Tag Archives: Tortuga

CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways 2015 Day 5: Tortuga Tuesday!

It’s day five, and it’s Tuesday, so we’re just going to go ahead and call this Tortuga Tuesday!  Frequent readers will know that I have a deep affection for the Tortuga brand, and have since it’s inception. Victor Vitale goes to great lengths to produce the best cigars, and today we have an excellent representation of that quality. Today’s spectacular present is 20 of the Tortuga 215 Reserva Tributo, a box pressed, 6″ x 56 super premium cigar made in Honduras.  These are a Nicarguan puro, and are complex, refined and sublime. These are packaged in five-packs, not boxed (saving me shipping costs!), I can probably come up with a box if you really want one, but the box count is 27, so you’d just feel shorted :-).  It’s better this way, trust me!  Many thanks to Victor Vitale for providing these terrific smokes!

 

Tortuga Resreva

 

 

Monday’s winner of the terrific MBombay Cigars sampler is Jay Rabinowitz! Please send your address so I can pack this up and send it out to you.  Thanks again to Mel and Ron at Bombay Tobak for sponsoring yesterday’s contest! Someone asked in yesterday’s comments how you tell each line apart as they all have the same bands. I’ve asked this question myself which led to the line being marked on the back of the cello in marker, which is the case with these samples (as shown in the bottom picture).  I’m sure it’s something Mel and his team are looking at, bands are expensive, but they do serve the purpose of identification. The bands and presentation are quite beautiful!

 

 

You know what to do now, leave a comment here, check back tomorrow to see if you won!

 

RULES

All you have to do to enter is to leave a comment on the post of the day, if you can, try to post what you know or how you feel about today’s present, the folks donating the gift should get some feedback for their troubles! It’s not a condition to win, but it’s nice to have something to read. We did this last year and it benefits everyone. Once you’ve won, you’re out, let everyone else have a chance. Must be over 18 to win. Also, be sure to visit the links for each item. Comments on Facebook, Twitter, or anywhere else will not count, but feel free to spread the word!

Until tomorrow,

CigarCraig

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First Wednesday Contest Two Days Late, and a Kilo Cigar

I missed the Wednesday post, it’s been a hellish week at work, so I blew it off. I asked on the Cigarcraig.com Facebook page if anyone minded if I posted it late and the sentiment was positive.  It seems people love the chance to score some freebies!  So I rummaged through the humidor and pulled out about 10 cigars and found some other odds and ends. More on that later, I have a couple of cigars I want to talk about first!

 

 

Kilo_RobustoI signed up for The Cigar Authority Care Package, which is a monthly care package of cigars that they are going to smoke on the show during the course of the month, so I dropped the folks at 2 Guys a note asking to include a couple of the new Kilo cigar (and charge me for them) that is the creation of Barry Stein. Barry created a version of this cigar when he was working for Miami Cigar and Co., and it’s been re-imagined through the United Cigar Group and made by Noel Rojas who makes the Guayacan line.  I received the care package along with the Kilo cigars last week and smoked a robusto this week.  The cigar is made up of an Ecuadorian habano wrapper,  with Nicaraguan Corojo 2006 binder and three ligero fillers from Aganorsa and Rojas’ farms.  This is a strong cigar, with lots of flavor.  It burned perfectly, much like the Guayacan toro I smoked later in the week to compare. Kudos to Barry for realizing a dream and bringing a very nice cigar to market. Good smoke, but not for the feint of heart. The idea behind the care package is to smoke the cigar that corresponds with the show, preferably while watching The Cigar Authority show live on Saturdays. I generally find myself listening to the podcast version during the week, so I try to remember to smoke the cigar while listening. there have been some spectacular cigar included in the packages I’ve received. It’s an entertaining show and is in my regular rotation.

 

Contest

 

contestI pulled some favorites out of the humidor, as well as a sampler of Southern Draw cigars, and a Stage V Cigar Clinger.  The Southern Draw sampler includes a Kudzu, a Firethorn and a Quick Draw Pennsylvania, all tasty smokes from the A.J. Fernandez factory. Also included is a Nica Rustica Belly, an Arandoza White Robusto, a Classic Cigar Habano Blend from East India Trading Co., a Tortuga Reserva Cedro Belicoso, a Buena Vista Short Churchill, a Six-Sixty Robolo and a Black Abyss Toro (the last two from the factory that makes Aging Room and Señoreal).  All cigars I like to smoke.  It’s hard to say what else might fall into the shipping box when it goes out. Usual rules apply, if you’ve won in the past few months you’re out, just leave a comment here to enter. I’ll pick a winner next Wednesday (maybe), November 11, 2015.

 

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

 

CigarCraig

 

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First Wednesday Contest Featuring Ventura Psyko Seven Cigars and Swag

It’s the first Wednesday of the month, so it’s contest time, following a tradition that began last month!  But first I want to bore you with some tales of out latest vacation this week to Mountain Lake Lodge in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. We drove down Sunday and stopped at Luray Caverns on the way, which was expensive to get into , but spectacular to see. The organ they have down there that has strikers on pistons that strike tuned stalactites is a marvel. That was something to see, and we saw signs for half a dozen other caves and caverns on the drive south, buncha copy cats!  Anyway, Mountain Lake Lodge is the place where the movie Dirty Dancing was filmed back in the 80s, had we known that, we might have gone someplace else!  We ate in the dining room where Baby CAOColumbiagot put in the corner…big whoop…crappy movie. Anyway, it was a very nice place, and we had it mostly to ourselves. It takes exactly one CAO Columbia Vallenato to hike the trail which goes around the lake.  Spectacular morning cigar, the lake, not so much. It seems that once in a while the lake drains itself, it’s on a fault. It probably drains into one of those caverns they like so much around there.  Anyway, it apparently emptied itself out in 2009 and is starting to fill back up. The pictures of the resort with the lake make it look pretty cool, the lack of a lake wasn’t so cool, although if the place weren’t called Moutain LAKE Resort one may not notice. They did have a pool and a Jacuzzi that were deserted save for my wife and I, and one Tortuga Reserva Cedro Belicoso is just enough to get a little sunburn.  No pictures, I left my phone in the room.  We did some more hiking around the property, LeccaLuchadorand the food was very good in the restaurant in the lodge. There wasn’t a lot of night life with only 18 guests registered either.  On the way home we stopped by Jefferson National Forest and hiked the two miles to Cascade Falls. It takes exactly one Leccia Luchadore El Hombre to hike two miles, and the El Hombre remains one of my favorite cigars, even in the morning it was a great walking stick. The falls were pretty cool, 66′ drop and lots of cool little falls and rapids on the hike up. The weekend was a nice getaway with some exceptional cigars.

 

Contest

 

Ventura ContestA few months ago I received some pretty cook stuff from Ventura Cigar Co. in support of their really good Psyko Seven Maduro. I tried to find these guys at the IPCPR show, and managed to get in the Phillips and King booth (their distributor) when they were giving away a Rolex  watch (I didn’t win), so it was crowded. I had some tobacco infused coffee which was interesting, but didn’t manage to find the Ventura guys. I’ll catch up with them someplace, I suppose.  Anyway, the goodies in today’s contest are a nice ceramic Ventura ashtray, a Ventura single torch lighter with a flip out punch, a fun set of Rorschach Inkblot test cards so you can find out if you have an Oedipal complex or not, and two coffin boxes containing two Psyko Seven Maduro Robustos each (total of 4 cigars).  The usual rules apply, must be over 18 and must not have won in the last  months (sorry Matt Wells!). Leave a comment here to enter. I’ll announce a winner next Wednesday, September 9, 2015.

 

Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

 

 

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Marrero Cigars, Flor de Gonzalez, Macanudo Estate Reserve and Cigars with Friends

Marrero TicoI’ve been working through some more new cigars from the IPCPR show, and I ran across some Marrero cigars that it took me a moment to remember. We ran across the booth late on the last day we were there and got to talking to Joel Vazquez Marrero about his cigars. My memory is hazy on this, but I think these are rolled at the same factory as Vegas de Santiago, MBombay and Atabey, Byron and Bandolero. If this is the case it’s one more bit of proof that this particular factory is producing some excellent cigars. The Marrero Tico Pigtail is 6½ x 56, has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, Indonesian binder and what they call Costa Rican/Proprietary Blend as the filler, as well as a long pigtail, as the name would imply. The cigar was solid, firmly packed with a similarly firm draw, although it wasn’t annoyingly so.  I found it to be on the milder side of medium, with a nice flavor and burn.  It was a nice cigar for my evening walk. I look forward to trying the Tesoro Mio blend in the near future.

 

Flor de Gonzalez_20th MaduroOn Thursday I had a brief moment of wishful thinking that it was Friday, but reality soon slapped me in the face.  So Friday deserved what I hoped would be a special smoke.  Another booth we stopped at late in the show was Flor de Gonzalez.  We had a brief visit with Yadi, and she shared their 20th Anniversario cigars, which come in either a Ecuador Connecticut or a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. My natural inclination is to go with the Broadleaf, which I did and was very pleased. This was a rich, chocolaty smoke with a great burn and draw.  It’s a rubusto, but is 5½” x 50, a little more of a good thing than your traditional 5″ robusto.  I can’t wait to try the other one. I’ve always enjoyed the Flor de Gonzalez line, it seems to fly under the radar in a lot of places, at least around here.

 

We had some friends over last night, so we spent the better part of the day getting ready, and in the hour or so before people arrived, I sat down with a Macanudo Estate Reserve Jamaica 2015.  This is a very special Macanudo, here is what the folks at General Cigar have to say about it:

To experience Macanudo Estate Reserve is to savor a tradition that spans nearly half a century, for this exceptional cigar hearkens back to the very roots of the brand.
MacanudoEstReserve_closed_LRFor the 2015 release of Macanudo Estate Reserve, the artisans of Macanudo blended a 10 year old Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper from the sun-drenched, highest priming, with proprietary Jamaican tobacco cultivated on small, independent farms and aged exclusively for this year’s small batch offering. The dark, well-oiled wrapper adds a new dimension of complexity to the flavor that ignited the passion for one of the world’s most beloved cigars.
Jhonys Diaz, master blender and vice president of operations said, “We selected a broadleaf wrapper for this year’s release to deepen the flavor profile of the cigar. The wrapper delivers bold notes of leather and earth, while complementing the unique attributes of the Jamaican filler. This is a rich and complex smoke, one that will appeal to the true cigar lover.”
MacanudoEstReserve_open_LRThe Jamaican tobacco tells a story all its own. The varietal used in Macanudo Estate Reserve is called Silver Tongue, a native seed favored by locals. It is an extremely low-yield tobacco and is the most expensive long-filler leaf in the world.
Due to the scarcity of Silver Tongue, this exquisite cigar will only be available until the limited release of 1,800 boxes per size is depleted.
Macanudo Estate Reserve 2015 will be available in three frontmarks, each protected in 10-count boxes and shipping in October. They are:

No. 7 — 7 x 50; SRP per cigar is $17.00

No. 8 — 6 x 57; SRP per cigar is $18.00

No. 9 — 5 x 50; SRP per cigar is $16.00

 

Macanudo Estate Reserve 2015The presentation is beautiful and goes back to the Jamaican roots of the brand, which at one time was made in Jamaica. I remember having a box of Macanudo Prince Philip back in the 90s that was still made in Jamaica (won it on the CigarWorld.com website somehow, and that was a very long time ago when there weren’t a lot of cigar websites). Anyway, this Estate Reserve was really very tasty and had about the most perfect construction imaginable. The cigar was perfect in every way, and had a nice flavor of espresso and cocoa. I found it to be medium bodied, and I smoked to a very tiny nub.  It’s not a cheap date, but it is one of the most flavorful Macanudos out there.

 

MillenneumOne of our guests, my old friend Bruce, presented me with a very rare cigar, a Padron Millennium, claiming that he came across the humidor (these came out in 2000 in a humidor of 100, of which there were only 1000 made) in his basement. I believe he gifted me one of these nearly 15 years ago, but I smoked it long before I started documenting my daily smokes so religiously. This was a special blend of the 1964 series and had five year old tobacco at the time they were rolled in 1999. He was concerned that they had been neglected, but upon smoking the cigar all was well. If it was blended to be bolder than the 1964 series, the last 15 years might have tempered the original intent, but it was still a spectacular cigar that had a perfect burn, draw and the chocolate bar creamy sweetness that one would expect.  Quite a treat, and I can’t thank Bruce enough for sharing that special cigar.

 

TortugaOne of our other guests, Victor, brought some Tortuga Cigars, so I smoked one of my favorites from the line, the Cedro No. 5 as my last cigar of the night.  Talk about a trifecta of exceptional cigars to go along with a night of great friends, food and stories. It’s a treat when you can get three couples together, many of whom haven’t met, and go late into the evening talking about a myriad of topics. Anyway, the Tortuga line is obviously high on my list, and the No. 5, at 5½” x 48, is just about the perfect size and is a great representation of the blend.  After the pair of chocolaty maduros,  this spicy Nicaraguan puro it the spot, and never fails to satisfy. We don’t entertain much, but with our big screened in porch it is something we need to do more.  Thanks again to Victor and Rebecca and Bruce and Shirley for spending the evening with us.

 

That’s it for now, lots of food to eat from last night yet, some errands to run and some cigars to smoke.  Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

 

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IPCPR Thoughts and Highlights – Part One

We got back from the IPCPR show yesterday, and it was a whirlwind 3 days at the show. I didn’t do the video interviews like I’ve done in the past, I figure other people are doing them and I don’t do what everyone else does. The only one I did I posted Sunday, and I’ll try to fix the audio when I get a chance. I will have a video montage of the “secret question” which I did for fun. Two years ago I put together the montage (here), and when I get the video put together I’ll post it. It’s a bit of fun and something different. I encourage you to visit my colleagues sites who did run around interviewing everyone, I just didn’t have it in me this time around. Obviously when I got Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust‘s Steve Saka alone at the end of the first day, and was the first blogger type to have talked to him, I had to scoop the competition. I’m not proud of my competitiveness in that regard, but I am proud to have gotten the first interview with Steve out. I asked some questions I’m sure nobody else did.  I’ve known Steve for nearly 20 years, which might have given me a little advantage. I’ve gt samples, and you’ll hear more about them as I smoke them. They are taking a rest in the humidor, and I even shipped a box back that’s due tomorrow.  Anyway, here’s the quick day by day recap.

 

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Friday we drove two hours to Newark, NJ for a 5am flight which took us through Chicago then finally to New Orleans.  Once checked into our hotel, the Hilton Riverside, which is next to the convention center, more or less, we walked to get our badges. This convention center had to have been nearly a mile long, it’s one enormous building, and the IPCPR was on the far end. We went to our hotel and took about a three-hour nap before heading back to the convention center for the gala grand opening reception, which followed the Government Affairs Briefing. This has been poorly attended in the past, and it was quite important to those who make a living in the cigar industry, so it was a stroke of genius offering cocktails to the attendees. The gala offered food and a cash bar, which was exorbitantly expensive. We caught up with quite a few old friends here, spending some time with the Two Guys Smoke Shop crew, as well as many others.  I had run into Scott Weeks of Recluse Cigars, who handed me a Recluse Amadeus in Connecticut and the new Habano, and I smoked the Connecticut at the event, which is a great Connecticut shade cigar, lots of flavor. I can’t wait to try the Habano version, as I’ve been a Recluse fan since their release.  I also smoked something else, but I can’t recall what it was. The evening was sponsored by Fratello Cigars. It was a fun evening, but even after the nap we were running at a sleep deficit, and wanted to be awake for the opening of the show.

 

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Saturday morning we arose refreshed and went to the opening breakfast at the convention center. Smoking is allowed at the breakfast, but I was holding off until we got to the show. There is a business meeting that takes place, with recognition of the outgoing and incoming presidents and the introduction of the new IPCPR IMG_1761CEO, as well as some industry awards. All quite uninteresting to the consumer, but the officers and board of directors do this in their spare time on a volunteer basis, so there behind the scenes work deserves recognition. They always have a keynote speaker, and this year it was Larry Winget, a motivational speaker who was quite insightful and entertaining. I bought his book. He and I have a similar sense of humor, and many of his observations were quite funny. Breakfast was good, the coffee was great and it was a nice way to spend the morning. The show floor opened to the masses at 10:30 and we ran into quite a few old friends on what seemed like a half mile walk to the entrance of the show.  Upon entering, IMG_1780Drew Estate‘s elaborate and expansive booth is straight ahead, so it was mobbed. We had a couple of appointments in the afternoon, so we went to the far end of the show floor and wandered, saying hello to friends, meeting up with fellow bloggers and media types, and getting the lay of the land ( taking note of where the food court was, bathrooms, etc. The first appointment was with Victor Vitale of Tortuga and Legacy brands, where I was reintroduced to IMG_1779the new Tortuga Connecticut, which was my first cigar of the show.  This is a very smooth, creamy cigar with great flavor. I have smoked it before, and it’s a very enjoyable Connecticut, not to be missed. You may begin to notice a trend, I do’t smoke a great many milder cigars, but I’ve been to enough events and trade shows that I know how much it can suck if you blow out your palate early with strong cigars. I typically don’t go through a ton of cigars on the show floor as it’s awkward talking to one manufacturer about his cigar with another manufacturers cigar in your mouth (in the interview with Steve Saka I was smoking the new Leccia Luchadore, more on that later, but I couldn’t put it down and Steve didn’t have any samples of the Sobremesa). Victor was struggling with having his display cases broken and not having the right furniture, so it was a rough show for him, but he kept a smile on his face. This is another trend we saw: broken displays and what appeared to be poor service by whoever was in charge of moving things around with at least one booth never receiving a couch or chairs.  I attended a media briefing at Rafael Nodal’s Boutique Blends/Aging Room booth with was informative, with Rafael telling us about his current selections.  This factory continues to put out some great cigars, I just enjoyed the joint venture between Rafael and Altadis, the Romeo by Romeo y Julieta Aging Room Small Batch F25 in the Cantoar belicoso size and it was very nice. Not a show sample, by the way.  After visiting with Rafael and his boys we went to the General Cigar booth for our traditional 3:00 on the first day of the show tour.  General always rolls out the red carpet for us, and we saw some great looking new products including new branding on the Macanudo line, a Partagas Aniversario which looks really tasty, Bolivar and Ramon Allones reboots from the Foundry division as well as the Leccia Luchador El Gringo line extension (I mentioned before that I smoked it and really liked it, despite the example I smoked being a 70 ring). CAO has the Pilon, Margaritaville and added a round cigar to their Flathead line, the Steel Horse, paying homage to the motorcycles as opposed to the automobile reference in the previous five sizes. More about all of these as I smoke them after the samples have a chance to rest. Cohiba has a new very expensive Luxury Selection No. 2, which is beautiful, and Dunhill has the Heritage and Seleccion Suprema. Finishing off the tour was the Toraño line with the repackaged Brick bundle brand. I like a lot of cigars in the General Cigar portfolio, so I am looking forward to trying a bunch of the new cigars. Stay tuned for a giveaway here in the near future so you too can try some!

 

We free-ranged around the show floor some more until getting to sit down with Steve Saka after the show closed. I had to get the video interview out, which meant napping in between video processing, editing, and uploading over hotel WiFi so I could publish it for you first thing Sunday morning.  Needless to say, the first day was fun, exciting and tiring, and I’m going to Post about days three and four on Sunday.  Lots of great cigars and great people.

 

Until the next time,

CigarCraig`

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