by | October 2, 2011 · 5:18 pm

October Is Here: Berger & Argenti, Chateau Real and Macanudo Contest Winners!

It’s autumn here in south-east PA, and the evenings are getting shorter.  This time of year I tend to gravitate toward maduro cigars more, not sure why that is, I just do.  I have my winter stock of smaller, maduro cigars in half of a box of Chateau Real Small Clubs and three quarters of a box of Hoyo de Monterrey Sabrosos all ready for the cold winter walks.  I have a severe dislike for fall and winter, so next spring can’t come soon enough.

 

Earlier this week I had a yen for a Berger & Argenti cigar, so I grabbed a Classico Belicoso that I received at the IPCPR show.  This one wasn’t quite as tasty as the Mooch Schnorr, but it was still very nice, and for some reason the 5¾” x 50 belicoso shape felt very elegant in the hand.  I know, that sounds a little un-manly, but it’s seemed like it would feel just right while wearing a tuxedo, and what’s more man;y than a tux.  I don’t know where that while line of thought came from, but it did, and there it is.  As I said, this was a very tasty smoke and burned nicely.  I have enjoyed the heck out of the recent samplings from Berger & Argenti.  I’ve still got some Mooch maduros and Entubar Quad Maduros to look forward to.  The Entubar is a very good candidate for my annual Halloween cigar.

 

Friday evening I just wanted something good and familiar, that I wouldn’t have to think about much, so I grabbed a Chateau Real Maduro Gran Cru Perfecto from my dwindling supply.  I love the Mexican maduro wrapper on this cigar. I don’t think they are making the Chateau Real in maduro any more which is a shame, I guess I didn’t buy enough of them to keep them in production.  It’s a nice, medium cigar that always hits me right, always draws well and burns straight, and I will be sad when these are gone!  Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the Claro version of this cigar, but it’s quite a bit different with the maduro wrapper.   Thinking about it makes me want another!  Will power….

 

I need to select a pair of winners.  The Macanudo Millionaire contest closed last week, so I hope everyone got their entries in.  These Macanudo four packs are quite unique in that the cigars are all 6 x 60 versions of  the regular line, the maduro, the 1968 and the Crü Royale.  So, the winners, as selected at random using the random number generator at Random.org.  The numbers generated were 1 and 6, which correspond to kekoa kai and Kyle!  Congrats gentlemen!  Make sure you get in touch with me with your contact info so I can send out your prize!

 

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

CigarCraig

 

 

 

 

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by | September 28, 2011 · 6:30 pm

A Trip to the Wooden Indian, a Cain, an A.Turrent and a Monte Pascoal

Sunday afternoon I decided to take a ride to see my daughter and son-in-law and my 5 month old grand-daughter.  I visited with them until it was nap time (the baby’s, although I could have taken one myself!).  Anyway, they happen to live in the same town as one of my favorite area cigar shops, the Wooden Indian.  I got there within a half hour of their closing, so I took a look through the humidor to see what was new.  They have a very nice stock, which includes a smattering of nice boutique brands that aren’t always available in stores closer to home.  Normally I’ve visited this store on days when they are having events, and haven’t really taken a close look at their stock.  Neither needing more cigars, or wanting to spend a lot of money, I settled on a pair of Cain Daytona c

oronas, which ended up under $5 each.  I hadn’t yet smoked the Daytona, although I do have a couple lanceros in the

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humidor at home.  I had a nice ride home and after dinner I sparked one up.  This is now my favorite Cain.  I love the flavors in the line, but the Maduro and Habano and “F” series tend to be stronger than I prefer.  Somehow nausea detracts from the cigar experience.  Anyway, the Daytona is full flavored, yet not so strong as to cause the world to spin.  Top notch cigar and p

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riced fairly.  It’s all I can do to not smoke the lanceros now!

 

Monday was a long day at work so my evening was slightly shortened.  I grabbed a shorter smoke in an A. Turrent Tripple Play Robusto.  I had the good fortune of meeting Enrique Seijas at the Altadis booth at the IPCPR show and he gave me a thorough tour of the booth.  One of the sample pack s he gave me included this cigar.  The Triple Play is an all maduro cigar, with a San Andreas wrapper, a  Connecticut Broadleaf binder, and fillers from Nicaragua, Mexico and Honduras.  Since I love Mexican maduro, and broadleaf, I figured this would be a good fit for me.

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 I did enjoy the cigar quite a bit, although I had to touch up the burn a few times.  Nice cigar that I look forward to trying again, although I can see where it may not be for everyone.

 

Tuesday evening I grabbed a Monte Pascoal  Minuto on the heels of an e-mail from Wesley Gensel announcing an article in Smokeshop Magazine about the brand.  I met Wes

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at the IPCPR show in New Orleans and spent some time with him at the show this

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year, where I first enjoyed this cigars.  The Monte Pascoal was also awarded the best Brazilian cigar by Cigar Journal magazine at an awards ceremony at this years show in Las Vegas, which I was privileged to attend.  These cigars are Brazilian puros, made with Mata Fina and Mata Norte tobaccos.  I r

ea

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lly enjoy this little 4 3/8″ x 42 petit corona.  It had a very rich flavor and was quite satisfying.  I look forward to trying the larger sizes, but this Minuto is a very nice little smoke.

 

Here is a video of Wes from the IPCPR show last July:

 

 

That’s it for now!  Don’t forget to enter this weeks contest to win a Macanudo Millionaire 4-pack!  Leave a comment on my last post to enter.  I failed to mention that there would be TWO winners again!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | September 25, 2011 · 8:45 am

G.A.R., Liga Privada, Veritas, a Contest Winner and Another Macanudo Contest!

This nice looking G.A.R. Opium STK toro was handed to my by my old friend Frank Seltzer at the Drew Estate blogger party at this years IPCPR show. He gave it to me without any comment at all, and I’m sure he has no affiliation with Gran Habano. I started removing bands (three of them in all, the foot band had to go first!) and lit this puppy up. To start out, it’s a nice looking cigar, 6” x 50, which oddly felt larger than 50, but I measured it and it certainly was a 50 ring gauge. It smoked very well, and while I didn’t taste poppy seeds

or any other interesting flavors, it was a nice, solid, tobacco flavored cigar. It’s a good cigar although not one I think I’d go out of my way to find. I need to try more cigars from George Rico and Gran Habano.

 

Friday I celebrated the end of another week with a Liga Privada No.9 Parejo. I’ve been sitting on this particular one for about 2 years, and, wow, what a wonderful cigar. Perfectly made, perfect balance of flavor and strength. I actually purchased this at an event at the Wooden Indian (the old store) where we first met Marvin Samel. Just a super cigar that I smoked to within a half inch of it’s life.  I still have one of the first Liga Privada No.9 cigars with a plain band from 2007.  Mike Staiber, formerly of Drew Estate, presently of Oliva, gifted me this cigar at an event a while back.  I’ll probably let it get to five years old or so before I fire it up, just to see how well it aged.  It’s all I can do to keep my hands off the meager supply I have, they are so good.

 

Saturday I took a walk with a Veritas MMXI 6” x 60 Maduro, which I got at the Delaware Cigar Festival. This was about the blackest maduro I’ve seen in a long time. I’ll be honest, my first thought is that it was dyed, and the contrast between the fillers and wrapper was quite stunning. Whatever the process involved, I enjoyed the cigar quite a bit, it needed a couple touch-ups but burned nicely. I’m told that these are made by Blue Mountain Cigars in Esteli, and the maduro cigars pictured on their website look just as black. Like I said, I enjoyed the heck out of the cigar. This is the cousin of the Veritas DEA 7¼” x 58 Solomon Connecticut cigar that is accompanying the Rosie Napravnik bobblehead that some lucky reader is going to win.

 Contest!

Thank you to everyone who entered.  It’s been a little amusing to me to see how many visits I had this week from people searching the phrase “Rosie Napravnik Bobblhead”, or something similar.    Thanks go to Delaware Park for unwittingly providing part of the prize, and Veritas Cigars for allowing me the opportunity to purchase the other part of the prize!  So, as usual, I assigned each entrant a number based the time of their entry. Swede214,  please send me your contact information so I can send you your prize!

 

Another Contest!

 

I still have some Macanudo Millionaire 4-packs to give away, and I better do it quick since the deadline for entry is September 30, 2011.  So I’ll hold my October contest a little early.  Leave a comment on this post to enter, I’ll select a winner next Sunday, October 2.  Don’t forget to visit MacanudoMillionaire.com to enter to win the trip to Vegas and a chance at a million bucks!

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

CigarCraig

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by | September 21, 2011 · 8:38 pm

Cigars So Far: Kristoff and CAO, A Schnorr, and Some 7-20-4s

I forgot to make mention of the cigars I smoked at the Delaware Cigar Festival. As I said, the format was that cigars were for sale at the vendors tables. $3.00 per cigar, with 100% of the proceeds going to charity, which was the family of a local police officer recently killed in the line of duty. I purchased a handful of cigars, some I wanted to try and some favorites I don’t see very often. Obviously, in most cases $3.00 each is an excellent deal for a lot of the cigars that were offered. I started with a Kristoff Corojo and I regret not getting a second one of these. Very nice cigar and a nice way to start the day. I also smoked a CAO OSA Sol Lot 50 that, while not as good as the first one I smoked, was very nice. Buy the time I picked up the OSA it had been out on a table most of the afternoon, not right out of a humidor. No worries as I did get another one of these. When I buy singles I like to buy in pairs for some reason. I also picked up some Murcielagos from Eddie Ortega as well as a bunch of other assorted goodies.

 

Sunday I closed out the weekend with a Berger & Argenti Mooch Schnorr which was a sample from the IPCPR show. I love the name of this, even though it’s a little redundant. For those who don’t know “Schnorr”

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is a Yiddish term for a mooch. I know this because I have a good friend who refers to another friend as such, and it cracks me up. So while I was at the show in July, having a Cuban coffee with Kiki Berger in his booth, he made sure I had some samples. In my limited experience at the IPCPR shows, Cuban Crafters has always been very generous with samples, however, a great many over the years have not been to my liking. This led me to avoid Cuban Crafters over the years, and it wasn’t until spending an excellent evening in Esteli with Mr. Berger that I re-thought that position. I’ve since enjoyed several other cigars that carry the Berger name. The Mooch Schnorr was really a very tasty cigar, I enjoyed it quite a bit. I would even go so far as to say it was the best cigar all week. It was smooth and flavorful and perfectly built. The sample I grabbed did have a small crack just below the cap line which gave me a few problems initially, until I patched it with part of the cap, which solved the problem completely. I smoked this down to a finger burning nub, and was sorry to see it end. The Schnorr is a nice size (robusto) and a tasty, well balanced blend. I can’t wait to dig into the rest of the samples from the show. I have some maduros and some more of the Entubar line to try.

 

By the time I was ready to sit down and enjoy a cigar on Monday it was getting fairly late. I was rooting through the humidor looking for something small and settled on the 7-20-4 Dogwalker that Kurt Kendal gave me when I met him at the 2010 IPCPR show. Don’t know why it took so long to get around to this one, it jsut did, what can I say.  The Dog Walker is a handsome little cigar, 4¼” x 40, with the same straight “pigtail” as the rest of the line.  It was defi

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nitely full flavored and may have been on the verge of being strong,  I enjoyed it quite a bit and it lasted close to 45 minutes before I put it down to go in for the night.  I don’t have a dog to walk, but my cat, Frank, hung out with my on the porch while I smoked it.  Nice little cigar and Kurt is a nice guy.

 

I visited Kurt at this years show and he gave me his 7-20-4 1874  blend to try.   While the regular line is made in Honduras, the 1874 is made in Nicaragua, with a lovely Nicaraguan wrapper.  This one had a very open draw, so I smoked it slowly.  It was a really nice smoke, I think it was a little bit milder than the Dog Walker, but had a more balanced flavor.  There was a taste in there that I really liked, can’t place it, but it was good. The sample I smoked was a robusto and I would happily smoke it again.  Nice job on this line extension.

 

As long as I’m ending on a 7-20-4 thing, here’s a little video Kurt took with me at the show.  Standard disclaimer applies: Don’t forget to turn down your PC speakers after watching so you don’t blow your speakers on the next Windows Error chime (or whatever weird sounds Macs make)!

 

 

That’s it for now, don’t forget to go to my previous post and enter the current contest!  Until the next time,

CigarCraig

 

 

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by | September 18, 2011 · 11:18 am

The Delaware Cigar Festival and Another Contest!

Saturday, September 17 marked the long awaited fifth annual Delaware Cigar Festival, organized and hosted by Gary Griffith, the Premium Cigar Manager of Delaware Cigars and the creator of Emilio and Grimalkin Cigars.  The event took place at Delaware Park, which is already one of our favorite places in the area to go and waste some money on the ponies, or drop some pennies in the slots.  The event was unique, as it is a big herf disguised as a charity event, although Gary won’t use the charity aspect to promot

e it.  The format is that the manufacturers and reps sell their samples for $3 each, with all of the proceeds going to charity, which this time benefited the family of a slain police officer (news report here), this was just in the last few days and quite tragic.

 

Photo Courtesy of Charlie Greenbacker

For your entrance price you got a bag with about 20 or 25 cigars (nice stuff too, I looked!) and assorted swag, a nice picnic buffet with burgers, dogs, chicken, ribs and beans, and the opportunity to talk with the assorted cigar makers and reps who were there.  Brands represented were:  Inked Magazine, Rocky Patel, Arturo Fuente/JC Newman, Emilio Cigars with brand creator Gary Griffith, Drew Estate, Altadis USA, Oliva, Perdomo, La Sirena with Brand Ambassador Arielle Ditkowich, La Flor Dominicana, Cigar Rights of America, EO Brands with Eddie Ortega, Miami Cigar, General Cigar, 262 Cigars, Kristoff Cigars, El Primer Mundo with Sean Williams, Veritas Cigar Co., and The Cigar Agency. Keith Park from Prometheous was also there.  All of these companies donated TONS of stuff, either cigars that were sold for $3 each, or stuff to be raffled off (we bought 10 tickets didn’t win a darned thing!).  The attendance was capped at 300 people, including staff, press and exhibitors, so it was a nice sized crowd. It was rarely a problem to have a chat with the vendors.

 

In addition to getting to schmooze with some of my friends on the manufacturers side, I was able to hang out a bit with some fellow blogger types such as Barry from ACigarSmoker.com, Walt  from StogieReview.com and Michael from CigarEvents.com.  I also had the great pleasure of meeting one of my readers, Charlie, who won big in the raffle give-aways!  These events are always about the people, and you just don’t meet nicer folks that those associated with cigars for some reason!

 

What a wonderful event that I would recommend highly next year if you are within a 3 or 4 hour drive.  Gary is a fine gentleman and I appreciate him welcoming myself and my wife for the afternoon.  It’s refreshing to see a retailer put on a “not for profit” event, and to have so many people there enjoying cigars and camaraderie.  I’d love to see more manufacturers participate in the future as the event is for good causes and shows the cigar business in a positive light.   The only downside was that the weather could have been a little nicer, it was overcast and under 70 until we drove off the premises, then the sun came out and it was nice!  Hardly anyone’s fault.  I managed to win about $4 on the ponies over the course of the day too!

 

In honor of the event, I’m going to have another quick give-away!  I know, I JUST had one that ended this week, but we got a couple Rosie Napravnik Bobbleheads at the park for Racing Fan Appreciation Day and I thought I’d combine it with a beautiful Veritas Connecticut Salamone that I purchased from the Delaware based Veritas Cigar Co. at the event.  So leave a comment to enter, and I’ll pick a winner next Sunday, September 25th.

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

CigarCraig

Photo Courtesy of Charlie Greenbacker
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