Tag Archives: Firecracker

March 19, 2023 · 10:12 am

Fratello, All Saints, Casino Real and Yaya Cigars

I’m running low on new stuff to smoke, in a few years I’ll be scraping the bottom of the barrel!  Seems like there’s always something new, it’s just a matter of getting my hands on stuff.  A few weeks after my aborted attempt to be among the first to smoke the new Fratello Vice Versa with Omar when he released it in Virginia, I picked a couple up at a local shop.  I would have gotten more, but these are no cheap date.  I get it, they are expensive to make, they are bunched in a very specific way, and capped on both ends.  Not begrudging Omar the price, just saying I’m a cheap prick and don’t buy more than a couple $15 cigars at a whack.  I smoked prototypes last May, they were good.  I smoked a Vice Versa this week and started with the strong end. This is an interesting cigar that smokes mild from one end and strong from the other. Seems like I should have gotten a third one, because the one I smoked, unfortunately, had a void in the first half and tunneled. After struggling with it for a while, it eventually corrected itself.  I kinda missed the strong part, but it was a tasty cigar. This isn’t a small cigar at 7″ x 52, and it has a six country blend: Ecuador, Indonesia, Pennsylvania (USA) , the Dominican Republic, Peru and Nicaragua. Peruvian tobacco is a in almost all of Omar’s blends.  I wonder if I would feel better about cutting this cigar in half, although if I think a $15 7″ cigar is expensive, two $7.50 3½” cigars actually seems pricier. I have one left, I’ll need to get a couple more eventually, I enjoyed the flavor. 

 

Friday was Saint Patrick’s Day, so I smoked the new Firecracker cigar from United Cigars, the All Saints St. Patrick. This is a 3½” x 50 based on the St. Francis blend, which I really like. They accented the oscuro wrapper with a Candela, making a barber pole. It seemed to me to be stronger than the St. Francis, which is kinda the point.  I didn’t taste much of the candela, to be honest. A lot of the candela barber pole cigars have that grassy candela flavor present, this wasn’t apparent except it might have contributed to some of the bite. It was good, I liked it. I typically only buy from 3 to 5 Firecrackers, maybe I should have gotten 5.  It’s been a few years since I’ve gotten any, the last few didn’t capture my interest. If you find these, buy some, I bet they go fast. I wonder if All Saints will do a St. Bernard one day?  It would have to be a large format.

 

Yesterday I did a little test of a platform that will let me do interviews remotely.  Hopefully that is something that interests my readers.  It’s something I’ve been wanting to do but finally got around to it. So I tested it yesterday with a couple of friends and smoked a Casino Real Double Toro (6″ x 60) which I think I got at the 2022 TPE show. This is a brand which is, from what I can tell, is distributed by Zander Greg/Nat Cicco. This is a Ecuador Habano wrapped cigar with Nicaraguan binder and fillers.  It was a tasty cigar with some woody and coffee type flavors.  The burn and draw were perfect.  I have no idea what these cost but it was a solid smoke.

 

I got home from going out to dinner a bit late and decided it was a great time to smoke a short cigar.  I said before that my go to is a 6″ cigar, I don’t mind bigger cigars, although I don’t often go over a 60 ring. So shorter cigars end up spending some time in the humidor often. I had a Yaya Short Robusto, which is a 2022 PCA exclusive, which I got from the United Cigars booth at the 2022 PCA show.  I like the fact that this had the date on the band, it makes it harder for me to forget where it came from and when. Not impossible, just harder.  I’ve heard good things about this cigar, so I was anxious to try it.  It’s 4″ x 54, with an Ecuador Habano wrapper over Dominican fillers.  These are made in Jose Dominguez’ Magia Cubana factory in the DR.  I’ll be honest, there’s not a lot of cigar from this factory that have thrilled me. This one was the exception.  It started out with a little bite, which I liked, and had some nice spice notes.  It’s a tasty smoke!  

 

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

 

CigarCraig

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August 18, 2022 · 8:00 pm

News: Wiseman Maduro Firecracker Rerelease Shipping

Here’s some news from United Cigars, they have another round of the delicious Wiseman Maduro Firecracker from Foundation Cigar Co.  I’ve enjoyed a few of the Firecrackers, and this was one of my favorites.  If I’m not mistaken, the release date at 2 Guys Cigars, which shares owners with United Cigar, is August 29th, which is the 13th anniversary of CigarCraig.com, a very special day indeed!   

 

Wise Man Maduro Firecracker will begin shipping to United Cigars retailers starting August 22nd. With the
end of Summer approaching and Labor Day weekend on everyone’s calendar the rerelease of the 2021 United Cigars Series Unidas Firecracker couldn’t come at a better time. The United Cigars Firecracker line is available year-round but there is always the anticipation of which manufacturers band will adorn the 3.5” x 50 vitola with the original wick as the cap. 2021’s collaboration was with Foundation Cigar Company and in true Firecracker form, President and master blender, Nicholas Melillo delivered excellence with the Wiseman Maduro Firecracker.

 

“The Wise Man Firecracker is a special little smoke that explodes with flavor the moment you light it! This is a special addition to the Wise Man Maduro line and it’s a pleasure to work with United Cigars,” said Nick.

 

Wiseman Maduro Firecracker

Factory: Tabacos Valle de Jalapa S.A
Wrapper: Mexican San Andres
Binder: Nicaraguan Corojo Jalapa
Filler: Nicaraguan Jalapa, Esteli
Box Count: 20 Cigars
MSRP: $180 Box/$9.00 Single
Production: 1000 Boxes
Factory: Tabacos Valle de Jalapa S.A.

 

United Cigars Director of Operations, Oliver Nivaud said, “The rerelease of a limited edition Wise Man Maduro Firecracker is extremely exciting, this is an amazing capture.” Shipping to retailers starting August 22nd, the Wiseman Maduro Firecracker and all Limited Release Firecrackers from United Cigars are available at United Cigars retailer partners.

 

United Cigar began as a US based cigar store chain in 1901 growing to nearly 3,000 shops. United Cigar eventually became part of the corporation that bought Marvel Comics in 1968. The United Cigar chain represented the interests of the Consolidated Tobacco Company, the tobacco trust that controlled the American Tobacco Company.

Today United Cigars distributes and manufactures premium cigars within the United States. Distribution agreements with Selected Tobacco (Atabey, Byron & Bandolero) as well as Jose Dominguez cigars. United Cigars has i

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ts own brands including the quick-selling bundle line Classic, La Gianna Havana, and our flagship brand United to name a few. United Cigar Series Unidas, a collaboration with respected manufacturers, provides premium cigar retailers with Limited

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Release productions. Buy United, Smoke United, Live United! United We Smoke!

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November 29, 2020 · 10:06 am

Sobremesa Brulee Blue, Platinum Nova, HVC Black Friday and Triqui Traca Cigars

We had a really low key Thanksgiving. We didn’t have a big meal, just the immediate family hanging out around the house. We actually ordered sandwiches from Wawa for dinner! It was much more relaxing than the stress of preparing a big meal and cleaning it all up in all honesty! I, like many days, treated myself to some great cigars. I realized that I haven’t written anything about the Sobremesa Brulee Blue yet, so I figured it was about time. This is a 6 ¼” x 46 lonsdale cigar with a pigtail cap. I used a cutter because I’ve evolved to use tools, I’m not an animal. Also, even though Saka sent me this cigar, it’s a $15 cigar and I’m not risking screwing it up by manhandling it. Of course, I’ve smoked a few Brulee’s, including the STFU! set, and I don’t believe this had a sweet cap. It certainly has a natural sweetness to the tobacco, and a creaminess to the smoke that’s really nice. There’s plenty of body and some spice to the smoke too, making it a really interesting and entertaining cigar to smoke. The bands a re really pretty too.

 

I guess I had the blue in the Sobremesa bands in my head when I went to select my after dinner cigar. Full disclosure, while the rest of the family had “Gobblers”, I had an Italian hoagie, as I am not a fan of the turkey sandwich with the thanksgiving meal fixings on it. It’s my holiday, I’ll celebrate it the way I want! So I went to the humidor and selected Limited Edition Platinum Nova Torpedo. This was a cigar that Ari and Leo of Nova Cigars gave me at the TPE show last January, and I’ve probably mentioned it here before. It’s a 5 ½” x 55 torpedo that retails around $30, so it’s no cheap date. It’s got Dominican Binder and Fillers with a Habano 2000 wrapper. Remember when the Habano 2000 wrapper came on the scene and it didn’t burn? Now it’s on $30 cigars! This cigar has a really delicate, floral flavor profile. If you like that sort of thing, this is a cigar for you. It’s an entertaining change of pace for me. Of course, it burned perfectly, I’d have been disappointed for it hadn’t. this company makes some really good cigars. You don’t hear about them a lot, I hear about them on the Smokin Tabacco podcast/show, a show which Matt Tabacco (his real name) and Jon Carney which is entertaining. It’s a good thing that Ari and Leo started Platinum Nova when they did, because they worked for Nat Sherman, and would have been looking for jobs now anyway.

 

Friday I smoked the HVC Black Friday Firecracker. I thought I might have missed out on this, but when I went to 2 Guys website on the Tuesday after they came out, I was still able to get some. From the hype, I thought they would sell out. I got lucky, I guess. So I added some to my stash of various Firecrackers, and smoked one Friday before my granddaughters came over for the afternoon. This is a 3½” x 50 little smoke with a long “fuse” and a closed foot. Initially the spicy “hotness” covers any flavor to me. It was overwhelmingly strong off the bat. The Corona Gorda was strong, but this little bastard was really strong. It eventually settled down, but by the time it settled down, it started ramping back up because it was getting near the end. It’s pretty much pepper and strong, black coffee flavors, which is OK. If you aren’t prepared for the strength, it might me troublesome, and it’s a darned good thing it’s only 3½” long.

 

When I ordered the Firecrackers, I added on a few of the new sizes of the Mi Querida Triqui Tracas that recently came out that weren’t included in Saka’s media pack 😁. Here’s a couple of ethical disclosures: I buy a lot of cigars, and I get samples of cigars from vendors. If there is a problem with a cigar I get from a vendor, I don’t trash it, I talk to the vendor. I try to smoke cigars that I like. There has been an instance recently where I was given an item to review, I found it to be sub-par, I gave the vendor a draft of the review, told them I didn’t want to post the review and offered to return the item to them, which they agreed to do, even though two other items I’ve been given and reviewed in the past have been excellent. I can’t damage someone’s business with my opinions. I don’t have a problem endorsing something I can stand behind, but I’m not going out of my way to tear something down. Anyway, not quite sure why I went on that tangent, but I took Macha out to Valley Forge Park yesterday for a walk and took the huge Triqui Traca 764 along. This is a big cigar, as the name suggests, it’s 7” x 64, clever guy, that Saka. I suppose it’s better than calling it Donkey D*ck, but not quite as good as Gran Buffalo (which is what he called the same size in the Mi Querida). I lit this up and used it to maintain social distance, with both the smoke and physical size of the cigar. We walked for a while, then turned back, drove home, then I spent another few hours on the porch finishing the cigar. There are monuments at Valley Forge smaller than this cigar. It’s larger than some of the canons. They built cabins for the soldiers out of logs smaller than this cigar. It was a lot of good cigar, and I look forward to smoking the 652, because I felt like the 764 was maybe less flavorful, or maybe just a lot of work getting to the flavor. I bought more than one, so perhaps next summer I’ll work on another one.

 

Keep those Reader’s Choice Cigar of the year entries coming! Please e-mail me at craig@cigarcraig.com with your choice for the 2020 cigar of the year. I’ll compile the results and post them on December 31. Please be as specific as possible. That’s more than enough for today, until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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July 5, 2020 · 9:23 am

Fourth of July Cigars: J.C. Newman American, a Firecracker and a Havana

The Fourth of July seemed like a great time to smoke the J.C. Newman American that was generously gifted to me by a friend of mine and reader Adam Stevens. Check out Adam’s Wife, Jamie’s cigar reviews over at Cigar Talk Radio, she does a nice job. I really need to figure out a way to get together with those two before they more out of PA soon. Anyway, this has been a tough cigar for me to get my hands on, so I was thrilled when Adam included it in a Secret Santa package last year (I think?, right?). This is a cool project that Drew Newman, the fourth generation Newman in the business, spearheaded. Another aside, I first encountered Drew in the 90’s on the alt.smokers.cigars Usenet group when he was a 16 year old and caught all kinds of crap for being a kid posting on a cigar forum. Of course, he started the Cigar Family forum on their own website, which might have been the first major web forum dedicated to cigars shortly after. Anyway, the cigar is all US made components, made in the US. The wrapper is Florida Sungrown, the binder is Connecticut Broadleaf, and the fillers are “Pennsylvania Type 41, grown by Mennonite family farmers in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and Connecticut Havana, grown John Foster in South Windsor, Connecticut“. I used to live within ten miles from those Mennonite farms in Lancaster county, by the way. All of the packaging is made in the USA too, by the way. The cigar smoked perfectly, I lit it up late in the morning while relaxing on the porch. The wrapper has a dry, mottled appearance, it’s not pretty. It is, however, a tasty cigar. It has some sweetness and earthiness and is very unique. Certainly a cigar that should be tried, and most likely enjoyed, I know I enjoyed it. Thanks again to Adam for sharing this with me!

 

After lunch did something, which must have been an errand that wasn’t memorable because I can’t remember what it was, or I was waiting for something to happen, so I smoked a Mi Querida Firecracker. The Firecracker line of cigars by United Cigar Group, which is Dave Garofalo of  2 Guy’s Cigars distribution company, is a stroke of genius. Of course, this is why it’s so frequently plagiarized, but not only is the format cool, but it’s a sure sale every year, and the social media impact seems to be fairly high. I’m sucked in, I feel like I need to pick up at least few of the cigars to sample every year. It’s a little funny how the sales go through, isn’t it? You get super-cool, niche brands like CroMagnon and Mi Querida that sell out 500 boxes in a day and everyone is amazed, then Perdomo comes along, a seemingly, or at least comparatively, pedestrian, brand sells 1000 boxes in a few hours. I wonder if another brand could touch Perdomo’s numbers? Not that there’s a quality difference, the Perdomo Firecraker is great, I dig it, but I kinda like the Mi Querida more (and the CroMagnon, although my sample size is smaller). The Fratello Firecracker is amazing as well, as is the Kristoff (I’ve only had one LFD and enjoyed it). To my knowledge, the Mi Querida was the only Firecracker to spin off into it’s own sub-brand, the Triqi Traca, which is pretty cool. I love the Mi Querida blend anyway, so the Firecracker was a no-brainer and really quite good, and smoked for an hour, amazing for such

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a little cigar. 

 

It’s been an annual tradition of mine for a long time on the Fourth of July to smoke a Havana cigar. 20+ years ago it was a matter of smoking one of the best in my humidor, along with a bit of civil disobedience, which is kind of what the day represents, right? Anyway, it’s not longer that big a deal, I have lots of better cigars in my humidor, but it’s a tradition, right? It seems to have turned in to an exercise in how to have a bad cigar experience. Last night I decided to liberate a cigar from the depths of the humidor, one that had spent well over a decade resting. I don’t recall where this particular Cuaba Salomón came from, or when, I just know it’s been around a long time. I smoked a bunch of the little Cuaba Divinos (same size and shape as a Short Story basically) years ago and never really cared for them. they had a distinctly Winston cigarette flavor to them, and it wasn’t what I was looking for in a cigar. So I ignored this big cigar for a long time, wouldn’t 7″ of cigar taste worse than 4″? As one might guess, taste wasn’t a problem. Actually, the flavor wasn’t bad, when I could get some smoke through. Have you ever had those cigars that you pull though and get nothing, but blow through and smoke pours out? Infuriating

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, isn’t it? WTF causes this? I have to figure there’s a fold in the filler that acts like some kind of valve. I know, a poker should fix this, it’s never right. Fool that I am, ever the optimist, I thought maybe it would burn past the problem. Nope, messed around with it for an hour or so and got to about two inches left before it started kind of working like a cigar should. What I should have done what put it down and gotten something else, but I’m too stubborn. So I’m sitting here this morning enjoying the crap out of a Joya de Nicaragua Cabinetta No. 4 Robusto with my coffee (one of the old ones before it was part of the Joya series). It’s a cigar that’s been a favorite for a decade, and never is a disappointment. 

 

On with the day, I hope nobody lost any fingers yesterday. The fireworks around here were nuts, poor Macha spent the evening under her end table, she’s not a fan. That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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June 28, 2020 · 10:30 am

Perdomo Firecracker, La Palina and JSK Nuggs Cigars

Last Saturday, 2 Guys Smoke Shop had their annual Firecracker release, and this year it was the Perdomo Firecracker. I typically pick up a couple to sample, and this year was no different. I was on the site at 10am with my order, and it seems like that was a god plan, because by early afternoon they had just about sold through the 1000 boxes that they had allotted.  That’s a pretty big sales day! I also picked up a couple of the original Firecrackers, because I never tried one. I’ve just about got a complete set, I’m missing an LFD, and one from Tatuaje, I guess. One day I’ll sit down and smoke them all. My most memorable was still the Fratello Firecracker on the Spanish Steps in Rome. A cigar with an Italian name, made by a Spanish speaking guy, in a Spanish speaking country, sold by an Italian American, smoked in Italy on the Spanish Steps. Just too much irony for me to pass up.  So I sat on the porch Friday evening with this wee  Perdomo cigar for nearly an hour, pretty amazing for a 3½” x 50 cigar. This is based off the 20th Anniversary Sungrown blend, which I tolerate pretty well, although my favorite Perdomo cigar, hands down, is the  20th Anniversary Maduro. There is some spice and strength to this smoke, befitting the Firecracker line, although maybe not the boldest one of the bunch. Clearly Perdomo added a bit of ligero to the blend to punch it up, as he should have. It’s a tasty little smoke, I dig it!

 

As I’ve been doing lately, I dug out an older cigar from the humidor and revisited a La Palina LP 01 yesterday. When the LP 01 and 02 came out a few years ago the design was such a diversion from the norm for the company that I think many found it off putting. The cigars were good, however, I really enjoyed the LP 01. It was the Robusto, 5″ x 50, and has an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, Costa Rican binder and Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers. If I remember correctly, these are made in Honduras ar Raices Cubanas. After two years in the humidor, the cigar smokes very well, with a good draw and even burn all he was through. It had a nice sweetness from the Sumatra wrapper, and I’m partial to Sumatra wrappers lately. I typically enjoy the Maduro LP 02 more, but this one was very, very good. It’s still

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listed on the La Palina webpage, so I ASSume it’s still in their portfolio. 

 

I’ve had a rough several days as far as migraines go, something in the atmosphere, I guess. I’ve been popping Imetrex like TicTacs, and the whole process wears on me. I figured this might be as good a time as any to try out the JSK Nuggs Natural cigar that Riste Riatevski gave me when I met him at the TPE show. Why do I see Riste’s last name spelt two different ways? I went with his Facebook profile, but some sources spell it Ristevski. I’m confused and will ask him when I see him again unless he chimes in here. Anyway, I would like to try this in the maduro, and will pick up some more when I get the chance. I’m not sure I felt any effects of the 20mg of CBD oil infused in this cigar. to be honest, I’m not entire

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ly sure what I’m supposed to feel, but I did awake with another migraine today (day 4, very upsetting to have a streak like that!), so that isn’t the answer to that issue! The cigar has a Habano wrapper, Indonesian binder, and Nicaraguan fillers and is infused, like I said, with 20mg of CBD oil. There is also a 100mg version available with something like a $25 price tag. The cigar had decent enough flavor, although there was something a little different, was it the CBD? If it was, then I’d be worried about the flavor of the 100mg version personally. Perhaps someone who has smoked it can chime in? It was smooth and nutty, woody and earthy with that odd flavor I mentioned. I supposed I hoped for a more noticeable”feeling”, but I didn’t quite know what to look for, I suppose. Worth trying, for sure, and something I’ll look to try again.

 

That’s about al for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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