Category Archives: Review

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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by | August 10, 2014 · 9:14 am

Three More Gurkha Cigars, Crest, Beauty and Cellar Reserve Limitada

Gurkha_Crest_ToroWhen we left off on Wednesday, I was working my way through a tin of Gurkha Toros. I had the Crest and the Beauty remaining, so I selected the Crest for my Thursday evening smoke.  I first noticed a small slit near the foot, and hoped I didn’t have another situation like I did with the Beast, explosion city. Fortunately the cigar burned past the split without  incident. I think this cigar may end up being my second favorite of the selection, behind the Shaggy, at least in terms of overall experience. The flavor was savory and a bit sweet owing to what I can only deduce is a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper.  The construction was fine, apart from the previously mentioned split, and the burn and draw were perfect.  These are nice and seem to be available inexpensively via catalog retailer.

 

Gurkha_CellarReserve_LimitadaFriday came along and I couldn’t bring myself to smoke the Beauty. I needed a guaranteed great cigar to cap off the week, so, in keeping with the week’s theme, I selected a Gurkha Cellar Reserve Limitada from last year’s IPCPR show. Looking around, I see that this size, which was another 6″x 50ish toro, does not seem to be a regular production size.  They are now available in 5″ and 6″x58 perfectos and a 6″ x 60 XO.  I’ve had several in the 6″ x 50 size and have really enjoyed them. The curly-cue pigtail bun cap is very cool aesthetically and they’ve consistently had good construction. This has a Brazilian Arapiraca maduro wrapper that ads a nice sweetness to the purportedly 15 year old Dominican filler. I guess I need to try this in the current;y available sizes, as I don’t think I’ll see this in the toro again.  This may be my favorite Gurkha cigar, edging out the Seduction, but not by much.

 

Gurkha_Beauty_ToroSaturday afternoon I sat down to relax outside with the Gurkha Beauty Toro.  I’ve smoked the Beauty before, and figured it would be a good selection for an after lunch smoke, mild and flavorful. While this wasn’t the worst cigar I’ve smoked, it wasn’t terrific. the burn and draw were problematic in that it was a little bit tighter than I’d like, making me feel like it may have had a little too much humidity, and causing me to over draw it to get smoke.  The burn was erratic but nothing a lighter couldn’t fix.  I suppose it should have been a nice, creamy Connecticut shade cigar, but this example was not.  That’s not to say that it prevented me from an hour or so of relaxation with a book (Rush FAQ by Max Mobley. I’ve been a fan since discovering them in the late 70s!), I just would have probably enjoyed the afternoon more with a better cigar choice.  One must take the good with the bad, as with anything.

 

Gurkha_Crest MetalI’ve come to some possible conclusions and advice about cigars presented in this manner.  I received this in the fall of 2012, and placed it in the bottom of one of the coolers where it stayed until this week. I wonder if I had removed the cigars from the metal box if they would have been better. While I know that the tin case isn’t air tight, it certainly lacks something over a wooden box in my mind. I have seen a couple other cigars sold in metal boxes, but I have no experience with any aging in those boxes, but hundreds of years of storing cigars in wooden boxes would lead one to the conclusion that wood is the way to go (assuming it’s not an aromatic or sappy wood!) My other conclusion is that while the presentation is pretty, these aren’t $10 cigar

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in my opinion. This is still available several places (I noticed Famous put it on sale this week, coincidence?). I have a nice decoration for when and if I have a man cave or office I can decorate in c

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igar-chic. Still, it was entertaining smoking through the selection contiguously, or almost, there were defiantly some tasty and satisfying cigars that I probably wouldn’t have tried otherwise.

 

News

Every year one of my reasonably local shops, The Wooden Indian, in Havertown, PA,  has a Drew Estate Charity event around this time of year, and this year it’s next Friday, August 15, 2014. Unfortunately, I’ll be in Chicago, so I won’t be able to attend as I have in the past.

 

Drew Estate Charity Pig Roast

Friday August 15th, 2014  11:00 am – 8:00 pm

 Online Bidding  Now Available

 Special Guest Pedro Gomez, Factory Spokesperson

 Tickets Now Available $20

Includes

Sandwich & Drink

1 Raffle Ticket For $700 TV

$5 In Drew Spending Money

Loads of in store specials and raffles

  They will be auctioning off three very special items from the creative mind of Drew Estate’s Jessi Flores: Undercrown and Flying Pig paintings and a presentation case which includes all 19 of the Liga Privada cigars.  In the past the auction has been held at the event, but this time they’ve set up an online auction so  everyone can have a chance.  All proceeds go to TECHO, the charity which builds houses for deserving families in Esteli, and one which Drew Estate Charities supports wholeheartedly.

In other news, as I mentioned before, I’ll be wandering around Chicago next weekend smoking cigars, but the following weekend I’ll be attending the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival in Broomfield, Colorado.  I’ve heard great things about this event and am looking forward to seeing everyone there! Let me know if you’ll be there so we can enjoy a smoke together!

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

CigarCraig

 

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by | August 6, 2014 · 10:04 pm

Working Through the Gurkha Crest Metal Sampler Cigars and a Buena Vista Piramide

Buena Vista_PiramideBefore I get into the Gurkha tin, Sunday evening I felt compelled to smoke the Piramide from the Buena Vista Reserva 2008 sampler I recently received. At the risk of repeating myself, the presentation of this sampler was pretty outstanding, and I was quite impressed with the Prominente, or double corona, size I smoked.  The Piramide size was just as impressive. I really enjoyed the clean, refreshing and almost minty sensation I got while smoking this cigar.  I’m told that these should be shipping to shops soon, but I’ve seen these online for under $25, and even more reasonable in boxes of ten.  I’d like to keep these around because I really enjoy them from time to time and they are a nice cigar to share.  I remain impressed, especially over the Buena Vistas I sampled three years ago.  This is a really nice smoke, and I now have a really nice three cigar travel humidor too!

 

Gurkha_Crest Metal Gurkha_Crest Metal SamplerMonday I was digging through one of the coolerdors and came across a Gurkha Crest Metal Sampler that my wife had gotten me through a Groupon or Living Social deal, I seem to remember it being around $50, which puts the cigars at $10 each. I must have had this for two or three years, I see that Famous has this same or similar sampler on their website.  I decided now was as good a time as any to dig in, and I may as well smoke all five cigars in succession over the course of this week. Maybe I should have waited and put them all in one post, Gurkha_Shaggy_Torobut I don’t have that kind of patience.  I started with the Gurkha Shaggy toro. I felt like these were all 6″ x 50, but the description at Famous says they are 6″ x 53, who am I to argue (and I was too lazy to measure them!).  The Shaggy is characterize by about ¾” of the foot of the cigar left without wrapper and binder.  It smoked really well and was enjoyable, with lots of smoke. I didn’t really sense a huge change when the wrapper started burning, but it was smooth and rich.  I don’t even know if these are still produced, but I know they’ve been around a while, and this is the first one I’ve smoked.  I’ll admit that I was attracted to the copper colored band, not sure why that appealed to me so much. Nice cigar.

 

Gurkha_Beast_ToroTuesday I chose the Gurkha Beast, which was a dark chocolate brown wrapped cigar. This is the counterpoint to the Gurkha Beauty, with a Connecticut shade wrapped cigar which I’ll get to later in the week.  Since I love maduros, I was excited about this one.  The flavor was nice, it was chocolaty and smooth, with a hint of spice.  About half way through there must have been a void in the filler because it got a bit stingy with the smoke, much unlike the Shaggy which almost smoked itself.  then the wrapper started to split and at about the two-thirds mark the wrapper started coming off. At that point it started smoking better, and the flavor was fine, but I was a little miffed that a $10 cigar would behave this way.  All in all, a less than satisfying experience.

 

Gurkha_Titan_ToroTonight I went with the last maduro in the collection, the Gurkha Titan.  This has a similar Costa Rican maduro wrapper to the Beast, and, honestly, I didn’t really taste a lot of difference, except that the Titan didn’t explode on me.  Perhaps it was a bit smoother, it didn’t seem to have the spice that the Beast had.  It burned very well, and had a smooth chocolaty flavor.  Of the first three I smoked, I think the Shaggy was my favorite, but none of them were really up to the price point, and while the tin case is nice, and potentially usable as a five finger carry case, I don’t count packaging into the price. They were all good cigars for a couple bucks each, and I apologize to my friends at Gurkha for saying that. Despite the reputation they’ve had in the past for making tons of cigars for the catalogs with a lot of hype, lately they’ve really been making some great smokes, the Cellar Reserves, the Seduction, the 125th anniversary are all very high quality smokes, and their lower priced East India trading Company lines are also pretty enjoyable.

 

I’ll finish out the week with the Crest and the Beauty, then see what I can scrounge up for the weekend. I’ll be in Chicago next weekend, so if anyone is available to meet for a smoke, please let me know. Also, Friday is the last day to comment on the FDA deeming document, so get to it!  Go HERE to link to the regulations.gov site to let them know you don’t want premium cigars regulated out of existence!  Also, go to Gran Habano’s website and help them fight the US Trademark Office, who have decided that using “Habano” in the name (which they’ve had for how many years?) is confusing to the public.  Another case of a government office sticking their noses in where it doesn’t belong.  Morons.

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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by | August 3, 2014 · 8:51 am

A Drew Estate Cigar Mojo Event, an Eterno and a Villiger Trill

Thursday night we took a ride back to Cigar Mojo in King of Prussia, PA, it seems they were having another Drew Estate event.  In attendance representing Drew Estate were our local rep, Chris Stone, along with his boss, Dave Lafferty. They had all the usual Drew CC_DL_MojoEstate and Joya de Nicaragua cigars for sale, including plenty of Liga Privadas.  I picked up some Nica Rusticas, Undercrowns and Joya Antaño Dark Corojo and smoked an Undercrown Robusto.  Although I like the Corona Viva the best in the Undercorwn line, I can’t find fault with any of the other vitolas. The robusto was awesome, bold and full of flavor.  Event at Cigar Mojo are always awesome, and I love getting to catch up with old friends.  Once again, if you find yourself in the Philadelphia, PA area, stop in to Cigar Mojo and tell them CigarCraig sent you, they are sure to charge you extra!  August 12th they are having a La Flor Dominicana event and Litto Gomez will be there.

 

CC_CigarSafariBlend2013Friday I just didn’t know what I wanted to smoke, so I picked out a cigar that I blended last year at Cigar Safari. For some reason I had them made in a 6 x 54 size with a San Andrés wrapper, Cameroon binder and a mix of Nicaraguan and Brazilian fillers.  I think this is a tasty smoke, although I still think it has too much going on flavor-wise. I should have used a more neutral binder I think. It’s out of balance with the sweetness of the San Andrés and the Cameroon fighting a little.  As always, the construction was perfect as they have these rolled by the Liga Privada pairs.  I have a few of each of the cigar that I’ve blended over the last few years left, it’s interesting to see how they age.

 

BCP_Eterno_RobustoSaturday I took an afternoon walk with a cigar that the folks at Best Cigar Prices sent a few months back. I has smoked a few and I didn’t have very good luck with them so I decided to hold off on mentioning them here. I think they were over humidified, so a couple months in the humidor were beneficial. the Eterno Maduro is made for BCP by Perdomo. It comes in Connecticut shade and Maduro, and I was pretty pleased when they sent the maduro to try. I don’t know where this wrapper comes from, but I don’t think it’s Connecticut Broadleaf, San Andrés, or even Brazilian, my guess would be a Nicaraguan Habano variety.  It started out very strong an

d spicy, and was quite enjoyable. A little bit of age did wonders, as I found this to be quite enjoyable. These are reasonably priced and quite tasty.

 

Villiger_Trill_TorpGordoSaturday evening I took another short walk with a short cigar, the new Villiger Trill in the Torpedo Gordo size.  This is a 4″ x 62 topedo with a Habano wrapper grown in the Dominican Republic. It’s a Dominican puro, but has a lot of flavor and certainly isn’t mild.  The size is fun, it’s not really a short smoke as it took me well over an hour to finish it off. Thanks to Robyn, our local Villiger rep for providing a sample. Visiting with the folks at Villiger is always a highlight of my IPCPR trips, they are one of the stops I missed most by not going.  Villiger still ha

sn’t updated their website with information about their new lines, but Cigar-Coop and Halfwheel have the information.

 

That’s it for now. We’re going out house shopping today, hopefully we come home with one!  The FDA comment period is soon going to be over, so make sure you’ve voiced your opinion!  If the FDA has their way, events like the one I went to at Cigar Mojo will be a memory, and Mojo’s beautiful and well stocked humidor will be off limits to all but the staff. The future is bleak for premium cigars if the FDA regulates them, so don’t let that happen. It’ll get real boring when I’m talking about the same cigars every week because there’s nothing new ever. I was amazed to hear reports from IPCPR that the seminar they had on the FDA regulation was sparsely attended, are the retailers so rich that they can afford to go out of business? I doubt it. The retailers need to educate their customers about this and time is running out. Go HERE and follow their lead.

 

Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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by | July 30, 2014 · 9:30 pm

Royal Gold Nirvana, Villiger Caberete and Nat Sherman Timeless Cigars

Sunday was an absolutely beautiful day so, after doing a little yardwork, I alternated between smoking cigars in my chair in the yard and smoking cigars in the pool.  We’ll be moving soon, so whether we’ll have a pool in the future is quite uncertain, so I’m trying to take advantage of the pool as much as possible.  I started the day with an old La Gloria Cubana Artesanos Retro Especialé Cubano from a box that came back with me from the DR in 2011.  These have aged nicely.  When that was done, I found a Merlion Robusto from La Sirena. I figured the aquatic theme would fit in with my day. I’ve had this robusto since at least a year ago and age has been Royal Gold_Nirvana_Robustokind to this cigar made in the La Aurora factory. Both were on the smooth and mild side, which was nice on a hot day.  After dinner I grabbed a new-to-me cigar that came out after last years IPCPR show.  Royal Gold is the premium cigar division of Swisher International, and I talked to Alex Goldman, the president of the division at the Cigarnival a month or so ago.  The Nirvana is made by Drew Estate and has an African Cameroon wrapper. It had the construction you’d expect from a Drew Estate cigar, and had a nice flavor with that Camerooniness that I love.  It was sweet tobacco all the wa

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y through and was quite tasty.  I have examples of their other lines, the Kismet and Casino Gold which I’ll get to in the coming weeks.  Based on the Nirvana, I’m impressed.

 

Monday morning I got to work and there was no power, the previou

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s nights storms had taken down a couple poles, so we did what we could and got out of there early.  I came home and took a nap, then grabbed a cigar for my evening walk with the dog.  I’ve been a fan of Villiger Cigars for a while, and I came across a new cigar from them called Caberete Maduro. This jet black, box pressed cigar looked like one I’d enjoy, and is made at the Tabacalera Palma factory. This factory has been producing lines like Aging Room, Señorial, etc, and is one of the hottest factories in the Dominican Republic right now.  The cigar was quite enjoyable, medium bodied, with a strong coffee/cocoa flavor. It burned admirable and gave me a very nice smoking experience.   The cigar I smoked was the Toro Largo size at 6″ x 54 and had a severe box press.  I look forward to smoking more of these. More information about this can be found here, as Villiger’s site has yet to updated with the latest information.

 

NatSherman_Timeless No2Tuesday I grabbed a cigar that had been gifted to me by a work associate, the Nat Sherman Timeless No. 2.  I have no excuse for not having sampled this line before. Back in the eighties I smoked Nat Sherman MCD cigarettes for a while. They were gool because they were brown, and they were all tobacco so they went out if you didn’t pay attention.  Totally irrelevant to this story, but I used to get their catalogs at the time.  It may have had a little to do with my cigar fascination.  Anyway, this is a nice torpedo shaped cigar, a classic 6¼” x 52, made in the Dominican Republic with a Honduran wrapper and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers.  I don’t have sophisticated tastebuds, so I was surprised when I got cinnamon. Is wasn’t cinnamon stick as much as a hard cinnamon candy.  I really enjoyed the flavors of this cigar and I’m sorry I haven’t smoked this line before. I’ll have to try some more, as well as the Nicaraguan line.  What an interesting and tasty smoke.

 

That’s about it.  We’re running out of time to comment publicly on the FDA Deeming Document. Go HERE and tell the FDA that regulating premium cigars will devastate not only local economies and put people out work, as well as hurting economies internationally.  It’s important, and I can’t wait to stop talking about it!

 

Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

 

You might also like:

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http://www.cigarcraig.com/?s=Merlion

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