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by Craig Vanderslice | April 27, 2025 · 8:06 am

Aganorsa Signature, The GOAT and Oz Family Cigars

First off I feel the need to point something out. I received the press release for this year’s Punch Father’s Day release, Mr. Punch’s Weiners. I thought the Dad Bod was a terrible concept just about all around, some folks liked it. The band was dumb, packaging them in a can was dumb, overall I thought it sent a bad message: it’s OK to let yourself go. Not that I’m a fitness freak, I have a dad bod, but I don’t embrace it! The Dad’s Home Videos was very good, not a problem. I have a problems with the weiner theme, aside form the obvious, it seems to be a little close to the Fratello Vice-Versa, down to saying it can be smoked from either end. Now, it doesn’t claim to taste different depending on which way one smoked it, but the concept is the same. I know it’s not worth Omar’s time to do anything about it, both are limited editions, and General has deep enough pockets to defend themselves, but it would be a courtesy to look at things in the market and try not to blatantly copy them. At least they put them in packs of 10. I think Kevin (who played a big part in the Vice-Versa, by the way) should get on his 3D printer and make some hot dog roll cigar props and sell them in packs of eight!

That was a long way to get to the punch line, so let’s talk about some new-to-me cigars. In a recent visit to The Wooden Indian I picked up an Aganorsa Leaf Signature Selection Maduro Toro. This is a Nicaraguan Puro, mostly Nicaraguan Corojo with a touch of Nicaraguan Criollo 98 in the filler. I struggle with the Aganorsa lines, some I like, some not so much and I can’t seem to ever remember which ones fall into which category. I know I like the La Validation Maduro, that’s for sure. Will I remember the next time I’m faces with a choice? Who’s to say? I can say that I’m adding this to the list of Aganorsa cigars I like. It started with a dry cocoa powder kinda thing going on, and got sweeter as it went along. Burn and draw were great and it hit the spot. $13.50 well spent.

Next up from my Wooden Indian foray was an A.J. Fernandez cigar that I’ve heard a lot about, The Goat. This started life as a store exclusive for Nasser’s Lounge in Pétion-Ville, Haiti. I’ve never been there. It’s now in wider distribution, and is pricey for an A.J. Fernandez cigar , around $17. Also pricey for me, but I was interested and looking for new things. This has a San Andrés wrapper, Nicaraguan Corojo binder and Nicaraguan fillers. What’s not to like, right? Turns out, I liked it a lot. It was a 6″ x 52 toro, It was heavy, earthy and had some sweet espresso notes. It was very good, but outside my comfort zone price-wise. I’m notoriously frugal.

Finally I picked up an Oz Family Cigars Firsat, in the F54 size. This is a 7″ x 54 cigar, with a higher priming Ecuador Connecticut wrapper that I thought was pretty ugly. Many times ugly wrappers are very tasty. The binder is a Ecuador Habano with Nicaraguan fillers. I believe this is made at Casa Carillo in the DR. It’s a big cigar, and I sat down to watch a movie figuring it was going to take a good two hours to smoke. The flavors were nuts and leather, with a bit of creaminess and built up to a solid medium. This was a light (in weight) cigar, and was done in less than 90 minutes, which was a bit of a disappointment. $14 wasn’t a terrible price, it was a tasty cigar and it might work better in another size, or at least the same for less money.

That’s all I have for today. Don’t forget to check out the Flatbed Cigar Co. Daily Deal, there’s always something good (left sidebar). Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as A.J. Fernandez, Aganorsa Leaf, cigar, Cigar Prop, cigars, Firsat, Fratello, Oz Family Cigars, punch, Signature Selection, The Goat

by Craig Vanderslice | April 20, 2025 · 9:23 am

Some Macanudo and Punch Cigars

I wasn’t even really thinking that I only smoked Macanudo and Punch cigars for this week’s post, it just sort of happened that way! I was really impressed with the Macanudo Emissary España last year, it’s really good, and on the stronger side for a Macanudo. It has tobacco grown in Spain, and the new one, the Emissary France, believe it or not, has tobacco grown in France! The tobacco cultivated in the Mugron River Valley, where it gets an Atlantic sea breeze. Emissary France has an Ecuadorian Habano Wrapper (10-Year Aged), a USA Broadleaf Binder (10-Year Aged), and a filler blend composed of Dominican Piloto (10-Year Aged), USA Broadleaf (8-Year Aged), Brazilian Arapiraca (7-Year Aged) and French (4-Year Aged). This was a really interesting cigar, another Macanudo that’s up my alley. It’s bold, it has a lot of espresso, and a hint of Mesquite. Very interesting and entertaining! The last few weeks cigars have been more therapeutic than usual, and this one, although too short at 5″ x 50, was a hit.

In the spirit of the season, I finally completed an experiment. Back in March of 2020 I found a Macanudo 1968 that had been inadvertently left out and was on the dehydrated side. It measured only 35% on the Humidimeter. I labeled it with the date and humidity, and stashed it in a corner of one of the humidors. I hate to complain, but it actually took me a while to find it, I had forgotten which humidor it was in. This cigar was from a box that I was given in 2011 when I went to tour General Cigar’s operations in Santiago. I might still have one floating around somewhere, I don’t think this was the last one. Anyway, I took a Humidimeter reading and it was right around 60% so I lit it up yesterday while watching a movie. The Macanudo 1968 was probably the first of the stronger Macanudos, so I wasn’t worried it had aged out, more concerned with the dehydration. It actually smoked really well, tasted like an older cigar, mature, with some spice. It shows that resurrecting a cigar is possible, and probably didn’t take 5 years, I just kept forgetting about it!

Let’s move away from Macanudo and on to one of it’s stablemates, Punch. Punch is an old Cuban brand, with roots in the English market. So it stands to reason they would come out with seasonal releases with Chinese themes. It was food for a bit, then fireworks. This year’s is the Bottle Rocket. It comes in a single size , a 4½” x 50 figurado. It has a Mexican San Andrés wrapper, a Nicaraguan Estelí binder, and Nicaraguan, Dominican, and Honduran fillers. I have enjoyed ll of the cigars in Punch’s lunar new year series, and they are priced well. I was in The Wooden Indian Tobacconist yesterday grabbing a few cigars (sadly they were sold out of the WIT60, their 60th anniversary cigar made by Espinosa), and I saw the Bottle Rockets and they really are packed with a stick attached, my samples were sans stick. My notes said “tasty little bugger”, full bodied, loads of cocoa and a deceptively long burn time. I think I got over an hour out of this one. Another winner from Punch.

While at the Wooden Indian I grabbed a Punch Dad’s Home Movies and smoked it last night while not watching home movies. This is another perplexing branding theme for Punch. Every year ahead of Father’s Day they come out with some kitschy themed cigar, this was last year’s and I’m just now getting around to trying it. I was especially critical of the “Dad Bod”, hated the name, the stupid necktie band, and samples I had were mostly damaged. I had one last week and it about fell apart. This one is more my speed. It’s a 6″ x 50 box pressed toro, made in Honduras with an Ecuador Habano wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and fillers, and not a hint of Honduran tobacco! This one started out with a dry cocoa powder flavor, then sweetened slightly. I’ll tell you what, for under $8 you could do a lot worse, I quite enjoyed this one. The branding is less egregious than the Dad Bod (which won a HalfWheel packaging award, go figure).

That’s all for today. If you’re given to celebrating the holy days this time of year, I hope they are enjoyable! Don’t forget to check the Flatbed Cigars Daily Deal on the left sidebar (or on their page), there’s always a great deal on some great cigars. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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A Djeep Lighter, New La Gloria Cubana, Punch and Los Statos Deluxe Cigars

Welcome to the “last weekend of summer”. My birthday and Labor Day always get me down as they indicate the coming of cooler, and eventually cold, weather, which I dislike. I like summer. I like stepping outside in the morning and feeling warm. I like not having to bundle up. I know some people like autumn, but it just depresses me. I’m already looking forward to spring! Anyway, I was going through the checkout line at Walmart this week and my eye usually looks at the selection of lighters, and I saw something I hadn’t seen before, a Djeep Turbo Lighter. I figured for $5 it was worth a try. I broke a couple torches lately, although I still have plenty, but one more won’t hurt. It comes full of butane, ready to go, and really works well. It brings to mind the classic Blazer PB207, as it has a cap secured with a chain. It, thankfully, doesn’t have a switch to lock the flame on, which I always thought was a liability. The flame is adjustable and it’s refillable. I’ll use the heck out of it and see how it holds up, but initially I’m impressed. Djeep is a good name in lighters, the soft flame disposable has always done well, I think I had one Macanudo branded many years ago. There are probably cheaper torches that work just fine, but this is a brand name and is easily accessible. The link is to Amazon where they sell a six pack and is an affiliate link. If twenty of you buy these it might pay for the one I bought!

I received some new releases from Forged Cigars and General cigars a couple weeks back, and was disappointed to receive the press release, but not the cigars, for a new La Gloria Cubana, a long time favorite brand. Fortunately, my friend Phil of Comedy-Cigars-Music shared a couple of his with me. The La Gloria Cubana Gran Legado is a large figurado, 7¾” x 62, with a Connecticut Broadleaf maduro wrapper over Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers. Each cigar has a secondary band with a signature of one of the team who created it, and they only use rollers with 15 or more years of experience. I had a busy week at the day job, and was ready to sit down and relax with a cigar Friday, and I chose this large cigar to do it with. This was a really good smoke. I’ve had some issues with some of the La Gloria releases lately, but this ain’t one of them. It’s huge, so it smoked for about two and a half hours, and had some nice cocoa flavors with some spice through the nose. Mid way through there was some interesting savory flavors, a cigar this large needs some transitions to keep it interesting. I really enjoyed this cigar, I think it’s very fairly priced at $15, and I really appreciate Phil sharing his with me.

Next up from Forged was the latest Matt Booth/Justin Andrews colab in the Los Statos Deluxe line, the Connecticut. I’ll be honest, I thought the other “LSD” offerings were OK, but I really like this one, and it’s really hard to get me excited about shade wrapped cigars. This one has an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper, Esteli, Jalapa, Nicaraguan Habano, and PA Broadleaf fillers, and, get this, it’s made at the Joya de Nicaragua factory! No wonder I liked it. Before I read where it was made, I was thinking that this was a really good budget alternative to a Sobremesa Brulee, and now I know why! This is on a par with the Antaño CT and the Brulee as far as I’m concerned. I’ve smoked a couple of these and really enjoyed them, it’s a smooth, creamy cigar, with some cane sugar sweetness and an appropriate amount of spice. I need to find some of the other sizes, the Churchill especially. Look for the purple packaging, because you can’t see the wrapper to know what you’re getting!

Moving from the Forged division of STG to the General Cigar Co. side, I smoked the new Punch Golden Era in Lancero. Nearly a year ago I wrote about the robusto in this collaboration with Julio and Justo Eiroa of JRE Cigars. I remember getting the Golden Era along with the Macanudo Vintage Maduro 2013 and being confused by the fact that the Macanudo was the stronger cigar. Like I mentioned last year, unlike the Punch Rare Corojo, this Golden Era actually has Corojo in the blend, Honduran Corojo wrapper with Honduran Corojo and Habano fillers. This is a nice cigar with some bread and caramel notes. The press release incorrectly states that this is the only Punch lancero, unless the 7″ x 37 Chop Suey doesn’t count because it was limited. I think the lancero was better than the robusto, I planned to smoke one while writing this, but a persisting migraine made me scrap that idea. I’ll have one later.

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

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Djeep, Eiroa, Forged, General Cigar Co., Golden Era, Gran Legado, joya de nicaragua, JRE, Justin Andrews, La Gloria Cubana, Lighter, Los Statos Deluxe, LSD, Matt Booth, punch, Torch

by Craig Vanderslice | February 25, 2024 · 9:45 am

CAO Flathead Resonator and Punch Dragon Fire Cigars

I smoked some new stuff from General Cigars this week, both of which necessitated the use of my Adorini punch, which, in my opinion, is the finest punch on the market. Adorini makes some excellent humidors, I have two and they are rock solid in form and finish. I’ve had both for around ten years and they require zero maintenance. I just throw some bovedas in every few months and they are good. This punch has two sized punches, 9mm and 13mm, and I fund that I only ever use the larger one and there are only a few cigars that I use it on, CAO Flatheads, RoMaCraft Neanderthals, and now this Punch. The exception might be the smaller ring Flatheads, but they are few and far between. It’s good to have options though, and variety is the spice of life, which is why I find myself rotating through several cut styles. None of this has anything to do with the cigars, so let’s get to the CAO Flathead Resonator. First off, I think this is the first Flathead to come out in the post Rick Rodriguez era, Flathead was his baby. It’s enormous at 8″ x 60, and took me a full 2½ hours to smok

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e. It’s a little surprising that they were able to pull this off in the age of Connecticut Broadleaf shortages, it takes a pretty large leaf to make 8″ cigars. Like the rest of the line, this has a Connecticut Habano binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers, and is made in the STG Factory in Esteli. I’ve passed the factory on the way into Esteli on the Pan American Highway a few times, but it’s been over ten years, the town may have sprawled beyond there since. I’d love a tour (hint, hint). If you like the line, you’ll like this one, although it starts out a little mellower just by the nature of its length. I had no need to touch it up over the course of the smoke, which would potentially last an entire hockey game, I think (I might test that theory today). It had the sweetness, with some black coffee and cocoa that I like, along with some earthiness. All in all, an enjoyable, smoke, much more so than CAO’s last attempt at a 8″ x 60.

I suppose the elephant in the room is the question of whether General Cigar got permission from Gurkha to use “Dragon” in the name of the Punch Dragon Fire. Considering the lack of news on a C&D or lawsuit, one might assume that they did. This is the sixth cigar in the Punch Chinese New Year series, the previous five of which had a takeout food theme (save for the Fu Manchu which took a brief departure into facial hair apparently). They are sticking with keeping this in the budget price range, at $6.99 SRP, which is really good, I think. I have enjoyed the other releases in this series, and pick them up from time to time because they are wallet friendly and very tasty. I smoked a Kung Pow this week, which was the 2021 release, and enjoyed the crap out of it. This was a 6″ x 52 and features a short wrapper, where the first half inch is just binder and filler. The Kung Pow had a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper over a Honduran habano binder and fillers from Bra

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zil, Honduras, the Dominican Republic and Mexico. It’s quite a blend for a $7 cigar! The Kung Pow is quite good, if you find them around, buy them. They might have been a part of the Pu Pu Platter box that they had that had a sampling the first few years of releases. I’ve gotten ahead of myself. The Punch Dragon Fire is a flat capped, 5″ x 60 cigar with a little bit of the wrapper folded over the foot (I think Enrique Sanchez of 1502 calls it the flavor lock, or something like that). Like the Flathead, this is also bade at the Esteli factory, most Punches are made in Honduras. The wrapper is Mexican, binder is Nicaraguan from Condega, and the fillers are Nicaraguan, Dominican and Honduran. There is a fireworks vibe to the packaging on these, and the cigar packs a punch, so to speak. I found it to be quite spicy, lots of pepper and nicotine. I enjoyed it, but I think it will improve with some age. The band is nice as it has the year on it, for those of us who save bands, it’s a nice reference. I like these two new General Cigar releases, even though they are both 60 ring, they are both up my alley.

If you get a minute, reach out to my buddy Kaplowitz (kaplowitzmedia(at)yahoo(dot)com) and wish him a Happy Birthday today! That’s all for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 860, CAO, Chinese New Year, cigar, cigars, Dragon Fire, Flathead, Kung Pow, punch, Resonator

by Craig Vanderslice | September 24, 2023 · 10:36 am

E.P. Carillo, Cavalier Geneve, Macanudo Vintage and Punch Golden Era Cigars

I split up the work week this week with a day trip to Atlantic City to sit on the beach one last time, do you know they don’t allow smoking on the beach in New Jersey? That sucks! Having a cigar is about the one thing I enjoy about going to the beach! The stupid thing about the smoking ban is that we all know it’s really another litter law, because a certain group of smokers can’t seem to pick up after themselves! There’s already litter laws, how about enforcing them! Anyway, I had picked up a few new to me cigars last week and smoked them this week! The first one was the E.P.Carrillo Allegiance in the Confidant size. This is a 6″ x 52 toro with a box press, and has a pretty Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and fillers which all come from, and is manufactured by, Oliva Cigars. It’s kinda funny that when Ernesto started his factory, I think he was more interested in making cigars for other people, then he had success with his own brand (again), and now he’s having other people make his brand! I’ve loved Ernesto’s cigars since the mid ’90s anyway. This one was a surprise, or maybe not. I got a large dose of the cane sugar sweetness I often get from Sumatra, and it stuck around through the cigar. I liked it a lot, it was a nice change. I definitely want to smoke this again, I’d like to smoke this with a friend to compare notes, I think that would be interesting. Great smoke in my opinion.

Next up was another cigar I picked up on the same shopping foray, a Cavalier Geneve Inner Circle Toro. This is made at the company’s factory in Honduras, Fábrica Centroamericana de Tabaco S.A., and does not have the signature gold leaf diamond applied to the wrapper. The wrapper is Nicaraguan Habano, Honduran Habano binder and fillers from Dominican Republic, Honduras , Nicaragua and Pennsylvania. Considering the blend, especially the presence of Pennsylvania leaf in the filler blend, I was surprised that this was as mild as it was. Oddly, I got a hint of white sugar on this one, maybe I have a sweet tooth lately. It was very nice, mellow, with subtle sweet tobacco notes throughout, some light coffee perhaps. Whenever I see PA tobacco in the blend I buckle my seatbelt, not needed in this case. I couldn’t have been happier with the gracefulness of this cigar, it was a delight.

A few weeks ago I mentioned picking up a Captain America Invicta case to repurpose as a travel humidor, and this week I put some foam trays in it. I bought a pack of 12″ x 12″ acoustic foam “tiles” from Temu for a little over $10 delivered. I cut four of them to fit the case, and, if I’m being anal retentive, can put 24 large cigars in the case. Of course, it’ll fit way more than that if I cram cigars in. So if you picked up a case at Harbor Freight, or a Pelican case if your well off, or got your hands on one of these Invicta watch cases, and were wondering where to get foam trays to lovingly cradle your precious cigars for safe travel, here’s your solution! I chose red because I thought it looked cool with the case, they have other colors. I suppose now I’m going to be expected to show up toting this case with me whenever I go to events now…

I had a few cigars from General Cigar Co. left to smoke that I had been saving for the right time, and yesterday was the time. I say that because they are robustos, and I often like to take longer to smoke than a robusto will give me. I know, it’s a hard problem to have. I took the afternoon yesterday, since it was rainy, to work on starting to winterize my porch, which is my smoking lounge. This was a great time to light up a Macanudo Vintage Maduro 2013 Robusto. I’ve always liked the Macanudo Vintage Maduro offerings, this one was a surprise. The wrapper is a ten year old Connecticut Broadleaf, the binder is Honduran Olancho San Agustin, and the fillers are Dominican Piloto Cubano (two different primings), Nicaraguan Jalapa and Brazilian Mata Fina. This was a very bold cigar, surprisingly so for a Macanudo. A pleasant surprise, for someone who can be frustrated by a mild cigar. The cigar started with a shot of espresso, and didn’t let off too much from there. It had loads of roch coffee and cocoa with some spice and we really quite heavy. It frequently distracted me from my project, and reduced the profanity level significantly. I may remove the cedar from a few of these for long term aging, I’d hate to see these become too woody. That reminds me, I have a side by side experiment with some Diesel Esteli Puros I need to do one of these days.

Finally, a cigar I’ve been looking forward to trying is the Punch Golden Era. Like the EPC Allegiance, this is another partnership, this time General Cigar worked with Justo and Julio Eiroa and made this cigar at Fabrica Puros de Aladino SA in Honduras. You know the Punch Rare Corojo that doesn’t actually have any Corojo in the blend? This cigar does actually have Corojo, and it’s Corojo from the undisputed masters of Corojo. Funny enough, this and the Macanudo were switched for me, where I expected this to be a powerhouse and the Macanudo to be milder, this was the mild cigar. The Punch Golden er

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a was bready, creamy and maybe a little nutty, not at all what I expected. It wasn’t anything like an Aladino, or an old Camacho, or any Punch I can think of. It was quite nice, but very surprising for an all Corojo cigar. If you like Corojo, and you want a different (in my opinion) take on it, give this a try. If you like smooth, creamy, elegant cigars, also give this a try! It’s certainly a tasty cigar, but ch

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allenged my expectations.

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

CigarCraig