Last Sunday my wife and I drove up to Connecticut for breakfast, an annual tradition to celebrate her best friend who passed away. While we were in the neighborhood, we paid a visit to Mark Twain’s house in Hartford. I honestly don’t think I even knew that he had lived there. It was an amazing home, and photography was forbidden, but I managed to sneak a pic in his third floor man room. Of course, he smoked 24-40 cigars a day, they must have been either tiny or he didn’t smoke much of them, because I can barely manage a couple. I spend a minimum of an hour smoking a cigar, usually closer to two. There aren’t that many hours in the day! I do recommend the tour. They have chocolate cigars in the gift shop.
On our way home we stopped in New Haven to visit the Owl Shop. I’ll be honest, I confused this with the Owl Shop in Massachusetts, but I certainly wasn’t disappointed. This is a full bar and cigar lounge in the downtown area, with a nice selection of cigars. I grabbed a couple of their 85th anniversary cigars, not surprisingly made by Foundation Cigar Co.. Nick Melillo’s from New Haven, and his family has patronized this shop for decades. If I read right, this came out in 
2019, so the 90th anniversary has come and gone, and I assume this is regular limited production for the store and not 6 year old stock. It has the Havana Seed CT #142 wrapper found on the Tabernacle Havana Seed No. 142, Mexican binder, and Nicaraguan fillers from Estelí and Jalapa, offered in a 5½” x 54 Robusto Extra. We sat in the lounge and relaxed with this cigar before heading back to PA, and it was very good. It has some espresso and leather with some spice. I liked it a lot, and the lounge was comfortable, the staff attentive, and I imagine the place is packed at night! It was a long day, but a good one.
I took a few days off this week to get some estate stuff done, and managed to have my first morning cigar of the season on Thursday. The weather has been crazy this year, I’m not sitting on my porch in the cold in the morning! I had picked up a Black Works Studio Paper Crane Corona Gorda when I visited Smoke Inn a few months back, and this was the perfect time to smoke it. This cigar came out in 2024, and has an Ecuador Connecticut Desflorado wrapper, Ecuador Habano binder and Nicaraguan fillers. It was rich and creamy, with a bit of spice. Not a mild cigar, it had some oomph to it, and it was a good kick start to the day. I haven’t really smoked many of Oveja Negra’s Connecticut offerings, but this one is good. James Brown knows how to blend cigars!
I had heard about the Outcast Cigars debut at the PCA show and had some curiosity. This is a new brand from Miami Cigar and Co., Gabriel Piñeres, PR guy to the stars, was kind enough to share a couple robustos with me. This is what the website has to say:
FOR THE BOLD AND UNCONVENTIONAL
Outcast Cigars is built for those who defy the norm and embrace the journey less traveled.By blending rare and unconventional tobacco, we craft cigars that break tradition and redefine excellence. Like the trailblazers who inspire us, our cigars forge their own path—bold, unapologetic, and destined for greatness.
Outcast Cigars isn’t just a smoke; it’s a statement.
Be unique. Be yourself. Be an Outcast.
I smoked one and I enjoyed it. It has a Brazilian Cubra wrapper, Ecuadorian Sumatra binder and Dominican fillers. It burned perfectly, had a sweet cap, and was aromatic, my wife said the aromas changed from pipe-like to weedy, which I get the pipe analogy but no weed. This is obviously a cigar made with cased tobaccos, and I couldn’t help drawing comparisons to another cigar that is super popular and uses tobaccos traditionally found in pipe tobaccos. I believe it’s made by La Aurora, but if it came out that it was made by a certain Esteli factory I wouldn’t be at all surprised. It’ll be a big hit if it gets the right exposure. It’s a great change of pace cigar for me.
That’s about all I have for today, until the next time,
CigarCraig
