Tag Archives: Aging Room

May 25, 2025 · 2:40 pm

Foundation Aksum and Aging Room Cigars

Today’s post is a little later than usual. We’ve been having a garage sale at my mother’s house to try to get rid of some of the accumulated stuff that comes with living in the same house for 54 years and having the “someone might need this someday” attitude. Stuff, just stuff. I’m super-grateful for my family helping out, especially my wife! Anyway I’ve been trying to enjoy some cigars along the way, which is what I usually talk about on Sundays!

I started off smoking both the Foundation Cigar’s Aksum, in both claro and maduro. This used to be the Menelik, but I think there was some sort of trademark issue, or the descendants of Menelik complained, I’m not sure. So now it’s Aksum, which is the name of the place where Menelik I brought the Ark of the Covenant. Apparently it’s still there, not in a warehouse in Nevada. The blend is Sumatra Ecuador wrapper, Connecticut Broadleaf binder and Estelle and Jalapa fillers. Best I can tell the only difference is the wrapper fermentation. I bought Toros, of course, 6” x 52 with a pigtail cap. These are beautiful cigars with a slight box press if I remember right. I started with the Claro, which burned beautifully. It started with a bit of an acidic hit. Skip Martin says that we shouldn’t describe flavors like food, but that’s like 90% of my flavor references. I would say this is on the leathery side, and that’s in my 10% non-food reference sample. It’s good if you like that flavor profile. I moved on to the Maduro the next evening. This had a dry cocoa profile. It’s not a sweet Maduro, more a dark chocolate kinda thing. Again, very good, I do not regret purchasing these, although I think the Olmec line is more my jam.

After a long day of garagesaling, and one very disappointing cigar along the way, I got home, took a nap, and then relaxed with an Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua Concerto Vibrato. This is another toro, 6” x 56 box pressed. Aging Room is still Rafael Nodal’s brand, although it’s marketed by Altadis, which also employs him as a brand ambassador. He’s basically the face of Altadis now, and he’s very good in that role. I have been hit or miss with Aging Room cigars, this one wasn’t bad, but had a floral flavor, and a weird mouthfeel. It was almost cloying in a diet soda kind of way. I enjoyed it, just not really a cigar I’ll come back to. Even if I am not a big fan of a cigar, I’m rarely disappointed that I bought and smoked a cigar, it’s all part of the learning process. When I cigar doesn’t burn and or draw right is when I get upset, even if I received it gratis. By the way, this picture is what you get when I’m distracted!

That’s all for today, enjoy your Memorial Day celebrations, remember the reason the day exists. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Aging Room, Aksum, cigar, cigars, Concerto, Foundation, Foundation Cigar Co., Nicaragua, Quattro, Vibrato

April 3, 2022 · 10:41 am

Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua, Aladino Vintage and Punch Rare Corojo Cigars

I had an interesting week, so I smoked some interesting cigars, at least to me. I had a situation which required fasting, so I smoked a Perla Del Mar Connecticut which was really quite good, and after breaking the fast, I had a Diamond Crown, keeping it in the family, and also fairly mild! But let’s start with the Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua in the Vibrato size. This is a 6″ x 54 box pressed toro with a dark Nicaraguan Sumatra wrapper. It’s a puro, all Nicaraguan. This cigar was in a sampler I received at the TPE show from the Altadis USA booth. There were some Upmann and Romeo cigars in there too. I think it’s weird that this size isn’t lists on the Altadis website, so maybe it’s new. As folks who have followed along may recall, my preferences don’t generally favor Altadis products, with some exceptions, notably the cigars made by A.J. Fernandez, and the occasional Montecristo here and there. I’m not entirely sure why this is, it just is. Different strokes, I guess. Anyway, this one was exceptional. It was CA’s cigar of the year in 2019, I guess, and I remember smoking it back then, but this one was much better, darker, more rich and dense. There was a sweetness, which I attribute to the Sumatra. I enjoyed this cigar so much more than I remember liking the cigar of the year when I smoking it in early 2020. The size was to my liking as well.

Friday evening one of the cigars I smoked while working at Son’s was an Aladino Vintage Selection Elegante, which is the 7″ x 38 lancero. For some reason I was in a Lancero mood. It seems that the interruptions, interactions, et cetera, involved in smoking while working retail lend themselves nicely to the pacing required to the enjoyment of a lancero. At least for me. This cigar has a Habano wrapper, and, unlike the next cigar I’m going to talk about, has Corojo binder and fillers. Of course, the Eiroa family is well known for Corojo tobacco. I can’t tell you how many Camacho Corojos I smoked back in the early 2000’s. This was a very good smoke, again with a hint of sweetness, but overall just good, clean tobacco goodness. Even after having smoked a very good Oliva Masterblend 3, not nearly as good as they used to be, by the way, the Aladino Lancero was excellent. I think it smoked for nearly 2 hours.

Yesterday I smoked the new Punch Rare Corojo Aristocrat. The funny thing about this cigar has always been, despite the name, it has never had any Corojo tobacco in the blend. It has an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper, Connecticut Broadleaf binder and Nicaraguan, Honduran and Dominican fillers. I never could figure out why they called it Rare Corojo, obviously the Corojo is so rare in this cigar that it’s non-existent! Let’s talk about the size of this cigar for a minute. It’s a 6 1/8” x 40/54 figurado. The press release says “This special size was originally made at the Villazon factory, commissioned by Frank Llaneza who founded Punch in Honduras. Frank made what he referred to as a baseball bat-size cigar for Red Auerbach and Art Rooney, two sports legends.” It reminds me of the Cuban Partagas Presidente, but I looked it up and that’s only a 47 ring gauge, and an eighth of an inch longer. I love the size and shape. I also love the flavor, and always have enjoyed the Rare Corojos, despite the name thing. That hint of sweetness from the Sumatra that I love, and it builds in strength. I dig it.

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

CigarCraig

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December 22, 2019 · 10:10 am

Visits to Cigar Mojo and Wooden Indian and Cigar Aficionado’s Top Ten Thoughts

There’s some crossover in the subject line, so I’ll get to that, but first off I had occasion to visit two shops in my area that have recently undergone renovations, and in the case of Cigar Mojo, in King Of Prussia, PA, moved into a new building. Thursday Cigar Mojo had a Drew Estate event, which had the dual purpose of saying farewell to our area’s long time rep Alex, who’s moving up the ladder, and hello to Ali, who we’ve known for years from working in stores in the area and most recently being a rep for EPC. Cigar Mojo is now a free standing building, nestled in between Aldi and Duluth Trading Company stores, with a large and well stocked humidor, public and members lounges, an outdoor patio with a TV (and heaters), kitchen, the works. I think it’s about two and a half times the size of their old location. I smoked a Herrera Esteli Brazilian Maduro Toro while I was there and it was delicious, probably my second favorite Herrera Esteli behind the Norteño, which I smoked later (a Corona Extra). The first time I visited Mojo’s new location was the first day they were there and it was a big mess! It was not now, they have everything sorted out and it was really nice! They even have their name on the big sign on Rt 202. As a bonus, I made a cameo appearance on the Roxxy the Rebel Youtube show.

Friday I happened to see that the Wooden Indian, who had been having a sort of 12 days of events kind of thing going on, was having and Altadis event with Tom Stroud, our area rep. I’ve know Tom a long time, and haven’t seen him in a while. Additionally, I have been extremely negligent in visiting the Wooden Indian since they’ve remodeled. I missed their bid Drew Estate event in September because we went to Miami, and I just haven’t gotten by there. Dave, who owns the shop, acquired the rest of the front part of the space where the store is and did a complete overhaul of the store. Where the Liga Privada Lounge once was is now a spacious humidor. Where the rather cramped humidor was, and bumped out

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into the new space, is the new and improved Liga Privada lounge. The lounge now has windows, making it nice and bright, with a kitchenette and plenty of space. They also put new flooring in the retail area, brightening it up. I can’t imagine what the carpet there must have been like when they took it up! Anyway, the Shop looks beautiful, the humidor is well stocked and has a great selection, and is still one of my favorite shops in the area. While they didn’t have the Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua Maestro, they did have the Espresivo, the Robusto sibling of the Cigar Aficionado No.1 Cigar of the Year. I figured I’d better give it a smoke while it was in front of me to see what the fuss was about. I bought two and they had about 8 left and they weren’t exactly being scooped up, so maybe the WI customers don’t care about the CA ratings, or they were holding out for the Maestro, which is a torpedo, but good luck seeing on of those any time soon. I’ll be honest, I thought it was a really good cigar, and I enjoyed the crap out of it. It was well balanced with some coffee and cocoa and nuttiness. It’s another great cigar from the AJ Fernandez factory. It had a nice, slow burn too for a 5″ x 50, which was nice.

I have to admit, in the CA top ten, I’ve only smoked two of the cigars, and it’s been ten of more years since I’ve smoked either of those two (which should give a big clue which two they are!) If you take vitola out of the equation, that doubles the number as of Friday. I think I smoke I reasonable variety of cigars! I bet if I smoke 400 cigars a year at least 350 of them are different, and that probably a pretty good variety, you’d agree. I could go through my Instagram feed and figure this out, but who has the patience? I could have picked up the Upmann, but I’m not spending $18 on a cigar right now, and I’m not entirely sure why I’ve never smoked a Padron 1926, might be the same reason I didn’t pick up an Upmann, or is it that I can’t imagine that it can be that much better than a 1964, which is darned near perfect? The Tatuaje piques my interest, I haven’t seen the Illusione, the Warped or the RP, I guess. I

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watched the reveals this year and thought to myself, sheesh, have I gotten that far out of touch? I have to get down into the top 25 to see some more familiar faces. I love the Punch Diablo, but I’m surprised it did so well, I figured it would be to pedestrian for CA (maybe because I liked it?) I’m still itching to try the Enclave Broadleaf, I have to grab on of those one day. I think the Herrera Miami should have been higher, but what do I know? Here’s the thing, the CA list reaches a far different audience than website/blog lists. There’s a whole bunch of different communities in the cigar world, some are on the internet, some aren’t so who’s to argue who’s list is right and who’s isn’t?

In other news, I bought a plane ticket to Vegas for next Month’s Tobacco Plus Expo, and am awaiting approval for my media registration. It seems like a lit of the cigar industry is going to be attending that, so it should be interesting. That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig