You know how you have some friends that don’t listen? A few weeks back I send a few cigars to my friend Phil who publishes the very creative ComedyCigarsMusic.com. I wanted to get some of the Bariay 1492 cigars into some reviewer’s hands, and Phil came to mind. He posted a review of the Red here. I’ve been really impressed 
with these cigars and want to get the word out. Anyway, the package I sent came with the instruction that no reciprocity was required, or desired! I’m blessed with an abundance. Phil didn’t listen and sent me some cigars, three of which I’ll discuss today. First up is the SP1014 Black from Sanj Patel. Sanj has a cigar shop in New Jersey, which I need to get around to visiting. Quick warning, links to the cigars posted here may be going to e-commerce sites, which just means that’s where I found the information, shilling is unintended. The SP1014 Black toro is 6″ x 54, blended by Eladio Diaz in the DR. It has a Dominican wrapper, Mexican barrel aged binder, and a “5 blend Dominican” filler, whatever that means. I assume it has tobacco from 5 areas in the DR? Anyway, Eladio Diaz’ blending isn’t always my bag, so I went into this wondering how I’d feel about it. I thought back to last week when I had that feeling about the Davidoff, which proved me wrong. This one started out with a sour umami flavor, and the damp earth sort of continued. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t up my alley either. Burn and draw were perfect and it was and interesting smoke.
The next cigar up was another 6″ x 54 toro which, Phil is undoubtedly aware, is my size of choice. This one was from American Viking Cigars, which is owned by Tim Swanson of Cigars Daily. Like the SP1014, this is another brand owned by a cigars store owner. The Box Pressed Rebellion has Nicaraguan Habano Maduro wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and filler and where it’s made I couldn’t tell you. I would tell you if I knew, but that info wasn’t readily available and I lacked the ambition to research further. As the name would imply, it’s box pressed. It’s got sharp corners, not a soft press. This is a savory cigar again, plenty of leather with some nuts and wood. Once again, the burn and draw were excellent. Nice cigar.
Finally, there was a cigar with a dog on it, which I immediately find appealing. I hadn’t heard of the American Bully cigar before, so I did the bear minimum of research and it appears to be made by A.J. Fernandez for Privada/LCA. This explains why I hadn’t heard of it because I kind of block out Privada stuff. Apparently this is also available at Cigars Daily, I don’t know if other LCA shops cary this, I have to ask my friends at The Wooden Indian if they have it. Of course, I love the big headed dog breeds, and miss my Macha every day. This band has a Handsome American Bully head on it, it’s quite amazing how different an American Bulldog is from and English Bulldog. This cigar is also 6″ x 54, with a Mexican San Andres Maduro wrapper with binder and filler tobaccos from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. It’s made at AJ’s Tabacalera Annex Factory in Esteli, Nicaragua, an area set aside for limited runs. Like the American Bulldog, this is a big, bold cigar. This cigar has some dark molasses, earth and a hint of sweetness. It had a great burn and draw and was pleasurable enough that I might pick a couple up if I saw them locally. I’m still not a big fan of the Privada organization, but this was a really good cigar.
Thanks again to Phil at ComedyCigarsMusic.com for the goodies, totally unnecessary but much appreciated. It’s always fun trying new cigars! In other news, I’m trying to get back into my Instagram account, which came under attack last weekend. I still can’t access my original IG account, it’s been 5 years, and this is proving to be a different challenge. There may be a @CigarCraig2 on IG in the near future. That’s all for today, until the next time,
CigarCraig
