Tag Archives: davidoff

by CigarCraig | October 29, 2014 · 10:18 pm

A Quick Trip to New York City with Some Cigars and a Party

We had an exciting couple of days cigar-wise this week! After fighting with the cold that prevented me from enjoying much of anything for a few days, my wife and I took off Monday morning for the Big Apple, New York City. Of course, there are a lot of great cigar spots in the city. We took a walk toward one of my usual spots, De La Concha. Unfortunately, the shop is closed for renovations and will reopen sometime in the first quarter of 2015 as Davidoff of Geneva 6th Avenue. They had a temporary store across the street in a nonsmoking building so stopping in for a smoke wasn’t an option.

After wandering around some more, and checking in to our hotel on Times Square, we walked a few blocks down 42nd Street to the Nat Sherman Townhouse. Juan greeted us and showed me around, pointing out their cigarette selection, pipes, accessories and finally the humidor. Their humidor is nearly half filled with Nat Sherman cigars, and rounded out with an impressive selection from Padrons to Liga Privada. I noted some La Sirenas and Quesadas and many other great cigars you’d expect. I selected a Nat Sherman Epoca in the Breva corona size and sat down in a comfy leather chair. The shop is a gorgeous space, open to the second floor where the offices are. It’s beautiful. The staff is amazingly attentive and knowledgeable as well. The Epoca was a treat. It billowed sweet smoke and had a very unique exotic spice about mid way through. I rather regret only buying the one cigar to smoke, but I’ll try to find some in PA where pricing should be a little easier to take. It was an exceptional cigar. As we were getting ready to leave Michael Herklots stopped to say hello.

Monday evening we had the pleasure of attending a party at The Liberty Warehouse in Brooklyn to celebrate our friends Mitchell and Karyn Orchant’s birthdays, specifically Mitchell’s 50th. Mitchell and Karyn share the same birthday, however Karyn is much younger than her husband. The venue is amazing, overlooking the Statue of Liberty, and was lavishly decorated. There was loads of great food and a bar, and the entertainment for the evening was the Stan Rubin Orchestra, a 13 piece band playing all the big band classics. It was a beautiful evening so it wasn’t unpleasant to be outside, where there was seating and fire pits. There were loads of Mitchell’s US friends there, including many I knew from the cigar industry and the old Usenet days. Cigars were plentiful and welcome inside. I started with a Ramon Allones Specially Selected, and closed the evening with new Inka Secret Blend for the US market. This cigar was a 6″x 60 Peruvian puro. I’ve smoked the C-Gars Ltd. UK blends before and really liked them, and this version was also very good. I will revisit these in a couple of weeks, but this is a cigar to watch out for, and as soon as I know where these will be available I’ll let you know. I’m a sucker for cigars with Peruvian tobacco in the blend. It was wonderful to catch up with old friends. Mitchell really knows how to throw a party, it was quite a soiree. Thank you, again, to Mitchell and Karyn for a wonderful evening!

Tuesday we wandered around Manhattan and made our way to Martinez Cigars on 29th Street. This is a very small storefront where they are actively making the cigars. There were three men rolling, one pair and a gentleman that does his own bunching and wrapping. They have aging room in the basement where they age the cigars for six months after they are rolled. I bought a few of the cigars, and smoked a Flatiron No. 6 robusto. This cigar was terrifically constructed. It had some very interesting flavors that I’d characterize as “old school”, not unlike the Epoca from Nat Sherman. The burn was straight and even and it produced loads of smoke. If you find yourself in the city, stop in and have a smoke and watch the rollers practicing their art. We wandered back toward Times Square, where I believe you aren’t allowed to smoke, and got some dirty looks. Oh well, I was outside. If they were worried about the children seeing smoking, perhaps they should consider the paradox of Disney and Sesame Street characters wandering around along with patriotic women wearing nothing but a bikini bottom and body paint. Anyway, great cigars, great couple of days!

That’s it for now. I’ve managed to beat the cold for the most part, so I should get back to the normal program for Sunday’s post! Until then,

CigarCraig

3 Comments

Filed under Events, Trip Report

Tagged as c-gars ltd, cigar, cigars, davidoff, De La Concha, Martinez, Nat Sherman, new york city

by CigarCraig | July 28, 2013 · 10:14 am

IPCPR 2013 – Room 101 Cigars with Matt Booth

Today’s IPCPR video features our visit with none other than Room 101‘s own Matt Booth. I still find it to be quite a contrast that Matt is in the Davidoff booth, but Davidoff has done a wonderful job diversifying their portfolio with the addition of the newly re-branded Camacho, Room 101 and Cusano. They seem to have all the bases covered as far as tastes and price ranges go. Room 101 falls in the middle of the pack in both price and flavor profile. I smoked a Room 101 San Andreas 808, the 6″x60 size, the other night and enjoyed the heck out of it, although I prefer the 305 (robusto) or the Papi Chulo sizes myself. When I bought this it was the only size the shop has in the San Andreas, which was disappointing. Of course, I like just about anything with the words San and Andreas together anyway, so this is a no brainer for me. It’s a rich, satisfying smoke that just about kicked my butt a little! Matt makes a lot of very enjoyable smokes, including the Namakubi Ecuador that was released over the last year, and Smoke Inn‘s Microblend Series Big Delicious (which was!). Enough of my nonsense, check out the video and see what Matt has to say.

Anytime I talk to Matt it’s an adventure, and always entertaining and informative. Many thanks to Matt for letting me drag him out of the Davidoff party bus they had parked in the booth to get this video.

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

CigarCraig

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Filed under IPCPR, Review, Video

Tagged as Camacho, cigar, cigars, davidoff, IPCPR, Matt Booth, Room 101

by CigarCraig | May 16, 2012 · 6:09 pm

Three Cigars: An E Doble, a Casa de Ortez and an Avo LE12

Sunday afternoon was beautiful, and after over-indulging at a Mother’s Day brunch with my family, I sat down with a E Doble robusto courtesy of the folks at Smoke Inn. This reasonably priced robusto is made by Eric Espinosa of EO Brands fame exclusively for Smoke Inn. The cigar is a nice looking 5″ x 50 Nicaraguan puro, and starts out nice and spicy. I enjoyed it quite a bit, at under $4 each it isn’t a bad buy. I think if I were presented with a choice of this cigar or something else in the same price range, this one would be a satisfying choice. It was strong without being too strong and well made. It was a very nice cigar, I look forward to smoking another one.

I was feeling adventurous again Monday evening and came across a pair of Casa de Ortez robustos from the Altadis booth at last year’s IPCPR show. There was one with a Connecticut wrapper and one with a Ecuador Cubano wrapper, both of which looked very much alike. I chose the Connecticut, as that’s what I was in the mood for, and headed to the front porch. I really enjoyed this cigar. It burned well and had a pleasing flavor. I suspect it’s mixed filler, though, as I was constantly picking little tobacco bits out of my mouth. I did some research after smoking this and was surprised to find these sold in bundles for ridiculously low prices (in the under $25 range!). Certainly better than many bundled “sandwich” cigars in that price range and one that I’d smoke again. I’m now looking forward to trying the other wrapper.

Tuesday I felt like going in the completely opposite direction of the Casa de Ortez. I had been given an Avo LE12 La Trompeta by Tom Smith, our local Davidoff rep a few weeks ago and had been looking forward to smoking it. If I’ve smoked an Avo before, it’s been a very long time, and it wouldn’t have been one of his special annual releases like this one. This cigar was made to celebrate Avo’s 86th birthday, and is a pyramid shape with a lovely Habano wrapper adorned with three dots punched from Connecticut shade leaf to represent the valves on a trumpet. It’s a really cool presentation and it’s not an inexpensive cigar. It was OK. It didn’t burn particularly well, and, to my tastes, was really nothing spectacular. Perhaps my expectations were too high, or, more likely, it just wasn’t suited to my tastes, but I was disappointed by it. I certainly am glad that I had the opportunity to smoke this cigar. It relieves me of any desire to run out and spend a lot of money on these in the future. I has a similar experience with the Perdomo Champagne, I was expecting to be “wow’d” and wasn’t. This is why there are so many different cigars!. Just because I didn’t like the cigar doesn’t mean someone else won’t think it’s fantastic. The burn issues I had could easily be attributed to the damp, rainy evening.

What does that say about my tastes? Two budget cigars that I enjoyed more than a super premium? I admit, there are a ton of very reasonably priced cigars that I enjoy quite a bit, but there are plenty premium priced cigars that I love, I just don’t love them very often! I’m also a cheap bastard, I would sooner buy five National Brand Maduro robustos with the $10 it would cost to buy many super premium cigars. I think I’ll go find something to smoke now, should I get something cheap and reliable or find a rare, pricey cigar and risk disappointment?

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

5 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as altadis, Avo, Casa de Ortez, cigar, cigars, connecticut, davidoff, Eric Espinosa, IPCPR, Smoke Inn

by CigarCraig | April 1, 2012 · 9:51 am

Room 101 Cigars Event at Old Havana Cigar Co.

Friday evening Matt Booth from Room 101 was making an appearance at a local shop, Old Havana Cigar Co. in West Chester, PA. I frequently attend events there and it’s always really busy, Friday being no exception. I purchased a handful of singles and lit up a Room 101 ‘305’, which is the robusto in the line. I enjoyed the cigar, probably not surprising since I’ve long been a fan of Camacho cigars. I had the great pleasure of talking to Tom Smith, the Davidoff representative, who doesn’t like bloggers. I can see his point, which is that particularly popular bloggers can cause damage to a brand or shop by giving a bad review. I suspect that the number of cigar smokers who are influenced by blogs is reasonably small, as I haven’t run into too many people hanging around in cigar stores that use the Internet for any kind of cigar stuff, be it forums, blogs or whatever. Certainly we need to be responsible and not pretend we are experts and tell people what they may or may not like. The 305 was a really nice cigar, very Honduran and perfectly made.

I followed the 305 with a Namakubi Papi Chulo (is it a coincidence that “Papi Chulo” and “petite corona” share the same initials?). This is a nice little 4″ x 42 with a reddish Habano wrapper. It took a little work getting it to light right, but ended up being packed with flavor and smoking very nicely. I was going to leave after the 305, but I got to talking to a gentleman who came in and was lighting up a Papi Chulo, so I decided to join him. He was an interesting gentleman, he had taken the opportunity in college to study abroad in Havana, which was interesting. He had a sincere interest in cigars and was really refreshing to talk to. The Papi Chulo was terrific, but short, so I was soon done and decided to head home. I took a few minutes to talk to Matt on my way out. If you have a chance to meet him, take it, because he’s a nut, but one of the nicest nuts out there. We had a little back and forth on zipper up vs. zipper down (on my jacket, what were you thinking?), all I can say is: Matt, you worry about your CDO, I’ll worry about mine, K?. Very cool guy. Also cool was Tom Smith of Davidoff, even though he hates bloggers. A wealth of information on all things cigar. I appreciate the chance to meet and hang out with both of these gents.

Summary: Room 101 cigars good, although priced a little higher than I’m comfortable with. Sometimes one has to factor in the overall experience and it makes it worthwhile. On a side note, I got to thinking about petite coronas vs. larger cigars. Certainly petite coronas offer a different, often more flavorful smoke, and when it comes to variety, you can smoke several vastly different small cigars in the time it takes to smoke one large one. However, this is a tough sell for me when the price is close: do I pay $5 or$6 for a PC, or $6 or $7 for a Churchill? I usually choose cigars based upon the time I have to smoke them, so this isn’t generally something I worry about. Another little item rattling around in my head: I was once told that it costs nearly as much to make a small cigar as it does to make a big one. Manufacturers can’t price the coronas and PCs that close to the larger vitolas, so you are actually getting a good deal on the smaller cigars, as the larger cigar sales basically subsidize the smaller ones. Not really relevant to anything, just something that comes up in my head from time to time…

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

CigarCraig

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Filed under Editorial, Events, Review

Tagged as Camacho, cigar, cigar store, cigars, davidoff, Matt Booth, Namakubi, Room 101

by CigarCraig | January 11, 2012 · 7:41 pm

A Few Short Smokes: Chateau Real, American Eagles and a Griffin’s

I dipped into the little guys for the early part of the week. Â It’s been cold, and time has been limited. Â I usually save up the little cigars for this time of year, coronas, half coronas, short 30 or 45 minute cigars that taste good, and are perfect for a quick mile or so walk around the neighborhood.

I began the week with a favorite, the Chateau Real Small Club Corona Maduro. Â I believe these are discontinued, which is a shame, because I really like the Mexican maduro wrapper on these. As with everything from Drew Estate, they always burn well, and, let’s face it, a four inch cigar doesn’t have a lot of room for error. Â I bought a box of these sometime in the fall of 2009, and just dug into the last half of the box. Â Nice little smokes!

Last night I grabbed an American Eagles Half Corona, which I received a few months back from Chris at Sardell Imports. Â This is a camouflage wrapped cigar, it had a beautiful Connecticut shade wrapper that’s overlaid with maduro and candella pieces to give it the camo look. Â Sure, it’s gimmicky, but it’s a really solid cigar, perfect burn and draw, and a rich mid to medium bodied flavor that is really nice, smooth, creamy and delicious. It a fun cigar, quite tasty and well behaved. I have a whole comedy routine ready for the day I smoke one in a public place and someone complains about it. Seriously, a Â portion of the proceeds from these cigars go toward the Semper Fi Fund, and they are blended by Hendrick Kelner, so they are very high quality. I side note, there was a cigar shop in the hotel I stayed at in the Dominican Republic that sold these.

This evening I decided to break into one of the boxes of Griffin’s 500 coronas that I inadvertently won on a face book contest. I swear, I have no recollection of entering, although I must have because a beautiful Griffin’s Humidor and two boxes of these beauties showed up at my door last month. Â I can always use more humidor space, and these cigars are nice. Â These 5 1/16″ x 42 coronas are a classic Connecticut shade cigar. Mild, but no shortage of flavor. Of course, the construction was perfect, as these come from the house of Davidoff. Â I honestly have never had a Griffin’s before, always priced outside of my comfort zone. Â This will be a great cigar for that first balmy Saturday morning on the deck with coffee.