CigarCraig's Blog

June 28, 2026 · 10:34 am

Knuckle Sandwich Avant Garde, ATL La Carousel and Carrillo Ascend Cigars

After a stretch of really having to hunt down new cigars to try, I find myself with a nice variety to choose from. I can tell you that next week’s post will likely have a theme, and it will be consistent with the holiday! I also have a giveaway coming up, so that’s something to look forward to. I have a problem with ending sentences with a preposition, it’s a lifelong struggle. It just seems awkward to say “something which to look forward”, it’s not the way I talk. I hope you can forgive me. Anyway, on with the show. I started off with an Espinosa Knuckle Sandwich Avant Garde, generously gifted to me by Dan of Wooden Indian fame. These are $18, which is over my personal threshold. This is a 6″ x 54 toro, with an Ecuadorian Habano oscuro wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan fillers. Oscuro is an odd descriptor, as it has a lighter wrapper. I was told that this cigar sneaks up on you, which runs a bit contrary to the press on it, which says it’s supposed to be more approachable. I found that it started bready and went from a saccharine to a cane sugar sweetness. The second half didn’t ramp up the way I was led to expect, I’d say that, yes, this is a very approachable cigar, and delicious. I really liked it and it’s a cigar that I may pry my wallet open to buy if I’m feeling reckless. Of course, the Knuckle Sandwich line is made by Espinosa for Guy Fieri, who’s fairly well known, and recently partnered with Espinosa to build a factory in the DR. Thank you Dan for allowing my to try this cigar!

I received a couple cigar from the folks at ATL Cigar Co. this week, their latest offering, the La Carousel-1960. You may remember that I talked to them at the TPE show a few years back, for your convenience, here’s a link. Unlike Espinosa, ATL has this cigar listed on their website! I guess it’s a long standing peeve of mine that companies can’t keep their sites up to date! Anyway, the La Carousel was a 6½” x 56 toro, and is also available in a robusto. Of course, I prefer the toro (extra), and I’m glad they sent me that size. Whe cigar is wrapped in dark Ecuadorian Habano Oscuro, with a Jalapa Valley binder and fillers from Jalapa and Estelí, and is named not for a children’s ride, but a jazz club that was known as Atlanta’s jazz Mecca, as well as an early non-segregated nightclub. It opened in 1960. Even though this cigar has a similar wrapper to the Knuckle Sandwich, it tastes nothing like it. OK, some sweetness comes in toward the end, but it starts out leathery with some spice. The burn and draw were perfect. I was not disappointed.

My final cigar for this instalment was given to me by Salim Hanono, the COO of Casa Carrillo, at the Smoke-onos. It’s the latest offering in the Perez-Carrillo line, the Ascend. I smoked the 5″ x 50 Saddle, with the other sizes available being the 6″x52 Ridge and the 6¼” x 58 Peak. These names represent the stages of a climb, mountain, I assume. I didn’t think I was smoking with the theme this week, but apparently I did. The Ascend has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, binder form Esteli and Nicaraguan fillers, all made in the Carrillo factory in the DR. It’s funny how when I think of Dominican cigars, EPC doesn’t really come to mind, although I know Ernesto has been making cigars there since the mid-90s. I honestly don’t care where a cigar is made as long as it works right and tastes good, which this cigar did. It started with some sweet woodiness, and developed some spice. All three of these cigars with Ecuador Habano wrappers had a distinctly different taste. Those people who say that 80% of a cigars flavor comes from the wrapper are full of shit, or my palate sucks.

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

CigarCraig

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Zino Honduras, Cigar Clowns Cigars and a Shop Visit

I am sitting on my porch typing this on the first day of summer and Father’s Day, smoking my traditional Father’s Day cigar, an Esperanza Para Los Nińos, which is still smoking well 27. years after it was rolled. If you aren’t familiar with this cigar, I wrote about it here. It’s been a crazy busy week for me, but I managed to get a few cigars in. First off, I want to talk about the Zino Honduras. I smoked both the Robusto and the Half Corona this week. These are made in Honduras, with an Ecuadorian wrapper, and fillers from Jamastran and Copán in Honduras. The Robusto came in a freshpack, and it’s pre-cut, meaning it it already punch cut, which can be a convenience. The hole was appropriate to the size of the cigar, 5″ x 54, I’d guess 13mm (I didn’t get my calipers out to check). I found the robusto started out on the harsh/bitter side, maybe these need some humidor time. It really never smoothed out for me, it burned very well and the draw was fine. I did get a little walnut flavor, and I really don’t care for walnuts. I’ll bury these and revisit them in a few months. The Half Corona (4″ x 44) also come punched (maybe 9mm? again, I didn’t measure) seemed to be a different story. I went into it expecting the worst, but was pleasantly surprised. I’m to assume that it depends on the packaging which cigars are pre-punched and which are not. It looks like full boxes are not cut. As you can see in the photo, the Half Corona comes in a tin of 5 pre-cut, as well as boxes of 25 (it doesn’t say pre-cut, so I assume it’s not). Similarly, the Robusto is in the 4 cigar freshpack cut, and boxes not. I got off track. I quite enjoyed the Half Corona, which is not a size I generally go to. It fit perfectly into my evening last night. I lack the palate to get the cream, orange and rosewood that the website lists as flavors, it tasted like honduran tobacco to me!

I have been hearing about the Cigar Clowns for a while, a couple of New York guys who started a Facebook Group and turned it into a cigar brand. I bought a sampler from Smoke Inn that had a Cigar Clowns Goldie Grace in it (there were other cigars I wanted to try as well), and I gave it a go this week. I looked at the website and found an impressive amount of information about human trafficking, which proceeds of this cigar go toward preventing. The cigar is a box pressed corona, 5″ x 46, with an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers. This was an interesting cigar. If I was smoking this blind, I would have sworn it contained some cased pipe tobacco, it had a rather cloying sweetness, not unpleasant at all, but unexpected. I enjoyed this one, there’s a couple other cigars in their range I want to try, notably the Pagliacci Di Sigari. Side note, I’m amazed at how good this 27 year old Esperanza is!

Yesterday I was out and about and stopped in to New Tobacco Village in Whitehall, PA. They were having an Espinosa event celebrating the store’s anniversary and John Remer’s (Johnny Smokes Uncut), 60th Birthday. There were quite a few folks there who I knew. I had a chance to chat with Hector Alphonso and Rami Dakko of Espinosa, and smoke a 601 Blue. I hadn’t smoked one of those in along time and it was excellent, like smoking a chocolate bar! The shop isn’t huge, and it was packed. They have a great selection there, if you find yourself in the Allentown area, stop in and see Lena. I’ve been there on quieter days and it’s a comfortable lounge to hang out in, and the cigar selection in quite impressive.

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

CigarCraig

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1 Comment

Filed under Events, Review

Tagged as 601, cigar, Cigar Clowns, cigars, Espinosa, Goldie Grace, Johnny Smokes Uncut, New Tobacco Village, Pre-cut, Zino, Zino Honduras

June 14, 2026 · 10:29 am

Villiger Year of the Horse, HVC and Oscar Valladares Cigars

When I was at the Smoke-Onos a couple weeks back I saw my old friend René Castańeda and he gave me a Villiger Year of the Horse that’s only available in the Asian market. The Year of the Horse is a 6″ x 52 torpedo with an Ecuadorian Habano oscuro wrapper, a Mexican San Andrés binder and fillers from Nicaragua. It is made at the Villiger de Nicaragua factory, which is owned by Villiger but run by Joya de Nicaragua. I’m partial to just about anything out of the JdN factory. Like I said, this will be a pretty worthless “review”, since the cigar is only available overseas, or if you happen to be in good with René! What sucks is I really enjoyed this cigar! It was rich and delicious and burned perfectly, with dark chocolate and dried fruit flavors. The packaging looks incredible, red lacquered box, (there are pictures on Halfwheel, take a look there) but the bands are a little plain, I guess they are beautiful in their simplicity. I’m sure there’s something similar in the readily available Villiger line up, I guess I need to search it out.

I smoked a couple cigars that came in one of Smoke Inn’s crazy deals a few weeks ago, there was a sampler that had a bunch of “new to me” cigars, first up is the HVC Vieja Cosecha No. 2. It seems like this came out in 2015 or 16, so I’m quite behind. This is a 6½” x 56 Perfecto. The barcode label says “doble Figurado”, which in my mind is incorrect, it’s a figurado, a perfecto, but it isn’t doble anything! It’s a perfecto, and the draw was perfect on this one. It has a sweet bready start, with some spice that built up, which I expect from this brand. I’ve been a fan of HVC, a lot of their cigars are very much to my liking. This one was very enjoyable. On a side note, HVC needs to get a website put together, they’ve been around over ten years, it’s about time.

I’ve found that I’ve been smoking a lot of great cigars recently, I haven’t had a dud in a while! Another cigar that was in the same sampler as the HVC was the Oscar Valladares 2012 Sumatra Sixty. This is a 6″ x 60 box press, with an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, Honduran binder and Honduran and Nicaraguan fillers, made in Honduras. I find myself liking Sumatra cigars more and more lately. There’s a sour/sweet candy flavor I like, it’s almost a desert cigar, which is good because the majority of the cigars I smoke are after a meal. This was super good, and a good value at around $11. This brand came out in 2012 when we were all worried about the Mayan calendars prediction that the world would end. Spoiler: it didn’t.

I’ve been having some website issues and am working with my host to geet them straightened out. This shouldn’t pose any danger to the reader, but it’s aggravating the hell out of me. That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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El Mago, West Tampa and Macanudo Cigars

This week we took a little trip up to the finger lakes region of New York State for a wedding. There are ZERO cigar shops in that area, we were on the middle finger of the lakes, Seneca. I was concerned that the Glamping property we booked was no smoking, but quickly cleared that up with the host, and I was able to enjoy some cigars at the firepit. We liked the glamping thing, although I can imagine it might be less attractive if the weather hadn’t been perfect! Running to the bath house in the middle of the night in the rain would have been less than ideal. We had a good trip. But you come here (I suppose) to read about cigars, and I smoked a few.

First up is the El Mago Mago Vice, which is a Smoke Inn exclusive. One of those links goes to Smoke Inn’s sales page. I don’t get any commissions or anything, not that I haven’t tried! This is a 6″ x 54 toro, with a San Andrés wrapper, Habano binder, and Nicaraguan fillers from Estelí, Condega, and Jalapa. I haven’t had an El Mago cigar that wasn’t really good yet, I was looking forward to this one. I got this in a sampler from Smoke Inn, by the way. I have to point out the band on this, it’s really nice! It has no impact on the cigar really, but it’s quite the piece of art. I’d smoke this one again! I noted flavors of unsweetened dark chocolate. I love dark chocolate, but it triggers migraines so I avoid it, which is why I love finding cigars that remind me of that (the cigars don’t give me migraines). I recently saw that a local shop has El Magos, while they won’t have this one, I hope to grab a Disco or two one of these days. Great cigars.

Next up was the new Macanudo Ecuador Shade Robusto. This is the same blend as the Macanudo Sumatra that I featured last week, only with an Ecuador Shade wrapper: Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers with a U.S. Broadleaf binder. The ones I smoked are 5″ x 50 with a box press. The standard Macanudo has a U.S. Connecticut wrapper and a Mexican binder, and we all know that it’s a very mild cigar. I have a couple in the humidor, but I haven’t smoked one in years. This one has a little bit of a punch. It’s smooth and nutty, it’s not the very mild shade Mac we are accustomed to. My tastes lean toward the Sumatra out of the two, but this Ecuador Shade is a perfectly serviceable smoke. I’d smoke it again.

Finally, after driving home yesterday I hit the porch with a West Tampa Tobacco Chef Rick. When I posted this on Instagram/Facebook I accidentally typed Chef Tick, which Ricky called me out on. It might have been fat fingering on the phone keyboard, or predictive text changing what I typed, or maybe my Lyme Disease kicked in, not sure. I fixed it, that was embarrassing! This is the third cigar, likely last, in the Cook Book series, which included the Boliche Blvd, and the Devil Crab. It has a H2000 wrapper, Ecuadorian Sumatra-seed binder and Nicaraguan fillers from the Condega, Estelí, Jalapa and Ometepe regions. It is made at Tabacalera Pages de Nicaragua S.A. which also makes cigars for Crux and Lure cigars. The cigar has a savory tang, and has some earthiness and maybe a subtle sweetness. I enjoyed it and many thanks to Dan of West Tampa for gifting me this cigar!

That’s all for today. After a long weekend, I have a few chores to do today around the house, and then it’s back to work to catch up tomorrow. I liked having a two day work week last week a little too much! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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2 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as Chef Rick, cigar, cigars, Ecuador Shade, El Mago, macanudo, Mago Vice, West Tampa Tobacco

May 31, 2026 · 9:42 am

Sobremesa Brulee Tapa Negra and New Partagas and Macanudo Cigars

When I saw Steve Saka a couple weeks ago at the Smoke-Onos he handed me a couple of his new Sobremesa Brûlée Tapa Negra, a shade cigar with a sungrown Nicaraguan Habano leaf covering the last couple inches of the cigar. This is very similar to the Joya de Nicaragua Cabinetta, which was based on the old JR Cigars brand, La Escepcion, I think, although I cannot confirm this memory! I remember seeing the Cabinettas rolled at the Joya factory in 2011, and smoking the first lanceros there on that trip. I was just talking about that cigar with Selim Hanono (currently with Carrillo, then with Drew Estate), who asked for the Lancero and they made it originally just for him). Steve handed me two Corona Gordas. I never lose cigars, don’t ya know I lost one of these somewhere. Craig G, was it in your car? If it was, smoke it, I tried to give it to you anyway! I swear I didn’t leave it on purpose. If I dropped it someplace, I hope whoever found it appreciates it! The Corona Gorda is 5 5/8″ x 48, which is a nice size. It’s also going to be available in a toro. I like the Brûlée and Brûlée Blue well enough, they are exceptional shade cigars. This takes it to another level. Besides the Nicaraguan Habano wrapper on the head of the cigar, it has an Ecuadorian Connecticut shade wrapper, Mexican Matacapan negro de temporal binder, and Nicaraguan fillers from Condega, Pueblo Nuevo criollo, La Joya Estelí C-98 and Estelí hybrid ligero. This is a really tasty cigar! It starts out with an unexpected load of pepper! It smoothes out after a bit and continues with a citrus tang, which I’ve been experiencing a lot lately. Not complaining. I smoked this past the band because I wanted to see if burning the “Negra” part made a difference, and it was really hard to tell as the flavor changes down that far anyway. I can’t wait to smoke more of these, I wish I hadn’t lost one, and I’ll buy a couple when they hit stores, even though they will be pricey. Yet another excellent cigar from Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust!

Things got a little busy around here, which gave me an opportunity to smoke some robusto size cigars. General Cigars recently send a bunch of their new releases, most of which were robustos. First up is the Partagas Y Nada Mas Cibao. This is the second in the Nada Mas line, last year featured the Santiago made by William Ventura. This time they went to La Isla, the factory that also make some of my favorite La Sirena cigars. I think it’s interesting that General Cigars, who has an enormous factory in Santiago, is outsourcing so many different brands now days. I suppose it’s keeping things interesting. This Y Nada Mas Cibao has an Ecuadorian Corojo wrapper, a Sumatra binder, and Habano Vuelta Abajo (HVA), Criollo, and Pennsylvania Broadleaf fillers. I assume some of these tobaccos are from the Cibao valley in the DR. I have to say that I found this cigar eerily similar to the new La Gloria Cubana, in that it had, once again, a strong citrus tang. Burn and draw were great, and it was quite satisfying. It was very good, I liked it a lot, and at $8-$10 it’s a great buy.

I expected to sit down with another cigar yesterday afternoon, but I was asked to take a drive, so I changed plans and grabbed a Macanudo Sumatra robusto. It was only an hour drive, so I picked the robusto over a toro, and I only has one of the toros I planned to smoke, so choosing something I have more than one of makes sense to me when I’m outside of my normal smoking area. Too many things can go wrong car smoking! Macanudo has two new lines, an Ecuador Shade and a Sumatra, saying they are getting “back to their roots”. These two lines really couldn’t be further from the mild Macanudos that were made in Jamaica and the DR, which had US Connecticut wrappers and San Andrés binders. These new blends are made in Esteli, Nicaragua, they have Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers and a U.S. Broadleaf binder, the only difference between the two cigar is the wrapper. I selected the Sumatra version, I haven’t tried the Ecuador Shade version yet. This was a nice cigar, although the ash was a little flakey for a car cigar. Listen, when your wife asks you to go somewhere with her, and says you can smoke a cigar on the way, in her car, you know you have a keeper. This cigar tasted like it had a Sumatra wrapper. Some call the flavor “yuck”, I think of it as a hard candy sweetness, something your grandmother always had, but I can’t put a name to it. I like it. I actually might smoke the two side by side, but I’ll need to smoke the Shade alone to establish a base line. The Sumatra isn’t your mild Macanudo, it was really very good!

That’s all for today. I’m not sure what next week’s post will be about, I’m going to a wedding in New York State, and the cigar shop I planned to visit has closed. I’ll attempt to plan ahead. That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig