Tag Archives: White

Some West Tampa Tobacco and Powstanie Cigars

I’m trying to figure out what I’m going to do next week, be prepared for a simple post, or maybe I put something fun together for the holiday week!  I have to work on that…anyway, I smoked some cigars that I found interesting this week.  When I saw Rick Rodriguez at the Cigar Heritage Festival, he gave me two lanceros, I mentioned the West Tampa Tobacco Co. Black last week, and smoked the West Tampa Tobacco Co. White this week.  As with the Black, I found the lancero iteration to be very different from the Robusto and Toro.  I don’t know how old these were, which can factor into things, but the lancero started with some “off”, sour notes.  The sourness turned into almost a fermented citrus sort off flavor.  Very interesting. I am always careful to smoke lanceros slowly, I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again,  this shape cigar tastes “sharper” because it burns hotter than a larger ring gauge cigar. This is often mistaken for some wrapper to filler ratio nonsense.  It’s heat, sip the lancero, it can’t be smoked like larger cigars.  I did find that this cigar burned pretty fast, which was disappointing because I enjoyed the flavors, perhaps more than I enjoy the regular White sizes. I liked both of these blends in the lancero format.

 

I recently came across the West Tampa Tobacco Co. Attic Series in one of my local shops and picked one up to sample.  I got some of the Black and Whites too while I was there.  I also grabbed an Excalibur No. 1 Maduro while I was there, I hadn’t had one in ages, and thought it might be fun to compare it to the Sakakhan, as the Excalibur loosely inspired it. Anyway, I smoked the Attic and instantly regretted not picking some up at the festival. This was an excellent cigar for me. It was of the dark roast coffee theme that I enjoy.  San Andrés wrapper over Nicaraguan binder sna fillers in a 6″ x 54 format are all right up my alley. This smoked perfectly and was delicious. If you like the cigars I tend to like, put this on your “try” list. 

 

The CigarCraig.com Secret Santa this year had a pretty light turnout, but the quality was very high. I think everyone was well taken care of, including myself. My SS surprised me with a bunch of cigars that I haven’t smoked before, as well as some very nice goodies, some of which I’ve already put into use!  He went way over and above and I am humbled and very appreciative! I lit up the Powstanie (link is to the Cigar Hustler site, which is owned by the same dudes who own the brand, not a sponsor, BTW)  Wojtek which I believe to be the 2021 edition. This is a barber pole/dos capos style cigar that has Habano and San Andrés wrapper.  All I can find out about the blend is the wrapper, I assume the rest is Dominican and Nicaraguan. Previous iterations had an Indonesian binder, safe to assume this does too.  These are made at Nica Sueño in Esteli, and I tend to like cigars made at that factory.  I also like the Powstanie cigars, I’m pretty evenly split between Broadleaf and Habano, they are both really good. This cigar was 90 minutes of pleasure.  It starts with some pepper, then some earthiness and espresso.  It burned well, the box press was comfortable, and it was a really nice smoke.  Thanks to my SS fo this, as well as the rest!  

 

Off to see what I can come up with for the coming week, it’s that time of year you know!  Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

 

 

 

Share

Comments Off on Some West Tampa Tobacco and Powstanie Cigars

Filed under Review

West Tampa Tobacco Cigars, a Street Taco Carnitas and a Patina Sumatra

I’ve started smoking some PCA show samples now that I feel fully recovered from the post-Vegas Covid situation.  I started out revisiting the West Tampa Tobacco Co. Black and White. Rick went out of his way to give me a 6×60 from a bundle, that had never been in a box! This is significant because I told him about an experience I had initially with the cigars I had sourced locally.  This was the first cigar I smoked, and it was very good.  If you refer back to the video interview with Rick (HERE), he explains how the Black and White have the same wrapper, it’s just fermented differently. The Black has nice espresso notes and is up my alley.  The construction was perfect and everything tasted the way it should.  

 

I had another West Tampa Tobacco Co.White Toro that Ricky also gave me, which was also very good, but I find the Black suits my palate more. The White has more of a woody character, with some citrus tang to me.  Rick explained that the White was blended more for the European palate, with the wrapper being highlighted, and the darker wrapper Black highlighting the filler blend. I like them both, but the Black is better for me. I still have to try the robusto. GOod stuff from a very small factory in Esteli.  

 

Thursday evening I had the pleasure of being a guest on the All About Wine Podcast, of all things.  We had a panel of folks talking about cigars. I pre-gamed with a Rojas Cigars Street Taco Carnitas, the Connecticut shade version of the Street Taco.  This has an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers. I had the 5″ x 50 robusto. Oddly, this comes in a Robusto and Toro, with the 5½” x 46 Short Corona being the closest thing to a small ring gauge in the line. I think of a corona being 5″ x 42, so I’m not sure I understand the name. Regardless, the robusto was very good. It was creamy, with some oomph to it.  There was some spice and it wasn’t a mild Connecticut. Considering that shade wrappers are fairly low on my preference list, this one was very good. 

 

Finally, when I met with Mo Maali at the show, he gave me a Patina Sumatra. This is his new release, which excited me for a few reasons.  First, I’ve enjoyed the Patina line in general, Maduro and Habano, I don’t think I ever had the Connecticut (see above).  They are made in the NACSA factory where Mi Querida cigars are made, as well as several others! I want to say that factory mad the majority of JR’s Alternatives bundle brand, which is millions of cigars. NACSA is one of the largest factories in Nicaragua. The other reason I was looking forward to this is because I really love Sumatra wrapped cigars! This one didn’t disappoint.  It had the sugar cane sweetness that I really like.  It burned perfectly and gave me a great experience.  Check out my video with Mo here. Good stuff!

 

That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

Share

Comments Off on West Tampa Tobacco Cigars, a Street Taco Carnitas and a Patina Sumatra

Filed under Review

Diner en Blanc, Veritas 412 and Camacho Nicaraguan Barrel Aged Cigars

DEB1While not a cigar event, Dîner en Blanc is an annual event held in 70 cities around the world. People wear all white, pack a picnic dinner, and go to a secret location which isn’t revealed until you arrive en masse at the place. This year the Philadelphia version was the largest ever, with 5300 people meeting at various places around the city in groups, toting tables, chairs and coolers, again, all wearing white. I wasn’t able to accompany my wife last year, so this was my first time experiencing this sort of thing. We met at the Convention Center and walked to Franklin Square, one of Philadelphia’s five original squares, which became a park in 1838. It has a fountain, merry-go-round, miniature golf course and a playground. 5300 people lined up their tables, many with elaborate place DEBCigarssettings, and shared a meal, then partook in dancing and general fun. I’m told security was heightened, but it wasn’t overly apparent, and I suppose it was helpful that the park is in the shadow of the Philadelphia Police headquarters   It was pretty darned cool. All these different people, just hanging out having a good time. Of course, I took event appropriate cigars along and the Traveling Tobacconist was there with his 30 foot Airstream “CigaRV” mobile cigar lounge. I smoked a Montecristo White Series robusto and a Fratello Bianco, while my wife had a Leccia White. The Fratello Bianco was the corona, sadly my last one, I think this was a special event only size, and it was exceptional. There were a surprising number of people hanging out smoking cigars, many of whom you could tell were first timers. It was a great party, and I was happy to have been a part of it.

 

Veritas_The412_ToroFriday I was looking for something new and exciting to end a busy week, so I rummaged through the IPCPR samples and came upon a cigar from a reasonably local company that I hadn’t had a chance to catch up with until the show. Veritas Cigar Co. is based in Newark, DE, not far from me, and I wanna say I encountered this brand in 2011 at the Delaware Cigar Festival, but they’ve changed some things since then.  I selected The 412 in a toro size. This is a unique and powerful blend! It has a Pennsylvania wrapper, Mexican binder and fillers including more Pennsylvania and ligeros from Condega & Esteli. It had a lot of pepper and cocoa and was very enjoyable, although quite heavy. This was one of the few cigars I had to put down with a bit under two inches to go. I have a couple more samples, and I think I have a large Connecticut shade wrapped Solomon from them going back to 2011 someplace. I am looking forward to sampling more and catching up with them at a local event.

 

Camacho_NicaraguanBarrelAged_GordoYesterday I went with a new Camacho cigar, the Nicaraguan Barrel Aged in the Gordo size. I chose the gordo size because we were taking a long walk to get Powerball tickets (I wonder if we won?) and I wanted a longer smoke. The NBA follows the American Barrel Aged, which has tobacco aged in bourbon barrels, this one has tobaccos aged in rum barrels (and some outlets clam that even the rum barrels are aged, “aged in some of the world’s oldest Nicaraguan rum barrels” was one quote i found. Again, spirits are not my forté, so I have no way of knowing if the nice sweetness in this cigar is from the rum or inherent in the tobaccos, but it was a very good, smooth, enjoyable cigar. I’m looking forward to trying other sizes in this line. I’ve liked Camacho cigars since smoking my first one in 1996, and have seen quite an evolution in the brand, obviously watching as they transitioned from Christian Eiroa to Davidoff, and while they are doing a lot of different things now than they were then, the quality and interestingness (making up words here) is there.

 

That’s all I have for today. Don’t forget the contest running from Friday to Friday this week, and stay tuned for more (hey KRUK….patience!).  Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

Share

2 Comments

Filed under Events, Review