CigarCraig's Blog

by Craig Vanderslice | February 4, 2024 · 9:52 am

Dunbarton Famous 80th New Sizes and a Visit to the Leaf

This is going to be a relatively short post today, and a little different than the usual Sunday post. Friday evening we went up to The Leaf/Famous Smoke Shop in Easton, PA for a cigar. They were launching two new sizes in their Dunbarton Famous 80th line, a Corona Larga and a Gordo. I’m not entirely sure why they are continuing with the 80th theme on these, as the original release in a box pressed toro was in 2019 (read about it here), they could easily call these the 85th Anniversary. They came out with a Robusto in 2021 (I was there as well, read about it here, please forgive the mention of the other store which has since closed). Since I went to the prior two events, I felt obligated to go to this one, and I like to catch up with Steve and Dave Lafferty, two people I’ve known for a very long time. I picked up a handful of each of the new sizes and lit up a Corona Larga and looked for a place to sit. The place was packed, not sure if it was a Friday night thing, or a Saka thing, maybe a little of both. We sat at a wobbly hightop in the bar area. The Corona Larga is 6½” x 48, which is a really nice size as far as I’m concerned, probably about perfect for me. They call this a maduro, but it’s really a Sun Grown Nicaraguan H2000 wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers. It’s a beautiful cigar. Earlier in the week I smoked one of the original release Toros and it smoked really well, needed a touch up here and there, but I rather expect that with the H2000, but there was an umami funky flavor that was unique and interesting. I didn’t get too much of that, in the Corona Larga, maybe a little bit. I think this strikes me as kind of a cross between the Mi Querida and the Todos Las Dias. I really liked the Corona Larga, almost regret not splurging on a box, but I ain’t made of money! We ended up leaving after one cigar as the wobbly table was annoying, the place was too crowded and we accomplished what we intended. We probably missed seeing some people, but we’ll catch them the next time.

Yesterday I smoked the Gordo, which is a box pressed 6″ x 60, kind of an odd size for Dunbarton. It’s probably better classified as trunk pressed, as it’s not a cuadrado, or sharp box press like a CAO Flathead or the like. It’s pressed enough to make it feel like it’s closer to a 56 ring than a 60. I liked this one a lot too, although it had some of the funk that the toro had that I didn’t really get in the Corona Larga. While we were at the event, Saka was making the rounds and stopped by to catch up. Of course, we catch up on personal, family stuff, as we’ve known Steve for 25 years. He holds court for a while, but he gets up and works the room, recognizing that people are there to see him, and if he’s in the same spot all night the people around him aren’t going to move to let other people hang out for a while. I usually say that I go to these events to see Dave (and I forgot to tell Dave something…damn…). Back to the Gordo: Like the other cigars in this shop exclusive line, it’s really good. I imagine if you like Dunbarton cigars you’ll like these. Another funny thing is that the Famous 80th line is really the only Dunbarton store exclusive I’ve gotten my hands on (except for the Great Smoke exclusive I had last week). I don’t chase stuff down, if I happen across something I’ll pick it up. I do wonder if they will still be coming out with Famous 80th cigars fifteen years from now!

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Dunbarton, Famous, Famous 80th, Famous Smoke Shop, Leaf

by Craig Vanderslice | January 28, 2024 · 11:01 am

Adventura, Aganorsa, JFR and DTT Cigars

I was looking at some of the gifted cigars I have this week and pulled out a couple that seemed topical. Not for any other reason than Abe is a friend and Smoke Inn is a great retail establishment, take note that their event, The Great Smoke, is coming up on February 24. Hopefully I’ll make it to one of these some year, I’ve heard good things. My secret Santa this year gifted me an Adventura Sociedad Secreta which was a Great Smoke release last year I believe, and actually has ties also to Secreto Cigar Bar in Detroit. This cigar is a cool size, 6″ x 48, a size I like a lot. It’s midway between a toro and a Lonsdale, pretty cool. This cigar is made by Henderson Ventura in the DR, and has a San Andrés wrapper that has been aged four years, Broadleaf binder with five years’ age, and 3-5 year aged fillers of Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. I’ll be honest, when I read the blend I was surprised, because I would not have thought it had that combo of wrapper and binder. It lacked the darkness and earthiness I associate with those tabacos, but did have a nice, sweet woody flavor. It was medium bodied at best, and quite tasty. I typically am not a Adventura fan for the most part, but this was quite nice. Thanks to Craig for allowing me to try this!

I had a couple more cigars I picked up at last week’s Wooden Indian visit, and smoked a Aganorsa Leaf Signature Maduro in the toro size. To be honest, I wasn’t going to get this, until I was informed I had a $5 credit on my account and figured, what the hell, I’ll put that towards another cigar! Perfect cigar logic right? Why take the discount on the cigars I’m buying already when I can get one more for $5 off? It made sense to me at the time. Anyway, this looked like one I’d like, and, for the most part, it was. This 6″ x 52 Toro has an Aganorsa Corojo wrapper, over Aganorsa binder and fillers, all gown in Nicaragua. Apparently there’s some media tiempo in the blend, I would expect that to give it some oomph, but the cigar was so packed at the head that it was a snugger than normal draw. It was good, some nice spice and good tobacco flavor. I can’t seem to remember which Aganorsa cigars I really like and which one’s are just OK, until I try another, this falls into the latter category. I should find a place to write this stuff down! 🙂

Non-cigar related, my wife and I took a little road trip to see Patterson Great Falls in Patterson, New Jersey yesterday, we had no idea there was a waterfalls in New Jersey. It was pretty nice, I hope the guy who found it wasn’t canoeing down the Passaic River! Apparently Alexander Hamilton founded the city around the falls and built an industrial complex after the Revolution. Neat history and cool waterfalls. On the way home we stopped at Ringing Rocks Park in Bucks County, PA, which has a boulder field that some of the rocks ring when hit with a hammer. Strange to see this naturally occurring boulder field, again, I wonder who figured out that they ring? Anyway, I came home to a losing Flyers game and had a cigar.

The cigar I chose was another Great Smoke release, this one from a few years back, the DTT-EX-38, another secret Santa gift, this one from Mitch (TY!). This one was an exclusive for the ’21 Great Smoke, which was the one that was virtual, an 8 hour telethon style event. I think Carlito Fuente stole a Sakasquatch on the broadcast. This was a cigar Saka had been working on for several years using a Costa Rican Morron ligero if I understand correctly. He made some for the Great Smoke, and is either still working on the blend, or has given up, hard to say. This was a fascinating cigar. It was 5″ x 46 with a pigtail, nice size for the time I had before dinner. It was very chocolaty, but a weird, chocolate that coates the palate. Loads of flavor. This had a long finish, I might still taste it 17 hour later and having had another cigar after it. I think the people that were able to get these had a special treat, and I’m fortunate that I had the chance to try one.

Finally, as I was leaving last week’s Aganorsa event, Fabien handed me a JFR Corojo Robusto “to smoke on the ride home”. I didn’t, of course, it wasn’t that long a ride. This is another Aganorsa puro, featuring the Aganorsa Corojo wrapper. It’s a dark wrapper, I had to look at the band to determine if it was the Corojo or the Maduro. I have to smoke more of these JFRs, I think. This was a good smoke, burned well, was fairly strong and had a lot of spice. I liked it. I’m not sure if it was the cigar or not, but I had weird dreams all night, the kind that you wake up, then spend the better part of an hour trying to figure out WTF that was all about, then falling asleep and waking from another weird dream. I ended up getting up around three and watching Shazam on TBS until I fell asleep again (which didn’t take too long). Very strange. I didn’t eat anything spicy or anything like that, strange how the brain works. Won’t prevent me from giving the JFRs more attention.

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

Craig

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Tagged as Adventura, Aganorsa, Aganorsa Leaf, cigar, cigars, JFR, Smoke Inn, The Great Smoke, wooden indian

by Craig Vanderslice | January 21, 2024 · 10:38 am

Some Aganorsa Rare Leaf and Statesman Cigars

Thursday evening I found myself faced with a dilemma, go to an event at the Cigar Mojo shop a mile from home, or a pop-up event at the Wooden Indian 15 miles from home. The subject matter of the Wooden Indian event was far more appealing to me, so it made the choice easy, otherwise I’d have made a token appearance at Mojo and gone home to watch hockey. It happened that Fabien Zeigler and Mike King of Aganorsa Leaf Cigars were in the area and were hanging out at the Indian, so I went, picked up some cigars, and hung out. Now, I’m hit or miss with the Aganorsa line, but there are a lot more hits than the event going on a the other place, and liking the people involved means more than liking the cigars in some cases. I hadn’t seen Fabien since he left Drew Estate, and it’s always nice hanging out with Mike King and I feel right at home at the Wooden Indian. I bought a selection and lit a Rare Leaf Maduro, it the Toro shape. Their Toro’s are 6″ x 54, which suits me fine, and the wrapper is a San Andrés over Nicaraguan Aganorsa tobaccos. I managed to pay attention to this one enough while conversating to know that it’s not one of the Aganorsa cigars that I don’t care for, it’s a perfectly decent, earthy mexican maduro with some rich cocoa and a little spice. I’d definitely smoke this again, although it’s not replacing any favorites.

I decided to follow it the next night with the Rare Leaf Corojo, also in the 6″ x 54 Toro size. This has what they call a Nicaragua Café wrapper, Aganorsa Corojo 99 binder and Aganorsa fillers, sounds like a Nicaraguan Puro to me. My impression of this one was that the flavor was largely on the wood end of the spectrum. It was a good smoke, performed well, had some interesting flavors, a little citrus tingle here, some pepper there. When it comes to the woody and leathery cigars, I tolerate them, but it’s not something I’m going back to, unless I forget and buy one again (which is becoming more and more likely!). I grabbed a couple more toros, and I’m pretty sure I smoked them before, and maybe even liked them! I’m still way ahead of the game if I had gone to the event at the other shop. There will be plenty of people coming to the shop by my house, I can miss one here and there.

I received an email from Tommy Allen of Statesman Cigars in California asking about getting some exposure for his brand, I was intrigued. Any time someone decides to start a cigar business in California I get curious. Is this guy nuts? I need to know more. So I figured he might be a good subject for the next video interview, which I’ll work on arranging, my “studio” is on the cool side this time of year. He sent me a couple cigars to sample, which I smoked yesterday. The cigars arrived in individual sealed pouches, and he shipped them separately in USPS Priority Mail boxes, which was unnecessary and overy costly. He said it had to do with making sure the recipient got “as excellent an experience as possible”, which is a good thing. Still could have put two cigars in one box, I’ve personally gotten ten in one of those! Who am I to criticize though? Taking care of the customer is job number one, and it’s becoming less and less of a thing. I started with what I believed to be the Bella Donna, their Habano blend. Their cigars are all figurados, this was a 6″ x 56ish perfecto. I should have measured the ring gauge, but I did measure the length. This size isn’t listed on their site, which was a little confusing. Regardless, or irregardless, depending on where you fall on that linguistic debate, it was a really nice smoke. It burned well, once getting past the nipple, and had a perfect draw. This had the cane sugar sweetness I like, but it was pretty subtle, not at all cloying or overpowering. Nice.

The Maduro offering in the Statesman line they call the Nightcap, probably because one would smoke it in the evening, not because it looks like a hat one would wear to bed. This is another perfecto, this one was 5 3/8″×52, not small, but smaller than the previous Habano cigar. I definitely have to get into a video interview with Mr. Allen, I have a ton of questions. They do say that the cigars are made in Esteli, nothing about who makes them, or any real info about the tobaccos. The quality is good, the cigars are a little on the rustic side, but I not poorly priced at $11 for a figurado. I’ve had a lot of more expensive cigars that weren’t as good. The Maduro was a cocoa/coffee maduro with a little bit of strength, although approachable. Good smoke. Like I said, I have lots of questions, stay tuned for more on Statesman.

I’m to understand that there will be a multi vendor event on Saturday, May 4 at Goose’s in Limerick, PA. I’m looking forward to this event, I’ll have more information as it becomes available.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Aganorsa, Aganorsa Leaf, Bella Donna, cigar, cigars, Nightcap, Rare Leaf, Statesman, Statesman Cigars

by Craig Vanderslice | January 18, 2024 · 2:00 pm

News: Blackbird Announces Superb Addition to Core Line

I’ve been very selective about the news items I post, some of it is laziness, I admit. This one caught my eye and I can’t wait to tery them. I’ve been a Blackbird fan since talking to Jonas and his crew at the TPE four years ago, and they make some really good cigars that I enjoy quite frequently. Hopefully these find their way to a shop near me (Mark W? Tell me where!).

‘‘A TRIP TO PARADISE’’

After years of hard work and dedication, we at BLACKBIRD continue to strive to make sure our customers have the best experience with each and every cigar we produce. With this mindset, we realized that we needed a bigger space, better bands, better boxes and of course… better cigars. As a company we took a big step and built a new factory to achieve the goal and at the same time support our community in the Dominican Republic by creating more jobs.

The first goal was achieved. Every single cigar that was being made at the factory during 2023 was in flawless conditions. Since our focus had been in continuing to perfect our production, Blackbird had not added a new cigar to our core line. We have produced several other products but no new additions to our core line.

However since we succeeded with our 1st goal, it was now time to add a new blend to our core line. So in the 3rd quarter of 2023 we started tobacco hunting in different countries and meeting with different tobacco growers until we found the ones that understood the quality that we were looking to have on every single cigar produced at the Blackbird Factory. One of the growers showed us an Ecuadorian Habano Wrapper with incredible quality that put a smile on our faces because we didn’t have any habano wrapper on our core line.

We started blending with that wrapper and the challenge began… We did too many blends, mixed with too many tobaccos in the filler that, honestly it was exhausting. But one day, after several tests, a burned out palate, at 3 in the morning we decided to try the last blend… suddenly the room went silent… we all realized that THIS blend felt like we had just arrived in Paradise!

We named this cigar SUPERB in reference to the Bird of the Paradise and because of how it felt when we lit up the final blend.

SUPERB It’s a medium strength bodied cigar, designed to create a savory and lingering taste of nut meg but creamy to the palate. Also some hints of cedar can be captured which when combined with the white pepper, will turn your most dull day into a paradise.

This new addition will become available during TPE 2024 in our re- designed core line wooden boxes of 21 count.

CIGAR COMPOSITION
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Undisclosed
Filler: Undisclosed

OFFERINGS
Robusto Gordo 54×5, Box of 21 (MSRP $196.56 Box / $9.36 Per cigar)
Toro 52×6, Box of 21 (MSRP $225.28 Box / $10.72 Per cigar)

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Tagged as Blackbird, Blackbird Cigar Co., cigar, cigars, Superb

by Craig Vanderslice | January 14, 2024 · 9:41 am

Belvedere Cigar Lounge Some Epic Cigars, and a Trinidad Espiritu No. 3

Thursday evening my wife had a thing she wanted to go to in New Jersey, and she found a cigar lounge three miles away I could visit! It turned out that Belvedere Cigar Lounge in Lawnside, New Jersey, was hosting Irving Rodriguez of Epic Cigars doing a cut and light event. I know Irv, and I love Epic Cigars, so it was a no brainer. Honestly, it wouldn’t have mattered, the lounge is really nice. It’s 1300 square feet, has seating for a little over 40, and has some massive TVs and a sound system. It has 24 hour member access, with a BYO bar. I would have been happy to buy a couple cigars from their modest, but well curated, retail selection and enjoyed one there. As is was, I spent the better part of an hour enjoying a delicious Epic Habano and talking with Irv. I’ve known about Epic cigars for the better part of ten years, and been a fan of them. They are made in the same factory that Kristoff cigars are made in, are really tasty, and always well made. Dean, who sold the brand to Nat Cicco Cigars a few years back, is a cool dude who I like to call a friend. The Habano should be first on your list of Epic cigars to try, it’s got a nice sweetness I like. It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, a Cameroon binder (this might be the seced sauce!), and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. I had the 5½ x 52 Robusto. I love maduro cigars, but the Habano might be my favorite in the line.

Of course, I bought a handful of cigars while I was there, why wouldn’t I? I was rather hoping they would have the tenth anniversary, but that wasn’t available, so I bought some Habanos and Corojos. Friday I smoked an Epic Corojo in the toro size. The Corojo has an Ecuador Corojo wrapper, Dominican binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. They call the 6″ x 54 toro a Double Corona for some reason. Great cigar, although on the leathery side of the spectrum to my palate. It was much more savory than the Habano, it really lacked any sweetness at all. I enjoyed it before heading in to watch a Flyers game. on a side note, last week’s weather took out our power for 14 hours overnight, and in the process somehow damaged our Verizon set top box. After the customer experience I’ve had trying to get the situation resolved, I think this might be the impetus to “cut the cable” finally, and ditch the TV service. I’ve been hanging on mostly for access to the Flyers games, but I think there’s enough alternatives available now that we can ditch the $100 a month. That’s today’s project.

Yesterday I picked up a couple cigars that I hadn’t smoked before, one of which was the Trinidad Espiritu No. 3. I was really looking forward to trying this one, I loved the No. 2, and the No. 1 was pretty good too. The No. 3 is a tribute to Mexico, with a San Andrés wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and fillers, made by AJ Fernandez in Nicaragua. This was very different from the No.2, now that I’m thinking of it, I’d have swapped the two based on flavor. I thought the 2 tasted more typical of a San Andrés than the 3. There’s an interesting exotic spice flavor present, with an overall savory base flavor. I thought it was really interesting, far more interesting than the La Gloria Cubana TAA 2023 cigar I bought and was severely disappointed by. I love La Glorias, but this one had nothing going for it. It didn’t draw well, it didn’t have much flavor, and just wasn’t good. I thought TAA cigars should be a good representation of a brand? The LGC is a pass for me, but the Trinidad Espiritu line is a winner, and there are not a lot of Altadis cigars that I can say that about (ironically, almost all the Altadis cigars I like are made in one factory).