While I watch the cigar industry in Las Vegas for the 86th annual IPCPR show and waffle between regret of missing seeing friends and relief of sparing myself the hassle of travel and the work that goes into going to the show, I spent this week, after bathroom remodeling and job hunting, keeping it close to home and smoking cigars with local ingredients. This week I embarked on an experiment. A few weeks back my amigo Mike gifted me a Best of PA Tobacco sampler he picked up from Famous Smoke Shop (there’s an ad on the left sidebar, by the way, it’s an affiliate program which throws a couple of cents my way if you use it. In nine years off trying affiliate programs, I’ve never had one pay out. Just so you know, anything I make off the site goes back in, contests, hosting, stuff like that. My P&L is more L than P). Anyway, thanks to Mike for sharing this great four pack of cigars with me, I happen to be a fan of Pennsylvania Broadleaf, it literally hits close to home.
VUDU DARK NO. 7
I started with the largest of the four, the Vudu Dark No. 7. This a cigar I hadn’t heard of until now, and I suspect is a Famous Smoke Shop Exclusive. It features Nicaraguan longfillers under a Pennsylvania sungrown wrapper. It’s packaged in a neat vacuum seal humidor jar with Boveda pack included, which we’ll see again later. This was a very enjoyable cigar for me, it had some power, and the fairly ugly, mottled PA wrapper had nice spice and sweetness that I like in that tobacco. It’s not pretty, the band is hard to make out in what seems like black on black skull or alien face or something, it took me a while to figure out what it was.
FULL SPECIFICATIONS: Size: 5 3/4 x 50, Country: Honduras, Wrapper Origin: Pennsylvania, Wrapper Leaf: Broadleaf
CAMACHO AMERICAN BARREL AGED ROBUSTO
I’ve smoked this cigar before and enjoyed it, although, like any barrel aged cigar, any boozeyness from that process is lost on me. What is fascinating about this blend to me is the abundance of american tobacco in the blend. This one has “American Broadleaf” listed as the wrapper and binder, which one can assume is Connecticut, because they specify Pennsylvania “maduro” in the filler, along with American Broadleaf again and “Barrel Aged Corojo” of unspecified origin. Really, it wouldn’t be that hard to say it was Nicaraguan or Honduran Corojo, right? Anyway, I like this one, it’s really interesting to smoke a predominantly USA tobacco cigar, and it’s got, obviously, a lot of the sweetness I like in the Connecticut Broadleaf. This one was a 5″ x 50 Robusto, Famous Smoke’s site lists this as made in the DR, which I wonder about, I associate Camacho with Honduras, although with Davidoff owning Camacho, I suppose it’s possible. I don’t think they are right about the wrapper being PA broadleaf either. Further fact checking may be in order.
Southern Draw Jacobs Ladder
This is one that is pretty well-known to be a favorite of mine that doesn’t last long in my humidor. As I write this, Robert Holt and his family are probably having the best IPCPR show of their lives and maybe one of the biggest hits of the show. I know that my visit to his booth last year was one of my highlights. For some reason I’ve fallen off their media radar, not sure if I did or said something to offend or what, I’m the kind of guy who wants t be liked by everyone for being a nice guy, but I’m not going out of my way to endear myself to people, whatever will be, will be. I gotta be me…anyway, not to kiss anyone’s ass or anything, but the Jacob’s Ladder is one spectacular smoke, and the PA Broadleaf wrapper is fermented to a dark maduro and is sweet and spicy and delicious. This is loaded with ligero, so it’s strong, but, for me, the sweetness of the wrapper tames the pepper in the ligero enough to lull you into a false sense of the strength of this cigar. I need to resupply the humidors with these, I’m interested to see what some age does, I just can’t hold on to any long enough to find out. It made my “Top Five Memorable Cigars of 2017” and is also a great Rush song! Helpful hint: remove the cedar sleeve before smoking, this applies to all cedar sleeved cigars!
PANTHEON IMPERATOR ROBUSTO BY AJ
From Famous’ Website:
“Two titans collided to make the Pantheon Imperator Robusto cigars, AJ Fernandez and Famous Smoke Shop, giants among cigars, labored together to bring you a medium bodied cigar with a taste of heaven. Carefully blended long filler from Esteli and Condega intertwine with a sweet and beefy Connecticut Broadleaf binder while an oily Ecuadorian Habano wrapper puts the cap on it. There’s no questioning AJ’s blending ability and Famous’ low prices, so while you’re looking for deal on a quality smoke- pick a Pantheon!”
SPECIFICATIONS:Â
Shape:Â Robusto
Size:Â 5×50
Country:Â Nicaragua
Color:Â Natural
Wrapper Origin:Â Ecuadorian
Wrapper Leaf:Â Â Habano
OK, What seems to be missing from the above description that you would think would appear in the description of a cigar that’s in a PA tobacco sampler is the inclusion of PA tobacco! Someone goofed somewhere along the lines! When Mike gave me this sampler I had just returned from Rome, where I had visited the Pantheon, which is an incredible building, the largest un-reinforced concrete dome in the world, and it’s nearly 2000 years old! It’s ridiculously cool to stand in a building that old that’s still in use. Anyway, regardless if the fact that the Pantheon Imperator Robusto doesn’t appear to fit in with the theme of this post, it’s a tasty cigar, very rich, smooth and creamy. Like the Vudo above, this comes in a spiffy jar, and is well priced. I think this is a nice cigar for someone who’s looking for a smooth, creamy, anytime of the day cigar. Like the Vudo, I’d smoke this again.
Once I finished the sampler from Famous, I grabbed a couple other cigars that I knew had PA tobacco in them that were wildly different. The first that came to mind was the Sobremesa, which I smoked in the Cervantes Fino size. PA Broadleaf is often associated with power and raw, earthy power, but here it is in an elegant, sophisticated blend! How about that! I wrapped up the week smoking a Diesel Unholy Cocktail with six or seven years of age, which had 
mellowed a little over the years, but still had the power and spice that I like in that cigar. Obviously there are tons of cigars with PA tobacco, it’s been a hot commodity over the last few years. I draw the line at the “Pennsylvania Amish” cigars that are available at souvenir stands throughout Lancaster County, although I did punish a bunch of friends back in the late ’90s with a taste test (still out there on a Tripod site!).
That’s more than enough for now. Hopefully now that the IPCPR is underway, the news will slow down and Ill get back to my regular routine. Anyone want to come over and smoke a cigar and record a podcast? Let me know! Until the next time,
CigarCraig
This is not only a cool project by J.C. Newman, but I have a personal attachment to it because some of the tobaccos are grown not twenty-five miles from where I live now, and only a few mile from where I used to live. I can remember driving past the fields of tobacco 20 years ago. Of course I’m a big fan of Connecticut Broadleaf, and I have an affinity for the PA leaf, it has a special flavor. I smoked a couple of the Double Robustos, which are a really good size for me. The Florida Sungrown wrapper has a mottled appearance, and the cigar starts with a bit of a sourness, but sweetens and has an earthiness throughout. the construction was very good. I only have one robusto to compare to, but I do think this was stronger, owing to the extra ligero, although it wasn’t excessively strong, it was very well balanced. Pennsylvania ligero can be very strong in my experience. This was an excellent cigar, many thanks to J.C.Newman for sharing these with me. 
