Category Archives: Review

July 14, 2019 · 9:39 am

Tatuaje TAA and Cuesta Rey Cigars and some UK News

Last week when shopping I picked up this year’s Tatuaje TAA release, the 51th, a box pressed robusto, with the “America” in Tobacconist Association of America crossed out on the band and “Mexico” written over it. It also has a sombrero wearing cactus in place of the Native American in the logo. I guess this has a Mexican wrapper! Previous TAA releases have had Connecticut Broadleaf, This years has the San Andrés wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler in a 5″ x 52 box pressed robusto. Being a cheapbastid that I am, I’d much prefer the $12 toro over the $12 robusto, but it was my anniversary and I was treating myself. I had a long day Friday, so when I got home late, a shorter cigar was in order anyway, so a good, shorter cigar was a perfect choice. This, my friends, was such a cigar. I like Tatuaje cigars, I like San Andrés cigars, and I really liked this cigar! It checked all the boxes for me, and if it had been a toro it would have been perfect! I even like the box press. It had the espresso with some spice that I like, and a hint of bittersweet chocolate, it was the perfect way to wrap . up the day. I’ve smoked a few of the Tatuaje TAA releases and have yet to be let down.

Please direct your attention to the J.C. Newman Perla Del Mar graphic on the right sidebar (or elsewhere depending on how you view the site). Clicking on it will direct you to a contest where you can enter to win a nice humidor and cap. I’ll make it easy, here’s the link—> https://www.jcnewman.com/perla-del-mar-humidor/ . The Perla del Mar is a nice smoke, and that humidor is pretty sweet. I know Bob Langmaid has probably entered already 😃. Anyway, the folks at J.C. Newman surprised me last week with some goodies, and one item stirred some memories, so I’m compelled to bore you with a tale. When I received a box of ten Cuesta Rey Centenario Pyramid No. 9 it took me back to a cigar event I attended in 1999 in North Carolina. There was a guy there who I had met for the first time who I had only previously known from his usenet newsgroup postings, much like many of the other people on that cigar crawl. Mike was a strong personality, extremely likable and overly generous. I was a young guy, had a young family, and was just starting my cigar journey, I barely had one humidor at the time! Mike won a box of Cuesta Rey Centenario Pyramid No. 9 and gave it to me. It wasn’t to his liking, or he had plenty and felt like sharing, or whatever the reason, but I was humbled and treasured the gift. At the time, having a box of cigars was very special to me, even a box of ten! So when I received the same box, twenty years later, I was moved. what makes it more special is that Mike had passed away a dozen or so years ago (and he was a few years younger than I), so I was able to think of Mike again and remember some old times. Last night I smoked one of the Centenario Pyramid No. 9s. It’s been a long, long time since I smoked one, so I can’t really recall if they are the same or not, I have to imagine they are close, just because companies like J.C. Newman are in it for the long haul, and pride themselves n consistency, and it’s made at Tabacalera A. Fuente. I will say that it was a very enjoyable mild to medium cigar. It has a Connecticut Shade wrapper, but it doesn’t taste like a Connecticut shade cigar, if that makes sense. It’s been added to the classic section of my humidor, with some other Fuente cigars. I’m thankful for the chance to remember a departed friend who’s generosity touched me.

News

From across the pond, C.Gars Limited announces that they are opening a second La Casa del Habano in the UK. The first La Casa del Habano is in Chester. At this writing, no photos were available, the photo here is from Google Street view.

C.Gars Ltd is delighted to announce the opening of our 2^nd La Casa del Habano franchise in Knutsford- Cheshire on the 24^th July.

La Casa del Habano – Knutsford

10 Minshull street

Knutsford, Cheshire

WA16 6AG UK

We look forward to welcoming the Cuban Ambassador as well as Jemma Freeman of Hunters & Frankau as guests of honour to the to the opening event.

The premises comprise of a ground floor cigar shop and walk in humidor with client lockers and a first floor comfortable sampling lounge. The full range of La Casa specialities including Coleccion Habanos books and limited

buy flexeril online https://drweitz.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/png/flexeril.html no prescription pharmacy

edition humidors will be well represented.

LCDH- Knutsford will be managed by Turmeaus tobacconist trained team Andrew, Liz and Sandra under the guidance of Sara and Calum ( Master of Cigars ) from LCDH – Chester.

Mana

buy furosemide online https://drweitz.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/png/furosemide.html no prescription pharmacy

ging Director Mitchell Orchant said ‘Opening a second La Casa del Habano is very important and allows us to continue our substantial growth in Havana cigars sales. It will enable us to have additional availability of La Casa specialities to satisfy our customers insatiable demand.’

About C.Gars Ltd:

C.Gars Ltd was launched in 1997 and is the largest specialist cigar merchant in the UK. This family business sells premium cigars and related goods from its website, 24/7, every day of the year. C.Gars Ltd owns and operates specialist cigar shops in the UK and has an associate company in Ireland.

Please welcome Fox Cigars to the CigarCraig family! I’m happy to have them on board, they have some great deals and have great shops in Arizona. Click the banner on the left to get to their site and watch for some special things we’ll be working on with them in the future. That’s all for today! Next Saturday is the Drew Estate PA Barnsmoker. If you’re going to be there, please find me and say hello! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

2 Comments

Filed under News, Review

Tagged as 51th, c-gars ltd, cigar, cigars, Cuesta Rey, J.C.Newman, La Casa del Habano, TAA, tatuaje

July 10, 2019 · 10:22 am

PDR Cigars 1878 Capa Oscura and 1878 Roast Cafe Natural Roast

I’m trying to get back to posting actual content mid-week. My work schedule hasn’t really been conducive to keeping up, as I generally work late Wednesdays, so I thought I’d make good use of the Wednesday morning off. Last week I received some samples from Rich at PDR Cigars, and last night I busted out the PDR 1878 Capa Oscura toro.You know me, I always start with the darkest and work my way to the lightest. The maduro might be darker, but I went with the Oscura anyway. I’m pretty sure I’ve smoked these before, probabl

buy augmentin online https://drbrassie.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/augmentin.html no prescription pharmacy

y at the Don Leonsis shop in New Orleans, which is partly owned by the Flores family, I believe. The wrapper on this is Ecuadorian Sun Grown Oscuro, with a Dominican Habano binder and Dominican Criollo 98 & Dominican Corojo fillers. Richie must know what I like, because he sent me a bunch of toro samples, which are 6″ x 52, my favorite size. I instantly like him. I found this to be a really well made, medium to full bodied cigar, which built up to pretty strong by the end. It was more Earthy than sweet to my palate, but there was a hint o

buy antabuse online https://drbrassie.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/antabuse.html no prescription pharmacy

f sweetness, and it wasn’t a cigar that I disliked. I had taken a break on Monday night, so I was quite looking forward my my evening walk and cigar on Tuesday. It did hit the spot. I was impressed, as I always am, by the burn, which left a flat ember, indicating all of the tobaccos burning at the same rate. I do look forward to working through the rest of the line.

I am doing something I don’t often do, but it seemed appropriate. As I write this, I’m having a cigar with my morning coffee. I know many people do this, and it’s a very enjoyable thing to do, I must work it in on my late days more often. It make sense since the cigar is a PDR 1874 Roast Cafe coffee infused cigar, the Natural Roast Cafe. This one is the Ecuador Connecticut wrapped version, hence the “natural” in the name. This has a Dominican Criollo 98 binder and Dominican Criollo 98 & Nicaraguan Criollo 98 fillers. It has a bit of a sweet cap, which quickly dissipates, and has a smooth flavor. Considering the pungency of the coffee aroma in the bag of cigars, I was concerned that this was going to have an overwhelming coffee infusion, but it’s very subtle. After the first few inches, it was hard to tell it was a coffee infused cigar at all. I’m not biased against coffee infused cigars at all, I rather enjoy them from time to time, and this one is really nice. The Connecticut, or Natural Roast, was a good choice for me today, I think. The flavor is very good, creamy with some (this is going to be weird, because I drink black coffee and despise any sort of flavoring in coffee) maybe hazelnut, and was enjoyable to the end, which is right about now as I’m typing. In this instance, perhaps a toro is a little much, but I still like the size. My only complaint would be that the ash is a bit flaky, I’m going to have to shake out my bathrobe (TMI?).

That’s al for today, watch for some more PDR cigars sneaking into my routine over the next few weeks. Thanks to PDR for sharing them with me! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

2 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as Capa Oscura, cigar, cigars, PDR, ROAST CAFE

July 7, 2019 · 9:53 am

A Couple of Shop Visit, a Couple of Cigars and a Contest Winner!

Happy Sunday! I suppose it’s the end of a holiday weekend for a lot of people, I had Thursday off, and stopped into the CigarCigars shop in the King of Prussia Mall and picked up a couple cigars, one of which I smoked later to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Sure, I have plenty of natural Padron 1964 Anniversary Exclusivos, but I hadn’t had a Maduro in quite some time, so I picked one up. My wife spied a Foundry Compounds, Elements and Musings Uranium box with two cigars left in it, so I bought them and got the box. I’m pretty sure I’ve smoked Uranium before, although I don’t smoke many 7″ x 70s. The artwork is cool and I’ll rig a light in the box and it’ll be a nice shelf piece. Gotta give Mike Giannini credit for creative design! So my wife got a ring from Tiffany, and I got some cigars, it was a good day. The Exclusivo was exceptional, of course. I remember smoking my first one probably 20 years ago and they haven’t changed.

Friday evening I took a ride up to Suburban Cigar Lounge in Mount Penn, PA, which is near Reading. This is a really nice lounge run by Gary, over top of what is, by all reports, a very nice restaurant, which, if I’m not mistaken, his wife runs. I went to meet up with Boston Jimmie, of Stogie Press fame, who took his sweet time showing up. If you advertise that you’re going to be someplace from 7-10, showing up at 8:30 is not acceptable, I don’t care how things are done in Florida. 😜Anyway, Gary has a nice lounge with a friendly clientele, and his humidor has a modest but diverse selection from which I purchased some Alec Bradley Magic Toast Gordos, and RoMaCraft Aquitaine Mode 5s, and lit up a Magic Toast. I love this Magic Toast, it’s my kinda smoke. The dark, oily Honduran wrapper is beautiful, and the flavor is equally dark and lush. I smoked a Mode 5 next, and while I prefer the CroMagnon, the Aquitaine is damn tasty. This is a great example of how the wrapper can completely change the flavor of a cigar, as the wrapper is the only difference between the CroMagnon and Aquitaine lines. Jimmie finally showed up and hung out for a while. I hadn’t seen him since the 2017 IPCPR show, so it was nice seeing him again. Suburban Cigar Lounge is a great place to hang out of you find yourself in the area. I’m sorry I didn’t let long time reader Corey know I was going!

Last night I smoked the 2Guys Smokeshop exclusive Pistoff Kristoff Firecracker. Every year they do a special Firecracker release, last year it was the Mi Querida, prior to that it was the Fratello. I’ve managed to smoke a bunch of them, except for the original ones. It’s a small format, 3½ x 50, in a stronger blend. This was the second Pistoff Firecracker I smoked and I thought it was very good. I’m OK with the Pistoff blend to begin with, so I figured I’d be OK with this, and if I wasn’t, it wasn’t going to be a large time commitment. I do, generally, get an hour out of the Firecrackers, smoking them slowly. Because of the closed foot, a trademark of Kristoff, and usually a Firecracker trait, it starts with a blast of wrapper flavor, and some concern that the draw will be tight, once the wrapper burns, this one opens up to a perfect draw and has a good, bold flavor. It was strong, but well balanced. It looks like these are sold out, as is the case with most of the limited Firecrackers, but often the have second runs, and I would recommend these and others if you like small, strong ciga

buy lipitor online https://sparkhealthmd.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/png/lipitor.html no prescription pharmacy

rs. They have all been exceptional in my opinion.

Contest

It’s time to se

buy deltasone online https://sparkhealthmd.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/png/deltasone.html no prescription pharmacy

lect a winner in last weeks contest. To recap, I am giving away some great, in my opinion, Don Juan Calavera cigars from Danli Honduras Tabaco (from my own humidor, to protect the innocent), a Herics Cigar Tape, and a Cigar Prop and Light Bleed Tool from CigarProp.com. It’s possible some other goodies could fall into the box while I’m packing it up. There were 42 entries, and according to the random number generator, the winner is Bob Langmaid! I seems like Bob wins everything all the time, but I could only find one instance of him winning one of my contests, and that was almost 4 years ago. I’d rather have someone who hasn’t won before win, but Bob’s name came up, and he’s been fanatically religious about entering my contests for many years, so fair is fair! Please send me your address Bob!

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

CigarCraig

6 Comments

Filed under Contest, Review, Stores

Tagged as 2 Guys Smokeshop, Alec Bradley, cigar, Cigar Prop, cigar store, CigarCigars, cigars, Contest, DOn Juan Calavera, Firecracker, Foundry, Kristoff, padron, Pistof, RoMaCraft, Suburban Cigar Lounge, Uranium

July 5, 2019 · 12:05 am

Accessory Review: Govee Bluetooth Mini Thermometer & Hygrometer

Last year I reviewed a couple of wireless hygrometers from Govee that I really like, they are still going strong today and are in daily use in my humidors. You can see the posts here for the Bluetooth model and here for the WiFi model. I’ve been so pleased with the Govee products that when I needed a new door bell for my house I bought a Govee wireless doorbell and it’s wor

buy provigil online https://fromaddictiontorecovery.com/japan/htm/provigil.html no prescription pharmacy

king quite well. Recently they have come out with a new item which I think address some of the things I thought were overkill with the full size model, a Govee Mini Thermometer and Hygrometer. This version eliminates the LCD screen and is just the sensor in a small case. It seamlessly adds in to the smartphone app and has all of the same features as the larger Bluetooth and WiFi versions, temperature and humidity readings with adjustable high and low alarms, data tracking, everything but the display.

Here’s the technical details right from the manufacturer:

App Control via Bluetooth: Monitor temp/humidity data on Govee Home App (free downloading from App Store/Google Play) via Bluetooth. Up to 328ft connecting distance (no obstacles) enables you to monitor temp and humidity remotely.
Higher Accurate Monitor: Built-in Swiss-made SHT30 sensor, it offers higher precision monitoring than other bra
buy retin a online https://fromaddictiontorecovery.com/japan/htm/retin-a.html no prescription pharmacy

nds. Temp is accurate to ±0.36℉ and humidity is ±2%RH. (Calibration is supported)
Data Storage & Export: 20 days on-board and unlimited in-App storage. The temperature sensor uploads data to App when it connects to APP via Bluetooth. Alert will be sent to App when data is beyond preset range. Besides, export data in CSV format for free.
Mini Size: Smaller size than other brands. Space-saving and portable. A hanging hole is designed for various placement as you want. The battery lifespan is about 365 days.
What’s in Box: 1 x Govee Thermometer and Hygrometer, 1 x Hanging String, 1 x User Manual. Offer 30-day money-back guarantee for any reason and 365-day warranty for quality-related issues.

I bought this from Amazon a couple of weeks ago and received it promptly. All of Govee‘s products are sold through Amazon, and through July 16th (2019) this and the WiFi unit are featured on their Prime Day sale at 60% 0ff (follow the links sprinkles liberally throughout this post) I highly recommend these products especially at these deep discount prices! Anyway, as soon as I received the sensor I pulled the tab covering the battery and it connected to the app and I named it and it started reading temperature and humidity right away. It spent its first few days next to its WiFi sibling, so it’s at least as accurate as that one is, and, judging by the way the cigars smoke, it’s just fine. I like the fact that it doesn’t take up much space, and in a desktop humidor it doesn’t really need a display. I need a hygrometer to give me the data when the humidor is closed, which this one does nicely, a regular digital hygrometer is already moving in the wrong direction as soon as the lid is opened, so you never really know. I think this is a really cool solution, and at the Amazon Prime Days price, it’s a steal! Heck, I ordered another one.

Thanks to Leo at Govee for giving me the opportunity to use Govee products in my humidors and make me into a customer! That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

2 Comments

Filed under Accessories, Review

Tagged as Accessory, Bluetooth, cigar, cigars, Govee, Hygrometer

June 23, 2019 · 9:02 am

Don Juan Calavera Cigars from Danli Honduras Tabacos

I got behind on the news last week, it became overwhelming and I got busy with work and didn’t get around to a few stories. Again, I wasn’t sure a company’s opening a warehouse abroad was interesting to a large portion of my readership, but there was one from Joya de Nicaragua that I wanted to post but didn’t get around to. When you get a chance, hunt down the news on their Número Uno at one of the many reputable sites such as Developing Palates , Cigar-Coop, Halfwheel, or the many other great sites that posted the press release. Drew Estate, who distributes Joya, has been sending their press releases every damn day around 3PM eastern time, which is a crummy time for those of us with jobs, but I guess there’s no good time for everyone. One more week and the buzz will die down and everyone will be in Vegas bitching about the IPCPR changing their name to PCA and having CigarCon and all of that. I’m kinda glad I cut ties with all that drama, to be honest! I love going to the show and seeing all the great friends I’ve met in the industry and seeing all the new stuff, but the drama is more than I can take. My only hope is that this new version of the IPCPR learns to finally treat the (online) media like other trade shows treat media, but that’s another post that I don’t have in me any more! I came here to talk about some cigars!

I was contacted recently by Danli Honduras Tabacos about trying their cigars, and since new and unusual cigars have been few and far between for me lately, I figured it was worth a shot. I’ve been in a bit of a thing lately where I’ve been wanting to smoke cigars within certain parameters, smoking for pleasure and self satisfaction really. Quite selfish of me, I realize. So I was anxious to try something new, and was surprised when these beauties arrived. I wonder if the folks at Danli Honduras Tabacos did some research, because they send their Don Juan Calaveras cigars in Sumatra and Maduro wrappers, two of my favorites. I decided to break tradition and smoke the Sumatra first. I don’t talk about it much, but I do like a good Sumatra wrapped cigar. There are a lot of great cigars that use Sumatra wrapper, Ernesto Carillo is a big fan of the wrapper, and it’s used on the Diamond Crown Maximus, to name a couple off the top of my head. With both the Sumatra and Maduro, the presentation is unique. They have a black tissue paper “jacket”, with lapels folded down framing the sugar skull band. I though it was a neat touch. I’ve smoked a couple of these and they are really quite tasty. I found it to have a nice spice, and a good balance of flavor and strength and excellent construction. I enjoyed one yesterday on a beautiful afternoon walk and it was quite relaxing and satisfying.

Another thing I liked about the selections that I received was the size, they were toros, 6″ x 52, my favored size, Of course, I couldn’t wait to try the Maduro, so I smoked a couple of those too, and I really dig the Maduros! As far as blend information goes, their website is in Spanish and seems to be either in it’s infancy or something but there isn’t a lot of information there. The letter they sent says that they use a “diatinto” wrapper on all of their cigars, I’m not sure if this is a typo for the Spanish “distinto” or “different” wrapper, or if “diatinto” means something else. They say that they use Jalapa and Jamastran in the fillers, so Nicaraguan and Honduran, which makes sense. Like the Sumatra, this is a spicy cigar, with a bit more of the chocolatyness that one would expect on top of the spice. Fuller bodied than the Sumatra, to me, at least, and, once again, quite satisfying. I had no issues with any of the cigars as far as construction went, all four examples I smoked burned perfectly, with flat embers and straight burn lines. I’m impressed with these cigars, the packaging is striking, the cigars perform well and taste great, I just need to find out how to go about buying these! I’ve been searching and so far haven’t found that out. I’ll have to ask! Perhaps that’s something they are working on. I hope they don’t run into any issues with the name and or bands, because the bands are beautiful, although I can think of a few others that have used the Dia de los Muertos theme on bands.

Anyway, that’s about all I have for today. I’m going to put together a contest with some of the above-mentioned cigars, and some other goodies since I haven’t done a giveaway in a while. Until the next time,

CigarCraig