Tag Archives: cigar store

by CigarCraig | December 18, 2018 · 9:09 am

Contest: CigarCraig’s Holiday Giveaways No.1!

At the risk of being politically incorrect, Ho, Ho, Ho! I’m waiting for someone to take offense to that and ban it, everything else upsets someone nowadays! So it goes in the cigar industry, several years ago, cigar companies were falling all over one another sending me boxes upon boxes of cigars to give away in the now legendary CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways, which usually went for 13, 14 or 15 days and made a lot of people happy! It made me happy too, but it took a toll, it was a huge time investment at a busy time of year. So, with the cigar companies unable to provide piles of cigars, I’ve scaled back, and dig into my personal vault ‘o goodies to spread some holiday cheer! (Oh crap, with the new job and all, I just remembered I forgot to organize a secret Santa this year! Why did nobody remind me?). So here’s the first holiday giveaway of 2018!

As you know, Ventura Cigar Co. has been showing up frequently in the news here over the last year or so, and has been a company of interest of mine for a few years. I’ve been a fan for about 5 years since smoking a Psyko Seven when I was a guest on The Cigar Authority in 2013. I think it was the 2016 IPCPR show that they had a media event at their booth where they highlighted their Case Study line, and gave out some neat swag, which has rested in storage since then waiting for me to find a proper purpose for it.

The central item here is a cool 15 count travel humidor. It’s not going to hold 15 6x60s, but it’s big enough for a long weekend, but not too big to take up a lot of space in your luggage. Actually, it’s just about the right size in my opinion, if I didn’t have a bunch of travel humidors already, we wouldn’t be having this conversation! Along with it is an aluminum water bottle, and a hardbound blank journal, great for recording your cigar notes, listing grievances against your enemies, or whatever. I will, no doubt, rummage through my humidors and find some appropriate cigars to include in the travel humidor too!

Thanks to Kevin at CigarProp.com, there will also be one of his Lighter Bleed Tools included!

Thanks to the folks at Ventura, even though they have no idea they are sponsoring this! Standard rules apply, leave a comment to enter, must be of legal age to win, and I’ll select a winner on my next post, which might be Friday, might be Sunday, we’ll see how things go!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 12 days, Case Study, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Contest, Giveaways, Psyko Seven, Ventura

by CigarCraig | December 9, 2018 · 11:12 am

Esteban Carreras, Kristoff, Leccia Luchador and La Gloria Esteli Cigars

Tuesday was my day off, so after doing some yard work, I went to Cigar Cigars in Downingtown, PA to hang out with Kevin, the manager there for a little bit. My friend Greg had been after me to try the Esteban Carreras Mr. Brownstone for a while, and I’ve been meaning to, so I figured it was a good time to do it. It seems Kevin is Greg’s dealer for this particular cigar, so it just seemed fitting. I love a good Broadleaf cigar, and this certainly is a good broadleaf cigar. In addition to the Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, it had an Ecuador Habano binder and Nicaraguan fillers from Jalapa and Condega. I smoked the Toro, and the store signs these as “toro”, “robusto” and “gordo” instead of the given names, which is where this line goes off the rails for me. It’s a great cigar, the build was great, it burned straight, the draw was great, the flavor was great, everything about the experience was perfect, and I wanted another one, I totally get it. However, in this day and age, where the FDA, and governments and health organizations are actively trying to eliminate tobacco entirely, I find it irresponsible to name a cigar and it’s sizes after illicit drug slang names. Mr. Brownstone, and the size names Smack, Speedball and Mainline, are all heroin references, and heroin is a big problem (I probably wouldn’t know this if I hadn’t read Slash’s biography). There are stores that won’t carry this line because of the name. The anti-tobacco people are looking for anything to try to tie tobacco use in with addiction and drug use, and things like this, however benign you and I know them to be, don’t help our cause to the casual observer. It’s a great cigar, I just wish it were named more responsibly, and I wish I didn’t have to waste bandwidth ranting about the name and spend more time on the experience, which was awesome!

I left Cigar Cigars before they started their Kristoff event, but not before meeting Bill Coyne, the Kristoff sales rep. Bill is a super nice guy, knowing Glen Case, I expected nothing less. I had picked up the Kristoff Vengeance in a Toro, since I hadn’t tried that yet, and Kevin recommended it, so I lit that up for my evening walk. Sidebar: since my new job has me on my feet a large part of the day, and its been so friggin cold lately (it’s been so cold, the politicians have had their hands in their own pockets! ) my walks have been shorter than normal. That’s where the enclosed back porch comes in handy! The Vengeance, like the Brownstone, has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Indonesian binder, and Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers. It’s funny, I like Kristoff cigars OK, but I’m not overly wow’d by many of them, which is funny, because I really like Dean Parson’s Epic Cigars, which are made in the same factory. All the Kristoffs have the unfinished foot and pigtail cap, which differentiates them, and I like the flavor blast of the unfinished foot, but you have to be careful of the mess factor, and the only time I’ve ever burned a hole in a shirt has been lighting a cigar with a shaggy foot. Anyway, I liked the Vengeance a great deal, it had the sweet and savoryness that I look for in a Broadleaf wrapped cigar and I found it satisfying, although I would have liked to have let it rest a little longer in the humidor. I’ll certainly smoke this cigar again.

I reached back into the archives for an old Leccia Tobacco Luchador cigar this week. Back in 2014 Sam Leccia had a year-long distribution arrangement with General Cigar Co, and during that time released the El Gringo line extension to the Luchador line, made at American Caribbean Tobacco S.A. in Nicaragua. American Caribbean Tobacco is the factory that makes a lot of Gurkha cigars as well as Toraño. I selected a Squared Circle, the 6½” x 64 box pressed pyramid. Only as I am writing this am I realizing that this was a 64 ring gauge at the foot, with the box press it didn’t seem that large. This represents a missed opportunity to try out a new tool I got, the Cigar Measuring Tape from www.herics.com. Not that I’ve smoked this cigar, and I probably won’t see another one again, I’ll have to find another cigar to try out this measuring tape out on, which I think will be a useful tool for determining the ring gauge on a box pressed cigar. I think I have some El Gringo Frog Splash’s left in the humidors, that’ll work. Anyway, I’ll do a video about the Measuring tape real soon. In the world of the Leccia Luchador, the El Gringo blend was never my favorite, I always preferred the sweet and spicy San Andrés wrapped original Luchador over the El Gringo, however a few years of age on the El Gringo has been good to it, and it was a very nice smoke. The El Gringo has a Nicaraguan oscuro wrapper, Nicaraguan habano binder and ligero fillers from Pennsylvania and Nicaragua, but it wasn’t all that strong originally, and mellowed a bit over the years. I remember buying this at CI when we went to see Sam when he hosted a wrestling event there featuring little people, which was both hysterical and uncomfortable.

Finally, I have enjoyed the newest La Gloria Cubana Esteli in the 4½” x 52 Robusto, so I picked up a few of the Toros to test them out. This is the Esteli, not the Serie R Esteli. I can see where there might be some confusion. This has a Nicaraguan Jalapa Ligero wrapper, Honduran binder from Jamastran, and Honduran fillers from Jamastran and La Entrada. Basically, the only thing Esteli about this is that it’s made in the factory in Esteli, the only tobacco from Nicaragua is that Nicaraguan wrapper, and that from Jalapa. Weird. Apart from that small criticism, the cigar is good, although this is another cigar that will benefit from some rest in my humidor to knock off some rough edges in the final third. There’s some earthiness and a little sweetness and spice. The Toro is only 5½” x 54, but by the time I got a bit past the half way point it started smoking like it had a little too much humidity in it, which will go away after some time. I had just brought these home from the store a few days prior and while the other cigars I bought smoked fine, every cigar is different and this one needed some rest. We’ll see how this is in a few weeks, so far, I really enjoy the little robustos. One interesting note: The bar code sticker calls it “LGC Esteli White”, and I don’t see the “White” anywhere else in the marketing. Will there be and Esteli Maduro on the horizon called the “Black”, like the Serie R Esteli Maduro? It’s not a stretch to speculate, I suppose.

That’s all for today. I was going to write a whole rant on top-whatever lists and their relative merits, but I have some fine-tuning to do…it seems they are a valuable marketing tool for retailers and manufactures, so it wouldn’t make any sense to crap all over them (if that’s what I were going to do, not that I was or anything…). Anyway, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Brownstone, cigar, cigar store, cigars, El Gringo, Esteban Carraras, esteli, Kristoff, La Gloria Cubana, leccia, Luchador, Vengeance

by CigarCraig | December 2, 2018 · 10:45 am

A Partagas, a Cornelius And Anthony Meridian and Thoughts on a Common Etiquette Question

I had another busy week, as will be the common theme for the next few weeks, I fear. This has resulted in coming home and defaulting to known good cigars, cigars I love and know will hit the spot. Often times I’ll find myself thinking of a cigar during the day and I have to smoke one that evening. This was the case this week a couple of times, most notably with the Partagas Legend. To recap, this was the Toro Leyenda, the 6 ¼” x 54 size. This cigar has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, a Honduran OSA binder and Dominican Piloto Cubano filler. I’ve likened this to the Partagas Limited Reserve in the past, I didn’t think of that on this go around, I think this cigar is best smoked in warmer weather or indoors, my 40something degree back porch while not too uncomfortable wasn’t ideal for the proper enjoyment of this particular cigar. It was still enjoyable, but the nuance was missing. This isn’t your typical heavy broadleaf offering, and if you’re looking for that kind of cigar, try the Partagas Black.

For some reason I’ve seen this come up a lot recently in discussions, and it continues to cause some dissenting opinions. Since I haven’t really got a lot of cigars to talk about this week, I thought I’d share my thoughts on the debate over whether it’s ok to bring outside cigars into a shop or lounge. I think the biggest problem with the argument is the definition of the establishment in question. If it’s a cigar shop with a lounge, I say it’s common sense to leave your personal cigars at home and buy cigars at the store. I admit that I used to be guilty of bringing my cigars to the shop and buying a few and smoking my own, but in the last several years I’ve abandoned that completely and always buy from the place I visit and smoke what I buy there, I think it’s the right thing to do. Let me tell you, as a cheap SOB, and someone who has a significant stockpile of cigars at home, I don’t need to buy more cigars, but I still do the right thing! There is also a twinge of CAD (Cigar Acquisition Disorder, a topic for another post) at play. There are other kinds of establishments where it’s OK to bring your own cigars though, places that may sell cigars, but that isn’t their bread and butter. This, it think, is where the confusion lies. These establishments are more bars or restaurants than cigar stores, and, many times, their cigar menu pricing is highly inflated. Some places might have a “cutting fee” depending on how much that is, it might be better to just buy one of their cigars anyway, but if your buying drinks or food many times it’s overlooked. I’ve personally been to places like Club Macanudo in NYC, which has ridiculous cigar prices, and never bought a cigar there, and never had a problem smoking outside cigars, the same with Mahogany in Philadelphia when it was where Ashton Cigar Bar is now. I would argue that those who vehemently argue one side of this debate or the other need to have all the facts, as there are many variables. It depends a great deal on what percentage of income a business depends upon cigar sales, versus liquor or food. Is it just a cigar store or a bar that allows cigar smoking and has a humidor? is it a cigar lounge with a bar? I think the best course of action is to ask the proprietor or manager first before being presumptuous, and if it looks like a cigar store, be prepared to make a purchase and smoke what you buy. No store owner wants a patron asking another patron what he’s smoking and having that person told that it’s something that the store doesn’t carry! who does that help? these stores aren’t cheap to operate, and if we don’t pay the rent on those seats in the lounge through our purchases, those seats aren’t going to be there for us the next time we are looking for a warm, dry place to relax with a cigar and the camaraderie that goes with it. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Now that I got that off my chest, back to the cigars. Last night I got home late from work, watched the end of one of my very favorite things, which is the Flyers beating the Penguins in Pittsburgh, then when to the porch with a Cornelius and Anthony Meridian Robusto. I wrote a rare review of this cigar a year and a half ago (here). Some things remain the same, it’s still made at La Zona, it still has a rosado Ecuador wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and fillers from Nicaragua and the Dominican republic. It still comes in four sizes, the Robusto at 5″ x 50, Corona Gorda at 5½” x 46, a Toro at 6″ x 50 and a Gordo at 6″ x 60. At the time I said it was the strongest in the range, that, my friends, has changed. It still has some strength, and, admittedly, judging by the fact that I didn’t finish it until around 11pm and it was well after 1 am until I could get to sleep, then I had weird-ass dreams all night, it wasn’t the best choice for a nightcap. The Mistress has eclipsed the Meridian (and 90% of all other cigars) in the strength category. It’s still a very enjoyable cigar, and is solidly in my top five C&A offerings. It’s a satisfying cigar, if it weren’t for cigars like the Cornelius, Señor Esugars and the Gent, it might be my favorite in the line!

That’s all from me for today, Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Editorial, Review

Tagged as cigar, Cigar Bar, Cigar Lounge, cigar store, cigars, Cornelius and Anthony, Legend, Meridian, Partagas

by CigarCraig | June 17, 2018 · 9:44 am

Todos Las Dias, Farce and Truth and La Aurora at the Track

Happy Father’s Day to all the Dad’s out there, I know later today I’ll be digging out my traditional father’s day cigar for the 19th or 20th year (I’ve lost track…the cigars came out in 1998, but I think it was 1999 by the time I bought a box, can’t remember). I refer, of course, to the obscure Esperanza Para los Niños, which was made by Christian Eiroa when he owned Camacho as a charity project to help children orphaned by hurricane Mitch. The cigars have held up extremely well, and it’s through the kindness of several friends that I’ve been able to continue the tradition of smoking one on Father’s Day every year this long, and I might be good until 2020 when the last toro from the box I bought will go down. Until cigar time rolls around, I got some typing to do, so lets recap some notable smokes I had this week! I smoked another Todos las Dias from Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust this week. It’s no secret that I’m a fan of the brand, everything Steve has produced has been a win for my palate, but this liga has been a slow starter for me. Maybe it’s because the first three examples I smoked didn’t draw well enough (moisture…ironic given Steve was checking internal humidity of each sample at the trade show, video here, and they came from multiple sources, they just have to be kept dryer, I guess). To recap, the Todos las Dias Double Wide Belicoso is a 4.75″x 60 figurado identical in size to the Joya de Nicaragua Antaño Gran Consul and the Rosalones 460, using the same molds and made in the same factory. It’s a Nicaraguan puro, with a sungrown Nicaraguan wrapper, and fillers from Esteli and Jalapa. This blend is growing on e finally, I’m starting to get the cocoa and a hint of the chili spice reported, and the cigar was great to the last drop. This is a cool shape, I still think I’m reaching for the TlD fourth in line in the regular DTT production, but it’s good, I like it.

Friday was a special day in the small village of Frazer, PA. The CigarCigars store, just 1.7 miles from my home, was host to a cigar event featuring Matt Booth of Room 101 Cigars, and, as is their custom at this shop, the event was from noon to 3. Normally this would cause me problems, life has not been normal in recent months. So I was able to be present for this auspicious event and hang out with Mr. Booth, although, culturally, Frazer, PA is pretty much polar opposite of what Mr Booth is used to…it’s not Amish country, but it’s not the Sunset Strip either…anyway, I had occasion to smoke the new Farce. This is important, and I can’t stress this enough, it’s Farce, not THE Farce…just Farce. Very important to note. Farce is made in the Ventura factory in the DR, it’s a full flavored, complex and sophisticated blend and was very nice. I liked it, I picked up a couple and will smoke another very soon in a non-event environment. I also smoked The T, not Mr. T, it the Toro size. I had previously smoked an IPCPR sample of this collaboration between Booth, Caldwell and AJ Fernandez made in Nicaragua and really liked it, and this one was no different. It’s dark and rich and heavy and right up my alley. My biggest regret was setting it in an ashtray with a couple of inches left and Steve, the manager cleaning up after the event thinking I was done with it, which I was not…my bad. Watch for the next CigarCraig podcast in the next few days, by the way. I highly recommend attending an event featuring Mr. Booth if you have the opportunity, he’s a gentleman and a scholar, and one who’s earned every one of his eccentricities.

Another annual family tradition which may seem odd to some is celebrating our granddaughters birthdays at the horse races. There is a track that’s reasonably convenient to both sides of the family free to park and get in, had a family friendly picnic grove with tables and bounce houses and slides and playgrounds for the kids, of course, horse races, and is cigar friendly! We try to get there early to get a good spot and have a cigar before everyone gets there. I lit up a La Aurora Preferidos Emerald Ecuador Corona, and there’s a reason I usually light up something from La Aurora at family events. My daughter’s name is Aurora, and I figure she’s not going to get upset at me for smoking a cigar if it’s got her name on it. Clever, eh? She’s a great kid, got me cigar related coffee for Father’s day! Anyway, I really was enjoying the crap out of that corona, what flavor and balance! Nice tobacco sweetness I didn’t want to put down, and I felt bad standing off to the side after people started showing up. I wanted to join the party, eat lunch, but I wanted to enjoy the cigar too, it was one of the few times I wished I had chosen an even smaller cigar! We stuck it out until the Ninth (last) race, because Smoke En Fire was running, and we put $5 on it to win, which it did, and paid $9.50! It was a beautiful day with family at a great horse park. I don’t know if Delaware Cigars still has their cigar festival there in the fall or not, but the coupe times I attended that event it was a good time!

That’s all for today. Time to get some stuff done! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Events, Review

Tagged as cigar, cigar store, CigarCigars, cigars, Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust, Farce, La Aurora, Matt Booth, Preferidos, Room 101, the T, Todos Las Dias

by CigarCraig | June 3, 2018 · 7:52 am

La Flor Dominicana Event at CigarCigars in Downingtown

Wednesday evening I went to my former hometown of Downingtown, PA (beer lovers may know this is as the home of Victory Brewery, which used to allow cigars at their brew pub, I miss that! They had a great root beer too) to the CigarCigars store there for a La Flor Dominicana event. The store is fairly new, it’s only been open there a few years, and is one of twelve (soon to be thirteen) stores in the chain which recently joined the Tobacconists Association of America (TAA), which you read about here a few weeks ago. This shop has greatly improved under the direction of the store manager, Kevin. I think once they put a drop ceiling in the lounge, which is a re-purposed garage bay, the acoustics will be much better and it will have a more intimate feel. Otherwise, the selection is good, although when there is an event I pretty much focus on the brand doing the event. I started off with a La Flor Dominicana Airbender Maduro Chisel, which has an Ecuador Habano Maduro wrapper and fillers grown on their La Canela farm. It’s in the patented Chisel shape, which is a torpedo with a flattened head, measuring 6″ x 54. The fun thing about this shape is that you don’t need a cutter! Squeezing the head makes the cap pop right off, which Lito Gomez himself showed me several years ago when I asked him what his preferred cut was on this vitola. The Airbender Chisel burned for an astounding two hours.

Kyle Shackelton is our local LFD rep, and does an excellent presentation over a video showing the cigar making process, this time in reverse, from cigar to seed. He explains a lot of the processes in detail, but not so much as to overwhelm his audience. Many consumers don’t understand the extent of the time and care that goes into the cigars we love. A picture of the aging room at the factory blew me away, they had cabinets with all the wheels stored inside, many aging rooms I’ve seen just have shelves. Their facility in the DR is beautiful, one day maybe I’ll visit.

Here’s where I goofed up, or somebody did! I bought a TAA exclusive La Flor Dominicana, and the “Buy x, get one” special cigar was banded exactly the same, with the TAA secondary band. I smoked one of them, not sure which, but while it started out a little woodier than I like, it developed into a very nice smoke. I didn’t find it as rich as the Airbender Maduro, but it was good. The former event exclusive cigar they had was fantastic, I have one someplace…anyway, it was a great event, Kevin and his staff at CigarCigars Downingtown were excellent hosts, and Kyle put on a good tutorial. Catch an LFD event if you can, I don’t know if all the reps do events as good as Kyle does, but I wouldn’t be surprised! Let me know if you’ve experienced these in other markets.