Tag Archives: general

by CigarCraig | December 12, 2011 · 7:00 am

CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways Day 1: CAO Cigars

Well, here it is, the day you’ve all been waiting for! Day one of CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways! To say that we’re starting out small and building up would be a dirty lie! We’re starting out huge, and riding the wave for the next 12 days! Today we have a box of 24 La Traviata Divinos from CAO, as well as a “Rock and Rolled” tour cap.

Thanks to Victoria McKee at General Cigar for providing this outstanding prize!

Here’s how you enter: leave a comment. That’s it, plain and simple. Tweets don’t count, but feel free to spread the word, only comments on this page count as an entry. Each day there will be a different prize and the winner will be drawn from that day’s comments. The winner will be announced on the next day’s post. All prizes will be mailed the week after Christmas, so don’t make me chase down your address!

That’s it, leave a comment to enter and good luck. Check back tomorrow to see if you won and enter tomorrow’s contest!

Until then,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Contest

Tagged as 12 days, CAO, cigar, cigars, Contest, general, general cigar

by CigarCraig | December 11, 2011 · 8:44 am

12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways Countdown! A Monte Pascoal, a My Uzi and a Cain

It’s been a busy week, I’ve been gearing up for the 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways and the weather was mild and rainy for the fist part of the week, and cold at the end. This didn’t stop me from getting in a few interesting cigars though!

Mid way through the week I took a walk with a Monte Pascoal Minuto. This Brazilian puro is a tasty little firecracker of a smoke. The cigar is 4 3/8″ x 42, with Brazilian Mata Fina wrapper and binder and Mata Fina and Mata Norte fillers. The word on the street is that the smaller sizes are stronger than the larger sizes, based on the higher wrapper to filler ratio, but I find this difficult to comprehend given that the blend is so heavily weighted toward the same tobacco variety. Perhaps I’ll ask Wes at Tabacos Mata Fina USA about this the next time I see him.

Last night it was cold. I needed to get some cash, and the nearest ATM is probably a mile and a half away, so I grabbed the 7″x 60 My Uzi Weighs A Ton pre-release sample Jonathan Drew sent me quite a few months ago. This cigar is a joint venture between Joya de Nicaragua and Drew Estate/Subculture Studio, and was released at this years IPCPR show. Certainly this monstrous cigar would last me the entire walk, and then some. There’s nothing more frustrating that finishing the cigar before the walk. Anyway, this cigar had a nice flavor, and as has been said many times by others, it’s not a killer strong cigar as the name may imply. It’s just a really nice, balanced, medium bodied cigar that was an excellent companion for the 3 mile walk!

Yesterday I felt inspired to smoke a Cain Daytona Corona after a big Olive Garden meal with my wife. I really needed a couple laps around the block to burn off the pasta! I love the Cain line, but most of them are just too strong for me. Not the Daytona! It’s another medium bodied cigar that’s packed with delicious flavors. What led me to this cigar was a meeting earlier in the day with my areas Oliva rep, Mike Staiber, who provided a terrific prize for the upcoming contest. Always nice to see Mike, and I wish we’d have had the time to sit and smoke one together.

Speaking of the contest, it starts TOMORROW! Keep any eye here bright and early each morning for the next two weeks for a fantastic parade of prizes! Leave a comment to win and check back every day for the winner and the next prize! This is a contest that is unprecedented in the history of CigarCraig.com! Many thanks to the following companies who have made this contest possible:

La Gloria Cubana

Villiger Stokkebye

Brothers of the Leaf, LLC

Tabacos Mata Fina USA

Oja Cigars

and more to come!

My deepest gratitude for everyone for helping to make this a terrific 12 days of contests!

That’s it for now, more tomorrow!

CigarCraig

13 Comments

Filed under Contest, Review, Take a Cigar For a Walk

Tagged as 12 days, c-gars ltd, cain, cigar, Cigar Journal, cigars, Contest, drew estate, esencia, general, general cigar, IPCPR, joya de nicaragua, La Gloria Cubana, Miami Cigar and Co, Monte Pascoal, Oja, oliva, palio, Pipes and Cigars, Stokkebye, tabacos mata fina usa, Take A Cigar For A Walk, Villiger

by CigarCraig | December 4, 2011 · 10:00 am

A Saturday Afternoon of La Gloria Cubanas

I received an e-mail from Famous Smoke Shop last week about the La Gloria Cubana Artesanos Retro Especiale tour stop and decided this would be the perfect opportunity to finally visit their new location in Easton, PA. I don’t quite know why I haven’y yet visited the place, it’s a little over an hour and a half from home, although it ended up taking two hours or so to get there. The retail shop and Leaf Restaurant and Cigar Bar appears to be in the front of their huge warehouse and distribution center. It’s a little off the beaten path, as I’m driving through a new, under construction residential area and industrial park, I was really starting to doubt my GPS (which has failed me before). But there it was, in the middle of nowhere, this huge building, with a beautiful restaurant and retail store. The humidor is enormous, with an equally enormous selection of boxes, five-packs and singles. The staff was very friendly and attentive, and I picked up a fiver of La Gloria Serie R Maduros. In the lobby, Michael Giannini was set up with posters that he was autographing, Retro Especiale Club samples, and bundles of Atesano de Tabaqueros, which were free with various levels of purchase. My simple five-pack purchase got me three of the Artesanos de Tabaqueros, of which I chose two of the new Sumatra/Broad-leaf versions.

While I was hanging out talking with Michael, Gary and Seanna (Gary is the General Cigar Event Manager and Seanna is the General Cigar account manager for national accounts), I enjoyed another Retro Especiale Club, which I’ve been smoking quite a few of in the last couple months. If you haven’t tried these yet, find them and try them. Great cigars. After that I just had to try the Artesanos de Tabaqueros with the Sumatra and broad-leaf wrappers. I love broad-leaf, and once the burn line reached that broad-leaf it exploded with flavor. Not that it didn’t start off great, with the Sumatra wrapper portion being very nice, but the broad-leaf is so rich and full flavored that I was sad when it was finished. I’d love to try broad-leaf and Connecticut shade, hint hint. These cigars are only available on the Retro Tour.

It’s always a treat to hang out with Michael, he’s a real mensch, and I’m pleased to know him and call him “Bro”. I’m glad that I had the opportunity to visit Famous finally. We are fortunate to have quite a few very large retailers in Pennsylvania, due to the lack of a cigar tax.

For my evening “Take a Cigar for a Walk” cigar, I figured I’d keep the La Gloria theme going with a Serie R No. 5 Maduro that I picked up at the shop. I haven’t had one of these in years, and it was actually milder than I recall. The Tabaqueros was much stronger, and I suppose I expected the R to be stronger. Regardless, it was a very nice cigar, although the cold evening was, perhaps, not conducive to fully enjoying this cigar. It burned perfectly. I remember drooling over the stacks of these I saw at the factory.

That’s about all I have for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

3 Comments

Filed under Events, Review, Stores, Take a Cigar For a Walk

Tagged as Artesanos de Tabaqueros, Broad-leaf, cigar, cigar store, cigars, connecticut, Easton, Famous, general, general cigars, La Gloria Cubana, maduro, Michael Giannini, retro especiale, Serie R, Sumatra, Take A Cigar For A Walk

by CigarCraig | November 27, 2011 · 5:36 pm

Holiday Weekend Cigars: Joya de Nicaragua, La Sirena and a 777

I hope everyone who celebrated Thanksgiving had a wonderful day, filled with family, food and cigars! We kept it small this year, my wife cooked up a delicious meal, and my brother-in-law joined us and enjoyed a cigar with me after the meal.

I first enjoyed a Joya de Nicaragua Cabinetta Lancero on the first day of Cigar Safari in Nicaragua last March. Jonathan Drew passed them around on our way to dinner after an amazing day of travel and sight-seeing. The cigar was amazing, so when I spied one in the gift pack from the blogger party that Drew Estate threw at the IPCPR show, I was quite pleased. So I selected that cigar for my post-turkey smoke, and gave my bro-in-law it’s shorter, fatter sibling, a Cabinetta robusto. Obviously, the lancero lasted a little longer thank the robusto, but it needs to be smoked slower, but it waswonderful. Smooth, reasonably mild, with nice flavors, this is a cigar that I need to get more of, and I don’t like not having one size or another of the Cabinettas in my humidors. It’s a perfect cigar for any time of day.

Friday, following another family feast, I decided the La Sirena Prince that I picked up at the Delaware Cigar Festival was in order. This robusto is a little hard to find behind the enormous band. Fortunately, once the large band is removed, a smaller one is still there so you don;t forget what you are smoking. I found this to be a tasty treat, wrapped in a dark, broadleaf wrapper. I quite enjoyed this cigar, it burned perfectly and had a unique flavor that defies my ability to describe. All I know is that I liked it, and thanks to Chris Lenzo of Miami Cigar and Co, for hooking me up with this after someone bought up all of the cigars they had brought to the expo!

Saturday turned out to be a very nice day, so I grabbed a Jesus Fuego 777 Maduro Belicoso for my evening walk. I really like these cigars. They have all of the deep, dark flavors I want out of a maduro. I had previously only smoked the coronas, but this Belicoso came from the hand of Jesus Fuego himself at the IPCPR show. Terrific cigars and not unreasonably priced. The burn was a little ragged in the first half, but ended up being perfect in the last half. Jesus Fuego is pretty consistently coming out with some great cigars. You can see a little video I took of him here.

As I write this I’m enjoying a La Gloria Cubana Artesanos Retro Especiale on a mild evening. I’m contemplating taking a ride up to Easton, PA next Saturday to attend the LGC Event at Famous Smoke Shop. I haven’t been up there yet and look forward to seeing the new store. I’m also plotting something special for the Christmas holiday season, so stay tuned! Finally, don’t forget to check out the special deal mentioned in my last post. Get your free calendar and a cigar from PipesandCigars.com !

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

CiagrCraig

3 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as 777, broadleaf, cigar, Cigar Safari, cigar store, cigars, drew estate, Famous Smoke Shop, general, general cigars, IPCPR, Jesus Fuego, joya de nicaragua, La Sirena, Miami Cigar and Co, Thanksgiving

by CigarCraig | November 20, 2011 · 2:58 pm

A Monte Pascoal, an ORTSAC 1962, a CAO OSA Sol and a Video

My Wednesday “Take a Cigar for a Walk” cigar was a Monte Pascoal Belicoso courtesy of Wes Gensel at Monte Pascoal. I recently included one of these in a prize pack and figured it might be a good idea to sample one myself before I give them all away! This is a 5½ x 52 belicoso that really burned well. It’s a Brazilian puro that has a very nice, well balanced flavor. I often think of Brazilian wrappers being maduro, which this one is not, but I’d love to try this cigar with an Arapiraca wrapper. One does not often find a Brazilian puro, but this is one to seek out and try.

Friday I took the heater out on the back deck and fired up an ORTSAC 1962 Bulletproof Robusto. I got this from the IPCPR show, where an old friend happened to be working in the booth. Mike introduced me to Victor Vitale who gave me the tour. I included a video of Victor talking about this cigar before (here). I think the name ORTSAC is dumb, I don’t mind saying it. However, it’s a well made and reasonably tasty cigar, although it wasn’t overly distinctive to me. One of the interesting things about this cigar is that it comes packaged in a ballistic nylon/kevlar “box”, which really does nothing to enhance the flavor of the cigar, but it is kind of neat and stands out on the shelf. Again, dumb name, pretty OK cigar.

Saturday’s “Take a Cigar for a Walk” cigar was an CAO OSA Sol Lot 54. This is a hefty 6 x 54 cigar that I’ve enjoyed before. I really enjoyed this one. In the past, I’ve thought that the Lot 50 was better, and that may be true, but this particular example was much better than the previous one I smoked. These have a “bright”, kind of refreshing flavor to them that I enjoy. Good for a mile or so and the necessary “cool down” in the front porch afterward.

Since I don’t have too much to say this time around, so I thought I’d include a video from the IPCPR show. I met Don Juan of Dignity Cigars at a General Cigar event which was held at a swanky night club. I had just wandered in and was at the bar to get a Coke and he introduced himself. We made arrangements to meet the following day on the show floor. He gave me one of his organically grown and eco-friendly Costa Rican puros at the time and I recall enjoying it, although it’s really hard to pay a lot of attention to samples smoked at the show. Needless to say, I didn’t take notes, but I will pick one up to re-sample the next time I come across one. Here’s a little video from the show, standard volume disclaimers and apologies apply! Thank you to Don Juan for taking the time to talk to me, he’s a super nice guy!