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A Quick Trip to Tampa, J.C.Newman, Hockey and Sanchez y Haya

Monday I took what is becoming an annual event,  a trip to Tampa to go to a Flyers hockey game!  Once again I met up with Kevin (CigarProp) to smoke cigars and watch hockey.  Of course we smoked some great J.C. Newman cigars both at Corona Cigars in Tampa pre-game, and at the Diamond Crown Lounge in the Benchmark International Arena (the only NHL arena that still has a cigar lounge!).  The lounge has been remodeled since last year, overlooks the ice surface, and is the best way to watch a game short of being able to smoke in the seats!  It’s a beautiful lounge with comfy seating, TVs, and a nice selection of J.C. Newman and Fuente cigars. The service is excellent as well, with attentive staff there to make recommendations and cut and light your cigar if needed. If you ever have the opportunity to get club level seats at a Lightning game, it’s well worth it!

 

Photo Credit : Kevin

 

Tuesday morning I decided my best course of action was to get to the La Segunda bakery in Ybor to get some coffee and a cinnamon bun for breakfast, and pay a visit to El Reloj.  I enjoyed an enormous cinnamon roll and a double espresso in the Cigar Workers Park across the street from the factory. It just so happened that my visit perfectly aligned with the ground-breaking ceremony for the Sanchez y Haya building that the Newmans have been working to renovate over the past couple years.  It was a media event. TV stations were there, as well as a bunch of dignitaries, including Kathy Castor, the area’s member of the House of Representatives. Drew Newman, great grandson of J.C. Newman, who has. spearheaded this, as well as the renovation of El Reloj, spoke about the history of the building and the plans for the future. It’s refreshing to see their local elected officials getting behind something cigar related. I felt fortunate and honored to have stumbled across this event. It’s my hope that next year I can go down for a game again, and stay at the hotel!  I took a few pictures, and have included the local news video below. 

 

 

Many thanks to the folks at J.C.Newman for the hospitality!  I’m glad I got to visit with Bobby, Eric and Drew for a few minutes, and meet Amanda. I’m sorry I missed Sydney. It’s always good to hang out with Kevin!  

 

Until the next time, 

CigarCraig

 

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November 28, 2025 · 10:18 am
September 14, 2025 · 8:33 am

El Baton Cameroon, El Mago El Cubano and El Whippoorwill Cigars

I selected an interesting batch of cigars to feature this week.  The first two I bought from 2 Guys Cigars, who held their 40th anniversary festivities this weekend.  One of these days I’ll make it back up there for a visit.  I actually had a bad dream last night about moving to New Hampshire, we bought a run down house and I was against moving north, if I ever move, it won’t be north!  Anyway, I picked up some of the newly released El Baton Cameroon Firecrackers by J.C. Newman and United Cigars.  This branding confuses me.  El Baton isn’t a budget brand, but it’s not on the Diamond Crown level, it’s a mid-line brand I guess.  I love them, they are really tasty smokes (I smoked a belicoso after smoking the Firecracker).  To my knowledge, it’s never had a Cameroon wrapper, where as they have made a Cuesta Rey with Cameroon.  Is Cuesta Rey not a strong enough brand to carry the firecracker?  Not sure what the thinking here was.  Anyway, the Firecracker is 3½” x 50 with a fuse cap, and aren’t inexpensive at $9.29 each.  It started on the bitter side, then the nutty Camerooniness© kicked in, just in time for it to be done.  It’s too short.  Like I said, I followed it with the El Baton Belicoso, and I can see where it’s in the same family.  Fun smoke, happy to have added some to my firecracker collection.

 

When I ordered the Firecrackahs, I added on a few of the El Mago El Cubano toros, as I’ve been having good luck with the El Magos and wanted to try more.  Seems like I’m doing a lot of complaining today.  Neither the tube, which is very nice, nor the bands, also nice, say El Mago on them anywhere.  This confuses me.  This is a new brand that needs all the exposure it can get, because, in my limited experience, they are making great cigars. They can’t rely on imagery to identify the brand just yet.  I’d like to see “El Mago” on the packaging somewhere.  I’ll admit when I ordered these I didn’t even look at the blend, I may not have ordered them had I known they were shade wrapped cigars.  But I did, so I smoked it.  It was very heavy on the citrus tang, made it on the sharp side in flavor.  Like other cigars in the brand, it burned very well and I enjoyed it for what it was, but it wouldn’t be my first pick. I may take one out of the tube and see if some age smoothes it out.  I’ll continue sampling through the El Mago line as I come across them.

 

Finally, Flatbed Cigar Co. rarely has a new release.  Their Panacea line is very good, please check out the daily deals on the left side of my page. You can get some great cigars at a good price.  Paul announced a new line last week, the Whippoorwill, so I bought a pack to try.  Despite the title of this post, it’s just Whippoorwill, not El Whippoorwill!  This falls in the Homestead line, and has a Habano Oscuro wrapper, at least on most of it. The first half inch is just binder, which is Nicaraguan, and the fillers are Nicaraguan and Dominican.  Once the burn reaches the wrapper, this is a really good cigar!  I say that because I thought it started out a little harsh, but when that wrapper kicked in it was terrific.  It smoothed out to a spicy, sweet treat, had a perfect burn and draw, and it’s 6″ x 52, my favorite size. It lasted all the way through the Thunderbolts movie, which I found entertaining (the Red Guardian cracks me up!). Good smoke, keep the great cigars coming Paul!

 

That’s all for today! Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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July 27, 2025 · 9:05 am

My Father Blue, Diamond Crown Tampa and Davidoff Maduro

I smoked a few pricey cigars this week, outside my usual comfort zone. However this first one wasn’t one of those! I picked up a few of the new My Father Blue in toro and gordo, and smoked one in each size. This is from the company’s new Honduras factory and uses tobacco grown on their Honduran farm. It has a Connecticut rosado broadleaf wrapper, and Corojo and Criollo tobaccos from Honduras. My first impression was what a gorgeous cigar this was. The bands are beautiful, tying in the whole “Blue” thing, they really pop on the shelf. Blue was once considered the kiss of death on a cigar band, but now longer, this is a stunner. It starts with some spice, who’s surprised? The best food comparison I can make is rye bread (TY NK for putting that in my head). I smoked both the Toro Gordo and the Toro and they were superb, a real winner. I’ll be very interested in smoking more cigars from the Honduras factory, including whatever Tatuaje might do there.

 

I was fortunate that J.C. Newman shared some of their new Diamond Crown Tampa cigars with me, it’s hard to say when I’ll get back to Tampa, as these are exclusive to shops in the city.  I also have a hard time dropping $30 on a cigar.  This is a Diamond Crown with a little extra, which is the Florida Sun Grown tobacco grown at Jeff Borysiewicz’ farm in Clermont, Florida.  These are still made at Tabacalera Fuente, and still have an Connecticut Shade wrapper, although it looks darker to me than I’m used to.  It’s only available in a 6½” x 52 Toro. The guts are Dominican, except for the FSG ligero.  I was amazed at how good this cigar was, but I shouldn’t have been, I guess.  My first Diamond Crown cigar was back in 1998 and it, along with all it’s siblings, have been favorites ever since.  The new Diamond Crown bands are beautiful, and they added a large band on the body of the cigar that has Tampa imagery, El Reloj (not El Rehol, dammit Coop!), a rooster, Gaspar’s ship and other Tampa landmarks.  It’s my week for smoking beautiful cigars!  This was another bready cigar with the FSG spice which is unique.  I’m fortunate to have had the opportunity to try it, and recommend it, it’s a special treat.  

 

I could have smoked something more ridiculously expensive than this next cigar, but I’ll hold off on that one for a couple weeks. Once again, I was fortunate to receive a sampling of the newish Davidoff Maduro, and selected the 6″ x 54 Toro for my Friday evening smoke.  This has a chocolaty maduro wrapper from Ecuador, a Mexican binder and Dominican fillers.  A box will run you a little over a grand, make sure you get free shipping if you buy online!  If I ever have a box of these you’ll know I won the lottery. This was another pretty cigar, the bands are classic, in this case it’s the wrapper that catches the eye.  This cigar burned perfectly, razor straight with a perfect draw. It had some of the cocoa one expects, some spice, and that musty umami that I think Davidoff cigars usually have. This was stronger than I expected, it being a Davidoff and all, and I had to put it down sooner than I usually do (most cigars are finger burners for me). I had to take Zino’s advice and put it down around the band, which made me sad. My value brain saw me leaving $15 in the ashtray!  I inherited frugality from my late mother.  This was an impressive cigar anyway, and I very much appreciate Davidoff sharing these with me.  It was a special treat.  

 

We’ve been busy with the stresses that go with handling an estate, getting a house ready to sell, going through generations of  stuff, and trying to turn some of it into cash.  Cigars have been my therapy, hopefully it’ll be behind us soon. That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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March 16, 2025 · 9:23 am

Serenity Now, Montecristo Exclusive, Hooten Young and Julius Caeser Cigars

Thursday night I went to a Flyers Game, their second meeting with the Tampa

Lightning. You may recall that I went to Tampa last November to the game there, and they won in a shootout.  It was a fantastic experience with the Diamond Crown cigar lounge and all, Kevin and I had a great time!  This time I took my youngest son, and I smoked a Serenity Now from Asylum/CLE Cigars.  I figured this would be an appropriate driving cigar!  I got this at the TPE show, embarrassed to say I don’t remember the reps name who I talked to , but Tom Lazuka was there.  This is a cigar that Christian Eiroa came up with, Tom is usually the idea man for the Asylum line.  It’s my understanding that we wasn’t very happy with Christian at first. This comes in a box with a San Andrés sibling, the Insanity Later.  Serenity Now uses a Connecticut-seed wrapper, which may or may not be grown in Honduras, over tobaccos from Honduras and an undisclosed South American country.  There are a lot of references to CLE having a farm in South America, which is a big place.   I thought this was a little bitey for a shade cigar, on the tannic side. It was a nice road cigar as it burned well and was inoffensive.  Full flavor yet medium strength.  I’d try it again, but am more interested in trying the maduro, which I would have called Profanity Later, but that’s just me.

 

Last week when I visited the Smoke Inn Casa de Montecristo lounge in West Palm Beach, one of the cigars I bought was a Montecristo Nicaragua Great Smoke 2023 Exclusive.  This was priced higher than I usually like, but when in Rome (more on Rome, see below) you know!  Yesterday was The Great Smoke put on by Abe at Smoke Inn, and it looks to have been a good time.  In honor of that, I decided to smoke the Montecristo.  This is a Nicaraguan puro, blended by Rafael Nodal and AJ Fernandez and made at the AJF factory.  Montecristo (and a lot of Altadis cigars) aren’t generally my cup of tea, although the exceptions are the ones made by AJ Fernandez.  This has a dark wrapper, is a 6″ x 52 Toro, and performed spectacularly.  It has a distinctive flavor, I wonder if this is what people refer to as “black walnut”?  I don’t like walnut, but this was a good tasting cigar.  I didn’t regret dropping $20 on this cigar, it was a souvenir, of my trip, and I really enjoyed it.  Once again, I can’t overstate how nice an experience my visit to the Smoke Inn shop was, I will have to get back down there and go to some of the other shops.

 

Another cigar I picked up on my recent travels was the Hooten Young Ma Deuce.  I saw Jon Carney at the Cigar Circus event and he, apparently, had been working with the Hooten Young folks, and hooked me up with a couple of their cigars.  I probably should have watched “Black Hawk Down” yesterday while I smoked this, but opted for something a little lighter.  Norm Hooten, one of the co-founders of the company, is a Veteran of the mission in Somalia which the movie “Black Hawk Down” is about, and there’s also a connection to Jon Carney’s home town in Maine. This is an interesting vitola. It’s 6½” x 60, but it’s shaped like a .50 caliber cartridge. The Ecuadorian Connecticut and San Andres Maduro wrapper co

mbo is arranged to emulate the different metals in the bullet and casing.  It has a Nicaraguan binder and filler.  They come in boxes that look like ammo cans. Everyone has a different palate, I got a sourdough flavor off the start, which continued through out. Of course, I like this flavor in a cigar, so it was good.  I smoked it for the better part of two hours, and the tapered head makes it very much unlike a 60 ring cigar. It was fun to smoke. I’ll watch “Black Hawk Down” one of these days when I’m in the mood.  

 

Finally, I couldn’t let March 15 go by without smoking a Diamond Crown Julius Caeser cigar.  Here’s something I wrote last year that I was pretty proud of, although I might be the only one who was impressed with it…

 

We all know that March 15 marks the da

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y that Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC.  We know the exact date because he invented the calendar we use.  He instituted that just a year before his death.   Anyway, he was a heck of an Emperor, but I guess his friends thought he was a dick, so they stabbed him. I may be oversimplifying things a little. A few millennia later some Hungarian folks named their son after him, and US immigration screwed up the spelling on his paperwork and Julius Caeser Newman started a cigar company that makes some great cigars. 

 

The Diamond Crown Julius Caeser is made at Tabacalera A. Fuente, has an Ecuador Havana wrapper, Dominican binder and Caribbean and Central American fillers. I smoked the Pyramid vitola, which is 6½” x 52.  I might have gotten this when I was in Tampa for the Heritage Festival in ’22.  I was kind of hoping to smoke the new Trouble Maker vitola, but I didn’t end up getting my hands on any.  This is a great cigar, with a woody profile that’s a nice change of pace for me.  I probably don’t smoke this line as often as I should, there are some good memories associated with it, beyond the historical and literary tie-ins. 

 

That’s all I have for today, no travel this weekend! until the next time, 

CigarCraig 

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November 10, 2024 · 1:42 pm

A Quick Florida Trip, Part One: The J.C. Newman Experience

When I saw that the Flyers were playing the Lightning in Tampa, my wife encouraged me to plan a trip down there to take my buddy Kevin (CigarProp) to his first NHL game. I made some inquiries and managed to secure two club level tickets with access to the Diamond Crown cigar lounge in the Amalie Arena.  We were allowed in 90 minutes before game time, so we went into the lounge for a cigar. Kevin selected some PDM Corojo Robustos, a favorite of us both.  Christina and Nidya work in the lounge, they get the cigars out of the humidor cabinets, ring them up and cut and light. I was wearing my Flyers sweater, I may have felt a little out of place.  We watched the first period from our seats and grabbed  some food, which was a n upgrade from what we would have gotten if I had just bought nosebleed seats off of stub hub!  There was brisket and pork belly, sushi and all manner of delicious desserts. We were definitely spoiled.  We watched the second period from the lounge, where I selected som Fuente 8-5-8 Sungrowns. The humidor in the lounge has a nice selection of J.C. Newman and Fuente cigars, and they weren’t priced bad, a buck or two over what they would be in a shop (in a no tax state!)

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. The lounge has windows overlooking the arena, and several televisions, but it’s hard to watch unless you’re right at the glass, but any time I can watch hockey and smoke a cigar I’m happy.  We returned to our seats for the third period, overtime and the shootout, where the Flyers managed to win.  I enjoyed the game, and I think Kevin had a good time too.  It was a really good time and the ladies working the lounge were outstanding. I thin

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k at one point I counted 30 patrons in the lounge, which isn’t huge, and the ventilation was really good.  I have no idea how one would get tickets, but if you are in Tampa and have the opportunity, jump on it! Many thanks again to J.C. Newman for the tickets!

 

Friday we spent the day at the J.C.Newman headquarters and factory, El Reloj (that’s El Relow, no matter how you’ve heard it pronounced).  This is a historic building, and the only major factory left in the country.  There’s a few little cigar factories here and there, but this one is producing millions of cigars using machines from the 1920s and ‘30s. They refer to this as machine assisted and not machine made, as these are not automated and require some human input. This is another tour I recommend if you’re in Tampa. The tour is very educational, there’s a museum aspect, with a lot of J.C. Newman memorabilia, Tampa cigar history, and even the oldest known cigars from the mid-1800s that were found in a shipwreck not all that long ago!  The basement has another museum area, as well as an aging room for the handmade cigars they make, and some tobacco processing areas. The second floor has the machine made production and packaging, and the third floor has a rolling gallery where they make the American, Angel Cuesta and some special cigars.  One of the special cigars they were making was the Tampa Smokers, named after the old baseball team and shaped like a baseball bat.  I always wondered how they made these.  Now I know. 

We would stay on the third floor for the rolling seminar.  This is where they provide bunches and one has to  apply the wrapper. We wrapped five Robustos, and this is harder than you think. I’ve done it a few times before, and I think my results were pretty good, except for applying the cap. I struggle with the cap. The blend they provided is special, I’ll have to reach out to Holden who led the class and find out, but I believe it’s a modified American blend.  I should have paid more attention, but I was trying to finish my darned caps right. 

 

Following the rolling exercise, we embarked upon a tasting seminar. Puritos of various tobacco varietals and primings were supplied, along with a flavor wheel and a sheet for notes. I am better at finishing caps on cigars than I am at this. Regular readers know that I have a fairly limited vocabulary when it comes to tasting cigars, and it’s even worse when one’s had a bunch of cigars the previous day and one’s palate is fatigued.  Cody did I really nice job at leading this, as he did giving the factory tour. Once again, and I can’t stress this enough, if you find yourself in Tampa, set aside an afternoon and experience El Reloj. I’ve taken the tour twice now and seen different things each time. I still haven’t risen in the haunted elevator yet.  Thank you very much to everyone at J.C.Newman, especially Sydney!

 

On Thursday before the game we delivered some cigars to Single Barrel Cigar Co. for a project Kevin is working on, visited Tampero Cigars in Ybor and enjoyed a Tampero Maduro torpedo, and we stopped by Corona Cigars and talked to Ricky Rodriguez for a bit.  It was a great couple of days, I enjoyed spending some time with Kevin and got to see some more of Tampa and Ybor City. 

 

Check out Kevin’s pics and videos, he’s far more talented with that than I am! It was a whirlwind couple of days, but there’s more! I just got home around noon, and I’m working on very little sleep, so excuse any typos please. Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

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