Tag Archives: Alec Bradley

Aging Room, Alec Bradley, Debonaire, Viaje Cigars and an Upcoming Trip

We’ve had some nice weather here in southeast PA, so it’s been a pleasure taking my evening walks.  I’ve managed to get some nice cigars in (so whats new?)

Aging Room Small Batch M356

Sunday evening I  grabbed an Aging Room Small Batch M-356 toro that Rafael Nodal gave me at the Cigarnival last June.  This is a cigar that is new to me, sure I’ve heard about them over the years, but never had a chance to try one.  This is a Dominican cigar with a Habano wrapper which I approached with anticipation.  I found it to be enjoyable, but I had a heck of a time keeping it burning right.  I had to really pay a lot of attention to it or it would go out.  I smoked this while walking with the dog and my oldest son, who enjoyed a Diesel Unholy Cocktail.  I would love to smoke another one to see if the burn characteristics were an anomaly. It had a really nice, sweet flavor that I enjoyed.

 

AlecBradley Tempus Maduro RobustoMonday night I grabbed an AlecBradley Tempus Maduro Robusto. I believe this cigar came from the pack that they handed out at the party Alec Bradly Cigars threw at the Palms Hotel pool at the IPCPR show in Vegas.  They had three or four cigars packaged like a Wonka bar (almost appropriate since Tuesday was International Willy Wonka Day!), of which I smoked the Nica Puro while there. The Tempus Maduro has my favorite San Andrés wrapper, so I figured I was in for a treat.  It was a treat, although different from what I generally expect from this wrapper.  This cigar had a pretty aggressive flavor reminiscent of the Mexican tobacco of the 90s. It burned well and had a nice, long finish. This is a cigar that after you’ve smoked it, you know you smoked a cigar. I’m getting old, I prefer a smoother, creamier maduro these days, but this was an enjoyable smoke. There are so many great smokes in the Alec Bradley range.

 

Debonaire RobustoTuesday I, once again, dug into the IPCPR samples and pulled out a Debonaire Robusto.  This is a Dominican cigar that is made by Phil Zanghi, who is the guy who originally made the Indian Tabak line in the 90s and sold it to Rocky Patel.  There’s not a lot of information out there about this cigar, and I failed to make it back to the Debonaire booth at the IPCPR show to talk to Phil. In doing  a little quick research, it looks like this is a pricey smoke, running in the $13 range.  It was a good smoke, perfectly rolled and pleasing.  Honestly, this is just me, but If I were faced with the choice of this cigar or a Liga Privada of just about any variety in the same price

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range, the Ligas suit my palate much more.  Certainly a cigar to try.

 

Viaje_Friends and Family Le JoueurTonight I took my nightly walk with a recent gift I received from Will Cooper of Cigar-Coop.com.  This is the first Viaje cigar I’ve smoked, and I’ve stayed away from the line largely because the selection is dizzying, there are so many small batch lines that I can’t keep them straight.  This cigar was the 5″x52 Friends and Family Le Joueur, and there’s no information about this cigar on the Viaje website (there’s no information about any of the cigars on the website).  Since Will gave me this cigar, see what he had to say at Cigar-Coop.com. I have to say that it was a very enjoyable smoke. The burn meandered a bit for me, but it drew perfectly with a V-cut and ended up straightening out in the last half.  I thought it was pretty savory and satisfying, and I wan to thank my friend Will for sharing this with me and giving me my

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first glimpse into the world of Viaje.  I can’t say I haven’t been curious about the line, and after smoking one, I may have to sample some more at some point.

 

This weekend we are driving up to New Hampshire and plan to pay a visit to the 2 Guys Smoke Shop in Nashua.  While there I hope to weasel my way into their Cigar Authority radio show, so if you are bored, tune into the Cigar Authority website to watch the live video feed, or listen to it via podcast.  I’ve long been a fan of the show and am looking forward to the visit. In other news, this in from my friend Barry Stein at Miami Cigar and Company:

Come celebrate National 107 Day, by smoking a La Aurora 107 on 10/7. Share with us your images on social media with the hashtag #LaAurora107 and you could win an all inclusive trip to the La Aurora Cigar factory.

 

That’s it for now.  Sunday’s post may be a little late, or early and short, I’m not sure which yet.  Either way, it’ll be the usual nonsense you’ve come to expect.

 

Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

 

 

 

 

 

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Getting Ready for Vegas, a Perdomo, a Four Kicks and a Nica Rustica

In the week leading up to our trip to the IPCPR show in Vegas I’m losing track of what I’ve smoked!  I had to go back and check twitter and Instagram to refresh my memory. My wife is right, I need to take a note book along this time to write things down along the way. I’m certain to forget something in the information overload that is the IPCPR  show. Case in point: I smoked a couple cigars on Sunday, I think a CAO Concert and a Gurkha Seduction. Both are cigars that are on my “go to” list when I want to smoke something, enjoy the heck out of it, and not have to worry too much about it. The Concert went very nicely in the pool, and the Gurkha was perfect after a end of the weekend rainstorm complete with a double rainbow. These two cigars capped off a pretty great holiday weekend for me.  I had to go look up what I smoked!

 

Perdomo_10th Maduro RobustoMonday evening I grabbed one of the Perdomo Reserve 10th Anniversary Maduros I had picked up recently. I was in the mood for something new and I really don’t smoke a ton of Perdomo cigars for whatever reason. I’m not sure if it goes back to the 90s when I had a string of bad luck with the brand or what. This cigar was pretty darned sublime. The flavor was right up my alley, chocolatey and espressoey  and well balanced. Well worth the $5.25 I paid for it. It was a lovely smoke and I’ll certainly have to pay a little more attention to this brand. Yes, I know that chocolatey and espressoey aren’t real words (I already had that argument with the spell check…).

 

Four Kicks_RobustoLast night I selected a Four Kicks robusto that was gifted to me a few months ago in New Jersey by Alex “StogieCop” Martinez. I’ve enjoyed a few different sizes in this line, and they are nice cigars to be sure. I kind of wanted to get some older (ie. last years) cigars smoked before going to the trade show and being inundated with new stuff. This was a worthy smoke, although I just can’t get as excited about it as some do, perhaps it doesn’t suit my preferences as much as some others. Still a terrific smoke, thank you Alex for allowing me to revisit this one.

 

DE_NicaRustica_ToroChanging gears, tonight I wanted to preview a cigar that I gather is being released at the show this year. In the past few weeks I’ve smoked some NicaRoma cigars from Villiger,the Nica Puro from Alec Bradley, so I thought I better smoke the Nica Rustica that’s coming out from Drew Estate. I was given a sample a few months ago when I visite

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d the factory and I would be

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lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit intimidated by this stick! Will at Cigar-Coop.com posted a nice write up on this last week, where he notes that the blend includes a Nicaraguan Rustica tobacco grown in Esteli that is among the most potent of tobaccos it’s wrapped in a San Andreas binder (yay!) and a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper (another yay!) and will be offered in a 6″x52 toro shape. The example I smoked had an unfinished foot and a pigtail head. It certainly was a rustic looking cigar, and had a wonderful syrupy sweetness on the wrapper.  You an feel the tingle of the nicotine in the mouth, and there is a ton of flavor. This is like a Liga Privada on steroids. I have yet to find anythig remotely subtle about this ci

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gar, it’s just loaded with great, in your face flavor and strength. I’m sitting on the deck finishing this off as I ty

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pe, and I already look forward to smoking another one. Now, I have to admit that I don’t know if this is the finished blend or not, but I hope it is close.  I remember Steve Saka saying that production capacity was holding this release back, apparently they made some room to produce a bunch of these. At the reported under $7 price tag, this is a no brainer for anyone who doesn’t mind having your ass kicked around the block a few times. Highly recomended and anticipated!

 

That’s it for tonight. The next post will probably be from the IPCPR show. I’ll do my best to get some interesting and entertaining video here, assuming I can get some WIFI connections here and there.

 

Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

 

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4th of July Weekend Cigars: Alec Bradley, Hoyo, Gurkha, La Gloria and Another Alec Bradley

AB_ AmericanClassicWe had a pretty low key 4th of July celebration. All our kids and grandkids were over and we grilled and stuff for the afternoon. Before everyone got here I started the day with an Alec Bradley American Classic Robusto. I pick up a few of these on occasion because they are a really solid, versatile cigar. They are inexpensive, smooth, tasty and well made. I enjoy them and they are a great cigar to give to an occasional smoker, which I did not have the opportunity to do, I smoked it myself.

 

HoyodeMonterrey_ChurchillAfter everyone left it was time to break into the special occasion humidor and pick out a celebratory cigar. I selected a Havana Hoyo de Monterrey Churchill which was given to me several years ago with the proviso that it might be plugged, and if it was, ditch it and smoke something else (he had also given me a back-up). Unfortunately,  I failed to bring a backup along, and the cigar was horribly plugged and I fought with it for my entire walk. The really annoying part was that the little bit of flavor I was able to coax out of the cigar was pretty darned tasty, and I wanted it, I wanted it bad!  I usually keep it to myself when a cigar is this flawed, but considering the manufacturer, I don’t feel too bad being critical when the situation calls for it.

 

HdM_Epi2I wasn’t going to be defeated, so I went back to the humidor and selected a much more recent production Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No 2. Ah, success. This is about the same size the Churchill would have been by the time I returned from my walk had

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it not been plugged. This Robusto (or is it a Hermoso No. 4? I forget) burned as well as a Cuban cigar can be expected to burn and had the flavor that the Churchill had teased me with. I’m firmly a believer that there are many cigars that are much better than Cubans but I enjoy the different flavor that only Cuban cigars have and have smoked at least on on the 4th of July for so many years its a tradition. It’s a combination of celebrating our wedding anniversary and the little bit of civil disobedience that this country was founded on that keeps me doing it.

 

Gurkha_CellarReserve_ChrurchillFriday we  were running some errands and found ourselves going through Maple Glen, PA, (near Ambler).  We spied a place called “Black Wolfman Tobacco” and felt compelled to visit. This is a little shop that has a couple cabinet humidors along one wall, and they roll your own and cigarettes behind the counter. The selection was sparse, but reasonably priced. I grabbed a couple Perdomo 10th Anniversary Maduro Robusto for about $5.25 each. When we got home it was hot, so I grabbed a Gurkha Cellar Reserve Churchill and got in the pool. I like a large cigar for pool smoking, it just seems easier for some reason. I’ve smoked a bunch of these and it’s a nice, smooth smoke.  I like these as the first cigar of the day because it’s on the mild side. I had an ulterior motive in picking this out besides it’s inherent pool-worthiness.

 

Gurkha_Cellar Reserve_MaduroMy Friday evening walk featured a new cigar from Gurkha, a Cellar Reserve with a maduro wrapper. I’m sure that Oliver Hyams, marketing director with Gurkha, told me what the wrapper  was when he gave me this last week at Cigarnival, but I’ve forgotten and I’ll update this when I receive the information. I want to say it’s either a San Andreas or Connecticut Broadleaf as that’s what it tasted like to me. Great smoke! This cigar is right up my alley. It’s got that coffee/espresso that I like along with a little sweetness.  Something sticks in my head about Brazilian Arpiraca, but I may be confusing that with the wrapper on the Ghost, which this tastes nothing like. (note: I confirmed with Oliver Hyams at Gurkha, it was Brazilian Arapiraca!) I am certain that this will be released at next weeks IPCPR show, so this is a little preview. I suggest giving it a try when it comes out, because it’s darned tasty! It even has a curly little pigtail cap.

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Alec Bradley_Nica Puro RobustoThis is getting a little long for a holiday weekend, but I had a lot more time to smoke!  Saturday I had another La Gloria Cubana Rabitos de Cochino. I see more of these in my future, the price to quality ratio is off the charts. Later I decided to give the new Alec Bradley Nica Puro a try. Now this is my kind of cigar! My  initial thought is that it’s reminiscent of an Undercrown, it’s got that similar heavy body and lush flavor. I found that I had not eaten enough dinner as if it had been a longer cigar than a robusto it may have gotten the best of me. This is a cigar that’s on the stronger side, to be sure. I loved this smoke and appreciate Jonathan Lipson passing these to me last week, as I had been looking forward to trying them. There’s not a lot of Alec Bradley cigars that I don’t enjoy, but this one goes to the top of the list.

 

That’s enough for today, have some things to get done around the house and some sitting in the pool to do this afternoon. I have to pick out some cigars for today to wrap up the long weekend. Five more days of work and then it’s off to Vegas! Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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A Non-Cigar West Coast Swing – A San Lotano at Bo’s and a La Atelier at Old Oaks

I was going to wait until I got home to post, but I hate to miss a Wednesday post (it’s still Wednesday on the west coast) so I thought I’d share a couple experiences I managed to have on my business trip to the Los Angeles area.  My trip’s focus was to visit a couple of the venders I buy from and visit my company’s home office.  Fortunately, my boss likes a cigar, so Monday evening when we got into town we located Bo’s Cigar Lounge.  I was expecting sticker shock in California, and I wasn’t disapointed.  However, this lounge was very nice.  They have plenty of TVs which had the Flyers game on, and very comfortable seating. There was even a TV in the loo!  There are two locations, the one closest to us was in Torrance.  One of the highlights was that one on my longest and most loyal readers, DB, came down to meet and have a cigar or two with us.  It’s always a treat to meet a cigar friend whom I had only corresponded with electronically, and I’ve done it hundreds of times. I really appreciate DB taking the time to make the trip down, it was great to finally have a cigar with him in person.  The lounge patrons were very friendly and we didn’t feel out of place at all.  The selection was excellent, but, as I said, the prices were roughly double what I see in Pennsylvania, which was shocking.  Given that we were hanging out in

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the lounge, the price was justifiable, as one would spend more than that hanging at a bar or something. I picked out a San Lotano Maduro that was a terrific smoke.  I think I like this better than the Oval line, the Mexican Maduro is loaded with sweet coffee/cocoa flavors and burned perfectly. We ended up being joined by one of the venders we were meeting later in the week who also is a cigar lover, and ended up having a fine Mexican dinner before parting ways.

IMG_0277[1]

 

IMG_0278[1]Wednesday, after all of the meetings and tours and whatnot, our host took us to his local cigar shop, Old Oaks Cigar Co. in Thousand Oaks, CA.  First, I was blown away by the prices in this shop as they were only a dollar or two more than PA prices. How do they do this.  They also had a gentleman in the humidor rolling cigars that were also well priced.  I really should have picked a couple up in retrospect.  I seleceted a La Atelier LAT 56 as I hadn’t smoked one of them before. It should be noted that the cigars I smoked on this trip were not paid for by me. Kevin, our host is a regular at this shop, and introduced me to the owner, Albert, who has an amazing operation.  In addition to cigars, they have what m

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y boss described as an unbeliveable selection of Scotches, as well as wine, and a very busy lounge.  Kevin directed us to the enclosed patio area in the rear where we enjoyed our smokes and watched some hockey.  The LAT 56 was a very nice cigar.  Not mild or strong, yet very flavorful and interesting.  This was a great shop, exceptional selection and the pricing wasn’t rediculous!  Highly recommended.

 

These couple cigars over the course of a few days really helped relieve the stress I had about this trip.  It’s always nice to visit a strange place (and I think we can agree that LA fits that description) and find friendly cigar folks to spend an hour or two communing with.  I appreciate everyone’s hospitality.  This post was brief, but it’s late and I’m away from home.  I didn’t even mention having gone to Cigars International last Sunday and smoking an Alec Bradley Filthy Hooligan, which was delicious, by the way. If you have been scared off of the candela wrappers, give this one a try.  The blend takes the grassy, chlorophyll flavor out of the wrapper, and the wrapper mellows ou

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t the filler blend a bit.  I think it’s a fine smoke.

 

That’s it for now, long day of travel tomorrow an

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d I can’t wait to get back home. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

 

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A La Aurora, a Visit to CI in Hamburg and a Stogieboys Contest Winner!

It been a busy week and I really haven’t been able to smoke too many cigars. I know, usually when I say that I spew out three or four cigars I’ve enjoyed over the previous couple days, but this

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time I really mean it.  In the news department, I received word this week that  Cigarfrombrazil.com has relaunched their website  and Wes gave me a discount code to pass on to you to get 10% off your purchases.  Enter MPCGRS10 when you check out.  Wes has been a generous supporter here and the

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Monte Pascoal cigars are delicious Brazilian puros that are a must-try. Check out the new site and give their cigars a try.  


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LivingSocial.com, a site similar to Groupon, ran a deal for Gotham Cigars. For $25 you get a voucher that will give you $50 to spend on their site. I’ve gotten deals like this before and I’m a sucker for cheap cigars! I’ll let you know what I end up getting. As of this writing, the deal is good for

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another 3 or 4 days, and if you use this link, I might get my deal for free! Of course, you too will get a link to share in hopes of getting 3 friends to buy it then you too will get it for free! Its a great deal either way and Gotham has

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been around quite a while and is a reputable outfit.

 

LaAurora107_CoronaThursday evening I took a nice li

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ttle walk with the dog an

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d a La Aurora 107 Corona.  La Aurora is a great company, and they make great cigars. The first box of cigars I ever purchased back in the ’90s was a box of La Aurora Bristol Especiales.  So far, there are only a couple cigars in their lines that I really enjoy, the Cameroon, the Vintage 2003 and that’s about all I can think of.  Something just doesn’t suit my palate right in the majority of La Aurora cigars I smoke.  This 107 was tasty, it was perfectly constructed, and I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t for me (I know, I said I enjoyed it, but I didn’t like it…jus

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t because there’s some aspect of the flavor that I don’t care for, it wasn’t offensive, and the experience of smoking a cigar is half the battle here.  As long as I’m not physically repulsed by the flavor, a cigar I don’t like can be a great experience!).  I need to find a 107 Maduro, perhaps that will be more in line with my personal tastes.

 

Today, Sunday, March 17th, my wife and I are taking a drive up to Cigars International‘s little shop in Hamburg, PA to have a cigar and make some plans for my upcoming surprise birthday party.  I’m hoping to find the new Alec Bradley Filthy Hooligan there to smoke.  I’m leaving tomorrow for a business trip to the Los Angeles area, which I’m not particularly looking forward to, but I’m planning to visit Bo’s Cigar Lounge in Torrance sometime Monday evening around 5:30, so if anyone is in the area stop in and look for me.  I’ll be the guy smoking a cigar!

 

Contest!

stogieboysStPatscontestThe folks at StogieBoys.com were very generous in sponsoring this month’s contest!  Thanks to Sheryl for setting the whole thing up!  As usual, I use Random.org to select a winner. This time I need the winner to e-mail me their contact information so that I can pass it on to Sheryl so she can ship you your prize.  There were 45 entries, and the random number generator spewed forth the number 13.  By my calculations Travis is the winner!  Please send me your details.  Th

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anks to everyone for participating, and check back frequently, one never knows when another contest might pop up!

 

That’s it for now.  I’m off to the cigar store, then have to pack and get ready for a 6 hour flight tomorrow. I don’t know how you folks who travel for business on a regular basis do it!  Also, Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!  Any day that celebrates an anti-snake sentiment is OK by me!

 

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

 

 

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