Tag Archives: Espinosa

by | January 9, 2022 · 10:35 am

Stolen Throne War Council and Sensei’s Sensational Sarsparilla Cigars

It was implied in my last post that the Stolen Throne Three Kingdoms was among my favorite cigars of the last year, and honestly it was right there at the top. I keep going back for more of this cigar, there’s a sweet flavor that I haven’t been able to put a name to, and it wasn’t until I smoked the War Council yesterday that I think I finally am able to label that flavor. A little bit about the War Council cigar: it’s a 6″ x 46 corona extra, not a skinny toro, or whatever the site that sold them called it. Silliness. They made something like just under 1900 of these, and I was gifted one of these by Kevin and JR of Stolen Throne when I met them a few weeks ago. It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, undisclosed binder and Nicaraguan and undisclosed or Honduran (sources vary), fillers. Best I can tell it contains tobacco, that’s a safe bet. It’s very good tobacco. I’d be remiss if I failed to mention that this cigar was the cigar of the year for 2021 at Kaplowitz Media, after smoking it, I don’t find that at all curious. Going back to my tasting notes, I thought it had loads of the same sweet flavor that I love in the Three Kingdoms, which I’m now going to recognize as “sugar cane”. Since my palate is less refined than most, that sweetness carried throughout the cigar for me, and was dominant, and I loved it. I find the Three Kingdoms more balanced for my palate, which is fine, it’s obviously in greater supply, but the War Council was definitely a treat! I love smoking special cigars, but I don’t like falling in love with them!  Thanks guys fr the opportunity, and I learned something from it!  

 

I made a little exception to my own rule with this next cigar, although I suppose it’s not the first time. I generally let other media entities promote their own wares, unless there’s some reciprocity. This particular cigar is now in general distribution, so I’m giving it a pass. as the post title implies, the cigar in question is the Sensei’s Sensational Sarsaparilla, which is part of the Espinosa portfolio. I picked up one of these to sample at an Espinosa event at Son’s a few weeks ago. This originated with the Cigar Dojo, who has done an amazing job with coming out with their own cigars in small batches. This is the maybe the third one that has “made it”, following Drew Estate’s Dogmas in Maduro and Sungrown. It’s pretty impressive, the only other cigar that I can think of that’s similar is DE’s BOTL (RIP TP), which, while is a great cigar, hasn’t seen the success. It’s a 5½” x 52 Belicoso, with a San Andrés wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, and fillers from Condega and Estelí. Reading the blend, this cigar doesn’t taste anything like it should. I expected dark, cocoa/ coffee, and I got an almost saccharine sweetness. It was more of the sweetness, maybe the Sarsaparilla thing got in my head, but I got the sweet flavor through the cigar. Not that it was a bad thing, it was just not what I expected. It was another good cigar from La Zona, and a lot of my favorite cigars are/were made at La Zona (for other people, ie: La Sirena, the former Cornelius and Anthony and Arandoza). 

 

That’s all for today. The new e-mail alert system should work on this post! I’ve been working on it for a week and hopefully I’ve just about got things ironed out. When it works like I think it will I’ll kill the Feedburner e-mails so everyone doesn’t get two! Fingers crossed again, thanks for your patience, and there’s two of you who may have gotten both e-mails last week! until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig 

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by | December 19, 2021 · 8:47 am

Oscar Valladares McFly, Espinosa Laranja Azulejo and Crema de Laranja Cigars

First order of business: if you haven’t already, go back to the post before this one and enter to contest! Last Tuesday I took a day off and found myself running and errand that ended up in the Mushroom Capital of the World, Kennett Square, PA, which is in the southern part of the same county where I live. A few doors down from where I was going there happened to be a cigar shop, Living My Best Cigar Life, of course I stopped in. It’s a nice little shop on the main drag in Kennett, with a nice walk in humidor, a knowledgeable shopkeeper, and a small lounge. The selection was adequate, but on the sparse side, I was to find out that they had just opened a new store a few miles away. I picked up a couple of the Oscar Valladares McFly Toros, which I have been meaning to try, and headed home. Since the new location was more or less on my way home, I decided to stop in and check it out. The Glen Mills location is actually on a property that has a sentimental meaning to me. The lounge where I played my last professional gigs as a drummer back in the 80’s was located there. Weird, right? Anyway, the shop was previously a bank, and they’ve retrofitted two former offices as the humidors. The lounge is in the back, and they will have membership with 24 hour access through the back. It’s all very clean and sharp in design. The selection is decent, it’s a new shop, but it wouldn’t be hard for someone to find something to smoke there. I came out with a Romeo by AJ I hadn’t tried. It’s on Rt 202 between Rt 1 and the Delaware state line, for those familiar with the area. It’s a long name for a cigar shop, I wish them well! I smoked the McFly when I got home and thought it was very good. It’s a 6″ x 52 with a San Andrés wrapper, Honduran binder and fillers from Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and Honduras. It was rich and earthy and pretty much what I expect from that blend, with a little spice. I liked it, very nice. 

 

Wednesday I found myself at Son’s Cigars again, this time in the company of Jack Toraño of Espinosa Cigars. Jack is coming up on his three year anniversary with Espinosa in a couple weeks. He was recalling that he was with Toranño cigars for three years, and General for three years…I think we are all hoping that this gig is going to break that pattern for Jack. I’ve known Jack for a long time, and it’s always a treat to catch up with him. Mark Weissenberger, the broker that handles Espinosa, ironically from Kennett, dragged Jack out earlier than expected, and I offered to give him a ride back to his hotel, but I’m afraid he thought he wouldn’t fit in my car. I had been looking forward to smoking the Laranja Azulejo, which translates to orange blue tile in Portuguese, the best I can figure. I picked up a couple of the box pressed 6″ x 60 Gordo size. These are made at AJ Fernandez’ San Lotano factory for Espinosa. This cigar has an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, Brazilian Arapiraca binder and Nicaraguan fillers, and boy is it tasty. I like Sumatra, and Brazilian, and of course, Nicaraguan, and this is delicious blend of flavors. It’s got some sweetness, and some coffee and cocoa and some spice. I enjoyed it so much I smoked another one last night. Now I need to get more. I also had a great time hanging out with Craig the Breadman at Son’s!

 

Jack (and Vince) gave me an event cigar, the Crema de Laranja, which is a barber pole which is a mashup of the Laranja and the Crema cigars. It shares blend components of the two cigars, and has both the shade wrapper from the Crema (which I’ve never smoked), and the Brazilian “Laranja” wrapper. Jack likes milder cigars, I can see him liking this one. Last week I smoked the Back in Black from the same factory, and it’s apparent that La Zona knows how to make a good barber pole cigar. This is kinda the opposite of that Back in Black, though, it’s on the milder side, creamy and tangy. Certainly a nice change from the heavier, darker flavored cigars.  Quite nice. I recommend going to an event where Erik, Jack, or one of the other guys is attending, and buy enough cigars to merit receiving one of these, it’s a good one.

 

That’s about all I have for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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by | December 12, 2021 · 10:41 am

Cigar Prop Back in Black and HVC Black Friday Cigars

Thinking back, I suppose I should have smoked an Alec Bradley Black Market to complete the thematic trilogy, honestly, I wasn’t even thinking about both of these cigars having anything in common. Let’s start out with the Cigar Prop Back In Black By Espinosa (not a sponsored link). This cigar might be lesser known outside of certain circles. It’s a collaboration between Kevin Shahan at Cigar Prop and Espinosa Cigars, and was/is exclusive to Smoke Inn. This was the third one of these I’ve smoked, the first out of the production run, and the first I’ve been able to talk about. Kevin had sent me some samples of prototypes for my feedback some time ago, and there were two blends, this excellent blend which, obviously went into production, and another even better blend, which better fit the theme of the project (in my opinion), which ended up not being sustainable due to material shortages. Kevin likes barber pole style cigars. This one has a Habano (the wrapper Espinosa uses on the La Bomba line) and a San Andrés, and a Jalapa binder and viso and ligero fillers from Estelí and Condega. It’s a 6″ x 52, which we all know is a size I like, and has a simple black band. Funny that Kevin doesn’t usually like powerful cigars, not that this one is super strong, but it does have a little kick to it, it isn’t mild! I loved the samples I smoked, and I am glad I bought a box when they were finally released. These are suited to my palate, they are rich, with cocoa/espresso flavors like I enjoy. I’ve yet to have a barber pole cigar that I could detect any flavor changes, I mean, the wrappers are spiralled, they are both burning at the same time through the course of the cigar, but it’s a neat look, and as long as it burns well, I’m happy, and these have. Congratulations to Cigar Prop on his first collaboration! It’s fun to see the name on a box, isn’t it? I remember when he was but a simple CigarCraig.com reader…

 

I followed the Back in Black later in the day with the HVC Black Friday 2021. Maybe there’s a subconscious connection to my mood this time of year. I seemed to be in a better frame of mind back in the days when I could spend the two weeks leading up to Christmas giving away tons of cigars and swag. Can you believe 2015 was the last year I had one of my mega-day giveaways?  On the other hand it was a major time suck, but a great one! Anyway, I have a few goodies stashed away for next week, stay tuned. So a normal person might have smoked the HVC Black Friday on the day after Thanksgiving, but I forgot about it. I probably have a few of them around, one from last year, a couple Firecrackers, and then this one I picked up a few weeks back on the recommendation of Brian at Son’s. This keeps happening with HVC cigars and the guys at Son’s, they ask me if I’ve tried one yet, I say know and take the one from them and buy it. I should always buy more than one. Either they need to learn or I do. The Black Friday 2021 is a 4 3/8″ x 54 short, chubby robusto, with a mottled broadleaf wrapper. Last years was a Corona Gorda, now that I think of it, I just saw one when rooting through the humidor. The rest of the blend is Nicaraguan, made at the Aganorsa Factory in Esteli. I was told it was strong, to smoke it after a hearty meal. I prepared by eating a leftover slice of Sicilian pizza with sausage and bacon. It was good. I’ll reiterate my failure to buy/Son’s failure to sell additional examples of this cigar. This is a friggen outstanding cigar. Yeah, it’s got some power, but not porcelain hugging level power. The size is good for a little over an hour for me, I could have smoked it in a toro last night as it was fairly mild for a december evening, but it was still quite satisfying. As I think about it, maybe a toro would have been too much and would have ratcheted it up to an uncomfortable level. This is going on my list of cigars to grab a few more of (box of 50? let’s not get carried away). The Corona Gorda and Firecrackers better hide.

 

Everyone who signed up for the Secret Santa should have gotten their assignments.  I am to understand at least one person signed up and for whatever reason it didn’t take in the system. It seems like there’s always something that goes wrong when I try to do these things! I sent mine out yesterday, and posted a small rant on Facebook and Instagram about how the USPS sets the expectation of 2 day shipping right on the label, I didn’t ask for it. It’s their idea, they should make goo on it, right?  Anyway, we’ll see how that goes…that’s al for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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by | August 2, 2020 · 10:48 am

Espinosa Hush Money, Exactus Cigars, Flor de Cesar, and a Rant

Before I get to the cigars, I feel the need to bring up an incident that happened at a local cigar shop, one of the brick and mortar outlets of Cigars International in Bethlehem, PA. I’ve been to this location several times. I encourage you to watch the Philadelphia NBC affiliate’s video, which had surveillance camera footage of the incident (linked). Whatever your thoughts on the matter, Pennsylvania mandates that masks be worn outside of the home, business have a mandate to require masks, and signs are posted. In my mind it’s a very simple thing, if you have a problem wearing a mask, don’t go someplace that requires you to wear a mask. Most places provide accomodations, and CI has such accommodations, ie. curbside service. Friday this person went into the Bethlehem Superstore sans mask, was told he needed a mask, was indignant, walked out with two cigars, was followed out by an employee (who, I’m under the understanding, was a retired military or law enforcement officer, obviously unarmed) with the intention of collecting information to report the theft to the police. The guy went to his car, returned with a gun and took shots at the employee (this can be seen in the video), it’s a miracle he wasn’t hit or worse, then left. Saturday he was apprehended after a shootout with police (link to story here). It cannot be argued that he went to the store with the intention of stealing cigars, I believe he went to buy cigars. It astounds me that people are so unwilling to change one little thing to get along in an unusual situation that they risk their life to defend their “rights”. It’s such a small thing to ask, isn’t it? Even if it weren’t a state mandate, if it were an matter of private property rights, if it was my private business, and I required a mask, who the hell are you to demand that your rights supersede mine? Nobody thinks twice about “no shoes, no shirt, no service” right? Why is this different? OK, I’ve left myself open for enough criticism. Wear a mask, don’t wear a mask, if you choose not to wear a mask and tell me if I’m so afraid to stay home, do me a favor, you stay home, rights go both ways. 

 

OK, cigars. Of course, I smoked a bunch this week. My man Adam was very kind and sent me a few cigars, once he and his family get settled after their move I’ll respond in some way. It’s fun to share cigars with them because his wife loves cigars too! Anyway, he sent me an Espinosa Hush Money Churchill, I cigar with which I was not familiar. I’m guessing this is a Famous Smoke Shop exclusive, from the limited research I did. The cigar was a Churchill size, 7″ x 50, which is a size I’m quite comfortable with on a nice summer day. I have a vast collection of robustos, and anymore I just find them too short for my liking. I try to amass toros and better for my daily consumption. I suppose it’s a luxury to have the time to enjoy an hour and a half or more with a cigar. Anyway, Famous Smoke doesn’t list much information about this except that it’s Nicaraguan and Maduro, and it’s on the lighter side of maduro (I wouldn’t have guessed based on color or flavor, honestly, I would have said Habano). It started out a little harsh, and I wondered what Adam had set me up for, but after the first half inch it settled down and I spent the next 90 minutes really enjoying a nice, sweet ride. It burned very well, and was a very enjoyable cigar, and for around $5 when bought by the bundle (10), quite a deal. Thank you to Adam for sharing this with me, I can see why you like this so much! 

 

El Artista Cigars was a long time advertiser here, and I spent some time with Ram and Kevin at the TPE show last January. They make some great cigars, I really like the Buffalo Ten (and I know that Adam does too), and they make the Big Papi as well as Pulita that are excellent. When I first took them on as an advertiser I bought a handful of their cigars to try out, I always like to have a personal connection with companies that I present on my site. I don’t feel right having ads on my page that I can’t get behind myself. you can rest assured that every company represented on my page has been personally vetted by me and carries my seal of approval. As great as a relationship as I have with the folks at El Artista, I wasn’t able to provide them with what they were looking for this year, so we took a break, but I still dig their cigars, and they are great folks. I found a lonely old Exactus Maduro Toro in the humidor and decided to take it for a spin. This cigar has an Ecuador HBA wrapper, and I don’t know what HBA stands for (HVA I know, but HBA, not a clue). The binder is a Dominican wine fermented Criollo 98, and the filler is Dominican. The cigar had nice, dark dried fruit and espresso flavors, and the most impressive thing about it was that it burned forever! I must have spent darned near three hours smoking this 6″ x 50 toro. Granted, I had to relight it a few times, but it was a slow burner. It had been in my humidor for a few years too, maybe five or six? I lose track of time. I wish I had more. They make this in the Super Coloso, which is 11″ x 90, I wonder how long that would burn? 

 

Finally, I was watching some NHL yesterday and lit up a Flor de Cesar Gold Robusto that I. should have smoked last year sometime. This is from a 2019 batch made at Oveja Negra in Esteli. Flor de Cesar is, more or less, the house brand of BnB Cigars in Chestnut Hill (Philadelphia) PA. It has a rosado Brazilian Matafina wrapper, Ecuador binder and fillers from Nicaragua, Brazil and the Dominican Republic. BnB is a great shop, loaded to the ceiling with great cigars. You never know what, or who, you might find there. It’s a must visit if you find yourself in Philly. This cigar might have been the highlight of my week, cigar-wise. The depth of flavor was exceptional, and very clean on the palate. It had a nice earthy sweetness. I just found it to be extremely flavorful, delicious, and satisfying. it made me want to dig out something else from Oveja Negra later, sadly I got distracted and opted for my last CroMagnon Cranium. The Flor de Cesar Gold was tremendous. 

 

I think I’m going to try to set up the projector on the porch and watch the Flyers on the big screen, and tomorrow I’m going to Goose’s Golf outing. It occurs to me that I haven’t been to a cigar event, or even to a cigar shop, since February or March, which is pretty strange. Full report on that to follow. Watch my social media feeds for photos and video. That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

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by | June 21, 2020 · 10:49 am

Providencia Spectrum and Espinosa Comfortably Numb Cigars and Other Stuff

Happy Father’s day. Later today I’ll smoke the last cigar from a box of cigars I bought for Father’s Day in 2000. It’ll be a hard cigar not to save, but I’m going to bite the bullet and light it anyway. I didn’t smoke the whole box one every Father’s Day, it took a few years for me to develop that tradition. I had smoked a few and shared a few, but over the years I had a few gifted to me as well to supplement the inventory, thanks to Mike Perry for extending my tradition for a few years by sharing some of his aged stash with me! So today will see the last Esperanza Para Los Niños toro, a cigar made by Christian Eiroa in 1999 with the help of some guys from a usenet group who met up in Danli and selected this blend and sold it with proceeds going to children orphaned by hurricane Mitch. $85 a box was a fortune for me at the time, a bargain now for an excellent cigar, which was heavy bodied, not unlike the old Camacho Triple Maduro. It’s always an adventure smoking a 20 year old cigar, I’m rather looking forward to it, but it’ll come with some sadness as I’ll never have another! I still have the box someplace though! 

 

On to some cigars I actually smoked! I went on a brief Southern Draw bender on the heels of their press release announcing the cancelation of all of their public events for the rest of the year due to pandemic concerns. Personally, I find this to be a responsible decision, as areas that seem to be lax in their preventative measures seem to have a higher infection rate, and who amung us doesn’t want to protect their families? I think the Rose of Sharon Desert Rose is one of the top Connecticut shade style cigars out there, and the Kudzu Lustron is definitely a top notch cigar as well! I smoked both, they are the same box pressed torpedo vitola and are delicious. Speaking of box pressed torpedos from a Texas-based cigar company, I also smoked a cigar from Providencia Cigars. This cigar is called Spectrum, and my assumption is that it has an autism charity connection, considering the colorful puzzle pieces on the band. I can appreciate this theme. If I were to guess, I’d say it was 5″ x 52ish, and the only information I have on it is that it has a Sumatra wrapper that was characterized as delicate and thin. I was advised to avoid wind and humidity due to the fragility of the wrapper, so I did. This is an abso-friggin-lutely delicious cigar! As with just about every Providencia cigar I’ve ever smoked, the cigar burned perfectly. This was the rival of another Sumatra wrapped, honduran made cigar I love in flavor, balance and overall enjoyability (Don Juan Calavera). There’s a sweetness that I really dig, I really have to buy a mixed bag of old-timey hard candy and try to isolate that flavor, but there’s a candy sweetness that makes this cigar a great desert smoke. Absolute joy. I don’t have any idea what the availability of this is or was, but try it if you can. 

 

I believe the Espinosa Comfortably Numb Vol.1 is a Meier and Dutch distributed brand, which is the distribution arm of Cigars International. I picked this one up a few years ago at the CI store in Hamburg when Erik Espinosa was there the day Cigar Fest tickets went on sale. I was just there for the spectacle of it all, hundreds of people lined up outside for hours in the freezing cold for tickets, not my bag, baby. This is a toro with an Ecuador Habano wrapper, Corojo binder and Nicaraguan fillers and is surprisingly mellow. It almost smoked like a shade wrapped cigar. It doesn’t have the grassy flavor, but it does have a sweet, nutty flavor that is pretty nice, and it seemed to have aged pretty well. I say “aged”, it was February of 2018 when I picked this cigar up, so, it’s hardly aged compared to a lot of things, but it held up. Tasty cigar, and not badly priced. I’d be very tempted to sample the madur version, the Vol. 2, the next time I happen to be in a CI store, or if I see it in a shop. Older folks will note the Alton Kelley/Wes Wilson inspired band design.

 

Speaking of “aging”, I smoked one of the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Famous Smoke Shop 80th Anniversary cigars from last October last night and it was spectacular. There’s not a lot of Saka’s cigars I don’t like, but this one is pretty special. Well, on with the day, have a great one, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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