Tag Archives: davidoff

February 1, 2026 · 9:33 am

Colonel E.H. Taylor, Camacho and Maestranza Cigars

We are saddened here this week by the passing of our beloved dog, Macha.  Many have met Macha over the years, she even made an appearance on the Cigar Authority once, and she was a large part of our household.  We suspect she was 14 or 15 years old, so she lived a long life, especially since the last 12 were with three legs.  We adored here and she leaves a hole on our hearts.  I appreciate everyone’s condolences.  I smoked a Padron 1964 Anniversary that I got in 2014, the year we adopted Macha, in her honor.

 

A few weeks back I walked into a local shop that I haven’t been to in a while, and asked the owner what was new and exciting.  He said that they just got the Colonel E.H. Taylor San Andrés and it was selling well.  I don’t know anything about this brand, I suspect it’s a Meier and Dutch (CI) creation. It, obviously, has a San Andrés wrapper, Criollo binder and Nicaraguan fillers and is made in the Dominican Republic (La Isla, I generally like their stuff).  It isn’t really budget priced, I think it was around $12.  I smoked it, and my first thought was that I should have asked Jeff what was good, not what was new.  It was OK. I would think it would be better at half the price.  I know E.H. Taylor is a bourbon brand, and I didn’t get any boozy flavors, but I really wouldn’t know one if I tripped over one.  It was a typical dry cocoa, San Andrés cigar. Nothing special. My notes say that the E.H. is for eh…

 

For obvious reasons (welcome Davidoff to the CigarCraig family! thanks for the support!), I feel the need to get back into some of their lines, such as Camacho and Avo. This week I revisited the Camacho Triple Maduro in the gordo size. This 6″ x 60 has a Honduran wrapper, Mexican binder, with a filler blend from Brazil, Honduras and the DR.  The website is a little out of date, it says it’s the only all maduro cigar, a category which now includes the Drew Estate Blackened.  Fun fact: Abe Dababneh, owner of Smoke Inn, coined the term Triple Maduro and licensed it to Christian Eiroa when he owned Camacho. Davidoff bought the brand and I want to say they paid Abe off. (Edit: Abe tells the whole story on the latest Prime Time show with Cigar-Coop, which I listed to a whole 24 hours after writing this post.) I remember smoking this a long time ago.  This was a really good cigar.  It’s heavy and rich, with a load of cocoa and some sweet earth.  I enjoyed this and will pick up some more.  

 

Finally, I was in yet another store nearby and picked up a couple of the RomaCraft Maestranzas Caballería Valencia (6 x 52).  These were very reasonably priced, around $10 I think.  This is a core line cigar that’s been out for a year or two and this is the first I’ve come across them in the wild (granted, I don’t get out much).  This is another San Andrés wrapper cigar, with a Brazilian binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua.  It’s made at the Nica Sueńo factory.  I’ve been a fan of the Nica Sueno output going back to 2011 or thereabouts. Fortunately the new ownership of the local CigarCigars stores brought in RomaCraft stuff, so I have a local source now.  I enjoyed this 6″ x 52 cigar quite a bit, although it didn’t have the intensity that I find in most of their stuff.  Again I got a dry cocoa predominantly. I’ll be grabbing more of these, as well as the Cromagnons, next visit.  

 

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

 

CigarCraig

 

 

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January 4, 2026 · 9:14 am

Davidoff, Rojas and San Lotano Cigars and the Giveaway Winner

Happy New Year!  Another year of writing stuff about cigars! I’m a few years away from the twentieth anniversary of CigarCraig.com, I’ll have to come up with something big to celebrate.  Speaking of celebrations, last Wednesday was New Years Eve, and I celebrated like I celebrate just about every evening, with a cigar on the porch!  Davidoff was kind enough to send a couple of the Year of the Horse cigars, their 2026 Limited Edition.  I know, the Chinese New Year isn’t until February, but I couldn’t wait to try this.  This is the first “Year of the” Davidoff I’ve ever smoked, they are way out of my price range.  Kudos and thanks to Law Ream and Jack Heyer for getting these out to those of us who choose to write stuff about cigars! The Davidoff ornament looked great on our tree. Anyway, I decided to close out what was not the greatest year for me with a great cigar (I hoped).  I have previously stated that I have a very limited range of experience with the Davidoff line overall, so I was hoping for the best. I believe this is the best Davidoff I’ve smoked to date.  There wasn’t a hint of horse at all in this cigar. This is a 6½” x 55 cigar with wrapper and binder from Ecuador and Dominican fillers. I have to assume the wrapper is a Habano varietal, it’s too dark to be a Connecticut Shade, and doesn’t taste like it either.  It had an interesting sweetness, with some nuttiness and what I think of as a lemon zing.  It was delicious, burned perfectly and was a great way to spend New Years Eve.  After that I watched hockey until I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. Great cigar, as it should be for $65.

 

Getting back to reality, I smoked a Rojas Street Tacos Al Pastor Gordo Friday, after treating myself to a Padron Damaso (not as good as I remember, but still tasty), and a Diamond Crown Black Diamond, one of my favorites. I chose the 6″ x 60 gordo, as Noel Rojas is the self proclaimed king of the small ring gauges, and it seems funny to me that he even makes a 60.  The Al Pastor has an Ecuador Habano wrapper over Nicaraguan fillers.  Like the Davidoff, which is in excess of six times the price, this burned perfectly.  I looked at a few other reviews, as Rojas doesn’t seem to have a working webpage, and one reviewer listed flavors of “earth and cedar”, “espresso, and white pepper” and “dark brown sugar and cream”.  I don’t get any of that.  I got some leather and baking spices.  I liked it, it was a good cigar, and well worth the price. I’ve enjoyed a lot of cigars from this factory, especially some of the Stolen Throne lines, and this was a good one.  I’m sure I’ve smoked the Carnitas and Barbacoas before, I needed to give this one a shot and I think it’s my favorite of the bunch.

 

Yesterday I dropped a few things off at Goodwill and stopped into JM’s Cigars in Exton PA. Unlike Rojas they have a website, however it hasn’t been updated in 12 years. It’s fine to have a static landing page, but delete the event from 2013 please!  This was the first shop I sent to in the mid-90s (apparently when the website was created) and it’s been a while since I stopped in. It really hasn’t changed much over the years (like the website).  I picked up a couple cigars that I hadn’t had before, one of which was the A.J. Fernandez San Lotano Requiem Habano in the “Churchill” size.  It’s probably closer to a Double Corona, as a Churchill is 7″ x 47, and this is 7″ x 54.  Actually, I don’t even think a Double Corona is 50 ring, but times change.  It’s a big cigar.  I think the last San Lotano I smoked was an Oval, and it’s been well over a decade. This has a Brazilian Habano wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers. It started out spicy, and had some nice coffee flavors. I liked this and I think it was around $10 so I call it a very good value. I may be overly concerned about the shops website.

 

It’s time to pick a winner for last week’s giveaway!  I haven’t even selected cigars yet, but I don’t think the winner will be disappointed. The random number generator spit out the number 4, which corresponds to Ron Hunt! To answer Ron’s question, While I purchase most of the cigars in the northeast, most should be available all over.  There are some brands that just seem to be regional,  All Saints comes to mind, but that’s a function of  the brand being small and maybe one or two people involved and they can’t get all over the country to support the sales.  Different shops in the same area will have a different mix too. I’ll try to include some cigars that may not be widely available in your package.  Ron is the host of  the All About Wine podcast. I had the good fortune of meeting him a few years back at the Tampa Heritage Festival, and I talk to him regularly. Send me your address Ron! 

 

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

 

CigarCraig

 

 

 

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July 27, 2025 · 9:05 am

My Father Blue, Diamond Crown Tampa and Davidoff Maduro

I smoked a few pricey cigars this week, outside my usual comfort zone. However this first one wasn’t one of those! I picked up a few of the new My Father Blue in toro and gordo, and smoked one in each size. This is from the company’s new Honduras factory and uses tobacco grown on their Honduran farm. It has a Connecticut rosado broadleaf wrapper, and Corojo and Criollo tobaccos from Honduras. My first impression was what a gorgeous cigar this was. The bands are beautiful, tying in the whole “Blue” thing, they really pop on the shelf. Blue was once considered the kiss of death on a cigar band, but now longer, this is a stunner. It starts with some spice, who’s surprised? The best food comparison I can make is rye bread (TY NK for putting that in my head). I smoked both the Toro Gordo and the Toro and they were superb, a real winner. I’ll be very interested in smoking more cigars from the Honduras factory, including whatever Tatuaje might do there.

 

I was fortunate that J.C. Newman shared some of their new Diamond Crown Tampa cigars with me, it’s hard to say when I’ll get back to Tampa, as these are exclusive to shops in the city.  I also have a hard time dropping $30 on a cigar.  This is a Diamond Crown with a little extra, which is the Florida Sun Grown tobacco grown at Jeff Borysiewicz’ farm in Clermont, Florida.  These are still made at Tabacalera Fuente, and still have an Connecticut Shade wrapper, although it looks darker to me than I’m used to.  It’s only available in a 6½” x 52 Toro. The guts are Dominican, except for the FSG ligero.  I was amazed at how good this cigar was, but I shouldn’t have been, I guess.  My first Diamond Crown cigar was back in 1998 and it, along with all it’s siblings, have been favorites ever since.  The new Diamond Crown bands are beautiful, and they added a large band on the body of the cigar that has Tampa imagery, El Reloj (not El Rehol, dammit Coop!), a rooster, Gaspar’s ship and other Tampa landmarks.  It’s my week for smoking beautiful cigars!  This was another bready cigar with the FSG spice which is unique.  I’m fortunate to have had the opportunity to try it, and recommend it, it’s a special treat.  

 

I could have smoked something more ridiculously expensive than this next cigar, but I’ll hold off on that one for a couple weeks. Once again, I was fortunate to receive a sampling of the newish Davidoff Maduro, and selected the 6″ x 54 Toro for my Friday evening smoke.  This has a chocolaty maduro wrapper from Ecuador, a Mexican binder and Dominican fillers.  A box will run you a little over a grand, make sure you get free shipping if you buy online!  If I ever have a box of these you’ll know I won the lottery. This was another pretty cigar, the bands are classic, in this case it’s the wrapper that catches the eye.  This cigar burned perfectly, razor straight with a perfect draw. It had some of the cocoa one expects, some spice, and that musty umami that I think Davidoff cigars usually have. This was stronger than I expected, it being a Davidoff and all, and I had to put it down sooner than I usually do (most cigars are finger burners for me). I had to take Zino’s advice and put it down around the band, which made me sad. My value brain saw me leaving $15 in the ashtray!  I inherited frugality from my late mother.  This was an impressive cigar anyway, and I very much appreciate Davidoff sharing these with me.  It was a special treat.  

 

We’ve been busy with the stresses that go with handling an estate, getting a house ready to sell, going through generations of  stuff, and trying to turn some of it into cash.  Cigars have been my therapy, hopefully it’ll be behind us soon. That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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December 27, 2020 · 10:06 am

Holiday Weekend Cigars and the Big Contest Winner!

I hope everyone had a nice holiday, it was another quiet one around here. We prepared a nice feast and delivered some food to Mom and our daughter’s family, remaining socially distant. I tend to smoke some good stuff around the holidays, and more times than not, my version of “good stuff” is classics. In t

his case I smoked an Ashton VSG Belicoso #1 on Christmas Eve. I’ve been nursing a box of these for a few years and they are extremely delicious. Every time I smoke one I am reminded of how much I like them and could smoke them all the time. I guess it’s why it’s a treat. Earlier in the day I had a Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve Robusto which was a generous gift from a  Secret Santa that I took part in this yea

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r. That’s another great cigar made by Drew Estate. I almost liken it to a highly refined Kentucky Fire Cured, as it does share some commonalities.

 

Christmas Day brought a little Davidoff  702 Series 2000 Corona between doing some cooking and waiting to leave on the aforementioned rounds. Another tasty cigar that had been in the humidor for some time. This is a 5 1/16” x 42 medium bodied cigar that was smooth and creamy. Oddly, Davidoff’s website lists smoking times for each vitola, and they list this one at 25 minutes. Perhaps th

ey are going by Zino Davidoff’s habit of only smoking half the cigar, because I smoked this for about an hour, and all of the smoking time they list are easily 30 minutes or so short. Later in the day I went with about Fuente favorite, the Arturo Fuente Añejo No. 50. This is another box I am rather miserly with. Originally the Añejo was born when a fire destroyed (or a hurricane?) the c

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uring barns where the Opus X wrappers were curing, ruining the crop, and they put Broadleaf wrappers on Opus bunches. I gotta tell ya, I’ll take an Añejo over an Opus any day of the week. It’s a delicious cigar, especially for desert. It’s sweet chocolate cake. Like the VSG, it’s tough to keep my hands out of the box. Last night I wrapped things up with a new classic, and a cigar that easily keeps up with the other great cigars I smoked this weekend, a Sobremesa Short Churchill. While it doesn’t have the Pedigree of the Fuentes or Davidoff, it certainly has the construction and flavor to compete. It was absolutely delicious and too short. It was a great cigar weekend, but aren’t they all!

 

Contest!

OK, Since you’ve probably already scrolled here, I’ll get to the point! Last week I had a giveaway for a whole bunch of great swag and cigars! Stuff from Montecristo, Drew Estate, Villiger and Foundation Cigar Co, and the Humidors of CigarCraig! I’ve consulted the Random Number Generator (Google has

one now, I don’t have to go to Random.org anymore), and between my randomization of the entries, and using the random number generator, it’s the digital equivalent of mixing slips of paper in a fishbowl. The selection process came up with Joseph as the winner! Please email me with your contact info and proof that you’re old enough. I hate to chase people and I tried to make it easy to email! I’ll see if I can come up with something else in the coming weeks! 

 

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

 

CigarCraig 

 

 

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December 15, 2019 · 10:08 am

New Undercrown Shade and Flor de Cesar Cigars and an Editorial

I have been looking forward to smoking the Drew Estate Undercrown Shade Suprema since it’s announcement last summer, and finall

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y had my chance this week. This large perfecto is 6″ x 50-54 and uses the same molds that the old Chateau Real Gran Cru Perfecto used. I smoked a bunch of the Chateau Reals in Maduro before they were discontinued in 2010 or thereabouts. I love the format, an I actually have a couple of the Chateau Real Maduros left from the box I bought in 2010, and a Connecticut as well. So I was looking forward to smoking the Shade in this size, and I really like the Undercrown Shade anyway. I’ll start out saying I think this is the best representation of the Undercrown Shade blend to date, in my opinion! It was slightly underfilled, which was which was OK, I just needed to slow my draw so as not to overheat it, after having a few overfilled cigars this week, I appreciated the effortless draw and the abundance of smoke! The smoke was rich and creamy and loaded with the flavors I expected from the cigar. It had me wondering if we might expect a limited edition of this shape in the Maduro and Sungrown versions of the Undercrown? What the heck, how cool would a Liga Privada be in this shape? Willy? Joe has my address, I’m between jobs, I have time to sample  😁.  The Undercrown Shade Suprema is a wonderful smoke!

 

Editorial

It was a funny week with lots of news! One interesting controversy that arose was the Avo Unexpected line being revealed to actually be the Avo core lines repackaged on Cigar Dojo’s Smoke Night Live. I’ll admit that the Smoke Night Live show hasn’t been on my podcast playlist until now, I have too many to possibly listen to as it is. But I had to listen to this one, and I w

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as rather surprised to hear four prominent members of the Davidoff team reveal this news. Important to the story is that these four cigars were positioned as limited releases with a higher price point, and then were revealed to be the exact same cigars as four of the regular production Avo line. This prompted a rather visceral response from some very prominent retailers, one with especially close ties to Avo Uvasian himself, prompting him to sell off said stock as cost. I have smoked a few Avo cigars, they are OK, not a huge fan but I don’t dislike them, and I don’t have any ties to Davidoff at all, other than the fact that they make some great cigars and have been nice to me a few times in the past. I don’t think that the marketing plan behind this was a good idea at all, and it ended up tarnishing a prestigious brand. In all honesty, the repercussions probably don’t reach the rank and file Avo c

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onsumer so much as the few retailers that bought in to the Limited Editions and felt like they got burned, and maybe lost sales on something else because they had basically eight boxes taking up the shelf space where it normally would be four. Someone thought it would be clever, someone went about it the wrong way, and someone should apologize to the retailers who feel betrayed. That’s my unsolicited two cents. 

 

Last week when I was at BnB Cigars in Chestnut Hill, PA (which is actually within the Philadelphia city limits), Vince there implored me to sample a few of their exclusive Flor de Cesar cigars, which I’ve enjoyed in the past. I managed to smoke the “lancero” last night, and I put  “lancero” in quotes because it’s actually 7″ x 42, so it’s not really a lancero technically. It’s actually a whole four ring gauges larger than a lancero, maybe it’s a super corona, or something. Call it what you will, if you put it next to a Gordo, it’s a lancero. The Flor de Cesar line is made by James Brown at Fabrica Oveja Negra, but, in my experience, it’s very different from other cigars I’ve smoked from that factory. First, I’ll say that this format, whatever you want to call it, was very comfortable to smoke. It didn’t need quite the babying that a 38 ring lancero needs, yet it still had that elegant feel. You know I think that small ring, wrapper to filler ration bullshit is poppycock, it all has to do with combustion, so the 42 ring strikes a nice balance for me, slow draws to not over heat and it’s a nice cool smoke. I loved the flavor. This had that rare flavor of spiced hard candy that I like, I gotta get a bag of grandma candy and figure out what exactly that is, bu

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t I love it and when I find it in a cigar I really dig it. I believe this was the 2019 Flor de Cesar Silver The Novin Lancero to be technically accurate, and it was delicious. I kinda want to try the Corona Gorda now! 

 

Well, that’s all for now, it’s coming up on Christmas all of the sudden. It’s occurring to me that I don’t have much in the vault for giveaways this year! There were a few years there were giveaways were going crazy this time of year, sadly no longer. I’ll see what I can do to put something together! Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

 

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