Tag Archives: Take A Cigar For A Walk

by | February 1, 2012 · 8:53 pm

A Toraño, a La Palina and a Vegas de Santiago Cigar

We have been having unseasonably nice weather here in south-eastern PA, so I’ve taken to smoking some larger cigars than I normally would this time of year.  Last winter we’d had probably four feet of snow,  not conducive to enjoying a fine cigar. Daytime highs near 60 have left the evenings prime for long walks with excellent cigars.

 

Sunday afternoon I selected a Toraño Loyal BFC, and I think, like the Emilio BMF, I know what the letters stand for.  This 6″ x 60 cigar could be considered a Big Fricken Cigar.  I had picked this up sometime over the last few months at a local shop, and it wasn’t awfully expensive, because, let’s face it, I don’t buy too many cigars that are awfully expensive.  This was a nice, medium bodied cigar that smoked very well.   At the price point around $5, this is a really tasty, well made cigar.

 

For Tuesday’s evening walk I was joined by a La Palina El Diaro Torpedo, which I receive a month or so ago from the folks at La Palina, who is also an advertiser on this site.  The cigar is a classic torpedo size, 6 1/8″ x 52, which is always  a favorite of mine.  I have to say that I think I like the robusto better in this cigar.  The torpedo was good, don’t misunderstand, but is lacked something that the robusto had.  I think i found the smaller size slightly more refined than the torpedo.  As I was smoking it, I couldn’t help but wonder what this blend would be like with a maduro wrapper.  Again, a very nice cigar, but something was missing for me.

 

Tonight’s cigar was a  Vegas de Santiago Secretos de Maestro Don Luis Laguito  No.1 maduro.  This cigar came into my possession  over a year ago after a conversation with Rudi and Lani, the manufacturers in Costa Rico.  I have had an association with this folks going back to a couple of events my wife and I hosted which they generously donated their cigars for the attendees.  Vegas de Santiago makes some really nice cigars at a very reasonable price.  They send me some of these cigars in what they refer to as a maduro wrapper.  This is maduro in the sense that the Cuban maduro cigars are, darker than their “natural”, but not the dark, heavy wrapper that we see in a broadleaf or Mexican maduro.  The cigar is a beautiful chocolate brown, and it well made with a nice pigtail cap.  I enjoyed the heck out of this cigar, except that there were a couple hints of ammonia near the end,  which confused me since these have been buried in the humidor for over a year.   An enjoyable smoke on a relatively balmy evening (for February 1st, light jacket and no gloves is a treat!).

 

My wife has been doing some research and in so doing came across the Philadelphia news papers archives.  Here’s a comic from the Philadelphia Inquirer dated June 6, 1922 that is as relevant now as it was then.  You may need to click on the image to open it in a new window to read it.

 

On a final note, I’d like to welcome my newest advertiser, 1st Class Cigar Humidors.  They have some really nice stuff on their site if you are in the market for a humidor or accessories!

 

That’s about all I have for now, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | January 22, 2012 · 11:46 am

A Couple of San Lotanos and a Visit to Olde World Tobacco

When was the last time you had two darn near perfect cigars in a row?  This was the case with the last two cigars I had: a San Lotano Habano Lancero and a San Lotano Maduro Robusto.  Thursday I took a drive after work to Lancaster, PA to a shop called Olde World Tobacco.  I can remember visiting this place when it was just a counter in a leather shop, maybe a dozen years ago.  It’s developed into quite a nice shop.

 

My primary motivation for going was to meet John Demharter, a manufacturers rep for many of my favorite cigars.  He was there with the San Lotano line and I was in the mood for an indoor cigar so I took the forty-five minute drive.  I grabbed a couple cigars and lit up a Habano Lancero.  Up to this point I’d only had the Oval, which, of course, is an exceptional cigar.  The Lancero was smooth, rich and delicious.  I sipped it, as one should with a cigar of this shape, and finished with about a half and inch left. I had a really nice time talking with John, who is a very nice guy, despite the fact that he’s from Pittsburgh and is probably a Penguins fan.

 

Olde World Tobacco is a fairly well appointed shop.  There is a coffee bar as you walk in, a small seating area with 3 tables, then the counter.  Humidor cabinets line the other two walls.  The cabinets seemed to be fairly sparsely stocked, but there is a nice selection there and the prices seemed fairly reasonable.  The area where the shop is located is basically a tourist area, there are outlet malls, a children’s theme park that been there since I was young (which is a long time!) and lots of Amish attractions, so one might expect prices to be a little higher than normal.  There seems to be a regular crowd of guys there smoking, who seemed to be having a good time, and the staff was very attentive.  This store features a Diamond Crown Lounge, and when you get past the shop in front, you move into a series of rooms with leather chairs and TVs that look very comfortable.  There are also some private lockers and I’m told they have an area outside for warm weather events.  It was a very nice experience and I’d go back or stop in if in the area.

 

My Friday night walk featured the San Lotano Maduro Robusto that I picked up at the event.  I’m a sucker for a box pressed maduro, and this one looked too delicious to not smoke.  It’s funny how one can have dozens of choices, but that one new arrival begs to be smoked.  And I’m glad I did, however I’m disappointed that I only bought the one!  It was the perfect choice, like smoking a nice dark chocolate bar.  Rich, cocoa-coffee, sweet and creamy  flavors that I was very sorry to put down when it started burning my fingers.  Have I mentioned that I love a properly made San Andreas Mexican maduro wrapper?   I loved the way it burned, a nice, flat coal.  It is such an accomplishment to blend a cigar that all the tobaccos used burn at the exact same rate.  It’s a rare and beautiful thing.   I can’t wait to smoke more of these, and look forward to a maduro Oval one day!

 

That’s about it for now.  We had a little snow here in SE PA this weekend, it should be gone by Monday.  This winter is turning out a lot better than last year, snow wise, which is a nice change of pace.  Once again, if you haven’t sent letters to your elected officials what are you waiting for?  Our rights and privileges are eroding as we speak, and the FDA will completely screw up an age old industry.  People like Snoop Dogg releasing news that he is bringing a cigar to the market that will be sold in two packs retailing for $1 do more to damage the industry than just about anything.  Here’s the link again: Cigar Rights of America and IPCPR.

 

Also, you might notice some layout changes.  I got a new logo, thanks to Amy at Brandland –brandland.etsy.com, and am in the process of tweaking a new theme.  Let me know what you think!

 

Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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by | January 15, 2012 · 9:17 am

A Visit to Cigar-Ette City and Gary Griffith (and a Grimalkin)

Yesterday was a bit on the chilly side, so I figured I’d look for a nice, warm indoor smoking location.  I’ve been wanting to take a ride south of the boarder and visit Gary Griffith at his Peoples Plaza Cigar-Ette City store for a while, and decided the time had come.  I grabbed the GPS and hit the road, taking the 1 hour and 7 minute drive.  I got there a bit ahead of schedule and Gary greeted me warmly and we went into the enormous walk-in humidor. It was at that point that I realized the flaw in my plan: The State of Delaware frowns upon smoking indoors!  Here we have a store that sells cigars and other tobacco products, and you can’t smoke in it.  If you have been complacent in contacting your elected officials about the FDA issue, do it now.  Not being able to smoke in your local shop is only scratching the surface of the “inconveniences” we’ll face it the FDA is allowed to regulate Premium Cigars.

 

 

Anyway, all was not lost.  I wandered around the humidor for a while talking to Gary, and marvelling at the ridiculous amount of inventory.  He had all kinds of boutique brands that I don’t see a lot of in my local shops, but hear about everywhere.  The Viajes, Tatuajes, Illusiones, 262s, you name it.  Boxes stacked to the ceiling, I even saw a stack of the Para Japon cigars that La Aurora made to aid the Japanese earthquake relief. Of course the Emilio and Grimalkin lines were well represented, and I picked up a couple Grimalkin Robustos while I was there. The moral of the story is that one could leave a ton of cash behind in this store, and the prices were competitive with Pennsylvania prices given that the lack of a state sales tax offsets the cigar tax.

 

Here’s a little video I shot with Gary telling us about what’s coming down the line in 2012 for the Emilio family of cigars.  I know I’m excited to see what comes next.

 

httpv://youtu.be/VzeaLToxhR8

 

 

After I got home and fed, I still needed to smoke the cigar I set out earlier in the day to smoke, so I grabbed a Grimalkin Robusto and took a long and satisfying walk.  The cigar was awesome, although I believe more of the subtlety and complexity is apparent when the temperatures aren’t around freezing.  Still, this is an incredible cigar that everyone should try if they can.  My thanks to Gary for his hospitality, and for making dynamite cigars.

 

That’s it for now.  I used a new camera for the video this time, I’d like to know if you think the quality is better than my previous videos.

 

Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

 

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by | January 11, 2012 · 7:41 pm

A Few Short Smokes: Chateau Real, American Eagles and a Griffin’s

I dipped into the little guys for the early part of the week.  It’s been cold, and time has been limited.  I usually save up the little cigars for this time of year, coronas, half coronas, short 30 or 45 minute cigars that taste good, and are perfect for a quick mile or so walk around the neighborhood.

 

I began the week with a favorite, the Chateau Real Small Club Corona Maduro.  I believe these are discontinued, which is a shame, because I really like the Mexican maduro wrapper on these. As with everything from Drew Estate, they always burn well, and, let’s face it, a four inch cigar doesn’t have a lot of room for error.  I bought a box of these sometime in the fall of 2009, and just dug into the last half of the box.  Nice little smokes!

 

Last night I grabbed an American Eagles Half Corona, which I received a few months back from Chris at Sardell Imports.  This is a camouflage wrapped cigar, it had a beautiful Connecticut shade wrapper that’s overlaid with maduro and candella pieces to give it the camo look.  Sure, it’s gimmicky, but it’s a really solid cigar, perfect burn and draw, and a rich mid to medium bodied flavor that is really nice, smooth, creamy and delicious. It a fun cigar, quite tasty and well behaved. I have a whole comedy routine ready for the day I smoke one in a public place and someone complains about it. Seriously, a  portion of the proceeds from these cigars go toward the Semper Fi Fund, and they are blended by Hendrick Kelner, so they are very high quality. I side note, there was a cigar shop in the hotel I stayed at in the Dominican Republic that sold these.

 

This evening I decided to break into one of the boxes of Griffin’s 500 coronas that I inadvertently won on a face book contest. I swear, I have no recollection of entering, although I must have because a beautiful Griffin’s Humidor and two boxes of these beauties showed up at my door last month.  I can always use more humidor space, and these cigars are nice.  These 5 1/16″ x 42 coronas are a classic Connecticut shade cigar. Mild, but no shortage of flavor. Of course, the construction was perfect, as these come from the house of Davidoff.  I honestly have never had a Griffin’s before, always priced outside of my comfort zone.  This will be a great cigar for that first balmy Saturday morning on the deck with coffee.

 

Don’t forget to pester your elected officials about the FDA nonsense! It’s important!  Here’s the link to the form again:

 

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

CigarCraig

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by | January 8, 2012 · 10:08 am

Take A Cigar For a Walk – A Gurkha, a Maldonado Dynasty and a Rodrigo

We had our first taste of brutal cold here in the North-East, with night-time temps in the teens or lower with no shortage of wind. I guess I’m just a wimp, but I can’t do that kind of cold long enough to enjoy a cigar anymore! However, Friday turned out to be unseasonably warm, getting into the 50s.   Perfect excuse to smoke a cigar or two without shivering so much that I get ash everywhere.

 
I grabbed a Gurkha Seduction Robusto and went for a walk. I received this cigar as an unexpected gift from Gurkha, and I want to thank them for reaching out to me. Looking at this cigar, I had an idea it would be up my alley, nice, dark Habano wrapper, a chunky 5″ x 55 size, and the band is quite attractive, although the second band is a little too much, but you know how I feel about bands (I’m lazy and the fewer the better!). The cigar had a very open draw, I’ll probably use a punch on the next one and see how that works, but it really wasn’t too big a problem. The burn was just about perfect and required no attention after the initial light. The flavors were those nice, dark, rich flavors that I enjoy on a crisp evening, really a nice cigar in my opinion, I enjoyed it quite a bit, so much so that I smoked it to a finger burning nub.

 

Saturday brought even warmer temps and I took a nice long walk with a Maldonado Dynasty Mogul Toro. I’m a little conflicted on this cigar that I won a five pack of on CasasFumando.com.  An aside: I didn’t mean to enter their contest.  I made a donation to Daniel’s Movember project, just wanted to give some dough to a bro for his mo. I should have made a note to exclude me from the drawing, but I never thought I’d win.  I did, tried to get out of it, but Tony threatened me.  Back to the cigar.  This is the second one I’ve smoked, and both had some wrapper cracking issues. The flavor is nice enough, although not particularly mind-blowing to my palate, but I expect a cigar at this price point to not split. The wrapper is a really lovely rosado with a velvety appearance, very nice looking when you get past the tears in the leaf. These have been in my humidor for several weeks since receiving them, along with all the rest of the cigars I smoke on a regular basis.  Strange.  I have three more, which I will leave in the humidor for a few months and see if that makes a difference.  I look forward to revisiting these in a few months, because based upon the two samples I smoked so far, if I had smoked them blind I would have put them in the bundle cigar category, and I know these are sold as a super-premium luxury cigar.

 

I completely forgot to mention my first cigar of the new year, one that I smoked while taking the outdoor lights down on New Years Day.  I had a Rodrigo Habano Classico Belicoso that George Rodriguez had sent to me some time ago rolling around the humidor.  Out of the four he sent me, one of each vitola, this was my second favorite of the line behind the lancero. This beautifully made belicoso was a treat, and it burned perfectly, and was really tasty.  George seems like a really nice guy who makes some terrific smokes, even though he’s from Pittsburgh and is probably a Penguins fan.  I know some people from Pittsburgh that are Pens fans that I don’t hold that against, but not too many.

 

That’s it for today, don’t forget to write to your elected officials about the FDA nonsense, as our cigar smoking future depends upon the FDA NOT regulating premium cigars.

 

 

Until the next time,

 

CigarCraig

 

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