CigarCraig's Blog

by CigarCraig | July 16, 2014 · 9:44 pm

MBombay Classic and Maduro Cigars From Bombay Tobak

This week I want to highlight a new cigar line from Mel Shah, the owner of Fame Lounge, an upscale cigar, wine and microbrew lounge located in the heart of downtown Palm Springs. You may be asking yourself where the MBombay name comes from. Mel was born in Bombay, India, before the name was changed to Mumbai. When he wanted to name his wine Bombay, he found that there was a gin company who had the trademark for Bombay, so he named it MBombay. When he created the cigars, he used the same name, the bands on the cigars are the same as the wine bottle label. The company is called Bombay Tobak. The MBombay is available in two lines, the Classic and the Maduro. The blends and sizes break down as follows:

The Classic Line

Wrapper: Ecuador Connecticut 2001

Binder: Dominican Republic

Filler: Honduras, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Peru

The Classic line is available in five sizes: Corona (5″ x 43),

Robusto (4.5″ x 48), Belisoco (5″ x 52), Perfecto (a figurado 6 x

50) and Churchill (7″ x 48). The retail price ranges from $8.50

to $11.50.

The Maduro Line

Wrapper: Brazilian Mata Fina 2007

Binder: Peru

Filler: Honduras, Nicaragua, and Dominican Republic

The Maduro line is available in four sizes: Robusto (4.5″ x 48), Perfecto

(a figurado 6 x 50), Churchill (7″ x 48) and a Double Corona (7″ x 52).

The retail price ranges from $10.00 to $13.50.

Interestingly, to me at least, these are made in the same factory in Costa Rica that makes the Atabey, Byron and Bandolero cigars for Nelson Alphonso (distributed by David Garofalo of Two Guys Smokeshop, United Cigar Retailers and The Cigar Authority). They are pricey, but compared to the Atabey and Byron lines they are downright reasonable. These are showing up in stores in the southern California area now, and I hope these receive wider distribution so everyone gets a chance to try them. I’ve smoked the Maduro Churchill, the Classic Belicoso, and the Classic Churchill over the last few days.

Those who have been following me can guess which cigar I selected first. Monday I reached for the MBombay Maduro Churchill. The Churchills in this line are nearly the classic size, 7″ x 48, and have a dark and oily Brazilian Mata Fina wrapper. This cigar was a real delight to smoke. It was perfectly constructed, drawing perfectly with a V cut. The burn was dead even, and the ash dropped in solid one inch chunks. The flavor was a delicious mix of cocoa and coffee, with a hint of spice and fell solidly in the medium bodied range. I enjoyed this one until it threatened to burn my fingers, it was among the most enjoyable cigars I’ve smoked in a long time.

Tuesday we went out to dinner to celebrate my wife’s birthday, and it was raining buckets when we got home. I opened the garage door and lit up the MBombay Classic Belicoso. This great looking 5″ x 52 figurado is dominated by the ornate and rather large band. Once again, the construction is perfect, and once again, I used a V cut, but eventually I lopped the end off with my scissors just to see if it made any difference. It made the draw a little more open, but I could easily have fully enjoyed the cigar with the V cut, even though it was a Belicoso. The flawless Ecuador Connecticut wrapper gave it a creaminess that was really nice, and while it was milder than the Maduro, it was very flavorful. Another winner.

Tonight I chose the MBombay Classic Churchill for my evening walk. Like the other cigars, this cigar features an uncut foot, so it lights very easily and gives a nice blast of the wrapper flavor right at the start. I like the unfinished foot feature on a cigar, it’s far more useful than a fancy pigtail head. This also had the creamy flavor of the Belicoso, and shared the exceptional construction of the other two. Once again, I smoked this one to a finger-burning nub. The Classic line appears to be another excellent cigar in the genre of the flavorful Connecticut Shade cigars. I found them all smooth, well balanced and a very satisfying cigar experience. This particular factory in Costa Rica seems to be routinely producing exceptional cigars, and the MBombay is apparently another. The three cigars I smoked over the last three days were so good I’m afraid whatever I pick for tomorrow evening will be a let down!

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Bombay Tobak, cigar, cigars, Classic, Fame Lounge, maduro, MBombay

by CigarCraig | July 13, 2014 · 9:54 am

Some New Cigars: Romeo y Julieta, Arandoza and Flor de Gonzalez

I guess I’m trying to get a head of all of the upcoming IPCPR coverage, of which I will not be participating in. I’ve had some samples come in of new (and new to me) cigars that I felt compelled to smoke this week. Also, I will be finding myself in the Chicago area for a few days the third weekend in August to visit a cigar shop or two, so anyone in the area with suggestions, or wants to meet for some smokes, let me know! It’s always fun to visit shops in other cities, and I’ve never been to Chicago and hear there’s a lot of great shops. I also hear the taxes are high! Local insight is appreciated.

Thursday’s walk featured a Romey y Julieta RyJ Toro, the companies first Nicaraguan cigar. I seem to

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I was at Cigarnival a couple weeks ago, I was surprised to run into my old friend Oliver Hyams at the Altadis booth. Oliver was the marketing guy with Gurkha, and Toraño before that. he’s now with Altadis and gave me this toro to try. I really enjoyed smoking this cigar! It had a smooth, sweet flavor that was unmistakably Nicaraguan, and very good. The burn and draw were perfect, and it was a very nice smoking experience. This is a cigar I’d happily smoke again, and will be on the look out for more.

Friday I chose a new cigar from Robert Arango at Arandoza Cigars. The Arandoza Red is being released at the IPCPR show and joins the White and Blue (I see a pattern here!). These are also made in Erik Espinosa’s La Zona factory in Esteli. They tell me that it’s the strongest so far, with a beautiful dark San Andrés maduro wrapper and Nicaraguan Binder and fillers with triple ligero. The cigar started off with some horsepower, thick, rich, dark flavors. By the time I got home from my mile walk, I was starting to buy into the strength hype! by the time I was at about the one and a half inch mark, I was in need of a Coke! This is a powerful smoke, but delicious! There’s no compromising flavor for strength in this cigar. Another winner from Arandoza as I’ve enjoyed their other offerings as well.

Yesterday we spent the day doing some landscaping and beating ourselves up. After a swim, a nap, and some dinner, a cigar was long overdue. While at Cigarnival I talked to Yadi Gonzalez, the lady behind the Flor de Gonzalez brand, and she slipped me a prototype lancero that she’s been working on. Judging by the band markings, this may one day be a

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90 Miles line. I measured this lancero at seven inches by 38, and it had a crude pigtail cap. One can’t criticize the cap on a prototype, in my opinion, it’s just a test sample. The cigar smoked very well, it had a nice draw and billows of smoke. This cigar had some strength along with the dark cocoa/coffee flavors. Yadi didn’t share any details of the blend on this cigar, but I’d bet it’s predominantly Nicaraguan, and may have had the San André s maduro wrapper, I can’t be sure, but I really liked it. I hope this is released, as I really enjoyed the heck out of it for the better part of two hours sitting on the deck listening to The Cigar Authority podcast, enjoying the welcome addition of my buddy Barry Stein to the line up. If you haven’t tried cigars from Flor de Gonzales, give them a try, the 1980 is my personal favorite, but they are all good right down to the “Upright Bundle” line that you can get for about $2 for the Churchill or large torpedo.

That’s all I got, until the next time,

CigarCraig

American Legion Cigar by Blanco, a Joya Red and an Asylum 13 Ogre or Two

Following the holiday weekend we’ve been busy around Casa CigarCraig. I’ve still managed to smoke some great cigars along the way. I picked out some reasonably new cigars to smoke and have enjoyed them. Also, I received a copy of Prime Living magazine today from Houston which has, I’m proud to say, my first published cigar piece. You can see the digital version at Prime-Living.com, my article is on page 55 (which is page 57 in the digital version). I wanted to write an introduction to the world of premium cigars, I hope I was able to present a small part of what goes into making a cigar in laymen’s terms, in a way that non-cigar geeks can appreciate the wonders of the premium cigar. I hope it goes over well!

Sunday afternoon I picked out a cigar that David Blanco gave me at the Cigarnival last week, the American Legion toro. Blanco Cigars makes this cigars, and the proceeds go to the American Legion, which both David Blanco and his father are members. The American Legion is the nation’s largest wartime veterans service organization and focusses on service to veterans, service members and communities. A Habano Rosado Nicaraguan wrapper is very attractive, and the filler is a blend of Nicaraguan and Honduran tobacco. The cigar was very good, it had a nice, medium bodied sweet flavor which should have a broad appeal. This was a great cigar to wrap up the Independence Day weekend!

Tuesday evening I selected the new cigar from Joya de Nicaragua, the Joya Red. Dr. Alejandro Martinez Cuenca, the owner of Joya de Nicaragua, handed me this cigar at Cigarnival, I believe they are due to be released at the upcoming IPCPR show in a couple weeks. The folks at Joya blended this Nicaraguan Puro to be a milder alternative to the more powerful Joya de Nicaragua blends, although I find that their Cabinetta, a personal favorite of mine, to be quite mild. The Red hasa a Nicaraguan Habano wrapper, and binder and fillers from Esteli, Condega and Jalapa. The cigar burned perfectly, and was another nice, sweet medium bodied smoke. This seems less refined than the milder Cabinetta, but it was well balanced and delicious. It has the terrific flavor of the Antaño lines, with a fraction of the strength. This is a great smoke for any time of day.

Monday evening (and there’s a reason I’m going out of order), my wife and I drove an hour and a half south to Bel Air, Maryland to meet our friends Jude and Rande for dinner. They were visiting family in the Washington, DC area and this was mid way between us. We went to a nice place called Loonies Pub, which was a sports bar which had some great food. The crab nachos were really good, and I had an excellent fish and chips, a personal weakness. Of course it was a no smoking establishment, so I had a cigar on the drive home. I smoked the same cigar again tonight, which brings the chronological order back where it should be! I smoked the Asylum 13 Ogre in the new robusto size. I spoke with Tom Lazuka of Asylum Cigars at Cigarnival, and thanked him for making the Ogre in reasonable sizes, as I enjoyed the flavor of the original, but the 7″ x 70 size was not particularly comfortable for me to smoke. The Ogre is a barber pole style cigar with a Habano wrapper over a candela wrapped cigar. I like the color combination of the green and brown, and the result is a smooth smoking cigar with the richness of the Habano juxtaposed with the refreshing flavor of the candela. While the example I smoked in the car seemed a little wet from being in the car in a leather case on a pretty humid day, it was still pretty tasty, although it turned a little funky in the last third. The one I smoked tonight was pretty spectacular. It burned perfectly and is a cigar I can see reaching for frequently. I want to pick some of these up in the 6″ x 60 size too, but this 5″ x 50 robusto is really a winner in my book, and no doubt my favorite cigar from Fabricas Unidas.

Even though I’m not going to the trade show this year, I have a good supply of new and interesting cigars to choose from over the next few weeks. That’s it for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as American Legion, Asylum 13, Blanco Cigars, cigar, cigars, joya de nicaragua, Prime Living

by CigarCraig | July 6, 2014 · 10:01 am

Independence Day Cigars, An American Puro, a CroMagnon, and Some Foundrys

It’s a holiday weekend, so, of course, our internet, TV and phones in the house mysteriously stop working and Verizon won’t be able to fix it until Monday. No idea what happened, it just looks like the optical signal isn’t making it to the house. So here I am, writing my Sunday post from Panera Bread (while noshing on a toasted Asiago Bagel with a schmear!). I did manage to smoke some cigars this weekend! I’ll miss watching Finding Bigfoot (best reality show on TV!) to night to end my weekend, but the weather has been spectacular, so I’m getting some things done outside!

Thursday evening there were some storms rolling in, and I mentioned before that the new dog isn’t a fan, so I decided to grab something short, and picked out a RoMa Craft Cro Magnon Knuckle Dragger that I had bought down at Cigar Mojo a few weeks ago. This is a beautiful Broadleaf wrapped 4″ x 50 petite robusto. I’ve only had a few of this line, despite knowing Skip Martin pretty well. I’m just not a very good weasel, I guess. This is a really brilliant cigar if you like strong, rich, dark flavors in a cigar. It burned perfectly, even though I had to turn around from my walk at the first rumble of thunder because the dog immediately turned toward home and started pulling. I finished the cigar in the garage, and it was a really great smoke, clearly Skip, Mike and the gang are doing things right.

Friday was July 4th, a significant date, in the US, as it commemorates our young country’s independence, as well as the day my wife and I tied the knot! Certainly celebratory cigars are in order. I started the day with an Alec Bradley American Classic Gordo in the pool, but the cap split badly when I cut it. It didn’t really effect the burn or flavor, it was a nice smoke while relaxing after doing some yard work. I followed it with a pre-dinner Partagas Petit Coronas Especiale from a box I bought about 4 years ago. I’ve smoked a bunch of these and really enjoy them, sadly I only have a few left. Every Fourth of July I try to smoke a Havana cigar as a form of civil disobedience, I think the founding fathers might take a moment from spinning in their graves and approve. I like the cigars too, I just think that there are many better cigars and Cuban cigars, while different, aren’t necessarily best. After going out to a nice dinner with my wife, I sat on the deck with the American Puro Corona Gorda from George Rico. I know, it’s a bit of a cliché, but I had it staring at me, so why not, and the Corona Gorda size was perfect for the occasion. The first thing you notice about this is that smokey, Kentucky fire cured tobacco, which was fairly dominant to me. Perhaps it was a happy medium between the Leccia Black and the My Uzi Weighs A Ton Kentucky Fire Cured cigars. This sample came from Gran Habano along with the 5 Vegas I talked about last time, and shared a similar lack of straightness, no big deal, just a minor offence to my CDO (OCD in alphabetical order, AS IT SHOULD BE!). I really enjoyed the heck out of this cigar, the Connecticut and Pennsylvania tobaccos complimented the smokey Kentucky leaf, and it was a surprise for me. I would highly recommend trying this cigar as it’s unique in the marketplace, and is pretty darned tasty!

Saturday ended up being a spectacular day, so we cleaned some more stuff up in the yard (this will be a recurring morning activity for the foreseeable future!), and hit the pool with a Foundry Compounds Elements and Musings Uranium: The X-Ray. I bought this at a local shop begrudgingly. I have been trying to smoke all of the cigars in this line, but that just might be impossible, so I had to get it. On the other hand, it’s a 7″x70 which is just way too big. This is listed as containing Honduran, Nicaraguan and “Mysterioso” tobaccos, one can never be sure what’s in any of the Foundry cigars, Michael Gianinni raids General Cigar’s tobacco library and picks out unique tobaccos from unusual places. This cigar was mild, had a nice flavor, which is why I stayed with it for over three hours. I went for a swim, read a book, went for another swim, got dressed and listened to a podcast on the deck, it was still going. Over all, it burned evenly and was a tasty smoke, although it took a while to get from mild to the low side of medium. I’m glad I tried it, but I don’t see this as a box purchase for me, although I dig the artwork, how can you not like a cross-legged skeleton flipping the bird! I have the CAO Flathead 770 in the humidor which is quite intimidating. I wrapped up the evening going out to see a friend play at a local country club, and meeting some other friends there, where we smoked a couple of the Foundry Compounds Elements and Musings Vanadium, which are aging very nicely. I may have to consider getting another of the V shaped boxes before they sell out.

That’s it for now, the Panera people are staring lo look at me like I’m overstaying my welcome! We are looking forward to getting things back to normal at home. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Alec Bradley, American Puro, cigar, cigars, Compounds Elements and Musings, CroMagnon, Foundry, General Cigar Co., George Rico, Knuckle Dragger, Partagas, RoMa Craft, Uranium, Vanadium

by CigarCraig | July 2, 2014 · 9:30 pm

A 5 Vegas Miami, a Reinado GER and a Nica Rustica Cigar

Things have been going very well with our new dog, Macha. She’s a sweetie, and we’ve been taking short walks since she’s only been three legged for a few weeks. She does remarkably well, and we learned something about her tonight: she’s not a fan of thunderstorms! We also found out that she CAN go up the stairs, where she ran to hide. I’m hoping none of our neighbors have fireworks this weekend! She’s been a joy so far, I think we got lucky.

Monday I selected a 5 Vegas Miami Toro, a traditional 6″ x 50. This cigar has a Ecuador Habano wrapper and Nicaraguan filler and smoked very well. These are made in the G.R. Tabacaleras Co. in Miami. I received this sample in a pack from Gran Habano, and I really haven’t smoked many 5 Vegas cigars lately. This was a really tasty and well behaved cigar despite having a slight bend to it. I found it to have a nice strength, and some pepper and nuts. I really enjoyed this cigar after a short walk and hanging out on the deck with the dog.

Please join me in welcoming Reinado Cigars to the CigarCraig Family! Click the graphic on the right sidebar to see everything they have to offer in the Reinado Empire! I’ve had the pleasure of hanging out with Antonio Lam, the man behind the brand on numerous occasions and he’s a great guy, and makes some delicious cigars. Tuesday I decided to smoke their newest offering, the Reinado Grand Empire Reserve Ecuador Connecticut Petit Lancero. This cigar is being released at the IPCPR show later this month, so look for it on store shelves sometime soon. My only complaint with this cigar is the “petit” part, I wished it was a longer cigar, the experience ended too soon. I seem to be smoking quite a few really good Ecuador Connecticut cigars lately, and I don’t reg

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ularly reach for that wrapper. Along with cigars like the Recluse Amadeus, the Nomad Connecticut Fuerte, and the Jaxx LT, this is another winner in that category. A few years ago the “not your father’s Connecticut” schtick was getting a little tired, but this years batch of Connecticuts are very good. The Reinado is medium bodied and loaded with flavor, and is smooth and well balanced. This would be a great cigar in the morning with a cup of coffee. If it were 7½” x 38 instead of only 6″ it would be even more awesome than it is. If I were using my rating scale with this one it would fall somewhere between 98 and 99!

Tonight I was lazy and grabbed a Nica Rustica El Brujito from Drew Estate. I make sure I have some of these on hand at all times, as it’s become one of my favorite go-to cigars. After a short walk with the dog, who lets me know when she’s ready to head home by stopping and refusing to go any further, forcing me to turn back. We sopped to introduce her to a neighbor and we talked for five minutes before she realized the dog was missing a leg. Macha doesn’t realize she’s any different from any other dog. As I said

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before, a thunderstorm rolled in, frightening the dog and forcing me into the garage to finish my cigar. The Nica Rustica is a terrific smoke, if you like no-nonsense, strong, dark flavors. The Broadleaf wrapper is dark and rustic, and has some sweetness. I miss the wild grown nicotiana rustica that they used in the prototypes, but the regular production is really good.

Once again, don’t forget to head over to Cigar Rights of America and follow the links to comment on the FDA Deeming Document. In talking with Glynn Loope on Saturday he pointed out that two of our (Premium Cigars) opponents are the health care organizations and big tobacco! I guess I get the fact that the cigarette companies want the playing field leveled, but it’s a shame that they aren’t fighting more tobacco legislation instead of trying to hurt the cigar industry. The FDA needs to know that regulation of Premium Cigars will not only put Americans out of work and close hundreds of small businesses, but will have a devastating impact on the economies of the cigar and tobacco producing companies in the Caribbean and Central America. We need to push for exemption with no price or weight restrictions, or all of the cigars will be over $10 and we won’t have new blends, cigar events, or any of the other cool things we enjoy about this adult pastime.

If you get a chance, check out Houston’s Prime Living Magazine. Page 55 has a little article about cigars in what looks like it will be a regular cigar feature. That’s it for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig