Category Archives: Stores

September 28, 2025 · 9:45 am

A Couple Wooden Indian Exclusives and a Stolen Throne Cigar

This week I’m featuring some exclusive cigars that aren’t widely available. The first two are available via Wooden Indian‘s website, or in the store, and this post is only sponsored by the store in so much as they provided me with samples. I have a history with the Wooden Indian going back to my first visit in 2009 in their old location, where I met Marvin Samel at an event and smoked my first Liga Privada No.9. This is interesting, because the store would become the first (of only 2) Liga Privada lounge and has a long standing history with Drew Estate. They have their own Serie Unico cigar, the Pancetta, which I wrote about here. Anyway, this year marks the 20th anniversary of Dave Mayer owning the store, which celebrated 60 years in business last year. Dave is one of my favorite people in the cigar industry. I’ll start with the Perdomo Dave’s 20th Anniversary cigar. Not a lot of folks get a Perdomo exclusive, so this is really special. They made 200 boxes of ten of this 6″ x 54 belicoso, which has an Ecuador shade wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers, and is said to be a never before available blend. I’ve heard that this is Arthur Kemper’s personal blend, and apparently the bands were in the same shipment with the Perdomo Lagacy bands, so this has been in the pipeline for a while. I’ve never been enamored with Perdomo’s shade offerings, but this one was something different. It’s not a mild cigar, which is consistent with Perdomo’s shade cigars, but it has some sweet, nutty tobacco flavors that I enjoyed. This is a very good cigar, If you’re a Perdomo fan, or a Dave Mayer fan, you have to try this one!

Last year the Wooden Indian celebrated 60 years in business, and they had the Aganorsa Leaf Supreme leaf WIT 60, a 5″ x 56 Gran Robusto. This year, for Dave’s 20th, they have the Aganorsa Leaf Supreme Leaf Gran Robusto, a vitola that’s exclusive to the Wooden Indian. I honestly don’t know if this is the same as the WIT 60, the vitola is the same, but I don’t recall the previous iteration being as strong as this one. It’s a Nicaraguan puro, with a Nicaraguan Corojo ’99 wrapper. The first draw was pure twang, I noted that this must have a high nicotine level. It settled a little, but not much, over the course of it’s five inches, but maintained it’s power. This is a strong cigar with a heavy citrus spice. It was satisfying, but I rather prefer the smoothness of the La Validación Series. Supreme Leaf is seasonally released, always in a different size, but this 5″ x 56 is only available at the Wooden Indian. I’ll very likely revisit this after some humidor time.

At some point yesterday I thought it would be a good idea to smoke a Pancetta to complete the Wooden Indian trifecta, but after spending the afternoon with family, then going to a pre-season Flyers game, by the time I got home I had forgotten. I had been looking forward to smoking a cigar that Lee Marsh of Stolen Throne Cigars had given me, ironically at the Wooden Indian, and that one was the one I grabbed when I got home. Lee made this cigar in honor of his late canine companion, Brody. Brody was a Cane Corso who was very special to Lee and his family. It’s my assumption that this is the Argos blend, which was a Winston’s Humidor (in Virginia) exclusive. Of course, the handsome dog on the band barked “smoke me” last night. This is a 5″ x 54 belicoso, made at the Rojas factory in Nicaragua, with a Sumatra wrapper and Nicaraguan fillers. Stolen Throne has two other cigars in the portfolio with Sumatra wrappers, neither of which I’m fond of, and he never lets me forget that. This one was somehow different, I very much enjoyed it. It had an interesting slightly fruity, slightly spicy aspect to the rich tobacco flavor. I was concerned, based on my experiences with the Yorktown and Call to Arms, but I throughly enjoyed this cigar.

I broke down and upgraded some equipment this week. I’ve been using a 2014 Macbook Air for the last several (7 or 8) years, and bit the bullet and picked up a 2020 Macbook Air. I think the 2009 iMac may need to be retired. Both of the old Macs were “rescues”, from the short time I worked for an Apple reseller, I got my money’s worth out of them. I can’t see any advantage a 2025 Macbook would give me over this one for what I do for the $400 price difference, but this is still way more than I’ve ever paid for a computer! I suspect this will last me quite a long time. That’s all I have for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Review, Stores

Tagged as 20th Anniversary, Aganorsa Leaf, Argos, Brody, cigar, cigars, Dave's 20th, Perdomo, Stolen Throne, Supreme Leaf, wooden indian

September 7, 2025 · 10:25 am

Some Saint Luis Rey Cigars, a La Riqueza, a DBL and a Shop Visit

Yesterday I did one of my most favorite things to do, as relates to this blog. Usually when I have giveaways, the winner is in some far flung place, this time he was in the same county as I am! Of course, I save $20 in shipping, and spend triple that at a cigar shop, but it’s so much more satisfying! I get to meet a friend I hadn’t met yet, and visit a new shop! More on all that later, first I want to talk about a sampler I picked up from Best Cigar Prices last week. I had some birthday points or something, can’t really remember why I ended up shopping there, but does it matter? I have been trying to expand my experiences with Altadis products, so I settled on the Saint Luis Rey “Battle of the Titans” sampler. This had three each of the Natural and Maduro SLR Titan size, which is 5½” x 60, and was right around $40 delivered. Six cigars for $40 isn’t bad. Back around 2017 I was smoking one of these and took an unfortunate stumble and fellow my face, smashing the cigar. To be honest, I couldn’t tell you if it was a natural or maduro, so I figured a side by side comparison was worth doing. I also like the folks at BCP, and it wouldn’t hurt me if you used the links on my site to buy some stuff from them, this sampler seems to be available in limited qualities. These are good smokes. They both started off with what I consider to be a bitter wood, or maybe like peanut skins, if that makes sense. They both sweeten over time, with the maduro hitting that sweeties sooner than the natural. Both had a good burn and draw, I smoked a couple of each to compare. This is one of the few cigars in the Altadis portfolio that isn’t made by A.J. Fernandez thatI like! These are made in Honduras, quite possibly by Plasencia, so maybe it’s just stuff from Casa de Garcia in the DR that doesn’t trip my trigger? Obviously, more research is necessary.

Last week I grabbed some Tatuaje cigars that were in the “new-to-me” category, turns out a couple are pretty recent, this one goes back to last November. This was the first time I’ve seen the La Riqueza Tuxtla LE 2024, so I bought one. Back in 2010 I made a brief visit to the New Orleans IPCPR show, and Pete Johnson was the first guy I ran into, and he gave me a La Riquza Lancero. I haven’t smoked enough of this line for some reason! I guess I don’t see them on shelves that often. This is a 6 3/8″ x 44 Lonsdale or Cazadores size, which is a very cool size that doesn’t get enough love. This guy starts out strong, and it’s immediately apparent that I need to take my time with this (the case with any small ring cigar, smoke them slow or they overheat!). It was earthy, with some dark dried fruit and espresso notes. I’ll be putting a few more of these in the humidor, or it might just be a go-to when I stop in Cigar Mojo – The Grove for a smoke!

Yesterday I took a drive to the western side of my county, to a shop that I’ve been hearing about for a year os so, but hadn’t gotten out there to visit. When I found out that last week’s giveaway winner lived out that way, it seemed like a greet way to combine some of my favorite things, visiting a new shop, meeting a reader, and saving shipping! I hesitate to mention the name of this shop. I can imagine a very prominent retailer causing this new, and very nice, cigar shop a load of trouble, as the guy I’m thinking of, rightly so, is very protective of his trademarks. The last thing I want to do is cause the proprietor any problems. The shop is located in Cochranville, PA at the intersection of Rts 41 and 10, most folks would say it’s in the middle of nowhere. This is fairly accurate because I used to live not far from this location, and it is, indeed, in the middle nowhere. All that said, the shop seems to be doing well, the humidor is well stocked with a great variety at great prices, and the lounge is clean and has really good ventilation. As I expected, Jeff W. was a great guy and I enjoyed spending a cigar getting to know him! He was very kind and gifted me a cigar on the way out, a DBL 12th Anniversary Toro. He had seen this rated a 99 on Stogie Press and smoked one there and was impressed. I gave it a smoke when I got home and was equally impressed. This is a 5 7/8″ x 56 toro, I guess, with a Mexican Habano wrapper, Organic Corojo ’99 Cuban seed grown on the DBL Tobacco Farm binder, and Organic Criollo ’98 Cuban seed, Organic Carbonell, and DBL T-13 fillers. That’s a lot of words I copied and pasted! It’s box pressed and has a cedar sleeve. Nice looking presentation. This cigar smoked well, I got some citrus tang that I originally thought was an exotic spice, but then it mellowed out. It was a very nice smoke, even after giving Jeff a pretty large box of goodies, I felt like I owe him another cigar! I enjoyed the day, good cigars, nice lounge, good company.

I’m just noticing that some of my older content is disappearing, something I need to ask my web host about, I guess. It’s possible I only have so much database space, and older stuff scrolls off. I’m going to try to put some stuff back, but it’s not going to be easy! That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Review, Stores

Tagged as 12th Anniversary, cigar, cigars, DBL, La Riqueza, Saint Luis Rey, tatuaje, Titan

August 31, 2025 · 10:12 am

Stolen Throne 919, Tatuaje Cohete Corojo, Howard G Cigars and the Giveaway Winner!

Photo credit Micky Pegg

Here we are, 16 years of writing CigarCraig.com! After all this time I still have to talk myself into going to a cigar shop after work! It’s nothing personal, and I always regret it when I pass up an opportunity, but it’s a struggle for me to leave the comfort and safety of my home smoking lounge! Weird, right? I’m actually an introvert, but I do my best to hide it. Anyway, Thursday evening I visited the Wooden Indian where Lee Marsh from Stolen Throne Cigars was doing an event. I consider Lee to be a friend, and it wouldn’t have been right for him to be in the neighborhood and miss seeing him. I love some of his cigars, add the Castle 919 to that list. I picked up a couple of the new Castle 919 cigars, a Robusto and a Belicoso, the only two sizes offered. Castle 919 has an Habano Claro wrapper, over Nicaraguan binder and fillers, made at the Rojas factory. I smoked the Belicoso, which is 5″ x 54 (the Robusto is 5″ x 50), and was delighted. This has the sugar cane sweetness I enjoy and was really good to the last drop! This may rise to the top of my Stolen Throne list of favorites, although the Crook of the Crown and Three Kingdoms will always rank highly. It was a treat to see Micky Pegg there as well and learn that All Saints Cigars is healthy! It is disappointing that they dropped my favorite size from their lines (Churchill), but glad they are still around! Lee and I stopped by Cigar Mojo – The Grove afterwards where I smoked a Yorktown Fleet Robusto, which is still not my favorite, but growing on me. Lee is deeply hurt that I don’t care for this blend (or the Call to arms).

Friday was my birthday, my whole family (8 of us) went out to a nice dinner. It makes me happy having all of us together. We got home a little late, so it was the perfect time to smoke a 4″ x 50 Tatuaje Cohetes Corojo that I had picked up when I visited Cigar Mojo – The Grove. I should get over there more often, it’s literally a mile from my house, refer back to the first couple sentences of this post. This is the first Cohetes I’ve smoked in the Tatuaje line, it’s curious to me that it exists along with the 4 3/8″ x 52 T110, they are different blends, but similar sizes. This was a really good little smoke. It started out with spice, but an interestingly different spice. Starting with spice is expected, but this was a different flavor. It sweetened slightly as it smoked, and was a really delicious little smoke, that lasted at least an hour for me. Looking forward to the T110 Corojo I picked up as well to see how they compare.

Once again, a Smoke Inn special sucked me in, who can pass up $20 for five cigars delivered to your door in a couple days? This one was two Rocky Patel Cameroons and three Howard G Cameroons. It’s a no-brainer. While I was interested in trying both, the Howard G cigars were my first priority. I think I met Howard at a trade show, it would have been outside the bar in the Venetian, but I don’t recall formal introductions. I’ve been hearing good things, so I wanted to sample the brand, and I like Cameroon, always have. It looks like this is in the Magic Stick line, which also has a Habano and Connecticut. I notice that they also have a Golf themed line which has a Front Nine and Back Nine. I hope Ryan Gallimore (check out the new Cigar Circus site!) is OK with that, as he had a Front Nine and Back Nine in his Swinger Cigars line many years ago. I will be on the lookout for the Magic Stick Habano, but this Cameroon wasn’t bad! It has a raw nuts sort of nuttiness, and I seem to get some kind of nuts flavor from Cameroon. It was a fairly bold flavor, the cigar smoked very nicely.

OK, now to announce a winner in last Sunday’s big giveaway. Apparently I guessed right on what the mystery Freestyle Live cigar was. which surprises me more than anyone. It’s a really good smoke, and I look forward to getting my hands on them when they hit stores. I consulted Google’s random number generator, and 4 was the number, and the number of the counting was 4. This corresponds to Jeff W., who needs to email me his contact information so I can get this out. I’m sure I’ll be able to come up with some more stuff for future giveaways! Thank you all for reading over these last 16 years!

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

CigarCraig

2 Comments

Filed under Contest, Events, Review, Stores

Tagged as Cameroon, Castle 919, cigar, cigars, Cohetes, Corojo, Howard G, Stolen Throne, tatuaje

June 29, 2025 · 8:45 am

A Quick Connecticut Visit, Paper Crane and Outcast Cigars

Last Sunday my wife and I drove up to Connecticut for breakfast, an annual tradition to celebrate her best friend who passed away. While we were in the neighborhood, we paid a visit to Mark Twain’s house in Hartford. I honestly don’t think I even knew that he had lived there. It was an amazing home, and photography was forbidden, but I managed to sneak a pic in his third floor man room. Of course, he smoked 24-40 cigars a day, they must have been either tiny or he didn’t smoke much of them, because I can barely manage a couple. I spend a minimum of an hour smoking a cigar, usually closer to two. There aren’t that many hours in the day! I do recommend the tour. They have chocolate cigars in the gift shop.

On our way home we stopped in New Haven to visit the Owl Shop. I’ll be honest, I confused this with the Owl Shop in Massachusetts, but I certainly wasn’t disappointed. This is a full bar and cigar lounge in the downtown area, with a nice selection of cigars. I grabbed a couple of their 85th anniversary cigars, not surprisingly made by Foundation Cigar Co.. Nick Melillo’s from New Haven, and his family has patronized this shop for decades. If I read right, this came out in 2019, so the 90th anniversary has come and gone, and I assume this is regular limited production for the store and not 6 year old stock. It has the Havana Seed CT #142 wrapper found on the Tabernacle Havana Seed No. 142, Mexican binder, and Nicaraguan fillers from Estelí and Jalapa, offered in a 5½” x 54 Robusto Extra. We sat in the lounge and relaxed with this cigar before heading back to PA, and it was very good. It has some espresso and leather with some spice. I liked it a lot, and the lounge was comfortable, the staff attentive, and I imagine the place is packed at night! It was a long day, but a good one.

I took a few days off this week to get some estate stuff done, and managed to have my first morning cigar of the season on Thursday. The weather has been crazy this year, I’m not sitting on my porch in the cold in the morning! I had picked up a Black Works Studio Paper Crane Corona Gorda when I visited Smoke Inn a few months back, and this was the perfect time to smoke it. This cigar came out in 2024, and has an Ecuador Connecticut Desflorado wrapper, Ecuador Habano binder and Nicaraguan fillers. It was rich and creamy, with a bit of spice. Not a mild cigar, it had some oomph to it, and it was a good kick start to the day. I haven’t really smoked many of Oveja Negra’s Connecticut offerings, but this one is good. James Brown knows how to blend cigars!

I had heard about the Outcast Cigars debut at the PCA show and had some curiosity. This is a new brand from Miami Cigar and Co., Gabriel Piñeres, PR guy to the stars, was kind enough to share a couple robustos with me. This is what the website has to say:

FOR THE BOLD AND UNCONVENTIONAL
Outcast Cigars is built for those who defy the norm and embrace the journey less traveled.

By blending rare and unconventional tobacco, we craft cigars that break tradition and redefine excellence. Like the trailblazers who inspire us, our cigars forge their own path—bold, unapologetic, and destined for greatness.

Outcast Cigars isn’t just a smoke; it’s a statement.

Be unique. Be yourself. Be an Outcast.

I smoked one and I enjoyed it. It has a Brazilian Cubra wrapper, Ecuadorian Sumatra binder and Dominican fillers. It burned perfectly, had a sweet cap, and was aromatic, my wife said the aromas changed from pipe-like to weedy, which I get the pipe analogy but no weed. This is obviously a cigar made with cased tobaccos, and I couldn’t help drawing comparisons to another cigar that is super popular and uses tobaccos traditionally found in pipe tobaccos. I believe it’s made by La Aurora, but if it came out that it was made by a certain Esteli factory I wouldn’t be at all surprised. It’ll be a big hit if it gets the right exposure. It’s a great change of pace cigar for me.

That’s about all I have for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Review, Stores, Trip Report

Tagged as Black Works Studio, cigar, cigars, Foundation, Foundation Cigar Co., Mark Twain, Miami Cigar and Co, Outcast, Oveja Negra, Owl Shop, Paper Crane, Samuel Clemens

March 9, 2025 · 10:15 am

Tobacco Queen Super A, Timeless Supreme and a Couple Cigars at Smoke Inn

A few weeks ago I featured some cigars from Cigar Ambassador in the Tobacco Queen line. This is a company that has been a major leaf supplier to the Asian market out of the DR. I was waiting for the right time to tackle the Tobacco Queen Super A, a 9¼” x 48 actual A size cigar, and that time presented itself this week. Set aside a hair over two hours for this one. I was surprised that this started out with a lot of flavor, many times A size cigars start mild, this one had some spice and cinnamon to start. For such a long cigar, it burned perfectly, and had a reasonable consistent flavor all the way through. It was a fun smoke, it kept my interest throughout, and I’d smoke it again. As long as it keeps my interest, I like a long smoke.

I had picked up a Ferio Tego Timeless Supreme 660 recently because I hadn’t yet smoked anything Ferio Tego branded yet. I don’t know how this happened, I just know that I need to fix it. The Timeless Supreme is a box-pressed Nicaraguan puro, made by Placencia. The 6″ x 60 box pressed doesn’t feel too large, and it smoked perfectly. This cigar was chocolaty with a hint of spice tingle, and I really liked it. Why haven’t I smoked this before? It could easily be a go-to cigar for me, it’s fits my preferences just right. I will need to further explore the Timeless series.

Friday morning I decided to make a Saturday visit to the Smoke Inn Casa de Montecristo in West Palm Beach, Florida. I know, you’re saying “CigarCraig, you live in Pennsylvania, how can this be?” Well, my wife got me a Frontier Airlines Go-pass that allows unlimited flights at short notice. All I have to pay is the taxes, which in the last three trips to Florida are about $30 round trip. Of course, there are limitations: blackout dates, limited destinations and times, stuff like that. One must also be willing to endure the discomfort of a budget airline, and I’ll put up with a lot to save a buck. Anyway I booked flights to Palm Beach International Airport and picked the closest Smoke Inn location to the airport, not realizing that the Headquarters store wasn’t too much further away. That’s how I ended up hanging out at Smoke Inn West Palm Beach for the day yesterday.

This is a beautiful shop, with a complete bar, well stocked humidor and helpful staff. Considering it’s been winter here, and was sunny and 80 there, I sat out on the lanai, as the Floridians like to call a patio. The patio had three TVs, and the music at a barely audible level so one doesn’t have to yell to converse, which I like a lot. The regulars engaged in the ball busting that seems to happen in every lounge I visit. I picked up a handful of cigars I hadn’t seen before and lit up a Micallef Black Box Pressed Toro, a Smoke Inn exclusive. This is a 6½” x 54 with a San Andrés wrapper, Ecuadorian Habano binder, and Nicaraguan fillers. I’m interested to see what Micallef does with this blend in the firecracker format, this is a much better value! I regret not bringing some back with me. It’s about $9, with some spice and cocoa, just the way I like it. I know that next weekend is the Great Smoke, and the stores there are going to be super busy. Would it have been better to go then? Perhaps, but the dates were blacked out and I was happy to hang out there with an old friend from the alt.smokers.cigars usenet days, Don Payne. It was great catching up with him. I was home in bed before midnight. This is two weekends in a row I’ve taken day trips to Florida, next weekend I’m staying home!

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

CigarCraig