I had a relatively busy week this week, making the drive into Philly two days in a row to visit Vince at BnB International Cigars in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia on Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday, Robert Holt of Southern Draw Cigars was making an appearance there, and I hadn’t seen him since the 2017 IPCPR show. I had a bone to pick with Robert, as I had stopped receiving his media e-mails over the last year and was trying to figure out which thing it was I did that might have offended him, I thought we had left off on pretty good terms. As it turns out, he had replaced a lost phone or something and had missed getting my address back in his database, and had been wondering why he hadn’t heard from me! We got it sorted out like gentlemen, it’s all good now, keep an ear out for the next episode of the CigarCraig Podcast this week featuring Robert.
Anyway, I had a great time at BnB hanging out with Vince and Frank, and had a chance, finally to smoke their Flor de Cesar, which is their own cigar made at James Brown’s Fabrica Oveja Negra in Esteli. Vince told me they were going for something different from other cigars in the Black Works portfolio, and I’d have to agree, the Flor de Cesar was a very nice cigar with a sweet spice, almost floral side to it which was very nice. These have a Brazilian Mata Fina wrapper that Vince tells me is the same as a wrapper that RomaCraft uses on the Wanderlust (right?), but a lower priming, which they bought all of for this cigar. It has a Honduran binder and fillers from Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Brazil. I thought it was well-balanced and medium bodied and a pleasure to smoke. I have a Toro on deck to sample, which I look forward to, but the Robusto was of exceptional quality, and is reasonably priced. BnB Inernational has an online store where these can be purchased, which is not to be confused with the BnB Tobacco which has been a long time advertiser on CigarCraig.com.
Since it was a Southern Draw Cigars Event I lit up a Jacobs Ladder Lancero out of the white Ignite jar. They had both the white and black jars on the counter, and one had a white band and one had a dark band, but they were the same cigars. Give the upcoming podcast episode a listen for information on the Ignite project, it’s a charity cigar, and Southern Draw is all about giving back, which is admirable, and I’ve seen a lot of cigar companies with good intentions end up failing, and Robert is doing the exact opposite. my only criticism is that if you don’t know what this is, the bands really don’t identify it, no where on either band does it say “Southern Draw” at all. I suppose I should have asked Robert about this at the time, I didn’t really even notice until I got home and put cigars away. If you know, you know, but if you don’t, you’re in for a rough research project. I can see a conversation in a cigar store something like “I had this great cigar, it has a band that said “Top Rung”, do you have that, I want to buy a box. it had a white and copper band with some Latin on it too.” Like when I worked in a record store and people would come in and say “I heard this song on the radio, it went something like la la la love la la…. do you have that one?” Anyway, I’m a big fan of the Southern Draw Jacobs Ladder, as a matter of fact, last winter it was wicked cold and I was walking Macha and I was wearing mittens and smoking my last Jacobs Ladder Toro. I was almost home and realized I no longer had the cigar in my hand. I panicked and turned around and retraced my steps to find my cigar on the street, fortunately undamaged, so I could finish it. I love the larger ring gauge in this blend, but the lancero version is spectacular as well. Robert loves that format, so his lanceros always seem to be on point. Smoked slow, the dark, bitter espresso flavors are right there, over smoked and it will be too harsh, but a nice, slow pace and this lancero is good to the last drop.
Thursday brought a Cornelius and Anthony event back at BnB. I decided to brave rush hour traffic and spent a good half an hour longer than usual on the Schuylkill Expressway and head back to see my friends Todd Vance and Miguel Montanez, along with Vince and Brian. Bnb is a great little shop packed to the rafters with great cigars, I recommend visiting if you find yourself in the Philadelphia area. Anyway, I grabbed myself a Cornelius and Anthony The Gent Toro and repaired to the rocking chairs on the sidewalk in front of the store with Todd to enjoy the cigar. The Gent is quickly moving up my list of favorite Cornelius and Anthony cigars, I’ve now smoked the Robusto, Gordo and Toro, and, as per usual, the Toro stands out as my favorite, although it’s a very fine line in this blend, they have all been quite good. The price is really good on these too, it may be the lowest priced cigar in the Cornelius and Anthony line, and it’s the only box pressed cigar. This is a cigar that may become a household name around here. I know my amigo CigarProp Kevin dug this one, as well as the Cornelius, and who can blame him on that, what’s not to like? Hunt down CigarProp on Youtube and check out Kevins videos, by the way. Speaking of Cornelius, I smoked a Lonsdale earlier in the week which was spectacular! It’s right up there with the Toro as my favorite of the brand. I dream of one day seeing a classic Churchill in the Cornelius blend, I think the 7″ x 47 would be drool-worthy. Spoiler alert: I’m going to go through the humidor and pick out some cigars for a contest coming up this week, definitely stay tuned.
Robert gifted me a 300 (trescientos, gotta remember that!) Manos Corona Gorda at the event which I eagerly smoked Friday afternoon. This cigar has Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, a binder from Cameroon, and a blend of Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers and is the “natural” version, with the 300 Hands being the Maduro version having a Nicaraguan wrapper and Indonesian binder. These two cigars are meant to spotlight the number of people involved in making a premium cigar, and is another project that gives back to those people through charitable donations by Southern Draw. Again, check out the upcoming podcast episode where we talk about this in detail. This is a very reasonably priced cigar, considering the quality of construction, flavor and the fact that some of your dollars are going to help people. There is a lot of nice, clean tobacco flavor in this cigar, the Cameroon binder adds that neat nutty little sweetness that I like, and the cigar just tastes good. this is a winner and I can’t wait to try the 300 Hands.
I smoked a bunch of other cigars this week, a Cornelius and Anthony Venganza, a Wiseman Maduro, a Protocol Lancero, a Providencia El Santo and a Punch Diablo, which were all excellent, and have either been covered here before, or I have future plans to write about. All of them were yummy, not a bad cigar in the bunch, I’m enjoying a good stretch of cigars, at least, I could use some luck in some other areas! Again, watch for an upcoming podcast and contest! So, that’s all for today, until the next time,
CigarCraig
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Friday I smoked a Brick House Maduro Robusto, the 5″ x 54 Brazilian Arapiraca wrapped cigar made in J.C.Newman’s PENSA factory in Esteli. It’s been a long time since I smoked one of this, and I forgot how much I like this cigar. It might me four years since I had a Brick House Maduro, and then it was the Mighty Mighty, and I liked it. This could actually climb onto my list of those cigars could have in a rotation and smoke regularly. It’s a really delicious maduro cigar with a nice sweetness like rich cocoa. The construction was excellent with the burn and draw being perfect. I will definitely stock my humidor with more of these, it will be one of those go-to cigars for sure. I dig it.
The Diamond Crown is another cigar I love but I don’t smoke often. I remember smoking the No.2 at a weekend cigar party in Las Vegas in 1998, back when they were only available on the west coast. This is another J.C. Newman cigar, but this one is made by Fuente in the Dominican Republic. When these came out, they were 54 ring gauge, which was huge. This cigar has a Connecticut wrapper that is fermented twice, and the cigars are aged for five years. Whatever they do to these, they are really tasty, mild cigars. they are smooth, creamy with some sweetness, no real grassy flavor like one often gets with Connecticut Shade cigars. This is another one of those classic cigars that stands the test of time, and seems to taste the same as it did 20 years ago. I have several cigars I keep on hand that are kind of sentimental, seems like most of them are from the Fuentes for some reason. Interesting!
