Tag Archives: Stogie Boys

by CigarCraig | December 12, 2012 · 7:00 am

CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways Day 1: StogieBoys.com Prize Pack

Welcome to the second annual CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways! Last year’s was so much fun I decided to do it again. I think this year’s prizes are as good, if not better than last year! I honestly don’t know how much better it can get!

We’re starting off the festivities with this nice prize package from StogieBoys.com! Included in this prize is one Full Throttle Sampler consisting of 10 cigars, one Hurricane Torch Lighter, a Stogie Boys T-shirt, V-cutter and a deck of cards, as well as a sticker and a pocket guide. Thanks to Sheryl and everyone at Stogieboys.com for kicking this thing off right!

Rules

Here’s how you enter: leave a comment. That’s it, plain and simple. Tweets don’t count, but feel free to spread the word, only comments on this page count as an entry. Each day there will be a different prize and the winner will be drawn from that day’s comments. The winner will be announced on the next day’s post. The contest is open to everyone, even if you’ve won one of my contests in the past six months, but once you’ve won, you are ineligible to win again in this series of contests. All prizes will be mailed as soon as I get a chance to go to the post office, or whenever the sponsor decides to ship, whichever is the case, so don’t make me chase down your address! Please e-mail your contact information to 12days@cigarcraig.com as soon as possible!

That’s it, leave a comment to enter and good luck. Check back tomorrow to see if you won and enter tomorrow’s contest!

Until then,

CigarCraig

63 Comments

Filed under Contest

Tagged as 12 days, cigar, cigars, Contest, Stogie Boys

by CigarCraig | December 9, 2012 · 10:13 am

Announcement! CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways (and a Los Regalos)

It’s that time of year again folks, it’s time to officially announce the 2012 CigarCraig’s 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways! Last year’s contests were pretty spectacular, but this years will be better! We’ve got an abundance of samplers, boxes, accessories from all of your favorite companies, and maybe a couple new and interesting items that you haven’t heard of yet. The rules are simple. Every day starting Wednesday, December 12, 2012, around 7 AM Eastern Standard Time I will post that days present. You’re job will be to leave a comment which will serve as your entry. Feel free to Tweet about it, Post it on Facebook, post it in whatever groups or forums you like, but only the comment counts as an entry. Also, I can see your IP address on your comments so no stuffing the ballot box please! One entry per person per day. My usual contest rules exclude winners from previous contests for 6 months, this rule is suspended so everyone starts fresh. However, once you’ve won a present in the 12 Spectacular Days of Cigar Giveaways you are no longer eligible to win. I know everyone will behave. Some gifts are being shipped directly from their contributors, and some are being shipped by me. I will ship items when I get the chance, please remember it’s a busy time of year for all of us! If you’ve won, it will be announced the next day, so be sure to check back. The winner will need to e-mail me their name and address at their earliest convenience.

Many thanks to the generous sponsors of this event! I always say, sure, I could do this without them, but it would cost me a FORTUNE!

They are (in alphabetical order):

AJ Fernandez Cigars

CAO Cigars/General Cigar Co.

Drew Estate

Emilio Cigars

Foundry Cigars/General Cigar Co.

Tobaccos Mata Fina USA

Toraño Family Cigars

United Cigar Retailers

Villiger Cigars North America

These folks all went above and beyond as you will see over the coming two weeks. I get excited about this all year long, and even though it’s a lot of work, it’s so much fun! Stay tuned for Day 1 on Wednesday and good luck to everyone who participates!

One Last Cigar recap:

As much as running contests for 12 consecutive days is almost a full time job (and thanks in advance to my wife for all her help) it allows me to just grab a cigar from the humidor to smoke and enjoy without having to take pictures or really worry about all the particulars. However, I need to slip in one last cigar before my hiatus (although I will be reporting on a cigar event I’m attending tomorrow evening). This week I fired up a Los Regalos Quetzal from Emilio Cigars. The cigar was a toro size, and had a little firmer draw than I’d have liked. It was also much milder than I expected. Other folks whose, palates I respect, have called this medium to full, and I didn’t get that at all. Perhaps the firm draw caused me to perceive it as mild. That’s not a complaint, mind you, but illustration of how preconceived notions can color perception. The cigar burned well and had a pleasing flavor, with little, delicate flavors popping in and out from time to time that kept me on my toes. Does the draw effect flavor? Absolutely! Is everyone’s palate different? Once again, absolutely. This is a cigar I will revisit, I know a shop not far from here that’s sure to carry them! I’ll hold off until conditions are better as I didn’t think this was an ideal cold weather cigar. Thanks to Gary Griffith for sending a sample of this cigar for me to try. He’s been loading me up with samples of the lines he’s distributing and they all seem to have one thing in common: I love them!

And finally, I’ll leave you with the video I closed last year’s contest series with, Alan Bernhoft’s Christmas Classic, Imagine Christmas.

httpv://youtu.be/AioTRzrMlBw

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

17 Comments

Filed under Contest, Review

Tagged as 12 days, aj fernandez, CAO, cigar, cigars, drew estate, Emilio, General Cigar Co., oliva, Stogie Boys, Tabaccos Mata Fina, The Cigar Agency, Toraño, United Cigar Retailers, Villiger

by CigarCraig | November 11, 2012 · 9:54 am

A Brick, a San Lotano and a La Aurora and Some News

The second half of my week started with taking a walk with my youngest son and his dog. A few weeks ago Sheryl at StogieBoys.com sent me a few samples of various vitolas of The Brick Box Press by Toraño. All three of these sizes were pretty large for me for cold weather, so I grabbed the smallest one, a 5½x60 “Robusto” that appears smaller due to the square press. The other two cigars were a torpedo and Churchill, both longer than I wanted for a cold evening. I had first experienced this brand back in 2004 when my wife and I held a cigar event at the Freehold Raceway in New Jersey. The folks at Toraño were very generous and sent a bundle of Brick torpedoes along with a box of Exodus 1959 to give to the attendees and at the time I thought it was a decent bundle cigar. Really nothing memorable, but not a bad cigar. I enjoyed this box pressed version, it wasn’t incredible, just a quality cigar at a reasonable price. The 60 ring gauge in the box press was very manageable. It burned well and while one dimensional, it had a pleasing flavor. I’ll smoke the larger sizes as the opportunity arises, I neither like to freeze my buns off for two hours nor waste a cigar putting it down prematurely. Thanks again to Sheryl at StogieBoys.com for providing me with samples and for working with CigarCraig.com.

Friday evening I grabbed a cigar I purchased a few weeks back at Total Tobacco in Newtown Square, PA. You should know after reading a little bit that I am a self-proclaimed cheap bastid. When I visited this store on it’s grand opening I picked up some cigars that I hadn’t tried and I don’t see everywhere. One of those cigars was this San Lotano Oval Maduro robusto. I love the Oval, I love the San Lotano Maduro so I felt compelled to shell out nearly $10 (ouch) to try this cigar that surely would be a home run. Obviously, the shape is unique, and very comfortable in the hand and mouth. The cigar was pretty terrific, but it wasn’t really that much more terrific than the regular San Lotano Maduro that I could justify the up-charge. This is just my opinion, mind you, the Oval IS a terrific cigar, the draw was effortless and it was loaded with all of the dark, rich flavors that I love. Just for me, for a couple bucks less I’m happier with the regular maduro. I’m happy I took the plunge and gave it a try, we have to do that from time to time. There can be no doubt that A.J. Fernandez is a superstar in the cigar world. As an aside, I have never been quite so proud as when he thanked me for doing what I do in English, which is not a language in which he is fluent.

Saturday was a pretty nice day, the temperatures were back in line with what they should be this time of year, perhaps a little warmer. My wife and I spent a fun afternoon babysitting out 1½ year old granddaughter, so we were pretty worn out! After dinner I selected a La Aurora robusto from the IPCPR show that was nice and dark. I wasn’t sure what this was to begin with, I thought it looked maduro, but I wasn’t sure. My bro Barry from Miami Cigar and Co. suggested it looked like the new Cameroon line, which it turned out being, of course. I was thrown off by the appearance and the flavor. This didn’t look like a Cameroon wrapper, it was dark and smooth, I expect a milk chocolate brown with lots of tooth. The flavors were deep and dark, maduroish, not the signature Camerooniness that I know and love. This will sound strange, but I love the La Aurora brand, but I’m often not fond of many of their cigars. generally there’s a little something that doesn’t appeal to me. However, this Cameroon was awesome. The best La Aurora cigar I’ve ever had. It was rich, complex and loaded with flavor. I smoke a lot of different cigars, and it’s rare that I have one that compels me to want a box, but this one is the one. The worst part about it was that it was too short. DAMN it was a great smoke!

News

Not to knock off ACigarSmoker.com‘s Sunday links, here are a couple links that caught my eye this week:

From the Miami New Times Blog: The Wynwood Cigar Factory: Smokes and Street Art Galore (Photos)

A bit of local (to me) from The Canadian: UFO: Cigar-like craft hovers over Philadelphia

From the LA Times, a little dated but appropriate for today: Veteran loves his cigars

Fine Tobacco NYC debuts their Sunday Cigar Shots: SUNDAY CIGAR SHOTS VIA #FINETOBACCONYC – NOVEMBER 11TH, 2012

And to be a little ironic, from ACigarSmoker.com: Sunday Links – 11/11/12

It’s supposed to be a nice day here in PA, so I’m off to see what kind of trouble I can get into. Happy Veterans Day in the US and Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in other parts of the world. Smoke a nice cigar today and dedicate it to all who have served.

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

2 Comments

Filed under News, Review

Tagged as Cameroon, cigar, cigars, IPCPR, La Aurora, Links, oval, san lotano, Stogie Boys, The Brick

by CigarCraig | November 13, 2011 · 9:51 am

A 601 La Bomba, a San Lotano Oval, News and a Contest Winner!

While perusing CigarEvents.com it came to my attention that Eddie Ortega of EO Brands was going to be making an appearance at my local shop, JM Cigars, in Exton, PA. After dinner my son and I made our way over there. We promptly purchased some of the last 601 La Bombas that they had and fired one of these badboys up and visited with Eddie for a while. I have been patronizing this shop since the mid-90s and it’s one of the best around. The shop was packed and the LA Bomba was awesome. I had only previously had a pre-release sample, which I loved. These are terrific cigars with a little bit of strength. It’s always a good time hanging out with Eddie, and I got to catch up with an old friend, Rob, after the shop cleared out. Nice bunch of folks, and a fine way to spend a chilly Friday evening.

Saturday’s walk cigar was a San Lotano Oval which I received from Clay at AJ Fernandez a few months ago. These cigars are unique in the fact that they, as the name implies, are oval shaped. I smoked the 6 x 54 toro, which looks like it was squished. The shape is very comfortable to smoke, and, like a box press, it doesn’t roll off the table when you set it down. there’s a bright flavor in this cigar that I enjoy but can’t put a finger on. All I know is that this is a tasty, well made and interesting cigar! I look forward to a maduro version one day!

News

There were two new entries into the blogosphere recently that I think are notable. First, Frank Seltzer, who you see writing in all the big cigar magazines and around the web, is now contributing to the JR Cigars blog. Frank is a real journalist, and I’m proud to say he’s an old friend. He has a couple articles in the latest JR catalog as well. Also breaking into the blog world is Gary Griffith of Emilio Cigars, with “From Seed To Smoke“. Gary’s pretty prolific on Twitter and he’s making some outstanding cigars and is a heck of a nice guy who I’m also proud to call friend. I look forward to reading what he has to say. I HAVE to get down to Delaware and visit him at his shop one of these days!

Contest!

Let’s get to the part you’ve all been waiting for, the selection of this month’s contest winner. The prize consists of the following: a Drew Estate cap and a Liga Privada cutter, a Stogieboys.com Cigar Journal, a C-Gars Ltd. ring gauge card, a Liga Privada T52 Belicoso, a Monte Pascoal Belicoso and a American Eagles Half Corona. Thank you to all of the generous sponsors of this contest. As usual, I created a spreadsheet of the eligible entries and assigned them numbers based upon the time of the entry. I consulted with the Random.Org True Random Number Generator for the winning number. The number 19 came up, which corresponds to an entry via Twitter by @s5592c, aka Steve Christopher. Congrats to Steve and thanks for reading! Please e-mail me your contact info so I can ship this stuff out to you! Thanks to everyone for entering, and keep an eye out for next months contest!

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

CigarCraig

7 Comments

Filed under Contest, News, Review, Take a Cigar For a Walk

Tagged as aj fernandez, American Eagles, Brazil, c-gars ltd, camouflage, cigar, cigars, Contest, drew estate, Eddie Ortega, Emilio, EO Brands, Frank Seltzer, Gary Griffith, JM Cigars, JR Cigars, La Bomba, Monte Pascoal, oval, san lotano, Stogie Boys, Take A Cigar For A Walk, twitter

by CigarCraig | June 8, 2011 · 7:21 pm

Guest Take A Cigar For A Walk Review: Tommy Berry and a Pirates Gold!

Here’s another update from our intrepid TACFAW (Take A Cigar For A Walk) reporter, Tommy Berry:

Hello folks! I hope that everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend…I know I did and got to do some fishing with the kids…as well as smoke several great cigars. One in particular that I want to review is the “Pirate’s Gold Rothschild” that I smoked this weekend during a walk. I received this cigar from a friend of mine over at Cigarworld.com. I had never heard of these before, so I knew nothing about them. After a little research, I found that they are priced between $1-$1.50 each, what a value. I like value sticks sometimes, but the key word there is “sometimes”. Most companies think they need to cut back on body and flavor to hit the “cheap cigar” mark. I can tell you that the folks that made this one did no such thing…it was great. With its Robusto size, Ecuador wrapper and Nicaraguan and Brazilian filler…it was a great little smoke!

I began my walk just after lighting it. It smelled awesome, as this one had some age on it per the sender. It stayed lit without any problems, lasted me a good 90 minutes to the nub…and yes, I smoked this sucker down to the nub. Overall, I really enjoyed and would recommend this smoke. I see that you can find these at a few places sometimes for a 20 pack, less than $20! I’d try another!

I started boot camp last week and it is killing me…but I am loving it! This Marine (and she’s a tough lady) is exactly what I have needed! She is also really helping me out with my diet…and I am still eating good, just added some things and took away a few others that I can live without. I can already tell the difference. I will give you more information on it once I get through a few weeks…if I survive.

We had some delays on our home purchase, however it is still moving forward and we hope to be in the new home by the end of June. I will be sure to keep you posted!

Craig, thank you for allowing me this time…you do great work and I appreciate it!

Long ashes to ya!

Tommy

Thanks Tommy, and I’m glad to hear that the Boot Camp is working for you! Look forward to hearing more about your progress! As far as the home buying goes, if it is meant to be it will happen. Usually the way it works is that the deal may fall through, and the next week you’ll see on the news it blew up in some strange methane explosion or something. What will be, will be! You’ll be thrilled when it happens!

I grabbed a Puro Indios Viejo toro for my walk, thinking that this cigar is a cousin of sorts to the Pirates Gold. I’ve enjoyed these in the past, and they are usually dirt cheap. This one smoked like it was dirt cheap, but the flavor was good. I always liked the Puros Indios flavors, but back in the ’90s they were known for being plagued with construction issues. “Dowel Rod” and “Tent Peg” were frequent comparisons. This one had a loose enough draw, bu the smoke production was just off, as if it was over-humidified, which would be strange since I smoke out of the same humidor all the time. Anyway, after my walk, about half way through it straightened itself our and was an acceptable smoke. If you can find these for $20 -$25 a bundle go for it, especially in the corona size, they are a bona fide value.

Contest Winners!

I’m sorry to say that of the 8 entries in this weeks contest, only 5 are eligible per the rules. The lucky recipients of the C-Gars Ltd. Ring Gauge Guides as chosen by the random number generator on Random.org are Chris McCann and none other than Tommy Berry (whom I couldn’t think of a good reason to disqualify!). I should have both of your addresses around here someplace, so I’ll drop these in the mail tomorrow (unless you want to help me out with an e-mail and save me some digging)! Thanks to all who entered. I am planning to have another nice cigar contest in the next couple weeks, so stay tuned!

That’s it for now. Thank again to Tommy Berry Jr. for his contribution, and, as always, I wish him the best of luck in his various endeavors! Keep it up, man!

Until the next time,

CigarCraig