor.  Of course it was perfectly made, as I witnessed first hand at the factory, they can’t seem to make a bad cigar there.  Partagas Black Label=yummy smoke!

 

Last night I was in the mood for something a little smaller, so I once again dug into the General Cigar Co. samples and picked out a CAO La Traviata Maduro Luminoso.  This is a newly released size in the Maduro line, measuring 4.5″ x 50.  I’ve smoked the La Traviata Maduro before and was quite unimpressed.  It was one of those cigars that everyone raved about, but I just didn’t get.  It seems like I had a dud (I think it was a trade show sample from a couple years ago), because this Rothschild was delicious.   It was just about the perfect size for my one-plus mile walk and held the ash for almost half of the cigar.  Another Connecticut Broadleaf, I know….I love that wrapper leaf, and combined with a Cameroon binder it was very surprising to me that I didn’t like the first ones I smoked.  This one’s back on my radar and one I’ll pick up the next time I see them.  I do have a complaint about the CAO website though.  It’s really slick, but one thing it lacks is a listing of the sizes of the cigars in each line.  If you want to know where the events are, it’s great, but if you’re looking for the sizes and names of the various cigars, one should be able to find it without having to go to retailers sites.  It’s a surprising omission, Rick? Ed?  Please feel free to comment on this and set me straight!

 

News

Once again, from the pages of history, this newspaper clipping appears in the October 18, 1838 Philadelphia Inquirer. It seems to be a mouthpiece for a cigar with a cotton filter.  Pretty cool to go back 175 years and see the new inventions of the times!  Obviously this modern development caught on in other areas of tobacco consumption, but when was the last time you saw a cigar holder or mouthpiece, let alone a filter?

 

That’s all I got!  Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Punch vs. Hoyo de Monterrey – A Debate Finally Settled

You will find that my cigar smoking habits may be a little different than most of my contemporaries. I certainly do smoke a lot of different, new and unusual smokes, but I don’t generally go out of my way to get the newest and rarest. Much of this has to do with my frugal nature, I’m a cheap bastard. The thing is, I have always had a healthy regard for the big brands, as often seeing a “yellow box” Partagas is as much of a treat as something like a Tatuaje (which I have not smoked many of, save for the La Casita Criolla) or something of that ilk. I honestly enjoy the heck out of a plain old Macanudo Maduro, and lets face it, while Macanudo and Partagas are not outrageously priced, they aren’t cheap, and I know first hand that they have the same care and passion put into them as any other cigar. The same can be said for Romeo y Julieta and Montecristo, both are made by an enormous company, in massive quantities, but the quality of materials and construction cannot be disputed. Anyway, that’s a little bit off of today’s subject, but gives some background and basis for the subject of this article.

 

A few posts back, MoBarbq left a comment referring to the Punch London Club Maduro in comparison to the Hoyo de Monterrey Sabroso. These two cigars are made in the same factory in Honduras (HATSA), and are the same size. It brought to mind a seemingly endless discussion back in the 90s (and to this day) about the Punch and Hoyo lines. There was a conspiracy theory that the Rothschilds were the same cigars, just packaged in the different boxes (at the time the Rothschilds were un-banded). Both lines were available in natural, maduro and double maduro (oscuro or maduro maduro), were priced the same and were close enough in flavor to fuel this suspicion. Also, if you look at the two lines, there are quite a few parallels in sizes, the Sabroso and London Club being another. Just recently as I was shopping for some Punch and Hoyo examples, my local tobacconist told me that he witnessed with his own eyes Punch and Hoyo cigars being taking from the same rolling tables in the factory. The info from the CigarWorld.com website would make you think that there is some truth to this:

 

Hoyo de Monterrey

Wrapper: Ecuadoran Sumatra  (Natural) and Connecticut Broadleaf (Maduro)

Filler: Honduran, Nicaraguan, Dominican (Piloto Cubano)

Binder: Connecticut Broadleaf

Country: Honduras

Factory: Honduras American Tabaco S. A., Cofradia, Honduras

 

Punch

Wrapper: Ecuadoran Sumatra  (Natural) and Connecticut Broadleaf (Maduro)

Filler: Honduran, Nicaraguan, Dominican (Piloto Cubano)

Binder: Connecticut Broadleaf

Country: Honduras

Factory: Honduras American Tabaco S. A., Cofradia, Honduras

 

I’m on a constant quest for cigar knowledge, so, I will finally find an answer to the age old debate.

  • This controversy goes back at least to a 1984 article in Connoisseur Magazine where Frank Llaneza is quoted as saying, when asked about the difference: “The filler is pretty much the same, but we try to use binder leaf from the upper primings for Punch; they’re stronger-tasting. Hoyo uses the lower to middle leaf as binder. It is mellower and more aromatic.”
  • In a 1995 interview with Dan Blumenthal, Marvin Shanken asked the question “C.A.: How would you describe the difference in blend or style or taste between Hoyo and Punch?  Blumenthal: I think that Punch is a little heavier cigar than the Hoyo. There’s a little more flavor, to me, than in the Hoyo de Monterrey. There is a difference. The blends are made by Frank Llaneza”.
  • So, I inquired of Victoria McKee Jaworski, the Public Relations Director at General Cigar, about these two references and she got me some updated information. She said “they have different ratios of tobacco, so the blends are different. Punch is slightly fuller-bodied and uses more ligero. Its wrapper is closer to a Colorado color. And for Hoyo, the wrapper is a lighter shade of Ecuadoran Sumatra”. In the case of the maduro, Agustin Garcia, production manager at HATSA, the man responsible for tobacco processing and cigar production, tells us: “The wrapper for Punch Maduro and HDM Maduro is Connecticut Broadleaf for both of them. For Punch we use a darker color and little heavier wrapper than HdM”.

So there we have it. While the materials used in both lines of cigars are similar, and in some cases the same, there are differences. The Punch is blended to be a little more powerful and the Hoyo is supposed to be a little more refined. That puts that controversy to bed once and for all, and I can go back to my local shop and argue with them that they do not, in fact, take cigars from the same rolling table and box them in Punch or Hoyo boxes (of course, they go from the rolling tables into the aging rooms long before they are banded, wrapped and boxed!).

 

Since I’ve been smoking my way through a box of Hoyo Sabroso Maduro for the last year, and managed to get my hands on a box of Punch London Club Maduros, I figured I’d see for myself what the difference is.  I’m half way through the box Hoyo Sabrosos and I’ve really been enjoying them. They have the reasonably heavy,  dark maduro flavors I look for in the colder months.  Every one has been well made and most have been smoked down to a tiny nub.  I bought this box last year and it has been in my humidor ever since.  I just received a box of the Punch London Club Maduros this week, so they haven’t had the benefit of a year’s rest, but I smoked a couple of them anyway!  The cigars appear to have a darker, oilier wrapper than the Hoyos, they are gorgeous. To me, the Punch is a little stronger in flavor, consistent with all of the evidence provided above, so I have no reason to doubt that each line has it’s own distinctive blend, even if that difference is a matter of primings, leaf selections or proportions.  As far as I’m concerned, both are outstanding little smokes, although, admittedly, comparing year old cigars to new ones isn’t a very scientific way to do it!  I also managed to smoke an old favorite, the Punch Rothschild Maduro Maduro this week, and boy, was it good!  Savory and lush flavors and a long finish…another yummy smoke!

 

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

CigarCraig

 

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CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways Day 11: La Gloria Cubana

It’s been a hell of a ride.  Just when I thought I was giving stuff away, I go and win a contest on Facebook that The Griffin’s Cigars was holding.  I can’t actually remember entering!  Today UPS delivered an absolutely gorgeous 75 count The Griffin’s humidor, and 2 boxes of The Griffin’s No. 500 Coronas.   Thank you to Dylan Austin and the folks at Davidoff. I’m stunned and amazed.  Anyway, you came to see who won the joint AJ Fernandez/Emilio Cigars prize, and Random.org tells me that Brian Impson is the winner!   Send me your address please!  Next up:

 

Today on CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways we have something very special!  Here’s a little video to explain how this all came about:

httpv://youtu.be/n-EKEVkgCJo

 

So, as Michael said, not to be outdone, we have not only a box of La Gloria Cubana Artesanos Retro Especiale Clubs, which would be a wonderful prize on its own, but a selection of about 30 La Gloria Cubana Artesanos de Tabaqueros, a bunch of which are Sumatra/Broadleaf versions only available on the Retro Tour stops.  That’s right, you can’t buy these cigars!  I can tell you from past experience, all of these cigars are outstanding!  There are also a couple of nice tubes as well as a La Gloria cutter thrown on top of everything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a haul, huh?  I can’t begin to thank Victoria McKee Jaworski and Michael Giannini at General Cigar Company enough for providing this overabundance of cigars!  Also a special thanks to Bryan Glynn of Cigar Obsession for helping me out with the video.

 

You know what to do! Leave a comment to enter and good luck!

 

Until tomorrow,

 

CigarCraig

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