Tag Archives: Mia Dora

Packing for IPCPR, Some Emilio Cigars, a Regius, a Aging Room and a New World Connecticut

Grimalkin_TorpedoI’m frantically packing and readying for the trip to New Orleans tomorrow, but I figured while my new shed is being built in the back yard I’d recap some great cigars I smoked this week.  Who knows what I’ll smoke over the next four or five days, and I haven’t loaded the travel humidor up yet. I will probably take an assortment of favorites as I won’t be taking notes on many cigar I smoke while I’m there.  Anyway, Sunday I drove down to  the Wooden Indian in Havertown, PA to meet Alex, our local House of Emilio rep and the son of the owner there. The Wooden Indian apparently cornered the market on Emilio‘s Grimalkin line, which was replaced by La Musa a few years ago, supposedly just re-named. I picked up a few torpedos and smoked MiaDora Robustoone there. This cigar has aged well, it was made at the My Father factory, a well-known secret that I imagine it’s OK to spill since the Grimalkin brand is no more.  Smooth, tasty and well-balanced sum up this smoke.  When I got home I smoked another cigar from the Emilio line up, the Mia Dora.  This is a stronger smoke, rich flavors of tobacco and well made.  I’ll certainly see Alex and the House of Emilio brands at the show.

 

Regius_ExclusivoUSA_Fat PerfectoSince I’m on vacation, I had a three-day work week, which means cramming 5 days of work in, and Monday was a bit stressful.  A month or so ago Cigar-Coop send me some cigar in an unnecessary reciprocation for me sharing some Inca Secret Blends with him.  One of the cigars he sent was a Fat Perfecto from Regius‘ Exclusivo U.S.A. line. This cigar is a 60 ring by 5½” cigar in basically the same shape as the Feral Flying Pig, closed on both ends with a coiled “bun” type of pigtail cap.  I really enjoyed the refined flavors in this cigar. It wasn’t strong, but loaded with flavor and burned well.  It had a great balance, and even I could appreciate the nuances and delicate flavors. The is a classy stick, many thanks to Will for sharing this one with me.

 

AgingRoom_Havao_CanonNot wanting to stress out my palate for the upcoming trip, I decided to go Connecticut shade for a few days. I smoked an Aging Room Havao Tuesday, which I had picked up when I saw Rafael Nodal at Cigar Mojo last month.  This cigar is a fine example of a Connecticut (Ecuador, they almost all are now), cigar with a lot of flavor.  I’ve really enjoyed this cigar before, I guess that’s why I bought a handful at the event. They aren’t priced badly either. This is another terrific shade wrapped cigar, as well as the next one!

 

AJFernandez_NewWorldCT_ToroLast night I took my wife out for her birthday, and when we got home I took a walk with an AJ Fernandez New World Connecticut. Once again, we have an Ecuador Connecticut cigar that isn’t bland, mild and boring!  This one was actually a bit stronger than the afor-mentioned Havao.  Loads of smoke, plenty of flavor, and quite easy on the eyes!  This cigar, as well as the original New World, can easily become staples in the humidor, and aren’t badly priced either.  I am really looking forward to dropping by their booth this year, even though AJ doesn’t speak much English, he’s always gracious and he makes some damned fine cigars!  Many thanks again to Gabriel for sharing these, and I look forward to seeing him again at the show too!

 

I can only hope the cigars I smoke at the show are as enjoyable as these last  several were. It’s really getting harder and harder to find crappy cigars now days.  Even cigars I don’t particularly care for are quite good, it’s been a while since I’ve had a poorly made cigar, and they all seem to have some redeeming qualities.  Pray the FDA doesn’t come a long and goof everything up!

 

Until the next time, which really will be from the IPCPR show,

 

CigarCraig

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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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