Tag Archives: Prime Living

by CigarCraig | September 10, 2014 · 9:14 pm

A Tortuga, a Couple La Palina Cigars and Some News

First, let’s get some news out of the way. I know you all like contests, and my friends at Joya de Nicaragua are having one. From Sept. 9th to Sept. 24th every 4 days they will draw a winner for a box of the new Joya red. They are giving away a box of each size over the two week contest. I’ve had the good fortune of smoking several of these in the toro, robusto and corona size and they are terrific cigars. Head on over to JoyaCigars.com/winjoyared/ or click the graphic on the top of the right sidebar and enter to win.

Monday evening I selected a cigar I picked up on my birthday at Cigar Mojo, who was recently selected as an appointed Tortuga Cigars merchant. I had smoked the Tortuga Reserva Maduro “El Coyote Negro” with Victor Vitale a few months ago, but it was my second cigar and I wanted to give it a re-do. I smoked the Cedro No. 600, which is a 6½” x 56 toro. This has a dark Brazilian maduro wrapper, and it’s a shame to cover the majority of this beautiful wrapper with a cedar sleeve! I think this may be my new favorite Tortuga, and I do love them all. It had a great balance of strength and flavor, exhibiting the dark, cocoa flavors I enjoy. I’m so glad I smoked this with a clean palate, as I failed to properly appreciate it the first time. Thank you to Trae at Cigar Mojo for making a birthday present of this cigar, I would happily have paid for it with the rest of cigars (and a Xikar Ashtray Can) I bought. Great cigar, no question.

Tuesday I enjoyed a La Palina Classic Robusto. This is a 5″ x 52 robusto made in the PDR factory in the Dominican Republic. This also has a Brazilian wrapper, but this time it’s a Habano, with Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. I was torn between the robusto and the lancero in this blend, and decided to go with the robusto since it’s starting to get dark earlier, which I hate. This cigar has a nice, nutty and earthy flavor with a bit of sweetness. It’s perfectly constructed, the draw and burn were excellent, it behaved very well. I gave this one a straight cut, I tend to rotate between cutters, and happened to have a double guillotine on me this time. Tasty smoke.

While I was at the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival I talked to Bill Paley and got this video. I tried using iMovie on the iPhone to create this one, I’m nit sure I’ve gotten the hang of it yet. While I’ve been using the iPhone and iPod Touch to take the videos for the last couple years, I’ve been using Windows Movie Maker. I thought I’d give this a try.

Tonight I took my evening walk with a La Palina Maduro 40, which is a 6″ x 40 short lancero. this cigar is made in Honduras, and has my favorite San Andrés maduro wrapper. It also has a double binder form Honduras and filler from Nicaragua. I love this cigar, it’s sweet and spicy, flavors of bitter sweet chocolate and coffee, and quite satisfying. It had a great burn and draw, this time I happened to have a punch in my pocket, the first generation ScrewPop punch, which was the perfect size for this cigar. It was a nearly perfect smoke which has been in my humidor since the end of last year. I think I enjoyed this more in the warmer weather than the one I smoked back in January. Whether it was the age of the cigar, or the difference in weather, I don’t know. I just know I like it. I smoked a couple La Palina cigars because the article I wrote on the Mr. Sam for Prime Living magazine was published this week. You can read it at Prime-Living.com (page 53 on the online version).

I’d like to welcome CigarSmokes.com to the CigarCraig family. This Spain-based company caters to my non-US audience providing Havana cigars.

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

CigarCraig

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Filed under Review, Video

Tagged as cigar, cigars, La Palina, Prime Living, Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival, Tortuga

by CigarCraig | July 9, 2014 · 10:01 pm

American Legion Cigar by Blanco, a Joya Red and an Asylum 13 Ogre or Two

Following the holiday weekend we’ve been busy around Casa CigarCraig. I’ve still managed to smoke some great cigars along the way. I picked out some reasonably new cigars to smoke and have enjoyed them. Also, I received a copy of Prime Living magazine today from Houston which has, I’m proud to say, my first published cigar piece. You can see the digital version at Prime-Living.com, my article is on page 55 (which is page 57 in the digital version). I wanted to write an introduction to the world of premium cigars, I hope I was able to present a small part of what goes into making a cigar in laymen’s terms, in a way that non-cigar geeks can appreciate the wonders of the premium cigar. I hope it goes over well!

Sunday afternoon I picked out a cigar that David Blanco gave me at the Cigarnival last week, the American Legion toro. Blanco Cigars makes this cigars, and the proceeds go to the American Legion, which both David Blanco and his father are members. The American Legion is the nation’s largest wartime veterans service organization and focusses on service to veterans, service members and communities. A Habano Rosado Nicaraguan wrapper is very attractive, and the filler is a blend of Nicaraguan and Honduran tobacco. The cigar was very good, it had a nice, medium bodied sweet flavor which should have a broad appeal. This was a great cigar to wrap up the Independence Day weekend!

Tuesday evening I selected the new cigar from Joya de Nicaragua, the Joya Red. Dr. Alejandro Martinez Cuenca, the owner of Joya de Nicaragua, handed me this cigar at Cigarnival, I believe they are due to be released at the upcoming IPCPR show in a couple weeks. The folks at Joya blended this Nicaraguan Puro to be a milder alternative to the more powerful Joya de Nicaragua blends, although I find that their Cabinetta, a personal favorite of mine, to be quite mild. The Red hasa a Nicaraguan Habano wrapper, and binder and fillers from Esteli, Condega and Jalapa. The cigar burned perfectly, and was another nice, sweet medium bodied smoke. This seems less refined than the milder Cabinetta, but it was well balanced and delicious. It has the terrific flavor of the Antaño lines, with a fraction of the strength. This is a great smoke for any time of day.

Monday evening (and there’s a reason I’m going out of order), my wife and I drove an hour and a half south to Bel Air, Maryland to meet our friends Jude and Rande for dinner. They were visiting family in the Washington, DC area and this was mid way between us. We went to a nice place called Loonies Pub, which was a sports bar which had some great food. The crab nachos were really good, and I had an excellent fish and chips, a personal weakness. Of course it was a no smoking establishment, so I had a cigar on the drive home. I smoked the same cigar again tonight, which brings the chronological order back where it should be! I smoked the Asylum 13 Ogre in the new robusto size. I spoke with Tom Lazuka of Asylum Cigars at Cigarnival, and thanked him for making the Ogre in reasonable sizes, as I enjoyed the flavor of the original, but the 7″ x 70 size was not particularly comfortable for me to smoke. The Ogre is a barber pole style cigar with a Habano wrapper over a candela wrapped cigar. I like the color combination of the green and brown, and the result is a smooth smoking cigar with the richness of the Habano juxtaposed with the refreshing flavor of the candela. While the example I smoked in the car seemed a little wet from being in the car in a leather case on a pretty humid day, it was still pretty tasty, although it turned a little funky in the last third. The one I smoked tonight was pretty spectacular. It burned perfectly and is a cigar I can see reaching for frequently. I want to pick some of these up in the 6″ x 60 size too, but this 5″ x 50 robusto is really a winner in my book, and no doubt my favorite cigar from Fabricas Unidas.

Even though I’m not going to the trade show this year, I have a good supply of new and interesting cigars to choose from over the next few weeks. That’s it for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Review

Tagged as American Legion, Asylum 13, Blanco Cigars, cigar, cigars, joya de nicaragua, Prime Living

by CigarCraig | July 2, 2014 · 9:30 pm

A 5 Vegas Miami, a Reinado GER and a Nica Rustica Cigar

Things have been going very well with our new dog, Macha. She’s a sweetie, and we’ve been taking short walks since she’s only been three legged for a few weeks. She does remarkably well, and we learned something about her tonight: she’s not a fan of thunderstorms! We also found out that she CAN go up the stairs, where she ran to hide. I’m hoping none of our neighbors have fireworks this weekend! She’s been a joy so far, I think we got lucky.

Monday I selected a 5 Vegas Miami Toro, a traditional 6″ x 50. This cigar has a Ecuador Habano wrapper and Nicaraguan filler and smoked very well. These are made in the G.R. Tabacaleras Co. in Miami. I received this sample in a pack from Gran Habano, and I really haven’t smoked many 5 Vegas cigars lately. This was a really tasty and well behaved cigar despite having a slight bend to it. I found it to have a nice strength, and some pepper and nuts. I really enjoyed this cigar after a short walk and hanging out on the deck with the dog.

Please join me in welcoming Reinado Cigars to the CigarCraig Family! Click the graphic on the right sidebar to see everything they have to offer in the Reinado Empire! I’ve had the pleasure of hanging out with Antonio Lam, the man behind the brand on numerous occasions and he’s a great guy, and makes some delicious cigars. Tuesday I decided to smoke their newest offering, the Reinado Grand Empire Reserve Ecuador Connecticut Petit Lancero. This cigar is being released at the IPCPR show later this month, so look for it on store shelves sometime soon. My only complaint with this cigar is the “petit” part, I wished it was a longer cigar, the experience ended too soon. I seem to be smoking quite a few really good Ecuador Connecticut cigars lately, and I don’t regularly reach for that wrapper. Along with cigars like the Recluse Amadeus, the Nomad Connecticut Fuerte, and the Jaxx LT, this is another winner in that category. A few years ago the “not your father’s Connecticut” schtick was getting a little tired, but this years batch of Connecticuts are very good. The Reinado is medium bodied and loaded with flavor, and is smooth and well balanced. This would be a great cigar in the morning with a cup of coffee. If it were 7½” x 38 instead of only 6″ it would be even more awesome than it is. If I were using my rating scale with this one it would fall somewhere between 98 and 99!

Tonight I was lazy and grabbed a Nica Rustica El Brujito from Drew Estate. I make sure I have some of these on hand at all times, as it’s become one of my favorite go-to cigars. After a short walk with the dog, who lets me know when she’s ready to head home by stopping and refusing to go any further, forcing me to turn back. We sopped to introduce her to a neighbor and we talked for five minutes before she realized the dog was missing a leg. Macha doesn’t realize she’s any different from any other dog. As I said before, a thunderstorm rolled in, frightening the dog and forcing me into the garage to finish my cigar. The Nica Rustica is a terrific smoke, if you like no-nonsense, strong, dark flavors. The Broadleaf wrapper is dark and rustic, and has some sweetness. I miss the wild grown nicotiana rustica that they used in the prototypes, but the regular production is really good.

Once again, don’t forget to head over to Cigar Rights of America and follow the links to comment on the FDA Deeming Document. In talking with Glynn Loope on Saturday he pointed out that two of our (Premium Cigars) opponents are the health care organizations and big tobacco! I guess I get the fact that the cigarette companies want the playing field leveled, but it’s a shame that they aren’t fighting more tobacco legislation instead of trying to hurt the cigar industry. The FDA needs to know that regulation of Premium Cigars will not only put Americans out of work and close hundreds of small businesses, but will have a devastating impact on the economies of the cigar and tobacco producing companies in the Caribbean and Central America. We need to push for exemption with no price or weight restrictions, or all of the cigars will be over $10 and we won’t have new blends, cigar events, or any of the other cool things we enjoy about this adult pastime.

If you get a chance, check out Houston’s Prime Living Magazine. Page 55 has a little article about cigars in what looks like it will be a regular cigar feature. That’s it for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Filed under Editorial, Review

Tagged as 5 Vegas, cigar, cigar rights, cigars, drew estate, Nica Rustica, Prime Living, Reinado