Monthly Archives: March 2012

by | March 29, 2012 · 9:36 pm

A Cain and a Villiger La Capitana or Two

Tuesday evening I took my walk with a Cain Daytona robusto.  I was in the mood for a great cigar, and haven’t gone wrong with the Daytona, it’s strong enough so you know it’s there, but not so much that it makes the room spin!  I find the Daytona to be the best in the line, although I enjoy all of the Cain line, assuming they’ve had some time to rest in my humidor.  They can be pretty heavy, but almost always have great flavor.  I have some Daytona Lanceros that I’m saving for a time when the weather is perfect and I can enjoy them without distraction.  Good cigars, perfect construction and I still can’t figure out how they get al that ligero to burn so well!

 

Wednesday I selected a new cigar that was provided to me by the fine folks at Villiger.  The cigar is called La Capitana, and the samples I smoked were robustos.  These have a really pretty, oily, reddish wrapper.  When I put the cigar in my mouth before lighting I tasted something that I hadn’t tasted in many, many years.  Don’t laugh, and I don’t mean this in a bad way, but the unlit flavor was that of RedMan or Beechnut chewing tobacco.  I know, I know….but that’s what I tasted!  I haven’t chewed since my misspent youth experimenting with various tobacco products.  I don’t think I’ve chewed tobacco since discovering girls…it’s not an attractive quality, chicks don’t dig it!  So tonight I had to smoke another one just to be sure.  Yup, same flavor. Once lit the cigar has a bit of the sweetness that the cold draw had, and was a very nice and interesting cigar.  The second sample gave me some burn problems, but I attribute that to the wind and the fact that I tried a punch on this one which I quickly abandoned, it caused a really bad tunnel and wasn’t the best idea from the get go.  Of course, it’s much easier to punch first, then cut than the other way around.  My biggest complaint with this cigar is the band.  It’s nice enough, but is utterly lacking in text, there’s no way to know what it was, and I had trouble remembering the name.  The design is nice, but to my old eyes it requires a magnifying glass to see the detail.  Villiger has a nice cigar here, but needs to work on the band.  I love the look of the wrapper, very pretty, a winner if priced and packaged right.  I really appreciate the opportunity to try these new cigars.

 

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

CigarCraig

 

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by | March 26, 2012 · 9:21 pm

A La Palina, a Liga Privada, a CAO and a La Gloria and More Editorializing…

I have to go back to last Thursday when I smoked a lovely little cigar, the La Palina El Diario KB.  This is a pretty little petite corona, 4½”x40 with a Honduran Corojo wrapper and Nicaraguan Corojo and Criollo filler, and a double Honduran Criollo binder.  I only had about 45 minutes until the hockey game was coming on so I selected this cigar, which I received from the company as a sample.  It’s a tasty cigar, many cigars from the Raices Cubana factory are, and it’s maybe a little stronger than its line-mates due to its diminutive size.  It was perfect for two laps around the neighborhood, and finished up just after the puck dropped.  It’s a really nice little cigar, but I have trouble with the price tag, which is $35 for a 4 pack.  It’s a pricey little smoke, however the rest of the line I consider pricey as well.  For me it’s not a daily smoke, but the line is delicious and refined and a very good special cigar.

 

Friday night I decided to treat myself, and selected an original Liga Privada No. 9 from March, 2007.  This had a pre-oroduction band with Saka’s name on it as these were originally rolled as his personal cigar.  This was given to me by a former member of the staff at the time.  I initially thought that it’s time had passed, it was off to a slow start.  After about an inch it kicked in, producing the lush, savory flavors that one would expect.  It had a perfect burn and I wasn’t going to put it down. I finally did when it reached the half-inch mark and was too small to hold any more.  The Liga Privada series remains a favorite special cigar, one I don’t smoke often, and one of the few I will pay the high price for (although not frequently).  I actually did see some Feral Flying Pigs in the shop I mentioned a few posts ago, but couldn’t talk myself into paying the $15+ price tag.

 

Sunday my wife and I took a ride to Atlantic City in a vain attempt to win a bunch of money.  While there we came across a Cigar themed slot machine, and I’ve NEVER played a $2 slot before, but I had to, ya know?  I put my $20 in the slot, and within a few pulls I was actually up $22.  Normally I would cash that out and walk, but I let it ride, right down to $0.  Oh well, the machine was in a smoking section, so I managed to enjoy a wonderful CAO OSA Sol Lot 50.  Nice, bright flavors, a really smooth and tasty smoke.  Well behaved, I only dropped ash on the floor a few times!   When we got home we found that the power was out in the neighborhood, so I sat on the front porch until it got dark smoking a cousin to the OSA, a La Gloria Cubana Retro Especial Cubano.  Nice, big cigar, similar to the CAO in that it’s medium bodied and bright.  I love both cigars for different reasons.  The power came back on around 4:30 am, so it was out for around 12 hours.

 

Editorial

If you read my last post about the IPCPR‘s Internet Media Membership, you will see that there were a ton of great comments from my fellow “new media” types, as well as a response from Bill Spann, CEO of the IPCPR asking for a proposal and promising to re-think their current policy.   I plan on bouncing this off of the Internet Media Members to see where improvements can be made.  I suppose we can call this group Brothers Of The Online Media, or BOTOM. :-).

 

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | March 24, 2012 · 9:12 am

IPCPR: I Want You To Want Me

I’m conflicted. Last year, the IPCPR decided to try out having a membership level for members of the internet media, such as myself. They published a fairly stringent series of guidelines, had an application process, as well as a fee that was fair in comparison to the other levels of membership that they offer. I mailed in my application along with my check, and felt honored to have passed their vetting process. I attended the trade show, which certainly cost me quite a bit out of my own pocket to fly to Vegas, eat and get a room.

 

If I may digress a moment and offer some disclosures: I do this for the love of cigars. I have a full time job in an unrelated industry. I have a part time job that I use to fund my blog and cigar adventures. I spend several hours a week on my blog, and a good bit of money on hosting my site and related expenses. CigarCriag.com operates in the red. I’m not complaining, I defy you to introduce me to a cigar blogger who is making money from this. The advertisements I do have are a flat rate and not tied to traffic, although I’m sure my advertisers want to see that I have a readership.  I’m not saying there aren’t side benefits, and not trying to be altruistic, just saying that I’m not in this for the money. I do it to promote an industry that I find interesting and truly enjoy. All that being said, it recently came to my attention that the IPCPR increased their membership fee for the Internet Media (basically doubled) to the same level as the retail, distributor, broker, etc. while maintaining the level of benefits (less than half) of last years.

 

Without getting into specifics, the other levels of membership get two passes to the show and access to the Tobacconist University certification. Media members get one pass to the show and would have to pay for a Tobacconist U. course if they so desired. Media members are expressly forbidden to ask for samples. If I want to be really petty, retailers get lunch at the show, media members don’t. Bottom line, a media membership enjoys less than half that of the other memberships at the same cost.  Bill Spann, the CEO of the IPCPR, was kind enough to give me a call this week to explain the reasoning, which I appreciate. He said that this was in response to the membership (retailers, manufacturers, etc.). They want to eliminate the “trick or treat” that has gone on in the past with consumers and, I guess, some bloggers, as well as reduce the distraction of interviews going on during the show.  These are issues I fully understand and appreciate.

 

Here’s my take, and I have been known to be cynical.  I can certainly see that the venders are there to sell to the retailers, the retailers are there to buy from the venders, and this is not a consumer show. I get that. I also think that maybe the professional media, the magazines both on and off-line, may see little guys like me as some sort of competition. Bill Spann himself made the point that the annual membership fee is a drop in the bucket to those guys, whereas for me, it represents nearly half of my blog’s annual “income”. As an independent blogger, I feel as if I support the industry, provide basically free publicity, and in the worst case, offer my opinions of how things could be better.  Allow me to make a comparison: Currently 47 states have taxes on cigars that are, ostensibly, meant to discourage the use of those products. Is the IPCPR taxing me in an effort to discourage me from attending the show? Bill said that it was the membership that requested this. Nobody asked my opinion. Am I not a member? I feel honored and validated being a member, but I’m also feeling some resentment. They will happily accept my money, but really don’t want me as a member. The IPCPR does great things to protect our rights to enjoy cigars, and I do my best to support them with my wallet as well as my time and voice.  I really don’t know how much longer I can afford to pay top dollar to be a member of an organization that doesn’t want me around.

 

I’m going to ask my readers, my “membership”  if you will:

[poll id=”3″]

 

I invite you to leave your thoughts in the comments, I know that Mr. Spann as well as others in the industry read this and I’m sure they are interested it your thoughts.

 

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | March 21, 2012 · 8:59 pm

A Tortuga, a Berger and Argenti, a Little Rant and a Macanudo

Sunday afternoon I grabbed a Tortuga 1948 Connecticut Torpedo that Victor Vitale had sent me a couple months ago.  This is a 6½ x 52 torpedo with a flawless Connecticut shade wrapper rolled in the Dominican Republic.  This might have been one of the best shade wrapped cigars I’ve smoked.  There’s a trend toward stronger blends with an Ecuador wrapper, and it’s becoming a little cliche, in my opinion,  that everyone states that theirs is not like the rest of the mild Connecticut cigars out there.  Anyway, I don’t have anything against the cigars, I always enjoyed the flavor of a nice Connecticut wrapper, USA, Ecuador or whatever.  The Tortuga is an extremely smooth and flavorful cigar.  I had trouble putting it down and smoked it to about a half an inch nub, burned my fingers, it was that good. After smoking the 1950 Maduro, and this 1948 Connecticut, I can’t wait to smoke the  Edicion Limitada.

 

Monday night I lit up a Berger and Argenti Entubar v32 Rogue Rothschild.  I’ve enjoyed many of the cigars in the Berger and Argenti line, so I had an expectation that I’d like this one too.  I was expecting a super strong cigar, but this one wasn’t, it was very much a medium bodies cigar with a great flavor.  This 5 5/8″ x 54 cigar has the same little tube of ligero protruding from the foot that the regular Entubar line has, and the same warning band cautioning you to toast the entire foot, not just the ligero part.  It’s also a good idea to remove that band before lighting, which I almost forgot to do.  It’s a fun cigar to smoke, and tasty and well behaved.  I have a couple of the Khilla Korona size that Al Argenti sent me to try to, I’m sure they will be just as good.

 

The Rant

I had to take a little detour on the way home from work tonight and it took me past a cigar shop that I don’t get to very often. My wife had instructed me not to stop in but I defied her instructions and stopped in to see if they had the new Ortega line. This shop is a “premier” smoke shop, and is supposed to be the flagship store of the five store chain. I asked the young guy if they had the new Ortega line and he said “oh yeah, the Omar Ortega is over here” and I said ” no, that’s Omar Ortez. I’m looking for Ortega, you know, Eddie Ortega? 601? Murcielago?”.  Blank stare.  I say “they are distributed by Rocky Patel”. He says “the only Rocky Patel we have is the Edge, right here”. I thanked him and left. OK, I know I’m a cigar geek, and probably know more than the average person about cigars, but don’t you think if you worked in a cigar shop you’d keep up on what’s going on in the industry? It’s just hard for me to wrap my head around! I guess the owner doesn’t really worry about the new stuff and this is one of the reasons I don’t go to this shop too often. The moral of the story is that I should have listened to my wife!

 

Tonight I smoked the new 6″ x 60 size of the regular Macanudo Cafe line.  I was pretty impressed with the flavor of this classic Connecticut cigar.  I’ve smoked dozens of this cigar in various sizes and I forgot that they aren’t necessarily the bland, tasteless cigar everyone thinks they are.  Smooth and flavorful, if you like that sort of thing, I guess!  The first premium cigar I ever smoked was a Macanudo and I was underwhelmed, but I’ve come to appreciate the flavors of a really broad range of cigars.

 

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

CigarCraig

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by | March 18, 2012 · 11:28 am

A Buena Vista Cigar, An Oliva at Old Havana Cigars, a Green Camacho and a Cain

Thursday evening I grabbed a Buena Vista Short Churchill that I was given by Gary Heathcott, the company’s director of global marketing  when I was waiting for a Coke at the Cigar Journal awards reception at last year’s IPCPR show.  This cigar is unique in that it’s an Ecuador Puro and it’s rolled by Cuban rollers that come to Ecuador on special visas to work in the factory.  The cigar had a stunning appearance, very smooth and even in shape and color. I grabbed this based on the size, it’s a 4¼”x 54, so it’s a short, fat cigar, and I only had an hour to smoke.   I have to say that I really enjoyed the smoke, it was good, but not as unique as I had hoped.  There was really nothing especially different about it.  It was a good tasting cigar.  I had to touch it up frequently as it wanted to burn faster on one side, but not a bad cigar.  If this is priced right, I’d say give it a try, if it’s too expensive, I’d personally choose something else based on this sample.

 

Friday evening my son and I attended and Oliva event at Old Havana Cigars in West Chester, PA.  I’ve been to several events there and it’s always pretty crazy.  Nice bunch of folks there and I always enjoy spending time with the local Oliva Rep, Mike Staiber.  I picked up some cigars and promptly fired up a Serie G Maduro box pressed belicoso. This is a cigar that I haven’t smoked many of, and I don’t know why.  It’s got a really tasty broadleaf wrapper and really hit the spot.   I also grabbed a few of the Cameroon in the same size.  For my troubles, I was rewarded with a couple free Nub Habanos (it was buy 5, get 2 free).  Lots of people buying cigars, quite a few picking up boxes and getting all kinds of freebies and swag to go along with it.  My son had a Cain Daytona in a corona size that he enjoyed as well (and is one of my favorites).  We had a good time talking with Mike (@olivastaiber on twitter.  Follow him!), who I’ve known for quite a while and is a great cigar rep and a very cool guy.

 

Of course, Saturday was St. Patrick’s Day, so that called for a candela cigar.  Several years ago I picked up a box of the Camacho Monarca Candela because I really liked them and they were a nice change of pace.  We had to go to a percussion competition at my son’s high school, in which he plays bass guitar in the ensemble, so I grabbed one of these for our walk to the school.  If you have never had a candela cigar, you should certainly try one.  It’s a different flavor, a little more vegetal or grassy, but refreshing in a way.  In this case, we have the Camacho Corojo with the candela wrapper, so it’s no slouch when it comes to strength, as many candela, or as the were once called, American Market Selection (AMS) can be on the mild side.  Astral is a cigar that comes to mind in the mild candela area, as does the Arturo Fuente 8-5-8. La Flor Dominicana and Illusione have recently put their spin on this once popular wrapper.  Anyway, this box of Camachos has been consistently loose in the draw department, so I’ve taken to punching these to make them a little better in the draw department.  Pretty strong for a noon-time smoke, but really tasty with a long finish, so long that I could still taste it several hours later after another cigar and dinner.

 

On the walk home from the event I had grabbed a Cain Habano Tubo on the way out the door, so I fired it up.  This was the 550 Cain in a spiffy aluminum tube, and I hadn’t eaten since breakfast and had a mile or so to walk, so I was lamenting my decision to grab this one as I lit it up.  My fear turned out to be misplaced, because it was a damned tasty cigar!  I spent another 20 minutes with this on the porch when I got home, it was just too good to put down.  Perfect burn and draw.  Strong, but balanced and, dare I say, complex.  Every now and then an interesting flavor would dance across my palate, something I’ve missed in past Cain Habanos.  Perhaps this one was well aged, or aged better in the tube, I don’t know, but it was likely the best Cain Habano I’ve had.

I don’t usually have a two cigar day, but the weather was so great, despite it being a very busy day, I had two spectacular cigars walking to and from the high school.  The competition was excellent as well, lots of talented kids, and I’m a drum geek as well as a cigar geek, so I always enjoy stuff like that, cigars or not.

 

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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