Tag Archives: macanudo

by Craig Vanderslice | September 22, 2019 · 8:25 am

Macanudo Heritage Nuevo and Various Cigar Musings

It’s been an interesting week. I actually worked Monday through Friday this week, the first time in almost a year! Since take a vacation last week, and needing the weekend off to go to a wedding in Massachusetts this weekend, The schedule worked out that way. Next week I’ll get back to working weekends and having weekdays off. So I posted so quick news items, one of which was relevant to one of my favorite local shops, who’s annual charity event which I usually report on here I missed. I also only slipped one new cigar in. I did smoke some great cigars though. The Alec Bradley Magic Toast has quickly become my favorite AB cigar, passing the Nica Puro. That’s a cigar that is rich, full of flavor and complexity. It’s another cigar that is sweet and makes a great desert! I also had a late night that called for a short smoke, so I dug into my collection of Firecrackers and smoked a Kristoff Pistoff Firecracker. This is another little cigar that hits the spot. It’s got some pop like it should, but it’s not too strong. Burned perfectly and was good for about 45 minutes or so of relaxation after a long day. As I type I’m smoking a Don Juan Calavera Maduro, and I really am enamored with this line. I haven’t picked a favorite yet, The Maduro, Sumatra and Connecticut all smoke great. I brought a bunch of the Connecticuts for the wedding tomorrow, believe it or not, the presentation of the cigar fits in with the wedding theme, more or less. These are a really good Honduran cigar that hits my palate right.

Macanudo Heritage Nuevo is a new release this year from General Cigar. They claim to be using this line to be remaking Macanudo’s popular brands with unique tobaccos. In this case, they’ve based this off of the Café blend, but used an Ecuador wrapper instead of Connecticut. It has a Mexican binder and Mexican and Dominican fillers. I lit this cigar expecting a mild cigar, but I was surprised that it was fairly full flavored. As I got into it, I continued to be impressed with the strength. I’ve smoked many Macanudos in the past that I’ve had to over-smoke and they’ve become bitter and nasty and this one never got that way. It was a pleasure to smoke, with no bitterness at all, just creamy, smooth caramel flavors that were quite pleasant and fulfilling. This was another late night cigar that was very enjoyable.

Last week when I was on KMA Talk Radio, Adam asked me what I though of the PCA’s consumer day, and I, as usually happens, got sidetracked in my answer. What I wanted to say was that, although I have no skin in the game, I really think it was a bad idea, presented and communicated badly, and not thought through. Abe actually has the best idea, issue Consumer badges and charge for them. My rebuttal to that, however, is that they effectively tried to do that with the media, and it’s been a bit of a failure in my eyes. The IPCPR, now PCA, presented the Media membership as a “membership”, and I fear that Abes idea would be seen as the same. More on this another time.

That’s all for today. I’ve got a long day ahead of wedding followed by driving back to PA. I still need to hear from Michael Lanier, the second winner of the last contest. I also need to send a package to PJ, who I declared a winner when I met him in Florida last week, just because! Until the next time,

CigarCraig (on location)

1 Comment

Filed under Review

Tagged as Alec Bradley, cigar, cigars, DOn Juan Calavera, Kristoff, macanudo

by CigarCraig | October 10, 2018 · 10:01 am

News: Cigars International Opens Super Store in Dallas, Texas

This is pretty old news by now. I didn’t get a chance to attend this grand opening like I did the Hamburg, PA Super store, and I remember hearing all kinds of complaints from local mom-and-pop retailers when they opened, about how it was going to put them out of business. I’m not sure this has been the case, as, from what I see in this area, at least, small stores continue to flourish. On another note, I have been passing on posting industry news about people being promoted within companies, and insider stuff that I don’t really think consumers would really be interested in. How do you all feel about that? Do you want to see news like that here? News like the former VP of IPCPR joining the Tobacco Plus organization? You can read about it on other sites but I’ll gladly pass it on if you want it posted here. Just let me know in the comments. Back to the news from Scandinavian Tobacco Group about the grand opening of the CI store in Texas:

Cigars International recently launched a Super Store in the suburbs of Dallas-Fort Worth, marking Cigars International’s fourth retail store and the first outside of its home state of Pennsylvania.

The store was built in just six months and is located in a sprawling, mixed-use development called Grandscape in The Colony.

Craig Reynolds, president of Cigars International said, “Given that the handmade cigar category was built on the kinds of personal interactions that can only be had in-store, our new location gives cigar lovers a unique venue for experiencing the camaraderie of fellow smokers. Our stores are meant to complement the traditional cigar shop experience and enhance the cigar
lover’s appreciation for handmade cigars.”

The Cigars International Super Store at the Colony encompasses more than 7,000 square feet including an outdoor smoking lounge. A 2,500 square foot, glass-enclosed humidor anchors the space, which also includes a bar, a Club Macanudo lounge, 32-foot-high ceilings and an impressive array of handmade cigars and accessories.

The design of the Super Store mimics that of a curing barn. The rectangular shape and shades on the sides of the building represent the characteristic look the Northeast’s iconic tobacco sheds, and the truss work is a design element that was carried over from two of Cigars International’s other stores.

The grand opening took place on Saturday, September 22. Cigars International estimates that more than 1,000 cigar enthusiasts visited the Dallas-area Super Store that day. While in-store, cigar lovers had the chance to purchase a limited edition Macanudo Inspirado cigar, available only at the Colony location. Made with aged tobaccos, the cigars are presented in individual
coffin boxes, selling for $17.99 for the Toro Grande, and $19.99 for the Double Corona.

3 Comments

Filed under News

Tagged as cigar, Cigars International, macanudo, Scandinavian Tobacco Group, Texas

by CigarCraig | September 2, 2018 · 10:13 am

Grimalkin, Macanudo M and Partagas Legend Cigars

I’d like to say it was a busy week, or a good week. I celebrated my 55th birthday this week, and my birthday coming always signals the end of summer which is a downer for me, always has been. I grabbed a Liga Privada, Serie Unico Velvet Rat from the humidor to celebrate, a cigar I seem to have collected several of over the years, I think this was probably the oldest as it didn’t have the Diplomat foot band. Since I have several, it was special, but not too special, ya know? It was a very good cigar, I really enjoyed it, and age had been kind to it as it displayed the smoothness and flavors I expected, which are the rich cocoa notes of the Rat without any rough edges. It was a lovely cigar and nice way to finish the day. I appreciated all the birthday greetings I received from my friends around the world, it’s always heartwarming!

I’ve been negligent in getting to writing something about the new Grimalkin cigars which the folks at Emilio Cigars/Boutiques Unified generously sent me a few weeks back. This is a new imagining of the Grimalkin cigar which was originally produced at the My Father factory, and blended under the direction of Gary Griffith, when he was at the helm of Emilio cigars back in 2011ish. At the time it was a secret that My Father was making the cigar, and I think that had something to do with the Grimalkin name as much as anything, because the cigar was nothing to be embarrassed about, although I, personally, didn’t think the cigar had the hallmarks of a My Father blend. I thought it had a very smooth, complex sophistication. The new Grimalkin is made in Esteli at James Brown’s Oveja Negra factory, home of Black Label Trading Co. and Black Works Studio. The only real similarity I find between the old and new Grimalkins is that they are both exceptional cigars. This new Grimalkin has a delicious and unique sweet flavor throughout that I just couldn’t get enough of. This is a Nicaraguan Puro, no specifics other than that are given, and the Toro I smoked was 6″ x 50, and I believe it’s also offered in a 5″ x 50 Robusto. I’m going to have to dig out the old Grimalkin (they later rebranded it to the Mousa, I think…might have one of those too…) and give it a smoke, but I’m 99% sure that the new Grimalkin is a sweeter, more full-bodied experience, and not because the older ones are aged. This is a great cigar from Emilio Cigars, totally yummy.

Friday I went with another new cigar, the new Partagas Legend, and Saturday I had another in a different size. First I had the Toro Leyenda, the 6 ¼” x 54 size, which is closest to my go-to size. This cigar has a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, a Honduran OSA binder (General must have had a really great crop of Olancho San Augastine tobacco a few years ago because it’s showing up in many of their new blends) and Dominican Piloto Cubano filler. This cigar was delicious, and it reminded me of something, and I couldn’t place the cigar it reminded me of, but as I smoked it I couldn’t get the old Partagas Limited Reserve with the green band out of my head. Does anyone remember that one? Am I nuts? Probably. Anyway, this Legend is a great cigar, and for the $14.49 price tag it should be. Again, there was an interesting subtle sweet flavor that i enjoyed, it doesn’t have the heaviness one would expect from a broadleaf wrapped cigar, it’s very refined. I dug it, so I had to see what the smaller, Corona Extra Leyenda vitola was all about. I have to say, true to my own preferences, I didn’t find the 5 ¼” x 44 to have the same deliciousness as the larger size. as expected, it was sharper in flavor, and I preferred the smoother, rounder flavors the Toro provided, that is, not until the last two inches or so, when I started getting similar flavors, which is weird, right? You can still mark me down as a fan of the Partagas Legend, and there are very few Partagas cigars I won’t welcome into my humidor. If I had to settle on a handful of brands to have in a rotation, Partagas is one of the brands I’d have in the humidor.

Finally, I had to try the Macanudo M, Macanudo’s first flavor infused cigar. I went into smoking this cigar with optimism. I’m generally OK with coffee infuse cigars, even though I’m not a big fan of infused cigars in general. This cigar was recommended to me personally by Macanudo’s brand ambassador, Laurel Tilley, at an event a few weeks back at the Wooden Indian, and I purchased a few of the 6″ x 44 corona size which she said was her favorite. If I had read the blend info before I smoked it I may not have been so open-minded. The wrapper is Indonesian Besuki, with a Philippine binder, with the filler described as “peppered with a blend of Nicaraguan and other fine tobaccos”. Now, I realize that Sumatra is in Indonesia, and I like Sumatra tobacco, but typically I’ve not liked tobacco that’s generically described as “Indonesian”, and there have been some Filipino cigars I’ve enjoyed, but more often than not I’m not a fan, nor am I a fan of such intentional ambiguity, but I trust the folks at General, and they have had success with coffee infused cigars in the past with the Nub line for Oliva. These have a serious coffee aroma pre-light, not bad. Smoking it isn’t terribly overpowering coffee infused flavoring, it’s cocoa/coffee and tobacco, but it’s not cloying or sweet. It’s not what I expected, and it wasn’t a bad cigar, but it lacked the elegance I expected from a Macanudo, I guess. Perhaps it just wasn’t for me, perhaps I’ll give it another try under different circumstances, although not I have pre-conceived notions where I had fewer before I smoked it!

That’s all I have for today. I almost forgot, in the news, Villiger is shipping La Flor de Ynclan Lancero and La Vendcedora Gordo, Drew Estate is shipping the Liga Privada No. 9 and T52 new sizes and Undercrown Dogma, and Alec Bradley is Shipping the Alec and Bradley Blind Faith. All three came in as press releases, if you want to know the details, several other sites published articles. It’s Labor Day weekend, which for most means it’s a long weekend. Enjoy some great cigars! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

5 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as cigar, cigars, Emilio, general cigars, Grimalkin, Legend, M, macanudo, Partagas, Velvet Rat

by CigarCraig | May 6, 2018 · 9:59 am

A RoMEo San Andrés, Macanudo Inspirado Red and Cigar Podcasts

A bunch of cigars I smoked this week have already been covered here, so I’ll concentrate on ones that haven’t been. Notable among them were a Camacho Ecuador, a Guardian of the Farm and a Flor de Gonzalez that were all really tasty. Now that I think about it, maybe I didn’t write about the Guardian of the Farm the first time around, I suppose I’ll have to get my hands on more and feature it, it was a really tasty cigar that was refined, complex and had some subtleties. A cigar that was a bit of a polar opposite of that was the new RoMEo San Andrés Toro, which is another collaboration between Altadis and AJ Fernandez. I’ve long struggled to find cigars in Altadis’ range that I like to smoke, with a few exceptions, the cigars they’ve made with AJ Fernandez have fallen into the “like to smoke” category. There have been plenty that I’ve wanted to like, some that I tolerate, but the cigars that have really excited me were those made by AJ (H. Upmann, Montecristo, Gispert and now the RoMEo SA). I do like the Placencia made RoMEo 505 quite a bit, so there are exceptions. The RoMEo San Andrés comes in four sizes, Robusto at 5″ x 50, Toro at 6″x 54, Pirámides at 6-1/8″ x 52 and the Short Magnum at 5½ x 60. Of course the wrapper is Mexican, the binder is Nicaraguan and the fillers are Nicaraguan and Dominican. I’ve been pretty much leaning toward Toros lately, so that’s the size I smoked. I really liked this cigar a lot. It’s got the bold, earthy Mexican tobacco flavors I like, that take me back to when I started on Te-Amo Maduros, and while my tastes have expanded over the years, I still like that “dirty” profile. Next to the H. Upmann by AJ, this might be my favorite Altadis cigar now. Worth a try if you like San Andrés tobacco. Odd side note: one year ago today I smoked an H. Upmann by AJ, and three years ago today I smoked a RoMEo by Romeo y Julieta.

Yesterday I intentionally avoided being cliché and smoking something with Mexican tobacco. The new CAO Zócalo would have been an obvious choice, and I really like that cigar. I decided to take a different journey. As previously reported, I am a big fan of the new Macanudo Inspirado Red, made in Nicaragua at the Scandinavian Tobacco Group’s factory in Esteli (I’ve been past it twice, never visited!). I really liked the Robusto, so I figured I’d try out the Toro and Gigante too. Interestingly, the Robusto is the only box pressed cigar in the line, the Toro and Gigante are round. I have no clue why that is. I smoked the 6″ x 60 Gigante yesterday. This is the blurb from the website about the blend:

This bold, full-bodied offering represents the marriage of rich volcanic soil and profound aging techniques to achieve unmatched strength and refinement. Dressed in Ecuadoran Habano ligero and blended with rare tobaccos including twelve-year aged Nicaraguan Ometepe, ten-year aged Honduran Jamastran and five-year-aged Nicaraguan Esteli, Macanudo Inspirado Red is bound with hearty Nicaraguan Jalapa. Enticing notes of pepper and spice reign, transcending the experience of Central American tobaccos to the point of sublime.

For starters, make sure you set aside a couple of hours to smoke the Gigante, while it’s only 6″ x 60, it burned so slow. I was almost a mile into my walk and hadn’t gotten to the one inch mark, and I think the total smoking time approached two and a half hours. It was ridiculous, making it a very good value, because these aren’t expensive cigars. It was a very enjoyable smoke, it had the richness and great flavors of the Robusto in a little less focused way. I wouldn’t use the term “washed out”, but the cooler burn of the larger ring gauge certainly smoothed out the flavors. I thoroughly enjoyed the smoke and look forward to the Toro. The Inspriado Red is a great cigar to celebrate 50 years of Macanudo.

I’ve been listening to a few new-to-me podcasts lately. I’ve really enjoyed the Boveda Box Pressed and Cigar Snob Magazine‘s podcasts, very informative. A few months ago when I was in New Hampshire for The Cigar Authority‘s 400th show, I met Dave who launched the Cigar Hacks Podcast, in the last few months. The Cigar Hacks features a revolving panel and they do a blind tasting and run down events in the New Hampshire and Massachusetts areas. There is much spontaneous discussion and it can be quite hilarious. I’ve been invited on the show, and I need to make that happen, as there are some areas I can help them out with (like pronouncing words like Aganorsa). It was through this show that I was introduced to The Retrohale Podcast. This show is done by a couple of guys in Colorado, and what I like about it is their tagline: “We don’t review cigars, we smoke cigars and talk about them.” , which pretty much aligns with my own MO here at CigarCraig.com. This one is more entertainment than informative, but it’s akin to hanging out in a cigar shop and talking. There are a lot of cigar podcasts out there, I have my rotation, but try new ones out all the time.

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

CigarCraig

1 Comment

Filed under Editorial, Review

Tagged as Boveda, cigar, Cigar Hacks, Cigar Snob, cigars, Insprirado, macanudo, podcasts, Red, Retrohale, Romeo, San Andrés

by CigarCraig | March 25, 2018 · 10:21 am

Macanudo Inspirado Black and Red Cigars

I’ve smoked a million Macanudo cigars in my lifetime, so it seems. My first premium cigar was a Macanudo Duke of Devon. In the mid-nineties a buddy and I would have a cigar at lunch every Friday at work. Up until the Macanudos the favorites were Backwoods and Garcia Vega English Coronas if we were feeling fancy. We decided to see what all the hubbub was with premium cigars, which were enjoying a renaissance at the time. I smoked cigarettes at the time, which I think is an important think to know in my evolution as a cigar smoker, because it ruined me for mild cigars for a long time. That fist experience with the Duke of Devon was kind of blah, I really didn’t “get it”, I suppose it’s a wonder I kept going with the hobby, but I moved to stronger cigars, which satisfied my palate and the rest is history. A couple of years later I would find my self winning a couple of boxes (big ones! Prince of Whales and Prince Philip) from a very young CigarWorld.com somehow, that had to be 1998ish. Actually, the Prince Philips were still made in Jamaica, I wish I’d had the presence of mind to save a couple. Thorough a combination of my palate and tastes developing, and Macanudo coming out with stronger cigars, I’ve had some really memorable cigars over the years. I remember a Macanudo Maduro on the last day of my tour of General Cigars operations in the DR after smoking 20 or so cigars over the previous few days and being able to taste it! I wrote about the Estate Reserve in a Prime Living Magazine article back in 2015. People scoff at Macanudo as a mild, flavorless cigar, but they have a lot of great cigars in their portfolio, something for everyone, I think, and you can’t argue that they aren’t always well made and universally available.

A few years back General Cigars launched the Macanudo Inspirado line in Europe. It had an orange band and was famous for being used in the Cigar Smoking World Championship. When I was in Iceland I bought a few because Thulin, who owns what seems to be the only cigar shop in the country, said it was his best seller. By the way, my Cigars in Reykjavik Iceland post gets daily visits, Google “cigars in Iceland” and see what comes up first in the results! Pretty cool! Anyway, the Orange was the first Inspirado released in the US in 2016, then the Black and White (the black with a Connecticut Broadleaf and the White with Ecuador Connecticut Shade, as one would expect) came out in 2017, and in 2018, to celebrate 50 years of Macanudo, they released the Red with a dark Ecuador Habano Ligero wrapper. I revisited the Macanudo Black this week, and was really happy with the experience. This was a medium bodied cigar, a hesitate to say, but it was kind of a Partagas Black lite…and I only make the comparison because the wrapper is of similar provenance. It was sweet and rich like a Broadleaf cigar should be, I thoroughly enjoyed the crap out of the robusto, and look forward to smoking he other sizes. Originally, the Black was sold by catalog retailers, and the white was for brick and mortar, but they totally changed that last year, along with the blends, I believe. The White is good too, I intended to smoke one this week too, as well as an Orange, but didn’t get to it.

I received samples of the Inspirado Red last week, and couldn’t wait ro smoke one, so after just a couple of days in the humidor I dug in. They are saying it’s full-bodied, to me it was on the high side of medium, but what do I know. It has a Ecuador Habano Ligero wrapper, 12 year aged Nicaraguan Ometepe, 10 year aged Honduran Jamastran, and 5 year aged Nicaraguan Esteli, with a Jalapa binder. It’s made in their Esteli factory where they make many of the CAO line. Had I had the time, and lacked self-restraint, I would have smoked more of these, for sure, because DAMN, it was a great smoke! I smoked the box pressed robusto, and plan to look for other sizes ASAP (a local shop I visited yesterday sold out of them already). It was like smoking delicious candy bar, It has a nice mix of sweet and savory with some dried fruit and cocoa. It was so darned good I was taken aback. If you looked in my ashtray, it would likely be the smallest butt in there. This new Macanudo Inspirado Red is a home run, to my palate, at least. It must have MSG in the blend, because it really excited my palate (FDA: I’m kidding! it’s just tobacco, water and some pectin!). This would be a no-brainer at $10, for $6.49-$7.49 MSRP, it;s stupid not to at least try one.

Last night I paid a visit to CigarCigars in Downingtown, PA to have a smoke with Kevin, the manager, and the renovations are going well. This is one of a chain of twelve stores in the area, and it’s only a couple of miles from my old house, so it’s in my rotation of shops I visit now. Hopefully the lounge renovations improve the acoustics a bit, because it’s a little noisy.

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

CigarCraig

5 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as Black, cigar, cigars, general cigars, Insprirado, macanudo, Red