Tag Archives: Emilio

by | March 4, 2015 · 10:54 pm

A Mia Dora, a CAO Cigar, a Psyko Seven, a Epicurean, a Jingle and Conan in Cuba

Emilio_Mia Dora_RobustoI received a nice bunch of cigars from Gary Griffith of The House of Emilio this week which included some new coronas from some of the great companies in their stable, as well as a couple of the Emilio Mia Dora robustos. I had one I picked up at an event a few months back that I had been waiting for the right time to smoke and figured now tat I had a couple more, the moment was Sunday.   This cigar is a 5″ x 50 robusto with a Habano wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and filler.  The cigar is a tribute to Gary’s fiancé, Dora.  The cigar smoked very well, producing copious amounts of smoke and a savory flavor. Much like Gary’s Draig line, there is a distictive charred meat flavor to my palate.  I look forward to sampling this cigar again.

 

CAO_Area9_VT6Monday I grabbed another cigar from the CAO Area 9 collection, the VT6. This collection of six cigars are all from the original CAO lines which have been in storage for anywhere from five to twenty years, and could be anything CAO made during that time period. I know I had smoked this cigar before, and have a feeling it may have been a Gold Vintage. I was a slightly box pressed toro with what looked to me like a darker Ecuador Connecticut wrapper, and had a sourness that I don’t particularly appreciate in a cigar.  It burned reasonable well, and was certainly well aged.  This is a fun sampler, the only cigar that one can identify by appearance alone looks to be a CAO America, which I don’t think I’ve ever smoked.  I grab one every now and then when I am feeling experimental.

 

PsykoSeven_RobustoTuesday I selected a cigar I’ve wanted to revisit since I first smoked it over a year ago when I sat in on the Cigar Authority show. I only got to smoke about half the cigar during the show, and I wanted to finish it, but the second half got cleaned up in the aftermath of the show.  I came by one at the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival and was very happy. This robusto is a generous 5½ x 50, and features a primary band that covers the majority of the cigar, which a secondary normal band underneath so you don’t forget what you are smoking. The cigar is buttery smooth, and has a very pleasing mellow flavor. I really enjoyed the heck out of this milder cigar, it’s got a Dominican Hybrid wrapper, Mexican Sumatra binder and multi-country blend in the filler.  There seem to be some terrific cigars coming from Ventura Cigars, and I think this is one of them.

 

Epicurean_Carnavale_Petete CoronaTonight I dipped into the cigars from Gary Griffith and selected a petite corona from Steve Ysidron’s Epicurean Carnavale line. I was looking for a fairly quick smoke, and this seemed to be the smallest of the selection.  This cigar is listed in several outlets, both media and retail, as 5½” x 48, and is most definitely not, even with the box press, it’s a 40 ring gauge if anything.  It is a really comfortable and elegant size, much like a short lancero. There can be no mistake that this was the petite corona as it said so on the barcode sticker. this cigar was probably my favorite of the week so far, and the Psyko Seven set the bar pretty high. It had a nice sweetness that was a nice digestif to the Fish and Chips dinner I had at a nearby brewhouse. The burn and draw were perfect and is smoked longer than I anticipated, as evidenced by the late hour this edition will be posting. I can’t think of an Epicurean Cigar that I didn’t really like, and this is the best of the bunch.

 

Today my wife presented me with a jingle she had made for me through a site called Fiverr, and I think her $5 was money well spent. Here it is with a video visualization.

 

httpv://youtu.be/P6HYezkmeto

Tonight on TBS is Conan O’Brien’s Cuba show which could be quite interesting.  Conan is a laugh riot, and I try to stay awake late enough to watch the show. I have the DVR set just in case. I thought it was funny when the show’s twitter account followed me today (@TeamCoco), then I received an e-mail with a list of links to the show segments in my e-mail. I guess it’s pretty cool that they sought out my site, it shows that my Google ranking isn’t too awfully bad, I guess! If you miss it tonight, here’s the list of links they sent:

“Conan In Cuba” Open

http://teamcoco.com/video/conan-in-cuba-open

CONAN Highlight: Watch the first four minutes of Conan O’Brien’s one-man mission to meet the Cuban people and make some friends.  (live now. Worldwide)

More from tonight’s show (TBS 11/10c) – live 5:30 am ET:

Conan Joins A Cuban Salsa Band

https://teamcoco.com/node/88071

Conan learns the importance of the Cuban clave beat and wows the band with his 8th grade Spanish skills. (live 5:30am ET. Worldwide)

Conan Takes A Cuban Spanish Lesson

https://teamcoco.com/node/88072

Thanks to Maestra Yolanda, Conan masters the Spanish tongue twister about three sad tigers. (live 5:30am ET. Worldwide)

Conan Visits The Havana Club Rum Museum

https://teamcoco.com/node/88073

Conan learns the rich history of Cuban rum before tasting a flight of Havana Club’s best with his guide Gretel. (live 5:30am ET. Worldwide)

Conan Learns To Dance Cuban Rumba

https://teamcoco.com/node/88074

Dancing is a huge part of Cuban culture, inspiring Conan to take an intensive lesson to master the erotic rumba. (live5:30am ET. Worldwide)

Conan Visits Havana’s El Malecón

https://teamcoco.com/node/88075

Conan makes friends with Cuban youth on the famous waterfront promenade, and picks up a few bad habits… (live5:30am ET. Worldwide)

Conan’s Havana Rooftop Sunset

https://teamcoco.com/node/88076

Conan admires Central Havana at the end of the day, and imagines how CNN would report on it. (live 5:30am ET. Worldwide)

Conan Visits A Cuban Cigar Factory

https://teamcoco.com/node/88077

Conan tries his hand at rolling La Corona cigars, but unfortunately his stogies just don’t measure up. (live 5:30am ET. Worldwide)

Conan Dines At A Cuban Paladar

https://teamcoco.com/node/88078

Conan enjoys authentic Cuban cuisine at a paladar, a family-run restaurant located in a private home. (live 5:30am ET. Worldwide)

Conan Says Goodbye To Cuba

https://teamcoco.com/node/88092

Conan recounts the wonderful time he had in Cuba and the amazing people he met. (live 5:30am ET. Worldwide)

That’s more than enough for now. I was going to tell a story about my first major cigar herf experience, but I’ll save that for another post.

 

Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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by | December 3, 2014 · 8:43 pm

Tortuga, Evil Genius White Chapel, Debonaire and Nomad Cigars

We are settling in to the new house, and with the rain over the last few evenings I’ve really been diggin the large screened in porch! Since I’ve been trying to get projects done I’ve smoked some small cigars and have been using my new AshStay ashtray from ashstayAshstay.com.  I mentioned this last week and thought it was really cool, although there’s no way I’ll be running it through the dishwasher (it’s dishwasher safe!).  I like that I can close it up when I’m done and empty it after the cigars are out and it doesn’t stink or anything! It’s a little lighter than I thought it would be, but I don’t anticipate it getting blown around the enclosed porch. It’s a simple and elegant solution!

 

Tortuga_Reserva215_RegaloSunday after painting the office/den I took a walk with a Tortuga Reserva 215 Regalo, which is at this point unreleased.  I probably shouldn’t talk about it too much, but someone will have a chance to get their hands on these in the coming weeks, so I figured I’d build some hype.  The cigar is a chubby toro, 6″ x 54, and comes wrapped in a cedar sleeve with a green ribbon on the foot.  The wrapper is a beautiful Ecuador Connecticut shade and I assume that the rest of the cigar is Nicaraguan.  I really enjoyed the smooth and creamy texture of this cigar that isn’t a mild shade wrapped cigar. It’s loaded with medium bodied flavor.  It’s hard for me to find a Tortuga that I don’t love, and this is another fine example.  A perfectly made, perfectly satisfying smoke that was a nice treat at the end of a long and busy weekend.

 

EvilGenius_WhiteChapel_3,5x50Monday it was raining, so before staring on my baseboard project in the den, I selected a little 3½ x 42 half corona from the Evil Genius Cigars White Chapel line.  I got a couple of the Evil Genius robustos from brand owner Alex Hirsch (a fellow Pennsylvanian) at Goose’s Smokin’ Goose fest and hadn’t quite found the time to do them justice, so When I saw Alex last week at the Wooden Indian he gave me this little half corona.  These cigars are made at the La Aurora factory, and you would think the White would be the milder cigar. Wrong!  This is a potent little powerhouse with enough pepper in the retrohale (I don’t like that term, but I don’t know what else to call passing the smoke through the nose) to almost make me sneeze!  I’m very much looking forward to digging out the robustos and smoking them. This is a very nice cigar and Alex is slowly getting these out in the market, so keep an eye out.  Definately a tasty little 45 minute smoke!

 

Debonaire_First DegreeTuesday was more of the same, rain and a project, so I took another little cigar I’ve been holding on to out on the porch.  Phil Zanghi originally started the Indian Tabac line in the ’90s, went into partnership with Rocky Patel, who eventually bought Phil out. Phil has kept himself busy in the machine made cigar market, but a couple years ago he launched the ultra premium Debonaire line of cigars.  The Debonaire First Degree is a tasty little 4″ x 44 perfecto with Central American and Dominican tobaccos that burns perfect and has a nice, savory flavor.  This was another 45 minute smoke that was satisfying.  This sample came from the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival.  I have smoked a few of the Debonaire line, and found them to be excellent cigars.  You can hear about these pretty regularly on the Stogie Geeks and Cigar Authority podcasts.

 

Nomad_S-307_RobustoTonight I got a bit of a walk in with a Nomad S-307 Robusto that I bought last week at The Wooden Indian when I was there for the House of Emilio event.  These are made in Nicaragua at the AJ Fernandez factory and are Nomad’s first regular production Nicaraguan cigar. The wrapper is a nice, dark brown Ecuador Sumatra with a Ecuador Habano binder and Nicaraguan fillers.  The box press is very comfortable and it took a V cut very nicely.  This has the kind of burn I love, flat and even, and the draw was perfect. It was bold, but not overpowering, and had a nice peppery sweetness.  To get you warmed up for CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways, Fred Rewey is having his own contest, The Nine Days of Nomad going on right now.  Click HERE to enter.

 

As long as you are warming up for CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways, here’s a non-cigar contest you can enter.  Rebeat Magazine is giving away six books that are perfect for any Beatles fan!  I happen to know most of the authors and these are excellent books. Click on over and enter their contest!

 

Also, click on the Famous Smoke Shop banner on the left and use the promo code “CRAIG15” to get 15% off a $50 or greater purchase! That’s it for now, I need to go try to get some insulation hung before bed!  Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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by | November 23, 2014 · 8:41 am

Crux Cigars and a House of Emilio Event at The Wooden Indian

Crux_NinfamaniacDarkFriday night’s smoke was an interesting one. Back in August I picked up an interesting cigar, the Crux Ninfamaniac Dark.  This is a cool 7″ x 33 cigar is based on an old Cuban size, the Ninfa. The difference is that the Cuban Ninfa size is a parejo, and this Ninfamaniac is tapered on both ends. It’s a really nice looking cigar and it’s priced pretty reasonably, about $6.  I should have picked up the lighter wrapped version as well, the difference being that the dark version has a sungrown Habano wrapper grown in Jalapa, while the lighter one might be shade grown (I’m assuming based upon the description on their website, listing one as “Habano Jalapa” and one as “Habano Sungrown Jalapa”. Having not visited Jalapa, I can’t say if the grow shade grown wrapper or not).  This cigar is fun to smoke. It’s got a great flavor, rich, chewy, really nice. It burned very well and had a burn time similar to that of a Robusto sized cigar.  An added benefit is that it’s easy to manage with gloves on, which is an important thing when it’s flippin’ cold out!  I can see keeping some of these around, they don’t take up a lot of space!  Based on this cigar, I look forward to trying their other offerings, for a new company it seems like they’re doing things right.

 

imageSaturday I went down to Havertown, PA to the Wooden Indian for a House of Emilio event.  The owner of the shop’s son, Alex, recently became the northeast area rep for Emilio, and Gary Griffith was also on hand. I haven’t seen Gary in quite a while, which is a shame because he doesn’t live far away, but I’ve been missing his Delaware Cigar Festival for he last couple years and we just haven’t crossed paths.  They did something a little interesting that I imagethought was pretty neat. They had made samplers up of cigars from five of the House of Emilio brands, in mild, medium and strong categories. I picked up one of the medium samplers, which included a 1502 Nicaragua, a Nomad S-307, an Emilio Mia Dora, a 1502 Ruby and an Ezra Zion FHK. For $28 this was a really nice selection.  I also picked up a 1502 Black Gold Toro and an Ezra Zion Tantrum PA.  I promptly lit up the 1502 Nicaragua and proceeded to catch up with Alex and Gary.  I also was hanging out with a couple of Social Media celebrities from the north Joisey area, Matty Rock and Peter Totaro, who stopped in for the imageevent (and went on to visit the cheese steak shops in Philly, much to the delight of the local economy! Imagine turning these two loose in the Reading Terminal Market!).  Also in attendance was Alex Hirsh, of Evil Genius Cigars. The 1502 Nicaragua is a fine cigar, certainly medium and well balanced. I think I prefer the Ruby and Black Gold lines, but this was certainly a great cigar.  I followed that up with the Ezra imageZion Tantrum PA, with is a longer version of the Tantrum, measuring 6½ x 44.  Once again, this was a very good smoke.  I think the added length tempers the blend a little as the Tantrum was a very strong cigar.  Full of hearty flavor and it burned perfectly, although I dropped an ash on the way to the ashtray. The shop had a lot of traffic, which is probably pretty normal for a cold Saturday afternoon.  Dave Mayer had a lot of interesting and hard to find cigars in his shop, including some of the original Ezra Zion Inceptions, and some hard to find Liga Privada Unicos.  As always, it was a great event, if you find your self in the Philadelphia area, The Wooden Indian has to be a shop to visit.

 

Nomad_C-276_RobustoWhen I got home I took a walk with the dog and a Nomad C-295 robusto. This is a nice, box pressed robusto that is made at the AJ Fernandez factory in Esteli. The blend has five filler tobaccos, including some from Ometepe, for which the cigar is named in a rather roundabout way.  In Fred Rewey’s own words: “The name C-276 also has a back story. The “C” is for Concepción, one of two volcanoes on Ometepe Island. “276″ is the square kilometers of the island.”  I’ve really enjoyed this cigar in the past, it’s loaded with dark, lush flavors, just like a strong espresso, which is a profile I enjoy. This is probably better if you haven’t already had two cigars over the course of the day, but it has the horsepower to cut through and deliver a satisfying smoking experience. On a side note, I’m hooked on the ScrewPop Punch 2.0, as I have been using it exclusively. It makes a clean punch like a hot knife through butter. By the way, I finally got in touch with Jeff K, and his ScrewPop Punch (and maybe something to test it out on) will go out in tomorrow’s mail. Back to the Nomad, it’s a darned tasty smoke, worth a try.

 

That’s it for today, back to the new house to do some work so we can get moved in next week. Also, the 12DoSCG humidor is almost filled to capacity! It’s going to be a pretty amazing couple weeks, folks! I just have to get to taking some pictures and getting the posts ready to go. Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

 

 

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by | May 18, 2014 · 5:27 pm

Lancero Weekend! Herrera Esteli and 1502 Cigars

I decided this weekend would be Lancero weekend, as I recently accumulated several samples in that format.  This is a size that everyone seems to want, but retailers say it doesn’t sell, so manufacturers don’t want to make a bunch. I guess that’s why they are usually released as special or limited editions. I like the size, and I have a bunch of them in the humidors. It’s an elegant size, and I really haven’t had the burn problems that they used to have years ago.

 

Herrera Esteli_LanceroELFriday evening I picked the new lancero from Drew Estate, the Herrera Esteli.  This one was a little shorter than the traditional 7½” x 38 size, I want to say it was around 6¾” which is fine. I really like this line, and Willy Herrera was just promoted to head blender at Drew Estate, which is well deserved. Some of the best Herrera Estelis I’ve had were first thing in the morning at the Drew Estate factory, and the lonsdale was my favorite of the bunch. The line has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, Honduran binder and Nicaraguan fillers. Will spent a year working on this and really did a great job. I think the lancero just replaced the lonsdale as my favorite. It was really nicely balanced, loaded with flavor and just really good.  Thank you to John Brooke for sending this. It’s a dynamite smoke.

 

 
1502_Ruby_LanceroSaturday I decided to try tackling the new box pressed lanceros in the 1502 Cigars line. These were included in with a bunch of goodies the Gary Griffith of The House Of Emilio sent me recently. I really love the 1502 line, the Black Gold being my favorite,  but all three are exceptional.  I started with the Ruby,  which has an Ecuador Habano wrapper. The Ruby falls in the middle of the strength range of the line, and I decided to start with that as opposed to the Emerald since it was after lunch and I wasn’t ready for a milder cigar. This is a flavorful smoke that burned very well. When you light your first 1502 you find that the foot has the wrapper leaf folded over the end. It’s not fully enclosing the foot, but just framing the filler tobacco. This gives you a little extra blast of wrapper flavor upon lighting. This is a really great cigar that’s loaded with rich flavor.

 

1502_BlackGold_LanceroIt was such a nice afternoon and I was not quite through sitting outside when I finished the Ruby, so I decided to light up the 1502 Black Gold Box Pressed Lancero.  Like the others, this is a 7″ x 38 box pressed cigar with the partially wrapped foot.  It lit easily and smoked well. It’s a little bolder than the Ruby, and has the signature flavor of the Mexican San Andrés wrapper. It followed the Ruby nicely, making a natural strength progression from medium to strong. I liken this cigar to semisweet chocolate with a little jalapeño pepper in it, which I don;t get to enjoy frequently enough!  I was left with a feeling of satisfaction after finishing this, it was my last cigar of the day.  One complaint I had was that the ash fell on it’s own, twice falling into my lap. It’s quite fortunate I was wearing pants at the time.

 

1502_Emerald_LanceroToday, after spending the early part of the day doing yard work, which partially consisted of disassembling a large brick patio, I decided to finish the trifecta of 1502 cigars with the Emerald. This is considered the mildest of the three, but it’s not that mild a cigar. Enrique, the creator of the 1502 line, calls this Fina Fuerte ,  or Fine Strong. This is listed as a 7″ x 40, but I can’t say I noticed a difference, nor did I look for one.  I may have enjoyed this the most out of the three in this vitola, where as in the toro size I like the Black Gold the best, and the Emerald a close third.  There was a nice hint of sweetness, and it held an ash a bit better than it’s siblings (it got a little chilly, so, again, I was wearing pants).  Again, Enrique killed it with the lancero format!  These are brilliant cigars, if you like lanceros, and you like cigars, you should like these. Thanks to Gary for sharing these with me and helping make my Lancero Weekend a success.  While I enjoy lanceros, I wouldn’t want to smoke them all the time. I enjoy the smoother, rounder flavors that I get from a larger ring cigar.

 

I am still working on that contest, I’ll try to have something together this week. I’ve been lazy about scouring the  humidors for cigars to include. I probably have enough set aside, but sometimes enough isn’t enough, know what I mean?  Don’t forget about the FDA nonsense, if you haven’t left your comment, click on the blinky CRA graphic in the top right of the sidebar and make your feelings known in an educated and reasoned manner.  Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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by | May 14, 2014 · 8:42 pm

JdN Quatro Cinco, Casa Fernandez Miami Reserva and the Nomad Connecticut Fuerte

I’m going to lead off with the usual reminder to head on over to  http://cigarrights.org/fda-response.php  and make sure you make an educated comment on the FDA deeming document. This is scary stuff, folks. Nuff said.  I also wanted to make a bit of a policy statement.  Rest assured that when I receive products they are either for evaluation or for contest prizes. At no time will I ever sell, raffle, or otherwise profit from any items I receive from vendors or manufacturers.  I feel that the purpose of these items being in my possession is for the promotion of said products. If you’ve been reading long, you’ve seen me pass along my good fortune more times than not.  Stay tuned for a contest coming soon, it’s been a while since I had one and I have some cigars I want to share.  Enough ranting for now, lets talk cigars!

 

JDN_QuatroCincoSunday I decided to celebrate Mother’s Day with my last Joya de Nicaragua Quatro Cinco.We had the kids over, then did some running around, so I was ready to relax with a really nice cigar. As you might recall, this cigar celebrates 45 years of the Joya de Nicaragua factory in Esteli, a factory I’ve had the privilege to visit twice and is one of my favorites. I can’t think of a cigar from that factory that I don’t enjoy. This is the top of the line smoke and is really quite tasty.  It’s smoother and more refined than the excellent Antaño Dark Corojo and 1970s.  I love both of those, but the Quatro Cinco really takes it up a notch in flavor and sophistication. This is a wonderful treat.   It’s only available in one vitola, a 6″ x 54 slightly pressed toro with a dark and oily wrapper with filers aged in oak barrels and even some 5 year old ligero. The burn was perfect and it was a terribly satisfying cigar from start to finish. These are pricey, in the $12 range, but certainly worth a try if you like big, bold Nicaraguan flavor. I can’t wait to see what they do in five years if they put this much love and effort into a 45th anniversary cigar! Thanks to JB at DE for sending this to me last year.

 

CasaFernandez_ReservaMaduroMonday I revisited the Casa Fernandez Miami Reserva Maduro Corona Extra. I got a late start, so the smaller 5” x 46 size worked well with my schedule.  This has been in the humidor since last October or November and came from the folks at Casa Fernandez.  This is a Nicaraguan puro rolled in Miami, with Aganorsa tobacco grown in the three growing regions, Jalapa, Condega and Esteli.  The size is really nice, it’s a little bigger than a corona, and smaller than a robusto. It smoked for over an hour though, and was very flavorful. I have enjoyed the cigars I’ve smoked from Casa Fernandez, I just don’t seem to see them around much.  I think I like the Aganorsa Maduro the best, it’s like a chocolate bar. I’ve got to dig around and see if I can find one in the humidors.

 

Nomad_CTFuerte_ToroLast night I smoked the new Nomad Connecticut Fuerte from Fred Rewey’s Nomad Cigar Co.  This one came in a goodie bag from Gary Griffith of The House of Emilio which distributes the brand. The tag line “Not you father’s Connecticut cigar” is a little over used, but in this case, the cigar has some horsepower.   I really enjoyed the contrast of the spice and relative strength of the filler with the creamy and slightly bitterness of the wrapper.  I appreciate the Connecticut wrapper on a cigar, but it’s not one I reach for first, probably because I worry that the cigar will be too mild for my tastes.  This one has enough flavor and strength to be satisfying at any time of the day.  In the Nomad portfolio, while the original Dominican line is good, and the Nicaraguan blends are really good, this one is my new favorite of the line.  It’s different from anything else out there. I liked it.

 

That’s it for now. I’ll work on putting a contest together, I already have a pretty good selection set aside from various vendors and my own humidors. It may not be Twelve Days of Giveaways spectacular, but it’ll be worthwhile.

 

Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

 

 

 

 

 

 

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