Tag Archives: Alec Bradley

by Craig Vanderslice | September 9, 2020 · 9:35 pm

Labor Day Cigars and a Macanudo Inspirado Green

Labor Day was my first paid holiday since January 1st of 2018! A combination of two streaks of unemployment and a year of working in retail for a company that didn’t believe in paid holidays (something I had trouble wrapping my head around!), I was quite excited about this small luxury! My wife wanted to get away and do something, anything, so we took a drive to Lewes, Delaware, Parked the car at the ferry terminal, and rode the ferry over to Cape May and walked on the beach for a while. I took the opportunity to smoke one of the cigars in the Cigar Prop sampler in the Smoke Inn Battle of the Bands promo that’s going on. I selected the Alec Bradley Black Market Esteli Punk, a little 4¼” x 42 petite corona. This cigar has a Nicaraguan Habano wrapper, Nicaraguan and Honduran binders amd Nicaraguan fillers. I chose this due to time constraints and the fact that I wasn’t supposed to be actually smoking on the beach really, but the stretch of beach we were on was fairly empty and nobody said anything anyway. I don’t usually favor such small cigars, and it was before lunch, so I took it slow, which was a good thing, because this was a pretty potent little smoke! I really enjoyed it! It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm, with a gentle breeze off the bay, and this cigar was just delicious. These are probably about $5 if you find them singley, and well worth it. A great choice by Kevin for his sampler.

On the drive home I lit up another cigar from the “shorties of forty” sampler, as Kevin refers to it, the Papas Fritas from Drew Estate. Obviously, this wasn’t my first go around with this cigar, and I normally wouldn’t opt for a mixed filler cigar while driving a stick shift car in traffic, but I had confidence in this one. The Papas Fritas was made using the sorted bench cuts from the Liga Privadas. It certainly doesn’t smoke like a mixed fill cigar, no mess in the car! Of course, traffic sucked coming home, to be expected, so having a cigar was quite helpful. It occurs to me, I still haven’t smoked any of the Nasty Fritas, the newer shape. Anyway, the two hour drive took nearly three, but the little Papas Fritas took the edge off. I could have smoked and A sized cigar, but that might have hit the windshield. I gotta say, I’ve smoked three of the five cigars in the Cigar Prop sampler and they have all been winners. Great selection so far.

When I got home I felt compelled to smoke another from the samper, and went with one I hadn’t tried before, the Crowned Heads Juarez OBS, the largest cigar in the sampler. This one is 4¾” x 54, seems longer compared to the rest, but it’s the same length as the Sobremesa Short Churchill, the fifth cigar in the sampler (the first one was the Padron 26th No. 35 Maduro). Kevin said that this is the cigar that people raved about in the sampler. I have to say, it was in my top five, but certainly not my favorite. This line is made at Tabacalera Pichardo in Estelí,, it has a natural San Andrés wrapper, Ecuador Sumatra binder and Nicaraguan fillers. I don’t know if it’s because it was my third cigar of the day, with the first two being fairly strong, or if it’s because it started off a little snug in the draw and took a while to open up, but it was just OK. I’ll certainly give this one a second chance, but it was reasonably blah to me. With the wrapper/binder combination it should have been interesting. I also admit to not taking a shine to a lot of the Crowned Heads portfolio, for some reason, there hasn’t been a lot that trips my trigger. I suppose I’m in the minority.

Tonight I smoked a Macanudo Inspirado Green Toro, my second one. I’ve been looking forward to trying this cigar since I’ve heard about it. I’ve been hot and cold on the Inspirado line, oddly, I really like the Red and White, the Black and Orange are just OK. The Green has a Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper, Indonesian binder, and fillers from Columbia and the DR. The Brazilian wrapper caught my attention, as well as the Columbian filler. The first one I smoked was nice, but I smoked it following a rather strong maduro (Southern Draw Jacobs Ladder), and I felt like I may not have given it a fair shake. I thought it was pretty mild. So I smoked on tonight on a fresh palate and it was quite a bit more flavorful! I enjoyed this cigar, more than the Inspirado Black, which, for me, is odd. It’s odd that I am not that fond of the Black actually, but the Green has some interesting and different flavors. There’s some spice and unique flavors I can’t put a finger on, except to say that I like them and it’s a cigar I’m happy that I bought a handful of. I actually bought these after shopping for something else and not finding what I was looking for. Next to the Inspirado Red, this is my second favorite Inspirado. The green band looks really nice on that dark wrapper too.

One of my pet peeves: The Black Market Esteli Punk size isn’t listed on the Alec Bradley webpage, nor is the Juarez line listed on the Crowned Heads site. I just think it’s weird. That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

1 Comment

Filed under Review

Tagged as Alec Bradley, Battle of the Bands, Black Market Esteli, cigar, Cigar Prop, cigars, Crowned Heads, drew estate, Green, Inspirado, Juarez, macanudo, Papas Fritas, Smoke Inn

by Craig Vanderslice | March 4, 2020 · 5:20 pm

A Highclere Castle, a Charter Oak and an Alec Bradley Shamrock Cigar

I am late to the game getting around to the Highclere Castle line, Nick Melillo, of Foundation Cigar Co. gave me one of each at the TPE show, and while I still haven’t gotten to the original Connecticut Shade Edwardian blend yet, I did smoke the Victorian this week. We’ve had some nice weather this week, and the Victorian I had was the Churchill vitola, and the afternoon seemed right for a Churchill, so I grabbed it and took Macha for a nice walk. This cigar is 7″ x 48, close enough by US standards, and has a dark Ecuador Habano wrapper, although I hesitate to call it maduro. It has the same Mata Fina binder as the Edwardian, but a different blend of Nicaraguan filler. It’s my understanding that this are made in A.J. Fernandez’ Factory. I wouldn’t be surprised considering the construction, which was perfect, nice burn and draw. It was a very nice cigar, it was a medium to full cigar with a nice spice and some leathery flavors. It was well balanced and sophisticated, and was a nice, long smoke. I had no complaints.

Later that evening I had time for another cigar, and I probably should have smoked the Highclere Edwardian, but I had a hankering for some broadleaf, so I opted for a Charter Oak Broadleaf toro that had been in the humidor for a few years. It’s probably not the first time this cigar has appeared on these pages, or maybe it is! Charter Oak is a spectacular line at an even more spectacular price. This toro was $5.50, I think, and worth every penny. This was a 6″ x 52 toro, my favored size, with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Nicaraguan Habano binder and Nicaragua fillers. I don’t know how they make such a great cigar at such a great price. It’s got a great sweetness and espresso flavors. These even come in boxes, not bundles. A bargain at twice the price.

Finally, I broke away from the Foundation Cigar Co. stable and selected a cigar that I had picked up a few weeks ago when I visited Best Cigar Pub. I was going to save this for March 17, but I figured that would be cliché and everyone else would be smoking it or something similar, and it was begging to be smoked. Of course, the cigar was the Alec Bradley Filthy Hooligan Shamrock. I’ve enjoyed the Filthy Hooligan releases over the years, from the plain candelas, to the barber pole versions. The triple wrapper Shamrock looked intriguing and I wanted to smoke it. This one has a tri-colored wrapper: candela, Habano maduro, and Habano seco with undisclosed fillers, although it’s under the Black Market line, so one must assume there’s some relationship. I really enjoyed this cigar. It has a crisp, clean flavor, the balance of the three wrappers really worked for me. My guess is that the candela provided the base, as the refreshing chlorophyl sort of sensation was dominant. I though it was a good smoke, and it burned well, which is sometimes a concern with barber-pole style cigars. I’ll stash the other one away with the couple other Filthy Hooligans I have from years past I suppose, and find another green cigar for St. Patrick’s Day (I have a good idea what that will be).

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

CigarCraig

2 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as Alec Bradley, Charter Oak, cigar, cigars, Filthy Hooligan, Foundation Cigar Co., Highclere Castle, Shamrock

by Craig Vanderslice | January 12, 2020 · 10:24 am

Protocol Probable Cause, Alec Bradley Gatekeeper, and Some PCA Throughts

There was big news this week regarding the largest four cigar companies deciding not to present at the PCA (formerly IPCPR) show in July. This dominated the news and discussion, so I figured I better add my $.02 for what that’s worth. I’ll start my saying that I bowed out of the IPCPR/PCA a few years ago as I just lost my will to keep getting shaken down for $400 a year to spend triple that out of my own pocket to promote their show when the organization made it clear they didn’t want me there. Argue with me if you want, call me names and say I should support the industry, but I do this as a hobby, I go to the show on my vacation time, out of my own pocket. Everything I do supports the industry, they aren’t going to miss my four bills. The TPE, on the other hand, gave me a press pass, offers early access and a media space, like other major trade shows, ones who value the media (yes, that was snark), and no, the TPE didn’t offer me anything except a press pass, once again, the rest of the trip is out of my own pocket. OK, so the big 4 aren’t going to the show, and Villiger, who isn’t big in “premium cigars, but is still a huge company, pulled out last year. I’m sure everyone gets any show specials from these companies whether they are at the show or not, so that isn’t a big thing. Of course, the Drew booth was always something to see, but How necessary are these huge booths? For that matter, how necessary are any of the huge booths at the show? I think the show is way too big for such a small industry, myself. What do I know. The PCA says that the 4 companies account for 12% of the floor space, which is pretty significant, but do they make up 12% of the dollars? more? Less important, to anyone who has attended the show, who remembers the last time someone other than a major company sponsored the opening gala? They ran out of food in the first 15 minutes and I paid $6 for a bottle of water, that’s what happened! All that rambling, and I’ve said nothing new, but I’m really interested in seeing this TPE show, not only the premium cigar part, but maybe the some of the other exhibits. I need to see if I need an appointment with General Cigars, because their IPCPR booth tours were always a highlight.

One of the several cigars I smoked this week which was notable was another Secret Santa selection from my buddy Adam. I think I have one of these buried in a humidor someplace, but this one was convenient (I prefer smoking cigars FIFO when possible). The cigar was the Protocol Probable Cause Churchill, another great cigar out of La Zona. It seems like I’ve been smoking a few cigars from La Zona lately, or maybe I just smoke a few La Zona cigars frequently. This isn’t really a Churchill, it’s 6½ x 48 (a Churchill should be 7″ x 47, with some latitude on the ring gauge everywhere but Cuba), but it isn’t a Toro or anything else really either. Whatever you want to call it, it’s a nice size for my tastes. I had Saka’s Triqui Traca 648 this week too and it’s a size I really like. The Probable Cause has a San Andrés wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers, and is a really great tasting cigar. It’s got some pepper and earth, with good, rich espresso that I like, and I really dug it. It seemed to have a slow spot in the middle, one of those dead spots that didn’t really have any smoke, weird when they do that, but I powered through and it finished great and I loved it! I’m going to have to dig around and see if I have another one, and keep an eye out for more. I know I have some blue banded ones and Themis around. Maybe it’s in the Lancero tray, that would be a treat! I don’t see Juan and Bill on my TPE list, but maybe I’ll see them there.

Yesterday my wife needed to go to the King of Prussia Mall (largest mall in the country, about 10 miles away from home) to shop, so she dropped me off at husband day care, ie. CigarCigars in the mall. CigarCigars shop there has been there for years, it used to be International Tobacco, but the CigarCigars chain bought it . few years ago. The store doesn’t have a mall storefront, it’s accessed down a corridor, but it has an exterior entrance. It’s a nice shop, with a decent selection and a comfortable lounge and a counter/bar to enjoy a cigar while your wife is out shopping. I decided to sample the Alec Bradley Gatekeeper, so I bought a Corona and a Toro, and lit the Corona, naively thinking I’d only have an hour to smoke. This cigar is one that Alec and Bradley Rubin worked on with Ernesto Carillo, and has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and a Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers. The Corona is 5 1/8″ x 42, but felt thinner to me. The cigar stared out with a funky flavor, it was earthy, leathery, maybe mushroomy…I don’t like mushrooms…I had a bad experience with them in the 80’s, but that’s another story. I was a little worried that, one, I was stuck with a smoke I wasn’t going to like, and two, I had an even bigger smoke I wasn’t going to like in my pocket. Oddly, about an inch in, the funk went away, and it sweetened up to a sweet leatheryness that I liked. It turned out to be a pretty tasty smoke and I had hope for the toro in my pocket!

When I got home and had some lunch, I decided to see how the Toro compared, kind of and A/B comparison (a double meaning, A/B, Alec Bradley, get it?). It was a rare January day in the 60s, so I took a nice walk with Macha and the Gatekeeper Toro. The Toro is 6″ x 52, a great size for a walk. See above for the blend specifics. The Toro performed, to my tastes, much better than the Corona. It lacked that funk in the beginning which almost put me off. It went straight to the sweet earthy, leather kind of flavors. While this isn’t my most favorite flavor profile in the world, it was pleasing, and a very nice smoke. In the latest round of Alec Bradley releases, my preference is for the Magic Toast, without hesitation, but I’d smoke this Gatekeeper again, and the band is pretty classy. It’s hard for me not to like cigars from EPC, although there have been a few.

That’s all for today. There was another standout cigar I smoked this week, but I’m awaiting more information, and I will smoke more anyway, so I’ll rave about it another time. Until then,

CigarCraig

1 Comment

Filed under Editorial, Review

Tagged as Alec Bradley, cigar, CigarCigars, cigars, Gatekeeper, IPCPR, PCA, Probable Cause, Protocol, TPE

by Craig Vanderslice | September 22, 2019 · 8:25 am

Macanudo Heritage Nuevo and Various Cigar Musings

It’s been an interesting week. I actually worked Monday through Friday this week, the first time in almost a year! Since take a vacation last week, and needing the weekend off to go to a wedding in Massachusetts this weekend, The schedule worked out that way. Next week I’ll get back to working weekends and having weekdays off. So I posted so quick news items, one of which was relevant to one of my favorite local shops, who’s annual charity event which I usually report on here I missed. I also only slipped one new cigar in. I did smoke some great cigars though. The Alec Bradley Magic Toast has quickly become my favorite AB cigar, passing the Nica Puro. That’s a cigar that is rich, full of flavor and complexity. It’s another cigar that is sweet and makes a great desert! I also had a late night that called for a short smoke, so I dug into my collection of Firecrackers and smoked a Kristoff Pistoff Firecracker. This is another little cigar that hits the spot. It’s got some pop like it should, but it’s not too strong. Burned perfectly and was good for about 45 minutes or so of relaxation after a long day. As I type I’m smoking a Don Juan Calavera Maduro, and I really am enamored with this line. I haven’t picked a favorite yet, The Maduro, Sumatra and Connecticut all smoke great. I brought a bunch of the Connecticuts for the wedding tomorrow, believe it or not, the presentation of the cigar fits in with the wedding theme, more or less. These are a really good Honduran cigar that hits my palate right.

Macanudo Heritage Nuevo is a new release this year from General Cigar. They claim to be using this line to be remaking Macanudo’s popular brands with unique tobaccos. In this case, they’ve based this off of the Café blend, but used an Ecuador wrapper instead of Connecticut. It has a Mexican binder and Mexican and Dominican fillers. I lit this cigar expecting a mild cigar, but I was surprised that it was fairly full flavored. As I got into it, I continued to be impressed with the strength. I’ve smoked many Macanudos in the past that I’ve had to over-smoke and they’ve become bitter and nasty and this one never got that way. It was a pleasure to smoke, with no bitterness at all, just creamy, smooth caramel flavors that were quite pleasant and fulfilling. This was another late night cigar that was very enjoyable.

Last week when I was on KMA Talk Radio, Adam asked me what I though of the PCA’s consumer day, and I, as usually happens, got sidetracked in my answer. What I wanted to say was that, although I have no skin in the game, I really think it was a bad idea, presented and communicated badly, and not thought through. Abe actually has the best idea, issue Consumer badges and charge for them. My rebuttal to that, however, is that they effectively tried to do that with the media, and it’s been a bit of a failure in my eyes. The IPCPR, now PCA, presented the Media membership as a “membership”, and I fear that Abes idea would be seen as the same. More on this another time.

That’s all for today. I’ve got a long day ahead of wedding followed by driving back to PA. I still need to hear from Michael Lanier, the second winner of the last contest. I also need to send a package to PJ, who I declared a winner when I met him in Florida last week, just because! Until the next time,

CigarCraig (on location)

1 Comment

Filed under Review

Tagged as Alec Bradley, cigar, cigars, DOn Juan Calavera, Kristoff, macanudo

by Craig Vanderslice | July 7, 2019 · 9:53 am

A Couple of Shop Visit, a Couple of Cigars and a Contest Winner!

Happy Sunday! I suppose it’s the end of a holiday weekend for a lot of people, I had Thursday off, and stopped into the CigarCigars shop in the King of Prussia Mall and picked up a couple cigars, one of which I smoked later to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Sure, I have plenty of natural Padron 1964 Anniversary Exclusivos, but I hadn’t had a Maduro in quite some time, so I picked one up. My wife spied a Foundry Compounds, Elements and Musings Uranium box with two cigars left in it, so I bought them and got the box. I’m pretty sure I’ve smoked Uranium before, although I don’t smoke many 7″ x 70s. The artwork is cool and I’ll rig a light in the box and it’ll be a nice shelf piece. Gotta give Mike Giannini credit for creative design! So my wife got a ring from Tiffany, and I got some cigars, it was a good day. The Exclusivo was exceptional, of course. I remember smoking my first one probably 20 years ago and they haven’t changed.

Friday evening I took a ride up to Suburban Cigar Lounge in Mount Penn, PA, which is near Reading. This is a really nice lounge run by Gary, over top of what is, by all reports, a very nice restaurant, which, if I’m not mistaken, his wife runs. I went to meet up with Boston Jimmie, of Stogie Press fame, who took his sweet time showing up. If you advertise that you’re going to be someplace from 7-10, showing up at 8:30 is not acceptable, I don’t care how things are done in Florida. 😜Anyway, Gary has a nice lounge with a friendly clientele, and his humidor has a modest but diverse selection from which I purchased some Alec Bradley Magic Toast Gordos, and RoMaCraft Aquitaine Mode 5s, and lit up a Magic Toast. I love this Magic Toast, it’s my kinda smoke. The dark, oily Honduran wrapper is beautiful, and the flavor is equally dark and lush. I smoked a Mode 5 next, and while I prefer the CroMagnon, the Aquitaine is damn tasty. This is a great example of how the wrapper can completely change the flavor of a cigar, as the wrapper is the only difference between the CroMagnon and Aquitaine lines. Jimmie finally showed up and hung out for a while. I hadn’t seen him since the 2017 IPCPR show, so it was nice seeing him again. Suburban Cigar Lounge is a great place to hang out of you find yourself in the area. I’m sorry I didn’t let long time reader Corey know I was going!

Last night I smoked the 2Guys Smokeshop exclusive Pistoff Kristoff Firecracker. Every year they do a special Firecracker release, last year it was the Mi Querida, prior to that it was the Fratello. I’ve managed to smoke a bunch of them, except for the original ones. It’s a small format, 3½ x 50, in a stronger blend. This was the second Pistoff Firecracker I smoked and I thought it was very good. I’m OK with the Pistoff blend to begin with, so I figured I’d be OK with this, and if I wasn’t, it wasn’t going to be a large time commitment. I do, generally, get an hour out of the Firecrackers, smoking them slowly. Because of the closed foot, a trademark of Kristoff, and usually a Firecracker trait, it starts with a blast of wrapper flavor, and some concern that the draw will be tight, once the wrapper burns, this one opens up to a perfect draw and has a good, bold flavor. It was strong, but well balanced. It looks like these are sold out, as is the case with most of the limited Firecrackers, but often the have second runs, and I would recommend these and others if you like small, strong cigars. They have all been exceptional in my opinion.

Contest

It’s time to select a winner in last weeks contest. To recap, I am giving away some great, in my opinion, Don Juan Calavera cigars from Danli Honduras Tabaco (from my own humidor, to protect the innocent), a Herics Cigar Tape, and a Cigar Prop and Light Bleed Tool from CigarProp.com. It’s possible some other goodies could fall into the box while I’m packing it up. There were 42 entries, and according to the random number generator, the winner is Bob Langmaid! I seems like Bob wins everything all the time, but I could only find one instance of him winning one of my contests, and that was almost 4 years ago. I’d rather have someone who hasn’t won before win, but Bob’s name came up, and he’s been fanatically religious about entering my contests for many years, so fair is fair! Please send me your address Bob!