Tag Archives: general cigars

A Xikar Executive Lighter and A Little of This and a Little of That


When we left off on Sunday, I had a cold coming on, and it came on in full force that day, but the worst of it passed quickly.  I still didn’t really feel like smoking too many cigars, so I

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‘m left with not a lot to talk about today.  So I figured it would be a good enough time to showcase a piece of equipment I’ve been using lately, a red Xikar Executive lighter.

 

I won this lighter at an event at the Wooden Indian a few months ago and have used it pretty regularly with generally good results.  The single jet flame is more than adequate to light and touch up a cigar, it has plenty of horsepower and even works OK in a light breeze.  It seems to run through fuel pretty quickly, but many jet flame lighters do, but I find myself filling this one more than other lighters.  I’m going to guess that this is an old model, it looks like the Executive II has replaced it and has a fuel window, which is a welcome improvement.  Another little thing I’ve notic

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ed is that it’s finish is already starting to chip, and I’ve been VERY careful with this lighter.  I make sure to put it in it’s own pocket in my pants, and don’t throw it in the drawer with other things.  It’s still gotten a couple chips, but the important thing is that it works well to light a cigar. If I have occasion to need a fancy lighter, I’ll just pull out the gold Dupont….I can’t even finish the sentence…I don’t have a gold Dupont lighter….wouldn’t know what to do with one if I did!  I bet they don’t do any better job of lighting a cigar.  As an aside, a few years back I was in Vegas and stopped into the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop of Pawn Stars fame, and they had a Punch Dupont lighter.  It had a $3000 price tag on it, but they would have let me have it for $2500.  For that kind of money it better have MY name on it!  Anyway, I like the Xikar lighter, it’s been reliable and easier to put in my pocket than my other favorite lighter (see my post about that lighter).  This review was not solicited by Xikar, I won this as an event attendee, I bought some cigars and got a raffle ticket!

 

Speaking of Punch, head on over to http://www.punchcigars.com/tailgating/ and sign up to win a cool six-pack of Punch cigars. They are giving one away every day until December 28, 2012.  I saw these at the IPCPR show and it is a really neat presentation. It comes with an assortment of Punch cigars, a cutter and a bottle opener.  It’s a very cool piece, go try to win one or pick one up if you see it in your local shop!

 

On a sad note, we lost one of our feline family members last night.  Frank was a good companion for the last 16 years and was never too far from my lap whether I was on the porch

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enjoying a cigar, or on the couch watching TV.  He even made a few cameo appearances in my CAO Last Stick Sta

nding video.  He was pretty straight laced, when the other cats were rolling around in the catnip, he would have nothing to do with it.  But he did seem to like sitting on my lap while I smoked.  He had a good, long life and we will miss him.

 

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

 

CigarCraig

 

 

 

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Some New Cigar Offerings From General Cigar Co. – Foundry, Macanudo and CAO

For the end of the week I decided to base my cigar selections on a theme, and I had some lovely samples from General Cigar Company that have been taunting me from the humidors.  I started off on Thursday evening with the new brand that debuted at the IPCPR show, the Foundry.  The example I smoked was the 5″x60 Talbot.  This is the brainchild of Michael Giannini, the Marketing Director/New Product Developer/Evil Genius at General Cigar.  I’m not entirely sure what his current job title is, but he’s a heck of a guy with a brilliant imagination.  His fascination with the “Steampunk” art movement inspired him to create this cigar which doesn’t use any tobacco from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua or Honduras.  The cigar was an amazing smoke for me.  It was mild, but loaded with interesting flavors that captured my attention for the entire length of the smoke.  I realized that 60 ring gauge cigars hardly phase me anymore, which is odd from someone who would sooner pick up a 42 ring cigar (or a lancero).  I’ve enjoyed quite a few cigars with a 60 ring gauge lately, and I think I liked this particular blend better in the larger format than the 6½x54 Lovelace that I had smoked before.  There were so many unique and interesting flavors, and I’m not one for nuance, that I found it to be a refreshing change, very clean and bright.  This is a winner in my book!

 

Friday evening I went with the New Macanudo Vintage 2006. This cigar has a flawless Connecticut shade wrapper from the 2006 crop, which was reported to be grown under ideal conditions.  I really loved the Vintage 1997, which had a delicious maduro wrapper and was quite fairly priced at around $7 a stick all things considered.

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 The 2007 is completely different, of course.  The boxes and the shiny metal bands are similar, but the cigar is lighter, with the bit of grassiness you’d expect from the Connecticut wrapper. This cigar brought back memories of some Macanudo panatela seconds I had bought back in the ’90s, maybe it was the firm draw,  or feeling the need to draw harder to get a satisfying mouthful of smoke, I don’t know, by that’s just what went through my head.  I enjoyed the cigar, it was certainly well made and pleasant enough, but my palate enjoys the maduro in this blend the most.  I love the Vintage ’97, and really enjoy the regular old Macanudo Maduro line quite a bit.  This Vintage 2006 will likely be a terrific smoke after year or two in the humidor.

 

Saturday I decided to finish the Trifecta with a CAO Concert Roadie.  This is the latest release in the CAO line, following up the OSA Sol from last year.  Where the OSA Sol was bright, the Concert is a little heavier in body.  The Habano Rosado wrapper is rich and beautiful, and the band is guitar pick shaped, flanked by guitars with the necks wrapping around the cigar.  The boxes are

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in the st

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yle of a Marshall amp, and they even have humidors in the same style, only with working speakers and a jack for an MP3 player (and a volume knob that goes to 11).  The line is a tribute to Nashville, where the CAO brand was headquartered originally.  The cigar was extremely well made, surviving an unfortunate fumble by me resulting in a 3 foot drop to the pavement.  The cigar suffered no ill effects, save for a wrapper split which never really caused a problem.  I think the broadleaf binder added that little something special to the smoke.  It

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was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.  Rick Rodriguez will be going “on tour” to promote this new release, so check out the schedule and try to get to an event.  Rick is a cool guy, definitely fun to hang out with.  I hope to catch up with him when he visits here in November.

 

Editorial

 

Yesterday (Saturday 10/6/2012) I made an appearance on Kiss My Ash Radio, Abe from Smoke Inn in Florida’s weekly radio show.  It was my second appearance on the show, and I was honored to be asked back.  The “Bloggers Corner” segment features a cigar review by the featured blogger.  Regular readers will understand that this isn’t exactly in my wheelhouse, I’m not one to write flowery, loon-winded third-by-third cigar reviews.  Yesterday I actually had prepared a better review, actually it was included in last Wednesday’s post.  Unfortunately, I started to go on a tangent about how appearance is important to me when I’m smoking , but it kind of got derailed and really sounded like I just took a complete left turn.  The point I was trying to make (doing a play on words on the “blind review” phrase) was that I like to look at a cigar while I’m smoking it, and smoking in the dark, as I’ve found myself doing lately, takes away from the experience.  I just wanted to get that off my chest for anyone that may have heard it and thought I was a yammering idiot.

 

That’s it for today, I still have a couple of the new La Gloria Cubana Trunk Show samples to smoke, but they are pretty big cigar and I have to find the right time to devote to them.  I also need to figure out which ones are which, since they didn’t have samples with the unique tobacco paper bands on them. So, until the next time,

CigarCraig

 

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A Stop on the Road to IPCPR Show and a Contest Winner Announcement!

I’m on the road, mooching internet connectivity where I can, so this will be a short one!  He

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re’s a video

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from the road.  Please see the end where the winner of the final Hoyo de Monterrey Reposado en Cedros contests is revealed.

 

 

FF184, please send your address, I’ll ship your cigars

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when I return from Florida!  Again, thanks to the folks at General Cigar for sponsoring this contest!

 

Stay tuned for more to come over the next few days!

 

CigarCraig

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Some Cigar History and the Hoyo de Monterrey Contest No.4 Winner

I’ve been smoking some great cigars this week, but all are cigars I’ve mentioned before here.  I enjoyed the heck out of a Don Pepin Garcia Series JJ on Sunday, although I personally wish it was a happier occasion to smoke this cigar (for those who don’t know why

, pay a visit to StogieReview.com).  I also had a really nice Monte Pascoal robusto, perhaps my favorite in the line, as well as a Room 101 Namakubi Papi Chulo,  which was awesome.

 

So to break things up a little, my research department tracked down some goodies from the New York Times for me.  Here is an ad from December 10, 1938.  Note that there was a ”

National Commission for Propaganda and Defense of Havana Tobacco”!  How ironic does that sound?

 

 

Next we have this ad from December 11, 1939 for Macy’s Havana Humidor.  Wouldn’t it be great if you could walk into a Macy’s and buy a fine cigar? Talk about a miracle on 34th Street!

You can click on either of these articles to enlarge them.

 

Contest

Today I’ll select the fourt

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nner in the month-long Hoyo de Monterrey Reposado en Cedros contest.  Sunday I will have the final installment in this series, but when I’ll announce the winner will be anyone’s guess!  I’ll be driving toward Orlando and the IPCPR show and updates will be dependent upon Internet availability.  Please bear with me, I’ll get a winner announced as soon as possible.  This weeks winner of six excellent Hoyo Reposado en Cedros cigars, as selected by the random number generator at Random.org, is comment number 7, which corresponds to smoke770.  Please send me your coordinates so I can get these in the mail to you!  Thanks again to General Cigar Co. and to everyone who entered! There’s still time to enter the Box-a-Day contest at hoyodemonterreycigar.com!

 

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

 

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A New Cigar: Ezra Zion Inception and Hoyo de Monterrey Contest No. 4

This week I was presented with a unique opportunity, to try a new cigar from the guys at Cigar Federation, the Ezra Zion.  Kudos to them for dreaming of producing a cigar line and doing it, it’s not nearly as easy as it sounds!  There isn’t a lot of information on their site, and the promotional info they sent doesn’t say anything about the blend either, but these are apparently made at the Raices Cubanas factory in Honduras TABSA factory in Esteli Nicaragua (note: I jumped to the conclusion that they were made in the Raices Cubana factory because I was told it was made in the factory that made Illusione, Viaje, Casa Magna and I ASSumed that these were made in Honduras.Mea Culpa) .   The cigar was a  6.125″ x 50(?) box pressed toro. It could have been 52 ring gauge, but the box press prevented me from c

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hecking, and I was too lazy to get a string out and measure it that way.  I honestly don’t believe it really matters!  The band was large, black and silver, with some angels flanking an “EZ” in the center.  It’s nice looking and, most importantly, comes off cleanly and easily.  The foot band, simply says “Inception” and “Primera Edicion” and was also easily removed, a good thing because foot bands make a cigar taste funny when you first light it up (that’s a joke there, I usually take them off before lighting).  The bands and the box press looked good.  The wrapper was a dark Colorado with maybe a tinge of a reddish hue, slightly veiny, almost rustic in appearance.  So it looks good, looks like a cigar I’d like.

 

My usual routine is to grab a cigar, light it and smoke it.  When someone offers me the chance to try their baby before just about anyone else, I take a little more care in my routine.  I smelled this cigar pre-light.  It smelled of rich, properly processed tobacco.  I lit it up, careful to get it properly lit.  The draw was perfect, loads of smoke on the easy draw.  So far I enjoy the flavor, I get a little Honduran vibe along with the richness of Nicaraguan tobacco.  There’s a bite that could be attributed to it’s relative youth.  I’m not saying that it isn’t ready to go, just that a few months or a year in a humidor might smooth this part out a little.  I’ll have to try to get my hands on a few more at some point and test this theory.  The sacrifices I make for science…sheesh.  Anyway, the cigar burned perfectly and continued to smoke well.  Strength-wise I put it on the fuller end of medium.  As I got down to the last inch, I began to feel some of the effects of the nicotine, and decided it was time to let it go, at least an hour and a half after lighting it up.   The flavor was savory and rich and it was a satisfying smoke, things I look for in a cigar.  It certainly compares favorably with many of my favorites, a Cain F or an Emilio AF2, for example.  Not that it tastes like them, particularly, but the experience was equally satisfying.  When I can smoke a cigar and think ”

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hey, I look forward to smoking another one of those”  it works for me.  So many cigars underwhelm me, but this one certainly did not.  It was tasty, relaxing and trouble free!

So, bottom line, unless this is a $10+ cigar, and it certainly could be, I’ll try to get my hands on more of these. Keep an eye on Chris, Kyle and the Don from Cigar Federation, I look forward to what else they come up with.  With any luck I’ll run into them at the IPCPR show, I’d love to meet these guys.

 

On a related note, I smoked another Emilio AF Suave corona this week.  I found that one of the ones I had picked up last weekend has a crack at the head, probably from me sticking the bag in my pocket and being careless.  I can’t abide cracked sticks in my humidor, they aren’t going to heal or anything, so they must be smoked ASAP.  Stellar smoke.  Helpful factoid: wrapper cracks only effect the draw if the binder is cracked too.  They my cause some burn problems, but this one didn’t, it just looked crappy.  Of course, looks are important too, so I tried to stay out of the public eye while I smoked this one!  Also, I had picked up a few of the Tatuaje La Casita Criolla Short Churchills a couple weeks ago and smoked one of those. Another terrific smoke, loaded with Broadleaf goodness!

 

Also, a card fell out of my CI catalog advertising a 5 pack of Alec Bradley Tempus for $20 with proceeds going to Cigar Rights of America.  This is another good way to put some nice smokes in your humidor and throw a couple bucks toward preserving out ability to smoke premium cigars!  Just a public service announcement from me.

 

Contest

It’s time for the fourth installment of the Hoyo de Monterrey Reposado en Cedros giveaway. Hoyo de Monterrey is giving away a box every day on their site, and, once again, I have a pair of three-packs which will be award

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ed to a randomly selected reader who leaves a comment on this post.  Wednesday I asked what you wanted to kno

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w from the IPCPR show, so feel free to continue to give suggestions. I’ll select a winner again on Wednesday.  Once again, my thanks to the folks at General Cigar for providing the prizes in this series of contests!

 

That’s about it for now, until Wednesday,

CigarCraig

 

 

 

 

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