Para Japon | CigarCraig's Blog

Tag Archives: Para Japon

by CigarCraig | January 15, 2012 · 9:17 am

A Visit to Cigar-Ette City and Gary Griffith (and a Grimalkin)

Yesterday was a bit on the chilly side, so I figured I’d look for a nice, warm indoor smoking location. I’ve been wanting to take a ride south of the boarder and visit Gary Griffith at his Peoples Plaza Cigar-Ette City store for a while, and decided the time had come. I grabbed the GPS and hit the road, taking the 1 hour and 7 minute drive. I got there a bit ahead of schedule and Gary greeted me warmly and we went into the enormous walk-in humidor. It was at that point that I realized the flaw in my plan: The State of Delaware frowns upon smoking indoors! Here we have a store that sells cigars and other tobacco products, and you can’t smoke in it. If you have been complacent in contacting your elected officials about the FDA issue, do it now. Not being able to smoke in your local shop is only scratching the surface of the “inconveniences” we’ll face it the FDA is allowed to regulate Premium Cigars.

Anyway, all was not lost. I wandered around the humidor for a while talking to Gary, and marvelling at the ridiculous amount of inventory. He had all kinds of boutique brands that I don’t see a lot of in my local shops, but hear about everywhere. The Viajes, Tatuajes, Illusiones, 262s, you name it. Boxes stacked to the ceiling, I even saw a stack of the Para Japon cigars that La Aurora made to aid the Japanese earthquake relief. Of course the Emilio and Grimalkin lines were well represented, and I picked up a couple Grimalkin Robustos while I was there. The moral of the story is that one could leave a ton of cash behind in this store, and the prices were competitive with Pennsylvania prices given that the lack of a state sales tax offsets the cigar tax.

Here’s a little video I shot with Gary telling us about what’s coming down the line in 2012 for the Emilio family of cigars. I know I’m excited to see what comes next.

httpv://youtu.be/VzeaLToxhR8

After I got home and fed, I still needed to smoke the cigar I set out earlier in the day to smoke, so I grabbed a Grimalkin Robusto and took a long and satisfying walk. The cigar was awesome, although I believe more of the subtlety and complexity is apparent when the temperatures aren’t around freezing. Still, this is an incredible cigar that everyone should try if they can. My thanks to Gary for his hospitality, and for making dynamite cigars.

That’s it for now. I used a new camera for the video this time, I’d like to know if you think the quality is better than my previous videos.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

6 Comments

Filed under Editorial, Review, Stores

Tagged as 262 Cigars, cigar, cigar store, Cigar-Ette City, cigars, delaware cigars, Emilio, Gary Griffith, Grimalkin, illusione, IPCPR, La Aurora, Para Japon, Take A Cigar For A Walk, tatuaje, Viaje

by CigarCraig | May 8, 2011 · 9:47 am

A Para Japon, a Rodrigo Toro and LGC Serie N Cigar Contest Winner Announced!

Today is Mother’s Day, so take care of the mothers in your life today instead of reading this nonsense you goons! I’ll be selecting something nice to smoke in honor of my mother, my children’s mother, my daughter the new mother, and moms everywhere. So do something nice for all the mothers in your life!

This week I smoked one of the Para Japón cigars from La Aurora which I won in a contest on CasasFumando.com. This is one of the blogs in my regular rotation that I recommend, Tony and Daniel produce some very nice reviews on a regular basis. Although I don’t drink, they always seem to pair their cigars with interesting looking beers and beverages. If you don’t visit regularly check them out. Thanks to them as well as the folks at Miami Cigar and Company and La Aurora Cigars for the opportunity to smoke this cigar which I may not have otherwise had the chance to smoke. The proceeds of the sale of these cigars will go directly to relief efforts in Japan after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck that nation on March 11. I remember seeing the devastation on TV while we were in Nicaragua. The cigar is a 5″ x 50 Robusto that has been aging at La Aurora for several years, they had made these and had them aging. When a group of bloggers were visiting the La Aurora factory and suggested this project, they decided to use these cigars and came up with bands and packaging in a very short time. Kudos to all involved in getting a cigar to market so quickly for a noble cause. On to the cigar, it has a fairly dry Nicaraguan wrapper and woody flavor. The burn was excellent and I enjoyed it to a finger burning nub. A very nice cigar.

I decided to continue on a Dominican theme and selected a Rodrigo Toro for my evening walk last night. Fellow Pennsylvanian George Rodriguez generously sent me a sampler of these and I had previously smoked the Robusto and Lancero, the latter being my favorite of the two. The toro is 6″ x 50 and the example I smoked was badly cracked at the foot. The crack wasn’t too detrimental but it did effect the burn a bit as the wrapper separated from the binder a little and it required a few touch ups. The wrapper was what I would call “rustic”, not the prettiest cigar. The Lancero remains my favorite so far, with the torpedo remaining. The flavors were nice enough and it wasn’t bad, it just didn’t work as well for me as the Lancero did. Still a nice cigar, I’ll be interested in seeing where these fall retail price-wise.

I promised to announce a winner of another five-pack of yummy La Gloria Cubana Serie N JSBs and I am a man of my word. I’d like to thank Team La Gloria, as well as Victoria from General Cigar Co. for providing a box of these fine cigars to give away. After this there will be one more fiver for next month’s contest, after which I’ll have to start scrounging for some more contest prizes. I still have a few items in the contest box though, so never fear! Anyway, the winner of a five-pack of Serie N cigars is Allen, selected randomly using the random number generator at Random.org. Congrats Allen, please e-mail me your address so that I can send these out to you!