Black | CigarCraig's Blog

Tag Archives: Black

July 31, 2022 · 9:21 am

West Tampa Tobacco Cigars, a Street Taco Carnitas and a Patina Sumatra

I’ve started smoking some PCA show samples now that I feel fully recovered from the post-Vegas Covid situation. I started out revisiting the West Tampa Tobacco Co. Black and White. Rick went out of his way to give me a 6×60 from a bundle, that had never been in a box! This is significant because I told him about an experience I had initially with the cigars I had sourced locally. This was the first cigar I smoked, and it was very good. If you refer back to the video interview with Rick (HERE), he explains how the Black and White have the same wrapper, it’s just fermented differently. The Black has nice espresso notes and is up my alley. The construction was perfect and everything tasted the way it should.

I had another West Tampa Tobacco Co.White Toro that Ricky also gave me, which was also very good, but I find the Black suits my palate more. The White has more of a woody character, with some citrus tang to me. Rick explained that the White was blended more for the European palate, with the wrapper being highlighted, and the darker wrapper Black highlighting the filler blend. I like them both, but the Black is better for me. I still have to try the robusto. GOod stuff from a very small factory in Esteli.

Thursday evening I had the pleasure of being a guest on the All About Wine Podcast, of all things. We had a panel of folks talking about cigars. I pre-gamed with a Rojas Cigars Street Taco Carnitas, the Connecticut shade version of the Street Taco. This has an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers. I had the 5″ x 50 robusto. Oddly, this comes in a Robusto and Toro, with the 5½” x 46 Short Corona being the closest thing to a small ring gauge in the line. I think of a corona being 5″ x 42, so I’m not sure I understand the name. Regardless, the robusto was very good. It was creamy, with some oomph to it. There was some spice and it wasn’t a mild Connecticut. Considering that shade wrappers are fairly low on my preference list, this one was very good.

Finally, when I met with Mo Maali at the show, he gave me a Patina Sumatra. This is his new release, which excited me for a few reasons. First, I’ve enjoyed the Patina line in general, Maduro and Habano, I don’t think I ever had the Connecticut (see above). They are made in the NACSA factory where Mi Querida cigars are made, as well as several others! I want to say that factory mad the majority of JR’s Alternatives bundle brand, which is millions of cigars. NACSA is one of the largest factories in Nicaragua. The other reason I was looking forward to this is because I really love Sumatra wrapped cigars! This one didn’t disappoint. It had the sugar cane sweetness that I really like. It burned perfectly and gave me a great experience. Check out my video with Mo here. Good stuff!

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

CigarCraig

Comments Off on West Tampa Tobacco Cigars, a Street Taco Carnitas and a Patina Sumatra

Filed under Review

Tagged as Black, Carnitas, cigar, cigars, Patina, Rojas, Street Taco, Sumatra, West Tampa Tobacco Co., White

May 15, 2022 · 11:11 am

Cohiba Serie M, ATL Black and All Saints Cigars

Another exciting week! I rather expected an avalanche of press releases from Drew Estate after the event Thursday. I expect a bunch in the coming week. Of course, I smoked a bunch of cigars this week. One of my favorites was a La Sirena Trident, which I think is one of the best cigars out of the La Zona factory. I smoked one of the new size of the Cohiba Serie M this week, which they are calling a Corona Gorda. It’s actually 6½” x 48, so I don’t know what else one would call it, but I do like the size. I didn’t mention it when I wrote about the initial release in the 6″ x 52 shape, but I had some technical issues with the ones I smoked that were frustrating. Burn and draw types of issues that were not typical of cigars made at El Titan de Bronze from what I know, I can only attribute the problems to storage somewhere along the line. I still have a couple in deep storage to smoke sometime down the line. This smaller size was outstanding. I

buy arimidex online https://www.dentistwaycrossga.com/js/js/arimidex.html no prescription pharmacy

t had the same woody profile, with some sweetness, and a sophistication that should come with a cigar priced where this is priced. This is what the press release said about the blend:

Crafted according to old-world techniques and featuring a double binder, closed foot and triple cap with a signature fan,

buy lipitor online https://www.dentistwaycrossga.com/js/js/lipitor.html no prescription pharmacy

Cohiba Serie M is a medium-to-full-bodied cigar brimming with depth and character. Made with exquisite, aged tobaccos, the cigar is enveloped in a lustrous Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper, a first for Cohiba. The binder is Nicaraguan and the blend features hand-selected Nicaraguan Jalapa and Esteli and Dominican Piloto Cubano tobaccos.

It’s a tasty cigar, and a good looking cigar too. I’m fortunate that I was given samples to try, because I personally would have been scared off by the price tag, but that’s just me, I’m a cheap bastard. I was really pleased that it burned perfectly and I had a great experience smoking it. very pleasurable.

Another pleasurable cigar I smoked this week (I try to reach 100% pleasurable cigars if at all possible!), was the ATL Black in a torpedo format. This is a 6″ x 52, with a San Andrés wrapper. these are made in the Pichardo factory, where they made their “Magic”, which I thought was excellent. I think a recent change, something makes me think these were originally made by Martinez in New York. I never sampled the original, so I can’t be certain of that. I like Martinez cigars. I also apparently like Pichardo cigars, because I really liked the ATL Black Torpedo. It was quite a bit different in flavor that I expected from a San Andrés wrapper maduro cigar. It was a meaty, savory tasting cigar, as opposed to a sweet maduro. This entertains me. As much as I have a sweet tooth when it comes to cigars (not only cigars), I like a nice, tasty surprise. I don’t like bad tasting surprises, but I like good tasting surprises like this one. Quite yummy. If you don’t know much about ATL cigars, I spoke with Leroy at the TPE show, the video is here.

I spent Friday evening hanging out with Micky Pegg of All Saints cigars and smoked a Dedicación Mitre that he handed me that was very good. Micky is introverted and quiet…I lie, he’s quite the opposite. As long as I’m linking back to TPE content, my video with him is here. I’m going to intentionally leave out where I hung out with Micky, and there will more on that at a later date. Let’s just say I won’t be giving a certain place any more free advertising here. Last night I smoked my favorite cigar in the All Saints line, the Saint Francis Churchill. This box pressed 7″ x 48 Ecuador Oscuro wrapped cigar is like smoking desert. I actually smoked one Friday night, and one again last night. Such a great smoke. Micky actually told me that he blends to the Churchill size, which is a bit unusual, but explains why I tend to like that size in his line the best across the board. I suppose it helps that I like that size cigar! The Saint Francis was one of my favorite cigars of last year, and remains a favorite. Big fan.