Ocean Breeze | CigarCraig's Blog

Thanksgiving is behind us and we have Christmas and Hanukkah to look forward to, then New Years and we can start this whole mess all over again! As we’ve done for the past few years, I’ve started a CigarCraig Secret Santa through Elfster. You can go HERE to sign up. It’s a simple $40 minimum, send what you like. I send without expectation, it isn’t a trade, I look at it as gifting, I don’t worry about getting! I think that’s the most healthy way to go into these things. So far there are 7 people signed up, let’s get a bunch of people this year! I also have some of the usual holiday giveaways planned, so stay tuned! I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend!

I smoked a few new cigars this weekend, one wasn’t new but new to me. I’ve been hearing about the JR Cigars Exclusive Drew Estate Nightshade for quite a while and never got around to trying it, so I ordered a five pack recently. Don’t forget to click through the JR Cigars and Cigars.com affiliate links on the left sidebar if you order from either place! I got the 5″ x 52 robusto because that’s what was available in a fiver at the time, of course I would rather have had the toro. This cigar has a maduro Connecticut Habano wrapper, Indonesian binder and Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers. I think this falls somewhere near a Nica Rustica and an Undercrown Maduro for me, which both have Broadleaf wrappers, so are sweeter. This is a little earthier than those, but it has a nice flavor, for a reasonable price, it’s an interesting cigar. I think if you like the Liga Privada T52, you’ll enjoy this. I think you can get a box of 20 for around a c-note. That moves it well into the great cigar for the price category.

I’ve recently gotten a sampler of cigar courtesy of Lampert cigars, a company I’ve heard of, but haven’t really seen on local shelves. I tried three this week and will attache the other three next week. I tried to arrange them logically, next weeks will be the three in the Nicaraguan 1675 line, this week I smoked the cigars made in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. The first one was the Lampert 1593 Oscura. Lampert is another company that devotes one size per blend apparently, with this one coming in a 6″ x 52 toro. Is it any wonder I was drawn to it first? It’s listed as having a Mexican wrapper, Indonesian binder and Dominican filers. The factory is called El Maestro, which is the smaller William Ventura factory, the one that didn’t burn down. I don’t have a track record of liking cigars from this factory, however this one is an exception, it was really good. I questioned the wrapper seed varietal, which is listed simply as “Mexican”. It clearly isn’t San Andrés to my palate, it was more reminiscent of Sumatra, and I was told that it was Indonesian grown in Mexico, and since Sumatra is in Indonesia, I’m going to go with that. It’s good. It has some of that cane sweetness I like, along with just good tobacco. It’s a really nice cigar.

Next up was the Lampert Ocean Breeze. This is a 5″ x 54 Robusto with an Ecuador wrapper and binder and “undisclosed” fillers. I’m told that some tobaccos in this blend are aged near the ocean, hence the name, and I’m not sure about that, and the name sounds more like a cologne than a cigar, but what do I know, I’m just some cynical old jackass who smokes cigars. I do know that this cigar, along with the next one, is made at the Tobaccos de Costa Rica factory, the same factory that makes Atabey, Byron, Bandelero, Alphonso, apparently some El Septimos, used to make Mbombay Cigars, and, as far as I know, still makes Vegas de Santiago. I go back 20 years with Vegas de Santiago, they made some great, affordable cigars back then. Last I heard, they got rollers from Cuba on special work visas and sorta rotated them in and out as the visa allowed. It’s rumored that they use some Cuban tobacco in the blends, but Villiger tells me there’s some in the Exports too, so believe what you want. Back to the Ocean Breeze, this was a really well made cigar, and was very interesting. I found it to be bright and a bit floral, perhaps that’s the saltiness from the ocean? My compadre Kaplowitz likes this cigar, he likes stuff that isn’t necessarily in my wheelhouse.

Finally, the other cigar made a the Costa Rican factory is the Lampert Oro Don Patron. The band has a top hat wearing, bearded gent who should probably have a monocle, but does not. This is the mild line, with an Ecuador wrapper (obviously a Connecticut Shade variety), an Ecuador binder and Dominican and Peruvian fillers. This is a really well crafted cigar with a perfect burn and a well formed ash, and when I lead with construction, most of my regular readers know that I’m not excited about the flavors. True, this isn’t my style of cigar, it’s light, creamy, with some herbal and gassiness. It’s very good, if that’s what you’re looking for. I had just had Thanksgiving redux for dinner (day three!), something with more weight would have been better, but I’m not doing this for me, readers…I’d say if you are a fan of the Atabey, this will probably be a good fit for you. No idea what they cost, gotta think it’s less than the Atabey! So far, the Lampert line is impressing me.