by | September 16, 2015 · 8:23 pm

The Cigar & Spirits Magazine’s Tasting Club Selections From July

CigarandSpiritsClubThe Cigar & Spirits Magazine offers a tasting membership, and my wife ordered their five pack of 90+ rated cigars a couple of months back.  I’m not certain if this is a recurring program or not, the magazine is bi-monthly (six issues a year), and I haven’t gotten another shipment (or charge) since the initial shipment. I guess we’ll see what happens!  The package I did receive last July, came in a humidor bag with a Boveda pack and a little vial of polymer beads, and seemed to be in good shape.  I placed the bag, opened, in the drawer of the NewAir CC-100 humidor and got sidetracked with IPCPR samples and other things. This week I decided to smoke them up and include them in a mid-week post. Please note that this was purchased with no promotional consideration by the magazine whatsoever.

 

Falto_SeleccionEspecialThe club selections included three cigars I hadn’t smoked before: A Swag S Ego Grande 6½” x 60, a Falto Seleccion Especial Corona Gorda 5¾” x 48 and a Southern Draw Firethorn 6″ x 52.  There was also an AJ Fernandez New World Navegante 5½ x 55 and an East India Trading Co. Red Witch Robusto 5″ x 52.  I thought it was a very nice selection for $35, although I didn’t go to the trouble of looking up the values, although I know the New World and Red Witch are closer to the $5 price point. That’s not to say that they aren’t great cigars, just that they are reasonably priced. I chose the Falto first as it was the least familiar to me. Apparently this cigar is Falto owner Luis Juan Falto’s preferred cigar, and it was a very nice smoke.  It has a Dominican wrapper, Sumatra binder and fillers from Brazin and the D.R.  It’s funny how years ago an Indonesian wrapper (or binder) seemed to be the mark of an inexpensive cigar (and one I never cared for AJF NewWorld_Navegantepersonally) and not calling it Sumatra makes it OK, much like Mexican used to be reviled, and now San Andrés is primo. I digress. The Falto Seleccion Especial was a great size, had a nice, clean and sweet flavor that was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.  OK, I can see that it would be rated in the 90s.  I followed that up on Sunday evening with the New World, which is a great cigar at a great price.  Abdel and his dad, Ismael Fernandez, did a great job on this medium to full bodied  cigar that is perfectly constructed. definite 90s material.

 

Swag SMonday I came home to a little package from Boutique Blends which contained a cool Xikar Xi1 cutter decorated with the  Aging Room and Boutique Blends logos. This cutter has been all the rage fr how many years? 15? I’ve never owned one. I have a Xikar lighter, the XV V-cutter and the MTX scissors, which I love, but never got around to getting one of the nor iconic teardrop cutters. So, I figured I’d try it out on the Swag S Ego Grande. This cigar confuses me a little because I can’t find it listed on the companies website, and a search returns a bunch of references to the Swag S Maduro, which this did not seem to be at all.  It looked like a Habano wrapper, milk chocolate in color, and really didn’t strike me as a maduro at all. Any help from the folks at Cigar and Spirits or my friends at Boutique Blends would be appreciated (in the comments of this post would be great!).  I liked the cigar, it was really large, and took the better part of two hours to smoke, and the Xikar is sharp and gave a nice, clean cut as expected. It had a nice burn and draw, was pleasantly sweet and on the milder end of medium. I don’t know if this would be in the 90s for me personally, but that’s largely why I don’t do ratings as taste is subjective. Many thanks to the folks at Aging Room/Boutique Blends for the awesome cutter, it will get a lot of use!

 

SouthernDraw_FirethornLast night I selected the Southern Draw Firethorn Toro from the sampler, this is a brand I’ve heard about, but never seen in the wild.  I’ll be honest, in the Southern Draw portfolio, this would probably have been my third choice after the Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapped Quickdraw and the Habano Oscuro Kudzu, but this Firethorn looked good. It’s got a ruddy Habano Rosado wrapper and binder and fillers from Mexico and Nicaragua. I would have done myself a disservice by passing this cigar up, had I had the choice. It smoked sweet and smooth and was quite satisfying.  Great construction as one would expect from a cigar coming out of Tabacalera Fernandez.  Oddly, the Texas based company’s founder, Robert Holt, has a connection to the area in PA where I live.  I look forward to sampling more from Southern Draw as I manage to find some. If I were rating this it would be in the 90s for sure.

 

EastIndia_RedWitch_RobustoOne cigar in the sampler left, and that’s the Red Witch from East India Trading Co. EITC is the budget branch of Gurkha, which I  suppose if you go by  the Gurkha cigars in the big catalogs, doesn’t make much sense. If you look at it from a brick and mortar side, with cigars like Gurkha Ghost, Cellar Reserve and whatnot selling in the 7-10 range, cigars like the Red Witch, Classic Cigar Havana blend and Rogue occupy the $4-7 price point, it makes more sense. This example smoked perfectly, as a matter of fact, I wish it had been longer.  It has a nice leathery, woody flavor, and is a perfectly nice cigar, I can’t find fault.  I would smoke these on a regular basis.

 

 

Overall, I think the Cigar & Spirits Magazine cigar club is a good value, and I’ll be interested to see if another installment shows up automatically, or if it’s a buy as you go sort of arrangement. My wife handled the whole transaction, so I really don’t know what to expect. I think it would be a neat idea for them to charge $40 bi-monthly and include the current issue of the magazine with the sampler, assuming the cigars in the club are rated in the issue.  Given that the subscription rate is $19.99 for 6 issues/year, this would pay off for them. Just a thought. I liked that there were cigars that I haven’t smoked that I don’t see in my area, and the ones I was familiar with I liked.  I wouldn’t be as pleased if I got five cigars I had smoked before, but I’m not the typical consumer.  I have to admit that I’m only interested in half the content of the magazine, being a non-drinker. As always, your mileage may vary.

 

I’m off to the Baltimore area for a few days, I plan to pay a visit to The Humidour in Cockeysville on Friday, and Davidus in Ellicott City on Saturday. If you are in the area, look me up or drop me a note, I’ll be the guy smoking a cigar.

 

Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

 

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by | September 13, 2015 · 8:27 am

A Gurkha, a 1502, New Bolivar and Ramon Allones Cigars

Gurkha_CellarReserve_Platinum_HedonismThursday I dug into the sampler pack that Gurkha gave me at the trade show, and came out of it with the newest addition to their Cellar Reserve line, the 12 year aged Platinum in the 6″ x 58 Hedonism size. This is a nice perfecto shaped cigar with a Ecuador Oscuro wrapper (and I can’t guess what actual varietal that might be, couple be a Connecticut fermented to a dark color, or something else…hard to tell). The band boasts a “blend strength” of 98%, again, not sure what that means as it was a perfect medium in strength to my palate. It also has a Nicaraguan binder and 12 year old fillers from Esteli, Congega and Jalapa in Nicaragua. It’s made in the Dominican Republic. Aside from all the marketing buzzwords and vague information on the blend, what I found it to be was a very good tasting cigar. It was creamy and smooth and quite nice.  There was no shortage of flavor, it was by no means mild, and was probably my second favorite of the four blends in the Cellar Reserve line, second to the maduro Limitada with the Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper. I owe the Edicion Especial with the Corojo wrapper another shot as I smoked one in New Orleans outside in hot, soupy weather and it wasn’t the best representation of that cigar I don’t think. There are quite a few Gurkha cigars I like, and this happens to be one of them.

 

1502_BlackGold_ToroFriday I wrapped up the work week with a 1502 Black Gold toro that I had in the humidor for a couple years.  This has always been my fav

orite in the 1502 range, it’s got a deep, dark maduro wrapper that I want to say is San Andrés from Mexico if I recall.  I like the way the wrapper leaf is folded around the foot off the cigar on all the lines, it’s a nice touch, and you get a little bit more wrapper flavor on the light. It has to add cost to the process though.  Anyway, it was 1502 owner Enrique Sanchez’ birthday Friday, so I thought it seemed appropriate to smoke one of his cigars. I had some trouble keeping this one lit for some reason, but it has the dark and dirty black coffee and earth flavor that I really like. All of the 1502 cigars are great smokes, this one, when it burns right, is always a favorite. Oddly, when I smoked the 1502 line in the Lancero size last year, I think the Emerald was my favorite, and the same with the coronas. Maybe the flavor I really like from the Black Gold wrapper ne

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eds to be tempered by more filler, too much of a good thing, you know.

 

Bolivar_550As usual, when I toured General Cigar‘s booth at the IPCPR show, I had no idea what to expect from their Foundry division. I knew that  Sam Leccia was working under that umbrella, but one never can tell what’s going on in the creative mind of Michael Giannini.  I was surprised to find that his latest project was the re-imagining of the Bolivar and Ramon Allones brands.  I sparked up the Bolivar first in the 550 size. This has an unfinished foot and a curly-q pigtail cap, and is a nice, dark cigar. As is the custom with Foundry, all we know about the blend is that it’s  six country blend. If FTC_Bolivar_LRI had to guess, I’d say this has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, based on the delicious and lush espresso/cocoa flavor. As you might guess, I really liked this cigar, it had the dark, bitter flavors I like, with a hint of sweetness.  It burned perfectly and that uncut foot gave a huge blast of wrapper flavor on the light. The box art is pretty sharp, featuring images of the bands that Bolivar has used over the one hundred or so years it’s been on the market. I am not over fond of the bands on the cigars, though, I am afraid it makes the cigar look like an inexpensive bundle instead of the fine premium cigar that it is.

 

Ramon Allones_550The Ramon Allones 550 shares the same sizes as the Bolivar line, but is a Nicaraguan puro, and that’s all the information available on the blend.  The presentation follows the same theme as well, with the Ramon Allones having a blue band where the Bolivar has red.  I will never forget the first Cuban Ramon Allones I ever smoked, a “Specially Selected” robusto back in the late ’90s. This cigar was so peppery that I could still feel the tingle on my tongue the next day.  I’ve had others since and never had that much pepper, but still enjoyed the cigars.  The new version Michael Giannini has put together has FTC_Ramon-Allones_LRnone of that. Once again, the uncut foot showcases the dark Nicaraguan wrapper upon lighting, and it’s a blast of what I can only associate with sourdough bread.  The sourdough flavor persisted throughout the cigar. Again, the construction was perfect, and it burned and drew great.  I have to say, I would lean toward the Bolivar if I had to choose between the two, I’m not a fan of the sour flavors, but there are those who are, and the Ramon Allones is a very good choice if that is your preference.  I look forward to try

ing both of these in the other sizes to see how they differ. Again, I’d like to see a classier band, but that’s just me, there’s no denying that they will stand out on the shelf.

 

One thing I’ve noticed as I’m writing this article is that companies are still slow to update their websites to reflect the new releases. It’s now almost two months after the IPCPR show where some of these cigars were released and the only information I can find are on media sites. I should think that should be a priority in 2015, and it’s not that difficult to expensive to do, like the old days when they would have to re-print a catalog or something. It’s just something that continues to befuddle me. On another note, since my wife is going to be selling books at the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention near Baltimore this weekend, I am going to be looking for cigar shops to waste time in. The Humidour in Cockeysville, MD is first on the list, but if anyone is in the area please let me know, I will be down there Thursday, Friday and Saturday. That’s enough from me, until the nex

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t time,

 

CigarCraig

 

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by | September 10, 2015 · 6:41 pm

MBombay News and Cigars and the Ventura Psycho Seven Contest Winner

MBombay_CorojoOscuro_RobustoSince Mel at MBombay Cigars sent me the news item below and asked me to post it, I thought I’d smoke a couple of the samples he gave me at the IPCPR show when I met up with him and his crew.  Tuesday I selected the MBombay Corojo Oscuro. Of the four cigars they gave me at the show, they all look basically the same, same bands, same general wrapper color, and the same robusto format.  If Ron hadn’t written the line name on each cello I would have been lost.  Anyway, these are all made in Costa Rica at the Tabacos de Costa Rica factory, all have a covered foot, and all seem to smoke very well.  The cigar labeled Corojo Oscuro had a very rich flavor, sweet and spicy at the same time with some leather too.  It really didn’t look like what I associate with “oscuro”, it was the same milk chocolate color the other samples are, although the photos do show a difference. I guess my eyes are going too! Good smoke, still prefer the classic in this line.

 

MBombay_Habano_RobustoLast night I smoked the MBombay Habano, with the visual characteristics as the previous cigar, but with a bit more of a creamy and savory flavor to go along with the bit of spice. This one was very solidly packed and burned a long time for a 4½” x 50 robusto, although I would have liked to have had better smoke volume, it was a bit tight and took some effort to get a satisfying mouthful of smoke.  Still tasted great, and I have a Kecara and Mora still to smoke, and I still have a Maduro from the original release floating around. I still lean toward the Classic as a very nice, refined Connecticut shade cigar as my favorite, which is odd as I generally prefer heartier blends.  I haven’t had many cigars from this factory (and I have smoked a bunch over the last 10 or so years) that have been bad, Mel made a great choice having his cigars made in Costa Rica.

 

MBombay Offers A Chance to Attend one of Cigar Aficionado’s Big Smoke Evenings!

MBombay Big-Smoke-Promo

 

In an effort to provide Aficionados & Aficionadas a cigar Experience to remember, Bombay Tobak is offering a Drawing for 5 Tickets each to either Big Smoke Las Vegas or Big Smoke New York! The Deal…. BUY ANY 3 MBombay cigars at any MBombay Retailer, receive a Raffle Ticket to enter the Drawing… SIMPLE! Seek an MBombay Retailer near you by visiting www.bombaytobak.com.

MBombay is a Nationally Distributed Brand of Boutique cigars that incorporates Sophistication, Complexity, & Harmony of Flavors in their tobacco blends. Offering 5 different lines, their vitolas are  truly unique in their smoking Experience… a definite must ­try for all cigar lovers!

This “Big Smoke Promotion” will start on September 1, 2015 and run through October 23, 2015 for the Las Vegas, NV venue, and through November 12, 2015 for the New York venue. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to attend one of the Cigar Industry’s most sought after Events!

 

 

Contest

 

VenturaPsykoI intended to post this yesterday, but I was still seeing some entries come in so I figured I’d let it run thru Wednesday like I said I would and push-off posting until today.  There were 77 entries for the Ventura Psycho Seven prize pack, and Random.org generated the number 30, so the winner is Dan Colley!  Dan is a pretty regular participant in the comments here, I’m sure I’m not going to have to chase him down for his address! Congrats Dan, please e-mail me you’re coordinates so I can ship these goodies to you.

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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by | September 6, 2015 · 9:39 am

Neya, Villliger, Kings and a Couple of Cigars from Drew Estate at the Wooden Indian

It’s Labor Day weekend where we ironically get an extra day of work off, and that means the guy remodeling my bathroom also took today and tomorrow off. We had a frustrating day with plumbing yesterday, but more on that later.  I hope everyone is enjoying this last weekend of summer, a milestone which passes every year and just depresses the hell out of me.  I like summer, sue me. Soon we’ll be back to bundling up, turning the heaters on, and not just being able to walk out to get the paper in your bathrobe (or, the winter bathrobe comes out if you’re a robe fan). Autumn sucks, Winter sucks and Spring is OK because it means it’ll be summer soon.  That’s enough of my bitching, I manage to enjoy cigars year round despite the weather, and I certainly did that some more this week.

 

Duran Neya_YankeeI received two samples of the Duran Cigars Neya F8 cigars from Miguel at the IPCPR show, and I selected the Yankee which is a 6″ x 60. My alternative was the “Big Jack” at 7″ x 70, aptly named after Jack Toraño, Duran Cigar’s Marketing/Sales manager. 7″ x 70 is a time commitment. I did smoke the Yankee, and it was a great tasting smoke. This cigar is made in Nicaragua, has a Ecuador Habano wrapper with Nicaraguan binder and filler and is priced in the $7 range. It wasn’t particularly powerful or “in your face”, but it had nice, smooth subtle flavors.  It almost made me wish I had smoked the larger cigar, as it would have been that much more enjoyment. I know my local shop carries some Duran cigars, and I’m going to have to see if they have the Neya, because it’s one I want to smoke again.

 

Villiger_Celebration125Two years ago Villiger celebrated their 125th anniversary, and the cigar they released in the U.S. to commemorate the occasion was a really nice smoke.  It turns out they had an even better version that they released in Europe, the Celebration 125th Anniversary, and this is starting to be distributed in selected shops here now. The sample I received was a 6″ x 50 toro, and was packed in a reusable black gloss tube, the kind that “pops” when you open it quickly. I have a collection of tubes and I like having these around for the odd occasion I carry a single cigar around, or have one un-cello’d that I want to protect (assuming it fits!).  The blend is top-secret, it’s been rumored to contain some Cuban tobacco, although I’ve had European Villiger execs infer that the machine-made Export has some Cuban tobacco in it too. I suspect it wouldn’t be hard to get away with that,  but I remain skeptical (not to say the little Villiger Export isn’t a tasty smoke). The tube is probably a good idea for this cigar because the wrapper color is just plain weird. It’s got an olive tinge to it, somewhere in the shadows between the beige of Connecticut Shade and Candela. To my eye it was unappealing, and I would pass over it on a tobacconist shelf based just on the color of the wrapper. However, this is a great tasting and performing cigar, and it should be as it commands a hefty price. It burned perfectly, was subtle with some sweetness, and nothing I would guess as Cuban, although there are those who get the flavors of Havana cigar. Despite what I consider an ugly colored wrapper (although it was smooth and uniform, just not the color I look for) this was another great cigar.

 

Kings_KingofKingsBroadleafI’ve been questioned as to whether I love every cigar I smoke, and the answer in “of course not”, but I just choose to feature cigars I rather enjoy here, and I value my cigar time such that I shy away from smoking cigars I don’t like!  Another cigar I do like quite a bit was the Kings Cigars King of Kings Broadleaf. I got to try this cigar at the IPCPR show when we caught up with the very fun group from Kings: Anwar, Pete and Greg. We met these guys when they debuted King’s at the 2013 IPCPR show and developed a raport. Unfortunately I never see Kings Cigars on my local shelves, so I had been missing out on this Pennsylvania Broadleaf monster. The King of Kings vitola is a 6″ x 64 box press, and, looking at the website, it appears that they also have this in Brazilian Arapiraca as well as the original Habano. Damn, there’s another cigar I have to try to find!  This cigar is a heavy, dark chocolate flavor bomb, a perfect desert cigar, sweet, but also savory, quite a nice smoke.  I savored this one until my fingers nearly burned. I had, on a whim, double punched this one, giving me a bit of a figure 8 hole, and that worked perfectly, I never had the need to open it up. I was impressed, as I have been with the Kings line. These guys make some good cigars.

 

Liga9Yesterday I installed a pedestal sink in our powder room, which took much profanities, irritation and trips to the hardware store. I also had to fix the screen on the front door twice, as Macha the three-legged pitbull realized that it took little to no effort to go through it. I still have a little swearing to do at the plumbing work today, but I got to a stopping point yesterday and headed down the The Wooden Indian Tobacconist in Havertown, PA to stop by their annual charity event with Drew Estate benefiting TECHO, who builds housed for the underprivileged in Nicaragua (of which there are many). There is generally a huge auction of Drew Estate stuff as well as some Original art by Jessi Flores and his Subculture Studios. The turnout was impressive, and I only hung around for a Liga Privada No.9 Parejo, a little over an hour. After the frustrations of the day I felt I deserved to treat myself to a LP. Of course the Liga was excellent, and after a short conversation with Pedro Gomez, the DE Factory spokesmodel and Cigar Safari master of ceremonies, I decided that Ligas are great, but if I can get two NicaRustica_RobustoNica Rustica’s for the price of one Liga I can be very happy. When I got home, I set about testing this theory, which may be considered heresy by many. I got one sample of the Nica Rustica in Robusto at the IPCPR show, and picked up a handful at the event, so I took to the porch and lit up the show sample. I’m right, of course. I find the Nica Rustica to be as pleasing to me, if not more, than the Liga No.9.  I found it to have a similar dark cocoa espresso flavor and just as rich. I make sure I always have these on hand, it’s one of my go-to cigars. I like them so much I over paid for a bundle of the Bellys when we went to the release party in Louisville in July (that worked out pretty well because I won a MUWAT ashtray too). I won’t turn down a Liga Privada and they remain special occasion cigars, but the Nica Rustica is an awesome smoke.

 

That’s it for me, off to spend Labor Day weekend trying not to labor too much. whatever you do to celebrate, be safe, and enjoy a fine cigar, I know I will be!  Don’t forget to go back to my last post and enter to win some cool Ventura Cigars and Psyko Seven stuff! Contest ends Wednesday. Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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by | September 2, 2015 · 4:54 pm

First Wednesday Contest Featuring Ventura Psyko Seven Cigars and Swag

It’s the first

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Wednesday of the month, so it’s contest time, following a tradition that began last month!  But first I want to bore you with some tales of out latest vacation this week to Mountain Lake Lodge in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. We drove down Sunday and stopped at Luray Caverns on the way, which was expensive to get into , but spectacular to see. The organ they have down there that has strikers on pistons that strike tuned stalactites is a marvel. That was something to see, and we saw signs for half a dozen other caves and caverns on the drive south, buncha copy cats!  Anyway, Mountain Lake Lodge is the place where the movie Dirty Dancing was filmed back in the 80s, had we known that, we might have gone someplace else!  We ate in the dining room where Baby CAOColumbiagot put in the corner…big whoop…crappy movie. Anyway, it was a very nice place, and we had it mostly to ourselves. It takes exactly one CAO Columbia Vallenato to hike the trail which goes around the lake.  Spectacular morning cigar, the lake, not so much. It seems that once in a while the lake drains itself, it’s on a fault. It probably drains into one of those caverns they like so much around there.  Anyway, it apparently emptied itself out in 2009 and is starting to fill back up. The pictures of the resort with the lake make it look pretty cool, the lack of a lake wasn’t so cool, although if the place weren’t called Moutain LAKE Resort one may not notice. They did have a pool and a Jacuzzi that were deserted save for my wife and I, and one Tortuga Reserva Cedro Belicoso is just enough to get a little sunburn.  No pictures, I left my phone in the room.  We did some more hiking around the property, LeccaLuchadorand the food was very good in the restaurant in the lodge. There wasn’t a lot of night life with only 18 guests registered either.  On the way home we stopped by Jefferson National Forest and hiked the two miles to Cascade Falls. It takes exactly one

Leccia Luchadore El Hombre to hike two miles, and the El Hombre remains one of my favorite cigars, even in the morning it was a great walking stick. The falls were pretty cool, 66′ drop and lots of cool little falls and rapids on the hike up. The weekend was a nice getaway with some exceptional cigars.

 

Contest

 

Ventura ContestA few months ago I received some pretty cook stuff from Ventura Cigar Co. in support of their really good Psyko Seven Maduro. I tried to find these guys at the IPCPR show, and managed to get in the Phillips and King booth (their distributor) when they were giving away a Rolex  watch (I didn’t win), so it was crowded. I had some tobacco infused coffee which was interesting, but didn’t manage to find the Ventura guys. I’ll catch up with them someplace, I suppose.  Anyway, the goodies in today’s contest are a nice ceramic Ventura ashtray, a Ventura single torch lighter with a flip out punch, a fun set of Rorschach Inkblot test cards so you can find out if you have an Oedipal complex or not, and two coffin boxes containing two Psyko Seven Maduro Robustos each (total of 4 cigars).  The usual rules apply, must be over 18 and must not have won in the last  months (sorry Matt Wells!). Leave a comment here to enter. I’ll announce a winner next Wednesday, September 9, 2015.

 

Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

 

 

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