Tag Archives: Puros Indios

by CigarCraig | September 7, 2011 · 8:53 pm

Rainy Week! More Cigars! Outlaw’s 13, Puros Indios, Fuente Hemingway

Don’t forget to go back to the last post and ever my contest to win one of two Macanudo Millionaire prize packs, and head over the MacanudoMillionaire.com and enter their contest to win a trip to Vegas and hang out with fuzzy little bunnies (I’m guessing they aren’t too fuzzy, but that’s a post on another blog…) I love sending out cigars to people!

On to this weeks cigars so far! Sunday evening I sparked up a cigar that I acquired on a trip, the 13 from Outlaw Cigars in Kansas City. I’m not supposed to say anything about the provenance of this cigar, or how it came into my possession, but these are readily available at Outlaw Cigar‘s site. I really liked the cigar. Like every cigar I’ve smoked that was made in this particular factory, it performed flawlessly. I noticed that the ligero seemed to billow smoke from the burning foot like no other cigar I’ve seen. I’m guessing it was the ligero since it was one small spot in the center of the cigar that was emitting the smoke, the rest of the coal seemed to behave normally. It was weird, but didn’t take away from the cigar. I imagine if this cigar had been released in it’s original intended brand it would have been one of the more highly sought after cigars of last year, so here’s a tip: go to Outlaw and pick some of these up. There is a clue on the website what these were intended to be.

I finished off the holiday weekend with a Puros Indios Miami that Frank Santos of Reyes Family Cigars gave me at the IPCPR show. I’ve long been a fan of the Puros Indios and Reyes Family cigars, even back when you could almost count on a Puros Indios cigar being plugged. I never smoked a Chief, don’t even know if they are still made, but 18″ x 64 is an enormous cigar even by todays standards. Back to the Miami, this one had a big vein that didn’t have any effect on anything, except that it was ugly. It almost looked like the wrapper leaf was put on inside-out. For those who don’t know, or never really thought about it, of course a leaf has 2 sides, on one side, the veins are raised, the other side is normally smooth. The wrapper leaf is always applied with the smooth side on the outside of the cigar, which just makes sense, aesthetically. I don’t imagine that it makes any difference at all to the way the cigar tastes or burns, but a wise man once said that we first smoke with our eyes (I can’t recall who said that, but it’s quite true and a brilliant statement!). Anyway, the Puros Indios Miami was a very nice cigar, well made and flavorful.

Here’s a picture of some cigars that were on display in the Reyes Family Cigars booth at the trade show. Amazing wrapper artistry.

Click to enlarge, you’ll want to see this full size!

Here’s a short video from the trade show with Frank Santos from Reyes Family Cigars:

As I’m writing this, I’m smoking a nice Arturo Fuente Hemingway Best Seller. It was a long, rainy day. Flooding in town hampered our ability to get home after some evening errands, when we finally got home I just wanted something delicious and reliable. This fit the bill nicely. I had picked up a pair of these on my Father’s Day foray. I suppose I could have chosen the aged Work of Art in either Cameroon or maduro, but the Best Seller seemed more replaceable, if that makes sense. As with all of the cigars mentioned here, I used the Ergonomic 4.5″ Cigar & Pipe Butane Torch Lighter from ButaneLightersWholesale.com to light this and it worked very well on the perfecto tip.

While I’m thinking about it, please pay a visit to my advertisers, I don’t want them to think that I’m just a hole in the internet to throw money into…need to give them some bang for their buck! As long as I’m reminding, don’t forget to pester your elected officials about supporting HR1639 and S1461 to protect our freedoms and keep people employed! Go to the legislative action center at IPCPR.org (or use the link in my sidebar) to send their well written letters!

That’s all I got, until the next time,

CigarCraig

Comments Off on Rainy Week! More Cigars! Outlaw’s 13, Puros Indios, Fuente Hemingway

Filed under Accessories, Contest, IPCPR, Review, Video

Tagged as 13, Best Seller, cigar, cigars, Contest, fuente, IPCPR, macanudo, outlaw cigar, Puros Indios, reyes family

by CigarCraig | June 8, 2011 · 7:21 pm

Guest Take A Cigar For A Walk Review: Tommy Berry and a Pirates Gold!

Here’s another update from our intrepid TACFAW (Take A Cigar For A Walk) reporter, Tommy Berry:

Hello folks! I hope that everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend…I know I did and got to do some fishing with the kids…as well as smoke several great cigars. One in particular that I want to review is the “Pirate’s Gold Rothschild” that I smoked this weekend during a walk. I received this cigar from a friend of mine over at Cigarworld.com. I had never heard of these before, so I knew nothing about them. After a little research, I found that they are priced between $1-$1.50 each, what a value. I like value sticks sometimes, but the key word there is “sometimes”. Most companies think they need to cut back on body and flavor to hit the “cheap cigar” mark. I can tell you that the folks that made this one did no such thing…it was great. With its Robusto size, Ecuador wrapper and Nicaraguan and Brazilian filler…it was a great little smoke!

I began my walk just after lighting it. It smelled awesome, as this one had some age on it per the sender. It stayed lit without any problems, lasted me a good 90 minutes to the nub…and yes, I smoked this sucker down to the nub. Overall, I really enjoyed and would recommend this smoke. I see that you can find these at a few places sometimes for a 20 pack, less than $20! I’d try another!

I started boot camp last week and it is killing me…but I am loving it! This Marine (and she’s a tough lady) is exactly what I have needed! She is also really helping me out with my diet…and I am still eating good, just added some things and took away a few others that I can live without. I can already tell the difference. I will give you more information on it once I get through a few weeks…if I survive.

We had some delays on our home purchase, however it is still moving forward and we hope to be in the new home by the end of June. I will be sure to keep you posted!

Craig, thank you for allowing me this time…you do great work and I appreciate it!

Long ashes to ya!

Tommy

Thanks Tommy, and I’m glad to hear that the Boot Camp is working for you! Look forward to hearing more about your progress! As far as the home buying goes, if it is meant to be it will happen. Usually the way it works is that the deal may fall through, and the next week you’ll see on the news it blew up in some strange methane explosion or something. What will be, will be! You’ll be thrilled when it happens!

I grabbed a Puro Indios Viejo toro for my walk, thinking that this cigar is a cousin of sorts to the Pirates Gold. I’ve enjoyed these in the past, and they are usually dirt cheap. This one smoked like it was dirt cheap, but the flavor was good. I always liked the Puros Indios flavors, but back in the ’90s they were known for being plagued with construction issues. “Dowel Rod” and “Tent Peg” were frequent comparisons. This one had a loose enough draw, bu the smoke production was just off, as if it was over-humidified, which would be strange since I smoke out of the same humidor all the time. Anyway, after my walk, about half way through it straightened itself our and was an acceptable smoke. If you can find these for $20 -$25 a bundle go for it, especially in the corona size, they are a bona fide value.

Contest Winners!

I’m sorry to say that of the 8 entries in this weeks contest, only 5 are eligible per the rules. The lucky recipients of the C-Gars Ltd. Ring Gauge Guides as chosen by the random number generator on Random.org are Chris McCann and none other than Tommy Berry (whom I couldn’t think of a good reason to disqualify!). I should have both of your addresses around here someplace, so I’ll drop these in the mail tomorrow (unless you want to help me out with an e-mail and save me some digging)! Thanks to all who entered. I am planning to have another nice cigar contest in the next couple weeks, so stay tuned!

That’s it for now. Thank again to Tommy Berry Jr. for his contribution, and, as always, I wish him the best of luck in his various endeavors! Keep it up, man!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

Watch for a new discount code from StogieBoys.com coming soon.

1 Comment

Filed under Guest Review, Take a Cigar For a Walk

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Pirates Gold, Puros Indios, Stogie Boys, Take A Cigar For A Walk

by CigarCraig | August 21, 2010 · 1:01 pm

The Week(s) In Cigars – Friday August 20, 2010

Haven’t had the opportunity to talk about any of the cigars I’ve smoked recently, so here’s a little rundown of the past couple week’s highlights.

Back on the first night of our vacation in New Orleans I went to the hotel pool with my sons and fired up a Flor de Gonzales 90 Miles Robusto. I’ve enjoyed the 5 pack I won on MyCigarAshes.com several months ago. They are a nice, smooth tasty cigar that is well made. If the Flor de Gonzales sandwich cigars are good, and I think they are, (especially for around $2.00 for a large torpedo or Churchill), these are even better. Recommended.

The next night, as I had mentioned in my previous article, we found ourselves at Tobacco Exchange where I picked up a couple Tabacos Baez Robustos. Tabacos Baez Serie Sf cigars are made at Pepin Garcia’s My Father tabacalera in Nicaragua, they are 70% long filler and 30% short filler. It was one of the more reasonable priced cigars in the shop at $3.75 each. I found it to be a well made cigar that was mild to medium bodied. I enjoyed mine, but my eldest son felt that it didn’t have enough flavor. He’s still learning, and has been smoking the occasional Acid and was particularly impressed with a Liga Privada T52, so I really wasn’t surprised by his impression. I found it to be an acceptable cigar that fit the situation for me, which was standing outside in New Orleans on a hot and muggy evening enjoying The Tobacco Exchange’s block party.

We went out to dinner with our old friends, the Sakas, as well as half the cigar store owners in the state of New Hampshire (2 of them at least, how many people can there be in New Hampshire anyway? :->), but oddly didn’t manage to smoke any cigars. Steve did pass around a box of Dirty Rats, the first I’d seen with Liga Privada bands and box. The Dirty Rat box was unique in that it had a notched strip at the head of the cigars to protect the pigtail cap and held 10 or 12 cigars (memory fail…). I still have a handful of the pre-production Rats floating around the humidor someplace, these are really beautiful cigars. The restaurant was not smoke friendly, but the food was very good, I had a hanger steak which melted in my mouth.

Monday night my boys and I took a wander on Bourbon Street where I smoked a Partagas Petit Coronas Especiale which was just fantastic. I really enjoy these cigars from Germany. While we were wandering around we stopped for a while at the Cigar Factory of New Orleans little shop and watched a gentleman bunch cigars and load up molds. He was a very skilled torcedor and it was educational for my sons. I had a nice chat with the shop keeper about their cigars, even though I had gotten the whole story before at the main store. I always enjoy hearing someone speak passionately about his product. I am looking forward to smoking the three cigars from Cigar Factory New Orleans in the near future.

Tuesday morning before we left I stopped in the IPCPR show I introduced myself to Pete Johnson and he very generously gave me an El Triunfador which must have been a No.2, if I remember the size correctly. I smoked it while I walked around the show floor and found it to be a solid smoke. It was satisfying without being overwhelming, which was a good thing for the early hour. Pete was a very nice guy, and I haven’t smoked s many of his cigars as I would like to have, so I was grateful for the gift.

After getting home it was back to business as usual. I have been pretty lazy and have been avoiding some of the new cigars I received at the show and stuck to cigars I could smoke without worrying too much about them. Smoked my last Vegas de Santiago Secretos de Maestro 4″ x 60, which was nice, but not as good as I remembered. I had a really nice Chateau Real Maduro Gran Templar, which is a 6″ x 52 Toro. The Chateau Real line is among my current favorites as far as flavor and consistency goes. Smooth, low maintenance cigars that always seem to deliver for me. I like them in both wrappers, but prefer the maduro. I also smoked a Puros Indios Vieja corona which was OK, and a Maria Mancini Robusto Larga, which was better that the Puros Indios, but the PI wasn’t bad for a $1.00 cigar. I have to say that the Maria Mancini was better than twice as good as the PI, despite being twice the price at $2.00. The worst cigar I had over the last 2 weeks was a Vegas de Santiago Chaman Panatela Extra. These just don’t do it for me, but are well made and certainly a quality cigar. Not sure what it is that I don’t like about them, maybe a grassy profile or something.

That’s the catch-up for this week. I have some interesting new cigars from the show that I’ll be getting to in the very near future. I am really no good at reviewing cigars, but I do know a good cigar from a bad one, and I know what I like. Hopefully folks can pick out some value from my brief impressions.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

2 Comments

Filed under Events, Review

Tagged as cigar, cigars, drew estate, liga privada, Maria Mancini, Partagas, Puros Indios, vegas de santiago

by CigarCraig | May 16, 2010 · 4:18 pm

A Reyes Family Cigars Weekend – Sunday, May 16, 2010

I did something unusual for me, I smoked a bunch of the same cigars in a row. I found myself with a handful of Puros Indios Viejo Media Coronas and smoked about 3 of them in a row. For the price, these are terrific cigars, and at 5½” x 45 is one of my favorite sizes. These are touted as well aged cigars with a 10 year old Ecuador Sumatra wrapper and filler from the DR, Nicaragua and Brazil. They burn pretty well with a good draw and a nice flavor. I remember back in the boom years Puros Indios were known for having a tight draw, I recall having one that was a really great tasting cigar, but it was like smoking a wooden dowel it was so tight. Clearly this problem no longer exists. I smoked 2 of them during the excellent Flyers win over the Bruins.

I figured since I was on a Puros Indios kick, I’d fire up a Reyes Family Cigars Premier Gordo that I got at the IPCPR show back in 2008. This is a big perfecto, 6″ x 60 ring gauge at it’s largest point. The maduro Ecuador Sumatra wrapper is rustic, not the prettiest thing, but quite tasty and the shape is just amazing. It’s burn wasn’t dead even, but didn’t take anything away from the experience. I’m a reasonably fast smoker, but this cigar seemed to last forever. I think I smoked this for over an hour and a half. It was medium bodied and tasty. Not a bad cigar at all and a good one to follow the Puros Indios Viejos I had smoked earlier. Except for a few more of the Viejos, I think I’ve exhausted my supply of Reyes Family Cigars. What ever happened to the 18″ x 66 Puros Indios Chief?

In The News:

I came across a really neat site for all you blog junkies to bookmark: http://www.cigarosphere.com/ . This is a cool page that has an excerpt from a ton of different blogs all on one page. They have graciously added the CigarCraig..com blog to the site, despite the fact that they state that they trying to aggregate QUALITY blogs. It’s neat to be able to see a whole bunch of different blogs on one site. Keep up the great work guys!

Please keep up with http://www.cigarrights.org/ as the FDA starts looking at ways to screw up out enjoyment of cigars. Don;t be afraid to write to your representatives when you hear about possible injustices where cigars are concerned. The folks at CRA are doing great things to protect our rights, I urge you to support them.

Oops, I almost forgot!

I keep forgetting to mention that last week I enjoyed the Vegas de Santiago Don Luis Secretos de Maestro Canionazo that DJ sent me. It was another very nice cigar which burned well and had a pleasing flavor. Vegas de Santiago deserves more notoriety than they receive. They produce a very nice product and are always very willing to sponsor events when asked. I’m sorry that things got a little busy around here and I kinda forgot to mention it in my last post. I truly appreciate the opportunity to try these cigars, thank you sir! I still have a Vegas de Santiago in a wooden tube somewhere in the bottom of the coolerdor that’s about 5 years old that I need to exhume and smoke.

Also, Joel Scott, winner of the box of 5 Liga Privada‘s, was kind enough to send me a couple pictures of the opened box, since I resisted the temptation to open them before shipping them out. You may drool now, and remember that I just may have more of these for future prizes, as well as a bunch of other goodies! Keep checking back, the cats are looking forward to the next contest video! Testimonials from past winners are always welcome.

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

CigarCraig (GO FLYERS!)

1 Comment

Filed under News, Review

Tagged as blog, cigar, cigar rights, cigaroshere, cigars, hockey, Puros Indios, reyes, reyes family, viejo

by CigarCraig | April 23, 2010 · 9:16 pm

This Week’s Cigars: Puros Indios Viejo and Cain F, and a Contest! – Friday April 23, 2010

I started out the week with another cigar from my buddy Jason at Rock’s Smoke Shop, a Puros Indios Viejo Rothchild. I really enjoyed this cigar. It burned well, produced a nice amount of smoke and had a pleasant flavor. Purely coincidence that I should receive an e-mail from Cigars International advertising these for as little as $19.99 for a bundle of 20 in the corona size, and $29.99 for the toro and Churchill size. Quite a nice deal for a decent cigar if one were in the market.

I ended the week with a Cain F 550. I admit to being a bit fearful of this cigar. It’s billed as a stronger version of the Cain, which I’ve enjoyed the flavors of, but these seem to make me a little queezy. The Cain F was no different. I nursed this cigar, smoking it slowly. It burned razor straight, the draw was perfect, and it had a great flavor. I thought I was OK, but a half hour after finishing I got the familiar queeziness. It’s a little annoying to enjoy a cigar so much only to have it make you feel crappy afterward. Sorry Sam, you make some great cigars, but I will be approaching these with extreme caution in the future. I have a pretty good tolerance for strong cigars, but these just kick me in the tail!

In the news

This has been reported to death, but in case you didn’t hear, General Cigar announced a promotion in conjunction with CharBroil, The Punch “King of the Deck” . From the press release:

Consumers of legal smoking age are encouraged to visit their local cigar shop to purchase a Punch-branded steel smoker box while supplies last. Inside the smoker box, cigar enthusiasts will find one each of the following cigars: Punch Magnum, Punch Gran Puro Rancho, Punch Rare Corojo Magnum, plus the new Punch Upper Cut Robusto which is included free. In addition, the smoker box contains a coupon that can be redeemed online at www.charbroil.com for $100 off the purchase of a new Char-Broil grill valued at $399 and above. For the suggested retail price of just $19.99, this special offer also boasts the added benefit of the smoker box itself which, along with wood chips, can be used to add a rich, smoky flavor to the cigar lover’s favorite grilled foods.

Check out the website http://www.punchgrilling.com/ for some nice recipes and cigar pairings. Kind of a neat approach to matching cigars and grilling.

While I was having a cigar this evening I was listening to the Stogiefresh podcast, which I enjoy every week. Doc debuted a new segment featuring Adam Estrrem of the Newbie Cigar Blog, which I also peruse. The segment is called “Tools of the Trade” and reviews accessories. He reviewed a Xikar lighter and did a nice job, however I feel the need to point out a thought I had. He mentioned “wind proof” lighters and being able to blow them out. Here’s my thought: wind is basically oxygen moving at a higher than normal velocity. When you blow on a flame, you are basically expelling carbon dioxide which robs the flame of oxygen. It’s my contention that one’s breath will extinguish the most robust torch flame. I point this out to educate, not as a criticism, and hope it’s received as such. I’m not a scientist, so any scientific evidence to the contrary is gratefully accepted.

As I wait to hear from the winner of the last contest, I’ll throw another quick contest out: a 5 pack of Hoyo de Tradicion Toros will go to a randomly selected reader who comments on this post. Thanks to General Cigars for providing the cigars! Contest ends Sunday April 25 at Midnight.