Category Archives: Events

May 17, 2026 · 9:33 am

CigarProp 10th Anniversary Cigar and the Smoke-onos Festival

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of attending my 3rd Smoke-onos event hosted by Best Cigar Prices in Drums, PA. But first, I want to talk about the new cigar from CigarProp celebrating their 10th anniversary. A little history: I first heard from Kevin on February 4, 2014. He was trying to get into the cigar tube business, having made some single cigar tubes on his lathe at home. I recall contributing to his Indiegogo campaign, I have no idea how much he raised from that. I’m kinda glad he moved into the prop space, as I don’t find a lot of use for a single tube, as nice as they were, I rarely travel with one cigar. I have a pretty good collection of Cigar Prop prototypes, including a portable prop that Kevin caled the XC, with the C honoring me, for some reason! I have spent many hours with Kevin (and Jessica), over the last dozen years. We differ greatly in a lot of ways, but we have a kinship somehow. The 10th Anniversary is made at Fabrica Centroamericana de Tabaco S.A., the factory that makes Cavalier Cigars. The cigar is a toro (yay!), and is mostly Honduran with an Oscuro wrapper from Jamastrán, what I assume is a Connecticut broadleaf grown in Honduras for the binder, Visos from Copan in Honduras and Jalapa in Nicaragua, Ligero from Jamastran and a Sumatra seco. I’ve smoked a couple, I’m smoking one as I write this rather early on a Sunday morning, and it’s a delightful cigar. It has some sweet chocolate notes, and works very well with my black coffee (a store brand k-cup, I know, I’m a heathen). It’s silky smooth with no spice, although it will build a little spice, but what cigar doesn’t, really? Kevin is also becoming the go-to guy fro 3D printing, and made the boxes for these, available as an add on, in 5 and ten count versions. I was talking to Coleman of Sinistro cigars yesterday about this since Keven made the boxes for their upcoming No Etiendo line. This is a really nice cigar!

Yesterday was the Smoke-onos cigar festival at Best Cigar Prices/Pub in Drums, PA, which is near Wilkes Barre, PA. It’s about an hour and a half drive from my location. The name is a bit of a misnomer, as it’s technically just outside of the Poconos region, but it’s still quite a picturesque spot. This fest fills the void left by the Cigarfests that CI had, which I never attended , 3000 people each day for two days is more than I care to handle. I want to say there were 1500 at this event, and it’s laid out in such a way that it never felt crowded. I took another Craig, the Breadman, Craig Gilpin, who you may recall helped me out on these pages last year when I was otherwise occupied. I made various “two Craigs are better than one” jokes throughout the day. As I have attended events like this solo many times, it was excellent to have a friend along. I honestly hope that they don’t let these get any bigger, as it’s just better for attendees and vendors alike to keep it relatively intimate. I like to go and visit with my friends in the industry, stay on the radar, and catch up.

I had the good fortune to hang out with Terence Reilly while he ate a cheesesteak, and catch up with a ton of other folks. I think it’s kinda funny that folks like Rocky Patel can walk around, but Jonathan Drew (Sann, now) has a line of people waiting for a word and a picture. I did see JD smoking a cigar in person, and managed a wave. Saka was jovial, Jack Torano was grumpy, and I missed some notable folks who I’m sure would rather have been there than home recuperating from illness. I highly recommend this event next year if you can make it. My only complaint, as with every event, it seems, is that the music was too loud, I hate yelling at people. The band they had, Amish Outlaws, was really quite good, and a bunch of guys dressed like the Amish playing dance music is kinda funny. The weather was perfect and it was a great day of cigars and camaraderie. Best Cigar Prices treated us very well, and I thank them very much!

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

CigarCraig

😃+

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Filed under Events, Review

Tagged as 10th Anniversary, Best Cigar Prices, Best Cigar Pub, cigar, CigarProp, cigars, Smoke-onos

November 30, 2025 · 9:38 am

Alec Bradley Kintsugi, Umbagog and a Visit to the Cigar & Lifestyle Fest

First off, the names have been drawn for the CigarCraig.com Secret Santa, so if you snoozed, you losed! Don’t miss out next year! Anyway, my wife came across this event a month or so ago: The Cigar & Lifestyle Fest at the Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, PA. Actually the last day is today, Sunday, Nov. 30 (10-5). It kicked off with a “VIP” event Friday evening, and a whole day (9am-9pm) Saturday. The only advertising I saw for this event was on social media, and none of the cigar industry people I know in the area (reps, store owners) knew anything about it. I figured for $10 admission it was something I needed to check out. I’ll be honest, it wasn’t for me. There were four or five cigar brands, I’d be surprised if anyone’s heard of them. I did have a nice conversation with Christian at Los Gallos Cigars, a “new to me” brand, and they seemed to be doing things right. I’ll smoke a couple of their cigars, which I purchased, this week. I’m admittedly jaded when it comes to new brands, they often try to tell me that they are somehow different than any other brand, when nine times out of ten they are putting bands on someone’s leftovers. I didn’t get that from these guys. OM cigars was there as well, and I met Osvaldo at a TPE a few years back, but obviously didn’t make an impression on him. Jason from Fog Box was there with their very nice collection of travel humidors and lighters, and I talked to Kevin Stone from the Smoke World Podcast for a bit. I’ll let the pictures here paint the picture.

There are probably some things the organizers could have done better to make this a better cigar event. Talking to local shops and reps might be a start, and advertising it to a broader audience. I think a three day event was ambitious, I’m sure one day would have been plenty (I made it about an hour and a half before I got bored). Obviously someplace where one can smoke indoors would be ideal, although challenging. We’ll see if this happens again next year, I’ll check it out.

With Thanksgiving this week, and all that went with it, I didn’t smoke a lot of new cigars. My wife and I were balloon handlers in the Philadelphia parade (the oldest in the country), which was a whole other story. It’s fairly well documented on our Facebook pages. I did smoke the new Alec Bradley Kintsugi Wabi Sabi yesterday when I got home from the fest. I looked at the “smoking lounge” they had set up at the fest and said to myself, “self, you can smoke much more comfortably at home”, which I did. I should try not to talk to myself in public, but nowadays you can pass it off as being on the phone. Anyway, this Alec Bradley Kintsugi Wabi Sabi is actually made by A.J. Fernandez in Esteli. It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, Mexican binder and Nicaraguan fillers. It’s a 6″ x 52 toro. I really liked this cigar. It’s different from my usual preference, it has some cream, bread and baking spices and was really quite delicious. Remember when blue and green bands were a no-no? This is a nice presentation, a really good tasting cigar, and it’s $12.50, which ain’t bad these days. It turned a disappointing day around.

Last night I decided to smoke the new size in the Umbagog Bronzeback line, the Robusto. The original Bronzeback, a corona gorda, won the Halfwheel Consensus last year, and a Dunbarton cigar has been in the top two or three on that list for the past decade I think. Expect the Solita Red to top the list this year, it’s head and shoulders above the other new releases. Steve is strategic in sending samples of his excellent cigars near the end of the year so that everyone scrambles to smoke them and put them on their year end lists. I just don’t think this Bronzeback Robusto has what it takes to top the list. It’s a perfectly good cigar, although I think the spice it has overwhelms the chocolaty goodness that I like about the “classic” Umbagog. I guess it’s the same reason I prefer the Mi Querida over the Triqui Traca, different strokes for different folks! Come to think of it, I smoked a Red Meat Lovers Fritanga Thursday after the feasting, and wished I had chosen the Ribeye instead. Anyway, I don’t mind the Bronzeback, but would chose the OG Umbagog over it.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Alec Bradley, Bronzeback, cigar, cigars, Cigars & Lifestyle Fest, Kintsugi, Umbagog, Wabi Sabi

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!

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

CigarCraig

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Filed under Contest, Events, Review, Stores

Tagged as Cameroon, Castle 919, cigar, cigars, Cohetes, Corojo, Howard G, Stolen Throne, tatuaje

May 18, 2025 · 8:49 am

Villiger and Mil Dias Cigars and the Smoke-Onos Event

Yesterday I attended the Smoke-Onos event at Best Cigar Prices in Drums, PA, but more on that later. First I want to talk about a couple cigars I smoked this week. First up was the Villiger 1888 Gran Reserva. This is a 6″ x 54 with a San Andrés wrapper, Ecuador Habano binder and Nicaraguan fillers. These are made at the Villiger de Nicaragua factory in Esteli (Until I’m told otherwise, I believe this is a sub-factory within Joya de Nicaragua). I was disappointed that René Castañeda wasn’t at the event yesterday! This cigar is $22, is limited to 1000 ten count boxes, and uses tobaccos aged at least two years with a year of post-roll aging. Of course, the size of the cigar is right, I really liked this cigar. It started with some cocoa and spices which kept going all the way through. This was a really enjoyable smoke, if they were half the price I’d be all over them!

To those who don’t know, Smoke-Onos is a portmanteau of Smoke and Poconos. To those who don’t know what a portmanteau is, go ahead and look it up! The Poconos is a sub-range of the Appalachian mountains located in the north-east part of Pennsylvania. It has nothing to do with Yoko Ono. Best Cigar Prices has their operation, with includes the Best Cigar Pub, in Drums, PA, which is kinda between Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton. Despite being in a relatively remote area, it’s a very popular cigar destination. The Smoke-Onos event covers several days, with events Thursday and Friday evenings, and a large multivendor event Saturday, an afterparty, then something on Sunday. I attended the Saturday event on a press pass, which got me in the door. If you are anywhere near this area, go to this event.

Many of the major players were there, the swag looked very impressive, with a duffle/backpack full of swag and cigars. There was a band that was loud (I was impressed when I heard them playing Hocus Pocus by Focus), the Drew Estate booth, which was smack dab in the middle of the event, was loud, and the crowd was large. I bet there were a couple thousand people there. I’ve been to these sorts of events, and for only the second year, this was up there with the best. I saw a great many friends there, both attendees , other media outlets and exhibitors. Many thanks to BCP for including me!

After getting home, I settled into my usual spot on my porch with a Crowned Heads Mil Dias Maduro Edmundo to watch this week’s episode of Curse of Oak Island. After 15 years they still haven’t found any treasure. The Maduro is a completely different blend than the Habano, with a Broadleaf wrapper, Habano binder and Nicaraguan fillers. This is apparently made in the factory formerly known as Tabacalera Pichardo, TacaNicsa. I really like the Mil Dias Habano, and I was hoping to like this more. It’s a tasty cigar, starts peppery, and the pepper continues throughout. I think I expected more sweetness, and there was some espresso, but no sugar. This might be one of the rare cases where I prefer the Habano over the Maduro, usually Maduro is my jam. Anyway, it was good, the 5 3/8″ x 52 size fit the time I needed it to fill, and I was not unhappy.

That’s all for today. There was another cigar I smoked this week, but I didn’t care for it, so I’ll leave it for another time when I can smoke one again and form a better opinion! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 1888, Best Cigar Prices, Best Cigar Pub, cigar, cigars, Crowned Heads, Mil Dias, Smoke-onos, smokeonos, Villiger

March 2, 2025 · 11:06 am

Cigar Circus Grand Opening in Clearwater, Florida

Yesterday I took a little day trip to Florida! I left the house around 4:30 am and got a flight out of BWI in Maryland because I couldn’t get the flight I wanted out of Philly. Got to Tampa around 11 and had a Diamond Crown Robusto No. 4 while I waited for Kevin (CigarProp, Trash Panda) and Jessica, to pick me up. Many thanks to them for the ride and friendship! Additional thanks to Keith for the ride to the airport and keeping me company! Cigar Circus is a new business in Clearwater, Florida. It’s spearheaded by Ryan Gallimore, formerly of Drew Estate and before that Swinger Cigars. This is a Cigar Distribution operation, E-Commerce operation with a large retail showroom and a lounge. Yesterday they held their grand opening celebration, which is why I flew down. In addition to the 150 or so attendees, there were 20 or more cigar company representatives, none of whom were there selling, they were there interacting with the attendees. Generally at multi vendor events there are lines and not a lot of time to just hang out with the, in many cases, faces of companies. This was one of my favorite parts of this event. Every attendee got a cool bag with an ashtray, mug, lighter, cap and a bunch of cigars. Ryan used to buy the swag for Drew Estate, so it was all top notch. There were a bunch of circus performers on hand. Ironically (or maybe not), that part of Florida has a rich circus history. They also had food! Brisket, pulled pork, two different sausages, slaw and potato salad, and there were more than enough coolers with water and soft drinks, and a substantial bottle collection (don’t drink, didn’t look into it any further). This was a really well done event, although one thing Ryan learned from Drew Estate was to have a very loud DJ. I’m old, I don’t want to have to yell at people, unless they deserve it!

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I smoked a few cigars over the course of the day, I didn’t smoke anything I hadn’t smoked before because at this kind of event one doesn’t have a chance to think too much about what one’s smoking! I had an AJ Fernandez New World Dorado Corona and a Diesel Vintage, both very satisfying! After the event I met up with my friend Keith and we went over to Corona for a quick little Tatuaje Cojonu before he dropped me a the airport. It was a great day, glad to see a lot of old friends and meet some new ones.

I have two months left on my Frontier Go-Pass, so if anyone has a suggestion on where I can go for a quick visit, within a couple hours flight from Philadelphia, let me know! That’s all for today, until the next time,

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CigarCraig