Category Archives: Review

by CigarCraig | June 1, 2014 · 1:54 pm

La Gloria Cubana, Padrón, Leccia Luchador and Recluse Draconian

I have to take a quick rewind to last week. I smoke two spectacular cigars leading up to Memorial Day Weekend that need to be discussed. First was a special cigar I got when I met up with Michael Giannini a few years ago at a La Gloria Cubana event at Famous Smoke Shop. This was a special La Gloria Artesanos de Tabaqueros in a 4.5 x 50 format that had a Sumatra and Connecticut broadleaf wrapper as opposed to the Ecuador Connecticut and Sumatra that’s on the production version. Boy, I love this cigar! The change from the wrappers is quite obvious, as it goes from a bit leathery to sweet when it hits the band (I took the band off, they taste bad). Wonderful little cigar that I wish were available.

Lastly, I started the weekend with an old friend, the Padrón 1964 Anniversary Maduro Exclusivo. I often wonder why I don’t smoke these more often, then I look at the price tag! I suppose in today’s cigar economy, $11 and change isn’t terrible for the quality of flavor, construction and overall experience you get. Like smoking a Hershey Special Dark candy bar. Smooth, rich and just about perfect. It’s incredible that a cigar smoked in 2014 can taste the same as one smoked in 2000. Really a brilliant cigar, classic.

So this week I actually took a few days off after smoking my brains out over the weekend. Friday I kicked off this weekend with a Leccia Tobacco Luchador El Hombre. This may be my favorite cigar of the year so far. I reviewed it on Saturday in my appearance on Kiss My Ash Radio, and mentioned that it reminded me of semisweet chocolate with jalapeño, and Abe and his crew had never had that (0r the Luchador), they don’t know what they are missing. Give the show a listen, I tried not to make a fool of myself, once again. I don’t know if it’s the Pennsylvania ligero that give it that little jalepeño pop, or what, but it’s a really interesting and entertaining cigar. Give the Luchador a try, it may not be for everyone, but it’s certainly unlike any other cigar out there. A 99 on my rating scale.

I was inspired by a segment on the Kiss My Ash show sponsored by Iconic Leaf yesterday so I grabbed a Recluse Draconian Sidewinder No. 2, a 6×57 box pressed cigar with a unique head. I gave it a squeeze and the cap popped open and I peeled it off, making a perfect opening without having to use a cutter. It’s got wha

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t they describe as a Ecuador Maduro wrapper, a proprietary binder, something called Braziago HD in the filler blend, along with Piloto Cubano, another proprietary ligero and a Dominican ligero. Whatever these tobaccos are, they sure taste great together. It’s a full flavored, upper medium bodied cigar that has a perfect draw and a fun shape. I’ve only smoked the Sidewinder sizes in this line, but I’me sure the normal vitolas are tasty too. Stay tuned for their new addition, the Connecticut wrapped Amadeus. I can’t wait to see what clever size they come up with for that one.

If you get a chance, check out my newest site sponsor, Bombay Tobak. Here’s the info about the company and their cigars:

A truly boutique cigar, MBombay, just hit the shelves of retailers in Southern California within last couple of weeks. MBombay Cigars are made in a very small factory in San Jose, Costa Rica.

In a recent interview with Mel Shah, owner of MBombay Cigars, expressed “Cigars are embedded in my memories since childhood. I can still smell the lingering mild smell of Cubans that my grandfather and my father smoked when I was a kid. After graduating college in India, my father offered me my first cigar in ’96, which he got from Dubai. I retired from IT industry in 2001, and opened a cigar shop that year in July. I enjoy retail even today, but I believe manufacturing aspect of cigars was supposed to happen. Touching, feeling and smelling of tobacco in the factory takes me right back to my grandpa’s room. I do miss him and classical music that he used to listen while smoking a fine cigar.”

Read the rest HERE

It’s a beautiful Sunday and I’m done most of my chores for the day,

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so it’s time to pick out something nice and sit and relax out in the yard for a while.Until the next time,

CigarCraig

5 Comments

Filed under News, Review

by CigarCraig | May 28, 2014 · 8:42 pm

On The Water With Compounds, Elements and Musings H2O Cigars

We had a really beautiful Memorial Day weekend here in South-East PA, so we did some fun stuff.

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Sunday my wife and I took a ride out to Valley Forge National Park and walked around for a few hours, giving me time to enjoy a couple robustos, a Perdomo 10th Anniversary Maduro and an Illusione Rothschild, both really good smokes, and, surprisingly, not a comment or sideways glance from any of the people we passed. I expected someone to make a snide remark, but I was left along to enjoy my walk and smokes. I smoked a nice Rocky Patel Olde World Maduro Lancero after dinner to top off the day. I don’t smoke a lot of Rocky Patel cigars, but I enjoy this one. The burn and draw were good and it had a nice flavor.

Monday we decided to take a family trip to Cape May, NJ for lunch via Lewes, DE. There’s a ferry that runs regularly from Lewes to Cape May, and we thought it would be fun to spend some time out on the water on a beautiful day. Of course, I formulated a cigar plan. Since I had just picked up a set of the Foundry Compounds, Elements and Musings H2O cigars on Saturday, it seemed appropriate that these be smoked on the water. The H, 2 and O are small perfectos, 4″ x 48ish, closely resembling the iconic Arturo Fuente Hemingway Short Story, or the more obscure El Titan de Bronze Hemingway. They come in a box of thirty-six, with twelve cigars in each blend. Consistent with the rest of the line, which I’ve been doing my best to find and sample, there is little information about the wrapper, binder and fillers. Sadly, these were on a buy one/get one free table, and I’ll have to get back to that shop and pick up some more!

Being that I have borderline CDO (that’s OCD in alphabetical order like it should be), I started with the “H”. The “H” had a chocolate brown, almost rosado wrapper. This was my first cigar of the day, before lunch even, and was very tasty. I quite enjoyed the sweet and leathery flavor. The cigar was perfectly formed, easy to light, and burned well. It had a little bit of a tunnel issue about half way thorough, but re-lit well and wasn’t a problem. Obviously, being out at sea, it was a bit windy, which may have been a contributing factor. We saw a bunch of dolphins frolicking, which was pretty cool. This is a cigar I’d like to have a few more of. It had a very nice, unique flavor.

We drove into the town of Cape May, NJ for lunch, and settled on a little place called Angelo’s Restaurant, which used to be Beach House. It was right on the beach so we sat in the covered outside deck area and had fish and chips (my son had a pizza burger, has to be different!). We did a little shopping and headed back to the ferry terminal. The trip back was a lot windier than the trip over, but I was undeterred. I lit up the “2” cigar for the ride. This one had a dark chocolate colored maduro wrapper. It also had the semi-sweet chocolate flavor to go along with it. This turned out to be my favorite of the trio, with the “H” being a close second. It also had the same burn problem, tunneling about half way through, but, again, I attribute that to the wind. I saw a couple dolphins again, a treat for me as I had never seen them in the wild before. They seemed to be having fun.

Who would have thought there’d be traffic from the shore inland on the last day of a holiday weekend? It took us three hours to get home when it only took two hours to get there with no traffic. By the time we got home I was ready to sit out on the deck with the “O” cigar and relax. This cigar had the lightest wrapper of the bunch, but only slightly lighter than the “H”. It had finer veins and was very nice looking. This cigar burned perfectly and didn’t have the tunneling problem I had with the other two, although the conditions were far more conducive to relaxing with a smoke. I found it to be a dry smoke, not quite as rich in flavor as the previous two. This was my least favorite, although still quite good. As I said, I’ll have to try to get some more of these, at $2.50 a piece they were a bargain. It’s too bad the shop is 50 minutes away or I’d grab some more.

I amused myself (and probably annoyed others) by taking some video documenting this trip and the cigars smoked.

httpv://youtu.be/mW9esQNkEtA

Of the Compounds, Elements and Musings line, this selection is a limited release, so I imagine t

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hey will be hard to find. I know they sold out at last years IPCPR show. There’s a few in the line that are regular production, the Carbon and Uranium. I really liked the Carbon, and I haven’t smoked the Uranium yet because it’s 7″ x 70, but I do have one in the humidor. These are fun t

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o try because they aren’t really very expensive, and they use some very unique tobaccos and have flavors that you don’t get in other cigars. Of course, the packaging is over the top and pretty neat. You’ll recall I bought a box of the Vanadium because of the V shaped box, which sits on the top of the bookcase, good thing I enjoy the cigars!

Contest

You may recall we had another contest in the last post, that was two in a row! Far from my record of 13, but not bad having two in a row. We had 55 entries….no, wait, 54, Brian Impson left two, but I only count him as one. It makes things a little harder for me, but I’ll figure it out. I consulted Random.org once again, and it gave me the number 17. Steve McHenry, please send me your address so I can ship this stuff out to you. Stay tuned for more contests coming up!

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

CigarCraig

7 Comments

Filed under Contest, Review, Trip Report

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Compounds Elements and Musings, Contest, Foundry, H2O

by CigarCraig | May 25, 2014 · 11:21 am

CAO Flathead Tour with Ricky Rodriquez, a Contest Winner and ANOTHER CONTEST!

Yesterday I took a drive out to Colmar, PA to the Cigar Cigars store for a CAO Flathead event with Ricky Rodriguez. I got there a few minutes after the event was supposed to start, so I took a look around he expansive humidor. They’ve rearranged the store since my last visit, moving the counter to the front and making a larger public lounge area. I had mixed emotions about what I saw on the buy one/get one table. On the one hand, I was sad to see cigars like the Leccia Black and White, some EPC and the Compounds, Elements and Musings, on the other hand I got a deal on some cigars I wanted to try. I picked up the H, 2, and O and a Titanium torpedo in an effort to sample the entire line. I also picked up a CAO Brazilia Gol to get my day started, I’ll get some Flatheads when they arrive.
I settled in with the CAO Brazilia Gol, I have always enjoyed this blend, especially in the 5″x 56 size. The Brazilian wrapper is dark and oily, and it has a unique, exotic spice flavor that I enjoy. The burn was perfect, which I take as a sign that this establishment maintains their humidor properly. I got nearly half way throug

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h the cigar by the time Ricky and Gary arrived. I first met Ricky when he was on Team La Gloria a few years ago (I smoked an Artsanos de Tabaqueros last week that was incredible), and had the privilege of spending time with him in the Dominican Republic on the trip in 2011. Rick runs the CAO operations now, and studied at the feet of Benji Menendez.

After catching up with Ricky for a bit, I was ready for another cigar, so I made my second purchase of the day, a handful of CAO Flatheads, including the ginormous Big Block, a square pressed 7″x70. On the other end of the spectrum is the new Spark Plug, at 4″x 50, which was my next cigar. I also picked up a Heatwave for future smoking and a Area 9 sampler. The Sparkplug has the same square press and flat cap as the rest of the line, but has a closed foot. It’s a tasty little powerhouse, and smoked much longer that it’s 4 inch length would suggest. I always thought the wrapper on these lines was maduro, but Rick explained that while it is a dark wrapper, they don’t call it maduro because it’s a lower priming Connecticut Broadleaf than can be used for maduro. It’s carefully processed to the dark color. Call it what you want, it both tasty and visually appealing!

Here’s a video with Ricky ‘splaining the newest offerings from CAO. Thanks to Vince from The Cigar Lounger Magazine for doing the camera work for me!

httpv://youtu.be/-cbKxOEVDHs

Ricky went on to give a presentation of how cigars come to be, a seed to smoke kind of thing that wasn’t brand specific or propaganda of any sort. He covered the planting, curing, fermenting, sorting, rolling, quality control and packaging very nicely. If you can manage to catch him on this tour, you won’t regret it. He’s got some great stories (ask him about Philly cheesesteaks!) And is an all around fun guy to hang out with, and his cigars are pretty good too. I enjoyed the afternoon at Cigar Cigars (I sure wish they’d have more events at the three stores within ten miles of home as opposed to having to drive almost an hour!), it was great seeing old friends.

Contests

It’s Sunday, so it’s time to select a winner for this week’s contest. You will recall that I pulled a selection of cigars from my humidor, some I purchased, some were leftover samples, but all are ta

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sty smokes that I’ve enjoyed. I will add a La Gloria Cubana of some sort to the mix, as well as a CAO Flathead Sparkplug, bringing the total to something like 17 cigars. According to the random number generator at Random.org, the winner is number 36, which works out to be foozer6976. Congrats! Please send your address so I can get your goodies to you.

But wait!

I’ve gone contest crazy again! I ended up with some goodies from my escapades yesterday, so I’m going to have ANOTHER CONTEST (actually another series of contests! Stay tuned)! I’ve got a metal CAO Flathead sign,a pair of CAO Flathead Sparkplug cigars, and a CAO Area 9 sampler. Ricky explains the Area 9 in the video, but for those who didn’t watch, there are six cigars that are coded, and all of them are from the pre-General Cigar Co. CAO era. The cigars are anywhere from five to twenty years old. There could be original Anniversary Series from the Costa Rica days, up to La Traviatas. By the second week in June we should be able to visit CAOCigars.com, enter the code on the band and find out what the cigar is!

So leave a comment to enter and I’ll pick a winner on Wednesday. Thanks to Gary and Ricky for enabling me!

That’s all for now! Happy Memorial Day. Remember those who’ve given their lives so that we have the freedom to enjoy a fine cigar. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

55 Comments

Filed under Contest, Events, Review, Stores

Tagged as CAO, cigar, cigars, Contest

by CigarCraig | May 21, 2014 · 9:21 pm

A Sindicato, a Dunhill, a Debonaire and a Cigar Contest

I finally got around to putting some contest goodies together. Some of the cigars were some spare samples, and some were ones I bought and enjoy quite a bit. More on that at the end of the post, maybe folks will read to the end, some may scroll down. If you scroll down, you might miss reading about some of the cigars I’ve smoked so far this week.

Monday evening I picked out a new cigar from Sindicato Cigars. These guys are a little different than other manufactures. Jim Colucci is the president of the company, and he comes from many years at the helm of Altadis, probably the largest cigar company on the planet. The company is made up of a bunch of retailers across the country, so they have a unique perspective of what sells in tobacco shops and what consumers want. Last year they came out with the Hex and Affinity, along with the very inexpensive Casa Bella. I’ve smoked all three and they are very nice smokes. This latest offering, the Sindicato, is at the high end of the price range, running from $10.95 to $13.95 and are made by the folks at Casa Fernandez with Aganorsa tobacco. I smoked the Corona Gorda, a 5½” x 48 cigar with a nice pigtail and partially closed foot. I really enjoyed this cigar, it was lush and meaty and loaded with delicious tobacco flavor. It burned perfectly and was a very satisfying smoke. Thanks to Yoffy for sending these along.

Tuesday I selected another new cigar, this one from General Cigar Co. This is the Dunhill 1907 Box Pressed Toro, measuring 6″ x 54 with a Honduran Olancho wrapper. The wrapper is wrapper mottled, not at all what I expected from a Dunhill, as they are generally beautiful cigars. The rest of the cigar is Dominican and Brazilian Mata Fina. It was a nice smoke, although I think a few more months in the humidor will benefit it. I received two, so I’ll revisit it in a few months. It was medium bodied, and had a nice flavor, reminiscent of the CAO OSA Sol, which has a similar wrapper (although I think the OSA Sol’s wrapper was prettier). It had similar bright tobacco sweetness that I enjoy from time to time. This was a nice smoke, I look forward to smoking it again after a long rest in the humidor.

Tonight I smoked a Debonaire Sagita petite

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lancero. The reason I grabbed this one is a little less than debonair, I’m afraid. Phil Zanghi is the man behind the brand. He developed the Indian Tabac line back in the ’90s and sold it to Rocky Patel. I’ve heard him on at least two podcasts describe this cigar as a 5½ x 48, which I knew was wrong. It’s a 38 ring gauge (I measured it), although I would have loved this in a corona gorda size. This is an ultra premium cigar, it even states it on the band. Another feature of the band was on the inside, where it has the box date, which was July of 2013 (this was an IPCPR show sample). The blend isn’t listed specifically, but they use high priming, excellent quality tobaccos, and are rolled with great care. The cigar was exceptional, it was meaty, like prime rib, and burned perfectly. It had a nice little pigtail cap too. I put a very small nub in the ashtray when I was done. I would almost say this would be worth the nearly $10 price tag, if I wasn’t such a cheap SOB. Worth trying if you have the opportunity.

Contest

OK, it’s been over 5 months since I had a contest. Sorry about that, but after the December contests I guess I got a little burned out. So here is the prize.

There are 15 cigars, including some special cigars from La Sirena (including a Merlion Sea Lion and a La Sirena Dubloon, which are very limited), a couple Alec Bradleys, a couple of the New Partagas 1845 offerings, and some of the house brands from Best Cigar Prices. There’s a few other cigars in there that I enjoy too. Also a CAO cap (had to include a CAO concert to go with along with it), a Nomad S-307 and a Foundr

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y Compounds, Elements and Musings Vanadium from the box I bought a few months ago. There’s a nice La Gloria Cubana tube too (now I have to find a La Gloria to throw in). A little something for everyone, I can’t imagine anyone complaining. So leave a comment to enter. Feel free to Tweet and share, but only the comments on this post will count. Good luck, and I’ll select a winner on Sunday!

That’s it, until the next time,

CigarCraig

47 Comments

Filed under Contest, Review

Tagged as Alec Bradley, Best Cigar Prices, CAO, cigar, cigars, Contest, Debonaire, Dunhill, general cigars, La Sirena, Sindicato

by CigarCraig | May 18, 2014 · 5:27 pm

Lancero Weekend! Herrera Esteli and 1502 Cigars

I decided this weekend would be Lancero weekend, as I recently accumulated several samples in that format. This is a size that everyone seems to want, but retailers say it doesn’t sell, so manufacturers don’t want to make a bunch. I guess that’s why they are usually released as special or limited editions. I like the size, and I have a bunch of them in the humidors. It’s an elegant size, and I really haven’t had the burn problems that they used to have years ago.

Friday evening I picked the new lancero from Drew Estate, the Herrera Esteli. This one was a little shorter than the traditional 7½” x 38 size, I want to say it was around 6¾” which is fine. I really like this line, and Willy Herrera was just promoted to head blender at Drew Estate, which is well deserved. Some of the best Herrera Estelis I’ve had were first thing in the morning at the Drew Estate factory, and the lonsdale was my favorite of the bunch. The line has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, Honduran binder and Nicaraguan fillers. Will spent a year working on this and really did a great job. I think the lancero just replaced the lonsdale as my favorite. It was really nicely balanced, loaded with flavor and just really good. Thank you to John Brooke for sending this. It’s a dynamite smoke.

Saturday I decided to try tackling the new box pressed lanceros in the 1502 Cigars line. These were included in with a bunch of goodies the Gary Griffith of The House Of Emilio sent me recently. I really love the 1502 line, the Black Gold being my favorite, but all three are exceptional. I started with the Ruby, which has an Ecuador Habano wrapper. The Ruby falls in the middle of the strength range of the line, and I decided to start with that as opposed to the Emerald since it was after lunch and I wasn’t ready for a milder cigar. This is a flavorful smoke that burned very well. When you light your first 1502 you find that the foot has the wrapper leaf folded over the end. It’s not fully enclosing the foot, but just framing the filler tobacco. This gives you a little extra blast of wrapper flavor upon lighting. This is a really great cigar that’s loaded with rich flavor.

It was such a nice afternoon and I was not quite through sitting outside when I finished the Ruby, so I decided to light up the 1502 Black Gold Box Pressed Lancero. Like the others, this is a 7″ x 38 box pressed cigar with the partially wrapped foot. It lit easily and smoked well. It’s a little bolder than the Ruby, and has the signature flavor of the Mexican San Andrés wrapper. It followed the Ruby nicely, making a natural strength progression from medium to strong. I liken this cigar to semisweet chocolate with a little jalapeño pepper in it, which I don;t get to enjoy frequently enough! I was left with a feeling of satisfaction after finishing this, it was my last cigar of the day. One complaint I had was that the ash fell on it’s own, twice falling into my lap. It’s quite fortunate I was wearing pants at the time.

Today, after spending the early part of the day doing yard work, which partially consisted of disassembling a large brick patio, I decided to finish the trifecta of 1502 cigars with the Emerald. This is considered the mildest of the three, but it’s not that mild a cigar. Enrique, the creator of the 1502 line, calls this Fina Fuerte , or Fine Strong. This is listed as a 7″ x 40, but I can’t say I noticed a difference, nor did I look for one. I may have enjoyed this the most out of the three in this vitola, where as in the toro size I like the Black Gold the best, and the Emerald a close third. There was a nice hint of sweetness, and it held an ash a bit better than it’s siblings (it got a little chilly, so, again, I was wearing pants). Again, Enrique killed it with the lancero format! These are brilliant cigars, if you like lanceros, and you like cigars, you should like these. Thanks to Gary for sharing these with me and helping make my Lancero Weekend a success. While I enjoy lanceros, I wouldn’t want to smoke them all the time. I enjoy the smoother, rounder flavors that I get from a larger ring cigar.

I am still working on that contest, I’ll try to have something together this week. I’ve been lazy about scouring the humidors for cigars to include. I probably have enough set aside, but sometimes enough isn’t enough, know what I mean? Don’t forget about the FDA nonsense, if you haven’t left your comment, click on the blinky CRA graphic in the top right of the sidebar and make your feelings known in an educated and reasoned manner. Until the next time,

CigarCraig