There was a lot of news last week, and I didn’t get to most of them, but one I wanted to touch on was from Scandinavian Tobacco Group, STG, owner of General and Forged Cigars and. Cigars International. The press release was announcing an exclusive with Southern Draw, but what I found interesting was that this was the first time I had heard of Cigora, as explained below:
About Cigora
Launched in August 2022, Cigora is an exclusive cigar community and ecommerce site that represents the future of cigars online. With a clean, modern aesthetic, the site includes a robust online forum with informative content, unique discussion boards, and an ecommerce section that features top-shelf cigars as well as rare, limited-edition releases from brands including but not limited to Davidoff, Ashton, Tatuaje, Viaje and others. A rewards program, invitation-only virtual events and exclusive members-only content round out the site’s wide range of offerings.Cigora is open to all consumers of legal smoking age.
I don’t have a problem with this, I just find it curious that I hadn’t heard about it. Maybe it’s all over the Cigarworld forums, which is General’s online presence. Does Cigora replace Cigarworld? It’s hard to tell. I see some familiar names in the forum, so I’m not sure how this escaped my notice. That being said, I’m terrible about participating in website based forums! Still, it’s something I’ll explore.
Let’s get to the cigars! After a couple of trade show samples that I just didn’t like, I tried a new-to-me cigar from Dean Parsons’ Epic Cigars. Dean gave me this one at the TPE show, it’s the Epic Police 299, which is an homage to his police service in Canada. The 299 is his regimental number in the department. The cigar is made inthe DR, has a Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper, Cameroon binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. It’s a 6½” x 54 cigar. I like that size, it’s a wonder it lasted this long in the humidor. This was a terrific cigar. I am a fan of the Epic Maduros, and the San Andrés, and this was a nice addition to the line. I got some espresso, and dark fruits, and it burned very well. It was a nice recovery from a couple not-so-good cigars the night before.
I finally had the right amount of time yesterday to smoke the new addition to the La Sirena Mexican Mermaid line, the 4×54. Any guesses what size it is? They skipped the large band on this one, going with just the small band that they usually put under the big one. I really like the Mexican Mermaid blend, it suits my palate perfectly. It’s unlike other San Andrés blends in that it’s a little meatier I think. I liked this new size, better than the “Lancero”, which is more of a lonsdale, but not quite as much as the Toro. That might change as I will certainly try to sample more of these in the future. It’s a nice little size.
Finally, it’s Bricktoberfest this month, and J.C. Newman has come out with a special Bricktoberfest 2022 Brick House cigar, a pigtailed 6″ x 52 cigar, a limited edition with a Nicaraguan wrapper from Jalapa and dual binders from Estelí and Condega over Nicaraguan fillers. The are running a promotion where if you buy 7 cigars you get a boot-shaped beer glass, which they erroneously call “Das Boot”. Of course, in German, Das Boot means “The Boat”. It should be “der Stiefel”, but the boot shaped glasses have a long history for some reason. Some stories about military hazings involving drinking beer out of an actual boot or something. The cigar was quite good, and I like the Brick House line, especially the maduro. I found it quite enjoyable, it’s a fairly straightforward cigar, but what it has tastes good to the end.
That’s all for today, until the next time,
CigarCraig
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