CigarCraig's Blog

by CigarCraig | June 11, 2014 · 9:09 pm

Jaxx LT, Stixx and Jaxx from La Sirena Cigars

A few weeks ago La Sirena Cigars announced the acquisition of Old School Cigar Co. and the addition of their three lines to their own. I received samples and eagerly smoked a Jaxx and a Stixx after a week in the humidor. I didn’t comment on them here, because something was a little off, there was an odd aftertaste that was quite off-putting. I had a hard time believing that two cigars made in different factories could share that one odd aftertaste. I mentioned this to Max at Team La Sirena, and he suggested some additional humidor time, as he had noted some humidification issues himself. Being that I am of the mind that every cigar is someone’s baby, and who the heck am I to pass judgement anyway, I took his advice. This week I decided to revisit the line, especially after smoking the Jaxx LT, which, according to Arielle herself, was the reason she picked up the line in the first place.

The Jaxx LT I smoked is an Ecuador Connecticut wrapped 5½ x 50 robusto with a Nicaraguan binder and Honduran and Nicaraguan fillers made at the Placencia factory. It’s a beautiful cigar, very uniform in shape and color. The burn and draw were about as perfect as any cigar I’ve had, it was really a pleasure to smoke. I enjoyed the distinctive grassy flavor the Ecuador Connecticut wrapper provides, it’s not nearly as grassy as a US Connecticut, I’ll call it a muted grassiness. It wasn’t a particularly mild cigar, it had a nice load of flavor and was very entertaining. It certainly held my interest and is a cigar I look forward to smoking these again. There are really mild Connecticuts an there are cigars like this one that have a good body and flavor. Recommended.

Tuesday I picked up the Stixx Belicoso for the re-try. This one is made at the Quesada factory in the Domincan Republic. This belicoso is more of a pyramid in that it’s 6″ x 52, but that’s not really important. The wrapper is a dark Brazilian Broadleaf Maduro with a Dominican binder and Dominican Criollo and Habana Vuelta Bajo fillers. What is important is that it was a totally different cigar than the first one I smoked. This one burned well too, and the draw was firm, and I smoked it until my fingers burned. I got a nice sweet flavor throughout the cigar, quite likely due to the Brazilian Broadleaf wrapper. I was very pleasantly surprised with this cigar, a couple extra weeks to settle made all the difference in the world.

Tonight I figured I’d complete the hat trick, or the trifecta if you prefer horse racing over ice hockey metaphors. The Jaxx Toro is made in Nicaragua at Rocky Patel’s factory, but I won’t hold that against it (It’s a joke! I’m kidding! Just because I don’t smoke a bunch of RP cigars doesn’t mean they aren’t making quality cigars!) The wrapper is a nice, dark Nicaraguan Habano Oscuro, which is appealing to me. The binder is listed as Nicaraguan Banda Criolla, the fillers are Nicaraguan Seco and Ligero from Jalapa, and Brazilian Mata Fina Viso. The wrapper was slightly lighter at the head and became darker toward the foot. It smoked quite well and was very enjoyable. Again, the extra couple weeks of rest did wonders for this and it’s Stixx sibling. All three are solid cigars that I wouldn’t mind smoking on a regular basis, and I won’t hesitate to buy these when I see them in the shop.

Many thanks to Max and Arielle at La Sirena Cigars for sharing these samples with me and for consulting on the initial experience. I’m so happy these redeemed themselves in my eyes, at least. I look forward to the future offerings from this company, it’s my understanding that the La Sirena line is, in fact, moving production to La Zona, since I’ve been having very good experiences with cigars from that factory. I also still have to ship out the last contest prize, my apologies for dragging my heels on this, but I will get it packed up and out this week.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

2 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Jaxx, La Sirena, Stixx

by CigarCraig | June 8, 2014 · 2:26 pm

Kristoff CRA, 601 Bunker Buster and La Jugada Cigars

I’ve been largely absent from writing and social media since my wife’s father passed away this week. My wife has been busy making arrangements and tomorrow he’ll be laid to rest in New Jersey. I’m sure everyone understands why I missed my Wednesday post for the first time in several years. I smoked many cigars with Mario over the years, I remember him telling me early on that cigars cooled you off on a hot day, and he had a story about coming through customs at the Canadian border with a three pack of Havanas, having them confiscated, and telling the agents “I hope you f**king enjoy them!”. He would lick and chew up the cigars I gave him and ruin them, then complain a

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bout them not being too good. It didn’t matter to me really as I was happy to share. We lived with him for the last year and a half or so, so it’s going to be weird not having him around. May he rest in peace.

Since it’s been hectic around here, I haven’t really smoked too many notable cigars. Sunday I lit up a Kristoff maduro of some sort which came from the Cigar Rights of America, and I can’t recall which year I got it, maybe this year. I took my favorite summer chair out in the yard and enjoyed this maduro cigar while catching up on podcasts. It had a nice pigtail cap and closed foot, it was a really good looking cigar. Since this is supposed to be a special blend just for the CRA, I don’t know the blend, nor will I speculate on it. It was reasonably heavy in body and full of dark, decadent flavors. I haven’t smoked a bunch of Kristoff cigars, but I should probably try some more based upon this cigar. I have about five more of these special CRA editions that I’ve accumulated over the years that I’ll get to in the near future. Don’t forget, time is running out to leave your comments on the FDA site. Just do it.

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Later in the day I realized it was June first, so I figured I’d smoke a 601 of some sort. I had recently received some 601 La Bomba Bunker Buster, which is the newest micro-blend from Smoke Inn. This cigar is a 5 ½” x 56 box pressed figurado that’s lighter in the hand that one would expect. This cigar wasn’t as potent as it’s La Bomba cousins, and I smoked an Atom on Tuesday to get a bit of a comparison. I enjoyed the Bunker Buster immensely on it’s own merit, but I don’t think it packed the punch for me that the regular line does. It’s a really cool shape with a wide open draw and even burn, despite feeling under filled. If you like the 601 line, you have to give these a try if you can, and even if you aren’t a strong cigar fan, try it because it’s not as strong as you’d think.

Later in the week I smoked another cigar from Erik Espinosa’s La Zona factory (the 601 Atom might be a leftover from the My Father factory, it’s been in my humidor for a while), the La Jugada Habano. This is another really great cigar with a perfect burn and draw, and full, rich flavors. This is a great cigar to take a nice long walk with. It’s a 6 1/8″ x 52 belicoso with a beautiful Ecuador Habano wrapper. The website recommends a full meal before this one, but since it’s been a crazy week for me, I can’t remember what I ate, but it was a very good smoke. I think both the Prieto and Habano lines are really good cigars from Moya Ruiz Cigars.

Yesterday, after the majority of guests left our home where the post-funeral reception was held, I lit up a little Montecristo Petit Edmundo that has been in the humidor for about a year. This is a cool little robusto, measuring 4 3/8″ x 52, which is a unique vitola in the Havana range. I picked this because it was pretty short and it was on the top row of the humidor. I enjoyed this cigar so much that I picked up a toothpick to finish it off. It had some sweetness and that unmistakable Cuban “twang”. I felt like my father-in-law would have enjoyed this cigar. I wished it had been longer, but it was tasty. While I don’t feel that Cuban cigars are really any better than Nicaraguan, Honduran, Dominican, etc. cigars, they certainly have a distinctive flavor that you don’t find in others, and I happen to enjoy it from time to time. Real ones are worth sampling.

That’s it for today. It’s been an exhausting week, more for my wife than me, so we’re trying to grab a little bit of normal while we have a chance. Tomorrow will be another busy day as we drive to New Jersey for the cemetery portion of the funeral. Hopefully the coming weeks settle down and we can get our bearings. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 601 La Bomba, Bunker Buster, cigar, cigar rights, cigars, CRA, Kristoff, La Jugada, Montecristo

by CigarCraig | June 1, 2014 · 1:54 pm

La Gloria Cubana, Padrón, Leccia Luchador and Recluse Draconian

I have to take a quick rewind to last week. I smoke two spectacular cigars leading up to Memorial Day Weekend that need to be discussed. First was a special cigar I got when I met up with Michael Giannini a few years ago at a La Gloria Cubana event at Famous Smoke Shop. This was a special La Gloria Artesanos de Tabaqueros in a 4.5 x 50 format that had a Sumatra and Connecticut broadleaf wrapper as opposed to the Ecuador Connecticut and Sumatra that’s on the production version. Boy, I love this cigar! The change from the wrappers is quite obvious, as it goes from a bit leathery to sweet when it hits the band (I took the band off, they taste bad). Wonderful little cigar that I wish were available.

Lastly, I started the weekend with an old friend, the Padrón 1964 Anniversary Maduro Exclusivo. I often wonder why I don’t smoke these more often, then I look at the price tag! I suppose in today’s cigar economy, $11 and change isn’t terrible for the quality of flavor, construction and overall experience you get. Like smoking a Hershey Special Dark candy bar. Smooth, rich and just about perfect. It’s incredible that a cigar smoked in 2014 can taste the same as one smoked in 2000. Really a brilliant cigar, classic.

So this week I actually took a few days off after smoking my brains out over the weekend. Friday I kicked off this weekend with a Leccia Tobacco Luchador El Hombre. This may be my favorite cigar of the year so far. I reviewed it on Saturday in my appearance on Kiss My Ash Radio, and mentioned that it reminded me of semisweet chocolate with jalapeño, and Abe and his crew had never had that (0r the Luchador), they don’t know what they are missing. Give the show a listen, I tried not to make a fool of myself, once again. I don’t know if it’s the Pennsylvania ligero that give it that little jalepeño pop, or what, but it’s a really interesting and entertaining cigar. Give the Luchador a try, it may not be for everyone, but it’s certainly unlike any other cigar out there. A 99 on my rating scale.

I was inspired by a segment on the Kiss My Ash show sponsored by Iconic Leaf yesterday so I grabbed a Recluse Draconian Sidewinder No. 2, a 6×57 box pressed cigar with a unique head. I gave it a squeeze and the cap popped open and I peeled it off, making a perfect opening without having to use a cutter. It’s got wha

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t they describe as a Ecuador Maduro wrapper, a proprietary binder, something called Braziago HD in the filler blend, along with Piloto Cubano, another proprietary ligero and a Dominican ligero. Whatever these tobaccos are, they sure taste great together. It’s a full flavored, upper medium bodied cigar that has a perfect draw and a fun shape. I’ve only smoked the Sidewinder sizes in this line, but I’me sure the normal vitolas are tasty too. Stay tuned for their new addition, the Connecticut wrapped Amadeus. I can’t wait to see what clever size they come up with for that one.

If you get a chance, check out my newest site sponsor, Bombay Tobak. Here’s the info about the company and their cigars:

A truly boutique cigar, MBombay, just hit the shelves of retailers in Southern California within last couple of weeks. MBombay Cigars are made in a very small factory in San Jose, Costa Rica.

In a recent interview with Mel Shah, owner of MBombay Cigars, expressed “Cigars are embedded in my memories since childhood. I can still smell the lingering mild smell of Cubans that my grandfather and my father smoked when I was a kid. After graduating college in India, my father offered me my first cigar in ’96, which he got from Dubai. I retired from IT industry in 2001, and opened a cigar shop that year in July. I enjoy retail even today, but I believe manufacturing aspect of cigars was supposed to happen. Touching, feeling and smelling of tobacco in the factory takes me right back to my grandpa’s room. I do miss him and classical music that he used to listen while smoking a fine cigar.”

Read the rest HERE

It’s a beautiful Sunday and I’m done most of my chores for the day,

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so it’s time to pick out something nice and sit and relax out in the yard for a while.Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under News, Review

by CigarCraig | May 28, 2014 · 8:42 pm

On The Water With Compounds, Elements and Musings H2O Cigars

We had a really beautiful Memorial Day weekend here in South-East PA, so we did some fun stuff.

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Sunday my wife and I took a ride out to Valley Forge National Park and walked around for a few hours, giving me time to enjoy a couple robustos, a Perdomo 10th Anniversary Maduro and an Illusione Rothschild, both really good smokes, and, surprisingly, not a comment or sideways glance from any of the people we passed. I expected someone to make a snide remark, but I was left along to enjoy my walk and smokes. I smoked a nice Rocky Patel Olde World Maduro Lancero after dinner to top off the day. I don’t smoke a lot of Rocky Patel cigars, but I enjoy this one. The burn and draw were good and it had a nice flavor.

Monday we decided to take a family trip to Cape May, NJ for lunch via Lewes, DE. There’s a ferry that runs regularly from Lewes to Cape May, and we thought it would be fun to spend some time out on the water on a beautiful day. Of course, I formulated a cigar plan. Since I had just picked up a set of the Foundry Compounds, Elements and Musings H2O cigars on Saturday, it seemed appropriate that these be smoked on the water. The H, 2 and O are small perfectos, 4″ x 48ish, closely resembling the iconic Arturo Fuente Hemingway Short Story, or the more obscure El Titan de Bronze Hemingway. They come in a box of thirty-six, with twelve cigars in each blend. Consistent with the rest of the line, which I’ve been doing my best to find and sample, there is little information about the wrapper, binder and fillers. Sadly, these were on a buy one/get one free table, and I’ll have to get back to that shop and pick up some more!

Being that I have borderline CDO (that’s OCD in alphabetical order like it should be), I started with the “H”. The “H” had a chocolate brown, almost rosado wrapper. This was my first cigar of the day, before lunch even, and was very tasty. I quite enjoyed the sweet and leathery flavor. The cigar was perfectly formed, easy to light, and burned well. It had a little bit of a tunnel issue about half way thorough, but re-lit well and wasn’t a problem. Obviously, being out at sea, it was a bit windy, which may have been a contributing factor. We saw a bunch of dolphins frolicking, which was pretty cool. This is a cigar I’d like to have a few more of. It had a very nice, unique flavor.

We drove into the town of Cape May, NJ for lunch, and settled on a little place called Angelo’s Restaurant, which used to be Beach House. It was right on the beach so we sat in the covered outside deck area and had fish and chips (my son had a pizza burger, has to be different!). We did a little shopping and headed back to the ferry terminal. The trip back was a lot windier than the trip over, but I was undeterred. I lit up the “2” cigar for the ride. This one had a dark chocolate colored maduro wrapper. It also had the semi-sweet chocolate flavor to go along with it. This turned out to be my favorite of the trio, with the “H” being a close second. It also had the same burn problem, tunneling about half way through, but, again, I attribute that to the wind. I saw a couple dolphins again, a treat for me as I had never seen them in the wild before. They seemed to be having fun.

Who would have thought there’d be traffic from the shore inland on the last day of a holiday weekend? It took us three hours to get home when it only took two hours to get there with no traffic. By the time we got home I was ready to sit out on the deck with the “O” cigar and relax. This cigar had the lightest wrapper of the bunch, but only slightly lighter than the “H”. It had finer veins and was very nice looking. This cigar burned perfectly and didn’t have the tunneling problem I had with the other two, although the conditions were far more conducive to relaxing with a smoke. I found it to be a dry smoke, not quite as rich in flavor as the previous two. This was my least favorite, although still quite good. As I said, I’ll have to try to get some more of these, at $2.50 a piece they were a bargain. It’s too bad the shop is 50 minutes away or I’d grab some more.

I amused myself (and probably annoyed others) by taking some video documenting this trip and the cigars smoked.

httpv://youtu.be/mW9esQNkEtA

Of the Compounds, Elements and Musings line, this selection is a limited release, so I imagine t

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hey will be hard to find. I know they sold out at last years IPCPR show. There’s a few in the line that are regular production, the Carbon and Uranium. I really liked the Carbon, and I haven’t smoked the Uranium yet because it’s 7″ x 70, but I do have one in the humidor. These are fun t

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o try because they aren’t really very expensive, and they use some very unique tobaccos and have flavors that you don’t get in other cigars. Of course, the packaging is over the top and pretty neat. You’ll recall I bought a box of the Vanadium because of the V shaped box, which sits on the top of the bookcase, good thing I enjoy the cigars!

Contest

You may recall we had another contest in the last post, that was two in a row! Far from my record of 13, but not bad having two in a row. We had 55 entries….no, wait, 54, Brian Impson left two, but I only count him as one. It makes things a little harder for me, but I’ll figure it out. I consulted Random.org once again, and it gave me the number 17. Steve McHenry, please send me your address so I can ship this stuff out to you. Stay tuned for more contests coming up!

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

CigarCraig

7 Comments

Filed under Contest, Review, Trip Report

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Compounds Elements and Musings, Contest, Foundry, H2O

by CigarCraig | May 25, 2014 · 11:21 am

CAO Flathead Tour with Ricky Rodriquez, a Contest Winner and ANOTHER CONTEST!

Yesterday I took a drive out to Colmar, PA to the Cigar Cigars store for a CAO Flathead event with Ricky Rodriguez. I got there a few minutes after the event was supposed to start, so I took a look around he expansive humidor. They’ve rearranged the store since my last visit, moving the counter to the front and making a larger public lounge area. I had mixed emotions about what I saw on the buy one/get one table. On the one hand, I was sad to see cigars like the Leccia Black and White, some EPC and the Compounds, Elements and Musings, on the other hand I got a deal on some cigars I wanted to try. I picked up the H, 2, and O and a Titanium torpedo in an effort to sample the entire line. I also picked up a CAO Brazilia Gol to get my day started, I’ll get some Flatheads when they arrive.
I settled in with the CAO Brazilia Gol, I have always enjoyed this blend, especially in the 5″x 56 size. The Brazilian wrapper is dark and oily, and it has a unique, exotic spice flavor that I enjoy. The burn was perfect, which I take as a sign that this establishment maintains their humidor properly. I got nearly half way throug

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h the cigar by the time Ricky and Gary arrived. I first met Ricky when he was on Team La Gloria a few years ago (I smoked an Artsanos de Tabaqueros last week that was incredible), and had the privilege of spending time with him in the Dominican Republic on the trip in 2011. Rick runs the CAO operations now, and studied at the feet of Benji Menendez.

After catching up with Ricky for a bit, I was ready for another cigar, so I made my second purchase of the day, a handful of CAO Flatheads, including the ginormous Big Block, a square pressed 7″x70. On the other end of the spectrum is the new Spark Plug, at 4″x 50, which was my next cigar. I also picked up a Heatwave for future smoking and a Area 9 sampler. The Sparkplug has the same square press and flat cap as the rest of the line, but has a closed foot. It’s a tasty little powerhouse, and smoked much longer that it’s 4 inch length would suggest. I always thought the wrapper on these lines was maduro, but Rick explained that while it is a dark wrapper, they don’t call it maduro because it’s a lower priming Connecticut Broadleaf than can be used for maduro. It’s carefully processed to the dark color. Call it what you want, it both tasty and visually appealing!

Here’s a video with Ricky ‘splaining the newest offerings from CAO. Thanks to Vince from The Cigar Lounger Magazine for doing the camera work for me!

httpv://youtu.be/-cbKxOEVDHs

Ricky went on to give a presentation of how cigars come to be, a seed to smoke kind of thing that wasn’t brand specific or propaganda of any sort. He covered the planting, curing, fermenting, sorting, rolling, quality control and packaging very nicely. If you can manage to catch him on this tour, you won’t regret it. He’s got some great stories (ask him about Philly cheesesteaks!) And is an all around fun guy to hang out with, and his cigars are pretty good too. I enjoyed the afternoon at Cigar Cigars (I sure wish they’d have more events at the three stores within ten miles of home as opposed to having to drive almost an hour!), it was great seeing old friends.

Contests

It’s Sunday, so it’s time to select a winner for this week’s contest. You will recall that I pulled a selection of cigars from my humidor, some I purchased, some were leftover samples, but all are ta

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sty smokes that I’ve enjoyed. I will add a La Gloria Cubana of some sort to the mix, as well as a CAO Flathead Sparkplug, bringing the total to something like 17 cigars. According to the random number generator at Random.org, the winner is number 36, which works out to be foozer6976. Congrats! Please send your address so I can get your goodies to you.

But wait!

I’ve gone contest crazy again! I ended up with some goodies from my escapades yesterday, so I’m going to have ANOTHER CONTEST (actually another series of contests! Stay tuned)! I’ve got a metal CAO Flathead sign,a pair of CAO Flathead Sparkplug cigars, and a CAO Area 9 sampler. Ricky explains the Area 9 in the video, but for those who didn’t watch, there are six cigars that are coded, and all of them are from the pre-General Cigar Co. CAO era. The cigars are anywhere from five to twenty years old. There could be original Anniversary Series from the Costa Rica days, up to La Traviatas. By the second week in June we should be able to visit CAOCigars.com, enter the code on the band and find out what the cigar is!

So leave a comment to enter and I’ll pick a winner on Wednesday. Thanks to Gary and Ricky for enabling me!

That’s all for now! Happy Memorial Day. Remember those who’ve given their lives so that we have the freedom to enjoy a fine cigar. Until the next time,

CigarCraig