Category Archives: Review

by | September 9, 2012 · 6:41 pm

IPCPR 2012 – 262 Revere and Paradigm Cigars

I’ve been in the process of moving my family and this weekend was the weekend we chose to rent a truck and move the big stuff.  Long story short, I reserved a 16′ rental truck and they substituted a 24′ diesel for the same price.  Good deal, you say?  I had envisioned backing into my driveway and running everything up a ramp onto a low deck, with this 24′ truck I had to park on the street and use a lift gate.  It’s a wonder I didn’t need a CDL to drive this thing, and I had to go about 5 miles out of my way to get to the house because of the height!  It all worked out in the end and we got all the big stuff moved.  I’m a lot older than I was the last time I moved a piano and all that furniture and we have a lot more stuff yet to move.  Anyway, enough of my complaining, on with the show.

 

Thursday evening I decided to try the new 262 Cigars Revere that I was given by Clint Aaron at the show.  This is a new cigar that’s due out this fall and is a Nicaraguan Puro.  I really enjoyed this cigar, it burned well and had a decent draw. I can see that some age will benefit this cigar and look forward to smoking it again when it comes out.  It has a little bit of sw

eetness from the Jalapa wrapper and was pretty full bodied.  Nice cigar.

 

Today (actually, as I type) after a physically difficult weekend, I lit up a little 262 Paradigm.  This was a short robusto, about 4 x 50ish. I have been late to the party with the 262 lines, this is the first occasion I’ve had to sample them.  Obviously I’ve been missing out, these are fine cigars.  The little Paradigm is tasty and well behaved.  I almost grabbed the Ideology corona, but I needed something with some horsepower.  If I had the opportunity this morning for a cigar I think I would have enjoyed the Ideology wit

h coffee.  This Paradigm is nice and I won’t make the mistake of not smoking these again. Quite satisfying and relaxing.

 

Here is a video I shot with Clint at the IPCPR show telling us about his new lines.  I had a string of interviewing very tall people when I did this one, so I made sure we talked sitting down so I didn’t feel so short (and I’m 6′ tall)!  The folks at 262 are doing it right, hunt down their cigars and try them if you haven’t already.

 

 

That’s all I have for now, it’s time to collapse.  Next Saturday I’ll be attending the Delaware Cigar Festival, so stay tuned for news from that excellent event.

 

CigarCraig

 

 

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by | September 5, 2012 · 6:28 pm

IPCPR 2012 – A Pair of CLE Cigars and Christian Eiroa

Monday was a rainy Labor Day, which is a little depressing for me. I love summer and the end of the season makes me sad. I don’t look forward to autumn or winter very much. Of course the rain didn’t help matters, as my lovely wife and I had tickets to see some dude named Springsteen at Citizens Bank Park in Philly and concerts are less fun when you’re wet. So while we were hanging around waiting to head out, I decided to chose between a cigar and a nap, and the cigar won. I selected a CLE Corojo corona as I hadn’t yet tried Christian Eiroa’s new cigars. I brought these back from Orlando with me, but it’s not what you think, I purchased them at one of the Corona Cigar Co. locations we visited.  I purchased a couple coronas, which are a corona gorda size at 5½ x 46, one of my favorite sizes, and they were reasonably priced at under $6 a stick. If you try the CLE cigars expecting a Camacho, that’s not what you’re in for. This cigar was quite nice, medium bodied with a nice flavor, except for a mineral flavor that didn’t really hit my palate right. Still, perfect construction and burn, and savory flavor. I suspect that flinty mineral flavor could age out after a few months in the humidor. I have another one that I’ll use to test that theory.

 

The Springsteen show was great, fears of wetness were unfounded as our seats were covered and I had bought 2 ponchos in the parking lot for $5 (cheap insurance!). He put on a heck of a show of  well over 3 hours, hitting all the old favorites as well as some new material. Of course, no smoking in the venue, but I did get a waft of a familiar aroma at one point that reminded me of concerts in the 80s. Funny, if I lit up a cigar I’d get tossed out on my ear, but the stoners are free to enjoy their smoke! I’m 49 and I think I fell somewhere in the middle of the demographic at the show, which I though was funny. This isn’t a concert review blog, so I’ll move on. Tuesday I took my traditional evening walk with a CLE Cuarenta corona. This cigar was an IPCPR trade show sample.  The Cuarenta was Christian’s 40th birthday cigar (young punk!), and it has a Habano wrapper and is a little bit lighter than it’s Corojo sibling. Oddly, I got the same mineral notes in this cigar that I taste in the Corojo. Obviously they share a component. Flinty taste aside, it was still a flavorful smoke and, like the Corojo, worth seeking out and sampling. As I alluded to earlier, I had a chance to sit down with Christian at the show and recorded this video with him talking about all his new ventures.

 

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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by | September 2, 2012 · 8:48 am

IPCPR 2012 – A La Sirena Merlion and Someone Wins Some Cigars!

Friday evening, the start of a holiday weekend, the (sigh) end of summer, all good reasons to spark up a good cigar.  One of the cigars I’ve really been looking forward to smoking from the IPCPR show is the Merlion from La Sirena and Miami Cigar and Co.  The sample I smoked was the Toro size, measuring 5½” x 54, which is a nice size for a late summer evening.  The cigars are made at the La Aurora factory with Ecuadoran Corojo wrapper, a Brazilian Sumatra binder and Dominican Corojo, Dominican Criollo, Nicaraguan ligero and Brazilian Mata Fina fillers.  It’s a very nice cigar.  I could certainly taste the influence of the La Aurora factory in the blend,

there’s a signature flavor that I’m familiar with that stands out.  It performed perfectly and was a nice, satisfying smoke. Another winner from Arielle Ditkowich and the folks at Miami Cigar and Co.  Arielle took a few moments to talk to me at the show, here’s the video.

 

 

Thank you, Arielle, for being one of my first few interviews at the show. Keep making tasty smokes!

 

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Contest

 

I know, nobody is interested in video of me talking to a lovely lady about cigars, you just want to know who won this weeks contest!  I was pretty amazed by the response, especially considering I was pretty vague about what the prize was (and I’m sorry, there will not be a Taboada in the prize pack! I had one and that was it).  What is in the package is a pair of Tortuga LE 2011 torpedoes from Victor Vitale, along with a selection of General Cigar Co. goodies, including some new releases and special cigars that are only available at special events. I also threw in a few favorites from my humidors.  As usual, I’ve consulted with the Random Number Generator at Random.org which has produced the number 15, which corresponds to Christian Logay by my figuring.  Congrats Christian!  Please send me your contact info so I can get this in the mail to you!   Again, thanks to everyone for reading along and making the last 3 years very special for me.

 

That’s it for now!  Have a great Labor Day weekend.

 

CigarCraig

 

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by | August 29, 2012 · 10:29 pm

Wednesday Cigar Post: a Pre-Release Sample, a Custom Cuban? and a Contest!

For my usual Tuesday night walk last night I selected a re-release sample that Victor Vitale had sent me a few weeks ago, labeled Pre-release L.E. 2012. I must assume that this cigar fits into the Tortuga line, which is cool because I’ve really enjoyed the other cigars I’ve smoked in the line, especially the 1950 Maduro. This particular robusto was very tasty and had a perfect draw. Victor is producing v

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ery nice cigars lately. I know I didn’t quite “get” the ORTSAC line (the San Andreas is tasty), but the Tortugas really hit the spot for me, and the L.E. 2012 will be one to keep an eye out for!

 

Today officially marks the 3rd anniversary of CigarCraig.com. My wife gave me the domain for my 46th birthday, so do the math and draw your own conclusions! What began as an idea for a website with a blog has morphed into a blog with far more readers than I ever anticipated. Thanks to everyone who chooses to waste their valuable time reading along! I’m truly humbled. Anyway, in honor of this auspicious occasion, I selected a special cigar from the humidor, a Taboada custom rolled cigar that was a recent gift from my friend George who I had the pleasure of hanging out with in Orlando. I really wanted to smoke this when he gave it to me, and I know he did too, but I had such a bad cold I knew it wouldn’t taste right. This cigar was rolled by retired Cuban roller Rodolfo Taboada Campa, and is a 6½” x 52ish toro with a shaggy, unfinished foot. The cigar lit easily and burned perfectly.  I understand that Taboada uses the entubado method of rolling, hence the perfect draw from start to finish.  I found myself a little perplexed by the flavor.  It was exceptional, don’t get me wrong, I was just expecting a more Cuban experience.  I didn’t perceive any of what I normally expect in Cuban tobacco, it lacked that “twang”, but it was smooth and loaded with flavor. Maybe it was a blend, I don’t know. (*Note – a very reliable source tells me that these are 100% finest Cuban tobacco rolled in Havana by the master.  My only conclusion is that the tobacco must be processed much better than regular production to produce such smooth and wonderful flavor!)     It was the ideal cigar to celebrate the anniversary of my birth, as well as that of CigarCraig.com. Thank you George! I am sorry I didn’t smoke this with you, but I appreciate the special gift.

 

In honor of the occasion, why not give away a handful of cigars to some lucky reader? I can scrounge up a Tortuga L.E. 2011, maybe a couple of La Gloria Cubana Artesanos de Tabaqueros, and perhaps some goodies that haven’t even hit the shelves yet. It’s hard to say what might

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fall into the baggie, but there will be at least six outstanding smokes. Leave a comment to enter and I’ll pick a winner on Sunday.  Usual rules apply.

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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by | August 22, 2012 · 8:21 pm

IPCPR 2012 – Villiger Cigars North America

Villiger’s small, machine made cigars have been a favorite of mine for many years.  The little “Export” cigars that come in boxes of five are perfect quickies and are very convenient.  Unwrapping the paper and finding a perfect little box pressed cigar is like unwrapping a chocolate bar!  Given my love for these, I was pleasantly surprised last year when Anne Dinkens at Villiger (then Villiger Stokkebye, now Villiger Cigars North America) contacted me to try some of their premium cigars.  They also were very generous in taking part in my 12 Days of Contests last December.  I was looking forward to visiting them at the IPCPR show this year, and made an appointment to speak with Roy MacLaren, the new president of the company.  Roy was generous with his time and information and I recorded an interview with him where he explains his background, as well as their new offerings.  The video appears below.

 

 

I had the opportunity to sample the two new cigars, the Talanga and the Colorado over the last could days (in truth, I’m smoking the Colorado while typing this!)  The Talanga is a tasty smoke, with a light colored Connecticut seed wrapper from Jalapa.  The cigar burned perfectly and had an equally perfect draw.  I found it to be well balanced and satisfying with interesting flavors that distinguished it from so many other cigars.   The Colorado has the same outstanding construction, but has a little less sweetness and a little more savoriness.  The Habano wrapper may have something to do with this, but it also has a double binder, one leaf of which is from the Nicaraguan island of Ometepe.  Both of these cigars have some of the Ometepe leaf in the blend, perhaps that’s what gives them that little something extra special that got my attention.  The Colorado is a very rich smoke, decadent and delicious!  Both samples were the Double Robusto size, which measure 5½” x 54, which is a nice size.

 

One thing that amused me while I was waiting to speak with Roy was talking with a couple of the European executives in the booth.  As we were talking about how tasty the Export series were to me, one of the gentlemen was saying that Havana tobacco has a distinctive flavor and was kind of doing a “wink wink, nudge nudge” sort of thing.  Now, do I believe that Villiger Exports, or any of their machine made products in the USA contain Cuban tobacco?  I don’t see how that could be done legally, but I guess is a few leaves of Havana fell into the mix, who would know?  There is something a little special about those little Exports, and I have some of the maduros that came out a few years ago to try that I haven’t gotten around to sampling yet.  Another item of note was that they added a secondary band to their La Capitana line where the original band didn’t have the name on it.  You can see my take on that cigar here.  Many thanks to Anne, Roy and the folks at Villiger for their hospitality and support.

 

That’s it for now, when you see the Villiger Talanga or Colorado in the stores, give them a try!  Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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