Tag Archives: nub

by CigarCraig | December 17, 2011 · 6:51 am

CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways Day 6 : Oliva Cigars

For the first time, yesterday’s comments went to a second page! Â Another CigarCraig.com record! Â Once again, Random.org is employed to select the winner of the Â Nestor Miranda CollectionÂ Special Selection five pack of the 5 5/8 x 48 x 52 â€œRukyâ€ cigars. Â The winner for the day 5 prize is Jeff Ketcham! Â Please e-mail me your address so I can get your prize to you. Â Remember, you are limited to one win in the 12 days of givaways. Â Even though it would probably save me some postage by combining mailings, it’s only fair to everyone! Â I’m sure another record will fall with today’s offering:

Today on CigarCraigâ€™s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways we have a fabulous assortment from Oliva Cigars!Â Included is an 8 cigar NUb sampler, a NUb Gift set with a case, cutter and punch, a NUb cap, a HUGE Cain table lighter, and a 6 cigar Oliva assortment.

Many thanks to Mike Staiber of Oliva Cigars for making this fantastic prize possible!

You know what to do! Leave a comment to enter and good luck!

Until tomorrow,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 12 days, cain, cigar, cigars, Contest, nub, oliva

by CigarCraig | October 5, 2011 · 6:43 pm

Berger & Argenti and Toraño Single Region

Sunday evening, after a very busy weekend, I had a hankering for a Berger & Argenti Mooch Loll maduro. This was a really nice looking 6″ x 52 torpedo, perfectly proportioned with a beautiful dark wrapper. I have to say that in this case, I really enjoyed the natural wrapper more. Still, it was a delicious cigar that performed admirably. I had spent the afternoon at a street festival in my town, I had hoped to smoke a cigar or two while there, but it rained and was cold. My youngest son was playing in one of his bands at the festival, they played at one of the locations, but their set at the main location was cancelled due to the weather. I had planned on smoking one of the camouflage wrapped American Eagles cigars, so if someone complained, I could act like I didn’t know what they were complaining about! This joke probably goes over better in my head, just like when I run into the rack of camo clothes in the sporting goods store and saying I didn’t see it. Anyway, I still like the Berger & Argenti Mooch line quite a bit, the name may be a little odd, but the cigars are good. This one was a sample from the IPCPR show.

Tuesday I selected a Toraño Family Cigars Single Region Serie Jalapa, which I bought at G & G Cigars on a recent visit. This one was the 6″ x 54 Toro Grande. I;m not usually a fan of Criollo wrapped cigars, but this one, with it’s entirely Jalapa grown tobaccos, was sweet and rich, and I really enjoyed it. It didn’t burn arrow straight, but I still was a very relaxing and enjoyable cigar. My son, Corey, joined me on the front porch with a Cain F Nub and it didn’t kill him. The Single Region Serie Jalapa is made completely from tobaccos grown on the El Estero Farm in Jalapa, Nicaragua. A unique cigar, very nice.

Here is a little video I took with Charlie Toraño a the IPCPR show last July. As with all my videos, don’t forget to turn your computer speakers down after watching!

That’s it for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under IPCPR, Review, Video

Tagged as cain, cigar, cigars, criollo, IPCPR, Jalapa, Mooch, nub, oliva, Toraño

by CigarCraig | February 5, 2011 · 9:07 am

This Weeks Cigars: Nub, Tabacos Baez, Punch, Partagas – Saturday February 5, 2011

I’m making every attempt to get into shape before going to Nicaragua, despite the terrible weather, which has been less than ideal for outdoor smoking. I’ve kicked up the evening walk routine which I used two years ago to lose 23 pounds. Walking makes the cold bearable. I need to build up my stamina so I can handle the physical rigors of travel as well as the anticipated non-stop cigar consumption.

I started the week with a Nub Cameroon 358. I picked up a few of these at an event last year and felt like smoking one. I enjoy these cigars quite a bit despite my initial feeling that they were gimmicky. I like the Cameroon wrapper over the Habano, but have yet to try the Connecticut or Maduro. These have that delicious Camerooniness that I enjoy, especially in the winter. My only complaint is that these are too short, which I know is the point, but I’d like it to last a little longer. They are also tricky to finish while wearing gloves.

Next up was a Tabacos Baez Serie SF Robusto which I picked up in New Orleans. This is a budget priced, mixed filler cigar that is purported to be 75% long filler and 25% short. I’ve smoked a few of these and never noticed anything that would indicate it was different from a long filler cigar. Tasty cigar, on the milder side of medium in strength and body, a very nice cigar for any time of day.

Wednesday brought freezing rain and ice, which canceled work for the day, and gave me an opportunity to take an early walk and enjoy an Upper Cut by Punch Robusto. This cigar was in a sampler that I received last year from General Cigar. This cigar features filler tobacco from Ometepe, Nicaragua as well as Dominican and Nicaraguan tobacco. In truth, I chose poorly when I selected this cigar, as it turned out to be a little colder and windier than I anticipated. This would have been better saved for a warm spring evening on the front porch, but it was still an enjoyable cigar which burned well and had a pleasing flavor. This has a foot band, and I hate those, but I’ll pick up a few more of these in the future anyway.

I wound up the week with an old favorite, the Havana Partagas Petit Coronas Especiales. These are a perfect sized cigar for me at 5.2″ x 42 and a really nice, fairly priced Havana. They have that little something that only Cuban cigars have and I really enjoy. It burned well and was very satisfying on my evening walk. I’ve had these for almost a year and they keep getting better. I hope I can hold on to the rest of the box for a few more years to see how they age.

That’s about it for the week, it’ll be interesting to see what the next week has in store. There is talk of more winter weather in our future, I’ll be very happy when spring is here!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, general, general cigars, habana, nub, oliva, Partagas, punch, tabacos baez, upper cut

by CigarCraig | November 12, 2010 · 5:19 pm

A Week Without Cigars, and Some News – Friday November 12, 2010

I’m going to open by saying that it’s a good thing I don’t worry too much about passing on every bit of industry news that comes along as I just don’t have the time to react fast enough. It seems that all of the really good news comes out during working hours, at which time I am otherwise occupied. I wish I could say that writing a cigar blog was my full time job, but in all honesty, it’s a few pegs down on the priority meter in the grand scheme of things. Work and family always comes first. Since my last installment, I’ve been battling a sinus infection, so I thought it would be in my best interest to lay off cigars until I was pain free. Sucks, I know, but it’s the reality of things.

Anyway, as I alluded to earlier, there have been quite a few pretty big announcements in the past week. Two days after I had the good fortune of hanging out with Sam Leccia, it was announced that he would be parting company with Oliva, who owns the NUb and Cain brands which Sam developed. I really hope that this is going to be a good move for Sam, it’s a shame he has to leave his creations behind, but he can certainly take pride in having developed 2 hit brands. Also in the news was the resignation of Tim Ozgener as the president of CAO. It was reported that he would be leaving the premium cigar industry, however, the Tiki Bar Online published a statement from him stating that he would remain involved in the trade organizations and the political and social fronts. Also leaving CAO is Lifestyle Marketing Director Jon Huber. I’ve had the good fortune to have met both of these gentlemen and I wish them the best in their future endeavors. I’m sure we will see all of these guys someplace in the not too distant future. Of course, rumors abound. The only insight I can provide is that none of these guys are either purchasing, or going to work for Drew Estate, I was able to confirm this in a series of text messages with Steve Saka (half in jest of course, I like giving Steve the business, even though sometimes I don’t think he gets my wise-ass sense of humor!).

Another area where having a real job gets in the way is when you receive an e-mail in the middle of the morning saying someone like Jose Blanco is stopping by a The Wooden Indian Cigar shop that’s an hour or so a way and there’s just no way you can get away from life to go meet him. Obviously I torture myself by checking e-mail at work, maybe I should get away from doing that. I would have liked to have met Jose, but I’m sure there will be another time.

That’s about all the rambling I can manage tonight. I am working on another exciting celebrity interview which will hopefully be out next week. Also, I mentioned a contest in my last post, and I am overdue. I’m waiting for a couple interesting things to materialize, so please be patient, I don’t want to do things half-assed.

So, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cain, CAO, cigar, cigars, Contest, drew estate, nub, oliva

by CigarCraig | November 3, 2010 · 7:30 pm

Sam Leccia at Old Havana Cigar Co., a Nub, and a Camacho – Wednesday October 3, 2010

I’ll go a little out of order this time. Tuesday evening my son Corey and I took a short drive down to Old Havana Cigar Company just south of West Chester PA. They were hosting an event featuring Sam Leccia. Sam greeted us when we arrived as he was taking a break, then we popped into the walk-in and selected some Nubs to smoke. I grabbed a few of the Cameroon 358s as I hadn’t yet tried them, my Nub consumption had been limited to the Habano wrapper and I love a good Cameroon wrapper. The store was packed, and I can only assume there were a bunch of folks in the lounge, but didn’t make it that far to see. Corey went with a Nub Cain Maduro and enjoyed it quite a bit. Here are a couple very raw videos I took with my phone of Sam wrapping a couple cigars, the second of which he gave to Corey.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPQ72RbvP5g

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=430zvaf1N0I

Pictured here are the custom wrapped cigars that Sam gave Corey and I. He told Corey that he’d have to smoke his, because the bunch he used was one of the original release of the Nubs. I know that I couldn’t bring myself to smoke this one or the last one he gave me, which is similar to the one he made in the first video. It’s amazing the detail he puts into these cigars, they are beautiful works of art. Sam is a tremendous guy and if he makes an appearance in your neighborhood make a point to go see him. Old Havana Cigar Co, is a nicely appointed shop located in a strip mall between West Chester, PA and Wilmington Delaware. They have a broad range of cigars in a large walk-in humidor, as well as a spacious lounge in the back. The access through the humidor is reminiscent of the set up at Holt’s in Philadelphia, but I think the lounge is larger. The front of the store features Humidors, cases and other accessories. Sam had his rolling table set up in the front of the store.

The Nub Cameroon 358 was a nice smoke that I enjoyed despite a sinus infection and a very smoky room. The cigar burned very well and, like I told Sam and have always said about the Nub line, would be much better if it were a little longer. Still I spent an hour or so with this cigar that the box said was good for 38 minutes (a very clever idea, putting the smoking time on the box).

Sunday was Halloween, which is always a traditional cigar night for me. I grabbed a nice green Camacho Corojo Candela Monarca and sat on the porch with my wife, the gas heater, and all the trick-or-treaters. We live in a development that is fairly large and it’s not unusual to get 150 or more kids visiting us. The cigar was awesome, I really enjoy these every now and then for a change of pace. This box has been pretty consistent in that this cigars all have had a very loose draw. I’ve come to compensate for this by piercing the cap instead of cutting it, but I was distracted and lopped off the cap. I was careful not to over draw and nursed the cigar for the duration of the trick-or-treating.