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A Bunch of Cigars, A Shop Visit, and A Contest!

After a busy few weeks of chronicling my trip to General Cigar Dominicana, it’s time to try to get back into a normal routine. I haven’t smoked too many cigars since my return.  When I got back I had a terrible cold, so I didn’t waste too many cigars, and the ones that I optimistically tried tasted pretty bad.  I kept it to cigars that I knew pretty well to gauge my taste buds.  After a week or so, I was pretty well back to being able to enjoy a cigar.

 

One of the first cigars I had was a sample from the IPCPR show.  I ended up with a bunch of cigars from Brun Del Re, a cigar maker from Costa Rica.  This was a cigar from their Don Corazza line, which is a cigar made from Dominican and Nicaraguan tobaccos.  The size was a 4″ x 60 which isn’t listed on their website.  The cigar started with a nice, unique flavor, which turned a bit sour in the second half.  I have a robusto in this line yet, as well as robustos in three or four of the other lines.  Unfortunately, I have some pre-conceived notions about show samples from companies like this.  It’s not fair, I know, but there have been so many cigars I’ve smoked in the past that have just been “same old, same old”, and failed to impress. These are nice looking sticks and I’ll certainly smoke them with an open mind.  I may not get to the rest of the samples until spring, as I smoke fewer cigars in the colder weather, and tend to stronger ones.

 

I enjoyed a Monte Pascoal Robusto as well last week, courtesy of Wes Gensel, of Monte Pascoal cigars.  This is a Brazilian puro, was awarded the best Brazilian cigar by Cigar Journal Magazine at their awards ceremony last July in Vegas, and is a very nice smoke.  Perfectly constructed and a pretty cigar with a nice flavor.    This is the first larger vitola I’ve smoked and I actually liked it better than the petite corona. On the full side of medium, this is a cigar you should try if you get a chance.

 

Last weekend we had an unusual October snowstorm, which dumped about 4 inches of wet snow on our area.  We were fortunate to not lose power as many in the area did, nor did we have any limbs down on our property.  I took my usual Saturday walk with a Cuban Crafters Powerhouse.  I chose this because it was a cold and nasty day and I wanted something that would cut through the crappy weather.  I mentioned somewhere that if I’m going to have my cigar get wet while I’m smoking it, I prefer it’s on a 90 degree day in a pool.  As rotten as the weather was, this strong cigar was quite enjoyable.  Any cigar that can hold up to wet snow and still provide a satisfying experience must be OK.  This is a 6″ x 54 pigtailed toro that has a Nicaraguan Ligero binder, which strikes me as unusual.  This is probably the first Cuban Crafters branded cigar I’ve really liked, but certainly not the first from Tabacalera Estili and Don Kiki Berger.

 

Halloween is always a traditional stogie night for me, and this year I opted for one of the coronas that I blended at Cigar Safari.  The first one of these I smoked was at the 3 month mark, and it was spectacular.  This one, while really good, was not as good as the first.  I suppose as these age they will certainly change, I’m hoping that they will get better rather than worse.  I shared one of these with my son yesterday and he enjoyed it.  Seven left.

 

My mid-week walk got off to a late start so I stuck with a shorter smoke.  A Gran Habano Habano #3 that was sent to my by one of my readers, Lloyd Ladrillono.  I’ve been seeing these in catalogs, and they had a really interesting booth at the trade show which I never managed to visit, and the cigars look great and seem to be priced well.  Lloyd was kind enough to share these with me and I appreciate it.  I really enjoyed this robusto, it had a sweetness that I like a lot.  This cigar hit me just right, it worked the way it should and tasted great.

 

I finished off the work week with a Murcielago Toro Grande which I bought at the Delaware Cigar Festival from Eddie Ortega. I like Eddie a lot, and I like the Murcielago more.  The San Andreas maduro wrapper is beautiful and delicious.  This one went a little sour at the band, but I think some humidor time will solve that problem.  If I can keep my hands off the couple I have left, I’ll see if that’s the case, but this is a perfect cold weather cigar for me.

 

Saturday I took a drive to Pottstown, Pa. and paid a visit to Cole’s Tobacco.  My wife had seen a picture of the store on one of the local radio station’s websites and did some research which led us to the visit.  They have been there for a century and it’s the first I’d heard of it.  In addition to a reasonable sized walk in humidor, they sell roll-your-own tobacco, candy, all kinds of stuff like an old fashioned news stand.  They had the largest selection of Lars Tetens cigars I’ve seen in 15 years, we picked up a bottle of Lars’ Steak Sauce for the heck of it, I certainly wasn’t going to smoke any of his cigars!  Anyway I walked out with a couple of Kristoffs that I hadn’t seen before, and had a nice chat with the proprietor, a young guy named Courtney.  No lounge that I saw, but not a bad place to get some cigars if you find yourself in downtown Pottstown, PA.

 

To wrap the week up I smoked a Oja Anniversary perfecto on my Saturday walk.  This is a semi-box pressed cigar with a Brazilian Samba wrapper that is rustic and oily.  It has a very dark, rich flavor and burned well, despite it’s rough appearance.  This was a sample sent to me by Luis Garcia, the brand owner.  This is one of the cigars made by Kiki Berger in Nicaragua that I alluded to earlier that I really like, the whole line is good, but this anniversary edition is really nice. It commemorates the brand’s first anniversary, which is a little odd, but the cigar works, so who cares?

 

I haven’t had a contest in a while, so I have a Drew Estate cap and a Liga Privada cutter to give away this time.  I might as well throw in a Stogieboys.com Cigar Journal along with it as well as a C-Gars Ltd. ring gauge card. I can’t be trusted NOT to include a cigar or two in a prize package. Leave a comment for a chance to win, and a Tweet with a link to this page (mentioning @cigarcraig so I see it) will get you an extra entry.  I’ll draw a name at random next Sunday, November 13, 2011.  Good luck!

 

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

CigarCraig

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Filed under Contest, Review, Stores, Take a Cigar For a Walk

This Week’s Cigars So Far: Power House, Ashton VSG, American Eagles and Cigar Mechanic

Here’s a brief run down of some of the cigars I’ve enjoyed so far this week, and another short video from the IPCPR show.

Power House by Cuban Crafters – This one one of a handful that Kiki Berger gave me at the IPCPR show last month.  I’ve been trying to find information about them to no avail.  True to it’s name, it starts out with a blast of strength.  I almost thought I wasn’t going to make it through the cigar, it was just too much nicotine for the first inch or so.  It mellowed a little after a while and became a very nice smoke, full of dark flavors.  I have no idea what the make up of this cigar is, but I’m going to guess it has a broadleaf wrapper, and Nicaraguan fillers.  After the initial blast of strength I enjoyed this cigar.  Perhaps some humidor time will mellow that part out of it.  Oddly, samples of Cuban Crafters cigars I’ve had in the past have not thrilled me, but recent cigars I’ve smoked from Tabacalera Esteli have been more to my liking.  Kiki Berger is a really nice guy too, I’m happy and fortunate to have met him at Cigar Safari and spent some time talking to him at the show.

 

Ashton Virgin Sun Grown Torpedo – Came across this one in the humidor after rummaging for something to smoke and figured it’s time had come.  I have been smoking new and different cigars lately and wanted to go old school.  This large torpedo has been floating around the humidors for 6 or 7 years, had some mottling on the wrapper, but was such a nice, sweet cigar with loads of flavor.  I savored it for about 90 minutes, while sitting on my front porch on a stunningly beautiful August evening, catching up on cigar podcasts.  Sidebar: I am up to about 5 podcasts in my rotation, and I get behind in the summer.  During the winter months I have about 5 hours a week in the car commuting that I am able to listen to podcasts.  In the nicer months I may only have to drive the car to work once or twice a week, if that.  I sometimes take an evening walk alone with a cigar and listen to them, which is nice, but it’s better to walk with someone (usually my son or my wife).  Three of the podcasts I like to listen to are pushing 2 hours long, which is a killer year round! For those curious, the podcasts currently in my rotation are: Dogwatch Cigar Radio, Stogie Fresh 5, Blowin Smoke, Cigar Snapshot, and The Cigar Authority.  I’ve had the pleasure to have met the hosts of all of these on various occasions, even slept on one of their couches on a couple occasions, with the exception of Bill Berris, who hosts Cigar Snapshot.  I do “know” Bill from the old alt.smokers.cigars days though, and one day our paths will cross.  I’ve said before that there are some little things that annoy me about some of the shows, but they all provide me with cigartainment and are worth every penny I pay for them :-).

 

When I saw American Eagles cigars at the show I thought they were a novelty, I mean, really, a camo cigar?  What if I drop it outside, how will I find it?  Well, this is a serious cigar.  Not only do some of the proceeds go to the Semper Fi Fund, as a thank you to all the men and women who serve and have served in the United States Marine Corps, but the cigars are actually blended by Hendrick Kelner.  Since I’ve been seeing these show up in a couple of major retailers mailings, I figured I’d fire up one of the samples I got from the trade show. I took this cigar for my evening walk, and it’s a darned nice cigar! I smoked this down to about a half an inch, and it remained smooth and flavorful to the end. It looks to me like it has candela, shade and maduro pieces applied to a habano wrapper to produce the camouflage pattern, and I swear I could taste the candela “freshness” here and there. It’s gimmicky, but a quality cigar that is very tasty. This is one that should not be dismissed, if you can find them (little camo joke there…) give one a shot.  Chris Ramos, the sales director was very helpful and generous with his time, thanks to him for the samples.

 

The American Eagles cigars were sharing a booth with Cigar Mechanic‘s Eric Budman, who was kind enough to not only gift me a couple of his humidifying units to try out, but also took a few minutes to record a little video about his products.  I have to say, since using one of these in a new cooler set up, it’s been holding steady, as has been the smaller unit in my desktop humidor. Check out the video and give these a try if you are in the market for a new humidification device.

Thanks to Eric for taking the time to talk to me and for the samples!

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

CigarCraig

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Filed under Accessories, Events, IPCPR, Review, Take a Cigar For a Walk, Video

Delaware Cigar Festival, La Palina, Art Deco and Hammer + Sickle

The fifth annual Delaware Cigar Festival will be taking place on Saturday, September 17 at the Delaware Park Racetrack. I’ll be attending this fine event and will bring you highlights. Delaware Park is a beautiful racetrack, and if you like to play the ponies or slots, it’s the place to be.  Many manufacturers and their reps will be in attendance and  it looks like it will be a good time.  I’m a little embarrassed that I I have managed to miss this event in the past and it’s only about 40 minutes down the road from me.  Looking forward to attending, and thank you to Gary Griffith for making this possible (and making damned tasty cigars!).

 

The the best cigar I had this week was the La Palina El Diario Robusto. The El Diaro line is La Palina’s “lower priced” line, compared to the $20 price tags on the original line that came out a couple years ago an is made in the Graycliff  factory in the Bahamas. The El Diaro is rolled at the Raices Cubanas factory in Honduras, and carries a $10-11 price tag. It is most definitely an excellent cigar. It’s smooth and perfectly rolled. I’d happily smoke these all the time if they were a little more wallet friendly, but it’s been well established that I’m a cheap bastard.  Bill Paley is a super nice guy though and he’s producing some exceptional cigars.

 

Nestor Miranda Art Deco Robusto Grande – This 5½ x 54 cigar was one that I bought on my Father’s Day cigar run. They come in a nifty tin instead of a box. If this had a handle on it it would make a fine lunchbox! It was a good cigar, no doubt. I don’t have a great deal of experience with Pepin Garcia’s cigars, admittedly, so I don’t readily pick up his signature on this, but it certainly was well made and it either grew on me as I smoked it, or the flavors in the second half were more in line with my preferences than the first half. I started out thinking it was just another DR blend that was “eh”…worth the try though…and not terribly priced.  Frustratingly, there is no information about this cigar on the website, and it’s not exactly brand new.

 

Hammer + Sickle Robusto and Berlin Wall Robusto  – These were samples from the IPCPR show. An old friend, Mike, was working at the booth, and I was very happy to catch up with him. We had met at a large herf in Vegas in 1999, known in the alt.smokers.cigars circles as Boondoggle 3, which consisted of about 300 cigar smokers taking over the ballroom at the MGM Grand for 3 days. Stories from that event are legend amongst the on-line cigar community of the era, and are easily Googleable, so I won’t go into that further. Anyway, Mike was kind enough to hook me up with some samples and introduce me to Victor, the owner of The Cigar Agency, who imports and distributes the Hammer + Sickle brand, as well as ORTSAC and others. I smoked both the regular Hammer + Sickle robusto as well as the new Berlin Wall robusto. The former I found to be a fairly typical Dominican cigar, well made, but nothing that really grabbed me. Keep in mind that most Dominican cigars don’t hit me the way I like to be hit, flavor wise, so that’s not as bad as it sounds. The Berlin Wall, on the other hand, was much more to my liking, no doubt due to it being made my Camacho and consisting of a blend of Honduran, Dominican and Nicaraguan leaf. The copper band is a very nice touch. I took the Berlin wall on my evening walk, and the ash, although it wasn’t the prettiest, held on for nearly a mile!  Both of these cigars come in unique packaging. The Hammer + Sickle is in a crystal box, and the Berlin wall is packaged in a marble box with a relief of the Brandenburg Gate on the lid.  Very innovative.

Here is a video of Victor Vitale from the show, talking about the Ortsac 1962 cigars:

 

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

 

CigarCraig

 

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Filed under Events, IPCPR, Review, Take a Cigar For a Walk, Video