This week I dug into the new cigars from Providencia Cigar Company. I warmed up last week with an El Santo, the box pressed toro with a Nicaraguan Sumatra maduro wrapper. I really enjoy that cigar, and was excited to sample the Hostage, their newest release. This release came with a story of Providencia Co-founder Jim Faber’s abduction at gunpoint on a Honduran youth soccer field (the story is here in the news item I posted earlier this month). Considering it’s speculated that Jim’s abductors were Mexican gang members, it’s ironic, or perhaps fitting, that this cigar has a San Andrés wrapper. The wrapper is roughly the same shade of brown as the El Santo, which isn’t as dark as many San Andrés maduros, but the real difference to me lies in the flavor. This cigar had a unique flavor that I didn’t expect. It was a warm, fresh-baked bready flavor, not the dark coffee, cocoa flavors I thought I’d get. I think there were some almost floral notes as well, very interesting and entertaining. I am very interested in smoking another one and probably will in the very near future. I have to find out who has these in the area, I know the guys who own Providencia have some south Jersey roots, we have to get them to visit Philly one of these days!
Another new cigar from Providencia hasn’t had the official press release come out yet, but I smoked it anyway because it looked really intriguing and I couldn’t wait, was a 7½” x 38 Lancero called La Misión. This cigar has a Honduran Habano wrapper, an Indonesian binder and Honduran and Nicaraguan filler and, as I said, is a traditional Laguito No. 1
in the Cuban Vitola de Galera. As with all of Providencia’s cigars, I believe this to be made in Honduras, and this is a difficult shape to produce, so I was quite pleased when it burned perfectly and was a pleasure to smoke until it burned my fingers. Flavor-wise, it was good, although perhaps I was spoiled by the unique flavor of the Hostage. I enjoyed the flavors it produced, they were good flavors of properly processed tobacco, with the cocoa and coffee flavors I like, with a leathery feel, and it was completely enjoyable. I loved the size, considering I’m not a fan of short small ring gauge cigars, I do like me a lancero, and I like them a lot. I look forward to sharing the story of the La Misión when it comes out, and appreciate to folks at Providencia sending me their new goodies to try.
Several weeks ago I stopped into one of the nearby CigarCigars stores to chat with Kevin, the manager there, and he had a box of Curivari Buenaventura BV 560 on the counter and said they sold like crazy, and at $5 and change, I guess I could see why. Since I had never smoked any of the Curivari line before, let alone the Buenaventura, and had heard of them, of course, I figured it was a no-brainer to give one a shot. Kevin did say it was a great cigar, and I agree with his assessment, it was a great smoke, I enjoyed it very much. Don’t let the 560 in the name fool anyone, it’s actually not 5″ x 60, it’s 5½” x 56 (I did some research considering Curivari doesn’t seem to list this line on their site with is befuddling, so I looked at several retailers and went with the consensus, with one large one seeming to have incorrect info). I’m hoping this is a regular item in the stores, because this is a winner at a great price, it’s another cigar with a really nice flavor, it’s sweet and earthy, not heavy and burdensome on the palate, a very good smoke.
Contest!
Time for another CigarCraig giveaway! This is a good one! Last week Kevin at CigarProp.com shipped out his Kickstarter round of the Lighter Bleed Tool 2.0. The Kickstarter was fully funded in something like 2 days, which is crazy, and it’s a super-useful tool. I’ve been using the 1.0 version religiously whenever I fill a lighter and it’s great, I never have to worry about damaging the fill valve of my expensive (or cheap) lighters with a screwdriver or other non-purpose-built tool when I bleed my lighters. Kevin very generously provided a Lighter Bleeder Tool 2.0 in Aluminum for today’s giveaway! Since I can’t not include cigars, I am CigarCraig after all, and since Kevin just did a whole series of reviews on his Youtube channel of Cornelius and Anthony cigars, and since Cornelius and Anthony cigars are among my favorites anyway, I selected a five-pack from my humidor to accompany the Lighter Bleeder Tool 2.0 for this giveaway! Let me tell you, the cigars I selected DO NOT SUCK! They are cigars that are my favorites and are hard to part with! Who knows what else might fall into the box while it’s being packed up. Check out Kevin’s videos, they are a hoot, leave a comment on this
post to enter, and I’ll select a comment at random next Sunday, October 7, 2018. Must be of legal age to win, you know the rules. If you don’t win a bleed tool, they are available on Amazon too!
That’s all for today, hard to believe it’s the end of September already. I have to start thinking of wrapping the cigar porch for the cold weather smoking! Until the next time,
CigarCraig
and I’m quite pleased that Kevin is among those I have met face to face and feel privileged to call him a friend. He’s someone who came across my blog and started a conversatio 
