Monthly Archives: May 2010

by | May 30, 2010 · 6:54 pm

Drew Estate Cigar Week: Tabak Especial and Joya de Nicaragua Antaño – Sunday May 30, 2010

Thursday evening my son and I went up the road to Light’n Up Cigars for a Drew Estate event.  We were greeted by Ed, the new area rep for DE, who helped my son pick out a selection of cigars.  I picked up a few of the Tabak Especial Coladas in both the Negra and Dolce (Maduro and Shade) wrappers and lit up the Maduro Robusto which was the cigar that I got free with the purchase.  Quite a while ago I had gotten several tins of Mayorga Coffee infused cigars with a purchase of the regular Mayorga cigars.   I enjoyed these as a change of pace for quite a while and the Tabak Especial reminds me of those.  It’s a really well made cigar and you can tell the tobacco is the highest quality.  They are sweet without being too sweet.  I don’t particularly care for flavored cigars, but these are a nice change of pace, not something I’d buy a box of perhaps, but nice to smoke now and then.  If you want to receive an e-mail letting you know when and where to find a Drew Estate event in your area, there is a form on their page for you to subscribe.

A word about the shop, Light’n Up Cigars in Glenmoore, PA.  This is one of a chain of five stores in the Philadelphia area.  The store consisted of an outer shop with accessories and pipes and whatnot and a lounge with a couch, some chairs, and a TV.  There is also a large walk-in humidor with a decent selection of cigars.  The staff that night consisted of the owner and another gentleman, both of whom seemed quite knowledgeable.  I’ve been less than impressed with these stores in the past, but this experience makes me inclined to give them a second chance.  The last couple times I’ve visited I was looking for some budget priced cigars and their selection in that area was very limited.

Last night I had a Joya de Nicaragua Antaño Robusto Grande which was just delicious.  It was lush and full flavored and really satisfying.  This is one of the cigars in the sampler that is one of the prizes in the current contest (leave a comment on my last post to enter), well, not one of the exact cigars, the winner will receive a complete five cigar sampler.  This particular example came from the herf in Reno I attended last November.  These cigar burn like I expect a premium cigar to burn, nice and even with a solid ash.  The draw was a little tighter than I would like, but not so much that it distracted from the flavor.  It’s a Nicaraguan puro with a beautiful oily wrapper which I would stock in my humidor in a heartbeat.

It’s Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial  start of summer, and a time to say thanks for all of the fine people who gave their lives so what we can enjoy the freedoms that we enjoy today.

I’m going to head outside with a Chateau Real Maduro Gran Cru Perfecto on this beautiful evening.  Enjoy the holiday and be careful out there!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

Go Flyers!

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by | May 26, 2010 · 7:31 pm

Wednesday’s Cigar: Joya de Nicaragua Cabinetta Serie Toro, and a Contest! – May 26, 2010

True to my word, I sparked up the Joya de Nicaragua Cabinetta Serie Toro for tonight’s cigar.  This is another “dos capas” cigar, predominantly Ecuadorian shade wrapper with a dark Nicaraguan “mouthpiece”.  I received this cigar when I was in Reno last November, it was among the great many cigars provided to the event by Steve at Drew Estate.  This was a very nice cigar!  The burn was excellent until reaching the band, where it transitioned to the dark wrapper, which burned rather reluctantly.  It was a medium bodied cigar with copious amounts of smoke.  The smoke was creamy and nutty like one would expect from the shade wrapper, but the flavor on the lips was spicy and sweet.  Over-all a delicious hour or so of cigar goodness.  This is a beautiful cigar that I would highly recommend.

Since I smoked the Joya de Nicaragua, it seems like a good time to have a contest and this time we’ll have 2 winners!  The first winner will receive a 5 count sampler box of Joya de Nicaragua Antaño 1970, consisting of a Machito, a Gran Consul, a Robusto Grande, a Belicoso and a Churchill. The runner up will receive a really cool Joya de Nicaragua cap and cutter, which is a very nice cutter.  I’ve been using the Drew Estate version of this very same cutter for several months now and it does a great job.  Thanks to the folks at Drew Estate for again providing some great cigars and swag for me to give away!

To enter the contest leave a comment on this blog post.  I will have the cats pick the winners again (they’ve been itching to star in another video, or else the Frontline is wearing off…).  Given the upcoming holiday weekend and how busy life has been around here, the contest will end at midnight on Saturday, June 5.  Tim in Phoenixville, PA won one of these samplers a few months back and I was able to hand deliver it.  I hope he enjoyed them, but I haven’t heard from him in a while, I hope they didn’t kill him!  Just kidding about that, the Antaño 1970 is a powerful and yummy cigar!

So there you go, some great prizes just for typing me a few words in the comments section!

In the news

The Cigar Rights of America posted an action alert today stating that the Mayor of Orange County, Florida (Orlando, etc.) is proposing a ban on the use of any tobacco products on county owned and leased property, as well as making it a condition of employment that anyone smoking more than 4 cigars a year has to pay a $650 yearly fine.  Please go to the CRA website to see where to send your thoughts on this ridiculousness.

Here’s my quick thought: how about if any municipality bans tobacco use, they aren’t eligible to receive ANY revenue from tobacco taxes?  I think it’s brilliant, but I’m sure it will never fly.  Just my unsolicited 2 cents and worth every dime you paid for it!

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

CigarCraig

Go Flyers!

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by | May 23, 2010 · 11:56 am

La Gloria Cubana Artesanos de Tabaqueros – Sunday May 22, 2010

I was very fortunate to have come into possession of several samples of the  La Gloria Cubana Artesanos de Tabaqueros 650s a few weeks ago, and it seemed appropriate to wrap up my General Cigar week with one of these.

Here’s a blurb from the official information about these:

Created by Team La Gloria Cubana to showcase the artistry of La Gloria Cubana “tabaqueros” (artisan cigar makers), Artesanos de Tabaqueros cigars are a stunning embodiment of the time-honored craft of cigar making. So exacting is the skill required to handcraft cigars of this complexity that Benji Menendez personally selected an elite group of just 18 master cigar makers, representing the cream of the crop from El Credito Cigar Factory in the Dominican Republic.

Meticulously crafted to combine two different wrappers and two distinct tastes in one eye-catching cigar, Artesanos de Tabaqueros is a world-class smoke that opens to a rich and intriguing spice and ultimately reveals a depth of flavor that can only be achieved through a precise balance of unique and rare tobaccos. Hand selected from General Cigar’s extensive library of Dominican and Honduran tobaccos, the cigars are dressed in both a supple Connecticut Shade and hearty Ecuadoran Sumatra wrapper. The blend is made solely of proprietary tobaccos, each aged five years or more.

Presented with two different wood treatments to promote the unique tastes promised in each cigar, Artesanos de Tabaqueros cigars are protected in boxes of 25. The collection will debut in early April with three frontmarks, each named to according to its dimensions: 650 (6” x 50, SRP per cigar is $8.00), 652 Belicoso (6” x 52, SRP per cigar is $9.50) and 750 (7” x 50, SRP per cigar is $9.00).

Double Wrapper Examples

It’s a beautiful cigar, no doubt about that.  The “dos capas” presentation is unique, and the way it’s rolled makes more sense to me than the Joya de Nicaraqua Cabinetta, where the last third of the cigar is the darker wrapper.  I expect in the case of the Joya De Nicaragua, by the time you hit the wrapper change it’s very late in the smoke.  I have one floating around someplace which I will smoke very soon so I can compare (and it will tie in nicely with my next contest!)  The La Gloria is rolled in such a way that the first third is the Connecticut Shade and then it transitions to the Ecuador Sumatra.  I have to admit, I was expecting a more dramatic transition, but the change was very subtle.  It is definitely a great tasting cigar and it burned well, although not as evenly as I would have liked for a “special” cigar.  I smoked this down to about an inch and a half before I put it down.

These are pretty neat cigars which are visually appealing and, as opposed to “barber pole” style dos capos cigars, actually have a chance at providing a noticeable flavor change.   Many thanks to Victoria McKee Jaworski at General Cigars for giving me the opportunity to sample these.  I’ve loved the La Gloria Cubana line since first smoking them back in the ’90s when everyone was talking about whether the best ones were rolled in Miami or the Dominican Republic.  I distinctly recall a Corona Gorda that was SO good, but left me on the couch with my head spinning!  As a matter of fact, the first good cigar my wife smoked was a La Gloria.

That’s about all I got for now, until the next cigar,

CigarCraig

Go Flyers!

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by | May 19, 2010 · 7:31 pm

Mid-Week Cigars: Punch Rare Corojo and Partagas Cifuentes Julio – Wednesday May 19, 2010

I started out the week grilling some pork chops and felt compelled to smoke one of the cigars out of the Punch Grill box.  I selected the Punch Rare Corojo, since I’ve had these in the past and enjoyed them.  This example was no different.  This one was the 5¼” x 54 Magnum.  The pork chops were good, and the cigar capped off a busy day very nicely.  The Ecuador Sumatra wrapper was nice and tasty and the cigar burned quite well.

I’ve been “theme smoking” lately, so I grabbed a Partagas Cifuentes Julio (also from General Cigars) out of the humidor and went for a nice long walk.  These are apparently seasonal blends, and I jumped the gun a little smoking a July cigar in May.  Sorry about that.  It still was a nice cigar.  It was medium bodied with a long finish, tongue coating in a not unpleasant way.  I had to correct the burn a few times and it wanted to tunnel a little, but both are forgivable considering how much I enjoyed the flavor.  These are fairly beefy cigars in a 6″ x 54 format.  This was a single that was amongst the goodies sent by my buddy Jason at Rock’s Smoke Shop.  Thanks!  Another winner from that collection.

I received a very nice delivery today from Vegas de Santiago.  You may recall one of my loyal readers, DJ, kindly sent me a couple of these to smoke and I enjoyed them quite a bit.  Rudy and Lani in Costa Rica are making some very nice cigars in beautiful presentations.  One of these weeks real soon will be Vegas de Santiago week and I’ll smoke and review (and I use that term loosely, I’m a crappy reviewer!) some of them.  I have a cigar from an event that they sponsored back in 2004 that I will finally smoke to compare and contrast. The wooden tubes are really cool and almost too cool to open.

Here’s another site for the blog junkies:  Cigar TopSite.  This is a simple listing of some of the more popular sites.  CigarCraig.com has been listed there since the beginning.  I’d LOVE to see it climb up the rankings, so if you wouldn’t mind spreading the word, I’d appreciate it.  I’m almost as bad at self-promotion as I am at cigar reviews.  I know what you’re thinking: “if more people follow the CigarCraig.com blog then there will be less chances for me to win some of the great stuff Craig gives away!”  I understand, but the more readers I have, the better my chances of mooching quality goodies to give to you, my loyal readers (there will be a new contest soon!).

Well, that’s about enough from me, until the next time,

CigarCraig

Oh yeah…..GO FLYERS!

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by | May 16, 2010 · 4:18 pm

A Reyes Family Cigars Weekend – Sunday, May 16, 2010

I did something unusual for me, I smoked a bunch of the same cigars in a row. I found myself with a handful of Puros Indios Viejo Media Coronas and smoked about 3 of them in a row.  For the price, these are terrific cigars, and at  5½” x 45 is one of my favorite sizes.  These are touted as well aged cigars with a 10 year old Ecuador Sumatra wrapper and filler from the DR, Nicaragua and Brazil.  They burn pretty well with a good draw and a nice flavor.  I remember back in the boom years Puros Indios were known for having a tight draw,  I recall having one that was a really great tasting cigar, but it was like smoking a wooden dowel it was so tight.  Clearly this problem no longer exists. I smoked 2 of them during the excellent Flyers win over the Bruins.

I figured since I was on a Puros Indios kick, I’d fire up a Reyes Family Cigars Premier Gordo that I got at the IPCPR show back in 2008.  This is a big  perfecto, 6″ x 60 ring gauge at it’s largest point.  The  maduro Ecuador Sumatra wrapper is rustic, not the prettiest thing, but quite tasty and the shape is just amazing.   It’s burn wasn’t dead even, but didn’t take anything away from the experience.  I’m a reasonably fast smoker, but this cigar seemed to last forever.  I think I smoked this for over an hour and a half.  It was medium bodied and tasty.  Not a bad cigar at all and a good one to follow the Puros Indios Viejos I had smoked earlier.   Except for a few more of the Viejos, I think I’ve exhausted my supply of Reyes Family Cigars.  What ever happened to the 18″ x 66 Puros Indios Chief?

In The News:

I came across a really neat site for all you blog junkies to bookmark: http://www.cigarosphere.com/ .  This is a cool page that has an  excerpt from a ton of different blogs all on one page.  They have graciously added the CigarCraig..com blog to the site, despite the fact that they state that they trying to aggregate QUALITY blogs. It’s neat to be able to see a whole bunch of different blogs on one site.  Keep up the great work guys!

Please keep up with http://www.cigarrights.org/ as the FDA starts looking at ways to screw up out enjoyment of cigars.  Don;t be afraid to write to your representatives when you hear about possible injustices where cigars are concerned.  The folks at CRA are doing great things to protect our rights, I urge you to support them.

Oops, I almost forgot!

I keep forgetting to mention that last week I enjoyed the Vegas de Santiago Don Luis Secretos de Maestro Canionazo that DJ sent me.  It was another very nice cigar which burned well and had a pleasing flavor. Vegas de Santiago deserves more notoriety than they receive.  They produce a very nice product and are always very willing to sponsor events when asked.    I’m sorry that things got a little busy around here and I kinda forgot to mention it in my last post.  I truly appreciate the opportunity to  try these cigars, thank you sir!  I still have a Vegas de Santiago in a wooden tube somewhere in the bottom of the coolerdor that’s about 5 years old that I need to exhume and smoke.

Also, Joel Scott, winner of the box of 5 Liga Privada‘s, was kind enough to send me a couple pictures of the opened box, since I resisted the temptation to open them before shipping them out. You may drool now, and remember that I just may have more of these for future prizes, as well as a bunch of other goodies!  Keep checking back, the cats are looking forward to the next contest video!  Testimonials from past winners are always welcome.

That’s about all I have for now, until next time,

CigarCraig (GO FLYERS!)

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