Tag Archives: hoyo de monterrey

by Craig Vanderslice | April 14, 2019 · 8:31 am

An Old Excalibur, A Lars Tetens and an Alec Bradley Cigar

I took a little trip down memory lane this week, and smoked some interesting cigars. I did smoke some newer cigars, the Brick House Corona Larga was very nice (I’ll get to that another time) and I smoked another Norteño Toro which is the one cigar from the Herrera Esteli line that I really love. I also threw in a Cornelius toro for kicks. I spent my day off working on a huge building project in the backyard and felt a reward was in order, Listen to the current Retrohale podcast episode to see what those guys thought of one of my favorite cigars, Anyway, lets see what I thought of some of the older cigars I smoked this week.

About five months ago I was given a very well aged Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur Cameroon in the King Arthur size, which is a lonsdale (although they call it a corona, it’s a 6.25 x 45, so I guess it’s neither). Back around 2000 or thereabouts, General Cigar did one of their promotional taste test samplings where they sold a three pack and consumers voted on their favorite of the three, the winner became the Excalibur Cameroon, and there was much rejoicing. Rami, our local General sales professional here in PA, produced a box of these from his locker at an event I happened to be attending and gifted me one, and I decided with the weather getting nicer it was time to smoke this rare gem. Age was kind to this cigar, it held up nicely. Excaliburs used to be a staple cigar for me, back when a $5 Excalibur No.1 was an expensive treat, and the Maduros were quite the treat. I haven’t smoked one in many years, I might need to grab a few. It still had some of the delicate Cameroon sweet, nutty flavor, Camerooniness, if you will, that unmistakable flavor. Burn and draw were perfect and it was quite a joy to smoke. I believe these are still available, and reasonably priced.

There was a lot of news this week that I failed to post about, Altadis marketing Montecristo Minis, Placensia and Davidoff partnering on a cigar, and Fratello releasing a beer line, I missed out on those stories, but my colleagues in cigar media all reported on those stories. The one that was the most surreal was the purchase of a majority interest in Lars Tetens Cigars by Alec Bradley CigarsAlec Bradley Cigars. For those who may not know, Lars Tetens preceded Acid Cigars in the infused cigar market in the mid 90s, they were the first real counter-culture, herbal/botanical infused cigars, and were quite the rage for a while. They’ve continued to be available here and there, I had the opportunity to meet Lars at an event in 2015 as he lives, or spends a lot of time, in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. At least until recently, his cigars could be found on several local retailers shelves. He gave me a sampler when we met, and I smoked one soon after, but left several of the more infused smelling examples safely ensconced in a ziplock in the bowels of the humidor until this week when I screwed up the courage to smoke another one. I selected a toro sized cigar called the Tropical Candy, with an Alec Bradley Lineage nearby as an emergency back up, Surprisingly, the cigar wasn’t bad, I finished it. Any infusion must have aged out, as it just tasted like a nice, sweet tobacco, and the burn and draw were fine, although it was a bit loosely packed. I was pleasantly surprised, no hallucinations, no weird dreams, no urge to skateboard or anything, Maybe I was a little let down! I kinda understand the acquisition from a FDA predicate standpoint, as these blends certainly go back to the 1990s. I’ll be very interested to see what Alec Bradley does with the line.

Of course, I had to follow up with an actual Alec Bradley cigar, but instead of the Lineage, I went with an old favorite, the Nica Puro. I got home from work late last night and grabbed a robusto from the humidor, and saw the Nica Puro (I misplaced the Lineage…), and I love the Nica Puro! I haven’t smoked one in a while and I knew it would hit the spot. I do believe this cigar is my favorite cigar Alec Bradley produces, although I have an affinity for several others. This one has a balance of strength and flavor that hits me right. It’s one of those cigars that seems to burn right every time, with a nice straight burn, flat ember, I forgot how much I really like this cigar. There’s a bit of spice, some dark espresso, just damned good tobacco. I always like to have these in the humidor. I like the Robusto in this line, but the Diamond Rough Cut is pretty good too.

That’s about all I have for today. I have to work a rare Sunday, so it’s off to work for me. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Review

Tagged as Alec Bradley, cigar, cigars, Excalibur, hoyo de monterrey, Lars Tetens, Nica Puro, Tropical Candy

by CigarCraig | August 28, 2013 · 6:34 pm

New La Glorias and CAOs, a La Zona, a Culebra, and Another Contest!

I’ve smoked a couple of La Gloria Cubana Serie R Esteli No. 54 and, for me, it’s a winner. It was exactly what I was looking for Sunday afternoon in the pool. Of course, I’m a La Gloria fan, heck, I’ve dedicated the Adorini Cedro Deluxe humidor I got from Humidor Discount to the brand (OK, I may put a cigar in there for a while when I’m too lazy to put it in the proper humidor…there’s that CDO again!). I always seem to have a collection of “LGCs” of various lines, shapes and sizes. Anyway, this new addition to the Serie R line is the first La Gloria Cubana made in Nicaragua. The Serie N, which I also enjoyed, is made in the Dominican Republic with Nicaraguan tobaccos. The Serie R Esteli is a dark, cocoa/coffee beauty with a hint of sweetness. The Esteli is a Brick and Mortar exclusive, however they also released the Serie R Black which is an online exclusive. I look forward to trying that one too, and they are all fairly priced. Good stuff.

Sunday evening I grabbed a La Zona robusto I had bought a few weeks ago for a very reasonable sub-$5 price. This is made by Erik Espinosa in his La Zona factory in Esteli, and has a Nicaraguan grown Habano wrapper. It was a great tasting cigar, although the burn meandered a bit. For the price these are hard to beat. It was medium bodied and full of flavor, well worth the money and something to have on hand for sure. Sadly, every time I went by the Espinosa booth at the trade show it was busy. This cigar comes in a Connecticut version too.

Contests

Want a chance to win some cigars? I’m not giving them away this time, but head over to The Hoyo de Monterrey website and check out the contest they are running. The Hoyo Rothschild is a solid smoke in my book, I’ve smoked plenty of them, but haven’t had one in quite a while. I don’t know how they pair with beer, but they go great with a nice premium root beer or ginger brew! They are giving away a box a week, so head over and enter!

BACON!

Want a chance to win something from my site again? My good friend Bruce makes these awesome Bacon Jams, and he gave me a tasting sampler to give away to one of you lucky readers. Yes, I said Bacon. Bacon, bacon, bacon! Spread some on your ham sandwich if you want, everything goes with bacon! They have a Kickstarter campaign running right now to get this product to market. The website is www.TheBaconJams.com. Leave a comment for a chance to win a sampler of the Original, Red Chile and Garlic and Black Pepper and Honey flavors and I’ll pick a winner on Sunday! These are high quality Bacon Preserves that are awful good, they’d have to be right? They’re made with bacon! Leave a comment here to enter.

Monday night we went out to dinner with Bruce, of The Bacon Jams fame, and his wife, and afterwards retired to our deck for cigars afterward. Bruce very generously gifted me a Partagas Culebra from the ‘90s. Oddly, I’ve never smoked a culebra, I got my 24 year old son to join us and the three of us fired these bad boys up. I enjoy the Havana Partagas line quite a bit, and this was an excellent example of the fine flavors found in the brand. It burned as straight as a bent up, crooked cigar could be expected to, and the draw was perfect. These are awful neat cigars to share with two friends. It was a great smoking experience with great company.

Another IPCPR show release I smoked a few of this week was the CAO Flathead 554 Camshaft, the most recent of which I enjoyed Tuesday night. This cigar is square pressed and has a flat head. If you’ve ever noticed, just about every cigar made by General Cigar Company has a round head. It’s one of their hallmarks, this flat headed Flat Head is unique. The first one I smoked I tried to V-cut, which didn’t work out very well. The cap popped off completely when I cut it, which I’ve heard reported by others. The second example I used my Screwpop™ Cigar Punch, which has about a 7 millimeter diameter. This worked perfectly and provided a perfect draw and everything stayed where it belonged. This is a dark and rich smoke with some strength to it. I like it. I really look forward to trying the rest of the sizes in the line, as the smaller sizes were blended for strength and the larger sizes (maybe the 7”x70 is a little big, but the box press should make it feel more manageable) were blended for flavor. An odd approach, but Ricky Rodriguez and his staff are creative guys and I’m impressed with this Camshaft size. The packaging is really quite neat too.

Well, I was all over the place this week. Lots packed into this post. It’s time to find a cigar to celebrate the last couple hours in my 40s, perhaps something with a 49 ring gauge would be appropriate. I’ll smoke something with a 50 ring tomorrow.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

8 Comments

Filed under Contest, IPCPR, Review

Tagged as CAO, cigar, cigars, Contest, Culebra, Eric Espinosa, hoyo de monterrey, La Gloria Cubana, La Zona, Partagas

by CigarCraig | July 7, 2013 · 9:46 am

4th of July Weekend Cigars: Alec Bradley, Hoyo, Gurkha, La Gloria and Another Alec Bradley

We had a pretty low key 4th of July celebration. All our kids and grandkids were over and we grilled and stuff for the afternoon. Before everyone got here I started the day with an Alec Bradley American Classic Robusto. I pick up a few of these on occasion because they are a really solid, versatile cigar. They are inexpensive, smooth, tasty and well made. I enjoy them and they are a great cigar to give to an occasional smoker, which I did not have the opportunity to do, I smoked it myself.

After everyone left it was time to break into the special occasion humidor and pick out a celebratory cigar. I selected a Havana Hoyo de Monterrey Churchill which was given to me several years ago with the proviso that it might be plugged, and if it was, ditch it and smoke something else (he had also given me a back-up). Unfortunately, I failed to bring a backup along, and the cigar was horribly plugged and I fought with it for my entire walk. The really annoying part was that the little bit of flavor I was able to coax out of the cigar was pretty darned tasty, and I wanted it, I wanted it bad! I usually keep it to myself when a cigar is this flawed, but considering the manufacturer, I don’t feel too bad being critical when the situation calls for it.

I wasn’t going to be defeated, so I went back to the humidor and selected a much more recent production Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No 2. Ah, success. This is about the same size the Churchill would have been by the time I returned from my walk had it not been plugged. This Robusto (or is it a Hermoso No. 4? I forget) burned as well as a Cuban cigar can be expected to burn and had the flavor that the Churchill had teased me with. I’m firmly a believer that there are many cigars that are much better than Cubans but I enjoy the different flavor that only Cuban cigars have and have smoked at least on on the 4th of July for so many years its a tradition. It’s a combination of celebrating our wedding anniversary and the little bit of civil disobedience that this country was founded on that keeps me doing it.

Friday we were running some errands and found ourselves going through Maple Glen, PA, (near Ambler). We spied a place called “Black Wolfman Tobacco” and felt compelled to visit. This is a little shop that has a couple cabinet humidors along one wall, and they roll your own and cigarettes behind the counter. The selection was sparse, but reasonably priced. I grabbed a couple Perdomo 10th Anniversary Maduro Robusto for about $5.25 each. When we got home it was hot, so I grabbed a Gurkha Cellar Reserve Churchill and got in the pool. I like a large cigar for pool smoking, it just seems easier for some reason. I’ve smoked a bunch of these and it’s a nice, smooth smoke. I like these as the first cigar of the day because it’s on the mild side. I had an ulterior motive in picking this out besides it’s inherent pool-worthiness.

My Friday evening walk featured a new cigar from Gurkha, a Cellar Reserve with a maduro wrapper. I’m sure that Oliver Hyams, marketing director with Gurkha, told me what the wrapper was when he gave me this last week at Cigarnival, but I’ve forgotten and I’ll update this when I receive the information. I want to say it’s either a San Andreas or Connecticut Broadleaf as that’s what it tasted like to me. Great smoke! This cigar is right up my alley. It’s got that coffee/espresso that I like along with a little sweetness. Something sticks in my head about Brazilian Arpiraca, but I may be confusing that with the wrapper on the Ghost, which this tastes nothing like. (note: I confirmed with Oliver Hyams at Gurkha, it was Brazilian Arapiraca!) I am certain that this will be released at next weeks IPCPR show, so this is a little preview. I suggest giving it a try when it comes out, because it’s darned tasty! It even has a curly little pigtail cap.

This is getting a little long for a holiday weekend, but I had a lot more time to smoke! Saturday I had another La Gloria Cubana Rabitos de Cochino. I see more of these in my future, the price to quality ratio is off the charts. Later I decided to give the new Alec Bradley Nica Puro a try. Now this is my kind of cigar! My initial thought is that it’s reminiscent of an Undercrown, it’s got that similar heavy body and lush flavor. I found that I had not eaten enough dinner as if it had been a longer cigar than a robusto it may have gotten the best of me. This is a cigar that’s on the stronger side, to be sure. I loved this smoke and appreciate Jonathan Lipson passing these to me last week, as I had been looking forward to trying them. There’s not a lot of Alec Bradley cigars that I don’t enjoy, but this one goes to the top of the list.

That’s enough for today, have some things to get done around the house and some sitting in the pool to do this afternoon. I have to pick out some cigars for today to wrap up the long weekend. Five more days of work and then it’s off to Vegas! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

3 Comments

Filed under Review, Stores

Tagged as Alec Bradley, cigar, cigar store, cigars, Gurkha, hoyo de monterrey, IPCPR

by CigarCraig | April 24, 2013 · 8:33 pm

C-Gars Ltd., Club Macanudo, the New Palio Lighter, the La Palina Maduro Toro and a Cain F Cigar

Sunday my wife and I drove up to Manhattan to meet up with our good friend Mitchell and his wife, along with some of his other friends at Club Macanudo. We got into the city early, so we wandered around Central Park a bit, even rode the Merry Go Round, visited Tiffany’s and just enjoyed a nice spring day. For those who don’t know, Mitchell operates C.Gars Ltd., the mail order division of Turmeaus Tobacconists established 1817, along with Robert Graham, Global Whisky Shop, Agedcubans, Humidorsonline, Havana Samplers, LCDH Hamburg, Great Gifts Etc. Mitchell is also the international distributor outside of the US for Palio, as well as several other brands that he sells in the UK and the rest of the world. We settled into Club Macanudo to smoke some cigars and socialize. The club is a beautiful space with a bar, private lockers and a full restaurant, serving a Sunday brunch menu until 7 pm. Jenn and I shared a delicious french toast and fruit bowl after I finished my first cigar, a Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No. 2, which Mitchell had handed me when we arrived. This was a delicious cigar, on the milder side for a Havana, but full of flavor and perfectly constructed. I don’t smoke many Havanas any more, as much as I enjoy that distinctive little flavor that only a fine Havana has, a twang, if you will. I think the cigars coming from Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Honduras are more interesting and superior in many ways. This was an exemplary smoke though, very nice. Looking at the cigar menu there was a bit startling. New York cigar prices are already high, but the prices there were more than double NY retail prices. I was going to joke that their prices were higher than Mitchell’s, but I try to avoid insulting my host if I can manage it! I didn’t take detailed notes, but I recall seeing a cigar that is $6.00 here in PA being $25. As I said, shocking. Fortunately, I had cigars with me, but Mitchell shoved a Partagas Serie D No. 4 in my paw so I had to smoke that. He mentioned that it was young and possibly quite strong, but I’m a fan of the Cuban Partagas line and found this to me a nice smoke. On the fuller side of medium with a very nice flavor. Perhaps with five years of age this will be a stellar smoke, but it was pretty darned tasty now. It’s always a great time hanging out with Mitchell, his lovely wife and his group of friends, and it’s nice to get a day away with my wife!

As if these special cigars weren’t a treat enough, Mitchell gifted me the new Palio Lighter in matte black, with “Seleccion Orchant 2013” inscribed on it. I’ve been lusting after this lighter since I spoke with Marc Aub of BOTL, LLC at the IPCPR show last August and he was showing it off (video here). This is a substantial lighter with a large fuel capacity, a fuel window and covers over the jet, as well as the filler hole. They’ve made it very easy to adjust the flame height with a little drop down turny thing on the adjustment screw (pardon the technical jargon). This is a brilliant lighter which I’m proud to have in my possession. It lights a cigar very nicely too. I’ll use it non-stop (except when I travel) and report on how it performs, but I have no doubt it will be flawless.

The first cigar I lit with the Palio lighter was a La Palina Maduro toro. I fell in love with the Robusto in this line last year when it was released, although I only smoked a few samples. Its everything I desire in a San Andreas wrapped cigar: smooth, chocolaty, and delicious. Of course it’s well made, although the draw could have been a little bit better. I enjoy the heck out of most of the La Palina cigars I’ve smoked, but this maduro is my favorite hands down (who among you who reads regularly is surprised?).

Tonight I grabbed a Cain F 5.75×50 that probably came from the IPCPR show last year. This turned out to be a poor choice for me, not because it wasn’t a great smoke, it was, but it was just too strong for me tonight. I’m tired and it kind of kicked me in the butt. It made it more difficult to sit down and write this post! I should have chosen something milder! Still a nice smoke, but strong. I think I like the tubed lancero best in this line.

News

I came across this in my inbox today and thought I’d pass it along since it struck me as a unique promotion that I’ve never seen before:

On Thursday, April 25th, cigar superstar Rocky Patel will be here at BestCigarPrices taking your calls!* Order any in-stock box of Rocky Patel cigars between 4-5pm ET for a chance to talk to Rocky LIVE while he personally hand-signs your box of cigars. CALL TOLL FREE 1-888-41-CIGAR.

Sunday’s post will be a rare guest post, since I will be travelling to Nicaragua for Cigar Safari. I’ll be touring the Drew Estate operation along with several of my blogging brethren (and some real journalists :-)). Expect another full report akin to my last report from March of 2011. Many thanks to the folks at Drew Estate for this opportunity! So stay tuned, I’ll try to get something posted while I’m there, internet access willing!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

9 Comments

Filed under News, Review, Stores, Trip Report

Tagged as Best Cigar Prices, cain, Central Park, cigar, Cigar Safari, cigars, Club Macanudo, drew estate, hoyo de monterrey, La Palina, macanudo, NYC, palio, Partagas, rocky patel

by CigarCraig | September 2, 2012 · 8:48 am

IPCPR 2012 – A La Sirena Merlion and Someone Wins Some Cigars!

Friday evening, the start of a holiday weekend, the (sigh) end of summer, all good reasons to spark up a good cigar. One of the cigars I’ve really been looking forward to smoking from the IPCPR show is the Merlion from La Sirena and Miami Cigar and Co. The sample I smoked was the Toro size, measuring 5½” x 54, which is a nice size for a late summer evening. The cigars are made at the La Aurora factory with Ecuadoran Corojo wrapper, a Brazilian Sumatra binder and Dominican Corojo, Dominican Criollo, Nicaraguan ligero and Brazilian Mata Fina fillers. It’s a very nice cigar. I could certainly taste the influence of the La Aurora factory in the blend, there’s a signature flavor that I’m familiar with that stands out. It performed perfectly and was a nice, satisfying smoke. Another winner from Arielle Ditkowich and the folks at Miami Cigar and Co. Arielle took a few moments to talk to me at the show, here’s the video.

Thank you, Arielle, for being one of my first few interviews at the show. Keep making tasty smokes!

Contest

I know, nobody is interested in video of me talking to a lovely lady about cigars, you just want to know who won this weeks contest! I was pretty amazed by the response, especially considering I was pretty vague about what the prize was (and I’m sorry, there will not be a Taboada in the prize pack! I had one and that was it). What is in the package is a pair of Tortuga LE 2011 torpedoes from Victor Vitale, along with a selection of General Cigar Co. goodies, including some new releases and special cigars that are only available at special events. I also threw in a few favorites from my humidors. As usual, I’ve consulted with the Random Number Generator at Random.org which has produced the number 15, which corresponds to Christian Logay by my figuring. Congrats Christian! Please send me your contact info so I can get this in the mail to you! Again, thanks to everyone for reading along and making the last 3 years very special for me.