I had occasion on Wednesday to hang out at the Wooden Indian in Havertown, so, of course, I bought some more cigars to smoke. I don’t smoke a lot of Crowned Heads cigars, I like Miguel there a lot, and do actually like a lot of their cigars. Jon has always been cordial to me, but one time he blew me off at a trade show left a bad taste in my mouth. I don’t think I ever made that public. Anyway, the Broadway line intrigued me, so I picked one up and smoked it there in the Wooden Indian’s Liga Privada Lounge. Of course, I smoked the toro, which is 6½” x 54. This cigar has a beautiful, oily broadleaf wrapper, over a Jalapa binder and fillers from Estelí, Jalapa and Ometepe, Nicaragua. It’s made at NACSA, which is where Saka makes Mi Querida, Umbagog, and the Red Meat Lovers Club cigars. This factory has a steady supply of Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. My expectations were exceeded, as this cigar was absolutely delicious. I may like this more that the Mi Querida Blue, which I like a great deal. Construction was perfect, the flavors were smooth, rich cocoa and coffee, right up my alley. my only regret is that I only bought one, and I considered picking up a few more before the shop closed. I want to thank Dave at the Wooden Indian for letting me hang out in the members lounge after the shop closed, I very much appreciate it! By the way, the Crowned Heads website is in dire need of updating.
The Tatuaje T110 Corojo is a 4 3/8″ x 52 short robusto with a Corojo wrapper. I smoked the Cohete (4″ x 50) back in August and really liked it, so I was very much looking forward to this one. I have smoked the T110 in the Broadleaf and Tuxtla wrappers and enjoyed them. This one I didn’t care for, and there aren’t many Tatuaje cigars I don’t like. It started out with a sourness, and skirted the line between sweet and sour through out the whole smoke. It was disappointing, but I always look at situations like this as a learning experience, what do I like in a cigar and what don’t I like, and how can I avoid it in the future? It’s money well spent, as long as I remember what I don’t like and don’t spend money on it again? This one had been in the humidor for a a couple months.
Another cigar I selected from the vast humidor of the Wooden Indian was the A.J. Fernandez New World Decenio in the toro size. This cigar commemorates a decade of the New World line, and made in the San Lotano factory in Ocotal, Nicaragua. I was hoping to pick one of these up a week or so ago when I saw Laurel at another nearby shop, but I either didn’t see them, or they didn’t have them. They had a really expensive 20th anniversary cigar, which may have distracted me (I didn’t bite). I adore the New World Dorado, and the rest of the New World line are really very good. This cigar is 6½” x 54 with a box press that makes it seem thinner. It has a Mexican San Andrés wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos from Honduras and Nicaragua. I expected a good smoke, and I got a good smoke. This started out spicy, no surprise there, really. It moved to sweet, dark coffee, which is a combination I really like. I also really like that bonus half inch on a toro, more of a good thing. This was a really good smoke, and, dare I say, worth the $14 I paid. This is another anniversary cigar for a budget brand that is higher in price, like the Rocky Patel Edge and the Foundation Charter Oak.
My name was mentioned on yesterday’s Cigar Authority show which was about the cigar inventors. I’ve been on the show a couple times and I’ve known these guys for a long time. It’s humbling to be mentioned, and it gives me some credibility, I guess, to be recognized by them, but I want to set a couple things straight. I, in no way, created anything or was the first of anything. When I started this there were a lot of cigar blogs, I just happened to have outlasted a lot of them. Certainly Stogie Review (which is making a comeback with the Smoke & Steel podcast) was one of the first, and Casas Fumando has stood the test of time. I take some pride in being mentioned by my peers (I got a nice mention by Kevin on a recent El Oso Fumar show too, TY). I’m still just a guy who writes stuff about cigars.
That’s all for today, until the next time,
CigarCraig
