Tag Archives: Intemperance

by Craig Vanderslice | October 29, 2023 · 10:27 am

A Powstanie Wojtek and a Few RoMaCraft Cigars

It’s been a difficult week for me for some reason, physically and mentally. Among other things, our coffee maker crapped out, then the replacement arrived broken, so that added to the general malaise I’ve been feeling. This time of year bugs me. Fortunately, through the kindness of a dear reader, I have been provided with some solace in the form of some new-to-me cigars for me to enjoy and write about. I need to refrain from mentioning that I’m running out of material, it reeks of mooching. Mitch was very generous and shared some of his favorites with me, it’s not the first time I’ve been the recipient of his generosity, he was my Secret Santa last year (do we want to do that again this year?), and went over the top. There were a few cigars that were on a list I had made of cigars I wanted to try, first among them was this year’s Powstanie War Bear, or Wojtek, in a 5¾” x 46 box pressed corona gorda shape. The War Bear is a Habano/San Andrés barber pole wrapped cigar, although both wrappers are on the dark side and it’s hard to tell it’s a dos capos cigar without really looking closely at it. It’s made at Nica Sueno, which will be a theme of today’s post. This starts off with a kick, and settled into a chocolaty spice. I’ve had previous Warbears, I think it was a perfecto, and I didn’t like it as much as I liked this one, it was really good.

The next one that was on my to-try list was the RoMaCraft Intemperance Volstead VO 1920 in the Noble Experiment size. This is another box press, this time a 5″ x 56 robusto. Oddly, I’m a big fan of the Intemperance EC XVIII, I’ve smoked a ton of the Virtue size. The Volstead is interesting in that it uses an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper that is genetically similar to a Cameroon leaf, which is different, over a San Andrés binder and Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers. I’m going to just say “wow” about this cigar. It’s a really tasty cigar. I got some creamy coffee, a little nuttiness and cinnamon, and around the halfway point there were some neat exotic spice flavors that I couldn’t put a finger on. This was a fascinating cigar, and will be a buy the next time I see them in a shop. While I’m thinking about this, please do me a favor, if you happen to shop at JRs or Cigars.com, please click through the links on the left side of my page when you make a purchase. Someone was kind enough to make a large purchase, but it’s $.05 under the amount needed to cash out the commission! Don’t go out of your way or anything, but it would help me out! Anyway, the Volstead is probably the best new cigar I’ve smoked in a long time, it was really good.

Yesterday I should have gone to Best Cigar Pub to meet up with the folks from The Cigar Hacks podcast and Mike Weinstein, but it was another one of those situations where I couldn’t mentally or physically handle driving an hour and a half each way, I just wanted to sit at home and spent time alone. It was 80 degrees on the last weekend in October here, and while I regret missing the opportunity to Visit BCP and see the Hacks and finally meet Mike face to face, I’ll get around to it when I break out of my funk. The Intemperance BA XXI Contempt I smoked while watching a Flyers losing effort helped. This is another corona gorda, I believe it was from the 2022 El Catador de Las Gran Coronas, and is 5¾” x 46. I call it a Corona Gorda, they call it a Gran Corona, I think the difference is an eighth of an inch. Either are a great size, one of my favorites behind the Toro and Churchill. Earlier when I said I was a big fan of the Intemperance EC XVIII, that happened a bit by accident. I had my sights set on a box of the BA Avarice size and the box was damaged, so I grabbed another box blindly and when I got home I realized it was the EC. Not at all disappointed, although I would have been happy either way. The BA stands for Brazilian Arapiraca, which is the wrapper, of course, and I’m pretty sure the rest is Nicaraguan. This is a chocolaty cigar with a hint of a citrus tang. It was super-good even though the game, and my mood, were not.

My last cigar of the day yesterday was a Neanderthal HoxD, which is a cigar I’ve had before, but is always a treat. I got to this later than usual, so a small cigar fit in nicely, this is 4″ x 46 with a flat cap. These give me a chance to use my Adorini punch, with a 13mm punch that makes a large opening. This blend has all my favorites, a San Andrés wrapper, Broadleaf binder and Dominican, Nicaraguan and Pennsylvania fillers. Mitch tells me that this is his favorite morning with coffee cigar, which gives me an insight into his psyche. I can immediately tell he’s someone who craves flavor, perhaps enjoys a good hot sauce, probably on everything. No judgement. This 4″ cigar burned for an hour. This is a nutty/leathery cigar with some sweet earth and coffee. It’s delicious, and it’s strong. I taste the Pennsylvania ligero, but I’m born and raised here in PA. I’m not going to say it contributed to my having a restless night sleep, but it might have. Great cigar, and a big thank you to Mitch for sharing these four cigars with me. Look forward to seeing what else he shared next week.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 1920, BA XXI, cigar, cigars, HoxD, Intemperance, Neanderthal, Powstanie, RoMaCraft, Volstead, War Bear, Warbear, Wojtek

by CigarCraig | July 17, 2016 · 8:10 am

Intemperance, La Aurora and a Laranga Cigars

I don’t have a lot of cigars to share with you this time. I had a busy week with the video I posted and the various Leccia cigars I had to smoke for inspiration, yeah, that’s it…Bottom line is that the Desnudo cigars are really good, the Luchador line is also very good (the El Hombre is one of my favorites, the El Gringo line doesn’t excite me as much as the original line), whatever that Barber Pole cigar was was really good, and many of Sam’s other creations over the years have been to my liking. If we could just get him to dump the Penguins and become a Flyers fan…So I posted the video, and I posted Friday about the suit filed against the FDA. I hope this is effective, I know a lot of thought and preparation went into it, and I can’t imagine taking legal action against the US Government is a comfortable thing to do. Someone has to understand that it just isn’t right for an un-elected, bureaucratic department to cost so many jobs in so many countries. It’s wrong, it’s completely a tobacco vendetta, and it needs to stop. Rant over.

Friday I decided I wanted to smoke something from Skip and Mike’s RoMaCraft line, and while rummaging through my meager selection, I came across a box pressed robusto bearing the Intemperance band. I recognized that this was the BA XXI iteration of the Intemperance line, but couldn’t place where I got it. Once I figured out that it was the Intemperance BA XXI Revenge, a store exclusive to Outland Cigars in Charlotte, NC, I realized that it must have come from Will Cooper. My memory is not what it used to be. This cigar is 5″ x 56, basically a box pressed version of The Breach of the Peace. The wrapper is a Brazilian Arapiraca, not so dark, kind of a medium brown. They use an Indonesian binder (I’m typically not a fan of Indonesian tobacco, never have been, but I think lately it’s a pretty neutral, flavorless leaf that only serves to hold the filers together), and fillers from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. It was a very well balanced cigar, flavors of coffee with cream and a little sweetness, some pepper and a little cedar. I think I have a Breach of the Peace in the humidor, and definitely need to grab some more of this line the next time I see them. Congrats to Skip Martin on the recent birth of his third daughter!

Saturday I busted ass around the house in the morning, when out for a late lunch, then settled into the smoking porch for a cigar or two. I started with a La Aurora 1962 Corojo Robusto. I received a couple of these, along with it’s Connecticut counterpart, a few weeks back from Miami Cigar and Co. Regular readers may recall that I am a long time fan of the La Aurora brand, even though a great many of their offerings are not suited to my tastes. The first box of cigars I ever bought was La Aurora Bristol Especiales, which was under $40 at the time, my daughter still may have the box. Those cigars ended up having an odd, vegetable flavor that didn’t really do anything for me and taught me an early lesson about buying without trying. I do have a tradition of smoking a Puro Vintage 2003 whenever a granddaughter is born, but I can only accommodate two more granddaughters, not that we are expecting any more anytime soon. Anyway, my recollection is that the Corojo line has been around for a while, it’s made with Ecuador Corojo wrapper, Ecuador Sumatra binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. This example smoked a little wetter than I prefer, it was a humid day, but I enjoyed the flavor and will dry down the others and smoke them again. I must remember to open the bags before putting them in the humidor. I look forward to smoking the Connecticut.

A couple weeks ago I visited a local shop and the Espinosa Cigars Laranga Reserva caught my eye, and I hesitated to buy one until the shop manager came in a recommended it without any prior knowledge that I had been thinking about it. I’ll admit, the price played into my hesitation to try this cigar that I’ve heard a lot about over the last year. All they had was the corona gorda, which is a great size, so I lucked out. Still, a just under $10 corona gorda doesn’t sit well with me, but I guess I better get used to it. Probably at $8 I would have tried it long ago, but I have trouble getting past $9…cheap bastard as I am. Anyway, this cigar had a wide open draw, so I knew I wasn’t going to struggle with it like I did with the Aurora. I don’t know if it’s the reference to Orange in the name (Laranga is Portuguese for Orange, btw, and so named because the wrapper leaf has an orange tinge), or some other outside influence, but I really did get a citrus note. As with most cigars I’ve smoked from La Zona, and the list of cigars they make seems to grow daily, this was a really good smoke. It was well balanced with a ton of flavor.

That’s it for now. A week from now I’ll be traveling to the IPCPR show in Las Vegas, and I’ll be trying to bring you news, although folks like Cigar-Coop, Halfwheel, Stogie Review and Cigar Federation will have more detailed information. I’ll try to put a different spin on things, and I anticipate it being a busy show with a ton of new releases trying to get on shelves before August 8. I usually do something fun and silly for the show, but this year doesn’t seem to be the year to do something like that. Anyway, that’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Corojo, Intemperance, La Aurora, La Zona, Laranga, RoMaCraft

by CigarCraig | April 26, 2015 · 9:22 am

RoMa Craft Intemperance, Inca Secret Blend and Kings Cigars

Sometime around Wednesday I picked out a cigar I had purchased a few weeks ago at Cigar Mojo. Because Skip over at RoMa Craft Cigars is quite in tune with the weasel culture, I feel the need to mention that I bought the cigar, along with bunch of others. This one was the Intemperance BA XXI “The Ambition”, from what I can tell (and I’ll double-check this when I go to Cigar Mojo later today). The Ambition is a belicoso, 5½” x 54, and the reason I’m second guessing myself on this is that I don’t remember this having the shaggy foot (although looking at the picture the wrapper does look like it’s cut a little short, almost like it shrank). It certainly had the Brazilian wrapper (it’s funny to me that a “Brazilian” would be “shaggy”) based upon flavor and appearance, the cigar certainly wasn’t wrapped in Ecuador Connecticut. This was a powerful cigar. I really enjoyed the flavor, but the nicotine content was almost overpowering. I had to sugar up a little after I finished the smoke, and that rarely happens. It had a nice sweet, spicy flavor and was very good. At $7, I may have to grab a couple more to let rest for a year or so and revisit.

You may recall reading here about the Inka Secret Blend cigars available in the UK. These are an exclusive to C.Gars Ltd and are made in Peru from all Peruvian tobacco. Mitchell and his team are releasing the Inca Secret Blend to the US market this year, they should be available at selected retailers already. The first thing you notice is the presentation, the box is incredible. It’s obviously Inca themed, black and gold with a gold medallion on the top. Even the inside rim of the box is painted gold, the attention to detail is crazy.

The cigars are available in two sizes initially, the 6″ x 50 Tambo, and the 6″ x 60 Imperio, which is the cigar I smoked this week. I’ll preface this by saying that I had the great pleasure of sitting in on a tasting of these at Casa Fuente in Vegas back at the 2013 IPCPR show, with Mitchell Orchant and Gennaro Lettieri, the owner of Tabacalera del Oriente in Tarapoto, Peru where these are made. It was comical to watch, and I didn’t get to sample any at that time, but they went through dozens of samples and filled the ashtrays, much to the wonder of the staff at Casa Fuente. There was also some smoldering, my fault, actually, as I dissected one of the samples that had a less than desirable draw. I noted at the time that it had a double binder, and was rolled entubado if memory serves. I also enjoy most cigars that have Peruvian leaf in the blend, and have enjoyed the UK Inka Rojo and Azul that I’ve smoked quite a bit, odds were pretty good that I’d enjoy this cigar. The sample I smoked in the 6″ x 60 size was pretty fricken awesome. There were some similarities to a Havana cigar, it had the same kind of open draw, a similar Colorado colored wrapper, and an underlying spice. Considering the folks behind this cigar are mostly Havana cigar smokers, this isn’t really a surprise. The burn was acceptable for a cigar that had only recently come into my humidor, and I put them in the same day I put the CigarOasis Magna in, so there were some general fluctuations in humidity over a few days. I expect in a months time these will smoke perfectly. This cigar is a winner in my book, and it’s different from all the “New World” cigars out there. Assuming the FDA doesn’t screw everything up this year, this cigar should be a big hit.

Yesterday I was rummaging through my Adorini Carrera humidor, making sure everything was OK and it wasn’t jealous of the new humidor across the room, and I came across a Kings Cigars King of Kings Habano, box pressed 6″ x 64. Also going back to the 2013 IPCPR show, just before the show I received a package from them out of the blue, never heard of them, had never had contact with them, it’s was actually kind of creepy. We searched them out at the show very early on, the curiosity factor worked, I had to figure out what the deal was with these guys. Well, they were a great group of entrepreneurs with a passion for cigars, and some nice, well made smokes and a flashy booth (with Cuban coffee, always a plus!). We got along well with the folks there and hung out with them several times during the week. I actually haven’t heard much from them since, but I have heard their advertising recently on the Cigar Guys Radio Show out of Atlanta. So I made some room in the piano top humidor (it’s on the piano in the living room, and its a beautiful gloss black) by removing this large cigar, and took it out for a walk. It’s been close to two years since I smoked one of these, and it’s a good Nicaraguan cigar, well-balanced with a nice, meaty Habano sweetness. The box press makes the 64 ring gauge a little more manageable, but it’s still a formidable cigar. I really want to try this in the Broadleaf wrapper, and will have to see if I can find someplace that carries these, or hunt them down at the show this year. The cigar business is tough, so it’s no surprise that this brand isn’t as widely recognized as some, but the product is solid and it takes time.

I’m planning to go to New Orleans for this year’s IPCPR show, so I want to ask you who you’d like me to seek out and what interview questions do you want me to ask, besides the usual “what’s new” that everyone asks. I have some folks on my list, but I want to get some fresh ideas. Leave a comment here, and while you’re at it, go back to my last post and leave a comment to enter to win some tasty treats from La Sirena cigars (Arielle is on the IPCPR list already). I’m going to head over to Cigar Mojo in King of Prussia, PA today for a smoke, stop by if you are around!

That’s enough outa me, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Imperio, Inca, Intemperance, Kings Cigars, RoMa Craft