Category Archives: TPE

TPE2022: ATL Cigars

I’m off on vacation with my wife on a tropical island for a few days, so here’s the last of my videos from the Tobacco Plus Expo last month. I liked the guys from ATL Cigars and I enjoyed their cigars. I especially enjoyed the Magic, as I mentioned in the video. Peter and Leroy were cool dudes. 

 

 

I’m taking cigars I enjoy on my trip, so I don’t know that I’ll have much new to talk about on Sunday, but I’ll certainly try to come up with something for my usual post. That’s all for today, until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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TPE2022: Recluse Cigars and an Amadeus Los Cabos

I first learned of Iconic Leaf and Recluse Cigars at the 2012 IPCPR show where I talked to them about their cigars. I was pleased to see Scott Weeks at the TPE after not having seen him for several years. I still have a handful of Recluse cigars in my humidor, but one I never got around to trying was the Recluse Amadeus Los Cabos.  The original Amadeus has a bit of a sentimental place for me, it’s a nice Connecticut wrapped cigar, and the Habano version is very nice, so this is the third in the series. It’s named for Cabo San Lucas in Mexico because that’s a popular vacation spot, and a cigar is a little vacation, which is something I’ve said for years: it’s my daily vacation. It has a San Andrés wrapper over a Sumatra binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers.  It’s box pressed and, like all of the cigars made in this factory, rolled entubado. The burn and draw were excellent, and it was a tasty smoke. It has some dark fruit and earthy flavors, with hints of coffee and cocoa.  I’m sorry it took so long for me to try this one, I guess I’m going to have to get some more, as I only mooched one of these off of Scott at the show. I wanted to smoke the Factory Production Run sample that Scott talks about in the video, but time wasn’t on my side this week.  

 

Today’s video with Scott Weeks from the TPE runs quite a bit longer than most of my videos. If you know of Scott, you’ll understand, he’s not prone to brevity. Scott is the king of folksy clichés, and sprinkles a few here and there throughout the video. He’s a good dude, I always enjoy spending time with him. 

 

 

This week is going to be tricky as my wife and I are taking a long weekend to a tropical location. I’ll try to get some content posted before leaving, then i should be back for my usual Sunday BS, where maybe I’ll have something to talk about from the trip. Anyway, that’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

 

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TPE 2022: Casa Cuevas Cigars

I met Luis Cuevas for the first time at the 2020 TPE and we hit it off pretty well, like we had known one another for years. Anyway, I decided to post this video tonight in honor of the passing of Carlos Toraño, while I never had the pleasure of meeting him, I know several of his family members, and my condolences go out to them. If you are wondering how this relates to the Cuevas family, I think I mention it in the video, many of the Toraño cigars were made by Cuevas.  The two families are intertwined in cigar history.   

 

 

Thanks to Luis Cuevas for taking the time to talk to me at the TPE show. Casa Cuevas sure makes some good cigars! That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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TPE2022: Erik Espinosa and Some Espinosa Cigars

I smoked a couple cigars from Espinosa Cigars over the last few days, just because I, for some reason, don’t find myself smoking a great many cigars from the Espinosa line. I do enjoy many cigars made at La Zona, as I told Jack Toraño one evening when I was hanging out with him at the hotel lounge, one of my favorite La Zona cigars is the La Sirena. I had picked up an Espinosa Habano on Sunday when I stopped into Son’s (more news from that visit to come), as I hadn’t had one in a very long time. I smoked it Monday. This is a nice smoke, cedary and earthy, with a little bit of sweetness and some spice. Not so much in my personal wheelhouse, but an enjoyable cigar nonetheless. This, of course, was the 6″ x 52 No. 5 vitola.

 

When I met with Erik at the TPE he gave me a Laranja Escuro,  in the box pressed 6″ x 52 Toro  size. This is the Brazilian Matafina wrapped version of the Laranja, made at the A.J. Fernandez’ San Lotano Factory. This cigar is more up my alley, as I generally favor a maduro. It performed perfectly, and had loads of dark rich flavors, which included espresso, and some nice spices. I was thoroughly impressed and satisfied by this cigar, and I don’t believe I had smoked this cigar before, and I don’t know why. It will definately be on my list in the future. 

 

Erik gave me a few minutes at the TPE and talked about a new project he had coming up. Take a look at the video:

 

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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TPE2022: The Brands of Sutliff Tobacco Distributing, Patina, Emperors Cut, Etc.

No video this time, I should have done some videos in the Suliff booth, but it was the first day when I visited, and it was very busy. On Wednesday, the first day if the show, my plane landed around 11:30 and I got an Uber right to the show, I think I was on the floor by 12:45. I actually wasn’t really planning to get to the show at all on Wednesday, but things worked out better than I expected. I decided it made more sense to go right to the Convention Center than to try to check in the hotel early and goof around with that sort of stuff. It also helped that I ran into Mark Weisenberger, of Box Press Sales and Marketing, on the plane and shared the Uber with him to the show. So I used Wednesday to get my bearings and come up with a plan for the next couple days. Back to the Sutliff booth. I’ve known Anne Dinkins at Sutliff for years, she used to be my contact at Villiger Cigars years ago. I make a point to stop and say hello to her if nothing else. She, in turn, introduces me to the brands that Sutliff distributes. This year there were a few new ones that I didn’t know much about, and a few I had known for a while. 

 

One brand that was there that I really like was Patina Cigars. I was happy to meet Mo Maali, I hear him all the time on his Sultans of Smoke podcast so I feel like I know him. I may have met him before…I feel like he knew who I was. Social media can blur the lines between what’s real and not sometimes. I feel bad that I didn’t spend more time with him, and regret not circling back and doing a video with him. Patina is a great line of cigars. They are made in the same factory that Saka’s Mi Querida cigars are made in, NACSA, so the quality is top notch. I smoked a Patina Habano that I had in my humidor when I got home and it was spectacular. It had that cane sugar sweetness that I love. I know it’s one that I’ll be grabbing at Son’s the next time I get over there (which needs to be soon). Mo handed me a Maduro, which I definitely need to sample. I’m a big fan, I hope he gets out this way for a visit one of these days, I know he works with several stores in the Philadelphia area. 

 

There were several brands in the Sutliff booth that I’ve featured on these pages before that I was able to put faces with names finally, Desiree from Drunk Chicken Cigars and Steve Zengel of Los Caidos Cigars. There were also a few people I’ve known for a long time, like Enrique Seijas of Matilde cigars and Eddie Tarazona of…what was the name of his company? Oh, right, Tarazona Cigars 😁.  I finally met Marcel and Henderson of Adventura Cigars, who might have had the busiest corner of the booth. Henderson gave me a Queens Pearls, which has been getting a lot of buzz, and I smoked it this week and it was OK, I may have to pick up another one to give it a second shot. A friend gifted me a Kings Gold which looks more to my liking. Honestly, it takes a heck of a Connecticut cigar to get my attention. 

 

Anne seemed most anxious to introduce me to Greg Willis of Emperors Cut Cigars. It turns out that Greg had e-mailed me several years ago about advertising and I was, let’s say, diplomatically dismissive. We had a good laugh. I smoked the Natural Pleasure Gan Robusto yesterday.  This was a 5½” x 56 cigar made in Nicaragua, with a Colorado Maduro wrapper, Ecuadoran binder, and fillers from Estelí, Nicaragua. It was an earthy Nicaraguan blend with very little sweetness. It was very different than what I expected. I think it was more on the umami side of the flavor spectrum that what I typically am drawn to. That being said, it certainly performed well and it wasn’t off-putting in any way. I enjoyed it as a change from what I typically enjoy. Make sense? Maybe not, but I look forward to trying the Jazz series cigar Greg gave me. 

 

Sutliff’s booth was very busy when I was there, of course they are also, probably primarily, a pipe tobacco company, so there was a lot of pipe tobacco displayed in the booth as well. As I don’t care about that, I don’t cover it. I always enjoy seeing old friends and meeting new people though! I hope I didn’t miss anyone. Thanks again to Anne for taking time to show me around.

 

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

 

CigarCraig 

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