Tag Archives: Cigarnival

Cigar Brothers, Wooden Indian, Cigar Mojo and the Fratello Bianco Toro

I had a pretty busy week this week, visiting cigar store and hanging out with some great folks, smoking great cigars!  I was actually planning to stop in to Smoke Cigar Lounge in Manyunk, PA, just outside Philadelphia, but traffic was backed up, and it sounded like they were having a street festival on the main street there, so we gave up on that idea and stopped at a new shop only a few miles from home called Cigar Brothers in Berwyn, PA. This shop is an old house, and the downstairs part is the store, all humidified with the cigars out on  shelves. The selection was very good,lots of boutiques as well as old standards. I grabbed a few CAO Flathead Sparkplugs CAOFlatheadSparkplugand some Rocky Patel Super Ligeros and chatted with the properly named co-owner, Craig. The lounge is upstairs, basically two rooms and a hall with a bathroom. It’s not a great space for an event, as there’s no one large gathering area, but it’s nice for just hanging out with a few people. It’s bright and comfortable and well ventilated. I smoked the CAO Sparkplug there, as we had spent the afternoon in traffic and Craig was closing in an hour. I love the Flathead line, and really like this little cigar.  It’s rich, full-bodied and burns right.  We had a great afternoon talking to Craig and hanging out in this new shop that I think will do well.

 

Nica Rustica_El BrujitoThis weekend was Famous Smoke Shop’s Cigarnival event, which I’ve attended in the past, so there have been a bunch of “cigarlebrities” in the general vicinity.  Wednesday my oldest son and I went down to the Wooden Indian in Havertown, PA where they were having a Drew Estate event with Chris Stone and Pedro Gomez.  Pedro runs the Cigar Safari and tours the US doing events in the off-season.  My son hadn’t seen him since we were in Nicaragua in 2011, so it was a nice reunion and it was nice to go out and have a cigar with the kid for a change. I went with another favorite, the Nica Rustica. It looks like it’s a Maduro week!  Great cigar, great friends, and a great shop. I even won an Acid Fat Tips t-shirt, who remembers those? I never smoked one, but it was supposed to be a mass market Acid with a plastic tip, but it never really caught on.  Anyway, if you haven’t met Pedro, don’t miss the chance, and if you have, well, you know why I’m recommending you meet him! I didn’t take one darned picture the whole evening dammit.

 

Mojo1Thursday found me at Cigar Mojo for a packed house. Earlier in the day they had visits from Nick Perdomo and Jesus Fuego, but the evening event featured Aging Room Cigars and Rafael Nodal, along with his sons Carlos and Rafael Jr.  I continued the maduro theme with an Aging Mojo2Room Maduro that was the free cigar with purchase, Rafael said the bundle came from his personal humidor and they were from the initial release. Once again, this was a nice smoke, very rich with a nice sweet mocha vibe, fortunately I picked up a few more, as well as some Mojo3Havao. I generally run into someone I know there and caught up with some old acquaintances from another shop I’ve been to. I had a nice time conversing with Rafael and his sons, Rafael is one of the nicest guys around.

 

Fratello_Bianco_IIFriday evening I was back in my routine of taking Macha for a walk and enjoying a cigar, and I selected a Fratello Bianco II Toro to celebrate the end of another week. Omar made this cigar with me specifically in mind! (I have an e-mail from him saying that, but I don’t really buy it…). The San Andreas wrapper is a beautiful dark brown with a sheen of oil, it’s dark, even though the cigar is named “White”. It has a Dominican binder and fillers from Nicaragua, Peru and Pennsylvania, my home state (maybe Omar wasn’t blowing smoke up my skirt after all! **now there’s a mental image for you!**).  If I knew nothing more than the composition of this cigar I’d figure it was a really good chance I’d love it, but I also know where it’s made and the guy behind it, there would have to be something monumentally wrong for me not to like this cigar.  As it turns out, all my preconceptions did not lead to disappointment.  The Fratello Bianco is a brilliant cigar. It has the similarity to strong, bitter black coffee that I like, as well as a solid core of savory flavor and perhaps a hint of sweetness. This is an after dinner espresso (double, it was a 6″x 50 toro after all).  I dig it, I can’t wait to smoke the 5″ x 56 III and the corona that Omar so generously sent to me, and buy some of these when they hit the stores. I may even put the mooch on Omar at the trade show in a few weeks (naw, I’ll leave the samples for the retailers…). This is a winner, hands down.  Molto buon sigaro!

 

So ends another week. It did nothing but rain yesterday, so I got nothing done save for smoking a nice Inca Secret Blend Imperio after dinner on the back porch, breaking my maduro binge.  If you happen to find yourself in Easton, PA today (Sunday June 28), Rafael Nodal is going to be playing piano at Leaf, the great restaurant at Famous Smokeshop.  Going to events at shops is a great way to increase your appreciation for cigars, as well as add some new stock to your humidors. Support your local retailers, and Cigar Rights of America while you’re at it!

 

Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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Cigarnival 2014 at Famous Smoke Shop

Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting Famous Smoke Shop‘s Cigarnival. It’s a 2 day, multi-vender event held at their Easton, PA location.  I spent several hours there hanging out with the cigar folks and enjoying a few cigars.  I attended this event last year, and they’ve made quite a few improvements in my opinion. They constructed one massive tent this year, as opposed to the multiple tents they had last year.  The food was also stepped up. At dinner time they  brought in some pigs. I swear I saw a woman walking around with a roasted pig head.  Not my thing, but the food I had was good (hotdogs and hamburgers).  There were a bunch of cool things going on at the Cigarnival, besides 800 attendees smoking their brains out, and all the great vendors whom I’m glad I got to spend some time with. Flor de Gonzales hosted a cigar rolling competition throughout the day. Attendees had the chance to put wrappers on pre-made bunches. I thought this was a great way to give consumers a glimpse into the skill it takes to make these great cigars.  There were raffles throughout the day, lots of cigars and humidors and goodies, and someone may have won $100,000 from La Gloria Cubana.  There was also a Drew Estate sponsored Casino in the evening. Last year I remember watching Rocky Patel cheat like crazy, but I didn’t hang around long enough to see if he did that again.  As I had a hour and a half drive home, I cut my visit short. Famous really puts on a great event. The vendors they had were great, the food, the cigars, the people, all top notch.

 

This is going to be a short post, with a bunch of pictures and a video, as I’ve had a busy day going on a motorcycle ride with over one hundred bikes benefiting our local SPCA.  I also had a nice Drew Estate Natural Shorty in the pool this afternoon to commemorate the occasion (the SPCA run, not spending the afternoon in the pool, the water wasn’t cold!) We ended up going back to the SPCA and adopting a new member of the family, Macha, a 3ish year old American Staffordshire Terrier (who are we kidding….she’s a Pitty). We already took a short walk with an Acid Shorty, in honor of Shorty Rossi’s Pitbull rescue efforts.  I actually like this Acid, it’s not overly infused, and once you get past the sweet cap, like the Natural, it’s a nice smoke. She did great on the leash, fortunately nobody told her she had her back left leg amputated three weeks ago. Apparently she was brought in having been found on the side of the road with a badly broken femur. She looks small in this picture, but she’s about 6o pounds. I’m looking forward to many walks with her in the future. I didn’t think we’d adopt another dog so soon, but this one was too special to pass up.

 

Busy weekend!  That’s it for now, until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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Famous Smoke Shop’s Cigarnival 2013

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending Famous Smoke Shop‘s Cigarnival in Easton, PA. About an hour and a half drive from home.  I have visited this location before and the store and restaurant there are quite nice and the building that houses the entire operation is massive.  They have plenty of space outside to erect a huge main tent, two large tents and several small tents.  This was quite an enormous undertaking.   Apparently the way it worked was that attendees chose from several levels of packages which determined when they were to arrive.  This resulted in two waves of attendees. The venders were arranged in the two smaller tents and attendees lined up to go through and meet the reps and manufacturers and collect their cigars.  After the first wave lunch was served and after the second wave there was dinner, followed by raffle drawings.  Throughout the day there were interviews by Tommy Z with all of the cigar makers, and there were specials in the store all day long, as well as various deals, t-shirts, etc. in some of the small tents.  Saturday at the peak I think there were probably 1500 people in attendance.  In addition to the live music and interviews, Drew Estate sponsored a casino in the rear of the main tent, and there were four VIP rooms at the back of the tent, each sponsored by a company and each having a bar and comfy seating. There was quite a lengthy portion of the event in the evening which involved drawing raffle tickets and giving away prizes.  There was an amazing array of prizes from boxes of cigars to iPads, TVs and Playstations.  It was quite an event and well run. There were some water fights among cigar manufacturers and I’m pretty sure I saw Rocky Patel cheating in the Casino :-), as well as other craziness. The shindig was planned to go until midnight, but I split about 8 to get home at a reasonable hour (I’m old, I can’t hang). I haven’t been to an event like this before, and I’m not sure it’s really my personal cup of tea, but I’m certainly not your typical consumer and I’m no fan of crowds. However  I enjoyed this event and it was great seeing many friends, and meeting some new ones. 

 

One of the highlights for me was meeting Storm Boen, who started the C.A.T.S. (Cigar Aficionados Trades and Sales) Group on Facebook, and  was instrumental in creating Operation: Cigars for Warriors, a group of folks who send cigars to the troops.  I had a chance to talk with Storm in a conference room away from the craziness of the event, and captured it on video.

 

Some of Storm’s claims about me are surely exaggerated and I firmly believe that he’s mistaken me for someone else. 🙂 I have a great deal of respect for everything Storm does and encourage everyone to give him a hand if you are able.  Storm was one of the people I had wanted to meet and his being there helped me decide to attend the event in the first place.

Here are some more photos from the event.  Thank you to Jonathan, Travis, Tommy, Gary, Arthur and the staff of Famous for their hard work and hospitality.  This was a very well run event.  Keep an eye out for other coverage of the event on CigarAdvisor.com, StogieReview.com, ACigarSmoker.com and CigarNews.com.  I smoked a few cigars at the event, a cigar I’m not allowed to talk about from Ricky Rodriquez at CAO, which was awesome, one of my own Cigar Safari blends which is coming along nicely, and an Undercrown Corona Viva, which is becoming a favorite. I’m looking forward to trying the newly released La Gloria Cubana Gilded Age which is a Famous Smoke Shop exclusive.

Eddie Ortega (and Peter from ACigarsmoker.com)

Ricky Rodriguez

Jack and Charlie Toraño

Matt Booth, Tom Lazuka and Tim Person from Altadis involved in a water battle

Tim Person

Michael Giannini launched a Famous Smoke Exclusive La Gloria Cubana, The Gilded Age.

 

Oliver Hyams (Gurkha) and Jack Toraño (Toraño). Who can tell me the connection between these two gentlemen?

Jonathan Drew and Tommy Z-Man

 

That’s it for now!  Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

 

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My Father’s Day Esperanza para los Niños, a Trilogy of Cigar Stores and Some News!

esperanza_churchillWhen we left off I was enjoying Father’s Day with my kids and granddaughter.  After they went home I lit up the Esperanza para los Niños Churchill. This was my last Churchill, from a handful generously gifted to me by a friend who won a box in the mid ‘00s. A few of these examples had an odd burn problem around the three quarter mark, and a hint of ammonia, which was odd for a 10 (at the time) year old cigar. This one was perhaps the best example I’ve smoked in a long time.  It was rich and delicious and satisfying. This cigar was made Christian Eiroa at Rancho Jamastran in Honduras in 1999 to benefit the children that were orphaned by hurricane Mitch in 1998.  Do you know that he had trouble giving the proceeds of the sales to orphanages because the money came from tobacco?  Unbelievable. Anyway, he finally was able to put the funds to good use and get it through peoples heads that the kids needed food and clothes, not some moral judgements. Anyway, the good news is that where I thought I was left with two Esperanzas after this one, I actually have three!  There was another torpedo in the humidor that I didn’t know about! So for the next two Father’s Days I’ll smoke torpedos, then in 2016 I’ll smoke the toro from the box I purchased in 2000.

 

Monday rolled around and my daughter gave birth to our second granddaughter, another beautiful little girl who they named Calla Violet.  My wife and I kept our two year old granddaughter, Willow, overnight and know why we finished having kids when we were thirty!  I’m only speaking for myself, but I’m now too old to keep up with a two year old for very long!  Pop’s celebratory cigar would have to wait. Tuesday after visiting mom and baby in the afternoon, I managed to light up a Drew Estate Liga Privada Dirty Rat from 2009, before they released them commercially, which was dynamite.  Age may not really improve this cigar, but it didn’t hurt it too much, it was a tasty smoke.

Shops

While we were coming home from the hospital we noticed an odd shop in one of the strip malls along Germantown Pike in East Norriton, PA.  Then we passed the Black Cat Cigar Shop, then we saw SmoKings, all within about a one mile stretch.  Tuesday, after visiting momma and baby and surrendering granddaughter no.1 to her daddy, we stopped at these three shops.  The first was called Hillcrest Tobacco and Dollar Store, an unlikely combination!  Of course, we had to visit. This store was kind of a mess.  The majority of the store was typical Dollar Store junk, with various cabinet humidors lining one wall.  Saying that the stock could have been merchandised better is understating, but they did have a fairly large selection that was well priced and in good shape. This would be a fine place to grab a few sticks.  I picked up a pair of the new H. BlackCatUpmann Legacy robustos for $4.99.  Next we stopped at Black Cat, which is a very nice place. I last visited this store when it was in Philadelphia on Sansom Street in a little place that was packed solid with cigars and stuff.  This stand-alone store had a very nice lounge area and a large walk-in humidor. The selection was very good with a generous selection of boutiques.  I hate to admit it, but I walked out of there with an Asylum 13 Ogre, just because I figured I had to smoke one eventually and I couldn’t make myself purchase the 6 x 80 (even though it was cheaper!).  This is a nice place to stop in, buy some cigars and sit and enjoy one or two. Note: H. Upmann Legacy Robustos – $6.60. The last place we happened to notice right after Black Cat was SmoKingsSmoKings, located within 25 feet of a Starbucks, oddly enough! This is another little smokeshop with cabinets down one wall, reasonably neatly merchandised, although my CDO (that’s OCD in alphabetical order as it should be) would have me either alphabetize it or group it by manufacturer or something that made sense.  I did find some Cain F tubed lanceros for $6 and change that are awesome and scarce.  The young man at the counter was enthusiastic and beginning to sample cigars.  I cautioned him on the Cain F. Another nice place to stop to pick some sticks up. They actually had a SmoKings branded cigar that looked like it was either wrapped in a leaf instead of cello, or had the world’s ugliest wrapper. It was priced at $7.99 and the clerk didn’t know anything about it, so I passed. My wallet has moths flying out of it by this third stop on the Germantown Pike impromptu cigar crawl. H.Upmann Legacy Robusto – $5.75.  It was my first real foray up that particular road in Montgomery County, PA and I was surprised to find three shops with properly kept cigars in a one mile stretch, and of course I had to stop at them all and buy cigars, as if I needed more…

 

As you can tell, it’s been an exciting week!  I’ll leave you with this press release about the upcoming Cigarnival Event hosted by Famous Smoke Shop up the road from me in Easton, PA.

 

Famous Smoke Shop Hosts Cigarnival 2013 – The Nation’s Premier Cigar Event

Famous Smoke Shop is hosting their annual cigar festival, featuring leader cigar makers meeting with guests and distributing a wide variety of their premium cigars. Attendees will also enjoy gourmet food, live music, craft beer, wine, spirits, raffles, and a casino with prizes sponsored by Drew Estate.

 

Easton, pa – June 19, 2013 – Smoking premium cigars has become more popular than ever. It’s also one of ways men (and women) of all stripes can bond and share their affinity for, as cigar smokers call it, “the leaf.” For this reason alone, the Cigar Expo “Cigarnival,” held annually at Leaf Cigar Bar & Restaurant on the premises of Famous Smoke Shop in Easton, PA, is one of the most highly-anticipated cigar smoking events of the year for cigar smokers near and far. This year’s event will begin Friday, June 28th at 12:00 PM with a pre-vent party sponsored by Gurkha Cigars, and continue through Saturday, June 29th.

 

Most of the biggest names in the cigar industry will be represented including Alec Bradley, Altadis U.S.A., Arturo Fuente, Davidoff, Drew Estate, General Cigar, Oliva, Perdomo, Rocky Patel, Tatuaje, Carlos Toraño, Xikar, and over 25 more vendors. Cigarnival guests will get to meet their makers up-close and personal while rubbing elbows with 400 other cigar enthusiasts. Shuttle service will also be provided to take guests to and from their hotels to the event.

 

“This year’s theme is music,” said Leaf COO, Jeff Brown. “Performances by a variety of bands will run continuously throughout the day and night. Plus, our award-winning restaurant staff will be preparing gourmet dinners for each night, including a grandiose lunch buffet for Saturday afternoon. People can see the entire menu on the Cigarnival website.”

 

Guests will also have a wide choice of libations which include a number of craft brews from Founders, Troegs, Goose-Island, Yuengling, and others, as well as plenty of water and soft drinks. Additionally, Miami Cigar & Co. will be sponsoring the “Hooch Hut” where guests can sample a special selection of wines, spirits, and more.

 

Friday morning, registered guests will play in the 6th Annual Camacho Golf Outing at Whitetail Golf Club in Bath, PA. Golf carts, drinks, a buffet, and Camacho cigars are all included. Prizes for closest to the pin and the longest drive will be awarded, and anyone scoring a hole-in-one will win a trip for two to Camp Camacho in Honduras.

 

Friday night, Alec Bradley Cigars will host the after party, while Saturday night Perdomo Cigars will close the show with a 20th Anniversary party. Also returning to the main event will be The Drew Estate Casino. Depending on the number of chips they’ve accumulated, players can claim any number of prizes from Drew Estate swag to cigars, including a year’s worth of cigars, or Drew Estate’s Cigar Safari in Nicaragua. Thousands of dollars in raffle prizes will be also given away, plus deals on just about every brand in The Humidor at Leaf Retail Store, and much, much more. For a complete listing of event festivities, visit http://www.cigarnival.com/festivities.cfm.

 

“We’ve been putting on this event for a while now, and I always look forward to the thank you emails we get every year from so many of our attendees,” said Brown. “For some reason, I have a good feeling that this year my inbox is going to be overflowing.”

 

For more information call 610-559-8800 or visit www.cigarnival.com

 

CIGARNIVAL 2013

Friday, June 28 & Saturday June 29, 2013

Leaf Cigar Bar & Restaurant at Famous Smoke Shop

90 Mort Drive, Easton, PA 18040

Information: 610-559-8800

www.cigarnival.com

 

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

 

CigarCraig (or “Pop” in some circles!)

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