CigarCraig's Blog

No video this time, I should have done some videos in the Suliff booth, but it was the first day when I visited, and it was very busy. On Wednesday, the first day if the show, my plane landed around 11:30 and I got an Uber right to the show, I think I was on the floor by 12:45. I actually wasn’t really planning to get to the show at all on Wednesday, but things worked out be

tter than I expected. I decided it made more sense to go right to the Convention Center than to try to check in the hotel early and goof around with that sort of stuff. It also helped that I ran into Mark Weisenberger, of Box Press Sales and Marketing, on the plane and shared the Uber with him to the show. So I used Wednesday to get my bearings and come up with a plan for the next couple days. Back to the Sutliff booth. I’ve known Anne Dinkins at Sutliff for years, she used to be my contact at Villiger Cigars years ago. I make a point to stop and say hello to her if nothing else. She, in turn, introduces me to the brands that Sutliff distributes. This year there were a few new ones that I didn’t know much about, and a few I had known for a while. 

One brand that was there that I really like was Patina Cigars. I was happy to meet Mo Maali, I hear him all the time on his Sultans of Smoke podcast so I feel like I know him. I may have met him before…I feel like he knew who I was. Social media can blur the lines between what’s real and not sometimes. I feel bad that I didn’t spend more time with him, and regret not circling back and doing a video with him. Patina is a great line of cigars. They are made in the same factory that Saka’s Mi Querida cigars are made in, NACSA, so the quality is top notch. I smoked a Patina Habano that I had in my humidor when I got home and it was spectacular. It had that cane sugar sweetness that I love. I know it’s one that I’ll be grabbing at Son’s the next time I get over there (which needs to be soon). Mo handed me a Maduro, which I definitely need to sample. I’m a big fan, I hope he gets out this way for a visit one of these days, I know he works with several stores in the Philadelphia area. 

There were several brands in the Sutliff booth that I’ve featured on these pages before that I was able to p

ut faces with names finally, Desiree from Drunk Chicken Cigars and Steve Zengel of Los Caidos Cigars. There were also a few people I’ve known for a long time, like Enrique Seijas of Matilde cigars and Eddie Tarazona of…what was the name of his company? Oh, right, Tarazona Cigars 😁.  I finally met Marcel and Henderson of Adventura Cigars, who might have had the busiest corner of the booth. Henderson gave me a Queens Pearls, which has been getting a lot of buzz, and I smoked it this week and it was OK, I may have to pick up another one to give it a second shot. A friend gifted me a Kings Gold which looks more to my liking. Honestly, it takes a heck of a Connecticut cigar to get my attention. 

Anne seemed most anxious to introduce me to Greg Willis of Emperors Cut Cigars. It turns out that Greg had e-mailed me several years ago about advertising and I was, let’s say, diplomatically dismissive. We had a good laugh. I smoked the Natural Pleasure Gan Robusto yesterday.  This was a 5½” x 56 cigar made in Nicaragua, with a Colorado Maduro wrapper, Ecuadoran binder, and fillers from Estelí, Nicaragua. It was an earthy Nicaraguan blend with very little sweetness. It was very different than what I expected. I think it was more on the umami side of the flavor spectrum that what I typically am drawn to. That being said, it certainly performed well and it wasn’t off-putting in any way. I enjoyed it as a change from what I typically enjoy. Make sense? Maybe not, but I look forward to trying the Jazz series cigar Greg gave me. 

Sutliff’s booth was very busy when I was there, of course they are also, probably primarily, a pipe tobacco company, so there was a lot of pipe tobacco displayed in the booth as well. As I don’t care about that, I don’t cover it. I always enjoy seeing old friends and meeting new people though! I hope I didn’t miss anyone. Thanks again to Anne for taking time to show me around.

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

CigarCraig