Category Archives: Review

by | September 1, 2014 · 5:20 pm

CAO Cigars and Flying Dog Brewery “Art of Craft” Beer and Cigar Pairings and a Contest!

CAO_FlyingDogA month or so ago a box showed up on my doorstep (ok, it was at the garage….it’s a figure of s

peech) containing four bottles of beer an

d a four pack of CAO cigars (with a CAO bottle opener attached).  This represented a pairing event held at the Flying Dog Brewery back in June with Rick Rodriguez of CAO called “The Art of Craft” They put together the following pairing suggestions:

 

  • OSA Sol and Snake Dog IPA: The zesty spice of OSA Sol meets its match with the citrus and resinous hop aromas and flavors of Snake Dog.
  • CAO Brazilia and Gonzo Imperial Porter: Both big and bold, the bitter coffee and chocolate flavors in CAO Brazilia are mimicked by the same robust notes in Gonzo.
  • CAO Gold and Raging Bitch Belgian-Style IPA: The wildly complex hop bitterness and fruity sweet Belgian yeast notes in Raging Bitch are soothed by CAO Gold’s caramel creaminess.
  • CAO Mx2 and Pearl Necklace Oyster Stout: Dark and dry is the name of this pairing’s game with Mx2’s rich notes of earth and Pearl Necklace’s dry, roast, and slightly bitter character.

 

This put me in an awkward position. As many of you know, I gave up alcoholic beverages completely over twenty years ago, so I would either have to jump off the wagon, or figure something else out.  Now, I was a big fan of beer in my twenties, but to be honest, I was more into quantity over quality, and I would make projects out of finding how little I could pay for beer.  One experiment included a two dollar six-pack of Carling’s Black Label (even then it was NOT worth it), and countless cases of National Bruce KramerBohemian in 16oz returnable bottles and good old Rolling Rock, which was practically a boutique brand at the time.  Needless to say, my palate wouldn’t be up to this task anyway. So I asked a couple friends over to drink these beers and smoke these cigars, which was a surprisingly easy sell.  I’ve known Bruce Kramer since the old days of the Usenet cigar group back in the ’90s. Bruce is a certified beer judge and a home brewer, and quite the foodie. Obviously, he’s also been a connoisseur of exceptional cigars for a l

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ong time. Bruce also is involved in the production of The Bacon Jams, a spreadable bacon product that is about to be featured on QVC, and is taking the bacon world by storm. He was an obvious choice for a panelist in this project.  As I figured four cigars and beers would be a lot to tackle in one sitting I reached out to another friend with a beer, food and cigars background, local author and food writer, Jim Breslin. Jim recently released a novel called “Shoplandia“, which is a fun book based upon his lengthy career s a producer at QVC ( I read it, loved it and could relate since I worked at QVC myself briefly in the ’80s). He also writes for the West Chester Dish, a local food and restaurant guide here in Chester County, PA. as well as founding and hosting Story Slams locally. Jim also enjoys fine cigars and has been a reader here, I’d like to think I’ve been able to steer him toward some new and interesting cigar choices. You may also remember Jim from my review last fall of his “Stooges and Stogies” event.  I chose to pair the CAO Brazilia with a CAOBrazila_ReedsReeds Extra Ginger Brew, and the CAO MX2 with a Natural Brew Draft Root Beer.  We sat down in front of the video camera and captured our thoughts on these pairings. The video runs about 12 minutes, a bit long for my tastes, but I think these guys made some great tasting observations and it’s well worth the watch.  Please pardon the umbrella pole, but it only really blocked me out, so no big deal.

 

 

Let’s give Jim and Bruce a round of applause for helping out, and subjecting themselves to an evening of fine conversation between segments and some free beer and smokes! If you want to check this out yourself, the CAO “Art of Craft” cigar pack will be available alongside each corresponding beer exclusively at 46 Total Wine stores throughout Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, and California beginning July 1. Thank you to Victoria McKee Jaworski and her crew at General Cigar Co. for providing the samples and a great excuse to get three friends together for some smokes and drinks.  Bruce and Jim hadn’t met prior to this, and had an amazing amount in common. Another great story about cigars opening doors to friendships!  Now Bruce and Jim are after me to arrange another beer and cigar pairing evening!

 

Contest!

CAO_Signs Contest_3What the heck, let’s give some CAO goodies away!  I have a metal CAO Flathead 660 sign (a pain in the ass to mail, BTW. My problem, not yours!), a CAO Are

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a 9 pack containing six vintage CAO cigars from the original CAO aging rooms, anywhere from 5 to 20 year old! Also a couple of the new Flathead Sparkplugs and a 554 Camshaft. Sorry, I don’t have the 660 Carb that goes with the sign.  Leave a comment with your favorite cigar and beer pairings (I’ll accept soft drink and coffee pairings too!) and I’ll select a random winner on Sunday.

 

Thanks for watching, and until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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by | August 31, 2014 · 9:51 am

Room 101 Big Payback and Matt Booth at the RMCF, an Island Jim and a Tatuaje

Room101_BigPayback_ChavalaAs I’m starting to sort out the videos I took at the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival last weekend, I figured I’d start off with Matt Booth of Room 101 Cigars and just get it over with. One never know’s what to expect with Matt, always entertaining and after all is said and done, he’s a class guy.  His table was right next to the Halfwheel table, hence the comment a few moments into the vide

o. Last night I smoked the Room 101 Big Payback Chavala, which is a 5″ x 50 classic robusto.  This is a value line for Room 101, made in Nicaragua, and coming in around the $5 mark.  I see this trend of value cigars, with the Tatuaje Tattoo and Illusione‘s Rothchild and Gigante, and it’s not bad.  The Chavala was a really great smoke, it burned perfectly and had a nice tobacco sweetness that I really enjoyed. I think this is a great smoke and will be picking up some more of these in the future.

 

Here’s the video with Matt.  I really need to better prepare myself for these things….

 

 

 

Friday was my birthday, 51,

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if you’re counting, so my wife took me out to Cigar Mojo down in King of Prussia, PA and we ordered a couple pizzas and sat around smoking cigars and watching TV!  I selected the new Island Jim by Oscar Valladares Tobacco and Company for my birthday smoke. Island Jim is Jim Robinson who owns the Leaf and Bean shops in the Pittsburgh area. He’s probably a Penguins fan, but I won’t hold that against him. This torpedo with the shaggy foot appealed to me for some reason, and of all the great cigars available in that shop, this one was the one I decided on.  The head of this has a Connecticut band and a Maduro band and is not capped, but does need a cut midway through the Connecticut stripe for a great draw.  I smoked this just about to that Connecticut stripe, it was that good. I don’t have any regrets at all about choosing this for my celebration cigar, it was smooth with a nice sweetness, and a unique flavor I couldn’t pinpoint. I suppose I’ll have to smoke another one eventually to see if I can nail that flavor down. The high point of the evening was having a childhood friend stop in and share a smoke. We’ll call him “Pat Smith”, and we grew up in

the same neighborhood and playe

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d in our first garage bands together in the ’70s.  I hadn’t seen this guy in over 30 years, and closed the Mojo talking and smoking.  It was a very nice evening, although I wish people in the lounge had taken me up on the pizza offer…we had to bring a whole pie home!

 

Tatuaje_MummySaturday I selected a special cigar that Will Cooper sent me last year for my birthday, a Tatuaje Monster Series Mummy. This is a 7¾” x 47 cigar that had what I thought was a very Cuban smoking experience. It burned like a Havana, that is to say it was a little loosely rolled and burned pretty fast. The flavor also reminded me of a Havana a little, I can’t say specifically, which line, but the overall experience was reminiscent of a f

ine Cuban cigar. It has a little zing, but was still smooth and rich.

I enjoyed the heck out of this cigar. I don’t have a great deal of experience with the Tatuaje brand, but what I have smoked I liked, and this was a really nice Saturday afternoon smoke. Thank you, Mr. Cooper, for this gift.  Sorry it took me a year to get to, but I think I timed it perfectly!

 

That’s it for now. Not sure what’s on the block for today, but it’s a holiday weekend, so I’ll be selecting something good for sure. Enjoy the weekend, and thanks for reading along!

 

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

 

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by | August 20, 2014 · 9:58 pm

Visiting Chicago – Casa de Montecristo and a Camacho Ecuador

When we left off I was in Chicago and I mentioned I was going to visit Casa de Montecristo in Countryside, IL.  I set the GPS in the car, which, for some reason, didn’t take the street number for me. I decided to wing it, and set off anyway. I got about ten miles down I-294 and the GPS had lost it. The lady in the dashboard kept telling me to take the next left, then recalculated, take the next left….I was on a highway with no left turns!  She didn’t know what she was doing! I pulled off the next exit and parked in a McDonalds and turned the crazy lady off and see if the iPhone Google Maps app would help me out.  I apparently had gotten of at the right exit, because in a few turns I pulled into the Casa de Montecrist

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o lot.

CasadeMontecristo1

To everyone who told me Casa de

Montecristo was a must visit on my Chicago visit, thank you! The store is beautiful, and the staff is very attentive. Fred showed me around and introduced me to one of the regulars, Conor. Oddly, a gentleman named Justin who I had met the day before at TESA was there making a purchase on his way out of town, he had come in from St. Louis for the previous day’s event and to celebrate his birthday.  Strange walking into a strange shop 750 miles from home and seeing a familiar face, but I shouldn’t really be surprised by now, it happens more times than not, it seems.  The store has cabinet humidors lining the walls for singles, an glass excaparate with  bins of unbanded cigars, a walk-in humidor for boxes, and a “vintage room” off the walk-in humidor.  After a tour of the facilities, I picked out a couple cigars I hadn’t smoked before and had been looking for, the Camacho Ecuador in the Figurado size and the Matilde Renacer in the Robusto size.  I could have shopped for hours, but I neither need more cigars, nor do I have the budget for Illinois prices.

 

I was ushered downstairs in the only cigar-friendly elevator in the country to the VIP lounge.  Apparently they allow out of towners in the lounge, not that there aren’t nice, comfy chairs upstairs in the store area.  The VIP Lounge is quite luxurious. In addition to the comfy leather chairs, there are booths and a bar, where members can store their own libations and have access to complimentary coffee, sodas and water.  I pulled up a stool next to Conor and we had a wonderful time swapping stories. He had had a cigar brand and we knew a lot of the same people and had visited a lot of the same places.  Once again, you can walk into a strange cigar shop just about anywhere and meet a friend you didn’t know.  As an aside, Conor is hosting a charity event next month,  check out www.chicigarmeetup.com for all the information if you are in the Chicago area or plan to be there.  I lit up the Camacho Ecuador which was a very nice cigar. It burned perfectly and had a great draw and the flavor was very enjoyable.  Conor kindly gifted me a cigar out of the escaparate, a Pete Johnson blend that he said was the original blend of the Black Jar release.  This was a nice smoke as well, however I had to finish it in the car on the way back to the hotel.  The VIP lounge also includes a theater and a meeting room, along with a bunch of TVs and lockers for not only cigars but booze.  I can’t recommend the Casa de Montecristo enough if you find yourself in the Chicago area. I’m sure glad I decided to seek it out and spend my afternoon there.  Great company, great smokes and great facility.

 

Diesel_Unlimited_d5Tonight I took a walk with a Diesel Unlimited d.5 that I think came from last year’s IPCPR. This cigar is made by A.J. Fernandez for Meier and Dutch and has been on the market for several years. Oddly, I don’t think I’ve sampled this line extension before, but it kind of jumped into my hand as I was looking for tonight’s cigar.  The Unlimited has an oily Honduran ligero wrapper and the filler is Nicaraguan tobaccos from Esteli and Condega and Mexican San Andrés.  This cigar was rich and heavy in flavor and quite satisfying. I would reach for this often, it’s a solid cigar.

 

I need to get ready to travel again, I’m really looking forward to attending the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival in Colorado, and will attempt to report from the event, or shortly after. Until then,

 

CigarCraig

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by | August 17, 2014 · 1:51 pm

Visiting Chicago – Smokey Bear Cigars and TESA Cigars

2014-08-17 11.10.10Here I am in the windy city and I’ve been enjoying the camaraderie and hanging out with some great cigar friends.  I know I said I was going to try posting from the field, but the places and events were not conducive to getting any good video, and frankly I was having too much fun smoking and socializing. You’ll have to put up with my normal style Sunday post, I guess!  I have been fortunate to find some local cigar events here in Chicago that I managed to impose myself upon.  Today I may venture out to the Casa de Montecristo, which everyone tells me I have to visit. We’ll see, driving around here is a serious time and patience investment, but the people here seem very nice. We are here for the Fest for Beatles Fans, and my wife is working at the show with her clients who are all Beatles related authors. It’s a rather interesting cross-section of people, but the passion they have for the Beatles is similar to the passion we have for cigars, and both passions bring people together.

 

Friday after helping my wife get her booth set up, I headed to Smokey Bear Cigars in Evergreen Park. The GPS said it would take about an hour, but with traffic it was closer to two.  I was certainly ready for a cigar when I got there.  They were having a Toraño event, and Jack Toraño, who grew up in the Chicago area before going to Miami, was there with his wife Cecelia.  Of course, I bought some Toraño cigars and lit up a Master Maduro Toro Gordo.  The shop has a generous walk in humidor with a really good selection. I saw some cigars that I haven’t seen in shops before.  They were loaded for bear (ha) and had a good amount of traffic too. they also have a nice lounge where I sat down with Jack and his wife and caught up a little.  The cigar was a beautiful rich, dark and tasty. I followed it with an Exodus 1959 Gold robusto, which has been a favorite for about ten years. The Toroaños have been making great cigars for a long time, and continue to do so.  I love being in a strange city and visiting a shop I’ve never been to before and hanging out with friends.  I’m pretty sure if Jack hadn’t been there I would have had a good time, as Pam, the owner, is running a good lounge and shop.  Too bad it’s so hard to get to from Pennsylvania!

 

 

Saturday I left the car parked and embarked on the Chicago Transit Authorities Blue line to go to TESA Cigars. I’ve heard of this shop, I’ve ridden past their factory in Esteli, and I’ve also heard of a third (or first, as he tells it) Chris Kelly in the cigar business.  The other two are Chris Kelly and Chris Kelly, in case you are wondering.  Anyway, after navigating the “L” I arrived at the shop, which is in an odd, area. It’s about a block away from Oprah’s studios, but there isn’t really much around from what I could tell.  It’s a nice shop though. Their own brand dominates the humidor, along with a nice selection of other cigars, including an impressive selection of Drew Estate products.  Tom Navarro, whom I’ve know for a few years, helped arrange a herf there and about 20 people were there, many from the Tatuaje Saints and Sinners message board, and the BOTL message board.  I purchased, and smoked a TESA Cabinet 315 Robusto, which was a nice, well balanced cigar that had a load of rich flavor without a lot of spice. The 315 has a Habano wrapper and fillers from Jalapa and Esteli, and is finished off with a curled pigtail cap. Taxes are a bit crazy in the Chicago area, so this PA, no cigar tax, guy was pretty sticker shocked.  Chris does a nice job blending the cigars to be smooth and delicious, which was further evidenced by a corona he gave me that he had recently brought back from Nicaragua and wasn’t saying much about the blend. I’ll be interested in smoking more from this line, as the sample he gave me was very tasty and well made.  It was great meeting everyone, and, as always, a stranger walks into a group and finds new friends instantly, it’s a special thing.  I was also privileged to meet a Facebook friend, C.W. Harris, who Jose Blanco was kind enough connect me with, and is how I found out this event was going on.  I had TESA on my list anyway, but it was extra special to meet up with Tom, C.W., Chris and the rest of the gang there (and I’m terrible with names, there was Justin and Scott, and Ed, David and a raft of others….they need name tags at these things!)

 

 

Well, I think I’m going to see if I can find Casa de Montecristo and go have a cigar or two there this afternoon, then we drive back to  PA tomorrow, work three days, then fly to Colorado for the Rocky Mountain Cigar Fest.  Let me know if you’re going to that event, which I’m looking forward to.  I’ll try doing the “Live blog” thing from there, but I can’t make any guarantees. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | August 13, 2014 · 11:08 pm

A CAO Flathead, an MBombay, and Some La Flor Dominicana Cigars at Cigar Mojo

We’re getting ready to take a road trip to Chicago for the weekend. My wife’s working the Fest for Beatles Fans and I’m going to explore some cigar shops.  Again, if you are in the area, let me know and we’ll try to connect! I’m already planning to get to Smokey Bear in Evergreen Park on Friday, and TESA Cigars on Saturday afternoon for some events.  I’m going to try something new for me, posting “live” blog posts, so there may be several posts instead of one big one on S

unday.  Since ditching my dumb phone for an iPhone, I’m going to experiment a little with it. We’ll see how it goes and I beg your indulgence.

 

CAO_Flathead_BigBlockSunday was a spectacular day, and after a very busy morning of yard work I decided to spend the afternoon in the pool with a big cigar.  I picked up a CAO Flathead Big Block a while ago, the square pressed 7″ x 70 monster. I generally feel quite uncomfortable with the 70 ring gauge, but I like the Flatheads, so I thought I should try them all.  I gave this a couple punches with my Screwpop punch (by the way, I’m really looking forward to seeing the next generation of this punch. It looks like they took my advice in the redesign. Yeah, I’m taking credit, you heard it here first!  They als

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o have another cigar cutter coming out that looks like it could be interesting) and just about emptied my lighter lighting that monster.  I spent close to two hours reading in the pool, smoking that big Flathead, and enjoying it quite a bit. The enormous size tempers the blend quite a bit, it lacked the punch of the smaller sizes, and needed a few corrections. I got out of the pool and smoked the cigar for another forty-five minutes, until I just plain got tired of it.  Great smoke, but I’ll stick to the smaller sizes.

 

MBombay_BrazilMataFinaMaduro_RobustoAfter a little Sunday afternoon nap and some dinner, I needed to take the dog for a walk, so I grabbed an MBombay Brazil Mata Fina Maduro robusto. The beautiful band dominates thi

s cigar, and it needs to be removed very soon after lighting. this is a super little smoke, smooth and sweet, with a little extra something from the Peruvian tobacco in the blend.  I have been really impressed with cigars from the same factory in Costa Rico, which also makes the Atabey (which I have yet to sample, but we gave away some in the December contests courtesy of Dave Garofalo), the Byron and the Bandolero, all exceptional cigars. The MBombay burned perfectly, nice flat and even burn and a perfect draw. I am very excited to hear that a local shop is trying to bring these in, I’m quite taken with them.

 

LaFlorDominicana_DblLigeroMaduro_ChiselTuesday my youngest son and I went down to Cigar Mojo in King of Prussia, PA, for their La Flor Dominicana event. I’ve not smoked a lot of La Flor Dominicana cigars.  Not for any particular reason, I always liked them, I just never managed to pick any up.  Litto Gomez was on hand for the event, along with the local rep, Kyle.  I picked up a couple Double Ligero Maduros in the chisel shape, and some Colorado Oscuro No.3s (and a couple others I can’t bring to ind at the moment and am too lazy to go to the humidor to check) and lit up one of the Chisels.  I asked Litto what the best cutting method was and he suggested just giving it a squeeze which worked well. This is a formidable cigar, loaded with rich, dark flavor. I ended up giving it a bit of a scissor cut afterwhile to open the draw up a little, but other than that, it was a terrific smoke. I was able to have a really nice discussion with Litto, in spite of the fact that the place was packed, impressive for a Tuesday night. I’ve said it before, but the guys at Mojo do a great job. In less than a year they have built a really good shop and have excellent events. It was nice to run into Shaun, the proprietor of D&S Cigar Lounge in Lancaster,PA and Arline, who I met the first time I visited Cigar Mojo before they officially opened, there’s always a good bunch of folks there.  My son seemed to thoroughly the Colorado Oscuro he smoked, and he only smoked cigars occasionally.

 

LaFlorDominicana_ColoradoOscuro_No3

 

Since Christian (my son) enjoyed the La Flor Dominacana Colorado Oscuro last night, I figured I had better see what it was all about tonight. Since I had bought two, I took the second one for a walk and enjoyed the heck out of it.  I didn’t find it to be as strong as the Double Ligero Maduro Chisel, but the burn was much better and it was totally satisfying, and since I had a lot of stuff to do to get ready to go away, the 5″ x 50 size worked into my schedule perfectly. I have been remiss over the last few years where this brand is concerned, but I will work on sampling through the line in the future.  Nice smoke. La Flor Dominicana is one of the great survivors of the cigar boom of the ’90s.

 

That’s it for now, I have twelve hours of driving ahead of me tomorrow, so I need to get s

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ome rest! Stay tuned for my experimental posts over the next few days. Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

 

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