Tag Archives: Aganorsa Leaf

by | June 18, 2023 · 10:17 am

DBL, Aganorsa Cigars and a Battleship Beef Experience!

 

Yesterday had a lot going on, most of which wasn’t cigar related, with the day culminating in the Battleship Beef event on the New Jersey.  We’ll get to that in a bit, but first, I had a few new-to-me cigars this week.  Last month when we went to the Atlantic city event, Francisco Almonte gave me a DBL Amarillo Belicoso, which is the fancy, barber pole style cigar in the Connecticut Shade Amarillo line, 5 5/8″ x 54.  It’s a pretty cigar, it’s box pressed to, there’s not a lot of box pressed, barber pole, shaped cigars out there. Nice presentation, I liked it a lot.  It had a really nice flavor, mellow cream and nuts, I think the accent striping gave it some extra flavor. I don’t smoke a lot of DBL cigars, and I know there’s a shop or two in the area that have them, and I believe Francisco has his own shop in New Jersey someplace, which I’ll have to hunt down. 

 

Another cigar that came from the Atlantic City festival was an Aganorsa Rare Leaf that Mike King gifted me. Mike is a great broker who was there working the Aganorsa booth.  I was there on a media pass, so I didn’t get the cigar coupon book like a regular attendee, which is quite fine as I’m quite fortunate not to be in need of cigars (just ask my wife!). However, it’s nice to be presented with something I haven’t smoked, and, to be honest, many of Aganorsa Leaf’s cigars don’t excite me enough to hunt them down.  I’ll pick one up here and there if I can’t find anything else new and interesting, and there are a few that I’ve really enjoyed, and this Rare Leaf was one of them.  This was a corona or lonsdale size, I didn’t measure it, figuring (incorrectly) that I could do some research after the fact. Perhaps it’s a new size, I want to to say it was 6″ x 44. I’m not generally a Criollo fan, which is probably why the Aganorsa line is so hit or miss with me. This was a really nice smoke, a nice blend of spice and sweetness.  

 

Last night was the Battleship Beef event on the Battleship New Jersey, which is docked across the river from Philadelphia.  This event was a Red Meat Lovers Club event, put on by Evan Darnell, the Secretary of Steak, in partnership with Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust, Casa de Montecristo, and a few other folks.  I fear that this second annual feast may be the last.  While the Battleship invited the  RMLC back to put on this event, which raises money for the Battleship Museum, apparently there was a last minute scramble when it came out that smoking would be restricted to a small area. Obviously, this wasn’t going to be tolerated, as this was a cigar event. To Evan’s credit, I don’t think anyone would have known there had been a problem if they hadn’t been told, and there were some upsides to the change in setup, having everyone in one area. Shame on whoever changed the plan at the last minute and caused Evan all that stress, but he and his team made it work.  The food was amazing, Katz’s Deli from NY had the most incredible Pastrami, although the structural integrity of the rye bread didn’t hold up.  Saka and Lafferty were there, as well Tim and Travis from Altadis, Kevin from CigarProp, James from BL Luxuries, and other friends. We had a great time hanging out with my fellow Craig, Craig “the Breadman” Gilpin. Sadly, we passed on the after-herf at LouLigas Lounge, it had been a long day.  One bit of advice to the Casa de Montecristo folks: I think sales would be better if you sold smaller quantities, just selling boxes seems like a big ask at an event where people have already spent the cost of a box to get in, and are being hit up for auctions and raffles. Seems like people would buy a bunch of five packs more than boxes, but what do I know?  Great event, if it happens again next year it should be on your list, and if you see the Red Meat Lovers logo on an event, expect it to be first rate! 

 

Happy Father’s Day to everyone, whether you are one or have one. As I’ve been typing this I’ve been enjoying my traditional Father’s Day cigar, the Esperanza Para Los Niños, now 24 years old, and it’s really quite good, one of the best ones I’ve smoked in recent years.  That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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by | May 1, 2022 · 9:46 am

A Selection of Cigars: Hits and Misses

This is going to be a bit of a weird post. I, of course, smokes a bunch of cigars this week, and had some mixed results. I probably should follow the rule of not saying anything at all if you don’t have anything nice to say, but it’s not all negative. SOme of it is personal preference, some of it is something else. There are also some standout cigars that I’ve probably mentioned here before but merit repeating. Let’s start with the CAO Arcana Firewalker. This cigar is a nice, big 6½” x 56 cigar, with a massive band. It employs a strange method of fermentation for one of the Nicaraguan filler leaves where they bury the pilon in volcanic soil for two months. Sounds like a fun story, and I don’t doubt it, but this wasn’t where I had a problem. The cigar tasted fine, I rather enjoyed the flavors. It was kind of bready, with a little cocoa and some spice, very nice. When I received these samples they were bone dry, as measured with my Humidimeter. Bone. Dry. The first one I smoked just kind of flaked apart. I let them rest in the humidor for a couple months, I guess, to get some moisture into them. When one had achieved what I felt was an acceptable level of internal moisture content, I gave it another go. For whatever reason, the Ecuador Habano Rosado wrapper on this one just wouldn’t burn. It was like the original H2000 wrappers 20 years ago. I would feel safe making childrens pajamas out of this wrapper, it was so flame retardant. I gave up on it with about 2 inches to go, after just about emptying my lighter relighting it. I guess I’ll leave the remaining samples in the humidor, and if I see some in a shop maybe I’ll try one to see if my batch was an anomaly. I hope it was because it was a good tasting smoke and I like the first Arcana a lot. If you’re keeping score at home, this is a miss.

 

One cigar I had which isn’t new, but one I really enjoy and bears repeating is the Crow Corona from Blackbird Cigars. I’m generally a toro guy, but I think I like this in the 6″ x 44 corona the best. The narrow ring adds a little more of an edge to the San Andrés wrapper that I like. I always like a good Mexican maduro, and this one really made me happy. I’m to understand that Blackbird has opened a new, larger factory in ght Dominican Republic. I’ve been a fan of their cigars, I can’t recall having a bad one, with the Crow being my favorite. They do a really nice job with Sumatra wrappers too. I will be putting some more Crow Coronas in my humidor, for sure.  In case you were wondering, this is a hit!

 

Another repeat is the Yagua. I smoked one from a 2021 box this week that was amazing. J.C. Newman just announced that they are shipping the 2022 release, with a second wave due in November. These have aged well, the one I smoked was practically round, which was strange. They say that this is wrapped in an “underfermented” Broadleaf wrapper. whatever that means, I ‘d say it works.  I had some distinct sensations of black licorice several times while smoking this cigar, and I really liked that. I enjoyed it so much I was tempted to smoke one the following day, alas, I should have followed my instincts! Again, a hit.

 

The Drew Estate Freestyle Live event is coming up on Thursday, May 12, and receiving a lot of buzz, so I figured I’d give the Mystery Cigar in the pack a try and see what the deal was. I tried the 6″ x 60 gordo first. This digital event is happening on the eve of the Florida Barn Smoker, and the cigars in the pack happen to be the same sizes that the 20 Acre Farm Mystery cigars were presented, leading some to believe there may be a connection. It’s possible, although many cigars are offered in robusto, toro and gordo, so that’s a bit of a stretch. I personally didn’t really like the cigar I smoked, it was heavily woody to me, and that’s not my preference. I don’t like FSG tobacco, so there could be something there, and I’m also not a big fan of the original Herrera Esteli, so it could be a variation on that. I don’t think it’s a riff on the MUWAT, as I grabbed a fiver of Baitfish yesterday and forgot how good those little guys are!  I’ll suffer through the rubusto I guess and see what I think of that size, maybe it’s different. I’ll be very disappointed if those guessing it’s in the Nica Rustica line are right. Big miss.

 

Let’s finish strong. OK, I lied. I picked up an Aganorsa Leaf Rare Leaf Toro yesterday because I’ve been wanting to try it. It’ a 6″ x 54 with a “Nicaraguan Café” wrapper, and Aganorsa Leaf binder and fillers. I’ve been having trouble finding cigars in the Aganorsa range that suit my palate, quite honestly. Sadly, this was another one that did not. I’m sure it’s a great cigar, it certainly performed well, but the flavor left me wanting. This was another that I’ll call wood heavy in the flavor department. I also found it slightly drying. It was a bit sneaky strong. Everyone has different tastes, that’s what makes cigars so much fun, this one wasn’t for me. I’ll keep working thought the range, and I know there are a lot of cigars made by Aganorsa that I like! Unfortunately a miss.

 

That’s it for today, I’ll be smoking a few favorites today!  My part-time retail experiment has come to an end. ore on that, maybe, another time, but it was fun while it lasted. My Friday evenings are now free, who wants to herf?  Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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by | March 6, 2022 · 10:54 am

Perla Del Mar Connecticut, Bolivar Cofraida and Aganorsa Leaf Cigars and the Contest Winner

As I mentioned in my Friday news post, the last half of my week was disrupted with some unexpected drama. This has thrown me off my game a little, I missed my Friday night shift at Son’s Cigars just because I was exhausted from the previous evenings ordeal with the pain and the morphine and all, I was passed out at home well before the shop closed. I came home to some Chinese take-out, smoked a Punch Fu Manchu (which isn’t a bad inexpensive cigar, by the way! I ‘m not sure I get the marketing of  Punch line with the Chinese food, but they are good smokes at a great price) and crashed. Hard. For the sake of my CDO though, I’m going to rewind a bit to Tuesday when I smoked the Perla Del Mar Connecticut Toro. This is a relatively new rebranded Perla Del Mar Connecticut from J.C. Newman, made in Nicaragua. I really like this line, although I can’t say I’m a fan of the PDM on the band. I liked the old bands better, this new one could have been better. I get it, it’s a budget brand, it could easily be presented in a bundle insead of a box, so I’ll take it as it is. These are fantastic cigars. Even for someone who’s first choice isn’t a Connecticut shade, this is a solid cigar. It’s creamy, with a lot of flavor. There are a few shade cigars that make my “rotation”, this might sneak in there. It has a richness without being grassy. I like it. I like the Corojo and Maduro better, but this Connecticut is very good, I’d reach for it over a lot of other shade cigars.

 

Yesterday I got around to the Bolivar Cofraida Lost and Found EMS Toro that I had on deck for Thursday evening. I had picked this up, along with the Punch, when I stopped in to the CigarCigars store in Downingtown, PA to drop off a bag of cigars for OP:Cigar For Warriors, as they are a collection point. I’m not sure why I didn’t get the Oscuro, seems out of character for me, perhaps they only had the EMS, I really don’t remember. This line is a collaboration between Justin Andrews of Forged/Scandinavian Tobacco and Robert Caldwell, where the marketing materials say they blended the cigars from bales of tobacco that they came across in the HATSA factory in Honduras. So these aren’t “found” cigars, but “found” tobacco, in this case. This is another reasonably priced cigar, in the $7-7.50 range, I think. Ten years ago I’d find that to be a fairly pricey cigar. Now it’s cheap. Anyway, I remember the Bolivar Cofraida cigars that JR Cigars used to sell were on the strong side, this one not so much. It was well balanced, medium bodied, with some pleasant, fruit notes. Nice afternoon smoke while I refilled the hot tub and sat around waiting to see if my kidney stone was going to cause me trouble.  

 

Last night I took a look in the tray of cigars I put the cigars that I got at the TPE show that I hadn’t smoked yet, the “new to me” tray. I settled on the Aganorsa Leaf Aniversario Robusto that Terence Reilly gave me at the show. This is the 5″ x 52 box pressed Nicaraguan puro with a Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper. The paper sleeve isn’t there to hide anything, the wrapper is really pretty. This was another really tasty cigar. I was in one of my rare moods for a shorter smoke. I was tired, a hockey game was on during nap time! This cigar falls into the leather and nuts flavor category for me. It’s not a sweet coffee, cocoa cigar. It burned perfectly, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Smoking more of the Aganorsa cigars is on my todo list, oddly it’s one of the brands that I don’t get around to as much as I should. I’ll fix that. Good smoke, less of what I personally look for, but good nonetheless.

 

Contest

OK, it’s time to select a contest winner! To recap, the giveaway this time was for a cool Drew Estate 20 Acre Farm case with five (5) 20 Acre Farm toro cigars. It’s possible some other goodies could fall into the box before it leaves the CigarCraig.com offices! It’s been known to happen! The winner is Xolotal! Send me your coordinates so I can get this out to you. As always, thanks to the folks at Drew Estate for their support! 

 

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

 

CigarCraig

 

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by | August 1, 2021 · 11:15 am

Cubanacan Maduro, Aganorsa Leaf Signature Selection, and CAO Cigars

I was wandering through one of the humidors and came across a few cigars leftover from the 2020 TPE show that I had forgotten about.  I had run into Lawrence from Cubanacan and he had given me a few cigars, and, for whatever reason they had gotten buried. Honestly, I’m not entirely sure what’s up with Cubanacan. Over the years they seem to come and go. Lawrence is a great dude, but I see him here and there (not that I get around a lot), for instance I remember meeting him at one of the Delaware Cigar Festivals in 2012 maybe, then I might not have seen him again until last year. It’s highly likely we just miss one another. That being said, I just don’t hear a lot about Cubanacan cigars, and the last thing I think I heard wasn’t particularly great. I don’t judge based on things I think I might have heard though. I smoked a Cubanacan Maduro in a Lonsdale size. This must be special, because it only comes in a ten count box, per the website. This has a San Andrés wrapper, Ecuador binder and Nicaraguan fillers. After 18 months in the humidor it smoked very well. It tasted pretty much like I expect a cigar made from those tobaccos would taste like, some earth, spice and espresso. I like the lonsdale size, and it was quite satisfying. I suppose I need to dig around and see what else is in there that I might have forgotten about!

 

One I hadn’t forgotten about, but had recently bought in a sampler from Fox Cigars. I can’t remember why I got this sampler and what all was in it. I added it on to the purchase of the Plasencia sampler, and Maybe this was in it that I wanted, or it priced too good to pass up, or something. For some reason when I received it I set this cigar aside as I had already smoked the rest of the cigars. They all must have been oned I liked. I don’t know, I make strange purchasing decisions some times. It’s CAD, Cigar Acquisition Disorder, and it’s real.  The support group meets here every Sunday and Wednesday. Hello, my name is CigarCraig. The cigar in question is the Aganorsa Leaf Signature Selection Robusto. For whatever reason they choose to cover up this nice looking caramel colored Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper with gold foil, a nice, yet unnecessary presentation. This seems to use all Aganorsa grown tobacco with the sevres sauce being some Media Tiempo, the rare top, top priming above ligero. This was a nice cigar, medium bodied, with some richness, with a feeling that the wrapper was grown under shade. It was creamy with some leathery kinda notes. Good cigar, which nicely filled my afternoon. I wish I could remember what else was in that sampler! 

 

I wrapped up last night with a CAO Amazon Basin Orellana. This was the fourth cigar in the Amazon Basin trilogy, wait, that’s not right. I thought it was a trilogy, then they goofed it up by adding a fourth! I wasn’t overly fond of the original Amazon basin, although some people lost their minds over it. Didn’t hit me right. The Em Corda, and Anaconda hit me right, I loved them. I don’t like the name of the Anaconda, because I hate snakes, but I get it with the whole Amazon theme. I originally thought the Orellana was closer in flavor to the original Amazon Basin, and I still think it probably is, but I like it more with some age. I still like the other two more, but this has matured, whatever sour notes that I didn’t care fr aren’t there any more. It was a rather enjoyable cigar, although, in retrospect, I should have chosen a shorter cigar, and I’ll elaborate. I got off to a late start, and, hence, a late end.  The Orellana is a toro sized cigar, and since I finished late, I had a hell of a time falling asleep. This means I’m going to have to take a nap today, when I could be smoking a cigar! Then I might be up late again and the whole cycle continues!

 

I bought a bike yesterday to ride to work, maybe I’ll ride to the cigar shop today. If it stops raining, that is…I made sure to buy one with an ashtray holder. That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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by | April 1, 2020 · 6:47 pm

JFR and Vintage Rock-A Feller Cigars

Among the many cigars I’ve been smoking this week, I smoked a couple of cigars that were handed to me at the  TPE show back in January, when life was relatively normal. Normal being relative, at the time, I was still jobless, although I thought I might have an opportunity in the works. Sadly, that opportunity fell through, although who’s to say what would have happened as the months passed. Anyway, as I’ve been self-medicating with premium tobacco, I’ve been searching for a new cigar here and there to include in a post, and I selected a cigar that Terence Reilly handed me while I was visiting with him at the Aganorsa kiosk. He was one of eight sharing one of the several “pods” they had, and was the lone representative of Aganorsa Leaf, and seemed to be having a good show. I enjoyed a brief conversation with him, mostly personal stuff. He gave me a JFR Connecticut Super Toro, which is a 6½” x 52 Parejo wrapped in tissue paper. This cigar had a pigtail cap on it’s Ecuador Connecticut wrapper covering Nicaraguan Aganorsa binder and fillers. This is a relatively inexpensive cigar, under $6 in lower tax states, and well worth the price. It’s got a smooth, creamy flavor, with some wood and pepper. It’s not without some body, I put it in the medium range. This is actually the first JFR I’ve smoked, and I’d certainly be interested in trying the Corojo and Maduro versions.

 

The other cigar I selected was the  Vintage Rock-A-Feller Dominican Blue Line Churchill. Rock-A-Feller Cigars was another one of the Pod-dwellers at the TPE, which seemed to be a great set-up for a lot of the vendors. This setup had a counter and displays pre-built, and all the vendors had to do was bring in their wares and put them on the shelves and they were ready to go. No paying porters, renting furniture or any of the major expenses of traditional booth space. It kind of discouraged customers from hanging around, they did their business and moved along. I met Craig Roth, the sales manager for the company, and naturally, we developed an instant bond. I might have beat him to the “CigarCraig” moniker. Anyway, he gave me this cigar, and I decided to give it a whirl. The blend is as follows from their website:

Filler: • LIGERO-PILOTO-TIPO CUBANO: A Cuban seed Grown in the Dominican Republic.
• SECO SAN VICENTE: A Cuban seed Grown in the Dominican Republic.
• OLOR DOMINICANO: A Dominican Seed Grown in the Dominican Republic.
• LIGERO DE NICARAGUA: Nicaraguan Seed Grown in Nicaragua.

Binder:
• Olor: A Dominican Seed Grown in the Dominican Republic.

Wrapper:
• Habana: A cuban seed Grown in Ecuador.

The Churchill is 7″ x 48, close enough, and if I remember correctly, it had a box press. The burn and draw were exceptional, although the burn meanders a bit in the final inch, and by then it was just about finished anyway. This is a medium bodied cigar, and fairly middle of the road in flavor. It had some woody, and earthy notes, with a bit of coffee.  It was a good cigar, although less in my wheelhouse. I’ll seek out the Nicaraguan line and see how that lines up with my preferences.

 

That’s all for now, back to social distancing and quarantine. Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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