Category Archives: Review

All Saints Dedicación Cigars

Thursday evening I went to Cigar Mojo in King of Prussia, PA where they were having a cigar event revolving around the Masters. There was chipping and putting involved in a tournament with brackets and everything. The winner received a bottle of booze and a box of cigars. This was all sponsored by All Saints Cigars, and Mickey Pegg was there for the event. The cost of the event was $25 which included two cigars and food, but I decided instead to buy a bunch more cigars and pass on the food., I showed up two hours late anyway and had no intention of participating in the event really anyway, apart from smoking the featured cigars and meeting Mickey finally. It’s been months that we’ve been trying to connect. Of course, the several months that I was unemployed and had tons of time on my hands would have been ideal, but but there is this pandemic going on limiting contact and stores being open and all. Now that I am gainfully employed, my time is limited, and we still have the limitations of the pandemic. Fortunately, Cigar Mojo has a large outdoor area, and a large enough lounge and is responsible about occupancy and masks and cleanliness. I felt like it was a good opportunity to venture out. I bought a selection of All Saints Dedicación cigars, along with a couple other new cigars and went and met Mickey.

 

I smoked the 6” x 60 “Huge” while there. The Dedicación has a San Andrés wrapper, which does not appear to be fermented to a Maduro to me, and Nicaraguan binder and filler. I also bought some of the 6 1/2 x 52 Commandant and Mickey hooked me up with a 5 1/2 x 50 Berkey. the later of the two being box pressed. I’m not going to break each one down individually, the Huge was smoked at an event while I was talking and distracted, but it was a really nice smoke. I smoked the Commandant on Friday. It smoked well and had flavors similar to the Huge, which were earthy for the most part. I found the Berkey to be the best of the three. It had a spice and sweetness that the other two didn’t seem to have. I also felt like the larger two burned faster than I would like, I think the smoking time on the smaller Berkey was darned near the same as the larger two. If I recall, Mickey said that the 6” x 60 would be the outlier flavor wise, I suppose I’ll give them all some humidor time and revisit them at a future date. I certainly won’t hesitate to buy more of this brand though, either front mark, the Dedicación of Solamente, both are excellent. Both are made at Rocky Patel’s Nicaraguan factory, but they are blended by Mickey Pegg. I wrote about his backstory in my Solamente post on September 30.

 

Reader’s Poll!

 

Instead of me selecting a cigar of the year this year, I thought I’d do something different. Let’s have a CigarCraig’s 2020 Reader’s Poll! E-mail me at craig@cigarcraig.com with your choice for the 2020 cigar of the year. I’ll compile the results and post them on December 31. Please be as specific as possible. It’ll be fun!

 

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

CigarCraig

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HVC Black Friday 2020 Cigar

Sunday I took a little ride out to Havertown, PA to visit my favorite daughter, I am allowed to say that because I only have one daughter. She also has my favorite granddaughters, and I like to see them from time to time.  Ironically, they live very close to the Wooden Indian, so I stopped by with the intention of picking up a few new to m

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e cigars to

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smoke. The Wooden Indian is still operating under COVID restrictions, not government mandated, but out of concern for safety of employees and patrons. As Dave Mayer, the owner, will point out, the humidor provides a nice environment for a virus to live, so he doesn’t want people wandering in and out. Their lounge is open to their members, with a separate entrance, but the store is closed to the public. I pulled up and called. I had an idea what I was looking for, but they didn’t have the first couple selections I asked for yet, and I goofed when I asked for the All Saints, I wanted the Dedicación, and asked for the Solamente, which I had already smoked. Not that I was too disappointed, the Solamente is a great smoke, and I didn’t mind having a few more in the humidor. It’s a problem I plan to correct tomorrow night. Anyway, Deanna, who was working in the shop, ran through some of the new arrivals for me and mentioned the HVC Black Friday which was one I had wanted to try, so I picked up a few of those. Deanna took great care of me over the phone. She was very knowledgeable, and delivered my cigars to the door to me quickly. In the future, I’ll go on their website and make my shopping list.

 

I haven’t smoked anything from HVC yet, and I remember seeing HVC at the TPE show, but, for whatever reason, I failed to meet Lorenzo. It seems to me that his area was busy whenever I wandered by. I’ve been hearing a lot about the brand,

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and I’ve been hearing a lot about the Black Friday. To my

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surprise, the HVC Black Friday has been an ongoing limited edition, going back to 2015! I’ve been somehow missing out on this brand. This years cigar is a corona gorda, 5 5/8″ x 46, an excellent size. From what I can tell it has a Habano wrapper, double binder consisting of Corojo and Criollo and Nicaraguan fillers from Jalapa, including Ligero from Aganorsa’s farm. This is a strong cigar! It starts off with a load of pepper, and smoothes out a little but not much. It has some sweetness, be remains a powerhouse throughout. I really enjoyed this cigar! I didn’t really look at the price, but some post sale research shows these in the $7.50 range, which is quite a deal. United Cigar is offering a Black Friday Firecracker, which sounds really interesting, but I don’t know if a stronger version is really necessary! I’ll try to get my hands on some, as I like sampling the Firecrackers, but I can imagine it’ll live up to the Firecracker name. I couldn’t wait until the day after Thanksgiving to smoke the Black Friday, and I’m not sure if the other one I have will make it another couple weeks! Great cigar, and now I need to find some more HVC cigars to sample. 

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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Tabernacle Lancero, La Palina Pasha and El Titan de Bronze Redemption Maduro Cigars

My wife gave me a great idea for the end of the year which involves the cigar of the year and a contest, but I’m going to save that for Wednesday’s post. Today I want to talk about a few cigars that treated me right this week! the first of which was a Tabernacle Lancero from Foundation Cigar Co.. This was an older example, easily a few years old, probably from the initial run. I likely bought this at an event with Nick at the Wooden Indian. I also have an El Güegüense Lancero from the same event. It’s funny that the Tabernacle Lancero is 7” x 40 while the El Güegüense Lancero is 7 ½” x 40. I guess one factory has one mold and one has another. Neither, by the way, are 38 ring gauge, a slight nit to pic. The Tabernacle is Broadleaf wrapped, San Andrès bound, and Esteli Jalapa/Jamastran filled, and is delicious. I think the larger ring cigars in this line are richer, of course, but the Lancero is special. When smoke

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d slowly, as one needs to do with small ring cigars, the combination of sweetness, spice and earth really makes for a great tasting smoke. It may actually have been my last Tabernacle, a situation I soon need to remedy.

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Yesterday was an uncharacteristically warm November day, so I took a walk with a La Palina Family Series Miami Pasha. I don’t think this is even part of their current portfolio, or how old it was. I have two that are in coffins, and this one was in cello, perhaps an IPCPR sample from 2016? This is a 7” x 50 Churchill with a shaggy foot, made at El Titan de Bronze in Miami. I was looking for American made cigars yesterday, and this was one I came up with. Besides being made in the US, the brand has American roots, and I was feeling patriotic. This has a wrapper and binder from Ecuador and fillers from Nicaragua. I have learned to be careful with

shaggy footed cigars, they seem designed to burn shirts. This one did not, and, like many, it was relatively bland until the wrapper and binder started burning. This was a nice tasting cigar. It was subtle, not overpowering with strong flavors, largely woody and leathery with some honey sweetness here and there. It was a very nice cigar, although I wonder now if the coffin variety will be far more cedary after years of storage.

 

In keeping with the theme of the day, I finished my Saturday with an El Titan de Bronze Redemption Maduro Corona (actually a Corona Gorda) from a Sampler I bought there when we visited a year ago last September. Why I haven’t smoked this yet,

I have no clue. Their corona is 5 ½” x 48, which is even bigger than a Corona Gorda actually. It’s a really nice size in my opinion. This came in a five cigar sampler that they sell in the factory on Calle Ocho for $45 and is a really nice way to sample their line. This cigars has a San Andrés wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. It’s a nice tasting, medium bodied Maduro cigar. It has the flavors one expects to get from a cigar of this make-up, Espresso, some pepper spice, with excellent construction. Considering that it’s made in the U.S., it’s not priced out of line for the quality that you get! I can think of a bunch of cigars made at this factory and I can’t think of any that aren’t really good. A definite e destination if you find yourself in Miami.

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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Two More Providencia Cigars: Mixtape and G 5:22-23

Today starts my least favorite time of the year, Standard Time. I am not a fan of the winter months, and early darkness. I have gotten the back porch winterized, so that’s something, although I haven’t gotten my propane heaters working yet. They seem to be clogged on some way that I cannot seem to fix. It might be time to consider replacement. Are those kerosene heaters that were all the rage in the 70s still a thing? One of those would work well. The propane seems easier to deal with. Anyway, clocks are messed with, candy has been handed out, I still have to put the storm windows in the front door, but it’s time to come to grips with the unavoidable fact it’s not summer anymore. After the last 8 months, I think I could easily just hibernate and re-emerge next spring. I’ll have to soldier on. I will do so by enjoying fine cigars, and prattling on here about them. To that end, I smoked a few more from Providencia Cigars as promised.

 

The first one was the Providencia Cigars Mixtape. This is the first of what Ray teases as a series of cigars paying homage to the 80s. Ray and I are around the same age, and to my younger readers who may not know what a mixtape is, it’s a playlist record

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ed on a cassette tape. in the 90’s when rewritable CDs became a thing, it moved to CDs, and now it’s all online.It’s part of the evolution of music sharing. Anyway, the cigar is a round 6″ x 52 toro with a shaggy foot, or a leader in cassette tape terms. The wrapper is Habano, the binder is Nicaraguan and the fillers are Nicaraguan including Ometepe. Like the Detox and Boom, it’s made in Esteli at Tabacalera Flor de San Luis (I believe they made or make Elogio and PIO?). I will say that this was the first Providencia cigar that I found was a little too tightly packed at the head, resulting in a more snug draw than I would like. Not unworkable, but an annoyance, and surprising. The flavor was quite nice though. The Habano wrapper had a sweetness and nuttyness that I like, and there was the interesting spice from the Ometepe that is unique and tasty. I really enjoyed the flavor, I think I’d enjoy it more if the draw were looser. 

 

The last one was the Providencia Cigars G 5:22-23. This seems like a handful of a cigar name. Ray and Jim, the owners of Providencia Cigars, are men of faith, and this is a Biblical reference. it refers to Galatians 5:22-23, which, depending on your translation, says: “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ” I think we can agree that this sentiment transcends religion, and can be applied no matter what your faith, or lack thereof. It can be distilled down to my personal mantra: “don’t be a d*ck”. I probably took that too far, my apologies. The cigar is a Corona Gorda, 6″ x 46, with a closed foot. I came by this revelation too late (like 20 years), but it was suggested that a closed foot cigar might be best lit with a soft flame. I wish I had heard that an hour sooner, I would have tried that with this cigar. I have to try to remember that the next time

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I come across a closed footed cigar. I’ll also have to try to find a soft flame lighter. This cigar has a Habano wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Peruvian and Ometepe fillers. This cigar had the perfect burn and draw I’m accustomed to with Providencia cigars, and it provided a wondrous smoking experience. The smoking time compared favorably with a Toro, just shy of two hours, and the flavor had the sweetness of the wrapper, and the Peruvian and Ometepe tobaccos played very nicely with one another. There’s some different spiciness that each tobacco has that were complimentary, and

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enjoyable. Considering it was Halloween, there were some flavors that reminded me of some of the obscure candies that maybe kids don’t really like but parents end up eating and enjoying. I’ll find that damn candy one of these days…great smoke, probably not a commercially viable name, but a great smoke.

 

Thanks to Ray for sharing these cigars, as always. I need to pick up some more of the Detox and G 5:22-23 (and another Mixtape or two) for sure. He’ll have to point toward a retailer that has these in the commen

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ts!  That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig 

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Providencia Detox and Boom Cigars

Ray at Providencia Cigars shared some of his new cigars with me recently, and I smoked two of them this week. I was intrigued by two of them in particular, the Detox and the Boom. Naturally I was drawn to the fact that they were both 6″ x 52 Toros, and they both had dark wrappers. When I looked at the blends, they both had San Andrés wrappers, Nicaraguan binders and

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Nicaragua, including Ometepe. All Providencia cigars were made in Honduras, however with Covid causing production delays, they are having cigars made at the Flor de San Luis factory in Esteli. I was anxious to compare these two cigars, the Detox is box pressed with a closed foot, the Boom is round, and has a shaggy foot. On paper, these cigars should saste the same, but this is an exercise in how the shape influences the flavor. Both cigars, like every Providencia cigar I’ve smoked, burned perfectly. The Detox had some power, it had a nice flavor of bitter cocoa and espresso. The Boom, based on it’s name, I expected to be stronger, but actually seemed mellower than the box pressed version, with the same flavors. I can

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‘t say for sure if the blend is exact, except that in a brief conversation with Ray, he simply mentioned the shape contributing to the difference. As with a shaggy footed cigar, the cigar started rather bland until the wrapper started burning, whereas the closed foot on the Detox gave a blast of earthy San Andrés right off the bat. I really enjoyed both of these cigars, but I think I liked the box pressed Detox more than the Boom, it had a little more intense flavor than the Boom. 

 

I have a couple of Providencia‘s Habano offerings up next, I can’t wait to try them. I might even dig into the humidor for some older Providencias. Like I said, whoever’s making their cigars know what they are doing, I’ve never had one that didn’t

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perform perfectly. 

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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