Tag Archives: La Palina

by CigarCraig | March 18, 2018 · 9:54 am

A Camacho, EP Carillo Encore and a La Palina Candela Cigar

First, if you haven’t already, go back to my last post and enter to win a great selection of La Sirena cigars and a Stage V Clinger. I smoked a La Sirena King Poseidon this week that was awesome, I should have included notes about that in the post, as was pointed out by one reader. Sorry for the laziness! Depending how I’m feeling Wednesday, maybe there will be a runner up! Thank you to all of you who shared the link on social media! Anyway, smoked a few great cigars this week I thought I’d share thoughts and info on, first of which was a Camacho Nicaraguan Barrel Aged Robusto. This was an IPCPR sample, Davidoff does a great job with providing samples to the media, and they had a special media event at the trade show which included their “Golden Band Awards” for retailers. Am I surprised to not find the Nicaraguan Barrel Aged line listed on the Camacho website? On one hand, you’d think a big company like Davidoff would have the resources to keep their website up to date, on the other hand, it seems to be the norm to have an outdated site. It’s befuddling. Anyway, the Camacho Nicaraguan Barrel Aged Robusto is a 5″ x 50, with an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, Mexican binder and, Dominican Piloto Cubano, Honduran Corojo Ligero & Nicaraguan Corojo, with the Nicaraguan filler aged in Flor de Caña rum barrels for five months. It’s common knowledge that I’m not a drinker (quick rant: If you e-mail me saying you’ve been reading my site a long time and LOVE my work, following up with saying you know I’m a big whiskey and cigar fan makes me question your sincerity) , the last time I had rum it was Bacardi and Coke, so I wouldn’t be the one to ask about flavors from the barrel, but it is a pleasing cigar, with some interesting flavors that aren’t typical. There’s a nice sweet flavor along with some coffee and chocolate. I decided to smoke this because I had been on the hunt for the new Camacho Candela (and came up dry), as I’d smoked a box of the old Camacho Candela and wanted to see how it compared (I still have one in the humidor, close to 10 years old). Anyway, I liked the Nicaraguan Barrel Aged better, if memory serves, than the American Barrel Aged.

This week was the long awaited release of the E.P. Carillo Encore. This is a Nicaraguan Puro, and I was lucky enough to get one of these from Jose Blanco last week, with the suggestion that I let it rest a few days. This was an obvious ploy to keep me from posting about it too far in advance of the release :-). I also received a sample from the company a few days before the release. My schedule didn’t allow me to smoke it before the March 15 release date anyway, I lit it up on the 15th and boy is it a great cigar. I smoked the Majestic, the Robusto measuring 5-3/8″ x 52. It was medium bodied, and suave and elegant. It had some buttery sweetness that I really enjoyed. instead of taking this cigar on my evening walk, I waited until I got back to light this one up, and I’m glad that I was able to give it my full attention. I have been a slacker when it comes to smoking E.P.C. cigars for the most part, there’s a lot I haven’t smoked over the last 9 years since the company started, but I like this one the best. Granted, this is based on one sample from Jose Blanco, who probably doesn’t carry crappy cigars with him, but I was very pleased. The cigar has a nice box press, and is presented with a ribbon on the foot. I missed the first few minutes of the Flyers game to finish this cigar. I’m working on catching up on this brand’s portfolio, I have an Elite Series Seleccion Oscuro (I think, there are a dizzying array of cigars in the EPC line) lined up for today. Good stuff from a true master.

Yesterday I smoked a candela cigar, as seems to be the St Patrick’s Day tradition. As I said earlier, I still have a Camacho Candela from when Christian Eiroa owned the brand, but I’m leaving that one sit until I can find the new ones to compare to, and I have some Filthy Hooligans and RoMaCraft Fomorians around too, but I decided to give the La Palina Fuego Verde a try. Before I even look into this cigar, I have to say it was made at General Cigar’s factory based on the round head alone. I just checked and I was right, definitely manufactured at General, along with the La Palina Classic line. The candela wrapper on this cigar is from Honduras, with a Honduran binder and Nicaraguan fillers. It’s bright green, and has that grassy candela flavor one would expect, with some sweet tobacco flavors to balance it out. I thoroughly enjoyed this “Green Fire” offering, which is only available in one size, the 5″ x 50 robusto. I have a pretty high tolerance for candela, I like it once in a while as a change of pace and palate reset, but I personally put this in my top five easily. It had a satisfying flavor, was medium bodied, and was enjoyable. I still need to get my hands on the La Flor Dominicana and Illusione candelas, the chain of shops near me (6 of their 12 stores are within a ten mile radius of my house) won’t carry candelas because they don’t sell. I’ll keep looking. Hopefully me smoking a green cigar on St. Patrick’s day isn’t some sort of cultural appropriation or something that’s not politically correct. By all accounts, St. Patrick was anti-snake, and that makes him OK in my book.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Barrel Aged, Camacho, cigar, cigars, Contest, E.P. Carillo, Encore, Fuego Verde, La Palina

by CigarCraig | February 25, 2018 · 11:11 am

A La Palina, a Nick & Jim PBE, a Man O War and another Gran Habano Cigar

I’ve managed to smoke nine cigars since we last talked, and I’ve got to say, they were all pretty darned good!Â I went about 60/40 for cigars I knew I liked and cigars that were new to me.Â I’ll throw a couple of comments about the latter at the end, but feel free to follow me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook if you care to see my daily consumption. A little behind the scenes: if you see me smoking something new on Instagram, and you don’t see it mentioned here, I had some issue with it that didn’t give me a good first impression. Feel free to ask privately about those, I make it a point not to publicly trash cigars unless there’s a very good reason.Â Anyway, last Sunday I started the day off with a La Palina Nicaragua Robusto.Â I don’t mind ~~taking shots~~ offering constructive criticism of companies websites, and I feel the need to point out that they seem to have the descriptions of the Robusto and Gordo inverted on this product page. Maybe not even the case, but it looks that way to me. This La Palina Nicaragua Connecticut was an amazingly good Connecticut shade cigar, rolled at AJ Fernandez Factory in Esteli with an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and fillers. I smoked this early in the day, while watching an afternoon Flyers game, and it wasn’t nearly as mild as I expected it to be. I put it at medium in strength, a very good smoke in my opinion. I don’t see a broad range of La Palina on my local tobacconist’s shelves, they have a staggering number of products, made in several great factories. Like any brand, there’s some I like and some I can take or leave, but I don’t remember hating anything in the range.

Monday I decided to revisit the Nick & Jim P.B.E. toro. I had really enjoyed the IPCPR sample that Nick Syris gave me when I saw him there, although when I smoked it I wasn’t sure that it was the collaboration with Island Jim Robinson that ended up being the P.B.E. (pre-banded edition, it was supposed to be called La Vida Isla, but there was a trademark issue). Here is a case of a not great name on a great cigar.Â These are made in the factory in Costa Rica where Nick’s LH Premium Cigars line is produced (check out Nick’s interview on Coop’s Prime Time Show, linked here, for the whole story), the same factory that makes Atabey, Byron, MBombay, Vegas de Santiago and probably others.Â The P.B.E. comes in one vitola, a 6 x 54 Toro, with anÂ Ecuador Vuelta Abajo seed wrapper and binder, and fillers fromÂ Nicaragua and Peru. It’s likely the Peruvian tobacco that give this cigar something a little different and special. It’s a very rich and full tasting cigar, loads of flavor. I bought a fiver of these because I had enjoyed thatÂ Â trade-show sample so much I wanted to try the regular production, my amigo Rodrigo Cigars had them available first, so I grabbed some. Good e-tailer to deal with, by the way.Â The cigar has some wood and leather, but that Peruvian spice really adds something special to the flavor. I love toros, and I especially love the uncut foot.Â I like the cigar a lot, the original name was much better!

This one was a bit of a surprise. Wednesday was a rare February day with temps in the 70s, so I grabbed a large cigar for the evening walk.Last year some time I bit on one of CIs specials for three different Man O War blends in the Salomon vitola for something stupid like $5 delivered. Maybe there was shipping on top of that, I don’t remember, but the price was so cheap I would have been an idiot not to spring for it. The cigar was a whopping 7″ x 58, with a very nice shape, and the construction was excellent. It had a great, rich flavor that had a nice blend of spice, cocoa and coffee with a creamy mouth feel. This was a really good smoke, not surprising;y made by AJ Fernandez and distributed by Meier and Dutch, Cigars International’s distribution arm. This line is probably most often associated with CI, but it’s a gem, and I’ve had some really good cigars with the Man O’ War name on them.

Finally, early yesterday I grabbed a Gran Habano Connecticut #1 robusto for an early morning walk.Â This cigar was a 5″ x 50 robusto with an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers.Â I don’t generally have a cigar as early as I did, but we had to go to to New Jersey for a memorial service for a recently departed family member and there was a break in the rain. Macha hadn’t been for a walk in a while so we headed out.Â Whether it was the time of day, or the lack of a substantial breakfast, I don’t know, but this was stronger than I imagined it would be, and had a definite toasty flavor. Like the other Gran Habano cigars I’ve smoked lately, this one was very enjoyable.Â The burn and draw were perfect, and I believe thees can be had at a reasonable price. This is a brand that has been around a long time and makes great cigars. This is another line I don’t see in local shops, perhaps the online sales hurts then in the B&M space. Great cigars, and I’m pleased to welcome them as a supporter of CigarCraig.com.

A couple of the other cigars I smoked this week included some cigars I know to satisfy me every time. I had a Dirty Rat, a Mi Querida Ancho Corto, a La Sirena Trident (La Zona made, I still have a few of the old My Father versions) and a Cro-Magnon Cranium.Â I almost forgot last night’s Fuente Hemingway Best Seller maduro!Â All great cigars that hit my palate right for one reason or another.Â I never really plan what I’m going to smoke, some of the fun for me is picking something out of the humidor, sometimes it takes me 15 minutes to decide! One more thing that’s important for my Pennsylvania readers: It seems that there is still a bill out there that would ban smoking in cigar stores.Â Go toÂ http://capwiz.com/cigarrights/issues/alert/?alertid=77245626 and let your reps know that this is stupid, anti-small business and that they have better things to worry about!Â Unless they plan to ban drinking in bars, and eating in restaurants, leave the cigar stores alone! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as aj fernandez, cigar, cigars, connecticut, Gran Habano, La Palina, Man O' War, Nicaragua, Nick & Jim, P.B.E., PBE

by CigarCraig | October 15, 2017 · 11:20 am

Joya de Nicaragua Antaño Gran Reserva and La Palina El Diaro

Nothing new in the last couple days I’m afraid. I’m stuck finding myself wanting to smoke Drew Estate and General Cigar products. It was all I could do Friday not to dig into the box of La Gloria Cubana Coleccion Reserva Presidentes, but I did veer into the cigars that fall under Drew Estate’s distribution, I grabbed a Joya de Nicaragua Antaño Gran Reserva Belicoso. This cigar has been calling to me since it came home from the IPCPR show with me. JdN Antaño 1970 has been a favorite of mine for well over a decade, and the Dark Corojo is especially delicious. This year they released the Gran Reserva that is a more refined version of the Antaño using tobaccos aged over five years. What ends up happening, to me at least, was all the great rich Nicaraguan flavor of the original powerhouse 1970, in a not-quite-so powerhouse refined package. The Gran Reserva has a Nicaraguan Corojo Oscuro wrapper where the original Antaño 1970 has a Nicaraguan Habano Criollo wrapper, other than that and the age of the tobaccos used, the blend is the same. When people ask those silly questions like “if you could on;y smoke one brand” I’d probably have to go with Joya de Nicaragua for their variety and the fact that there’s a select few of their offerings I don’t like! Joya de Nicaragua Antaño Gran Reserva is another winner for me.

I tried forcing myself to select from this past IPCPR’s samples last night, they are all in their own humidor for the most part. I ended up coming out with not a very new cigar at all. La Palina had a dizzying array of blends at the show this year, and the one I ended up grabbing was the El Diario toro. The El Diario line was the second line La Palina produced, the first being the very expensive Family Series that was made in the Bahamas (later moved to El Titan de Bronze in Miami). El Diario was made at the Raices Cubanas factory in Honduras (Alec Bradley most notably, but they also made cigars for Illusione and Viaje, I believe), and it might still be produced there, it’s hard for me to keep the line straight as they have cigars made at several factories. El Diario remains a solid cigar, with a little hint of sourdough and a bit of sweetness along with a pretty savory overall flavor. It was a very enjoyable cigar to smoke while watching the first period of the Flyers home opener on the porch with the iPad. I love watching hockey, but if it comes to skipping a cigar to watch on the big screen or watching on the iPad with a cigar I’ll look at the small screen every time! It was a great game with a great cigar!

My wife has searches set up for “cigar” in the auction site Invaluable.com and had come across an original oil on canvas Acid painting by Jessi Flores circa 2005. I shared the link in case anyone was interested, but when the auction went off yesterday the bidding was slow, so my wife managed to win it for a very good price. Shipping will cost a little, and there was another random painting with it, but quite happy to own an original.

Sadly, that’s all I have for today! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, joya de nicaragua, La Palina

by CigarCraig | September 10, 2017 · 11:12 am

Gurkha, La Palina, Avo and a Quick Draw Cigar

I took the easy way out on Wednesday with the La Sirena video, so I have a bunch of cigars to talk about this week. Not unexpectedly, the video is now in the number three spot in views on my YouTube channel, behind a La Sirena interview from the 2012 IPCPR. That shows something, I have to figure out what that is…Anyway, I started the week with a teeth cleaning followed by a Gurkha Founders Reserve in the Rothschild 6×58 size. That’s what the box (of 10) that they gave me at the IPCPR show says, I initially thought it was the XO size, 6″ x 60, like there’s a huge difference between 58 and 60…and usually reliable sources list the sizes as Robusto (5 x 50), Rothschild (6 x 55) and XO (6 x 60), yet it says 6 x 58 right there on the box, and I measured one and it was close enough to the 60 hole to make me think it was a 60 (my ring gauge checker is old, it jumps from 56 to 60 and doesn’t go any larger). Gurkha fails to list the sizes on the website too, which is frustrating. I’ve bitched about it before, but the manufacturer’s website should be the last word in specifics on a cigar, not blogs of retailers. I’m worked up now, maybe I need to smoke another of the Gurkha Founders Reserve whatever size it is, because it was a really tasty Connecticut shade wrapped cigar. I really enjoyed the crap pout of the cigar, it was a really tasty medium bodied cigar with a great burn and draw. I suspect this is a brick and mortar exclusive, like the cellar reserve line, and is in the $10 price range, but it very enjoyable. Here’s a few pictures I took a the Gurkha booth at the show.

My eye was drawn to the La Palina Nicaragua Oscuro robusto next. La Palina’s website gives the sizes and nothing else. This is a 5″ x 52 Robusto, made at the AJ Fernandez factory in Nicaragua, and wrapped with a Ecuador Oscuro wrapper with Nicaraguan fillers. I’m not sure what “Ecuador Oscuro” exactly means, and the rest of the make-up is vague. Again, it hardly matters as it’s a tasty smoke. It’s up my alley with the rich, coffee/cocoa flavors I like, with a hint of spice. It burned well, had a good draw and was a very nice experience. I smoked a prototype of this a few years ago I think. On a side note, I’ve been obsessed with the Adorini Double Punch cutter, and have been using it all the time. It features two punches, 9mm and a huge 13mm. I find myself using the 13mm (which is about a half an inch, or 32 ring gauge) almost all the time, it opens up the cigar almost as much as when I use a guillotine cutter. It’s sharp and has a strong magnet that keeps the three pieces together. It’s a quality piece and I’m using it a lot. The La Palina Nicaragua Oscuro is a good smoke, I look forward to smoking the Nicaragua Connecticut.

Next up was a new offering from Davidoff’s Avo line, the Ritmo in the Syncro line. I’ve smoked a few Avo cigars, most aren’t in my wheelhouse, frankly, I don’t “get” a lot of them. Some people love them, everyone has different tastes, most of the Avos don’t do it for me. This one, on the other hand, was delicious. This cigar boasts a seven country blend, Ecuador wrapper, Mexican binder and fillers from Peru, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Brazil and Honduras. Yep, that’s seven, I counted. I really enjoyed this cigar, it was very good. Did I mention the size? It was the 6″ x 60 Special Toro, and the box press was very comfortable. It was creamy, with some wood and citrus notes, as well as some spice and bitter chocolate. This was definitely my favorite Avo ever. It’s sad that Avo isn’t with us any longer, and I hope Davidoff continues to pay homage to him by creating great cigars in his name.

Finally, I got home late last night and took a quick dog-walk with a Quick Draw Pennsylvania Petite Corona from Southern Draw. This is a 4½” x 44 cigar with a pigtail cap and a covered foot. This was perfect for my late walk. The Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper really has some oomph! It’s grown about 20 miles from where I live, so I’m drawn to cigars with Pennsylvania tobacco in the blend. Since this one had the pigtail cap, I skipped the punch and lopped off the cap with a Palio, and took torch to foot without toasting to get that blast of the PA Broadleaf that the covered foot offers. This was an hour of bliss, it had a nice kick, certainly satisfying and really quite a cigar. This is another cigar from Tabacalera AJ Fernandez. I don’t think I’ve had a Southern Draw Cigar that I didn’t like a lot. I’m sad that I missed Robert Holt on his recent swing through PA, I need to hurry up and become independently wealthy so I’m not stuck at work when all the fun stuff is happening! This little cigar has a big flavor and had an impressive burn time, I think I spent about an hour with it!

That’s all for now. Thoughts continue to be with our friends in the Houston area, as well as the many friends we have in Florida, which is being pummeled by mother nature as I write this. I hope everyone get through safely and with minimal destruction. Give what you can for the relief efforts, people need help.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under IPCPR, Review

Tagged as Avo, cigar, cigars, Founders Reserve, Gurkha, IPCPR, La Palina, Quick Draw, Ritmo, Southern Draw

by CigarCraig | August 27, 2017 · 7:14 am

La Palina La Palina El Año 1896 and La Palina Illumination

La Palina has been a supporter of CigarCraig.com for a long time, I think they were one of my first advertisers, and I’ve enjoyed a great relationship with them. I’ve recommended them as gifts for people in the communications industry who didn’t have a clue about cigars, written about them in my Prime Living column, and enjoyed their cigars over the years. Their booth at the trade show was enormous the last couple years, and this year they had a dizzying array of offerings. I’ve only just started smoking some of the samples that Patrick Vivalo was kind enough to provide me with, and I started with the one that popped out at me from a packaging standpoint, the El Año 1896 Oscuro in the robusto size. This was a 5″ x 52 cigar, it also comes in a toro and belicoso, and has a tissue sleeve with the traditional image of Bill Paley’s Grandmother Goldie, which is usually on the band. the wrapper is San Andrés and is classified as Oscuro in the name, although it was a shade lighter than what I consider oscuro. It also has Dominican fillers and binder and It has a slight box press, and a very interesting flavor. I’m going back a week in my recollections (I really need to start taking notes), but it had some earthiness and dark espresso, with a little spice and some cocoa. It was a cigar I very much enjoyed, and will seek out again. The construction was very good and it had an effortless draw. These are made at Abe Flores’ PDR factory in the DR.

Yesterday I went with another new-to-me La Palina, the La Palina Illumination. This one was in the Belicoso size, they offer it in a short robusto, corona and lancero also. This cigar is made in the El Titan de Bronze factory in Miami with wrapper and binder from Ecuador and fillers from the Dominican Republic. I guess both this cigar and the El Año debuted at last year’s IPCPR show, but have somehow eluded my notice up until this year. This was a fan-freaking-tastic smoke! This is basically the same blend as the Goldie except for the media tiempo being replaced by a ligero. This brings the price down and maybe gives it a little more oomph? I haven’t smoked a lot of Goldies, as they are priced beyond my comfort zone, but if it’s better than the Illumination I’d be very surprised. I could find nothing wrong with this smoke, it was smooth, with nice warm bread notes and a great construction. I nubbed this belicoso, it was very, very good.