Tag Archives: podcasts

Podcast: Episode 12: Kristoff’s Bill Coyne at Pairings Cigar Bar

I know, I know, it’s been way too long between episodes.  I finally got my act together and recorded one, and I have Bill Coyne, the area Kristoff Cigars rep, to thank. He reached out to me and suggested we meet up for a smoke at Pairings Cigar Bar in Media PA. I’ve been itching to get to Pairings, but, as someone who doesn’t drink, bars aren’t really my thing, so it hasn’t been at the top of my priority list. I’ve been hearing great things about their cigar selection in the last year or so, and I figured it was high time I check it out. A Sunday afternoon was a good time, and I had met Bill briefly and wanted to get to know him better. I understand Pairings has some great events, and they have a DJ there on Friday nights, so I guess it gets pretty rockin’ there! I’m old, I like quite places to relax with a cigar…and we had a nice quite chat about Kristoff cigars, Pairings and Hockey.

 

Thanks to Bill for chatting with me, and Pairings Cigar Bar and their wonderful staff! The next time Bill and I will delve into the topic of prog rock drummers! Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

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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 RoMEo_SanAndres_Torois 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.

Macanudo_InspiradoRed_GiganteFor 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

 

 

 

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A Couple Cigars, Cigar Podcasts and the Contest Winner!

Gurkha125I’ve been feeling a little in a rut lately, so I decided to smoke some cigars I hadn’t smoked in a long time, so I started with a Gurkha 125th Anniversary XO,  I thought I liked this cigar more, it wasn’t bad, it was just a little more leathery than I remembered. So the next night I went with a sure thing, A Tatuaje TAA 2015. This box pressed, 5 5/8″ x 54 cigar with a covered foot hit the spot. Sadly, this was the last one in my humidor, but boy was it tasty. Not exactly breaking out of my rut, as I’ve been craving broadleaf and this one hit the spot just right. Smooth, rich and delicious. I think I bought a couple of these a little over two Tatuaje TAA 15years ago, great cigar.  Tonight grabbed a CAO Amazon Anaconda, a cigar I developed a deep appreciation for after bringing some home from the IPCPR show. A couple of weeks ago when I saw Jack Toraño he stuck this cigar in my pocket, so it was conveniently located on top of the humidor. This is the third in the Amazon series, following the Amazon Basin and Fuma em Corda. I wasn’t wow’d by the Amazon Basin like most people seemed to CAO Anacondahave been, but I only tried the second release. I really like the Fuma em Corda, and I really really like the Anaconda (except for the name, I’m not a snake fan), This cigar is made in Honduras with a Brazilian Bahiano Habano wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Colombian, Dominican, Brazilian Braganca, and Fume em Corda fillers. The only thing I really don’t care for was the piece of tobacco that serves as the band terminates under the cap and feels funny in the mouth. Otherwise it’s a great cigar! Burns a long time and tastes great!  Seems I’m still in that rut.

 

I’m a bit of a podcast junkie, and just want to list several shows I listen to regularly and enjoy. I’ll be honest, this is driven by just listening to Cigar Coop‘s Prime Time show with co-host Aaron Loomis from Developing palates, where they said some nice things about me. I also listen to the Developing Palates recaps  via podcast, KMA Talk Radio, The Cigar Authority, The Ashholes, DE4Live, Cigar Jukebox, Cigar Chat and Sharing Your Pairings, Smooth Draws Radio, Stogie Geeks, as well as Half Ashed and The Cold Draw Podcasts when they show up.  It all started with Blowin’ Smoke, which was one of the first, and was hosted by an old friend Rob Heming. There are a few others that only show up every now and then. Sometimes it’s a challenge staying up to date.

 

Contest!

prizeLast week we had a contest sponsored by Cigar Prop and the Tobacco Locker Cigar Bar featuring four great cigars and a pair of Cigar Prop XCs.  It’s time to pick a winner, and I was hoping to have Kevin of Cigar Prop pick one, but he deferred. My reasoning was that myself and Kevin interjected some comments and that makes it harder to count the comments…and I would have liked to see more “likes” on the sponsor’s Facebook pages.  So I worked it out, and the winner is mike mccainSend your address so we can get your prize to you, and I’m going to send a few cigars from my humidor too, just because I feel like it.  Thanks to Kevin for putting this together and Tobacco Locker for participating. 

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

 

CigarCraig

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An Indian Tabac 10th, a Monte, La Flor Dominicana La Nox and Cigar Podcasts

Just a reminder, there’s a giveaway going on that I posted Friday (here). I’m thinking that I might just throw in a Kilo to sweeten things up a little, and there was something else I though about putting in there, but I can’t remember right now. Anyway, hop on back to that post and enter to win some goodies.  Another topic I was thinking about and wanted to mention before I forget again (sucks getting old) is my podcast habit.  I’m a big old podcast junkie, I have a bunch in my rotation, of course The Cigar Authority and Kiss my Ash Radio are staples, as well as Half Ashed, The Stogie Geeks, Cigar Chat on Cigar Federation, Doc Stogiefresh, and Blowin’ Smoke, although the later hasn’t been updating as much as they used to.  As a matter of fact, Blowin’ Smoke was my introduction to the Podcast genre, and I’ve known Rob for fifteen years (I’ve slept on his couch!), he’s another guy I like despite him being a Penguins fan. There are also a couple that blend subject matter like Cigars in Cinema and Cigar Jukebox that I like. Nor that I think about it, I haven’t seen an episode of The Cigar Guys Radio Show out of Atlanta in a few weeks, I’ll have to look into that. In the past couple months I came across a new one to add to my rotation, and I’ve really taken a liking to.  The Cold Draw is another podcast out of New Hampshire, and is well produced and entertaining. Their cigar reviews are in the form of what they term the “bands off dance off”, where they are blind smoking two cigars on the show and picking their favorite. They have panned Opus X and been smitten with Roly bundles, so it’s fun the hear the panels descriptions. I find Bob, Matt and Nick to be quite entertaining and look forward to the show every week.

 

ITC_10thAnniversary_SalomonLast Sunday I smoked an Indian Tabac 10th Anniversary Salomon that I’ve had in the humidor for over a year. I actually picked this up at my 50th birthday herf at Cigars International’s Super Store, which means I’ve had it in the humidor over two years! Since ITC was launched in 1996 by Phil Zenghi of Debonaire Cigars and Indian Motorcycle Premium Cigars fame, and left it in Rocky Patel‘s hands shortly after that, one would guess that the 10th anniversary was sometime around 2006, so this was pretty close to a ten-year old cigar by my figuring. It was a really nice smoke, it burned well for a large figuarado, it’s 7 1/8″ x 58, and lasted well over two hours. It was on the milder side, with lots of nice, mellow flavors of wood and nuts with a bit of a creamy quality. I don’t know that this cigar would have been any better if I had procrastinated any longer, and I wonder what this would have been like five years ago or so. It’s always fun smoking a well aged cigar, this one was a treat.

 

MonteSometime around the middle of the week I grabbed a Montecristo Monte Conde robusto for my evening walk.  I had been putting the finishing touches on my Montecristo White Vintage Connecticut magazine article and wanted to compare. The Monte is totally different from the White line, it’s stronger and has a lot going on with some Nicaraguan, Dominican tobacco in the blend with an Ecuador Habano wrapper. The cigar was 5½ x 48 which is a very nice size in my book. Speaking of sizes, why don’t they list he vitolas on the website?  I think it’s funny that they don’t list the sizes, and it always seems to be the big companies that leave this detail out. Mystifying. Anyway, the Monte is a good smoke, lots of flavor and burned very well. It was a satisfying cigar, and I think in a blind tasting this would certainly compare favorably with a boutique brand.

 

LaFlorDominicana_La NoxFinally, I smoked a second La Nox from La Flor Dominicana. This cigar is new this year, and is a beauty. It’s wrapped in a dark, oily Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper, with a San Andres binder and Dominican fillers, including Pelo de Oro from their own farms. It seems to only come in a 6½ x 50 Toro size. How do I know all this?  Well, it’s not on their website yet, so I had to hunt around for the info, which included visits to some of my sponsors sites for the details. Do I do anything besides bitch about cigar manufacturers websites?  That’s gotta get old… back to the cigar. I smoked a couple of these, and this cigar is in my personal wheelhouse. It’s dark, both in appearance and flavor, with a palate coating sensation akin to black licorice, of which I’m a fan. It produces a good amount of smoke, and only required a touch up because I’m a picky bastid. Of course, LFD is known for producing strong Dominican cigars, and this one’s no different, it’ got some horsepower to it for sure. I want to say that this is another blend from Tony Gomez, Litto’s son who is very tall, and he did a good job. I liked it. Thanks to Jonathan Carney at LFD for sending these samples.

 

I made it through another week of not smoking a cigar I didn’t like, which is good. Autumn in this part of the country means the leaves are falling off the trees, generally making a big mess, so I suppose I’ll be on the roof (new as of last week, by the way) blowing the leaves out of the gutters, then I’ll participate in leaf burning the only way I like doing it, tobacco leaves rolled into a tube and savored over the course of an hour or more.

 

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

 

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This Week’s Cigars So Far: Power House, Ashton VSG, American Eagles and Cigar Mechanic

Here’s a brief run down of some of the cigars I’ve enjoyed so far this week, and another short video from the IPCPR show.

Power House by Cuban Crafters – This one one of a handful that Kiki Berger gave me at the IPCPR show last month.  I’ve been trying to find information about them to no avail.  True to it’s name, it starts out with a blast of strength.  I almost thought I wasn’t going to make it through the cigar, it was just too much nicotine for the first inch or so.  It mellowed a little after a while and became a very nice smoke, full of dark flavors.  I have no idea what the make up of this cigar is, but I’m going to guess it has a broadleaf wrapper, and Nicaraguan fillers.  After the initial blast of strength I enjoyed this cigar.  Perhaps some humidor time will mellow that part out of it.  Oddly, samples of Cuban Crafters cigars I’ve had in the past have not thrilled me, but recent cigars I’ve smoked from Tabacalera Esteli have been more to my liking.  Kiki Berger is a really nice guy too, I’m happy and fortunate to have met him at Cigar Safari and spent some time talking to him at the show.

 

Ashton Virgin Sun Grown Torpedo – Came across this one in the humidor after rummaging for something to smoke and figured it’s time had come.  I have been smoking new and different cigars lately and wanted to go old school.  This large torpedo has been floating around the humidors for 6 or 7 years, had some mottling on the wrapper, but was such a nice, sweet cigar with loads of flavor.  I savored it for about 90 minutes, while sitting on my front porch on a stunningly beautiful August evening, catching up on cigar podcasts.  Sidebar: I am up to about 5 podcasts in my rotation, and I get behind in the summer.  During the winter months I have about 5 hours a week in the car commuting that I am able to listen to podcasts.  In the nicer months I may only have to drive the car to work once or twice a week, if that.  I sometimes take an evening walk alone with a cigar and listen to them, which is nice, but it’s better to walk with someone (usually my son or my wife).  Three of the podcasts I like to listen to are pushing 2 hours long, which is a killer year round! For those curious, the podcasts currently in my rotation are: Dogwatch Cigar Radio, Stogie Fresh 5, Blowin Smoke, Cigar Snapshot, and The Cigar Authority.  I’ve had the pleasure to have met the hosts of all of these on various occasions, even slept on one of their couches on a couple occasions, with the exception of Bill Berris, who hosts Cigar Snapshot.  I do “know” Bill from the old alt.smokers.cigars days though, and one day our paths will cross.  I’ve said before that there are some little things that annoy me about some of the shows, but they all provide me with cigartainment and are worth every penny I pay for them :-).

 

When I saw American Eagles cigars at the show I thought they were a novelty, I mean, really, a camo cigar?  What if I drop it outside, how will I find it?  Well, this is a serious cigar.  Not only do some of the proceeds go to the Semper Fi Fund, as a thank you to all the men and women who serve and have served in the United States Marine Corps, but the cigars are actually blended by Hendrick Kelner.  Since I’ve been seeing these show up in a couple of major retailers mailings, I figured I’d fire up one of the samples I got from the trade show. I took this cigar for my evening walk, and it’s a darned nice cigar! I smoked this down to about a half an inch, and it remained smooth and flavorful to the end. It looks to me like it has candela, shade and maduro pieces applied to a habano wrapper to produce the camouflage pattern, and I swear I could taste the candela “freshness” here and there. It’s gimmicky, but a quality cigar that is very tasty. This is one that should not be dismissed, if you can find them (little camo joke there…) give one a shot.  Chris Ramos, the sales director was very helpful and generous with his time, thanks to him for the samples.

 

The American Eagles cigars were sharing a booth with Cigar Mechanic‘s Eric Budman, who was kind enough to not only gift me a couple of his humidifying units to try out, but also took a few minutes to record a little video about his products.  I have to say, since using one of these in a new cooler set up, it’s been holding steady, as has been the smaller unit in my desktop humidor. Check out the video and give these a try if you are in the market for a new humidification device.

Thanks to Eric for taking the time to talk to me and for the samples!

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

CigarCraig

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