Category Archives: Review

by Craig Vanderslice | March 17, 2019 · 12:29 pm

Saint Patrick’s Day Cigars, CAO, Villiger and Diesel

I have a slightly different take on Saint Patrick’s Day, not being of Irish descent. I have been known to smoke a candela cigar on March 17 over the past few years, considering the cigar companies like to put them out around this time to capitalize on just this sort of thing. Admittedly, I do enjoy a good candela cigar from time to time, I find them a refreshing change of pace. I may pull out an old Alec Bradley Filthy Hooligan today, I have one of the original candelas, and the first year the made the barber pole, unless I stop at the store and they happen to have this year’s iteration, and/or the Shamrock, which I’m quite interested in smoking. I kinda dig the triple-wrapper barber pole treatment for some reason. Anyway, the main reason I like Saint Patrick’s day so much is less about the green and Irish part, and definitely not about the drinking part, but all about the snakes part. You see, I hate snakes, and I’m a huge fan of anyone who can drive them out of an entire country. This is one thing I find appealing about Ireland and New Zealand, they are the two places that are naturally bereft of snakes. I get it, in 400AD there weren’t a lot of affordable direct flights to North America, but I certainly would have helped get this guy over here to get rid of the slithering bastards. So if I had a Culebra to smoke today, that would be my choice, but the only one I have is an LFD that was gifted to me in 2004, and I feel guilty for not smoking it at the time it was gifted, but that’s another story. It’ll keep the story and the cigars).

I guess if that were the case, I wouldn’t have had a CAO Amazon Basin Anaconda to smoke this week, unless he drove them to South America, which seems plausible! In honor of the coming anti-snake holiday, I smoked a CAO Anaconda, perhaps my favorite in the Amazon Basin line. I didn’t care for the original Amazon Basin, lots of people raved about it, but it didn’t do anything for me. the subsequent releases were more appealing to me. The Fuma em Corda was very good, although I only smoked it in the robusto size, and I really enjoy this Anaconda, although I hate the name, I mention I don’t like snakes, right? I do like the 6″ x 52 size of this, and the recipe of Brazilian Bahiano Habano Ligero wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, and fillers from Brazil (Bragança & Fuma Em Corda), Colombia & the Dominican Republic are very interesting. The Brazilian fillers used in this are a combination of those used in the Amazon Basin (Braganca) and the Fuma Em Corda (obviously). I guess it wasn’t the Branganca that turned me off in the Basin, unless it just worked better in the blend in this Anaconda. This is a woody smoke with some spice, more on the savory side than sweet to my palate. Like I said, love the cigar, hate the name.

Thursday was a brilliant spring day, I got the bike out of the garage and rode it to work, however, when I left work, it wouldn’t start. it’s a 2005, I’ve had it since 2008, put 29k miles on it, and it’s started every time. I guess it decided that day was the day it wanted extra attention. Better it let me down in a parking lot than on the side of the road, I guess, so today’s project will be getting it to the shop, but I came home and took a walk with a Villiger La Vencedora Churchill. It was warm for a change, I wanted a Churchill, dammit, and this one was front and center screaming ” smoke me!” So I did, and it was good. I guess it’s ironic that La Vencedora means “The Victor”, and I was feeling rather defeated that day, as the bike letting me down wasn’t the only odd thing to happen. Perhaps I was not letting all the little defeats ruin the day completely. The La Vencedora is a Nicaraguan puro, wrapped in a dark Nicaraguan grown Habano Oscuro leaf. I had to take a break from writing to go get the bike to the shop, so I lost my train of thought…OK, the wrapper on this wasn’t pretty, it’s a mottled brown, but it makes up for it in flavor. It’s got some sweet earthy flavors along with a bit of spice. I rather enjoyed it and I spent quite a while with it on my walk, then on the porch watching hockey on the iPad. It’s a 7″ x 50 Churchill, with I don’t mind at all, although a 47 ring Churchill is traditional. All in all, a darned yummy cigar, no surprise this is made at Joya de Nicaragua.

Finally, last night I decided to revisit a cigar that people have raved about, and I haven’t really “gotten” in the past. Last year the Diesel Whiskey Row came out and people were excited, especially people close to the blend, which I understand. I suppose this is another St. Patrick’s day tie in. To me it’s just another woody/earthy cigar with great construction, and, if that’s your thing, it’s a great cigar. I will say that I enjoyed this one perhaps more than previous cigars, so maybe time in the humidor has added value, but it’s still not a cigar I get excited about

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(about which I get excited? I regularly dangle participles…I guess I write the way I talk). I’d rather smoke a Diesel Unholy Cocktail as I find that it more closely aligns with my flavor preferences. But that’s me, and if the Whiskey Row is your kind of cigar, great! That’s what’s great about cigars, there’s something for everyone and who’s to say what’s not right for me isn’t right for you! That’s why I try most everything, which I can’t say for food, some foods I look at and know I won’t like…I know it’s wrong, but it just is!

That’s all for today, time to get some things done! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as amazon, Anaconda, CAO, cigar, cigars, diesel, La Vencedora, Villiger, Whiskey Row

by CigarCraig | March 10, 2019 · 11:03 am

Esteban Carraras, Fratello, Cordoba and Morales and Some Cigar News

Today is the beginning of my favorite season! That’s right, Daylight Savings Time! I really like daylight longer into the evenings, especially since some days I work later, in June this will be more important, but I really appreciate getting home in the dylight. It’s good for the soul. It also is a harbinger of Spring, and the warmer weather that comes with it. As I age, I grow less tolerant of cold weather ( among other things!). Lets cut the crap and get into some of the more interesting cigars I smoked this week.

I’ve been rummaging around the humidor more lately looking for interesting cigars, and I found an Esteban Carreras 10 Años Robusto. I received a pack of cigars a while back as an apology for something that they really had no reason to apologize for, it was a mystery to me really. I had bought a one time cigar of the month club

sampler or something from them to try out and it all went well, and for some reason they thought it didn’t and sent this as some sort of consolation. Of course, I accepted their gesture instead of making a stink about it, it was so long after the fact that I had no idea what it was for really. Anyway, this was probably the last cigar from that package which has been in the humidor for three years or more. The 10 Años was the first Esteban Carreras Ultra Premium Cigar, has a San Andrés Negro wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers and comes in four box pressed sizes, this one was 5″ x 50. This is a great tasting cigar that could I could easily put in my rotation if I had one. Half way through there’s an interesting spiced candy flavor, and I’m going to have to get a bag of mixed “grandma” hard candies and find the candy I keep tasting in cigars and really digging. I can’t put a finger on the name, but I come across it and really like it. I think I got it in the La Gloria Esteli White recently. This cigar was a real treat and I’ll happily smoke it again, and will look for some next time I’m at the local shop, which I know has some Esteban Carreras cigars.

I finally had occasion to sample the newest Fratello Navetta Inverso in the robusto size this week. This is an interesting project because Omar de Frias uses the same tobaccos in this as the Navetta, but he played with the primings and proportions and placements of the components, and it’s a totally different tasting cigar. This can actually be pretty efficient depending on how he has to buy tobaccos, making the best use of the leaf he has at hand. I could make clever jokes about how I took my evening walk the opposite route around the neighborhood, or I waited until Mercury went retrograde to smoke this, but this cigar is no joke. It’s medium bodied and smooth, rich and sophisticated, much like the Navatta. The Inverso has a Habano Nicaraguan wrapper, Ecuador binder and Dominican and Nicaragua filler, compared to the Navetta having an Ecuadorian Oscuro Wrapper, Dominican Binder and Nicaragua Filler. Like I said, there are different primings and variations on the same leaves in the two cigars, but they are different. I’ll need to smoke more of them to form a more informed opinion of course, but my initial impression was good!

I received this Friday right after I posted about Drew Estate’s Barn Smoker announcement. Apparently the FDA issued a “Guidance for Industry” document (linked in the statement below) and it looks like there’s an extension of premarket review compliance deadlines for testing of cigars to August of 2021. I suppose that gives them time to dream up a way to actually test cigars. Drew Newman, of J.C. Newman weighs in below:

Statement by Drew Newman, general counsel of J.C. Newman Cigar Co. and fourth-generation cigar maker:

“Today’s announcement is a huge relief for the premium cigar industry. Because there are no standards for testing premium cigars, there was no way that our four generation, 124-year-old family business could meet FDA’s rapidly approaching November testing deadline. FDA’s decision to extend the HPHC testing deadline until after the agency first issues guidance is eminently reasonable.

“Although we will await FDA’s guidance, I remain very skeptical about whether it is possible to reliably test premium cigars because making premium cigars is an inherently unscientific process. Because premium cigars are handcrafted, they are subject to great natural variation. We know that the amount of sunlight, rain, and wind affects the characteristics of premium cigar tobacco just as the size of tobacco leaves and where they are grown on a plant does as well. As cigar makers, we harness this natural variation to create unique and interesting blends. A recent study that tested showed how great this natural variation can be. In it, researchers tested the same premium cigar brand in two different years and found variances upwards of 50%.

“Moreover, the cost of testing is also likely to be enormous. A lab that proposed testing premium cigars like cigarettes recently quoted $18,000 just to test a single cigar. This huge sum works for a product like cigarettes that are mass produced but not for premium cigars that are hand rolled in small batches. As there are tens of thousands of different premium cigars sold in the USA today, the total cost for testing them could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

“We are very grateful to Cigar Rights of America, the International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association, and the Cigar Association of America for their continued leadership and efforts to seek much needed relief for the premium cigar industry.”

It’s another stay of execution, but there’s still work to be done. Tobacco is bad, but pot and booze is OK…BTW, it’s been brought to my attention that my recent rants against the liquor industry marketing to children may be misconstrued as me being anti-alcohol since I am a non-drinker. Let me just say that just because I find that partaking in consuming alcoholic beverages does not work for me, and I’ve been quite happy for the last 28 years not consuming alcohol, I’m not against it. I’ve been know to offer guest in my home a libation, and I am a proponent of moderation in everything in life. I’m the first to support anyone who finds that drinking is something that doesn’t work for them, but I often say that while I’m not a “friend of Bill”, I know who he is. Thought I’d clear that up in case anyone cared.

Last night I got home late, watched the end of a decisive Flyers victory over the Islanders (again), and looked around for a shorter smoke. My eye landed on a robusto left over from the 2016 IPCPR show, a Cordoba and Morales Clave Cubana Etiqueta Blanca Robusto. This cigar came out in 2014 and was a limited edition, and I have no idea if it’s still around, but I noticed that CigarProp Kevin reviewed it on his YouTube channel in December, so I guess they are still around. This cigar has a San Andrés Maduro wrapper, Nicaraguan Jalapa binder and Nicaraguan fillers including: Esteli Ligero, Ometepe Viso, and Jalapa Seco. This was a bold little smoke, with a “dirty” San Andrés flavor, which I kinda like. As it’s been in my humidor for three years, it was well rested and burned perfectly, for longer than I expected, easily an hour. I enjoyed this one for a change, but I I’m getting to the point where I’m not sure this would be one I’d go to very often. Maybe I should start “rating cigars that way? What do you think? Cigars I’d put in my rotation, special treat cigars, change of pace cigars? something like that? I need to shake things up a little. Let me know.

That’s all for today. Since I lost an hour this weekend, I’m feeling a little behind, so I gotta get caught up! It’s almost lunch time and I haven’t had breakfast! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by Craig Vanderslice | March 3, 2019 · 10:58 am

A La Sirena LT, Some Other Great Cigars and A Rant Continuation

I’ve been fortunate to have either been picking some really great cigars lately, or really enjoying the cigars I’ve been smoking, or both! I think I’ve been gravitating toward known sure things due to the winter blues, honestly. I smoked a couple of favorites from Cornelius and Anthony this week, a Cornelius and a Señor Esug

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ars in Toro sizes, just because I wanted to smoked great cigars on those particular days. Both times I was reminded of how much I really love the flavors in both those cigars. Even though they are on opposite ends of the spectrum, they both satisfy me in different ways. I had a La Flor Dominicana Ligero Natural L400 that was spectacular as well, and a La Palina LP 02 that, while I still am not sure about the band and packaging, the cigar is awesome. Again, two completely different flavor profiles, but both delight my palate! Like I said, Everything tasted great to me this week!

I’ve smoked a few sizes of the La Sirena LT (and it’s predecessor, the Jaxx LT) and written about them here before, but I recently put a box of the Toro s

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ize in the humidor and last night I pulled the first one out and lit it up. The LT is

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the La Sirena Connecticut Shade offering, made at Placencia’s El Paraiso factory in Honduras. It has a beautiful Ecuador Connecticut wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Honduran and Nicaraguan fillers. If you are thinking that this is just another mild Connecticut shade cigar, you’d be mistaken. Yes, there is the sweet, slight bready/wheaty flavor from the wrapper, but there is a richness to this cigar that I find really appealing. This is a rich, medium-bodied cigar with great flavors that kept my interest to the end, and I really enjoyed, much like the rest of the La Sirena line, and most readers will know I’m a long-time fan of the brand. The LT is a great addition to the line, and to my humidor.

Rant

So let’s get into some details on last Wednesday’s post. I didn’t have much time, so I posted a picture of some ridiculous beer based on a children’s breakfast cereal, and a picture of some cigars packaged like candy bars. My premise was that there’s a double standard that the alcohol industry enjoys in their marketing that the tobacco industry does not, and I don’t think that can be debated. I just don’t understand it, nor do I think it’s right. I did receive some feedback. But first let me explain the cigars pictured, for those who aren’t familiar (and when Will Cooper isn’t familiar with them, there’s a good chance they are on the obscure side!) The Alec Bradley Cigars were handed out at an event at the IPCPR a few years ago, so they were never distributed, an obvious Willy Wonka reference. The Smokin Cigar Bars are a 3-pack of 6″ x 70 cigars that Dave Garofalo at 2Guys put out a few years ago, and were featured in one of the CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Givaways in 2012. I had to remove all traces of the post about these cigars (and I might have to redact the photo here) because Hershey actually went after Dave and made him kill the line. The “Hand Rolled Cigars” pictured was another one of Dave’s products and came in a big jar, circa 2013. Fun fact, if you’ve ever had an Avanti cigar and noticed the packaging looks kind of like the old Tootsie Roll packaging, it’s because they actually use the machines that they bought from the Tootsie Roll company to individually wrap the Avanti cigars in the little cardboard tray and cello. Where was I? I didn’t even mention the cigars that had vintage toy themes that were vilified. I’ll concede that I personally thought all of these were an epically bad idea, for these exact reasons. the same reasons I think it’s a bad idea to have kids at a cigar event or rally, even if they are your family’s future. Don’t give the anti’s anythough they can use out of context, because they will. So one of the pieces of feedback I received was a private message from the attorney from one of the largest cigar companies, asking me to caption the photo because he was concerned that a health group would use it out of context as an example of kid friendly cigars. Mind you, this was a highly credible source, with a pedigree, I was happy to oblige. I did receive a mystifying rebuttal via Twitter.

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I’m not sure why Charlie felt the need to disagree. He makes cogent points, I just don’t understand why a guy who makes a living writing a cigar blog feels the need to say he disagrees with the fact that I think it’s unfair that there’s a double standard. There is, isn’t there? Certainly everyone is welcome to their opinion, I

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have mine, and the internet has allowed everyone a medium to express theirs, no matter

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how wrong they might be! But, I understand the points he makes, lobbyists, public perception, duh…I get it, but my point is, that from my perspective, it’s wrong! Is there a difference in perception of Alcohol vs. Cigars? Of course! Should there be? In my mind, there shouldn’t! I know, cigars get lumped in with tobacco, and it’s near impossible to separate the two, and they probably can’t be (it would be like trying to separate beer and, I don’t know, what’s a super high end liquor, Pappy Van Winkle? Johnny Walker Blue?, they all have to be age regulated the same). Sure, tobacco use is a leading preventable cause of death, guess what, alcohol is number two. People can argue with me all day long about how it’s OK to market beer and liquor to kids because of general attitudes and I’ll argue that nobody ever killed anyone driving under the influence of cigars or beat their wife or kids after a night at the cigar lounge. can’t we just agree that it’s a ridiculous double standard, even though we have no chance of ever changing it? I appreciate those who weighed in, and I look forward to more conversation.

OK, I got that of my chest, now to try to get some things done before tonight’s beg snowstorm. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by CigarCraig | February 27, 2019 · 9:54 am

A Wednesday Rant: Inequality Between Beverage and Cigar Marketing

This is going to be quick and it’s really nothing new. Obviously, tobacco marketing has been severely restricted for some time now in the US, while the adult beverage industry has had seemingly carte blanche. This was brought to my attention this morning:

How is this not marketing to children? Yet, when cigar makers playfully package cigars like these:

Examples of items that either weren’t marketed or are no longer on the market.

The cigar makers (marketers, or whatever you wish to call) them are skewered, out come the villagers with the pitchforks and torches! Both products are sold in age controlled environments, requiring age verification, although alcohol enforcement is stricter and carries large

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r penalties (for now). So how is it that there can

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be marshmallow vodka and Lucky Charms beer a

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nd nobody cares, but everyone thinks a flavored cigar (or a playfully packaged cigar) is marketed to kids?

Just had to get that off my chest t

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his morning! Enjoy the rest of the week!

CigarCraig

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by Craig Vanderslice | February 24, 2019 · 9:00 am

Nica Rustica Robusto and CAO Esteli TAA Edition Cigars

If this post is different today there’s a few reasons. I’m a little out of sorts because yesterday somehow my WordPress user name was changed and I couldn’t log in, which caused some panic. I still haven’t quite figured this out and I haven’t had time to sit on the phone for long periods of time with anyone. I added a user as a workaround, and when I got in, it look like WordPress has changed their interface from the o

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ld familiar to something called the “wonderful world of blocks”, which is a completely different layout and I don’t have time to figure it out because I have to go to work and just wanted to get a quick post done. So now I’m stressed out. Great. Anyway, I spent the last few days going through all the old posts fixing videos so they work. There seems to be some photos missing, which will be a much larger job, something I’ll have to do in front of a computer as opposed to on an iPad. Anyway, enough of my bitching and moaning, I did get a few cigars in this week.

I had a long stretch between days off, so when Thursday rolled around, I was all set to relax after my dentist appointment. Unfortunately, I ended up having a root canal in the afternoon, which kinda harshed my mellow a little. I hate Novocaine. After cleaning up the pulled pork sandwich that I dribbled all over my face, I grabbed a familiar favorite, a comfort food cigar, the trusty Drew Estate Nica Rustica, this time in the Short Robusto vitola. I’m quite sure I’ve smoked this size before, but I certainly haven’t smoked as many as the El Brujito or the Belly, and this will probably change. In this circumstance, it got off to a slow start, with the first third having less of a flavor impact, but as the Novocaine wore off, the flavor intensified and the familiar Nica Rustica goodness came through. I love this cigar, the Broadleaf, the cocoa and espresso flavors ht me just right. I always have some of these on hand and will stock up on this size. Highly recommended for post-root canal.

Friday I decided to pay a visit to my local shop, just two miles from my house. I don’t actually spend a great deal of time there. I go to events when they have them, I know the people there, and stop by from time to time, but I’m just not the guy who spends a lot of time hanging out in any cigar shop. Neighbors are often asking me why, when they drive by this particular shop at all hours of the day, mornings especially, the parking lot is always pretty full. My usual response is that there is a group of guys that hang out there, some retirees, some who set up their laptops and work from the lounge. So I figured since I had Friday off I’d go in for a smoke and hang out for a while. Since CigarCigars is a TAA shop, I decided to give the CAO Esteli TAA Exclusive a try. This is a 6″ x 54 Toro, and it is made in the Scandanavian Tobacco Group’s Esteli Factory, with a Nicaraguan Jalapa wrapper, Honduran binder and fillers from Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. This was an intriguing cigar, and if I ‘d been smart, I would have smoked the CAO Nicaragua when I got home to compare, but I was distracted by a shiny band. It was a nice, medium bodied cigar, with a distinct cookie-like flavor. It had some caramel and almond nut kinds of flavors, if that makes sense. It was a departure from many CAO cigars, much like the CAO Nicaragua is, but they are different cigars. I’ll work through more of the TAA exclusives as I visit the local CigarCigars shops (there’s no less than six with in ten miles of my house).

That’s all for today. I have to work another Sunday, but I should have next weekend off, with is nice for a change! I gotta figure

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out all this new WordPress nonsense! As always, thanks for reading along, until the next time,

CigarCraig