Monthly Archives: May 2017

by | May 31, 2017 · 9:00 pm

World Know Tobacco Day and an Archetype Axis Mundi Corona Cigar

I read somewhere that today is World Know Tobacco Day, so I said to myself: “hey, I know tobacco, and I really like it!” It’s been said that tobacco cultivation has been done for ten thousand years in the Americas, the indigenous people used if medicinally and ceremonially long before Europeans “discovered” the Americas. The Europeans took a shine to it, and its use was met with mixed opinions, some of the  more enlightened (tongue firmly planted in my cheek) thought people with smoke coming out of their mouths an noses was a sign of demonic possession while others saw the economic potential. Our beloved nicotiana tabacum  was the currency that underwrote the war of independence and made the United States the independent country that it is toda

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y. Of course, nobody remembers that, and it’s again demonized by the less enlightened. Just the other day I was yelled at by a woman on our local mult

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i-use trail where Macha and I take our daily walks. She ran past me and yelled “how can you be smoking on a trail where people are running?” I chuckled at her rudeness, an imagined that it offset any of my own rudeness for daring to enjoy a legal product. I wonder how people can live in a world where people do things that they don’t like. I don’t appreciate all the sweaty, stinky runners and cyclists disturbing my relaxation on the trail, but I’m not so rude as to point it out! Perhaps if I had a stick up my ass I’d have a different opinion. Anyway, tobacco is now grown in beautiful countries, tended by passionate and caring people, rolled into cigars by artisans and smoked by intelligent and humble people like us. Hopefully now you know tobacco a little better and can properly celebrate this World Hedonism Organization (WHO) holiday with a fine cigar. I got that all right, didn’t I?

 

Archetype_AxisMundi_CoronaI celebrated tonight with a cigar from the folks at Ventura Cigar Company, the folks that make the Psyko 7 and Project 805 cigars. I’ve been a fan of the Psyko 7 line since I had one in late 2013 as a guest on The Cigar Authority radio show. I have a neat Psyko 7 humidor that my wife won that works quite well, and have a cool light-up Psyko 7 Maduro sign hanging in the smoking porch. So I was pretty excited when I saw the Archetype line displayed at the IPCPR show last year, but I couldn’t really find anyone in the Phillips and King International booth to help me. Not their fault, they were busy and I’m not the guy at the show that’s high on the priority list. I managed to get my hands on some of the Archetype Axis Mundi Coronas, which was tonight’s smoke. I also got some of the Initiation in the same size, and the one I smoked last night tasted great, had a really unique flavor that I loved, but half way through it died on me, one of those strange situations that blowing through the cigar gives plumes of smoke, but drawing gets nothing. I tried and tried, but it frustrated me. I have more, I’ll come back to that one at a later date because I really liked the flavor. To be fair, it had spent a couple of hours in a case in my pocket on a humid evening, which may have contributed to my problems. The Archetype Axis Mundi has a Habano Ecuador Maduro wrapper, Indonesian Sumatra binder and Nicaraguan Habano filler. This is on the stronger end of the spectrum, had a great burn, although I let it go out a couple of times because I was trying to maximize the time smoking. It was great for a three-m

ile walk on the trail where nobody complained. It had some burned wood, savory and sweet dried fruit kinda flavors with a hint of spice. I really enjoyed this, I’ll be on the look out for larger vitolas in both this and the Initiation lines and would recommend it highly.

 

That’s all for now, unless you’re looking for Father’s Day gift ideas, then Holt’s has a nice selection on their Father’s Day Cigar Deals page, or the folks at Stage V Clingers are still running a special on their four-pack with the “StageVdad” code. Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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by | May 28, 2017 · 10:01 am

Felix Assouline, Cain and Man O’War Cigars

FelixAssouline_SomethingSpecial_SublimeIt’s Memorial Day Weekend for my US readers, let’s remember that this weekend is about those who serve and paid the ultimate price, it’s not Veterans Day. Memorial Day is for the folks who didn’t come back and I thank them and their families for their sacrifice. I hope every celebrates in a safe and responsible manner! Friday my wife and I went out to the local Movie Tavern and had dinner and a movie, which is a nice way to go. We saw the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie which we really enjoyed. When we got home I grabbed a cigar that my Secret Santa George (thanks George!) sent last December, the Felix Assouline Something Special Sublime. This is a 5″ x 52 box pressed robusto that has a Habano Criollo 98 wrapper, Indonesian binder and fillers from Nicaragua and Honduras. It was a nice looking cigar, I’m generally not a Criollo fan, but the cigar looked enticing with its nic

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e box press. It had an earthy, leathery flavor, not a lot of sweetness, and a really nice burn. I know next to nothing about this brand, but it looks like they sell direct on their website, and the Something Special line is reasonable price, this robusto coming in at $5.60. While perusing the website, it appears that they have a line called EGO, which would have been an appropriate cigar to follow the movie we saw (no spoilers).

 

Cain_Daytona_LanceroSaturday was a two cigar day, and I decided to start out with a cigar from the depths of the humidor, one that has been in there for at least five years. Oliva’s Cain line, and their Studio Tabak division was a pretty big deal, putting a pretty traditional company on the map with a cutting edge line. The Cain Daytona Lancero was, at the time I got it, a bit of a unicorn, I believe it was only available at events. I have one more in the humidor that has a secondary band with the Studio Tabak designation, I think the one I smoked was older. The Cain Daytona follows the Cain tradition of using Ligero in the majority of the blend, this one uses all Ligero from Nicaragua’s Jalapa region, which make it a bit more refined than it’s siblings which employ Ligeros from Esteli and Condega in addition to the Jalapa. The Cain line seems to have lost steam over the years, maybe not surprising as the face of the brand, as well as it’s creator, left the company to form Leccia Tobacco, and subsequent attempts at putting a face to the brands didn’t last. I keep a constant eye out for a great deal on this brand, I wouldn’t mind having a box of Cains in  my humidor.

 

ManOWar_Ruination_SEFiguradoLast night I went with a large Salomon cigar, the Man O’War Ruination Special Edition Figurado. A month or so ago I saw a three pack of Man O’ War Salomons for something stupid like $5, with the shipping it came out closer to $14, but still a pretty good deal. Truth is, I’m a sucker for good deals, this one I couldn’t pass up. the Man O’ War line is made by AJ Fernandez and distributed by Meyer & Dutch, and is probably mostly associated with Cigars International, but they can be found in other major retailers as well as it’s not an exclusive brand. I have trouble finding specifics on this particular ci

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gar,  I think it was only available in a Salamon sampler of some sort (a bit of alliteration for you there), it looks like Cigar.com has a bundle with four each of the Ruination, Legend and Man O’War for $50. The cigar is a massive 7-1/8″ x 58 and is tapered with a nipple foot. This cigar has an interesting and unique flavor in the savory family, I think, or maybe it’s a spice, I’m not sure. Whatever the flavor is, it’s not one I normally come across, but I think I’ve experienced it in another Man O’ war cigar before, one of their limited edition lines. It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, with mostly Ligero from Nicaragua and Honduras. I guess I had a Ligero kinda Saturday going on, its a wonder I didn’t have crazy dreams last night! Bottom line: I enjoyed the Man O’War Ruination Salomon, but by the time it got the about two inches it lost my interest, that unique flavor passed and I put it  down, got a little bored with

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it. Of course, this is a risk with longer cigars, and I’m not disappointed in the least.

 

That’s enough out of me to

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day. It’s a nice day so far, and would like to get a few things accomplished around the house/yard before it rains and I’m stuck in the enclosed porch smoking cigars! Have a safe weekend! Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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by | May 26, 2017 · 10:22 pm

“With All Due Respect, Mr. Baker, I’d Like to Keep My Job” a Guest Post By Gary Korb

Going  into this long weekend, here’s a special guest post from our friends at Famous Smoke Shop, please visit their cigar smoker’s right hub at http://fda.famous-smoke.com/

 

“With All Due Respect, Mr. Baker, I’d Like to Keep My Job”By Gary Korb

 

When I moved from my native state of New Jersey to Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley in 2003, there were some nice advantages. Among them were fewer traffic jams, lower taxes and more places where I could smoke premium cigars, including my place of work, a national online premium cigar retailer. Back then, you could light-up a cigarette or a cigar at most bars, some restaurants, and of co

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urse, the cigar stores.

Eventually, the State passed a more restrictive smoking law. No more smoking in restaurants, offices, or bars, with some very few exceptions. No surprise, since this was the case in my former New Jersey, and anti-smoking regs just tend to go viral. But I could still enjoy cigar in my company office thanks to a special State permit, and fortunately, the retail cigar store and restaurant/cigar bar my company also owns was granted the appropriate licenses, etc. Yes, we played by the rules, and I, along with my fellow employees were able to continue doing one of the things we enjoy most – smoking a good premium handmade cigar. (One half of our building is cordoned-off as a non-smoking area for employees who do not partake.) Besides, smoking cigars is part of my job. That’s what I do. I smoke and write about premium cigars for a living. And I’m not alone. Pennsylvania also happens to be home to several other nationally-known online cigar retailers, not to mention dozens of brick & mortar tobacco shops owned by hard-working businessmen and women across the State.

Everything’s going fine until I see a news blurb on this Cigar Smokers’ Rights page about State Representative, Matthew Baker, who has introduced House Bill HB-1309 to the Pennsylvania General Assembly. If passed it would prohibit smoking in premium cigar retail stores, cigar bars, private clubs, casinos and all other indoor businesses and venues in Pennsylvania. REALLY, Mr. Baker? Isn’t it enough that the tobacco retailers in Pennsylvania have a hard enough time fighting-off tobacco tax increases, and you want to just pull the whole rug out from under all of us? If this bill should pass, a lot of people would be out of work and companies like mine would be hit the hardest. That’s a lot of tax dollars that the State would soon be out of, as well.

Then there are all of the consumers, the cigar smokers who not only buy their cigars at local cigars shops here, but also have the opportunity to light-up in them. NOTE: Most cigar smokers do not smoke inside their homes. They need places like cigar stores, private clubs, or the Sands Casino, for example.

Fighting taxes and the FDA is one thing, but fighting for our right to smoke, which is still legal in the United States, is another. Having spent almost 16 years in the cigar business, I’ve grown accustomed to the shrill harping of the anti-smoking crowd, but this goes beyond the pale. Therefore, I want to encourage my fellow Pennsylvania cigar smokers to fight the passage of House Bill HB-1309 by every legal means necessary. (One of our customers suggested a protest herf in front of Rep. Baker’s house.) Since protests are en vogue these days, maybe that’s what it’s come down to. Or to pu

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t it another way by paraphrasing anchorman Howard Beale’s famous line from the movie, Network, “We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore!”

 

GaryKorbGary Korb is the Executive Editor at CigarAdvisor.com, a premium cigar news, information and review website.

 

Thank you to Gary for sharing this, and Famous Smoke Shop. Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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by | May 24, 2017 · 9:09 pm

Amador Garcia Cigars

This is a Wednesday quickie highlighting the Amador Garcia Superior cigars. Last August I heard from Antonio Garcia asking if he could send me a couple of the cigars he and his cousin were working on, and a couple of weeks ago I received a package with a couple of samples, the Robusto and Toro in the Natural line and the Churchill in the maduro line. Their website is in its infancy, it looks like eventually the cigars will be available for purchase, but, as of this writing, there are no cigars listed. I was hoping to get some blend information from  there, but I’ll have to rely on the information related in the letter I received with the cigars. They are made in the Dominican Republic, presumably at Tabacalera Amador Garcia. Guess which one I chose first!

 

AmadorGarcia_SuperiorMaduro_ChurchillThe Amador Garcia Churchill Maduro is a 7″ x 50 Churchill, with a dark, rustic wrapper. The Superior Maduro has a Mexican San Andrés wrapper, with Nicaraguan binder and Dominican filler. This cigar was pure espresso from the start, right up my alley! It had the dark, rich bitterness I like with some bitter-sweet chocolate on top of the espresso. The construction was excellent, the burn was straight and even with a flat burn, and the draw had just the right amount of resistance. This was a wonderful smoke, and burned for the better part of two hours. This is a cigar I would have in my regular rotation, if I had one I smoke too many different cigars to settle into a pattern, and you’d get bored reading about the same cigars every week!. Surely it would fit into the go-to category. Thumbs up!

 

AmadorGarcia_Superior Natural_ToroThe Amador Garcia Superior Natural is listed as an Ecuador wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Dominican filler. The Toro I smoked was 6″ x 52, and, like it’s maduro cousin, was exceptionally crafted. I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that the wrapper is an Ecuador Connecticut, as it was lighter in color, although on the darker end of the scale for that varietal, but the flavor had the creaminess that I associate with the Connecticut leaf grown under the cloud cover of Ecuador. It was solidly medium in strength, but had loads of rich, milk chocolate and coffee with cream. Loads of flavor with a great burn and draw. This one came in under two hours, and built-in strength a bit towards the end, maintaining a flat and even burn. I’m looking forward to seeing where these fall price-wise, and how they end up marketing them, because for an unknown (to me, at least), new brand, they are making excellent cigars that taste great.

 

That’s all for now. Memorial Day weekend is coming up in the US, so pick out some great smokes and have a great weekend! Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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by | May 21, 2017 · 9:25 am

Epic Cigars with Dean and Mick at the Wooden Indian

EpicMaduroGordoFriday evening I went down to the Wooden Indian Tobacco Shop in Havertown, PA to smoke some Epic cigars with brand owner Deans Parsons and his national sales manager, Mick, and of course, Dave and Dan at the shop. I first was introduced to Dean at a cigar shop in Colorado the night before the 2014 Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival, by Eric from Cigar Dojo. Dean is one of those cigar manufacturers that I make a point to visit and support whenever he makes an appearance close by, he and Mick are just really likable guys, and the Epic cigar line is very, very good. As is my custom, I bought a handful of Epic cigars to add to my inventory at home, and lit up an Epic Maduro in the 6″ x 60 Gordo size. As always, this is a great smoke with sweet coffee/cocoa notes that’s well made. this line, to my memory, used be called the Maduro Reserve but that’s been simplified over the years to just Maduro. The Combination of Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper, a Cameroon binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers are rolled in the Charles Fairmorn factory in the Dominican Republic as is all of the cigars bearing the Epic name. The largest output of this factory is the Kristoff line. I love all of the cigars in the Epic line, but I always default to the Maduro for some reason (OK, I know the reason, 90% of the time I default to maduro!) I continued my Epic cigar run through Saturday.

 

Epic_SmokingShieldsExclusiveOne of the special projects Dean recently worked on was a cigar for the Smoking Shields Cigar Club, a fraternal organization of cigar smoking law enforcement officers out of New York. I had the opportunity to purchase one of these special cigars at the event, so I jumped on it. After lightning up the Epic Smoking Shields Exclusive yesterday, I want more! Holy crap is this a great cigar for my palate! It’s a 6″ x 54 Toro, with the Brazilian maduro wrapper again, this time with a Dominican Olor binder and Dominican fillers (translated from a German e-tail site that carries the marque, Atlantic Cigars has them too). It’s a beautiful cigar, bearing the Smoking Shields band primarily, with the Epic band in the secondary position. It starts out straight espresso, that great

, rich, a little bitter, but delicious flavor that makes a shot of espresso special!  Right about the time the Epic band needs to be removed, it shifts from medium to full in strength, something that Dan at the Wooden Indian mentioned and turns out to be true (I’ve found that Dan has an excellent palate). Some of my favorite cigars recently are the Mi Querida, the Tabernacle, Nica Rustica (all broadleaf, by the way) , but this is a cigar that fits into the same category, and it burned as perfectly as a cigar could burn, effortless draw, straight as an arrow and all the tobaccos burned at the same rate leaving a nice, flat ember when ashed. the folks at Smoking Shields are lucky to have such a great cigar to represent them!  Great job on this one Dean!

 

EpicLaRubiaSGAlmost a year ago I smoked a pre-release sample of the Epic La Rubia, the Connecticut shade offering in the Epic range. Since then I’ve had a few of the 4½” x 60 Short Gordos in the humidor waiting for the right time to smoke. Oddly, I love this size. It’s a little bigger than the Nub line, shorter than a 6″ x 60, just right for me if I have to smoke a 60 ring cigar (not that I don’t smoke my share of 6″ x 60s). Not a commercial, but my friends at Best Cigar Prices like this size too, they have a whole bunch of exclusives i

n what they call the Robolo, many of which I’ve sampled and enjoyed.  I guess that was a bit of a commercial. Anyway, Dean told me long ago that his Canadian customers requested this size, which is curious and unexpected in my mind. So after dinner and before a movie was the perfect time to bust one Epic_LaRubia_ShortGordoif these out and light it up. As with all of the other Epic cigars in my experience, it burned well. Like the pre-release sample I smoked last June, this was a solid medium bodied cigar, with a hint of the Ecuador Connecticut twang and a good core flavor. This has a San Andrés binder that gives it a little extra sweetness to offset the grassyness of the wrapper, and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. Another winner from Epic, it’s a great anytime cigar that is neither boring nor overwhelming. I’m happy I have more of these on hand!

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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