Tag Archives: video

by Craig Vanderslice | April 11, 2023 · 7:39 pm

A Video Interview with Ricky Rodriguez of West Tampa Tobacco Co.

I’m trying something a little new here. Ricky kind of encouraged this, I’ve been thinking about it for some time. When I talked to him a few weeks ago he asked to do it, and I had to figure out how. I did, and I think it worked out very well. Rick and I talked for 50 minutes about the company, the cigars, the factory and several other topics. Please give it a watch and let me know what you think. I hope to present some more interviews in this format. Many thanks to Ricky of West Tampa Tobacco Co. for his time and his encouragement. I smoked the Attic Series Attic along with Rick and it was as excellent as ever. I’m looking forward to getting the West Tampa Red when it comes out next month, it’s really good too.

Thank you to Kevin at CigarProp for his technical guidance, and to my friends on the Round Panel for helping me test it and work out the bugs. I have a lot of video content on my YouTube channel. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by CigarCraig | October 30, 2011 · 9:32 pm

General Cigar Domincana Trip Report: Final Day, Videos of Bunching and Rolling

I’ll admit it up front, this is a stall as I haven’t had time to write the full “Day 3” article. So I’m posting a couple of videos of my feeble attempts at cigar rolling. First we have bunching. Please note that it took me two minutes to make one bunch, a rate at which I would make no money and would be promptly re-asigned to sweeping the floors or something. If it weren’t for the Leiberman machine, this would have been even more disasterous. Honestly, it takes years to become profficient at this, and I’m sure I wouldn’t have even passed the dexterity test.

Next came the seemongly simple, yet highly complicated task of applying the wrappper. Where the binder was a Mexican leaf, we were using Conecticut shade for the wrapper in the classic Macanudo style. It remains to be seen whether my blend and rolling is worthy of the Macanudo name, I somehow think not!

As you can see, this is not something that one gets in a morning, or a week, or month….it takes years. I managed to master trimming the cigar with the cutter, but that was about it. Something to think about the next time you enjoy a fine cigar!

Stay tuned for the wrap-up later in the week,

Until then,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigar rolling, cigars, Dominican Republic, general, general cigars, macanudo, video

by CigarCraig | April 1, 2010 · 9:17 pm

Thursday Cigar Ramblings: Maria Mancini, CAO Italia, Montecristo – April 1, 2010

Monday night, in celebration of re-stocking my Maria Mancini selection, I lit up a Magic Mountain that I’ve had in my humidor for quite a few years. It smoked great, tasted great, and was, over all, more than I expect from a $2.00 cigar! There is one more old one left that I may have to smoke back to back with a new one just for kicks. I’ve smoked many, many cigars in this line over the years and the flavor has been remarkably consistent, aged or new. I don’t know if this is good or bad, I just know that I like the cigars!

I’ve been wanting to smoke a Cain F, but I also wanted to smoke something that isn’t receiving a lot of buzz lately and the Cain seems to be talked about quite frequently. So for Wednesday’s cigar I chose a CAO Italia Box Press that I got at the 2008 IPCPR show. These may not be for everyone, but I enjoy the sharp flavors the Italian tobacco adds to the blend from time to time. This particular example was plagued with burn problems. The wrapper wouldn’t burn…it was like the original H2000 leaf when it first came out (which, ironically, the Maria Mancini uses, and always burns well). I had noticed a small tear in the wrapper just above the cap, but I don’t know that that was the whole problem as I was able to cover the tear with my lips. I emptied one lighter trying to keep it burning, and when it finally did get going with about 2 inches to go I probably got a little overzealous with it and ended up curled up on the couch in a fetal position for the rest of the evening. It’s not often that a cigar gets the best of me, but this one did. I have a few more Italias in the humidor that I hope are better smokes than this one was. It was quite a disappointing experience.

Another reasonably disappointing cigar was tonight’s Montecristo. It was a small cigar, not even sure where it came from or how long it’s been floating around the coolerdor, but it was about 4″ x 42 or 44. It had a bit of a sour taste about half way through. It fit the time I had allotted just fine, so that was a plus, but it just wasn’t all that good.

I noticed that the Romeo y Julieta Habana Reserve deal is still out there at http://www.ryjhabanareserveoffer.com/promo0828.html. Nice cigars for $2 each delivered! I gotta think anytime you can get a cigar that’s smokable for $2-$3 it’s a deal, let alone a name brand premium. The RyJ is a nice cigar, and even if it’s not your cup of tea, it’s nice to have on hand to gift to someone.

It’s a new month, so keep an eye out for this month’s contest coming soon. Also, remember you can subscribe to receive e-mails when this page is updated, and you can follow me on Twitter (@cigarcraig). Also, I’m working on a new front page for CigarCraig.com. Stay Tuned!

Finally, here’s a short video that my wife and son put together for me a bit ago:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYk3-5Hivfs

Until the next cigar,

Cigar Craig

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