Category Archives: Contest

May 10, 2026 · 9:42 am

Casa 1910, SP1014 and Alec Bradley Thirtieth Cigars

I somehow chose three cigars with numbers in the names this week. Purely unintentional, but maybe I should buy a lottery ticket? Lets see, 19, two 10s, a 14 and a 30….how can we make that work? It would be a stretch…nevermind, I’ll save my money. I started out with the Casa 1910 Chuchillo Parado in a 5″ x 50 Robusto. This came from Freshbox Cigars, by the way, I’ll be announcing two winners at the end of this post who will get a Freshbox starter kit (and there’s some space in the humidors, extra cigars may fall in while I’m packing it! Anyway, I smoked a Casa 1910 Chuchillo Parado, which is a 5″ x 50 robusto and seems to be only available in this size. I was sure I selected the Toro, which is the Tierra Blanco, but either I goofed or they made a substitution. It seems I smoked one of the Chucillo Parado after the 2021 PCA show sometime, because it shows up in a blog post from January of ’22. I apologize, I try not to repeat cigars. I will make an exception because it was a worthy cigar, and it promotes the folks at Freshbox, who we have to thank for sponsoring this giveaway. I am plagiarizing myself a little in the next couple sentences. It’s a Mexican puro, with San Andrés Negro tobaccos wrapped in a Mexican Sumatra wrapper. It was a very nice looking cigar, not at all like the Mexican puros I started out smoking in the 90’s. Nor did it taste like those cigars, which were almost a dirty flavor. This had a unique spice component, which stuck to the palate, almost, like licorice, but not licorice, if that makes sense. This cigar smoked really well, and was quite satisfying. Maybe I remembered from a few years ago (not likely), but I nailed that the wrapper was a Sumatra variant, it has that odd sweetness. It was good, I stand by my previous comment that I’d buy tese again because I did (accidentally).

Next up was another cigar generously gifted to me by Phil at CigarsComedyMusic.com, an SP1014 Red from Sanj Patel and Chico Rivas. This is supposed to be a Dominican Corojo Puro, which is certainly interesting. It’s also supposed to priced at 1992 pricing, which I don’t quite get because a $9 cigar in 1992 was a very expensive smoke. Opus weren’t $9 because they didn’t exist, but when they came out a few years later they were not far off. Unfortunately, $9 is reasonable now. This is another interesting cigar that I would try again given the chance. It starts with a sensation like warm, spicy bread, then the spice builds. It’s an engaging smoke, different enough to be interesting and enjoyable. One of these days I’ll venture to Sanj’s shop in new Jersey.

Finally I decided to give the new Alec Bradley Thirtieth a try yesterday afternoon. This celebrates Alec Bradley Cigars Thirtieth anniversary, “Thirtieth” would be kind of a silly name otherwise. Since Scandinavian Tobacco purchased Alec Bradley, their release have been hit or miss, I have to say that none of their three iteration of the Chunk have been to my liking, which may be why you haven’t seen them appear here. I keep trying, and when one hits me right, I’ll let you know. Others have been OK, but this Thirtieth is really good. It should be good to celebrate a milestone, considering Alan Ruben started the company selling cigars to golf courses and ended up selling it fro $73m twenty five years later. This cigar is made at Raices Cubanas, where a lot of AB cigars were made from the beginning. It’s a blend of Nicaraguan and Honduran tobaccos, and it somehow has a delightful citrus tang, refreshing almost. It’s medium and eminently smokeable. I want another one right now! Maybe later. This is probably the best Alec Bradley cigar since the aquisition, and it should be. Nice work.

It’s time to select a couple lucky people from the comments for me to ship some humidors and cigars to! I have consulted Google’s random number generator ( I think I’m going to look into a wheel next time, that looks fun), and was given the numbers 16 and 5, which correlated with DCT and Mike McCain! Please send me your contact information so I can ship these out to you. Thank you to Freshbox Cigars for providing these goodies! That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

4 Comments

Filed under Contest, Review

Tagged as Alec Bradley, Casa 1910, Chuchillo Parado, cigar, cigars, Sanj Patel, SP1014, Thirtieth

April 30, 2026 · 6:48 pm

Freshbox Humidors and a Giveaway!

If I ever had any skills making videos, I lost them somewhere! Check out this video and then go check out freshboxcigars.com. A transcription is included below the video for those who would rather read.

Hey, Craig from CigarCraig.com with a rather exciting new product I’ve been presented with. Years ago, back when I first started smoking — 30 years ago — I kept my cigars in coolers, Tupperware, whatever I could find that would hold a seal. Then I came across these guys, Cigar Bros, who were making humidors out of styrofoam. Very cooler‑like, but they’ve stepped it up.

Now they’ve got the Fresh Box, which looks like a nice lacquered humidor, but when you open it up, it’s light, seals very well, and holds humidity nicely. This one is running a little high at 76. I don’t even have a Boveda in here because it comes with one.

They sell these for $99, and it comes with a lighter, a cutter, and 12 cigars of your choosing. They have a whole lot of different choices. This particular one has some My Father, Blackened, Aging Room, and some Flatheads — little three‑packs. The three‑packs each have a Boveda in them, so I lied earlier when I said there wasn’t one; there are actually four. The boxes also have slots for airflow.

So you can buy this with 12 cigars for $100, have a nice humidor, and be ready to go. You’re ready to smoke. It’s pretty cool. I’ve been very impressed. They have a whole lot of different colors — they have a black one, a red one — and they come in these nice bags. This one is right out of the box and has the Boveda in there. It includes some Montecristos, Quesadas, Romeos, and La Auroras. They’re pretty cool. I’m very impressed with them.

So check out freshboxcigars.com and cigarbros.com, and give them a look if you need a humidor, a second humidor, or even three humidors and don’t have a lot of space. They stack up really nicely. They’re pretty cool.

Giveaway!

I’m going to give away two of these FreshBox Starter Kits. The rules are the same as always: leave a comment on this post to enter, not on Facebook, X, Threads, Linkedin or anywhere else! Any comment will do, but something of substance is more fun. I’ll announce the winners in my Sunday, May 10 post. Of course, the winners will need to contact me with their address and some proof that you’re over 21. Good Luck!

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

CigarCraig

23 Comments

Filed under Contest, Review, Video

Tagged as cigar, CigarBros, cigars, Freshbox

January 4, 2026 · 9:14 am

Davidoff, Rojas and San Lotano Cigars and the Giveaway Winner

Happy New Year! Another year of writing stuff about cigars! I’m a few years away from the twentieth anniversary of CigarCraig.com, I’ll have to come up with something big to celebrate. Speaking of celebrations, last Wednesday was New Years Eve, and I celebrated like I celebrate just about every evening, with a cigar on the porch! Davidoff was kind enough to send a couple of the Year of the Horse cigars, their 2026 Limited Edition. I know, the Chinese New Year isn’t until February, but I couldn’t wait to try this. This is the first “Year of the” Davidoff I’ve ever smoked, they are way out of my price range. Kudos and thanks to Law Ream and Jack Heyer for getting these out to those of us who choose to write stuff about cigars! The Davidoff ornament looked great on our tree. Anyway, I decided to close out what was not the greatest year for me with a great cigar (I hoped). I have previously stated that I have a very limited range of experience with the Davidoff line overall, so I was hoping for the best. I believe this is the best Davidoff I’ve smoked to date. There wasn’t a hint of horse at all in this cigar. This is a 6½” x 55 cigar with wrapper and binder from Ecuador and Dominican fillers. I have to assume the wrapper is a Habano varietal, it’s too dark to be a Connecticut Shade, and doesn’t taste like it either. It had an interesting sweetness, with some nuttiness and what I think of as a lemon zing. It was delicious, burned perfectly and was a great way to spend New Years Eve. After that I watched hockey until I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. Great cigar, as it should be for $65.

Getting back to reality, I smoked a Rojas Street Tacos Al Pastor Gordo Friday, after treating myself to a Padron Damaso (not as good as I remember, but still tasty), and a Diamond Crown Black Diamond, one of my favorites. I chose the 6″ x 60 gordo, as Noel Rojas is the self proclaimed king of the small ring gauges, and it seems funny to me that he even makes a 60. The Al Pastor has an Ecuador Habano wrapper over Nicaraguan fillers. Like the Davidoff, which is in excess of six times the price, this burned perfectly. I looked at a few other reviews, as Rojas doesn’t seem to have a working webpage, and one reviewer listed flavors of “earth and cedar”, “espresso, and white pepper” and “dark brown sugar and cream”. I don’t get any of that. I got some leather and baking spices. I liked it, it was a good cigar, and well worth the price. I’ve enjoyed a lot of cigars from this factory, especially some of the Stolen Throne lines, and this was a good one. I’m sure I’ve smoked the Carnitas and Barbacoas before, I needed to give this one a shot and I think it’s my favorite of the bunch.

Yesterday I dropped a few things off at Goodwill and stopped into JM’s Cigars in Exton PA. Unlike Rojas they have a website, however it hasn’t been updated in 12 years. It’s fine to have a static landing page, but delete the event from 2013 please! This was the first shop I sent to in the mid-90s (apparently when the website was created) and it’s been a while since I stopped in. It really hasn’t changed much over the years (like the website). I picked up a couple cigars that I hadn’t had before, one of which was the A.J. Fernandez San Lotano Requiem Habano in the “Churchill” size. It’s probably closer to a Double Corona, as a Churchill is 7″ x 47, and this is 7″ x 54. Actually, I don’t even think a Double Corona is 50 ring, but times change. It’s a big cigar. I think the last San Lotano I smoked was an Oval, and it’s been well over a decade. This has a Brazilian Habano wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers. It started out spicy, and had some nice coffee flavors. I liked this and I think it was around $10 so I call it a very good value. I may be overly concerned about the shops website.

It’s time to pick a winner for last week’s giveaway! I haven’t even selected cigars yet, but I don’t think the winner will be disappointed. The random number generator spit out the number 4, which corresponds to Ron Hunt! To answer Ron’s question, While I purchase most of the cigars in the northeast, most should be available all over. There are some brands that just seem to be regional, All Saints comes to mind, but that’s a function of the brand being small and maybe one or two people involved and they can’t get all over the country to support the sales. Different shops in the same area will have a different mix too. I’ll try to include some cigars that may not be widely available in your package. Ron is the host of the All About Wine podcast. I had the good fortune of meeting him a few years back at the Tampa Heritage Festival, and I talk to him regularly. Send me your address Ron!

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

CigarCraig

2 Comments

Filed under Contest, Review

Tagged as A.J. Fernandez, aj fernandez, Al Pastor, All About Wine, davidoff, Davidoff of Geneva, Rojas, san lotano, Street Tacos, Year of the Horse

December 28, 2025 · 10:19 am

Trinidad and Las Calaveras Cigars and a Giveaway!

It’s a busy time of the year and Christmas on a Thursday really threw off my week. I had to go out yesterday and buy some new-to-me cigars for today’s post. I also decided at the last minute to half-ass a giveaway! More on the giveaway after I talk about a couple cigars.I ran into Cigar Mojo – The Grove, and found a few cigars that I haven’t smoked yet. This is an interesting problem to have, but I’m having trouble finding the combination of cigars I haven’t smoked, and cigars I want to smoke. It’s come to me going through the humidor with my phone searching my own website to make sure I’m not repeating. And then there’s some cigars I just don’t have any interest in smoking. I’m also price sensitive, and they have quite a few pricey cigars in the humidor. It’s easy when I want to stop in for a smoke, but less so when I’m looking for something new to write about. Anyway, I grabbed a Trinidad Espiritu Miami since I hadn’t had that one yet. This is the fourth cigar in the Espiritu line, I rather enjoy the No. 2 the most, but they have all been good. I want to get a hold of the Tommy Bahama edition. This is a 6 1/8″ x 52 Belicoso, and is a Nicaraguan puro made at the A.J. Fernandez factory. While this is inspired by Miami, it contains no Miami tobacco! This is probably a good thing. The bright colors and art deco look of the bands was very appealing to me and seemed to go along with this festive time of year. I quite enjoyed the hour and a half I spent with this cigar. It burned and drew well, and had some sweet, bready sensations. I didn’t think the wrapper would fall into the beautiful category, it was on the ugly side, with some mottling and an odd color. Smoking with your eyes isn’t limited to packaging. I liked this cigar, it was medium bodied and quite enjoyable. Once again, most times if I enjoy an Altadis cigar, it’s made by A.J. Fernandez.

Another cigar I picked up was the Las Calaveras LE 2025 from Crowned Heads. I selected the LC54 size which is 6″ x 54. This cigar has a mid-priming San Andrés wrapper that’s not your usual maduro wrapper, but Colorado in color. I haven’t smoked too many of the Las Calaveras line in the past, but the ones I have I’ve enjoyed. This one was also enjoyable. I almost grabbed the 2024 (they have 2’23, ’24 and ’25 on the shelf) because the band has red and green in it and I’m still feeling Christmassy, but I went for the newest one instead. Mojo is a mile away, I can always grab more. These are made at the My Father factory. There is an earthy cocoa flavor with a little bit of spice. Interestingly, the first half of this cigar burned really fast, I was maybe 20 minutes in when I started wondering if it was going to make it to thirty minutes. At the halfway point it slowed down, and I got to somewhere around an hour and a quarter. It finished off well, nice cigar. I’m thinking I may have to go grab a ’23 and ’24 next time I’m there.

It’s a bit of a tradition around here to give stuff away around the holidays. I have some goodies lying around, so here’s what going to happen! I have a neat Don Doroteo leather case, with a cutter and lighter. This is a really nice item, it’s just not something I’ll use. There’s a. J.C.Newman Bricktoberfest stein. There’s a nice Villiger lighter. I’ve had this silver plate Gurkha ashtray in my closet for a few years, it can use a little shining up, but it’s a nice ashtray. Ironically, I’ve heard that mixing some cigar ash with water makes a good silver polish.

Top that off with some miscellaneous goodies, along with at least a dozen cigars from my humidor which I’ll and pick, and you’ve got a pretty nice bunch of stuff. So leave a comment here on this blog post. Facebook comments, IG, Threads, X comments don’t count. I look forward to reading your comments! I’ll select a winner randomly next Sunday. Good luck!

That’s all I have for today! Happy New Year to all. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

12 Comments

Filed under Contest, Review

Tagged as altadis, Contest, Crowned Heads, giveaway, Las Calaveras, Miami Espiritu, trinidad

August 31, 2025 · 10:12 am

Stolen Throne 919, Tatuaje Cohete Corojo, Howard G Cigars and the Giveaway Winner!

Photo credit Micky Pegg

Here we are, 16 years of writing CigarCraig.com! After all this time I still have to talk myself into going to a cigar shop after work! It’s nothing personal, and I always regret it when I pass up an opportunity, but it’s a struggle for me to leave the comfort and safety of my home smoking lounge! Weird, right? I’m actually an introvert, but I do my best to hide it. Anyway, Thursday evening I visited the Wooden Indian where Lee Marsh from Stolen Throne Cigars was doing an event. I consider Lee to be a friend, and it wouldn’t have been right for him to be in the neighborhood and miss seeing him. I love some of his cigars, add the Castle 919 to that list. I picked up a couple of the new Castle 919 cigars, a Robusto and a Belicoso, the only two sizes offered. Castle 919 has an Habano Claro wrapper, over Nicaraguan binder and fillers, made at the Rojas factory. I smoked the Belicoso, which is 5″ x 54 (the Robusto is 5″ x 50), and was delighted. This has the sugar cane sweetness I enjoy and was really good to the last drop! This may rise to the top of my Stolen Throne list of favorites, although the Crook of the Crown and Three Kingdoms will always rank highly. It was a treat to see Micky Pegg there as well and learn that All Saints Cigars is healthy! It is disappointing that they dropped my favorite size from their lines (Churchill), but glad they are still around! Lee and I stopped by Cigar Mojo – The Grove afterwards where I smoked a Yorktown Fleet Robusto, which is still not my favorite, but growing on me. Lee is deeply hurt that I don’t care for this blend (or the Call to arms).

Friday was my birthday, my whole family (8 of us) went out to a nice dinner. It makes me happy having all of us together. We got home a little late, so it was the perfect time to smoke a 4″ x 50 Tatuaje Cohetes Corojo that I had picked up when I visited Cigar Mojo – The Grove. I should get over there more often, it’s literally a mile from my house, refer back to the first couple sentences of this post. This is the first Cohetes I’ve smoked in the Tatuaje line, it’s curious to me that it exists along with the 4 3/8″ x 52 T110, they are different blends, but similar sizes. This was a really good little smoke. It started out with spice, but an interestingly different spice. Starting with spice is expected, but this was a different flavor. It sweetened slightly as it smoked, and was a really delicious little smoke, that lasted at least an hour for me. Looking forward to the T110 Corojo I picked up as well to see how they compare.

Once again, a Smoke Inn special sucked me in, who can pass up $20 for five cigars delivered to your door in a couple days? This one was two Rocky Patel Cameroons and three Howard G Cameroons. It’s a no-brainer. While I was interested in trying both, the Howard G cigars were my first priority. I think I met Howard at a trade show, it would have been outside the bar in the Venetian, but I don’t recall formal introductions. I’ve been hearing good things, so I wanted to sample the brand, and I like Cameroon, always have. It looks like this is in the Magic Stick line, which also has a Habano and Connecticut. I notice that they also have a Golf themed line which has a Front Nine and Back Nine. I hope Ryan Gallimore (check out the new Cigar Circus site!) is OK with that, as he had a Front Nine and Back Nine in his Swinger Cigars line many years ago. I will be on the lookout for the Magic Stick Habano, but this Cameroon wasn’t bad! It has a raw nuts sort of nuttiness, and I seem to get some kind of nuts flavor from Cameroon. It was a fairly bold flavor, the cigar smoked very nicely.

OK, now to announce a winner in last Sunday’s big giveaway. Apparently I guessed right on what the mystery Freestyle Live cigar was. which surprises me more than anyone. It’s a really good smoke, and I look forward to getting my hands on them when they hit stores. I consulted Google’s random number generator, and 4 was the number, and the number of the counting was 4. This corresponds to Jeff W., who needs to email me his contact information so I can get this out. I’m sure I’ll be able to come up with some more stuff for future giveaways! Thank you all for reading over these last 16 years!