CigarCraig's Blog

While roughly half of the cigar industry is in Las Vegas at the PCA show, I’m here maintaining the status quo. I have my reasons for not going, ranging from not being ready to travel, to being unwilling to commit resources to something that has failed to appreciate it in the past. I hope everyone has a great show and enjoys themselves, and there’s a lot of folks I miss seeing and meeting. I have been scounging to find new cigars to smoke, so one that was new, to me, at least, was a La Alianza Rosado which was gifted to me by my friend Patrick. I’m not sure if this is a catalog exclusive or what, but it was the Churchill Extra at 7″ x 54, and has Nicaraguan binder and filler with an Ecuador Sungrown (?) Rosado wrapper. Of course, this wrapper description doesn’t really tell us much. Rosado is a color, Ecuador is known for its cloud cover so the sungrown part is sketchy, unless it’s grown in a sunny part of Ecuador, which is could be, I suppose. I don’t know Ecuador very well. It’s made by Ernesto Carillo, so that’s good enough for me. A little shopping around tells me it’s a reasonably priced cigar, at around $7, and I’d have to say this is an outstanding value. I really enjoyed the cigar, it burned well, and reminded me a little bit of the third iteration of the El Rico Habanos, the ones Holts sold in the paper bundles around 2000. They weren’t like the strong ones in the mid ’90s, they were more medium bodied, and had a nice, sweet flavor. This was a nice smoke! Thanks PJ!

My next selection goes back about five years into the humidor. Since Saka is going on and on about making cigars with pipe tobacco, I thought I’d smoke a cigar with some Perique in the blend. I wrote this in 2016 about the 1881 Perique Maduro by Tabacalera Incorporada: “The cigar has a Dominican maduro wrapper, binder form the Philippines (from a 1997 crop), and the filler is 18% Perique from a farm in Louisiana owned by Daughters & Ryan and Philippine leaf. Perique is typically a pipe tobacco, it’s usually blended because it’s very strong, and has a distinctive flavor. This type of tobacco was being cultivated in Louisiana by the local Native American tribes when Europeans wandered into the area in the 1700s.” At that time Daughters & Ryan was distributing this line in the U.S., but I don’t think that’s the case any longer. After five years in the humidor, the cigar is still very good. The fruitiness and sweetness I noted five years ago are still there, it’s still a unique cigar, although the flavors are less distinct, they’ve melded a little over time. It was a very enjoyable smoke, and that’s not something I thought I’d ever have said about a cigar from the Philippines! 

While I was at the LouLiga Lounge last week I picked up

a Room 101 Murder Hornet, which is a Limited Cigar Association release. The LCA is part of the Privada Cigar Club, which is directly associated with the LouLiga Lounge, I would venture to guess they are partners in some manner. That’s irrelevant to this. I’m going to be a little controversial. The LCA is the company that put out cigars like the Cigarbon, Cookie Monster, Death Bucket, etc. They create a stir, always sell out, in kind of a hit and run sort of fashion. I  ass

ume it’s the same model as Caldwell’s Lost and Found and a lot of Cigar Federation’s cigars, short runs that

they pick up in factories and repackage. I’m sure there’s great margine and these are really good for retailers. I personally don’t care for the branding, especially the stuff which could potentially be perceived as having appeal to children. Hate groups like Tobacco Free Kids would be all over the Cookie Monster and you could explain

it until you’re blue in the face (yeah, I k

now), and it wouldn’t matter, you’ may as well be injecting babies with heroin. Anyway, I’m not a fan of the whole thing, I’m sure the Privada Cigar Club is great, and I’m sure retailers love the LCA, but as a consumer, and a fairly traditional old dude, I’m not feeling it. that being said, the Murder Hornet was excellent. It’s 5 ½” x 44 corona  and is made at the Raíces Cubanas factory in Honduras.  It’s a bit

of a throwback (sic) to the old Room 101 cigars, I suppose, as it’s Honduran, at least I suspect some of it is. It wasn’t killer strong, it was well balanced, some sweet leather and nuts, and enjo

yable. Not a huge corona fan, but I smoked it slow and rather enjoyed it.

Finally, I had forgotten to smoke the Ortega Serie D Connecticut that I had bought a while

ago in the sampler. I corrected that problem last evening. This was new to me, I don’t think Eddie had a Connecticut in his original Serie D line up. This one has an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper, Ometepe binder (that’s interesting!) and Nicaraguan fillers. I would recommend going on the Ortega website and buying these, because they are very good. I have a few shade cigars I really like, but most of them are on the lower tier and I put off smoking them, as evidenced by this one. Ones I like a lot, coincidentally, are made in Honduras. This one is rich and creamy. It is smooth with no bitterness or grassy flavors. It’s like a good coffee with cream and sugar (I drink mine black, so call it an iced coffee with cream and sugar).  I really enjoyed it and ordered more. Eddie’s cigars are really good!

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

CigarCraig