Category Archives: Review

by CigarCraig | May 31, 2018 · 5:42 pm

Liberty Smokes in Philadelphia and a New Ora Vivo Gold Edition

I’ve been meaning to visit Liberty Smokes in South Philadelphia for a long time, I just today

buy singulair online https://patersoncounseling.org/pccboard/html/singulair.html no prescription pharmacy

managed to get down there. It’s easy enough to get to, it’s right of I-95 fairly close to the stadium complex. It’s owned by Mike Vitale and in addition to knowing his son, Victor, for many years, I also exchanged e-mails with him back in the summer of 2000 when he was the Senior VP of Sales at a little company called Holt’s. I was there when Brian opened the shop at 10 am, and bought some cigars and was invited to smoke one in their members lounge. The lounge is warm and cozy with a large TV, a bar area and nice leather seating. It wasn’t long before I was joined by one of the regulars, Charlie, and we had a nice dialog for the two hours I spent smoking the cigar. On my way out I finally met Mike Vitale, who had been busy, and chatted with him for a good half an hour. The store has been there for 15 years and from what I heard from the lounge, does a bri

buy methocarbamol online https://patersoncounseling.org/pccboard/html/methocarbamol.html no prescription pharmacy

sk walk-in business. the humidor is spacious and has an excellent selection, including all the staples you’d expect to find . Oddly, there were only a few facings of Tortuga, but they did have the new Ora Vivo Armand Assante cigars, the Gold Edition, as well as some of the World Edition. these were the cigars I bought. In better times I would have bought a couple of each size, but I’

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

m trying to exercise some fiscal restraint. I defaulted to the toro, which is called the Emmy and is 6″ x 56. They also have the Oscar at 6″ x 60 and the Tony robusto at 5″ x 54. The blend is as follows: wrapper: Ecuador , binder: Nicaraguan , and fillers: Nicaraguan and Honduran, made at the Tabacalera Aguilar factory in Honduras. These were released in July 2017 quietly to a very select group of their top retailers.

The smoking time on the 6″ x 56 Ora Vivo Armand Assante Gold Edition Emmy

buy lasix online http://francisholisticmedicalcenter.com/services/html/lasix.html no prescription pharmacy

was right around two hours, which worked great for my allotted time. I think anyone reading this site for any period of time knows my affinity for Victor Vitale’s cigars. I don’t think I ‘ve met a Tortuga I didn’t love, and the Ora Vivo Armand Assante line is very special. I think I have a couple of the original release floating around, as well as a World Edition European release corona, and I love them. I always regretted not buying a box at a dinner we went to in New Jersey with Armand and Victor, the vendor lacked the foresight to be able to accept credit cards at the event or I would have. Not saying there would be any left several years later, but it’s a regret none the same. This new Ora Vivo Gold Edition (Ora Oro?) was maybe the best cigar in the Legacy Brands line-up! I found it to be very rich, with the great espresso flavors I like, with some sweetness and, I swear, a hint of anise about two-thirds of the way in. It was as if I took a break and had a pizzelle. Awesome cigar, very consistent with what I understand to be Armand Assante’s vision for his cigars, that they are an expression of his life, and the quality and flavor are of the highest quality and excellence.

buy nolvadex online http://francisholisticmedicalcenter.com/services/html/nolvadex.html no prescription

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

pharmacy

Another great cigar from Macchione, Assante and Vitale. I bought a couple, but not nearly enough!

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

CigarCraig

2 Comments

Filed under Review, Stores

Tagged as cigar, cigar store, cigars, Liberty Smokes, Ora Vivo Armand Assante

by CigarCraig | May 27, 2018 · 10:14 am

Smoking Cigars and Sightseeing in Rome

My wife and I took a couple of days and are seeing the sights in Rome, Italy. This is going to be a short post, we still have some things to do and gelato to eat! I’ve smoked a few cigars whilst wandering around. I figured a Fratello Firecracker would be appropriate while at the Spanish Steps for several reasons. It was awesome, by the way. I look forward to trying Saka’s Mi Querida Firecracker

buy bimatoprost online https://stmu.edu.pk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/png/bimatoprost.html no prescription pharmacy

when it comes out.

Any way, we hit all the tourist sights, Trevi Fountain (apparently all the fountains in Rome have potable water!) Colosseum, the Vatican, the Pantheon, incredible all the ancient ruins and buildings mixed in amongst the city. I tried to visit Fincato, the La Casa Del Habanos store in Rome, but it’s closed Sunday! I picked up some Toscano Cigars at another little tobacco shop along with a Cuban Montecristo Open Reg

buy finasteride online https://stmu.edu.pk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/png/finasteride.html no prescription pharmacy

alo Tubo which I smoked walking back from the Colosseum and Roman Forum tour. I should have given it some humidor time at home since it burned crappy. Good flavor, just a nuisance to smoke. Fairly priced at 11,40 Euros I guess.

A couple of observations: many of what we would think are sidewalks are roads. If you’re a fan of scooters and small cars, and I am, this is the place for you. Finally, every Sunday at noon the Pope pokes his head out his window to bless the cigars, at least that’s the way I translated it. There were even cosplayers in St Peters Square for the blessing, we stood next to three guys in brown robes tied with rope at the waist!

Having fun in Rome, until the next time,

CigarCraig

Comments Off on Smoking Cigars and Sightseeing in Rome

Filed under Review, Trip Report

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Coliseum, Fratello, Rome, Vatican

by CigarCraig | May 20, 2018 · 10:17 am

An Evening at A Little Taste of Cuba and Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Cigars

The last month or so I’ve been resisting going out to cigar shops. I’ve been antisocial, careful with dollars, and busy huntin

buy periactin online https://neramedprep.org/scripts/css/periactin.html no prescription pharmacy

g for the next opportunity. I still get my daily walks in with a cigar, but have been laying low as far as cigar events go. Last night my wife and I took a drive to Princeton, NJ to A Little Taste of Cuba. You may recall last year we visited the A Little Taste of Cuba in New Hope, PA to meet up with Kevin of CigarProp fame. A Little Taste of Cuba is owned by Jorge Armenteros, who is the guy behind Tobacconist University, which is a course that teaches about everything cigar, pipe and tobacco. Jorge describes the Princeton store the flagship store, and it’s a very nice shop. It’s New Jersey, so I had a little sticker shock being used to PA prices, but they offered a Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust sampler with a Sobremesa Short Churchill (which I smoked first), Mi Querida Ancho Corto (smoked second) and Gordito, Todos Las Dias Double Wide Belicoso and an Umbagog Short and Fat. Honestly, I would have bought a handful of Umbagogs and been happy, but the price of the sampler versus the price of the Umbagogs made the sampler a better value. Of course, the two cigars I smoked were fantastic. Unlike the New Hope shop, the Princeton store has a lounge a half a flight up from the store area. The seating was comfortable, and the smoke eaters were noisy, but effective. There were a dozen to 15 people in there smoking over the course of the evening and it wasn’t that bad.

Did I mention Steve Saka and his wife, Cindy, were there? It was a casual non-event event, they were just there to hang out and we decided to run out there and hang out with them. Steve was losing his voice, wh

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

ich made it hard for me to hear all the nuggets of wisdom emanating from him, but a lot of it I’ve heard before. My hearing is impaired, so the combination of t

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

he drone from the air cleaner and Steve’s gravely voice made it hard to follow any one conversation, but I was enjoying the crap out of the cigars I was smoking, so it didn’t much matter. It’s always great to spend a little time with Steve and Cindy, terrific people. I also ran into my

buy zithromax online https://neramedprep.org/scripts/css/zithromax.html no prescription pharmacy

old friend Alex Martinez, who I met back in 2013 when I was up in the Lyndhurst, NJ area for a few days. Always nice to reconnect.

Two more quick little things n my mind: First, we were out at a fabric store yesterday with one of our granddaughters getting her some patterns and fabric for projects, and I came across some interesting fabric. Fabric stores make me anxious since childhood, not sure why, maybe it’s the overwhelming variety, or the cluttered feeling, but I’m uncomfortable in them. So I wasn’t just pacing around with my hands in my pockets, my wife told me to go look for some cigar fabric, and don’t you know I found some, and bought the whole bolt! Oddly, there’s a billion patterns for women’s clothes, but only like seven for men. I guess we buy our clothes as opposed to making them! Second, I once again found that smoking a strong cigar late at night gives me some weird-ass dreams and isn’t good for my sleep! No cigars after 9pm, I guess! Crazy!

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

CigarCraig

3 Comments

Filed under Review, Stores

Tagged as A Little Taste of Cuba, cigar, cigars, Dunbarton, Mi Querida, Sobremesa, Todos Las Dias, Umbagog

by CigarCraig | May 13, 2018 · 9:26 am

Debonaire Habano, EP Carrillo Elite Oscuro and Macanudo Inspirado Red Cigars

Spring, nice weather and unemployment lead to long walks with good cigars. Besides the constant searching of job postings, and brainstorming on my future path, it’s come to my attention that I’ll be launching a podcast soon, so I’m trying to figure out the logistics of that venture. More to come on that and obviously it will be announced here. Fortunately I have a stockpile of cigars to smoke, but one that recently arrived in the mail from my friends at Drew Estate was a Debonaire Habano Belicoso. I’m a fan of the Debonaire line, Phil Zanghi, the owner of the brand and chief cigar alchemist, is a cool guy with a ton of energy. Phil founded Indian Tabak cigars, partnered with, and later sold to, Rocky Patel. I’ve bought some of the Debonaire cigars in the past, and enjoyed them quite a bit, for me they are pricey but worth it. The Habano was the first line they released in 2012, and it has a Nicaraguan Habano wrapper, Dominican binder, and fillers from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. This belicoso was one of the original sizes released in 2012, and the example I smoked burned perfectly and really had a great taste. These fall into the “savory” category, and this may be one of the few lines where I like the “natural” wrapper over the maduro. The Maduros are great (as are the Connecticut Shade “Daybreak” line), but this Habano wrapper really makes for a great cigar. the Belicoso and Toro both measure 6″ x 54 according to the Debonaire Cigars website, either is a good choice, I’d think.

About two months ago I went to an event at Goose’s lounge in Limerick, PA (which is named after Limerick, Ireland, not after the often off-color poetic style) with EP Carrillo‘s José Blanco. It was a guided tasting, which José is known for, and was great. I picked up some EPC cigars while there, some Dusk and some of the Elite Series Seleccion Oscuro in the Small Churchill size. I smoked the Oscuro Friday and was really, really happy with it. This line has a Mexico San Andrés Oscuro wrapper, binder from Ecuador and Nicaraguan fillers and is a sweet, earthy feast of the senses. I don’t think this was overly complex, and I don’t generally sense a great deal of changes in cigars, but the flavors that it had were very appealing to me and it was just fine that they didn’t change much. I hated putting this one down. I swear I bought more than one, I’ll have to do some humidor rummaging…by the way, I also smoked a Dusk from the Classic Series this week that was spectacular. That Broadleaf wrapper is tasty!

I was wow’d by the Macanudo Inspirado Red in the box pressed robusto size initially, and wanted to sample the other sizes in the line. I picked up some Toros and Gigantes (loved the Gigante but leave yourself 2+ hours…), and finally got around to smoking the Toro. I had been told that the Robusto was the best in the bunch, and I think I’m inclined to agree, but the Toro was also quite good. It’s a 6″ x 50 in a round format, not pressed, and shares the high priming Ecuador Habano wrapper, Jalapa binder and fillers from Honduras (Jamastran), Nicaragua (Esteli, Ometepe) as the other sizes. These are full-bodied on the Macanudo scale, but high medium in the grand scheme of things, I think. I enjoy the crap out of the Inspirado Red, in this case I think the Toro is my least favorite size, which is like me saying a Maduro is my second favorite wrapper in a line! I love Toros, they are almost always my favorite vitola in a line, but this time I go with the robusto. Maybe it’s the box pressing? I’d love to try a box pressed toro!

That’s all for today, I’ve got to get working on that podcast thing. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

Comments Off on Debonaire Habano, EP Carrillo Elite Oscuro and Macanudo Inspirado Red Cigars

Filed under Review

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Debonaire, drew estate, Elite, EP Carillo, general cigars, Habano, Inspirado, oscuro, Red

by CigarCraig | May 8, 2018 · 2:16 pm

A Quick Stop at the Nat Sherman Townhouse and an Epoca Perfecto

My wife and I happened to be in Manhattan yesterday for the Today Show, where they were celebrating Melanoma Monday and trying to break a Guinness record for the number of people applying sunscreen simultaneously. It’s hard to believe NBC couldn’t get 1823 people there in Rockefeller Center to get a free t-shirt and sunscreen and be a part of it. I doubt there were 500 people there. Obviously Melanoma is something we all have to worry about, especially if you’re like me and love sitting in the sun smoking a cigar. I have enough class (Id like to think) to not light up a cigar at a cancer event) We were right up front, and I thought I set the DVR to record, but haven’t checked to see if it did yet. After the show was over we went for breakfast and some entertainment at Ellen’s Stardust Diner, where the wait staff sings between waiting tables and it’s a lot of fun. The food was IHOP grade at 4x the price, but it’s Broadway, and you’re paying for the entertainment. As long as we were there, we figured we’d walk a few blocks to the Nat Sherman Townhouse on 42nd street. This is a top-notch, high-class operation, where an associate walks into the humidor with a tray and notes the cigars you select in a very helpful and unobtrusive manner. Jeff was a great salesperson and very knowledgeable, and, although I have few needs in the cigar department, I did pick up a couple goodies I hadn’t smoked before. They have an excellent selection, including accessories. The Laguiole Cigar Cutters they had were incredible works of art, if I weren’t unemployed I’d be lusting after one of those! I’f you find yourself in Manhattan, this should be a place to stop for a smoke. I usually link to a manufacturer’s website, but NatSherman.com seems to be just cigarette-centric, and requires one to log in to see that. It didn’t seem that Altria purchasing Nat Sherman had impacted the cigars or the operations of the Townhouse, but, unless I’m just not finding it, they don’t seem to have a cigar and associated accouterments website.

One cigar that caught my eye and I bought a few of was the Epoca Perfecto. I think I was drawn to this cigar because the whole theme of the brand is that it’s a throwback to the Epoca brand of the 1920s, and the box of perfectos just looked like a vintage cigar ad. It’s a classic shape, and fit the classic image of the brand. I know these are available all over, but I never see them locally, and I seem to buy Epocas every time I visit the Townhouse. The Perfecto is 5 ¾” x 52 with an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper, Dominican binder and filler from the DR and Nicaragua. The NYC price of this was $14, I’m sure it can be found for less. I always find this line to have a unique flavor and feel. Maybe it’s the nostalgia of the branding, but it smokes like a vintage cigar, and has what I imagine to be flavors of well aged tobacco. I suspect that the tobaccos are well aged, and the construction is perfect, withe the exception of some cracks I had in the very thin Ecuador Connecticut wrapper, which were from fumbling the football shaped cigar at one point. I really like this cigar, although I won’t pay $14 very often (everything is expensive in NYC!). It was a fun cigar to smoke, I really enjoyed it, especially after getting up at 3am, driving to NYC, hanging out for 6 hours, then driving home.