Monthly Archives: February 2014

by CigarCraig | February 26, 2014 · 7:07 pm

An Avo, a Six Zero and Transporter Tubes

I don’t have a lot happening so far this week, I’m afraid! There were a couple cigars I smoked that I want to give a second chance to. Based on the experiences I had, I don’t think it would be fair to the brands to say anything at this time. This is generally my modus operandi, I guess that’s why it looks like I always smoke cigars I like. Trust me, I prefer to smoke cigars I like! I’m an optimist, for the most part, and I really want to like everything I smoke, and I hate it when I feel like my time was wasted. I think if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything, so I’ll revisit a couple cigars in the next couple weeks and see how they go!

Sunday afternoon was beautiful here in SE PA. Temperatures in the 50s melting off the snow, or at least making the piles a little smaller. I took a nice walk with the pup and a cigar I’ve been sitting on for six months, an Avo LE10 that Will Cigar-Coop Cooper sent me. I’ve heard constant raves about this cigar, and my experience with the Avo line is limited to a La Trompeta LE12 that was an OK cigar but burned poorly and didn’t excite my taste buds. I spent a little over an hour and a half with this LE10 and it was a perfectly fine cigar. I guess I just don’t have the palate for these, because I didn’t “get it”. It was good, but didn’t blow me away with the flavor. Some people have expensive tastes, and some people consider a Big Mac a treat I guess, and I fall into the later group. I’d rather have Hamburger Helper than some fancy risotto, so I guess it stands to reason that I lack the sophistication to appreciate such an obviously wonderful cigar. I’m stubborn though, I keep trying! Thanks very much, Will, and I have a couple more from that generous gift you sent that I’m waiting for nicer weather to smoke! If you don’t know of Cigar-Coop.com and StogieGeeks.com, check them out. Will’s just about the hardest working man in cigar media, and rumor has it he has a full time job and a family too! I consider Will a good friend.

Sunday evening I reached for Hamburger Helper….not really, but a fairly new $3.00 cigar from Best Cigar Prices. The Six-Zero line is all 60 ring gauge cigars made by the folks at Boutique Blends. Of course, we know that name from the Aging Room and Swag lines of cigars. I got some of the Robolo size, which is 4½” x 60, and am really enjoying them. The well aged San Andrés wrapper is very tasty and the cigar is well made. I actually enjoy the short, fat format. Call it a guilty pleasure, but I find myself not minding a 60 ring cigar, and the shorter varieties tend to fit my schedule better than the longer ones. Anyway, these are tasty, dark chocolaty cigars that are well worth the money. I could actually smoke these regularly, if I were one to regularly smoke anything!

I recently received an e-mail from a new reader named Kevin, who is making some pretty neat looking travel tubes. He’s got an Indigogo campaign going to raise some start up costs and offering these tubes as perks for contributing. I should be seeing a prototype next week, but they look well done and I liked the looks of it enough to kick start his campaign with a contribution, I can use a nice aluminum tube! Give it a look at http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/transporter-tubes and https://www.facebook.com/transportertubes. I often try to think of something I could make that people would think is neat and want, but I guess I’m just not that creative. Certainly there are other tubes on the market, some cheap and some way more expensive, but these look darned nice. He seems to be making them for Churchill sized cigars, which, in my mind, should accommodate several normal sizes. I wish Kevin the best!

Short one tonight, I’ll see what I can come up with for Sunday’s post! Until then,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Avo, Best Cigar Prices, cigar, cigars, Six Zero, Transporter Tubes

by CigarCraig | February 23, 2014 · 11:07 am

A Mardi Gras, a Cain, a CigarCraig Safari Blend and a La Sirena

Last year at the IPCPR show a little corner booth caught our eye, primarily due to the model they had working there. Oddly, my wife was the one who talked to her while she was getting in costume. Call me a cigar geek, but I’m afraid I get distracted by all the cigars at the show. Anyway, this young lady was representing Mardi Gras Cigars, which is a house brand of The Huntington Humidor in Huntington Village, NY. They call the Mardi Gras their own special, extra aged Double Ligero Corojo creation, and I smoked a corona at the show which was a pretty nice smoke, and came home with a torpedo and a corona. I finally smoked the torpedo on Thursday evening. I’ve already told you all I know about the blend, and the flavor was very nice. The construction gave me some problems as it refused to burn right. I had various issues including requiring frequent re-lights, poor draw and uneven burn. It’s almost as if the cigar was over humidified, but it was in the humidor since July of last year and I’ve smoked countless other cigars from that humidor. I’ll have to give the corona a try one of these days, maybe it’s just a torpedo thing. There aren’t many things more disappointing than struggling with a cigar.

Friday evening called for a great cigar, first because it’s Friday, and second because Thursday’s smoke was less than satisfying. I was digging around for a shorter smoke and I came across a Cain Habano 460 which was given to me by Sam Leccia (who, at that time, was still with Oliva) at the 2011 IPCPR show. I had forgotten about this (as well as a 4×60 Padilla Reserve Maduro Short Robusto…tough decision!). The Cain was what I was craving so it got the nod. I like Cain Habanos with some age quite a bit. This is one line where the maduro seems to be at the bottom of the list for me. I don’t quite know why that is, but I prefer the Cain F, Daytona and Habano much more. This cigar burned perfectly and tasted great. Of course, when you choose a 4×60 and think it’s a short cigar, it’s short in length only, not necessarily smoking time. This size can certainly smoke longer than a robusto unless you have really fat fingers! I suspect these are readily available now, when it was given to me it was something of a rarity. This was a perfectly satisfying smoke.

Saturday we finally had some warm weather! It was in the 50s all day and some of the piles of snow are starting to get a little smaller, and some of the tree limbs that came down in the ice storm a few weeks ago are re-appearing. Those will have to get cleaned up soon! I took a nice, long afternoon walk with one of the cigars I blended at CigarSafari last year. This blend consisted of a San Andreas Negro wrapper with a Cameroon binder. I used Brazilian Mata Fina, some Ometepe and Jalapa Ligero in the filler. After 10 months in the humidor these haven’t changed too much. The first half is a little dry, I like the flavor, but I may have been over ambitious and have too much going on, the flavors fight with one another too much. The second half mellows out to what I wanted it to be, a smooth and chocolate barrage of flavor. I think sticking with a neutral binder is the way to go for me. I don’t really care how the cigar tastes though, every time I smoke one I’m reminded of an exceptional experience in Nicaragua.

After dinner, which was take out from a fairly new fish place specializing in North Carolina style cuisine, Triton Seafood, I fished out a La Sirena Trident again. I really have to bury this box or it will not last the summer. Once again, this is a Churchill sized cigar with a Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro wrapper, double binders of Nicaraguan Corojo and Habano and fillers of Nicaraguan Criollo ’98 & Nicaraguan Corojo ’06, all rolled at Pepin Garcia’s My Father factory in Esteli. How can you go wrong with that recipe and pedigree! It is, indeed, a delicious cigar. I love the dark, lush flavors and the construction is top notch. I definitely have to move this box to the bottom of the coolerdor, it’s much to easy to reach in and grab one in a moment of indecision, and I have hopes of enjoying more than one of these in the pool on a hot summer day (perfect given the aquatic theme)! By the way, the Fish and Chips was pretty good, although we probably should have eaten in instead of taking it home as it would have been better piping hot! Their hush puppies were delicious!

That’s it for now. It’s another 50-something degree day, so I want to get out and clear some more of the snow off the patio before tonight when it goes and rains/snows again. My back hurts, but it’s nice to be outside without freezing! I’ll have to find some interesting cigars to smoke today…

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cain, cigar, cigars, CigarSafari, La Sirena, Mardi Gras, nub, oliva

by CigarCraig | February 19, 2014 · 8:29 pm

A Shop Visit with a La Gloria Cubana, a Great Wall and a Monte Pascoal

As you well know, I’ve been tiring of smoking in the cold lately, so I paid a visit to a local shop on Sunday afternoon for a smoke. Lightn’Up in Glenmore, PA is only about 5 miles from home, and I pass it just about every day. I haven’t made a habit of stopping there because the inventory has been quite thin over the last few years. I heard that the store, along with it’s sister store in nearby Frazer, PA, was recently purchased by the CigarCigars chain which is growing steadily in the south-east PA area. I wanted to see what had changed, and the inventory is vastly improved. I selected a couple La Gloria Cubana Serie R Esteli, a CAO Flathead V642 Piston and a huge Foundry Compounds, Elements and Musings Uranium (I have to admit to a fascination with the Foundry line, and I dig the skeleton band on the Uranium. When I’m smoking a 7×70 I can’t say. This, along with the Carbon, are going to be regular production cigars, the rest in the Compounds, Elements and Musings line are limited editions). I sat down and lit up the LGC Esteli, which I like quite a bit. I think it’s the best in the Serie R line. It was the typical cigar shop scene, a few guys sitting around shooting the bull while the History Channel is on the TV. Yes, I wondered why there wasn’t some Olympics on, but there was a show about the White House (actually history programming on that channel, who’d think it?). They close at 4 on Sundays, which isn’t a bad thing, I was there for two hours enjoying the smoke, and it was good. Glad to see the shop improving. It’s in a good spot and is certainly convenient to me. I need to go visit their other recent acquisitions in my county. I was not impressed with the Frazer location when I stopped in last year, and I haven’t visited G&G Cigars in West Chester since they took it over. I’ll be interested to see how they have changed.

After I got home and ran out for Chinese take-out, I figured it would be a reasonably good time to try a cigar I got at the IPCPR show. for the last several years I’ve seen the huge, elaborate booth of the China Tobacco Chuanyu Industrial Co. Limited. I’ll admit that entering the booth held little interest to me. I guess I’m a little closed minded, I see premium cigars as a Latin American product, and it’s hard for me to associate cigars with anything else. I have to applaud the companies persistence, it has to cost a bundle to bring this enormous booth to the show every year, and I honestly don’t recall seeing a lot of traffic there. My friend Mitchell passed his bag from the booth on to me, and I’ve been passing up sampling the coronas that were in with the glossy 50+ page brochure. I figured I already had a great cigar earlier in the day so I figured this was the time to try something outside my comfort zone. Not many things bother me more than wasting quality cigar time on a sub-par cigar. The cigar is called the Great Wall Tudor No. 2, and is about 5 1/8″ x 42. It is described as having Indonesian wrapper and binder and “domestic” filler, which I assume is grown in China. I was expecting the worst, given I’m not a fan of Indonesian wrappers, but it wasn’t a terrible smoke. It was fairly neutral, with some interesting flavors. It burned and drew well, I should hope that a factory that turns out five billion cigars a year (I’m assuming that not all are handmade). I’ve smoked worse, and I have a couple more floating around including a Great Wall Flourishing Age III, which is cello wrapped with a handy pull tab that’s described as “sweet flavored”. This one may wait for a while.

Monday evening I selected a Monte Pascoal Belicoso for my evening walk. This 5½” x 52 cigar was given to me last year by a gentleman know as Matt Ross on Cigar Federation and Twitter. I met Matt up in New Jersey last year when we had a bit of a herf at Cigar Emporium in Lyndhurst, NJ. I figured I was meandering from the traditional tobacco regions with the Chinese cigar, so it wouldn’t hurt to smoke something from south of the equator. This is a Brazilian puro, wrapped in Mata Fina, but not a maduro Mata Fina like we are used to seeing. These are terribly tasty smokes, and I can’t recall smoking one that misbehaved. The laws are such in Brazil with their regulation that it’s costly and difficult to introduce new blends. This is precisely what the FDA would like to see happen here in the US, which will virtually eliminate the need to walk into your tobacconist and ask “what’s new?” Good reason to support all the efforts out there to keep the FDA out of our humidors (CRA). Many thanks to Matt for the cigar! It was greatly enjoyed.

That about concludes today’s journey around the world! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as CAO, China Tobacco Chuanyu Industrial Co. Limited, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Great Wall, La Gloria Cubana, Monte Pascoal

by CigarCraig | February 16, 2014 · 10:29 am

Recluse Draconian, Sindicato Hex, La Sirena and Toraño Cigars

Well, winter just keeps getting better and better! Thursday we had a Nor’easter here in PA, which dumped a bunch of snow, sleet, rain, then rain and more snow. Fortunately, my day job closed for the day to allow me the luxury of shoveling the driveway. The snow was heavy and deep and I still hurt. I rewarded myself for a job well done with a lovely Recluse Draconian Sidewinder No. 2, which is one of their proprietary vitolas. The unique feature of this vitola is that you don’t need a cutter, it’s constructed in such a way a squeeze to the head splits the cap and you can peel away the cap and have a perfect draw. Here’s the video from he IPCPR show where J.R. Dominguez shows us how this works:

httpv://youtu.be/TLBHP-pW6x8

The cigar is a 6″x 57 and box pressed. Like all of the cigars from Iconic Leaf, these are rolled in the entubado method. The wrapper is a dark and oily Ecuador maduro. I sat in the garage watching fhe various precipitation and fully enjoyed this rich and flavorful smoke. It had the dark, sweet flavors I love getting. This is a truly delicious cigar, my only complaint is that it burned fairly quick. I would have liked to have smoked this for another thirty minutes. I give this 3 Ds….dark, deep and delicious!

Later in the day I took the dog for a walk with a Sindicato Hex Figurado. There’s a lot to like about these cigars. This is another rich, dark smoke that has a lot going on. I dig the shape, it’s got a bun-shaped pigtail cap and a classic taper on either end. With this cigar it’s also possible to open the head up without a cutter, just by popping the little bun off, but I used the cigar scissors to get a larger opening. If I remember correctly, these are made at the Ortez factory in Condega, Nicaragua and the dark Ecuador Habano wrapper is quite tasty. These are quickly becoming a go-to smoke for me. It’s a little rustic looking, but still a fun size and shape, and the flavor delivers for me.

Friday I selected a new inmate in my cigar asylum, a La Sirena Trident. I don’t smoke a lot of Churchill sized cigars, but I got a box of these last week. Certainly, I smoke more larger format cigars in the warmer months, but I had to sample one of these and it wasn’t that cold out for a change (might have been in the 20s!). This cigar is made at the My Father factory in Esteli and features a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper. I can see that I’m goung to have to pace myself with these, as I think they will age beautifully. They are not without some strength, and is another cigar with those deep, dark flavors I like, with some nice sweetness. I got a good hour and a half or more out of this cigar, I can’t wait to fire one of these up in the pool on a nice hot day! The thing I like best about the Trident size is that the beautiful band looks more properly proportioned on the longer cigar! The band is a work of art, but it overwhelms the robusto. Putting the very simple slim band underneath this great band is genius, because the band almost has to come off before smoking.

Guess what happened yesterday? If friggin snowed again! All day, but it didn’t accumulate much on the driveway, which saved my sore muscles a bit. I grabbed the leash and a Toraño Master toro from the 90+ rated sampler Jack Toraño sent me over a year ago and took the dog out for a walk. This cigar is a smooth, well balanced, medium bodied cigar. The wrapper is a perfect looking Ecuador Habano, I have to get my hands on the Master maduro one of these days, that looks really tasty. They offer this cigar in a 6″x60 size they call the BFC. Don’t make the mistake I made and assume that the initials stand for something other than “big fat cigar”. I’m embarrassed that my first thought was something less polite. Charlie Toraño is far to much of a gentleman to name a cigar something so undignified (Jack might 🙂 ). At the 2012 IPCPR show in Orlando they featured a LFC size, which was a 4½”x60. They offered this in several blends and it doesn’t appear that it caught on based on the fact that I don’t see them on the website, nor have I ever seen them anywhere but at the show that year. I liked the Loyal I smoked in that format, and wouldn’t mind smoking some of the Exodus blends in this shape. I admit to being a fan of the little fat cigars.

I have to tell you, I appreciate spending my weekend mornings watching Olympic Hockey. I get annoyed with weekend afternoon games as I like to think I have better things to do than watch TV. Getting my hockey fix out of the way before 10 AM works out better for me. Too bad it’s only every four years!

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Draconian, Hex, La Sirena, Recluse, Sindicato, Toraño

by CigarCraig | February 12, 2014 · 9:35 am

My Sunday Visit to The Cigar Inn in New York City

Sunday I found myself in New York City with a few hours to kill and made my way to The Cigar Inn on 2nd Avenue around 54th street. This place came highly recommended and I hadn’t been there before, so it seemed like the right choice. I arrived at about 9:30 which was about an hour and a half early, so I wandered to a nearby McDonalds and had breakfast and sat down to fix Sunday’s post that I goofed up! That’s what happens when I deviate from my schedule and pre-write a post. I got it fixed for the most part, apologies to those who had to suffer through the less than optimally formatted post. Anyway, I headed back to The Cigar Inn right on time for their 11:00 opening time. If I have one complaint about this shop it was that it was late opening. It’s kind of a pet peeve of mine, if your sign says you open at a certain time, you should be open! I understand stuff happens, and the weather lately has not been exactly cooperating. I sucked it up and was happy to come in out of the cold when one of the owners arrived to open shop. As I had some time to look at the storefront while I waited, I noted that there was a small cigar store Indian, some shaving equipment, and some hats and shirts, no real evidence of cigars present, except for the name on the awning. Is this how the future may be?

Once inside, the store is really beautiful, lots of dark wood and leather. There’s a generously stocked walk in humidor to the left, and the counter on the right. Just past the humidor there is a fully appointed barbershop with two antique barber chairs and sinks. Just beyond that there’s a shoeshine stand on a raised platform. From there back there is a large bank of humidor lockers with tables and stools in front of them. The Cigar Aficionado branded lounge takes up the back of the store with comfy leather seating and several TVs. The back of the store has an atrium kind of feel with floor to ceiling windows looking out on a garden sort of area. Classical music is quietly playing in the background lending even more class to the place.

I bought my day’s supply of cigar from Bacz (I believe that was his name), who recommended their house brand and offered me the Brooklyn size to try. This is a 6″x60 with Nicaraguan fillers, a Honduran binder and a wrapper from Peru. This is a very nice smoke. It had a unique flavor, not your typical house blend, I think that the Peruvian wrapper really adds a flavor that sets it apart. It reminded me a little of the C-Gars Ltd. Inka Secret Blend from the UK. It was obviously my first cigar of the day and it wasn’t too heavy, but it wasn’t mild either. Loads of pleasant flavors, smokes very well with perfect construction and burn (I gave it a V-cut). I ended up going back and buying another Brooklyn and the 5″ x 60 Bronx. They were out of the smaller ring gauge sizes. At $9 in NYC, you have to try it if you find yourself in a Cigar Inn Shop.

I smoked a La Aroma de Cuba Monarch next, followed by the new Camacho Corojo Maduro toro, both I found to be pretty reasonable by NYC standards at around $8 each. Oddly, and I have to wonder if the first cigar may have had something to do with this, but both cigars had an “ashy” taste to them. I will need to revisit both of these because neither were very enjoyable, and they should have been. It’s a Winston cigarette kind of taste, which certainly may not be something everyone can relate to, but that’s how it struck me. I get the same sensation from Cuban Cuaba and Victor Sinclair cigars. I will say that it didn’t detract from the ambiance of the lounge, and I smoked the Camacho in the company of Matthias Clock, who writes the FineTobaccoNYC site. I had corresponded with him in the past and dropped him a note that I’d be in town. He was gracious enough to take some time to meet up with me and hang out for an hour or so. I always enjoy meeting peers in this endeavor of cigar smoking. Matthias organizes cigar events in New York City, so if you’re in the area check his site for the latest goings on. All in all, I had a nice, relaxing day in the big city, just hanging out and smoking cigars. If it hadn’t been so frigidly cold I might have been tempted to break some laws and have a cigar in Times Square or Central Park!

On a related note, last night I smoked an Inferno Flashpoint, a Famous Smoke Shop exclusive made for them by Oliva. From the website:

Inferno Flashpoint cigars are the sister act to the original Inferno by Oliva. The core blend consists of perfectly fermented, estate-grown Nicaraguan ligero longfillers balanced by a healthy dose of sweeter Jalapa-grown leaves, deftly wrapped in an exquisite Sumatra leaf. Expect a medium start that blooms into a creamy, complex, full-bodied flavor bomb. Order a box now, or test drive a 5-pack and discover this affordably-priced selection that will spread like wildfire among cigar lovers.

This cigar is a winner. The flavor was very clean, that’s what kept coming to mind. I really enjoyed the creamy flavor and smoked it until I could no longer tolerate the juxtaposition of freezing/burning fingers. As it says above, it’s smooth and creamy, but loaded with flavor. The burn was perfect and I never had to touch flame to it after the initial lighting. From the name you might think this would be a knock your head off spice bomb, but it’s not. It’s a rich, satisfying experience. Thanks to Travis at Famous for allowing me to experience these!

That’s plenty for now. Heading out to NYC again tonight to attend “The Official Memorial Tribute To Sid Bernstein – Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of “The Beatles’ Historic First Concerts at Carnegie Hall” Presented by The Bernstein Family and Sid Bernstein Presents…” at The Cutting Room. Won’t be a cigar journey this time, but will be pretty incredible anyway. Hopefully the impending snow storm tomorrow doesn’t get in the way! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Camacho, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Famous Smoke Shop, Flashpoint, Inferno, La Aroma de Cuba, oliva, The Cigar Inn