Category Archives: Video

by Craig Vanderslice | February 20, 2022 · 9:30 am

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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Tagged as Amadeus, cigar, cigars, Iconic Leaf, Los Cabos, Recluse, TPE

by Craig Vanderslice | February 17, 2022 · 6:06 pm

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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Tagged as Casa Cuevas, cigar, cigars, Flaco, TPE

by Craig Vanderslice | February 9, 2022 · 5:00 pm

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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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Escuro, Espinosa, Laranja, TPE

by Craig Vanderslice | February 3, 2022 · 8:39 pm

TPE2022: Epic Cigars and Nat Cicco Cigars

Here’s another little video from last week’s Tobacco Plus Expo. I hadn’t seen Dean Parsons for a while, since he sold his company to Nat Cicco and went to work for them. I also had never smoked a Nat Cicco cigar until just tonight. I selected the Liga No. 4 in the Aniversario 1965 line. This was a square pressed Toro with a closed foot and a pigtail cap and a dark Ecuador Habano wrapper. It was a beautiful cigar with some strength and loads of dark, rich flavor. It was chocolaty, earthy with some spice, right up my alley. It was a really beautiful cigar, and I really enjoyed it. I’ve known Dean since 2014 and enjoyed many of his Epic cigars. It was great seeing him at this show.

I hope you enjoy my video content. It was challenging doing it alone, without a cameraman, but I think I was able to pull it off. If you’ve watched the evolution of my video coverage I hope there’s been some improvement over the years. It’s not my main focus, but I try to at least make them audible. I have a couple more to feed in over the next couple weeks. Stay tuned.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Epic, Nat Cicco, TPE, Zander-Gregg

by Craig Vanderslice | January 30, 2022 · 8:00 am

TPE2022 Thoughts and a Few Minutes with Micky Pegg of All Saints Cigars

As I’m getting ready to fly home I’m reflecting on the last few days at the TPE show. This was my first major event in two years, mostly pandemic related, but there were also some personal concerns. At the risk of appearing less than humble, I had forgotten how many people I knew in the cigar industry. It was great reconnecting with so many old friends, and making a bunch of new ones! Actually one of the things I was thinking about going in was the media attendance. I have a very narrow sphere of podcasts and sites I follow, I’m less in tune with the “influencers”, be they Instagramers or Youtubers out there. I met a few of the Youtube folks with whom we have mutual friends, or other business crossovers, and I saw a bunch of people taking selfies in the aisles, but I couldn’t tell you who they are. One thing I think the TPE could do better is to put the name of the media outlet on the badge instead of just the person’s real name and “Media”. I learned on my first go around to put one of my logo stickers on my badge to visually identify myself. One of my favorite things about the last few days was hanging out with friends I don’t get to see often, they are in my ear on a weekly basis, but we never share the same space. Over the next few months you’ll hear about the cigars I came across, but for me the show was about networking, and I was able to talk to just about everyone I wanted to talk to.

One of the people I talked to quite a bit at the show was Micky Pegg of All Saints Cigars. Of course, the Saint Francis was one of my favorite cigars of last year. The funny thing is that Micky lives a few mile away from me, and had to fly 2500 miles away to hang out with him. I mic’d him up and we chatted for a few minutes: