CigarCraig's Blog

by CigarCraig | March 20, 2016 · 10:43 am

Alec Bradley, 1502, Something from Leccia and Lars Tetens Cigars

Today is the first day of Spring and they are talking about snow! That’s some crap, isn’t it? Anyway, just like everyone else, I suppose, I smoked this years iteration of the Alec Bradley Black Market Filthy Hooligan on Saint Patrick’s Day. I like the idea of snakes being banished as we have a couple in our back yard now that my wife is fond of photographing for what I figure is solely to terrify me. I. Don’t. Like. Snakes. As long as they stay outside, I’ll stay in and it’ll be OK, I guess, but I’m rooting for the hawks on this one, eat them slithery bastards up please. Anyway, the whole Saint Patrick and snakes thing is BS anyway, but I appreciate the notion. I’ve quite enjoyed the previous Hooligans, but this year’s version was a twist on the original, fairly literally. They took the candela cigar and applied a maduro stripe to it to create the barber pole effect. This manufacturing technique became apparent as I was attempting to remove the secondary band, which, like the primary band, was affixed nearly permanently to the cigar. I only mentioned last week how easy band removal enhanced the experience for me. The one benefit to this was that I was able to smoke about an inch of the middle of the cigar as the original candela, and it’s rather amazing to taste how much difference that little strip of maduro makes in the flavor. the maduro takes the chlorophyll-like edge of the candela and smooths it out. I had been looking forward to trying this cigar, I like a candela once in a while, and I liked the similar looking Asylum Ogre line for many of the same reasons, the blending of the candela and maduro wrappers make a unique tasting smoke.

Friday evening we went out to grab a bite, and I stopped for a haircut afterwards and brought along a 1502 Nicaragua Churchill for the walk home. I picked up a few of these when I saw Enrique Sanchez at the Wooden Indian for the 1502 XO launch event. The folks at the shop told me it was one of their best sellers, so I figured I’d give it a shot. This is a Nicaraguan puro, a tribute to Enrique’s young son. The last time I smoked a 1502 Nicaragua I was underwhelmed. I think the Black Gold, the Ruby and the Emerald were so darned good, each in their own ways, that I didn’t originally “get” the Nicaragua. Whether it was the vitola or just the cigar, I don’t know, but after a slow start of not “getting it”, it grew on me. It developed into a rich, sweet, dare I say “Cubanesque” cigar. The wrapper color reminds me of many Cuban cigars, which might have influenced that comparison, it burned MUCH better than a Havana! This was another great smoke from Global Premium and Enrique Sanchez, keep up the great work, amigo!

Saturday afternoon I sat down to watch the Flyers vs. Penguins game on the tablet out on the porch so I could smoke a cigar. For those who don’t know, this is a heated rivalry, us Flyers fans don’t much like the cross-state Penguins, and it’s usually a great game. I selected a cigar that Sam Leccia gave me when I saw him a few months back at Cigars International’s midget wrestling event. This was a cigar that Sam said he found a cache of aging in a factory somewhere (he declined to divulge any details), and was working on bringing to market. The shape of the cigar reminded me of the Cuban Partagas Presidente, the Cuban Vitola de Galera name of which is “Taco”, a 6″ cigar that tapered to around 48 ring gauge, then came to a perfecto foot. Whatever this was, it was pretty special, there were some sweet notes and it had a really clean tobacco flavor, obviously this had a great deal of age. If this cigar never sees commercial release by Sam, I’ll just assume he smoked them all, as I would be tempted to do, great smoke. Too bad the game wasn’t as good as the cigar, the Flyers turned in a lack-luster performance when they should have done the opposite. I still like Sam, despite his being a Penguin fan.

Saturday evening I took a walk with a cigar that’s been intimidating me from the depths of the humidor for several months. Back in the fall I met Lars Tetens at the Smokin’ Goose Event at Goose’s shop in Limerick, PA. Going back 20 years or so, to the cigar boom of the 90s, I remember seeing (and smelling) the Lars Tetens cigars in my local shop. They were the precursor to the Acid line, and there’s some controversy over whether one had anything to do with the other. There’s no doubt that parallels can be drawn between the cigars, as well as the apparent eccentricities of Lars and Jonathan Drew. It’s not for me to judge, they both seem to have done well for themselves. Lars gave me a couple of cigars, one of which being this large Serie D. It’s a 6½” x 52 toro, and was the least scary of the bunch. The unlit aroma didn’t offer any hints of flavoring or infusion, as the “Tropical Candy”, “Brief XTC” and “1980” cigars did, they smell very sweet, and I’m nervous about smoking them. I believe Lars told me that the “1980” was rolled by him in 1980, which would be pretty amazing but the aroma off the foot makes me skeptical (I wouldn’t expect any strong aromas off a 36-year-old cigar). The Serie D was a very good smoke, one I’d smoke again. It burned well, had a sweetness that I liked and was solidly medium bodied, despite the word “full” on the band. Once I screw up my courage, perhaps I’ll smoke on of the others in the coming weeks. Lars Tetens cigars are still out there, I’ve seen them in a couple of my local shops, and I know he visits Goose’s regularly. I hope to have another opportunity to hang out with him one of these days and pick his brain a little.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 1502, Alec Bradley, cigar, cigars, Filthy Hooligan, Lars Tetens, Le, leccia, Serie D

by CigarCraig | March 16, 2016 · 9:24 pm

Old Henry Best In Show Sampler from Holt’s Cigar Company

I’ve seen a couple of my fellow blogger types mention this brand lately, but I’m going to give my spin on the contents of this very nice and affordable sampler from Holt’s Cigar Company in nearby Philadelphia. The Old Henry brand has been around for a long time, I have seen them on the shelf at the Holt’s store when I’ve visited, but never paid any attention to the brand until they generously sent me the sampler to try. I always knew they were made by Don Pepin Garcia, and I knew they paid homage to Old Henry the bulldog who used to hang around the shop. I’ve developed an affinity for the bully breeds in the last few years, and, after smoking through the sampler I realty appreciate the opportunity to try them. I will make a bee-line to this shelf the next time I’m in the store.

Guess which one I tried first? If you’ve been reading this site any amount of time you’ll be able to guess that I went with the Old Henry Maduro Toro first. This was my Sunday cigar, and it was a very good smoke. It has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper that is dark and oily and quite

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attractive. It was on the lighter side of full-bodied, with a rich, sweet maduro flavor. This will probably be the one I grab a handful of, as it was my favorite of the bunch. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the others, but the maduro tickled my taste buds the most. This wet the bar pretty high for the coming days.

Monday I selected the Old Henry Pure Breed, their small batch member of the line. These are a little more expensive than the rest of the line, but not by much. They come 20 in a box where the rest

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are boxed in traditional 25s. The Pure Breed has a “Oscuro Grade” Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, and, like the rest of the line, has Nicaraguan binder and fillers. This was nice, smooth, elegant cigar, with plenty of flavors of nuts and spice. It was quite an impressive cigar, and, like the rest, burned quite nicely.

Tuesday evening, after an early morning root canal which was no big deal, I went with the original Authentic Corojo wrapped Old Henry. As most will know, my regular cigar routi

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ne includes taking our three-legged Pitbull, Macha, for an after diner walk, which gets both of us the exercise we need. It was a beautiful evening, so we got about three and a half miles in, which is a good mile or so

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more than us

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ual. This cigar was quite nice for the walk, solidly medium, with nice, savory flavor. I did have to relight a couple of times, but that was more about me not paying enough attention to it. I also thought I tasted some clove, but I remembered that there was some sort of clove oil used in the dental procedure, so I wouldn’t go looking for that, unless you smoke one after having a root canal.

Finally, tonight I smoked the Old Henry Gold Label, the Conn

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ecticut wrapped member of the pack. I assume that it’s Ecuador Connecticut, based on the price-point and flavor. While this wasn’t my favorite in the line (remember, the bar was set pretty high with the Maduro and Pure Breed), it was a very nice, medium bodied cigar with a nice creamy flavor with enough spice to keep it interesting. Something I appreciated with all the cigars was the ease with which the bands came off, something I find consistent across Don Pepin’s offerings. This isn’t really important except that when the bands come off easy it minimizes the risk of wrapper damage.

Once again, my thanks to the folks at Holt’s for sharing this excellent, low-priced, yet high quality line of cigars with me so that I could share the experience with you. I truly enjoyed all four of these puppies. If Old Henry looked anything like the image on the bands, he was a handsome fellow, and to be memorialized with a cigar brand he must have been quite a terrific pooch.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, holt's, Old Henry

by CigarCraig | March 13, 2016 · 10:28 am

Smoking Alec Bradley, CAO, Macanudo and My Father Cigars

Finally it’s here, the day we’e all been waiting for (me at least), it’s Daylight Savings Time! I don’t even really mind losing the hour, it’s a good trade-off for the extra evening daylight hours. It also means spring is coming, which means summer’s coming, which I like. I’ll try to find a good cigar to smoke to celebrate today, but for now, I have a few cigars I smoked this week to discuss. I found myself a bit torn between smoking something “new to me” and smoking an old familiar friend, so I did both. Balance is the key to life. Thursday I lit up an Alec Bradley Post Embargo in the 6½” x 54 Toro size. This one falls into the “new to me” category as I have only smoked one before back in November of last year around the time they were released. I stand by my original thoughts that the wrapper isn’t the most flavorful, but it was a very nice, medium bodied smoke, with some leather and earth, no real sweetness to my palate. I don’t know that 5 months in the humidor did anything to this cigar one way or the other, but I think it’s another solid Alec Bradley cigar, of which they have many. Their Nica Puro still remains my favorite in the brand.

This week was a beautiful week, weather wise, which made for a long week in the office, stuck behind a desk while it was sunny and in the 70s outside. As I mentioned in my last post, I was able to take two wheels to work this week, which makes the commute a little more bearable, but by the time 4:30 hit on Friday I was ready for a sure thing to wrap the week. After a delicious diner featuring corned beef, I grabbed my final CAO Flathead 554, which was probably a leftover from samples I received when they were first released. I punched this with my ScrewPop 2.0 punch (the website lists a 3.0 now, I’ll have to find out how they improved this already fine tool) and lit it up. This must have had one vein in a leaf near the foot with a lot of oils left in it, because I got a runner that got nearly an inch ahead of the rest of the burn. This didn’t have any effect on the flavors of dark, black coffee and cocoa, which I love in this Broadleaf wrapped beauty. At some point in the future there’s going to be a box of Flatheads in my humidor, I’m just now sure which one. CAO has just announced the release of two smaller sizes in the Connecticut Habana wrapped Steel Horse line, the Handbrake (4.5” x 50 – SRP per cigar is $6.99) and the Roadkill (5.5 x 54 – SRP per cigar is $7.00) which I’ll need to try before making a decision. I might just have to load up on singles of all the sizes just to have variety.

Saturday afternoon I took a walk with a Macanudo Maduro Vintage 1997. I bought a handful of these a few years back at my local shop, they were reasonably priced, and there were only a few left in the box, which I wanted as I had seen them making these boxes in the factory when I was there in 2011. That box sits on my desk holding things like cords and flash drives and is a pleasant reminder of that trip. I’ve had this cigar floating around the humidor for about four years now, and with the big metal band it has, it’s always been a bit awkward. I worried about it damaging other cigars, or having the 1997 Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper damaged by something else since it’s uncello’d. So I smoked it, and it was good. This has a Honduran binder and fillers from Nicaragua, Brazil and the DR, and is a really nice maduro cigar. Macanudo’s are often dismissed as mild and flavorless, I’ve not found that to be the case with the maduros. This was a refined blend with some sweet and spicy notes, quite entertaining. I think these are still around and worth trying if you like a good maduro. One thing that was very surprising on that trip back in 2011, by the last day my palate was pretty fried after smoking cigars nonstop for several days, so I grabbed a regular old Macanudo Maduro and I could taste it! Now, I just need to figure out what to do with the metal band (and where I stashed my other ones…), it reminds me of my old Boy Scout neckerchief slides, although I hardly think that would be tolerated in this day and age.

Last night I was in an exploratory mood, so I selected a cigar from CDMCigars.com‘s exclusive collection, the My Father Oro de NicaraguaRobusto. Holy crap was this a great cigar! There’s not a lot of information about the blend on the website, as I’ve complained about before, so I can’t tell you what differentiates this from the regular My Father line, but I can tell you it’s very good. It’s smooth, rich, loaded with a bunch of flavors and is interesting right down to the nub. If I’m not craving a sweet, mocha maduro, this is exactly what I want a cigar to be. It wouldn’t be a My Father cigar without a little spice right at the start, and this one had it, although it was far more subtle. I’m going to have to pick up some of the regular My Father line , or rummage through the humidors to see if I have one, which happens more than I’d like to admit…Thanks to Craig at CDMCigars.com for sharing this great smoke. I imagine they have these in the Casa de Monteristo store in Chicago? These also come in a bunch of cool sizes.

That’s it for now, I have somethings that need doing today that I’m going to try to get out of the way early, then find something good to smoke this afternoon, and maybe something this evening to celebrate the extended daylight! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Alec Bradley, CAO, Casa de Montecristo, CDMCigars, cigar, cigars, Flathead, general cigars, macanudo, My Father, Post Embargo

by CigarCraig | March 9, 2016 · 8:55 pm

Total Flame Cigars FTW Robusto

Total Flame Cigars has been around for a few years, I remember their very flashy booth at the trade show a few years ago. Probably three years ago I smoked a little perfecto called the 8-Ball, and was reasonable un-impressed. The saving grace of the cigar was that I smoked it at the cigar bar at the Wells Fargo Center after a Flyers game and got to talk to Bernie Parent about when his newest cigars were coming out. The cigars have a motorcycle theme, and since I got the bike out this week (2005 Yamaha Majesty, yes, it’s a scooter, but it’s a 400CC scooter, I’m a dork, but I like it) as the weather was very nice, I figured I’d smoke the samples they sent a month or so ago.

They sent me the FTW, the new Nicaragua and the Off The Rails. I had some wrapper issues with the latter two, with the Off The Rails performing better than the Nicaragua. In fairness, I may have dropped the cigars when I was taking them out of the bag, but the Nicaragua was cracked to the point where I had to put it down. Both cigars had a good flavor, the Off The Rails, a short robusto, was a tasty and strong cigar. The Total Flame FTW was a tasty smoke, it has a Nicaraguan “El Corojol” wrapper, Mexican binder and Nicaraguan fillers, made in the Placencia factory in Nicaragua. This is a reasonably strong cigar, with some great flavors of coffee and some pepper. There was an earthy component as well. I liked the color scheme of the bands, of which there were three, all of which came off easily, not really an important feature of the cigar, but one I appreciate anyway. The cigar burned very well, and didn’t have any problems, it was quite enjoyable.

I’ll be keeping an eye out for the Nicaraguan and OTR for a retry, I think they have a lot of promise. I’ll make a point to visit their booth at the show this year, I think they have an interesting story to tell.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Total Flame

by CigarCraig | March 6, 2016 · 9:06 am

La Aroma de Cuba, Undercrown and a 1502 XO Cigar Launch Event

We have a big day today so I need to get this written. We have tickets to a series of Philly Pops shows in the city (Philly, duh…), so we make a day of it, dropping by the Franklin Institute, grabbing a bite, maybe stopping in Holt’s to make sure it’s still there, that sort of thing. Today they art performing a Billy Joel program, should be good. Anyway, once again, I found myself smoking spectacular cigars in the second half of the week, which started with a La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amour Reserva Maximo which I had picked up at Holt’s back in the fall when we went to the first in the Pops series, which was a Sinatra tribute. This 5½ x 54 Robusto has a dark San Andrés Oscuro wrapper and what I have to assume is Nicaraguan fillers, although the website fails to provide such details. These are made at the My Father Factory which is reasonably evident on the first puff. This cigar is right in my wheelhouse with a nice dose of strong black coffee notes, some earth and that spice right off the bat. I enjoyed the crap out of this cigar, probably just as much as I enjoy the regular Mi Amour line.

Friday I got lazy and selected an Drew Estate Undercrown Toro Grande for my evening walk. It’s no secret that I like to celebrate the end of th

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e work week with a guaranteed winner, I have to be in the right frame of mind to smoke a “new to me” cigar on a Friday, usually I want a tried and true cigar to relax and usher in the weekend. This particular cigar had suffered some wrapper cracking somewhere along the line, I might have dropped it, who knows, but it had some tomes when it wasn’t as visually appealing as it could have been. While I certainly get some joy out of how a cigar looks when its burning, I overlooked it because I enjoy the flavor of the Undercrown line so much. I still like the Co

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rona Viva size the best, but the Toro Grande was a very nice smoke, hearty, savory and sweet, just about everything I was craving. I can’t really decide if I like the Undercrown or the Undercrown Shade better, fortunately I don’t have to choose, they both have their time.
Take a look at the

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Kickstarter campaign I ran across for a unique cigar accessory, the Fanelli Cigar Rest and Bottle Opener. We’ve all probably seen similar cigar rests, heck, I made on out of a piece of bamboo years ago, but this one has a unique twist (that’s an unfortunate bit of wordplay), it has a bottle cap lifter concealed in the base. It’s aluminum, so it doesn’t seem like it would be too heavy, and because it’s aluminum it can be anodized in different colors, of which there is gold, silver and black proposed. I like the black version personally. I was offered a review sample, but I declined because, really, what’s to review? I can see from the drawings that it will accommodate up to a 64 ring cigar, and I haven’t had a need for a bottle opener in 25 years, but I trust that it works. If this is the sort of item you like to have, and you like supporting entrepreneurs, throw them some cash.

Yesterday was the launch of the 1502 XO, fortunately the release party was held at the Wooden Indian nearby, so I made my way out there to see Enrique and smoke one of his very special cigars. The XO is quite special, as it’s made with tobacco aged 18 years, with the exception of the wrapper which is only about five-year old. Enrique explained that 18-year-old leaf is very hard to use as a wrapper, and I can understand that (although it’s been done in the case of the Partagas 150 from 1995…I have one around someplace and a few months ago I smoked a La Gloria Cubana that was the exact same blend

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and it was spectacular and the wrapper was 38 years old!). Anyway, I picked up some 1502s, grabbed some of the Lanceros in the Black Gold and Ruby blends, a couple of the 1502 Nicaragua Churchills, and a single XO (listed at 6″ x 50 with a box press, seemed shorter though..I smoked number 004147, nobody else on the planet can say that!), because $17+ a stick is outside of my comfort zone, but I was there with Enriqu

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e and it seemed like the right time. I smoked the cigar and it is a very good cigar, it has the signature Flavor Lock™ foot (snicker), it drew perfectly and burned reasonably well. It was indeed well-balanced, very smooth and pleasing to the palate, and there was a spice that came and went here and there that was hard to put a finger on, something from the baking spice category kind of like cinnamon, but not cinnamon, know what I mean? I don’t have a great wealth of experience with exotic spices as I’m not what you’d call an adventurous eater (picky eater is closer to the truth). It was entertaining, and I smoked it comfortably until nearly burning my fingers. I had to re-light a could times, but I was chatting with Dave, the owner, Enrique and several

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other patrons, so I’ll take responsibility for it going out. Great cigar, Enrique is a terrific guy (he was hiding behind the stores wooden Indian when I came in, waiting to surprise me…) and the Wooden Indian is still the premier cigar shop in the area. When I got home I took a walk with a 1502 Black Gold corona that was a year or so old and it was dynamite! It was full of rich espresso and cocoa and everything I love in a cigar. It’s funny, 1502’s catch phrase is “it’s not a cigar, it’s a 1502”. When I pulled out this corona my wife commented “that’s not a cigar”, and I responded with “it’s a 1502!” She was commenting that it was a smaller cigar than I usually take for a walk, but I found it funny. It was a great end to a great Saturday.