Since I posted the contest Wednesday (go enter if you haven’t already!), I have a fee more cigars than normal to post about. Bear with me, it was a pretty good week! We’ll start off with Villiger‘s newest release, the La Flor de Ynclan. A couple of months ago a package arrived at my door that weighed about 12 pounds and I thought “what the heck is in here?” It turned out to be a little box with three La Flor de Ynclan cigars in Churchill, torpedo and robusto sizes, and a bottle of Zaffra Rum, a very generous gift, many thank to the folks at Villiger and Creativas! Most of my loyal readers know that I don’t drink, so one of these days (and I should have done it while the weather was warmer!), I’ll have to have some people over and have them sample this rum and put out a spread of Villiger cigars. From the Villiger website:
The La Flor De Ynclan is a special cigar, diligently crafted by Heinrich Villiger and master blender Jose Matias Maragoto of ABAM Cigar Factory in the Dominican Republic.
Heinrich Villiger, chairman of the board of Villiger Soehne AG, came across a young ambitious Cuban native 22 years ago in the Dominican Republic. That Cuban, Jose Matias Maragoto was an unknown cigar maker, who was beginning a new life in a new country. Fast forward two decades, the once untested Matias Maragoto is the overseer of all Villiger made product made in the DR. The Flor de Ynclan cigar, is the fruition of a bond between two different men from different backgrounds, over the love of tobacco.
The La Flor De Ynclan is a cigar that presents a distinct full-flavor experience, due to the extended aging of the tobacco. Choice Nicaraguan and Dominican filler tobacco, along with a true Indonesian binder, wrapped in a beautiful Ecuadorian wrapper make the La Flor De Ynclan a cigar that has been worth the wait.
I started with the Churchill, a beautiful 7″ x 48 (close enough), with the above-mentioned components. I thought this was a terrific cigar. It was solid medium, and had a quality that I though would suite the European market well. It was complex with some citrus sweetness and a twinge of spice. There have been some Villiger cigars that I really liked, some were so-so, but this one stands apart, I think. It was very tasty, worth a try. I am disappointed that they discontinued the Trill line (made at Tabacalera Palma), although the name is kinda dumb, the cigar is good. I bought a box while I had the chance.
Moving on, I found myself at The Wooden Indian Tobacconist once again where Sean Williams, the Cohiba Brand Ambassador, was appearing for a meet and greet with the lounge membership. I first met Sean at the 2011 IPCPR show, in his El Primer Mundo booth. Ironically, Willie Herrera was hanging out in the booth with him at the same time, so it was also when I met Willie. I got there early and bought some General Cigar Co. cigars that I hadn’t smoked before, as well as a couple of the newer 
Bolivars that I’ve enjoyed in the past. The only Cohibas that they had in stock were the Macasar, and I had a couple of those in the humidor already (and they are really pricey!). I was in the mood for Broadleaf, so the Bolivar 652 Toro was the smoke of choice. I know, I know, the Bolivar has a Connecticut Habano Maduro wrapper, not Broadleaf, but it was as close as I was going to get, OK? This was released at the 2015 IPCPR show, and was Michael Giannini’s project re-imagining the Bolivar (and Ramon Allones). I like the box design, but I can’t say I love the band, it could have been classier, not 
that my opinion counts. I wonder what Mr. Giannini is up to? The Bolivar cigar is great, to my palate. I dig the closed foot and pigtail cap on these and they are very well priced. Anyway, it was a great evening at the Wooden Indian. Dave and his staff are top-notch and it was nice catching up with Sean ( and Rami, the area sales rep, another cool dude). One last thing about this cigar. It’s neither on the Cigarworld.com or the Foundry websites, the only info I have is from the General Cigar Co. press info from the show.
I slipped back and forth between General Cigar Co. and Drew Estate this week, but I was probably heavier on the DE. I had to smoke another of the Florida Sun Grown toros since I bought a few more at the Wooden Indian charity event, and it was pretty darned tasty. Friday I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to smoke, and decided to go big and smoke a Liga Privada Serie Unico “A” that came from the Connecticut Barn Smoker. I probably should have swapped it for one from the 2014 two count box, but I was too lazy. An “A” is a traditional Cuban size, it’s 9″ x 47, two notable examples being the Cuban Montecristo and the Sancho Panza Sancho. I took a walk with this cigar and when I got home an hour later I was just hitting the 6″ mark. It was delicious, but due to its length, was on the milder side for a Liga Privada. It’s a good cigar, no doubt, and actually burned faster than I would have thought, I was finished in a little over two hours. From what I can tell, this is more of a T52 blend as it has the Connecticut stalk cut Habano wrapper, so I guess I’m still looking to satisfy my Broadleaf desire. I’ll find something today. These are only available at events, and are probably considered something of a unicorn in the Liga Privada world. I loved it, I thought it was delicious, but if I had ponied up a bunch of $ on the secondary market I’d have felt a little let down.
Since the current contest features a Drew Estate Acid KubaKuba Candela, I was kinda challenged to smoke one. Fortunately, I had one, as well as a couple of the little Blondie Candelas. I could have wimped out and went with the Blondie and gotten it over with, but why not just go for the gusto? The regular KubaKuba is just distasteful to me, can’t even stand the smell. I smoked a Kuba Maduro once in Nicaragua after about eight cigars and it was enjoyable. I entered this with as open a mind as I could muster, and, to lend credence to that, I didn’t take a spare cigar on my walk. I was committed (or should be). Happy to report that I enjoyed the cigar. The Candela wrapper has some bitterness that counters the sweet floweryness of the infusion. If one doesn’t like Candela cigars, I don’t imagine this one is going to change that opinion, because the grassy candellaness (my made up word for the day) is apparent. But, like it’s siblings in the Acid line, it’s well made with quality tobaccos. If you like the Acid line, try this, it’s probably going to be interesting. If you like Candela wrapped cigars, try this. If you don’t like either Candela or infused, I don’t know what to tell you…maybe this one would be a good change of pace, open your mind!
I was going to add one more cigar in here, but it’s getting long, I’ll circle back to that cigar. It was good and came highly recommended, I want to smoke another one and pay a little more attention to it before writing about it. Also, I bought a ticket to a Meet and Greet with Ernesto Carillo at the CigarCigars King of Prussia Mall store (smoke while your wife shops!) on Wednesday, October 11 which seems like a good deal, $25 for three cigars, booze and hors d’oeuvres and the chance to talk to a legend in the cigar business. Interestingly, this is a General Cigar event, featuring the new La Gloria Cubana Colleccion Reserva.
That’s all for now, until the next time, when we’ll select a contest winner,
CigarCraig
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Last summer at the IPCPR show I was standing in Matt Booth’s booth and finally met Jorge Ahued, the owner of Stogies World Class Cigars in Houston. I became familiar with this shop first through a business arrangement involving advertising, and second because of my freelance writing for the Houston based Prime Living Magazine, where I featured their Fratello H-Town Lancero in one of the issues. One of Stogie’s schticks is their H-town line of store exclusive lanceros. Jorge probably has one of the only stores in the country that has success selling lanceros (locally SMoKE Manayunk has a large selection). As I’ve been watching my friend Jeff from Cigar Weekly roll through November smoking lanceros all over social media, I figure’d I’d dig in to my lancero supply and smoke one in solidarity. I have a relatively large selection of lanceros, I like to think, but the one I had my eye on was one that Jorge from Stogies handed me at the show, a bit of a unicorn, I suppose. This was the RoMaCraft Neanderthal H-Town lancero. This is a traditional 7″ x 38 round lancero with the flat cap that’s consistent with the Neanderthal line. This gave me a chance to use the smaller 10mm punch on the Adorini punch I love so much. I really love the Neanderthal HN, the original format that they released a couple of years ago as well as the 
SGP. The combo of Mexican wrapper, Connecticut Broadleaf binder and the combo of Nicaraguan, Dominican and Pennsylvanian fillers made a really special blend. I’m not sure which leaf was left out, if any, but I want to say the blend shines in the larger ring gauges for me. Not that this H-Town wasn’t a spectacular cigar on its own, I just kept wanting to compare it to the experiences I had with the other Neanderthal sizes, and it was different. It’s unfair to compare it to the other sizes, I feel that lanceros across the board have a unique commonality in the quality of the flavor. I suppose it has to do with the heat. Anyway, the Neanderthal H-Town lancero was one of the best cigars I’ve smoked this year, it was smooth, loaded with flavor and burned perfectly. The unique spice that’s common in the line that probably comes from the PA ligero, and the fantastic interplay between the San Andrés and Connecticut Broadleaf makes this an amazing smoke that I’ll probably never have a chance to smoke again.
Last year I got off to a late start with the CigarCraig.com readers Secret Santa program. I was reminded this week to get a move on and get it organized a little earlier, which I appreciate. So let’s do it again this year! Please e-mail me at craig@cigarcraig.com with your name and address if you’re interested in joining in. The rules are simple. I’ll take the assembled names and addresses and make a list and match people up fairly randomly. Participants should then send a minimum of four (4) premium cigars to their assigned recipient. My personal approach to this is to give with no expectation of receiving, the receiving part is a wonderful and exciting bonus, but that’s just me. I’ll be looking to have the final list by November 30, 2017 so I can e-mail each person their recipient by the first weekend in December. I obviously won’t publish the list here, but feel free to use the comments on any future blog post to acknowledge receipt of your gift, I will happily provide contact info for thank-yous privately. I still have some contests in the works too, but let’s have fun sending one another some favorite cigars!
