Category Archives: Review

April 14, 2019 · 8:31 am

An Old Excalibur, A Lars Tetens and an Alec Bradley Cigar

I took a little trip down memory lane this week, and smoked some interesting cigars. I did smoke some newer cigars, the Brick House Corona Larga was very nice (I’ll get to that another time) and I smoked another Norteño Toro which is the one cigar from the Herrera Esteli line that I really love. I also threw in a Cornelius toro for kicks. I spent my day off working on a huge building project in the backyard and felt a reward was in order, Listen to the current Retrohale podcast episode to see what those guys thought of one of my favorite cigars, Anyway, lets see what I thought of some of the older cigars I smoked this week.

About five months ago I was given a very well aged Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur Cameroon in the King Arthur size, which is a lonsdale (although they call it a corona, it’s a 6.25 x 45, so I guess it’s neither). Back around 2000 or thereabouts, General Cigar did one of their promotional taste test samplings where they sold a three pack and consumers voted on their favorite of the three, the winner became the Excalibur Cameroon, and there was much rejoicing. Rami, our local General sales professional here in PA, produced a box of these from his locker at an event I happened to be attending and gifted me one, and I decided with the weather getting nicer it was time to smoke this rare gem. Age was kind to this cigar, it held up nicely. Excaliburs used to be a staple cigar for me, back when a $5 Excalibur No.1 was an expensive treat, and the Maduros were quite the treat. I haven’t smoked one in many years, I might need to grab a few. It still had some of the delicate Cameroon sweet, nutty flavor, Camerooniness, if you will, that unmistakable flavor. Burn and draw were perfect and it was quite a joy to smoke. I believe these are still available, and reasonably priced.

There was a lot of news this week that I failed to post about, Altadis marketing Montecristo Minis, Placensia and Davidoff partnering on a cigar, and Fratello releasing a beer line, I missed out on those stories, but my colleagues in cigar media all reported on those stories. The one that was the most surreal was the purchase of a majority interest in Lars Tetens Cigars by Alec Bradley CigarsAlec Bradley Cigars. For those who may not know, Lars Tetens preceded Acid Cigars in the infused cigar market in the mid 90s, they were the first real counter-culture, herbal/botanical infused cigars, and were quite the rage for a while. They’ve continued to be available here and there, I had the opportunity to meet Lars at an event in 2015 as he lives, or spends a lot of time, in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. At least until recently, his cigars could be found on several local retailers shelves. He gave me a sampler when we met, and I smoked one soon after, but left several of the more infused smelling examples safely ensconced in a ziplock in the bowels of the humidor until this week when I screwed up the courage to smoke another one. I selected a toro sized cigar called the Tropical Candy, with an Alec Bradley Lineage nearby as an emergency back up, Surprisingly, the cigar wasn’t bad, I finished it. Any infusion must have aged out, as it just tasted like a nice, sweet tobacco, and the burn and draw were fine, although it was a bit loosely packed. I was pleasantly surprised, no hallucinations, no weird dreams, no urge to skateboard or anything, Maybe I was a little let down! I kinda understand the acquisition from a FDA predicate standpoint, as these blends certainly go back to the 1990s. I’ll be very interested to see what Alec Bradley does with the line.

Of course, I had to follow up with an actual Alec Bradley cigar, but instead of the Lineage, I went with an old favorite, the Nica Puro. I got home from work late last night and grabbed a robusto from the humidor, and saw the Nica Puro (I misplaced the Lineage…), and I love the Nica Puro! I haven’t smoked one in a while and I knew it would hit the spot. I do believe this cigar is my favorite cigar Alec Bradley produces, although I have an affinity for several others. This one has a balance of strength and flavor that hits me right. It’s one of those cigars that seems to burn right every time, with a nice straight burn, flat ember, I forgot how much I really like this cigar. There’s a bit of spice, some dark espresso, just damned good tobacco. I always like to have these in the humidor. I like the Robusto in this line, but the Diamond Rough Cut is pretty good too.

That’s about all I have for today. I have to work a rare Sunday, so it’s off to work for me. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Alec Bradley, cigar, cigars, Excalibur, hoyo de monterrey, Lars Tetens, Nica Puro, Tropical Candy

April 7, 2019 · 10:40 am

Some New Cigars: The Cajun and the Strata, and a Micallef Ligero

I received some beautiful cigars from a gentleman named Kenny New, who’s the president of QRI, an environmental consulting company in Louisiana. He’s gotten the bug, and decided to get into the cigar business, and has come up with two cigars, the Cajun and the Strata, and was kind enough to share a couple with me. The Cajun has an Ecuador wrapper which is Oscuro in color, with a binder from Esteli and fillers from Esteli and Jalapa. The Strata is a triple barber pole wrapped cigar withe Maduro, Habano and Connecticut, Esteli binder and fillers from Jalapa, Esteli and Condega. Both are made in Esteli in an undisclosed factory (I tried), and both are presented in a 6 x 54 toro. Both are priced at $10, and $180 for a bundle of 20, which can be mixed, and are available directly from Ken until he gets his Keneaux Hattuk Cigar Company webpage live. webpage

Of course, I smoked the Oscuro Cajun first, as is my way. Given the name, I expected more spice from this, but it wasn’t quite the spice-bomb I thought it would be. It was a terrific smoke. It starts off with a smooth, cocoa with a hint of spice, and the flavor builds throughout the smoke. The strength starts medium and builds too, but it never is a full on spicy cigar like the Cajun name might imply. That’s OK, though, it’s a Hershey’s Special Dark bar in a cigar, and I love that. As far as construction goe

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s, it was about as perfect in burn and draw as a cigar could be, whoever is making these knows what they are doing. When asked, Kenny was direct in saying that the factory wished to remain anonymous until he got a larger following, so please buy a bunch of these, I want to know!

Last night I smoked the Strata, and I admit I’m as much a sucker for a barber pole as I am a maduro. I know that the spiral wrap doesn’t cause flavor changes or anything, but the three wrap

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pers often lends an interesting mix of flavors that I think is really interesting. Such was the case with this cigar. It was smooth, with the creamy, nuttiness of the Connecticut, some of the spice of the Habano and some of the cocoa of the Maduro, combining into a nice melange, if you will, of flavor. It built up a little bit on intensity through the smoke from medium to medium-plus, and one it got mid way through where they band would have been it began to tell me it was quitting time. Saka and I had this discussion Sunday about Connecticut cigars turning bitter around the band, I noticed a little bit of this, and I wondered which was the base wrapper. Maybe I’ll go dissect the butt later and see if I can see, as if it really makes a difference. Bothe cigars have really neat bands with metallic green accenting Kennys Company logo, no expense was spared on the bands, nor the cigars, obviously, as both are of the highest quality, and all the tobaccos are aged at least 5 years. Nice work, I’m quite impressed!

Friday evening I went to the CigarCigars store in Phoenixville, PA where they were having a Micalef event. Back in 2017 when I was at the IPCPR show I saw their bit, elaborate booth and had never heard of this brand. I avoided it, not knowing what it was all about, and having a lot of other ground to cover. Recently a fairly local guy took over as a sales rep for the company, a guy who managed one of the CigarCigar stores for a long time, and had a long history in the cigar industry, and I actually knew from long ago in the old usenet newsgoup days. SO I figured I’d been hearing a lot about this brand it was a good time to go see Paul and see what Micallef cigars were about, or at the very least learn how to pronounce it (it’s a hard “C”). This Micallef guy is a millionaire who lives in Texas who decided he wanted to have his own cigars made, came across some guys with a Cuban pedigree going back to the 1930s. The long story is out there, brevity is my middle name (my parents had a weird sense of humor). I picked up a bunch of the Micallef cigars, and smoked the Grande Bold Ligero in the Gordo size. When one see the word “Ligero” on the band, one thinks “strong”, but this has two ligeros, but the origins of the ligeros they use balance out the strength and it’s not a strong cigar at all. Flavor wise it was good, but I was chatting and not really paying as much attention, but the one thing I noticed was the great burn. Besides being very cool to the touch around the burn line, the ember was very flat, and it always impresses me when all the tobaccos used burn at the same rate. I’ll be smoking others from this brand over the coming weeks.

That’s all for now. I have a new humidor I have been seasoning and need to fill, and decommission another one. I’ll be working on an article on that in the near future. It’s a beautiful day today and I have the day off, so hopefully I’ll get a cigar or two in. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Cajun, cigar, cigars, Hattak, Kaneaux, Micallef, QRI, Strata

March 31, 2019 · 8:52 am

Muestra de Saka #NLMTHA and Diamond Crown Black Diamond Cigars and Thoughts on Smoking Laws

I’m headed off to an event up at Famous Smoke Shop this afternoon, so I’m going to make this pretty quick, although I had a few things I wanted to talk about. First, I had occasion to smoke Steve Saka‘s latest cigar in his Muestra de Saka line, the #NLMTHA Lancero. #NLMTHA stands for Now Leave Me The Hell Alone, referring to the fact that he made this lancero pretty much under protest, considering he isn’t a real fan of the format, and people have been pestering him to make a cigar in this shape. Now, I like a Lancero, but I understand Steve’s reluctance. His whole philosophy is to only make cigars he likes himself, so making this cigar must have been painful for him. He’s a perfectionist, so if he was going to make a lancero, it was going to be done right, his way, or the highway. Naturally,I had to get my hands on a couple to sample myself, just to see what the hubbub was all about. Fortunately, I was able to purchase a couple from BnB Cigars in nearby Chestnut Hill, PA from the comfort of home, since my schedule prevented me from visiting Vince in person. BnB is on my list of preferred outlets if you have a need for boutique cigars and excellent service, by the way. The Lancero is 7″ x 38, and is a Nicaraguan Puro, Anyway, I smoked on this week and I have mixed feelings about it. It started off on the mild side, and changed about half way through to a spicier, stronger smoke. I look forward to revisiting this under different circumstances, as I felt that I wanted to baby it as it seemed to smoke pretty fast, and I wanted to avoid overheating it, so I was conscious to smoke it slowly, and it turned out not being a very relaxing experience, and was a bit distracting. Perhaps I just need to let the other two rest until summer, when it’s warmer. It was a darned tasty cigar, I just felt like I had to work too hard at it, if that makes sense. I was kinda wishing I had smoked a Mi Querida or Umbagog. Fortunately, I have a couple more, probably my fault anyway, although Steve will be the first to say that it’s OK not to like every cigar he makes.

I figured a good Friday night cigar would be the Diamond Crown Black Diamond in the Emerald size, which is 6″ x 52, which regular readers will know is my favored size. For some reason deeply ingrained there are a range of cigars that I consider “classic”, that I like to have represented in my humidor. These are almost all from Fuente, and include Hemingway, Añejo, Ashton VSG, and Diamond Crown. The Black Diamond was the Newman’s 100th anniversary cigar and is made with tobaccos grown exclusively for them by the Fuente family on their farms in the Dominican Republic, with the exception of the dark brown wrapper which is a Havana seed grown in Connecticut. This cigar was in development for years, and was teased as far back as 2013, but was finally released at the 2016 IPCPR. I’m finally getting around to smoking it thanks to the folks at J.C. Newman. Now this cigar, mis amigos, is right up my alley! Aside from the fact that it’s a toro, and it’s well made and provides loads of smoke and burned for darned near two hours, the flavor was awesome. It had that chocolatey cocoa flavor I love, with some spice and earthy notes along the way too. This is a luxurious cigar that’s well worth trying, and I can’t wait to smoke more. It’s cigars like these that add to my cigar-snobbery and make me spoiled.

Here’s a little bit of an observation, maybe it’s already been out there but I can’t find a cite, nor can I remember hearing anyone bring it up. All the news about places raising the smoking age to 21 seems like a funny thing, I imagine the anti-smoking groups lobby for it under the “it’s for the children” guise, when, at the same time, we have no problem sending our 18-20 year old “children off to defend our country and kill baddies around the world, quite the hypocrisy. On the other hand, while states are raising tobacco taxes, it could be argued that by raising the smoking age they are cutting into their tax base, eliminating some of their proposed revenue (playing devils advocate, we all know that raising tobacco taxes actually reduces revenue because people find ways around it). Here’s my theory: Raising the age is about marijuana and law enforcement. Follow my thinking. police see someone underage smoking they can cite them regardless of what they

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are smoking. They don’t have to determine

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if they are legal to be smoking tobacco or weed, or worry about the expense of testing for which is which. I know you can tell the difference by aroma, but would that be admissible in court? Is there a field test to breath into a device to tell? It solves a lot of legal problems, doesn’t it? Just make it 21 to smoke anything and it’s all OK. I don’t know, Maybe I’m just rambling.

It occurs to me that it was 22 years ago today that I found myself in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace meeting up with a bunch of people I had only communicated with via posts on USENET at the International Cigar Exposition (or something like that). I remember meeting Steve Saka for the first time right by Cleopatra’s Barge and helping him carry some boxes or something. it was three days of smoking and hanging out and making friends with people I still know today. It snowed like hell in PA. That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as #NLMTHA, Black Diamond, cigar, cigars, Diamond Crown, Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust, J.C.Newman, Muestra De Saka

March 24, 2019 · 10:51 am

Rodriguez Cigars, a Few Favorites and a Kentucky Fire Cured Revisit

Spring is upon us finally, although we got through this winter relatively easi

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ly. I always look forward to warmer weather! This week I enjoyed a few cigars I really love, the Umbagog Toro Toro, and the E.P. Carillo Seleccion Oscuro Especial No. 6, both 6″ x 52 parejos that’s my preferred size, and both maduros, with the former being Connecticut broadleaf and the latter being Mexican San Andrés Negro. The two cigars aren’t that similar, but both overwhelm the palate with rich flavors and have heavy espresso notes in common, with Umbagog being sweeter and the Oscuro Especial being earthier and dirtier. I love them both, and never have regrets when I light either one up. They are two cigars I could see having in a rotation (of about 20) if I were to hang up my blog hat and settle into some normal semblance of cigar consumerism. As it is, I like to enjoy one of these every now and again, they are both so good.

For some reason I have been wanting to revisit a Drew Estate MUWAT Kentucky Fire Cured lately, and I’m not sure why. I actually really like the Swamp Thang line extension now and then, heck, I’ll just say it, I’d smoke it more than now and then, I don’t so the novelty doesn’t wear off. I didn’t care for the KFC when I smoked a prototype at the factory in Nicaragua in 2013, it was too campfirey for me, but I’ve grown to enjoy the production version after some humidor time, and I have a handful that have been in the humidor for quite a while. So I went all in and grabbed a “Just a Friend” which is the 6″ x 52 toro, again, a size I like, and “fired” it up. I have a couple smaller vitolas, including a Flying Pig, floating around, but I figured I’d commit. It had the campfire on the pre-light, but no hint once lit, which is fine by me. I would put this cigar on the savory end of the spectrum flavor-wise, maybe leathery. It’s good, enjoyable, but I think I like the what the Candela adds to the blend in the Swamp Thang version better, it’s just a little more interesting to me. It’s not a cigar that I’d avoid, that’s for sure.

Last week I saw an article on Cigar Aficionados website about the formation of the Coalition of American Cigar Rollers, and one of the companies mentioned was Rodriguez Cigar Factory in Key West, Florida. I hadn’t heard of this factory until a few months ago when my neighbors who winter in Florida happened to send me a box of five of their Reserva Privada series Torpedos from a visit. I had set this little box aside in the humidor not knowing how long it had been out of proper conditions, and kinda forgot about it until this article reminded me of it, so I figured last nig

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ht would be the right time to give one a try. The Reserva Privada has a four year aged Ecuador Connecticut wrapper, which is on the darker side in my opinion (I wasn’t sure it was Connecticut until looking it up actually), with Nicaraguan fillers and binder, rolled in Key West. The torpedo is a perfectly formed 6″ x 52 with a pointy head like a Perdomo torpedo and burned perfectly with an ideal draw, even though I snipped a rather small bit off the end to start. I was very impressed with this smooth, rich tasting cigar. It was elegant, with a caramel sweetness that was enjoyable. I am a bit jaded, and often go into cigars like this wondering if they will be either just another cigar, or worse, but this was a very nice smoke, and worthy of attention. It’s even priced well for a U.S. manufactured product.

That’s enough from me for now. It’s supposed to be nice today, and I have some things I want to get done in the yard, and I have the day off, so there are cigars to smoke too. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Coalition of American Cigar Rollers, drew estate, Dunbarton, E.P. Carillo, Kentucky Fire Cured, KFC, MUWAT, Rodriguez, Umbagog

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