It was another weird week for me at the day job, but that’s another story.  I also finally smoked some of the Aganorsa Connoisseur Club Over-runs from 2021 that Trash Panda had that had finally dried out enough to smoke, and they were really quite good, but, sadly, are now sold out, so  I’m not even going to mention them. It amazed me that it took three full weeks outside of the humidor for them to dry out. you could almost wring them out when you took them out of the “freshpack” they were so wet.  Very good though, and I’m hit or miss on Aganorsa cigars.  Anyway, enough about something that doesn’t exist, before I move on to cigars that do, there’s a little Pennsylvania legislative news that I’d like to touch on.  Recently the industry groups like PCA and CRA have sent their members emails to contact legislators about a bill regarding indoor smoking that would close certain loopholes.  The last bill left exemptions for certain situations. Apparently, in their great wisdom, they have decided to exempt cigar stores, lounges and cigar bars from this round of prohibition, which I suppose is a win.  I don’t know that private clubs fares as well, which confuses me, as the are, uh….private? Anyway, keep on your legislators whenever these things come up, they have a responsibility to at least listen to you. 

I have a co-worker who enjoys cigars, and I give him a few here and there.  I was surprised when he handed me a cigar, because that not usually the way it works!  I was even more surprised when it was something I hadn’t heard of, as was he.  The cigar was called Aragón, and is a collaboration between three gentlemen (the “about” page is lacking in details), Carlos Abreu, Gregg Zahour (my co-worker’s connection), and Seth Joyner (some sort of football player or something like that). I smoked the Toro San Andrés, a 6″ x 52 cigar with a San Andrés wrapper and what they describe as a Dominican with a Special Blend of exotic tobacco for both the binder and the filler. I believe these are made in the Dominican Republic.  This was a nice cigar, although it started out on the sharp side, but mellowed slightly.  It retained some spice and earth throughout, whatever that “exotic” tobacco was, it was noticeable, almost reminded me of perique. It was a very interesting cigar, and these aren’t priced outrageously like a lot of small companies almost have to be. $11 a cigar really isn’t out of line for what is probably a pretty small production.  Nice work, I need to do some more research on this as there’s a few local connections.

Friday was a physically taxing day, and I just wanted to relax when I got home. I should have dragged my ass a mile down the road to Cigar Mojo to hang out with Micky Pegg again, but my comfy chair and a Muestra de Saka Krakatoa called to me. Parking is a bitch over there on Friday nights and it’s not a great walk, not that I was up to it. Sorry, Micky, I’m a slug.  Anyway, I settled in with the Krakatoa, the 6th cigar in the Muestra series. This is a 6″ x 48 with a cool pigtail cap.  Saka calls it a “unique “volcano” spiral colita”, kind of pretentious, don’t ya think?  It’s too pretty to cut off, though, but it must be done. This cigar was just what I needed after the day I had, it was perfection. It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper,  a Sungrown Nicaraguan binder, and a blend of Nicaraguan Grown Broadleaf, Cuban Seed Criollo and a potent Corojo ligero in the filler.  It’s great.  Expect to see this, whatever your feelings on the matter, place highly on the Halfwheel Consensus, along with the Papa Saka and Red Meat Lovers, for two reasons. They are great cigars, and Saka time his media sample kits to encourage their inclusion.  He knows what he’s doing.  There’s a sweet spice at work throughout the cigar, with a hint of sugar cane near the end.  This cigar made me happy, I’d probably even drop $18 on one. Maybe my favorite MdS to date.  

Finally, a few weeks back while visiting the aforementioned Cigar Mojo location, I picked up an Ozgener Family Cigars Aramas A52.  I had planned to smoke this earlier, but stuff came up and it got back-burnered.  Last night I got to it.  For those unaware, Ozgener is Tim Ozgener, son of  Cano A. Ozgener, who founded CAO.  Tim was running CAO when it sold, and took a decade off to pursue some other entrepreneurial interests. This Aramas is his second line in the Oz family series, after the Bosphorus, and is made at the Alianza factory under the supervision of Ernesto Carillo. I’ve always liked Ernesto’s stuff.  This is another San Andrés wrapped cigar, with a Ecuador Sumatra binder and Dominican, Nicaraguan and Connecticut Broadleaf fillers. Hat tip to Developing Palates for the details, the Ozgener website is under construction. Minor criticism: it’s been over a year since Oz family launched and a functional website can be put together in a few hours?  Remind me what year it is? Anyway, The cigar was great, lots of chocolaty, coffee flavors as one might expect. There was a hint of a licorice sort of flavor near the end that amused me. The draw was a bit snug, I might have liked it to have been a little more free with the smoke, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable smoke. 

That’s all for today. I hope everyone who celebrates has a good Thanksgiving. Enjoy some great smokes after the gluttony, I know I will.  Until the next time, 

CigarCraig