CigarCraig's Blog

by Craig Vanderslice | September 15, 2024 · 9:44 am

Brick House TAA, Tatuaje PCA and Villiger TAA Cigars

I stopped by my local Tobacconist Association of America retailer recent;y and picked up a few cigars I hadn’t tried yet. I got a couple TAA Exclusives and a PCA (Premium Cigar Association) exclusive. These are cigars that are only available to members of the respective associations, in the case of the TAA, the members have an annual meeting (usually at a tropical resort ironically outs

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ide of the US (technically they are still in “the Americas”). Selected manufacturers make exclusive cigars, some good, some not so much. I think I selected a couple of the better ones. I started with the Brick House Ciento por Ciento, which translates to 100 percent, and I’m not sure what the significance of this name is without doing more research than I feel like doing. I grabbed this one for three reasons: I typically like Brick House cigars, I hadn’t smoked this one, and it’s almost Bricktoberfest (starts tomorrow, my daughter’s birthday!). I don’t know how long these had been on the retailers shelf, but when I removed the band it had tan lines! The front face of the cigar wrapper leaf was faded, which is odd because the humidor at this shop has no sun exposure. Perhaps they moved them from another store, I don’ t know. It was only one side, kinda like my tan. Anyway, this didn’t seem to have any effect. This is a 6¼” x 54 Toro made in J.C. Newman’s PENSA factory in Esteli, and is a Nicaraguan Puro. The wrapper is from Jalapa and seems a bit lighter than the standard Brickhouse. It has a overall woody profile with a hint of citrus here and there. Good cigar and well priced, as a Brick House should be.

Next up was the Tatuaje PCA 2023, which came out in early 2024, of course. Tatuaje has probably been the best at making TAA Exclusives, and is a very big supporter of the PCA, which is a much larger organization. The point of offering this Exclusive is to get member retailers, and any retailer who isn’t a member is a fool, in my opinion, to physically come to the annual trade show to buy. This PCA exclusive is a 6 3/8″ x 54 Toro, made at the My Father factory in Esteli, and has an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers. This was a delicious cigar with. sweet exotic spices throughout. I thoroughly enjoyed smoking this, which isn’t unusual considering I enjoy most Tatuaje cigars I smoke. I may swing back and grab a couple more, although they are on the top end of what I consider well priced, around $15 I think. Great tasting cigar!

I’ve smoked a couple of the Villiger TAA Exclusives, however this one has eluded my notice. Villiger, like they do with a lot of their brands, uses a variety of factories. This was their second year making a TAA Exclusive, and they used the Tabacalera Palma factory in the DR. Their Trill brand was made there, which I don’t think is in their portfolio any longer. Like the B

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rick House, this cigar also had tan lines. I guess they are the opposite of tan lines really, there was some fading on the top face of the wrapper. This was a 6″ x 54 toro with an Ecuador Habano wrapper and Dominican binder and fillers. I’m generally a fan of Villiger cigars, there’s some I like better than others, but they make good cigars. This had a sweet wood profile, not my favorite, but pleasant enough. The cigar burned well and I think it was unter $10, not too bad. As I think about it (read: looked back on my own site), I have smoked the 2020 (E.P. Carrillo) and the 2022 (Espinosa), and I think the 2022 was my favorite. I guess I need to see if I can find the ’23 and ’24 versions if they exist!.

As I write this, I’m enjoying a cigar on my porch. I hate that it will be too chilly soon to do this. I found a Leccia Desnudo in the humidor and, while it isn’t my usual choice for a morning cigar, it’s got a few year age and is a nice, mellow maduro cigar, great with coffee. When these came out back in 2016 we hosted a Desnudo Sunday and did a video, which is here. Everyone remained clothed. That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 2021, Brick House, Ciento por Ciento, cigar, cigars, J.C.Newman, PCA, TAA, tatuaje, Villiger

by Craig Vanderslice | September 8, 2024 · 9:56 am

Don Doroteo and Southern Draw Rose of Sharon Cigars

I planned poorly this week. I put a cigar into the rotation that I thought was new to me, until I smoked it and double checked and I had smoked it back in 2022. I really like the H.Upmann by A.J. Fernandez line, and the Heritage is on the strong side, but very good. I would say more, but I already wrote about it in an April, 2022 post (here). So that left me short for today’s post. I need to go shop for some new to me cigars (not a mooch)! Anyway, I was pleased to receive some cigars from the folks at Don Doroteo Cigars to try, the Don Doroteo El Alcalde torpedo, with an Ecuador Sumatra binder and wrapper, and fillers from Brazil and Dominican Republic, where the cigar was made. These boast 15 year aged tobaccos, hard to believe from a fairly new company, you say? Considering they work with La Aurora, one of the oldest cigar factories, this becomes more plausible. If I remember correctly, the namesake of this cigar, Doroteo Delgado grew tobacco for the La Aurora comp

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hink you have to like Sumatra tobacco

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to like this cigar. It starts out with a sour citrus flavor to my palate, with some cinnamon notes in the second half. This is a very entertaining cigar, flavorwise, and the burn and draw were outstanding, as they should be in a $30 cigar. I’m hit or miss with cigars from this factory, but this one kept my interest. Thank you to Gabriel Piñeres for sending these along!

There’s an animated series called ” “Sammy’s Smokes” in production which is looking for voice actors. Applications can be submitted here. Here’s the description from the site: “Seeking talented voice-over actors for an upcoming animated series, “Sammy’s Smokes,” which brings to life the quirky world of a smoke shop and its colorful employees and patrons. Set in the bustling city, this series combines humor, heart, and a slice of life, with each episode exploring the dynamics between the characters and their adventures within the community. We aim to capture a wide audience with our unique, engaging stories and vivid, dynamic animation style.” I wish I had the credenti

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als to apply, I don’t think I fit any of the profiles they are looking for. I’m looking forward to seeing this.

It’s been a while since I’ve featured a Casa de Montecristo exclusive, probably before it was a national chain. I received a surprise package from Casa de Montecristo with a Southern Draw Rose of Sharon Dozen Roses. This is a CdM exclusive, and is a Salomon measuring 7 1/8″ x 58, a formidable size cigar. This has an Ecuador Connecticut shade wrapper over Nicaraguan fillers and binder, with some Dominican in the blend as well. It’s made at the A.J.Fernandez factory, like all of the Sout

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ple foot of the cigar with a torch and it burned and drew perfectly, and ended up with an even burn once it got going. This isn’t a mild Connecticut, like most of the Rose of Sharon line, it’s got some body and loads of flavor. It has some baking spices and creaminess, with some leather. It was really quite good, and I enjoyed it for nearly two hours. Thank you Joe Gro for sending them! These are available at Casa de Montecristo locations as well as on their website (link is an affiliate link).

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Don Doroteo, Dozen Roses, El Alcalde, Rose of Sharon, Sammy's Smokes, Southern Draw

by Craig Vanderslice | September 1, 2024 · 9:25 am

A Djeep Lighter, New La Gloria Cubana, Punch and Los Statos Deluxe Cigars

Welcome to the “last weekend of summer”. My birthday and Labor Day always get me down as they indicate the coming of cooler, and eventually cold, weather, which I dislike. I like summer. I like stepping outside in the morning and feeling warm. I like not having to bundle up. I know some people like autumn, but it just depresses me. I’m already looking forward to spring! Anyway, I was going through the checkout line at Walmart this week and my eye usually looks at the selection of lighters, and I saw something I hadn’t seen before, a Djeep Turbo Lighter. I figured for $5 it was worth a try. I broke a couple torches lately, although I still have plenty, but one more won’t hurt. It comes full of butane, ready to go, and really works well. It brings to mind the classic Blazer PB207, as it has a cap secured with a chain. It, thankfully, doesn’t have a switch to lock the flame on, which I always thought was a liability. The flame is adjustable and it’s refillable. I’ll use the heck out of it and see how it holds up, but initially I’m impressed. Djeep is a good name in lighters, the soft flame disposable has always done well, I think I had one Macanudo branded many years ago. There are probably cheaper torches that work just fine, but this is a brand name and is easily accessible. The link is to Amazon where they sell a six pack and is an affiliate link. If twenty of you buy these it might pay for the one I bought!

I received some new releases from Forged Cigars and General cigars a couple weeks back, and was disappointed to receive the press release, but not the cigars, for a new La Gloria Cubana, a long time favorite brand. Fortunately, my friend Phil of Comedy-Cigars-Music shared a couple of his with me. The La Gloria Cubana Gran Legado is a large figurado, 7¾” x 62, with a Connecticut Broadleaf maduro wrapper over Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers. Each cigar has a secondary band with a signature of one of the team who created it, and they only use rollers with 15 or more years of experience. I had a busy week at the day job, and was ready to sit down and relax with a cigar Friday, and I chose this large cigar to do it with. This was a really good smoke. I’ve had some issues with some of the La Gloria releases lately, but this ain’t one of them. It’s huge, so it smoked for about two and a half hours, and had some nice cocoa flavors with some spice through the nose. Mid way through there was some interesting savory flavors, a cigar this large needs some transitions to keep it interesting. I really enjoyed this cigar, I think it’s very fairly priced at $15, and I really appreciate Phil sharing his with me.

Next up from Forged was the latest Matt Booth/Justin Andrews colab in the Los Statos Deluxe line, the Connecticut. I’ll be honest, I thought the other “LSD” offerings were OK, but I really like this one, and it’s really hard to get me excited about shade wrapped cigars. This one has an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper, Esteli, Jalapa, Nicaraguan Habano, and PA Broadleaf fillers, and, get this, it’s made at the Joya de Nicaragua factory! No wonder I liked it. Before I read where it was made, I was thinking that this was a really good budget alternative to a Sobremesa Brulee, and now I know why! This is on a par with the Antaño CT and the Brulee as far as I’m concerned. I’ve smoked a couple of these and really enjoyed them, it’s a smooth, creamy cigar, with some cane sugar sweetness and an appropriate amount of spice. I need to find some of the other sizes, the Churchill especially. Look for the purple packaging, because you can’t see the wrapper to know what you’re getting!

Moving from the Forged division of STG to the General Cigar Co. side, I smoked the new Punch Golden Era in Lancero. Nearly a year ago I wrote about the robusto in this collaboration with Julio and Justo Eiroa of JRE Cigars. I remember getting the Golden Era along with the Macanudo Vintage Maduro 2013 and being confused by the fact that the Macanudo was the stronger cigar. Like I mentioned last year, unlike the Punch Rare Corojo, this Golden Era actually has Corojo in the blend, Honduran Corojo wrapper with Honduran Corojo and Habano fillers. This is a nice cigar with some bread and caramel notes. The press release incorrectly states that this is the only Punch lancero, unless the 7″ x 37 Chop Suey doesn’t count because it was limited. I think the lancero was better than the robusto, I planned to smoke one while writing this, but a persisting migraine made me scrap that idea. I’ll have one later.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Djeep, Eiroa, Forged, General Cigar Co., Golden Era, Gran Legado, joya de nicaragua, JRE, Justin Andrews, La Gloria Cubana, Lighter, Los Statos Deluxe, LSD, Matt Booth, punch, Torch

by Craig Vanderslice | August 25, 2024 · 9:51 am

A Cigar Adventure: a Visit to Up Down Cigars and a PCA Event in Chicago

I did something wild this week, for me at least. I attended the Premium Cigar Association‘s Democratic National Convention event at Up Down Cigars in Chicago, IL. I I made the whole trip within a 24 hour window. Here’s how it went down: I flew from Philly to O’Hare on Tuesday, arriving in Chicago around 1PM local time. I walked about 22 miles from the gate to the train that would take me, eventually, to the Blue Line train into the city. The “L” train stop was about 2 miles from the shop, so instead of trying to take a bus, I figured I had time to hoof it. Said bus passed me several times. Anyway, I got to Up Down Cigars around 3:30 for the 6:00 PCA event. Rats, I’ll have to hang around a cigar shop for a couple hours. The staff at this shop is quite knowledgeable and attentive, it’s not a large shop, cabinet humidors around the perimeter (actually fronts for the walk in behind it where the backstock is

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ther cramped, by suburban store standards, but fairly typical for a city shop with a long history (The original owner, Diana Silvius, is a legend in the cigar business. Phil Ledbetter is the current owner, an instantly likable guy). I perused the humidors looking for something to fill the time. I was directed to a store exclusive, the Fausto 10/50.

I’m going to pause here to talk about the cigar, the Fausto 10/50. This was made for the 50th anniversary of the shop back in 2013, which was also Tatuaje Cigar‘s 10th anniversary. This is a 6 3/8″ x 42 lonsdale, with an Ecuador Habano Maduro wrapper, and Nicaraguan binder and fillers, made at the My Father Factory in Esteli. This is an exceptional cigar, I smoked two this week, one a the shop and one when I got home. Smaller ring cigars need to be smoked slowly, this is one to be savored, first because over drawing it will make it burn hot and ruin it, second because it has some strength, and in the case of the one I smoked at the shop, I was pacing myself because it had already been a long day and I had a long night ahead of me. It’s a heavy cigar with cocoa and some spice, an absolute bargain at $10.50, although with applicable Chicago taxes it was more like $13.75. I really like the Fausto line, and this was a really good version. I bought 3, smoked two, have one left to savor at a future time!

Back to the trip. Shortly after I arrived at the shop, Boston Jimmie of Stogie Press showed up and we hung out until the event at 6. The PCA hosted events at both political conventions, I was unable to attend the one in Milwaukee for the RNC. The event was held in the patio area behind the store, a maybe 30′ x 50′ tented area. Drew Estate was the cigar sponsor, so I had a Liga Privada No. 9 while there, although there were many choices available. Ben Pearson, the area rep was there. I finally met Josh Habursky who was recently appointed Executive Director after Scott Pearce left to head the Cigar Association of America. Scott was there as well and I had a chance to talk to him a bit. I also got to hang out with my friend Luigi Lucente, the man behind the Cigar Medics Humidimeter, The Baller cigar cutter, and the Guillotina de Saka cigar cutter, among other

Photo Courtesy of Boston Jimmie

clever cigar accessories. I imagine there were somewhere around 100 people there. It was a nice event with various hors d’oeuvres, wine, beer and liquor. After the event Luigi dropped me at the train and I made my way back to O’Hare to await my 6am flight.

They had issued something like 350 free tickets for this event with a waiting list of 200. If everyone had showed up it would have been a disaster. It occurs to me that they should have put a nominal fee on the tickets, which would incentivise people to attend if they really wanted to, and raise some money for the association. I don’t know that any of the Democratic legislators who are key to the cigar industry fight against taxation and regulation were there, I have to think that holding it during the convention hours (and the convention center was 7 miles away, which might take 2 hours in Chicago traffic!) might have deterred their attendance. It was a nice event, I’m glad I put myself through what I did to attend, but I can see how it could have been better. I understand that the Milwaukee event was more elaborate, given the way many in the cigar industry lean politically, I can see where more might have gone into that one. Anyway, good event, great people and a really nice shop. I discovered that walking through a deserted O’Hare was surreal, and I’m too old for pulling all nighters!

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

CigarCraig

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Filed under Events, PCA, Stores

Tagged as 10/50, Chicago, cigar, cigars, Fausto, PCA, Premium Cigar Association, tatuaje, Up Down

by Craig Vanderslice | August 18, 2024 · 9:38 am

VegaFina, Tatuaje, Umbagog and Blackened Cigars

I smoked a selection of cigars this week that I recently picked up on several shop visits that were all new to me. A few weeks back I stopped in New Tobacco Village in Whitehall, PA and one of the cigars I picked up was the VegaFina Exclusivo USA Patriot. VegaFina has a very small footprint in the USA, but has a pretty wide range available in Europe. I’ve smoked a few over the years, and, much like a lot of the Altadis portfolio, wasn’t too enamoured with them. I figured I’d give this one a shot. It came out almost a year ago, is a 6″ x 54 toro, has an Ecuadorian wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. It was a nice smoke, rather light bodied with some wood and citrus tang. Not my favorite profile, but it was a perfectly good cigar. I try to smoke cigars that aren’t in my wheelhouse, once in a while I find a gem, but it wouldn’t be a cigar I’d buy a box of.

I stopped into CigarMojo (the King of Prussia, PA location) last week and smoked a really good Dias de Gloria Brazil and picked up a couple other cigars that I had wanted to try. The first one I smoked was the Tatuaje LLE Broadleaf Reserva. I love the Broadleaf Reservas as a rule, and this lonsdale size look really good. This is a relatively new release, and pretty reasonably priced at $11. The cigar is 6¾” x 42, has a rich Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers, made in the My Father Factory. I went into this cigar knowing that I had to relax and take it slow, there’s not many things worse than overheating a really good cigar, and this was a really good cigar. It starts out spice heavy, and then the cocoa/coffee flavors come through. I might have to get some more of these before they are gone as they only made 1500 boxes.

Yesterday was busy, we’ve been re-doing our foyer after putting it off for almost ten years, which involved stripping the painted wallpaper off (which my wife handled) and patching and sanding the bare drywall. It must have been a thing in 1959 to go straight to wallpaper, because the walls hadn’t been painted. Walls I can handle, the ceiling is giving me problems! I don’t care for working over my head. I also cut the front lawn and forgot, for the second week in a row, that there was a yellowjacket nest. Bastards got me three times, maybe I’ll remember next time I mow! After a while I gave up and sat down with a cigar, and I chose an Umbagog Bronzeback which I had picked up at Harrisburg Beer and Cigar last month. Of course, I very much love the Umbagogs, so I’d been looking forward to smoking this one. This Bronzeback is to Umbagog kindof what Triqui Traca is to Mi Querida. It comes in one vitola, 5″ x 48, and has a lower priming Broadleaf wrapper than the regular Umbagog line (which uses the wrapper leaves Saka deems as not pretty enough

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for Mi Querida). This has some exotic spices along with some earthy sweetness, not quite as chocolatey as the regular line. I loved it, it was the right size, and right flavor for

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the time. It’s a little more of a premium offering than its predecessors, a little fancier band and packaging, and a little higher price tag, but well worth it.

Finally, another cigar I picked up at Mojo that I have been looking forward to trying was the newish Drew Estate Blackened S84 Shade to Black. I really like the M81 from time to time, so I was interested to see what an Ecuador Connecticut Shade wrapper over Connecticut Broadleaf binder and Pennsylvania and Nicaraguan fillers would be like. Of course I got the 6″ x 52 toro. The binder and fillers are fermented to a Maduro. I was hoping to really like this, but it wasn’t really my thing. It seemed too strong for the wrapper, which while it added some nuttiness to the blend, was easily overpowered. I understand the idea, and it’s different. but it didn’t really work for me. I’m wired to associate shade wrappers with a more delicate blend, I guess. I’m glad I gave it a shot, and I might try one again, but my preference leans toward the M81 (which is named after the year I graduated high school).