Tag Archives: Rosalones

A Trinitas, a Couple of Southern Draw and a Couple of Joya de Nicaragua Cigars

I had had some plans this week that didn’t come together, more on that later, but I wanted to highlight a few cigars I smoked during the week, as I normally do on Sundays. First one that was really the standout of the week was the Providencia Trinitas Corona. This is a new size, adding to the 6″ x 52 perfecto (read about it here), with the same San Andrés wrapper, Indonesian binder and Nicaraguan Ligero fillers. In my February 2018 post I pointed out that they misspelled “lijero” twice in the description, and they still haven’t fixed it, I’m insulted that they don’t read ?.  Anyway, of course I’m a sucker for the San Andrés wrapper, and I’m not afraid of ligero, however it’s spelled, and despite my love of the toro, there’s something about a corona gorda that always appeals to me. I believe this one might be a little shy of a corona gorda, and a little more than a corona, listed at 5¾” x 44, it falls squarely in between the two. I actually find coronas to be too small for my liking, so this was outstanding, 46 ring would be perfection. Anyway, we’ve established that I approve of the size, wrapper and perceived strength profile. The flavor did not disappoint. Since it’s a smaller ring gauge, one has to smoke it slower or it overheats and has a sharper flavor, so I smoked it slowly and savored the spice, earthiness and cocoa/coffee flavors I like in this type of cigar. Despite the “tripple ligero” designation on the band, it wasn’t overly strong, just about the right amount of strength when smoked  at the right pace. Awesome cigar, just like it’s perfecto sibling. The folks at Providencia Cigars produce some darned tasty cigars! 

 

I revisited a few Southern Draw favorites this week.  I had every intention of heading out to Colmar, PA to the CigarCigars store there on Thursday for the Southern Draw event with Robert Holt, as I hate when he’s in the area and I don’t get to say hello, but a wicked toothache ruined my day, and I didn’t feel like going anywhere. I managed to get a dentist appointment and I had some interviews the following day I wanted to be prepared for, so I decided to stay home. I had pregamed with a delicious Southern Draw Rose Of Sharon Desert Rose the night before. This is a really tasty shade cigar, with what they describe as an Ecuador Cloud Grown Claro wrapper, which is probably a more accurate description of Ecuador Connecticut. It has Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan Ligero and Dominican Piloto Cubano in the filler as well, in a 5½ x 52 box pressed belicoso shape. It’s a stunning cigar in every way.  As great as the regular Rose of Sharon line is, the Desert Rose steps it up a notch in strength and body I think. It’s no mild Connecticut cigar, that’s for sure, it’s loaded with rich, creamy flavor, and is really a delightful smoke. When I decided not to go to Colmar (to be honest, my tooth hurt so bad, if I hit a bump in the car it hurt), I grabbed a Southern Draw Kudzu Lustrum. I figured at least I could be there in spirit. The Lustrum is the company’s five year anniversary cigar, made with some very special materials. The wrapper is a Nicaraguan Habano, but it’s the Media Tiempo priming, which is a notch above Ligero, and is rare, especially large enough to produce wrapper leaves. The binder is from Ometepe in Nicaragua and the fillers are undisclosed, although one might assume they are some variation on the Kudzu blend of Nicaraguan and Pennsylvania (if I remember correctly). This is made in a the same mold as the Rose of Sharon, a box pressed 5½ x 52 belicoso. This is another lovely cigar, for a whole different set of reasons. It’s got some spice and some coffee/cocoa and savoriness and I love it. The Kudzu is really good, this is a special Kudzu. Like all of the Southern Draw portfolio, these are both made at the A.J. Fernandez factory, and I can’t recall ever having a SD cigar with anything but perfect construction. I’m sorry I missed seeing Robert, he’s a super-nice dude.

 

Joya de Nicaragua has been dropping some goodies on me lately, and I love everything about JdN. They had announced the release of the Joya Copper, an addition to their Joya line (Red, Black, Cabinetta, Silver), exclusive to Cigars International. It was one of those press releases I didn’t share because a ton of other sites had posted about it by the time I saw it, and it wasn’t a wide enough distribution really. Raise your hands, how many people heard about the Joya Copper?  Anyway, long story short, the Copper Joya Copper comes in 4 vitolas: 4 ½ x 52 Consul (MSRP $6.60), 5 x 46 Corona Gorda (MSRP $6.30), 5 ½ x 52 Robusto (MSRP $7.10) and 6 x 50 Toro (MSRP $7.80). All come in boxes of 20.  I copy/pasted that part. It’s a Nicaraguan puro, with no other details about the blend. These will be sold in the CI stores only through the end of the year, and they will be available online after the first of 2020. I’m not sure why, but the packaging and band give me a golf vibe, with the dimpled background. So far, I’ve only smoked the Consul, the 4½” x 52 robusto size. It fit into the time I had available. I’m hoping these age well because it was a good cigar, but I found it to be unremarkable, and I suppose I expect to be more pleased with a Joya. Now, I’ve not had good luck wrapping my head around the Black and the Red, fine cigars, just haven’t tripped my trigger, so there’s that. I have the other three sizes yet to smoke, and these had only been in the humidor for a week, so let’s not jump to any conclusions yet. It was properly humidified, as I checked it with the Cigarmedics Humidimeter. Back in 2013 when I went to Cigar Safari with a bunch of bloggers, we discovered a cigar that, at that time, was only being sold in the Spanish market called Rosalones. We smoked a bunch of them and some of us were taken with them. They must have listened to us, or it was a coincidence (probably the later), but Rosalones showed up after that in the catalogs. At some point I bought a ten count box of them in the Gran Consul size, with is a 4¾” x 60 figurado that Joya de Nicaragua has used on their Antaño 1970 line, and Saka used on the Todos Las Dias Double Wide Belicoso. I don’t know that this size is even around any more and I only have a few left, but boy is this a good smoke! For an inexpensive cigar, these deliver the goods. Medium bodied, classic Nicaraguan richness. I’d have to see what’s out there now and sample them, but these have aged well and are just dandy smokes. 

 

Well, that’s more than enough for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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Rosalones, Vegas de Santiago, SOF Cigars and a Contest Winner

CraigonACBoardwalkLast Sunday my wife and I took a trip over to Atlantic City to walk on the boardwalk and just get away for a bit. As soon as we got there I lit up a La Sirena Devine while we strolled on Steel Pier and along the beach. It was windy, and I had some trouble keeping it burning right, but it was a great cigar, and nobody seemed to care I was smoking it!  After a nice dinner, we went back out to walk it off, and I lit up a Tortuga El Coyote Negro No. 500. I guess I was in a belicoso kind of mood, that was two in a row!  Great cigar, but it had gotten a little chilly, Tortuga500so we went into the casino and wasted some time at some slot machines while I finished my smoke. They have signs in the smoking section saying you can only smoke if you’re playing a machine!  We found a big machine with a bench for two in front of it, which was perfect, and the game ended up paying off, so we just about broke even. Great cigar though, I can’t get enough of the Tortuga line.

 

Rosalones_Gran ConsulBack in the spring of 2013 I had the privilege of attending Drew Estate’s Cigar Safari with a bunch of fellow bloggers and cigar media types.  One of the cigars that was available for us to sample over the course of the trip was a cigar from Joya de Nicaragua called Rosalones. At that time it was just for the European market, but several of us smoked these and were quite impressed.  Several months later this brand made it’s debut at Cigars International.  This week I smoked a Rosalones in the Gran Consul size, the same 4¾” x 60 torpedo shape that’s available in the Antaño 1970 and Dark Corojo lines.  I’m a sucker for figurados, and I think this is a fun shape to smoke. It’s got the smoking time and coolness that I like in a large ring gauge, without the need to unhinge my jaw. This is a medium bodied smoke, with rich, dark flavors, and a perfect burn. These are really quite reasonably priced as well.  If you like Joya de Nicaragua’s offerings, you’ll like this cigar.

 

vegas de santiago lanceroLast week I heard about the passing of Rudy Niehaus, who was a principle in the Vegas de Santiago cigar company out of Costa Rica. My dealings with Rudy and his wife Lani, who passed away a few years ago, goes back more than a decade, when they were a sponsor of a cigar event my wife and I organized at the Freehold Raceway in New Jersey.  I’ve been smoking Vegas de Santaiago cigar on and off ever since, and the Secretos de Maestro line has always been my favorite.  A few years ago I expressed interest in the Secretos del Maestro Laguito No.  1 size in their Oscuro wrapper. I’ve been sitting on a couple of these and decided this week was a good time to smoke one.  Laguito No. 1 is traditionally 7¼” x 38 , but theirs is closer to 7¾” long, but is still finished with the traditional pigtail cap. It’s a very elegant cigar, very rich and savory in flavor, but lacking the sweetness that you’d expect with an oscuro wrapper. It’s a very good cigar, and I don’t think you can get these anywhere but directly through their website, and they are not very expensive at all! If I’m not mistaken, this same factory is responsible for the MBombay, Byron, Bandolero and Atabey lines. My condolences to the family on the passing of their patriarch.

 

SOF-AD_650Yesterday I selected a new cigar that I had an initial hesitation about responding to the request to send a sample.  I’m pretty much a pacifist in nature. I certainly support our military and veterans, don’t get me wrong, but they are and have been far better suited to doing what they do than I ever would have been. I recognize that, and I’m comfortable with it.  So when I got an e-mail from Tim Lawson of SOF Cigars, I considered giving him a “thanks, but no thanks” reply.  Soldier of Fortune (SOF) cigars is a veteran owned brand made in The DR, and the AD (Almost Dead) has a dark brown Brazilian Arapiraca with a proprietary binder and filler. They had me at Arapiraca, and i was interested.  I smoked the toro, 6″ x 50 with a little bun-style pigtail cap.  I really, really enjoyed this cigar.  It had a flavor like strong black coffee, a hint of nice bitterness, but a sweetness as well. It was perfect constructed and had a great burn and draw.  There’s a story that goes with this which explains the date 17-NOV-03 on the band, which relates to what I assume is the brand owner’s experience as a “contractor” in Iraq, a harrowing tale of nearly being killed in an ambush.  I have a hard copy, and will update to include a link to the story if I can find it! So far, these are only available at www.StogiePlace.com, and are priced in the $6-8 range which is quite fair for this quality and flavor! Thanks to Tim for the sample and for his service. I have no idea what factory in Santiago is making these, but something in the back of my head makes me think of PDR cigars, and I’m probably way off and an idiot for even guessing.

 

modiglianiI think that’s it……wait, I need to select a winner of the Toscano cigars from ItalanSmokes.com and the Screwpop cigar cutter from Screwpoptool.com!  I was a little disappointed with the turnout for this contest, but I guess this is a bit of a niche item and not everyone is adventurous. Still, we had 41 entries, allowing for a couple of side comments that didn’t count, and Random.org spit out the number 5, so by my figuring, Sean Kevin Conroy is the winner.  Please send me your address so I can ship you goodies!  Thanks to ItalianSmokes.com and ScrewPopTool.com for providing the goodies, now I have to see what I can scrounge up for the next contest!

 

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

 

CigarCraig

 

 

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Arandoza, Rosalones, Nica Puro and an Asylum 13 Ogre Cigar

Arandoza_Blue_RobustoI started out the second half of the week revisiting the Arandoza Blue Label Robusto from Arandoza Cigars.  This brand is made at Erik Espinoza’s La Zona factory in Esteli, it’s a Nicaraguan puro with a Nicaraguan Habano wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers. I smoked some of these last year and enjoyed them quite a bit, as I enjoyed this one again. They’ve fancied up the bands on these, making them harder to get a good picture, but the cigar is a really nice, well balanced smoke, with a little sweetness.  Now that I’ve smoked a few cigars from La Zona, I’m quite confident that I’ll enjoy just about anything made there.  The Arandoza is a little known gem.

 

JdN_Rosalones_448Friday evening I got off to a late start, so I went for something on the smaller site for my evening walk.  The Rosalones from Joya de Nicaragua was a surprise find last year at Cigar Safari. None of the assembled bloggers I was with had heard of this, and we were told it was for the European market.  Not too long after that these showed up at Cigars International, which is where I picked up a few of these well priced, really tasty little cigars. The 448 is 4¾” x 48 and it’s another Nicaraguan puro. The wrapper is a Nicaraguan Habano Criollo and it’s a medium bodied little flavor bomb. Of course, as just about everything from JdN, it’s perfectly constructed. For a couple bucks a piece, these are really quite excellent cigars, and if you look back at some of my blogger brethren’s trip reports from last May, you’ll see that these were the talk of the trip. These are a bargain, and I’m not sure, but they may be a CI exclusive.

 

AlecBradley_Nica Puro_ToroSaturday was a pretty nice, spring day, although a bit breezy.  After getting some much needed  yard work done (it’s never really done, but I was done!), I picked out an Alec Bradley Nica Puro for my afternoon walk.  I’ve exclusively smoked the robustos in this line up until now, and it’s one of those cigars that I can grab and enjoy the heck out of on those occasions where I need a solid, no-nonsense cigar that I can just love and not have to think about much. A few weeks ago at the Filthy Hooligan event at Cigar Mojo I picked up some toros just to change it up a little.  Lucky for me, it’s the same great tasting smoke in a longer format.  Unfortunately for me, it was a bear to keep lit, for some reason. I’ve had this happen in the past when I’ve picked out the cigar about an hour prior to smoking, took my pictures (because I’m nutty that way) and put it in an aluminum tube for a little later. Ironically, I’ve also had burn problems when I’ve taken a slightly different route than I normally take. It’s hard for me to believe that the route has any effect, but I’ll abandon the tube for the Black Delrin Transporter Tube  in the future (check out the Indiegogo campaign and get behind this guy, these are really nice tubes! Time is running out.). I remain a fan of the Nica Puro. It gives me a satisfying smoking experience the majority of the time, and the flavor is yummy.

 

Asylum13_Ogre_7x70Today I decided to pull out all the stops. Last June, on the occasion of our second granddaughter’s birth, we happened upon Black Cat Cigar‘s shop on our way home from the hospital. I picked up the Asylum 13 Ogre there, it was fairly new on the market, and I figured I should smoke it some day anyway. It’s an absurdly large cigar, 7″x70, and is a barber pole wrap of Habano maduro and Candela. I really like the green and brown appearance of this, but it’s size kept it buried in the humidor until such a time as I could devote a few hours to it’s smoking. For those who don’t know, this is made at Fabricas Unidas, which is Christian Eiroa’s factory in Honduras.  I’m thankful that these are being released in more manageable 6″ x 60 and 5″ x 50 sizes, because I really enjoyed the flavors in this cigar. The Candela gives it a little bit of that refreshing flavor, and the maduro (the best I can tell, the candela is an over wrap on top of a completed maduro cigar) gives it the coffee/cocoa flavor I like. The draw was very free, and it actuallly burned a bit quicker than I anticipated.  Apart from a little bit of flaking of the delicate candela leaf, the burn was pretty even. I used my Xikar MTX scissors on this, because I don’t think any of my cutters would accommodate the ridiculous girth of this cigar. As I said, I’ll be on the look out for the robusto size in this line.  I really got a lot more flavor than I thought and it certainly isn’t a novelty cigar. (note: The websites for Asylum Cigars, Fabricas Unidas and CLE Cigars all return a message stating that they “encountered a fatal error” at the time of publication, perhaps Christian forgot to pay the bill? 🙂 )

 

I’d also like to take this opportunity to welcome Black Cat Cigars to the CigarCraig family of supporters. Click the link on the right sidebar and check out their Mayhem Deals. The first time I came across Black Cat was an evening long ago when we met a friend in Philly for dinner.  We stopped in the little shop on Sansom Street on our way to the Sam Adams Brew pub, where we ended up running into another couple friends and smoking cigars with them all night. Their new shop in East Norriton, PA is pretty nice, stop in if you find yourself in that area.

 

That’s it for today, back to enjoying a relaxing Spring Sunday. Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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