Tag Archives: Aging Room

by Craig Vanderslice | 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 roll. 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

😃+

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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Tagged as Aging Room, Aladino, cigar, cigars, Corojo, JRE, punch, Punch Rare Corojo, Quattro

by Craig Vanderslice | 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

3 Comments

Filed under Review, Stores

Tagged as Aging Room, altadis, cigar, Cigar Aficionado, Cigar Mojo, cigar store, cigars, drew estate, Herrera Esteli, wooden indian

by CigarCraig | June 11, 2017 · 9:47 am

San Lotano Bull, Aging Room Havao, A Flores AFR-75 Cigars and the Contest Winner

I’ve been poking around the humidor lately looking for some interesting cigars and came across a San Lotano Bull Toro Friday. AJ Fernandez has been getting a ton of attention lately for his work with other companies, notably General Cigars and Altadis. I figured it would be good to spotlight the San Lotano as the companies own brands seem to be flying under the radar a little. Sure the New World and Bellas Artes get a little attention, but I really enjoyed the San Lotano line, specially the full-bodied The Bull. I find it funny that they called the 6″ x 54 the Toro, seems redundant to me, but what else would you call it? This cigar has a dark Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, with binder and filler

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AJ Fernandez’ proprietary tobacco grown on their farms. There aren’t many AJF cigars I don’t like, the Bull is one I really like. It’s got the coffee and spice I want with a hint of wood from the cedar sleeve and a year or so in the humidor. Perfect draw and burn made this a great cigar to end the week. Abdel Fernandez is a tobacco and cigar genius, his factories make great cigars.

Saturday I had a chance to enjoy an early cigar and I chose an Aging Room Havao Treble, the 6″ x 50 toro. Funny how 50 ring seems small these days, 6″ x 50 used to be the common toro size, now it’s 52 or 54. This is an elegant cigar in size, appearance and flavor. It’s got an Ecuador Connecticut Shade wrapper and Habano Criollo in the filler and binder. I generally stay away from Criollo wrappers, but this cigar works very well with it in the filler. It’s a terrific smoke, it’s loaded with flavor, lots of depth with the creaminess from the shade wrapper. This was an absolutely wonderful cigar for the time, and

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it was very well-behaved with a perfectly straight burn line. Now that Altadis is distributing the Aging Room line, and Rafael Nodal is working for them, it’ll be interesting to see where this brand goes. I would choose this over a Connecticut wrapped Monte any day of the week, personally, so I hope the competition isn’t bad for the Aging Room brand.

I was hunting for a short smoke before going out to see a friend’s band play, and came across a cigar from PDR Cigars that I forgot I had. Maybe I thought it was a L’Atelier maduro as it was face down in the tray, or it just got buried. I actually can’t even recall where this cigar came from. As the size was what I was looking for, I looked closer and was delighted to find that it was an A. Flores AFR-75 Catador, a cool little 4″ x 54 pigtailed robusto. This cigar has a San Andrés wrapper, Criollo 98 Nicaragua binder and Habano D.R., Connecticut Broadleaf & Criollo 98 Nicaragua fillers. Again with the Criollo, interesting. If you haven’t tried this cigar, it’s worth seeking out and dropping a few bucks on, because they are on the high side, this little guy coming in just north of $12. this price point tells me that someone must have given this to me or it was a sample, as I probably wouldn’t have shelled out that kind of coin for such a small cigar. It is a brilliant smoke though, dark espresso and a surprisingly long burn of around an hour. It’s a super premium cigar, but it’s super good, so worth it in my opinion.

Contest

Last week I threw out a contest for a whole bunch of cool odds and ends that have been accumulating around here and I’ll never use. It seems right to share them with someone who will appreciate them. I’m sure some cigars will be included to keep stuff from rattling around in the box! I see there were 26 entries, less one for Olie who won the last time. The Random Number Generator at Random.org spit out the number 12 out of 25, which corresponds to Dave Wisniewski, who commented that this would make a nice Father’s Day present. I think Dave is fairly local to me, so either he gets his

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address to me in a hurry and I can get it out this week, or week work out a meet-up which is always fun. Dave, you know how to reach me! Thanks to all of you who took the time to enter, I’ll scrounge more goodies up for a future contest!

That’s all for today, I’ve got a deck that needs power-washing, which isn’t a good activity to enjoy a cigar, so it’ll wait until after! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

7 Comments

Filed under Contest, Review

Tagged as AFR-75, Aging Room, aj fernandez, cigar, cigars, Contest, Havao, PDR

by CigarCraig | April 30, 2017 · 10:32 am

RoMEo Añejo, Aging Room DeSocio and a Liga Privada Aniversario

I have said many times over the last year or so that the RoMEo Añejo is a cigar I want to like. I don’t know exactly why I want to like it, perhaps its to find something in the Romeo y Julieta portfolio to call a favorite, or the fact that it has a Broadleaf wrapper and I “should” like it. I tried my third one this week, a Torpedo, and I didn’t have the tight draw problems I’ve had in the past, or the over-humidified steamy smoke. Granted, this is less of a manufacturing problem and more of a storage problem, but who has the time to identify and segregate cigars that happen to smoke better at a lower humidity? If I can’t keep all my cigars (or a retailer for that matter, because at least one of the previous cigars I had trouble with came right off the retailers shelf) in the same humidor and have them smoke well I.m not happy. So I lit up the Añejo torpedo and had a nice, reasonable draw, and upon lighting it up I had mouthfuls of potent, rich smoke. I thought the line had redeemed itself in my eyes, until I hit a dead spot in the middle of the cigar. Once again, I want to like this cigar, but three strikes, ya know? Fortunately the RoMEo 505 came along filling the void left by the Añejo, I really like that one!

Yesterday was a beautiful Saturday with unseasonably high temperatures, so after getting some things done around the house and running some errands, I sat down with a fun looking little cigar that had been in the humidor for a while, I’m thinking since IPCPR 2015. I believe it was from the 2015 show because the Aging Room Quattro F55 DeSocio is an exclusive for the Alliance Cigar wholesaler group, and I remember meeting folks from that company in the Boutique Blends booth. The DeSocio is a 5¾” x 47 perfecto with a pigtail cap and a box press, so it seems smaller than the numbers would let you believe. Something about a lot of the Aging Room cigars has a tendency to effect me negatively nicotine-wise, not sure why, so I tend to let them age for as long as possible before I smoke them. This was a tasty little treat, with a Sumatra wrapper, and Dominican Habano filler and binder. It started out with a concerningly tight draw, but after about 30 seconds it opened up and was perfect. It had some sweetness and spice in the flavor and was very enjoyable. I did take a nap afterwards, but that didn’t have anything to do with the cigar. Like I said before, the box press makes this seem smaller than it is, I think I smoked it for an hour and a half. As with the majority of the output of Tabacalera Palma, this is a very good cigar.

Last September, probably, I was at a Drew Estate Event at the Wooden Indian, and I did something I don’t usually do. Part of whatever deal they had going was that if you bought so many cigars you were allowed to buy a special cigar, in this case I ended up with a $16 Liga Privada Anniversario toro. I fell for it, I figured I liked Ligas, so chances were good I’d like it and it mike make for an interesting blog entry. This was one of those cigars that they had to get out into the market before the FDA deadline of August 8 last year, they were on display at the IPCPR show, and there were rumors that they were also releasing a 100th anniversary cigar thinking ahead to the future (this one, presumably, was for the 10th anniversary). I’ve been looking around for information on this cigar, the overall appearance is prettier than the No.9 wrapper, it’s more smooth and consistent, less rustic. Smoking it is a little more refined I think, there’s something smoother about it than the regular Liga 9. It was a good smoke, it functioned well, had a good burn and draw, and was satisfying, but it lacked the “pop” to me that No.9 has. I’d be interested to see more information on this cigar, there’s no mention of it on the Drew Estate Website, or the Diplomat app. I suppose I’ll have to harass the new social media guy there about this. It was a good cigar, I think for the price I should be amazed and not just satisfied, but that’s just me. While I don’t regret the purchase, I stick with my assertion that I’d buy two Nica Rusticas to one Liga every day of the week.

Today I’m thinking back six years to the time I met Guillermo Leon of La Aurora Cigars at the Wooden Indian after the birth of my first grandchild. We’ll be paying her a visit t, and will likely smoke something from La Aurora today at some point. I celebrated the birth of both my granddaughters with La Aurora Puro Vintage 2003s, and I have two more in the humidor. Not that I envision any more grandkids anytime soon, I hope, but they are there waiting for the day. Anyway, that’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig