Tag Archives: Corojo

November 16, 2025 · 9:16 am

Camacho, Powstanie and Mi Querida Cigars

It’s funny, Camacho cigars were a staple for me back in the 90s, the Corojo and Havana were favorites.  They used to label the boxes “dark” Corojo if I remember correctly, they were the best. I even smoked though a box of Camacho Candelas.  This was all before the company was sold to Davidoff.  Since they have owned the company, I’ve continued to enjoy the cigars, oddly not as often as I used to.  I recently saw them on a local retailers shelves, and decided to pick some up.  I grabbed a Camacho Corojo BXP, which is the box pressed toro, a size I haven’t tried before, and it’s been quite some time since I’ve had a Corojo in any size.  This is a well-behaved, spicy cigar.  Apparently they added some Pennsylvania ligero to this Honduran puro, giving it some more zip than the round versions.  I liked it, and I’m going to grab more, along with the round version to compare the two. 

 

I had to take a road trip for work this week, moving some vehicles around. It was 7+ hours of windshield time, just out and back. I dis go right past Harrisburg Beer and Cigar and it timed out right for a rest stop.  Sadly, James wasn’t in the store, I’ll try to plan better next time I get out that way.  I picked up some Powstanie San Andrés toros, a cigar I had been looking forward to trying.  I like the guys at Powstanie, Mike and Mike (and Greg).  If you were to search my archives you’ll find a video I did with them.  (here, I made it easy for you!).  I lit one up shortly after I got home.  This is a Nicaraguan binder and filler with the San Andrés wrapped cigar made at Nica Sueńo in Esteli.  It had a nice earthy, spicy sweetness, I liked it a lot.  My only complaint was that it burned too fast, I’d like for it to have lasted longer. It was also pricy, but that’s getting harder and harder to complain about, they all are. Another winner from the Powstanie guys. 

 

Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust traditionally sends out media kits around this time of year, strategically to get cigars on people’s year end lists.  Over the last bunch of years this has resulted in one of his cigars being at or near the top of the Halfwheel Consensus.  I think we can all agree that the timing is strategic, but we can also agree that the cigars are exceptional and deserve whatever accolades they receive.  Two of the four cigars included have already graced my pages, as I went out and purchased some, but there were two that I hadn’t yet tried, one of which is the Mi Querida Gorila Gordo,  This is a 6″ x 60 with a “109” style bullet head. It’s basically an overweight belicoso.  It’s also an excellent cigar. I personally adore the regular old Mi Querida line with the blue bands. It’s rich and chocolatey, with just enough spice to make it interesting, but basically, to me, it’s smoking a dessert. I don’t shy away from 60 ring cigars, there’s a lot I like, it’s cool to have a Mi Querida in this gauge.

 

Back by popular demand, I’ve launched the 2025 edition of the CigarCraig.com Secret Santa.  Go HERE to sign up. We have a really great core group. That’s all for today, until next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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October 26, 2025 · 10:16 am

Crowned Heads Broadway, Tatuaje Corojo T110 and AJ Fernandez Decenio Cigars

I had occasion on Wednesday to hang out at the Wooden Indian in Havertown, so, of course, I bought some more cigars to smoke.  I don’t smoke a lot of Crowned Heads cigars, I like Miguel there a lot, and do actually like a lot of their cigars.  Jon has always been cordial to me, but one time he blew me off at a trade show left a bad taste in my mouth.  I don’t think I ever made that public.  Anyway, the Broadway line intrigued me, so I picked one up and smoked it there in the Wooden Indian’s Liga Privada Lounge.  Of course, I smoked the toro, which is 6½” x 54.  This cigar has a beautiful, oily broadleaf wrapper, over  a Jalapa binder and fillers from Estelí, Jalapa and Ometepe, Nicaragua.  It’s made at NACSA, which is where Saka makes Mi Querida, Umbagog, and the Red Meat Lovers Club cigars.  This factory has a steady supply of Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper.  My expectations were exceeded, as this cigar was absolutely delicious. I may like this more that the Mi Querida Blue, which I like a great deal.  Construction was perfect, the flavors were smooth, rich cocoa and coffee, right up my alley. my only regret is that I only bought one, and I considered picking up a few more before the shop closed. I want to thank Dave at the Wooden Indian for letting me hang out in the members lounge after the shop closed, I very much appreciate it!  By the way, the Crowned Heads website is in dire need of updating.  

 

The Tatuaje T110 Corojo is a 4 3/8″ x 52 short robusto with a Corojo wrapper.  I smoked the Cohete (4″ x 50) back in August and really liked it, so I was very much looking forward to this one. I have smoked the T110 in the Broadleaf and Tuxtla wrappers and enjoyed them.  This one I didn’t care for, and there aren’t many Tatuaje cigars I don’t like.  It started out with a sourness, and skirted the line between sweet and sour through out the whole smoke. It was disappointing, but I always look at situations like this as a learning experience, what do I like in a cigar and what don’t I like, and how can I avoid it in the future?  It’s money well spent,  as long as I remember what I don’t like and don’t spend money on it again?  This one had been in the humidor for a a couple months. 

 

Another cigar I selected from the vast humidor of the Wooden Indian was the A.J. Fernandez New World Decenio in the toro size. This cigar commemorates a decade of the New World line, and made in the San Lotano factory in Ocotal, Nicaragua.  I was hoping to pick one of these up a week or so ago when I saw Laurel at another nearby shop, but I either didn’t see them, or they didn’t have them. They had a really expensive 20th anniversary cigar, which may have distracted me (I didn’t bite). I adore the New World Dorado, and the rest of the New World line are really very good.  This cigar is 6½” x 54 with a box press that makes it seem thinner.  It has a Mexican San Andrés wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos from Honduras and Nicaragua. I expected a good smoke, and I got a good smoke.  This started out spicy, no surprise there, really.  It moved to sweet, dark coffee, which is a combination I really like. I also really like that bonus half inch on a toro, more of a good thing.  This was a really good smoke, and, dare I say, worth the $14 I paid.  This is another anniversary cigar for a budget brand that is higher in price, like the Rocky Patel Edge and the Foundation Charter Oak. 

 

My name was mentioned on yesterday’s Cigar Authority show which was about the cigar inventors.  I’ve been on the show a couple times and I’ve known these guys for a long time.  It’s humbling to be mentioned, and it gives me some credibility, I guess, to be recognized by them, but I want to set a couple things straight.  I, in no way, created anything or was the first of anything.  When I started this there were a lot of cigar blogs,  I just happened to have outlasted a lot of them. Certainly Stogie Review (which is making a comeback with the Smoke & Steel podcast) was one of the first, and Casas Fumando has stood the test of time.  I take some pride in being mentioned by my peers (I got a nice mention by Kevin on a recent El Oso Fumar show too, TY).  I’m still just a guy who writes stuff about cigars.  

 

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

 

CigarCraig

 

 

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August 31, 2025 · 10:12 am

Stolen Throne 919, Tatuaje Cohete Corojo, Howard G Cigars and the Giveaway Winner!

Photo credit Micky Pegg

Here we are, 16 years of writing CigarCraig.com!  After all this time I still have to talk myself into going to a cigar shop after work!  It’s nothing personal, and I always regret it when I pass up an opportunity, but it’s a struggle for me to leave the comfort and safety of my home smoking lounge!  Weird, right?  I’m actually an introvert, but I do my best to hide it.  Anyway, Thursday evening I visited the Wooden Indian where Lee Marsh from Stolen Throne Cigars was doing an event. I consider Lee to be a friend, and it wouldn’t have been right for him to be in the neighborhood and miss seeing him.  I love some of his cigars, add the Castle 919 to that list.  I picked up a couple of the new Castle 919 cigars, a Robusto and a Belicoso, the only two sizes offered.  Castle 919 has an Habano Claro wrapper, over Nicaraguan binder and fillers, made at the Rojas factory. I smoked the Belicoso, which is 5″ x 54 (the Robusto is 5″ x 50), and was delighted.  This has the sugar cane sweetness I enjoy and was really good to the last drop!  This may rise to the top of my Stolen Throne list of favorites, although the Crook of the Crown and Three Kingdoms will always rank highly.  It was a treat to see Micky Pegg there as well and learn that All Saints Cigars is healthy!  It is disappointing that they dropped my favorite size from their lines (Churchill), but glad they are still around!  Lee and I stopped by Cigar Mojo – The Grove afterwards where I smoked a Yorktown Fleet Robusto, which is still not my favorite, but growing on me. Lee is deeply hurt that I don’t care for this blend (or the Call to arms). 

 

Friday was my birthday, my whole family (8 of us) went out to a nice dinner.  It makes me happy having all of us together.  We got home a little late, so it was the perfect time to smoke a 4″ x 50 Tatuaje Cohetes Corojo that I had picked up when I visited Cigar Mojo – The Grove.  I should get over there more often, it’s literally a mile from my house, refer back to the first couple sentences of this post. This is the first Cohetes I’ve smoked in the Tatuaje line, it’s curious to me that it exists along with the 4 3/8″ x 52 T110, they are different blends, but similar sizes.  This was a really good little smoke. It started out with spice, but an interestingly different spice.  Starting with spice is expected, but this was a different flavor.  It sweetened slightly as it smoked, and was a really delicious little smoke, that lasted at least an hour for me.  Looking forward to the T110 Corojo I picked up as well to see how they compare. 

 

Once again, a Smoke Inn special sucked me in, who can pass up $20 for five cigars delivered to your door in a couple days?  This one was two Rocky Patel Cameroons and three Howard G Cameroons.  It’s a no-brainer. While I was interested in trying both, the Howard G cigars were my first priority. I think I met Howard at a trade show, it would have been outside the bar in the Venetian,  but I don’t recall formal introductions.  I’ve been hearing good things, so I wanted to sample the brand, and I like Cameroon, always have.  It looks like this is in the Magic Stick line, which also has a Habano and Connecticut. I notice that they also have a Golf themed line which has a Front Nine and Back Nine. I hope Ryan Gallimore (check out the new Cigar Circus site!) is OK with that, as he had a Front Nine and Back Nine in his Swinger Cigars line many years ago.  I will be on the lookout for the Magic Stick Habano, but this Cameroon wasn’t bad!  It has a raw nuts sort of nuttiness, and I seem to get some kind of nuts flavor from Cameroon.  It was a fairly bold flavor, the cigar smoked very nicely. 

 

OK, now to announce a winner in last Sunday’s big giveaway.  Apparently I guessed right on what the mystery Freestyle Live cigar was. which surprises me more than anyone.  It’s a really good smoke, and I look forward to getting my hands on them when they hit stores.  I consulted Google’s random number generator, and 4 was the number, and the number of the counting was 4.  This corresponds to Jeff W., who needs to email me his contact information so I can get this out. I’m sure I’ll be able to come up with some more stuff for future giveaways!  Thank you all for reading over these last 16 years!  

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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August 3, 2025 · 9:36 am

Hoyo de Monterrey, Devil Crab and Tatuaje Corojo Cigars

A few weeks back I mentioned that I was smoking the new Hoyo de Monterrey Shade while writing, and that I’d report back later. Today is the day.  This is the third cigar in the revamped line, the first two were the Oscuro and Rojo, which I talked about back in August of last year. Along with La Gloria, Hoyo de Monterrey is one of the brands I got started on early.  The Excalibur No 1 was a special occasion cigar for me, when spending $5 on a cigar was really extravagant. This new Hoyo has a Honduran shade grown wrapper, with Honduran binder and fillers, made at the HATSA factory in Danli, Honduras.  I may revisit the Oscuro and the Rojo, but I think this Connecticut is my favorite of the three. It was rich and creamy, well balanced and burned perfectly.  My initial impression was that this was a cigar that didn’t really need to be made, It seems that adding a shade cigar to a line is a go to move with General Cigars.  This one is really nice, and priced well.  It’s funny as I sit here smoking a shade cigar I think about how it’s the last wrapper I go to, but I really like them! This Hoyo is a good one.  When I first started this journey, General Cigars sent me a box of Hoyos, and I think I still have one left. That was 15 years ago!

 

I smoked a West Tampa Cigar Co. Devil Crab a few months ago at the Smoke-Onos when Ricky pretty much made me smoke it, and I had some thoughts, but I wanted to smoke one on a clean palate to validate those thoughts.  I can use “validate”,  Aganorsa hasn’t protected it somehow, right? Anyway, This is a classic size, 4½” x 60 perfecto. I see the term “double perfecto” bandied about, and that seems redundant to me, a perfecto is a figurado that’s closed at both ends.  What would a single perfecto be?  Anyway, it’s pretty close to the classic Flying Pig vitola, which Steve Saka resurrected from a late 1800s cigar catalog while working at Drew Estate. I like this shape, it’s a fun smoke.  This is made at the Garmendia factory where the White, Black and Red lines are made.  This is a very interesting cigar, and I had a very similar experience this time.  It smokes well, once you get thought the foot, initially it’s tight, but that’s a typical perfecto trait.  To my palate, it has a sweetness, but not a sugary sweetness, more of a saccharine sweetness. It’s a little odd,  Certainly worth a try and a decent change of pace.  There are other West Tampa cigars I like better.  

 

Finally, I was hunting for something new to me, and I came across the Tatuaje 7th Corojo.  This is the fifth cigar in the 7th size, which is a 5 5/8″ x 46 classic Corona Gorda shape. They’ve recently release this as a regular production, along with the Tuxtla in this size. It has a Corojo wrapper grown by the Garcia family in Nicaragua, I assume over Nicaraguan binder and fillers.  It’s decently priced around $9.50.  I remember feeling extremely extravagant paying that for a Liga Privada when they first hit (double that today!).  This was a perfect cigar to unwind with after a very busy Saturday.  It has an interesting sourness, not off putting, with a floral overtone.  It’s different from what I generally expect from a Tatuaje,  but if they all tasted the same, what fun would that be?  Perfect construction as always. I should have gotten a Tuxtla too, I haven’t had one in a while, but they will be readily available.  Great cigar.

 

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

CigarCraig

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December 1, 2024 · 10:27 am

Foxtail Cigars from Fox Cigars

As you can see by the graphic on the left side of my page, Fox Cigar has an exclusive series of cigars in the “economy” space, the Foxtail.  I’ve been working with the folks at Fox for several years, and have featured a few of their exclusives, notably the Araposa Negra and Blanca made by Black Label Trading Co.  These were exceptional, I especially liked the Negra, which, sadly, doesn’t appear to be available any more.  I should pick up some Blancas, if I do, I’ll add another Foxtail sampler.  The Foxtail comes in five varieties, and all of them have a shaggy foot and a foxtail shaped flag on the head.  They come in three sizes, although I have to wonder a little about who came up with the names.  They are Robusto, Toro and Gordo.  I know, you’re thinking “they sound like perfectly reasonable names!”, but the Robusto is 6″x50, the Toro is 7″ x 54 and the Gordo is 7″ x 60. Perhaps they are measuring from where the wrapper starts, as they all have a 1″ unfinished foot.  No problem, I rarely smoke anything shorter than six inches.  Here are some short recaps on each one:

 

I started with the Corojo Toro (the sampler is only offered in the 7″ x 54 “Toro”). This has a Sungrown Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper, over a Nicaraguan binder with Nicaraguan, Costa Rican and Colombian fillers. Where these are made, nor whether these are long or mixed fill was shared with me.  At this price, they almost have to be mixed, but they all burned properly like a long fill cigar.  This Corojo has the hint of white sugar I find lately in cigars tagged as Corojo.  I

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t wasn’t bad, decent tobacco flavor with a bit of a spice.

 

Next up was the Maduro Toro (I know, I usually lead with the maduro, I changed it up this time. Also worth mentioning that I smoked these on different days. Those of you who follow on IG or Facebook will already know this.). This one also has the Sungrown Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper, with a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan and Costa Rican fillers. This one had some subtle cocoa and spice with some tobacco, nothing overpowering, just a nice cigar and a good value.

 

I followed with the Barber Pole, which is, I believe both fermentations of the aforementioned Corojo and Maduro wrappers. Sungrown Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper, with a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan and Costa Rican fillers. Honestly, I don’t know if in a blindfolded scenario I could choose between this and the Corojo, they were remarkably similar.  The aesthetics of the dual wrappers is nice, and doesn’t take anything away from the burn and draw. It lacks the Columbian tobacco that’s in the Corojo, maybe that’s what adds the subtle spice that I didn’t get in this one.

 

I went into the Sweet Tip with some concerns, which ended up to be unfounded. This has an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper, Nicaraguan  binder and Nicaraguan and Columbian fillers. The wrapper is a darker shade than the Connecticut.The sweetness on the cap was minimal, it added nicely to the flavor of the cigar.  Some sweet capped cigars can be too much, not this one. It had the approximate sweetness on the lips as a Sobremesa Brulee.  I say that to be funny, but I hardly noticed that it was there. This might actually be my favorite of the quintet.  It has some bready bakery notes, some spice and that subtle sweetness.  I liked this one.

 

Finally I smoked the Connecticut, which has the exact same makeup as the Sweet Tip. This might be my second favorite of the bunch for me, which

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is weird if you’ve followed me for any stretch of time and see a pattern of what I like.  It was smooth, with the same bakery, spice and less of the sweetness of the Sweet Tip.  All in all, this is a nice line of cigars. The tail on the head (mine were all lying flat,  looked like a messy cap job until further inspection), the shaggy foot that doesn’t burn holes in your shirt, and all five having different bands to differentiate between them in cases where it’s not fairly evident, sets these apart from other similarly priced offerings. Thanks to the folks at Fox Cigar for sending these, like I said, I have no problem adding some on to my next order. I really need to get to Arizona to visit one of their lounges one of these days.  

 

That’s all for now. I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.  Now it’s time to get ready for Christmas. There’s still time to get in on the CigarCraig.com Secret Santa!  Maybe next week I’ll feature some new lighters that have come into my possession. Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

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