Tag Archives: Trash Panda

December 14, 2025 · 8:28 am

Cert Maith Bruscar, Los Gallos and OM Cigars

I woke up this morning to 8 inches of snow and counting. While it’s pretty to look at, I know it’s going to cause some inconveniences, and lower back pain.  I do like the quiet that comes with the early morning snow.  OK, enough snow for this Winter, can we move on to Spring?  Anyway, i smoked a few cigars that were new to me, and probably most people, this week.  I’ll start with the Cert Maith Bruscar from Trash Panda/CigarProp/Kevin Shahan. This is slightly different from the original Cert Maith Bruscar, besides the band being different.  I’m not sure why he didn’t change the name slightly, as this is the result of the factory (Sinistro via Artista), not having a component of the original blend. It’s available in the 6″ x 52 toro (not listed on the website…get on that Kevin!).  I ordered these and knew I was going to be seeing Kevin so I told him to save the shipping (which is free), and just hand them off. If you order these, and I don’t have any skin in the game apart from supporting a friend, do like Kevin says in the description and let the dry out a bit.  I gave them a few weeks and dug in.  This is a tasty cigar. It has a San Andrés wrapper over super secret, undisclosed fillers. I got some dried fruits and cocoa flavors. Financially, the ten pack is a better deal, these are good cigars. I should smoke one of the originals to compare, I think I have a few around.  Good stuff.

 

I visited with the guys from Los Gallos Cigars at the expo I went to a couple weeks back.  Had a nice chat with Christian, one of the owners.  It seem that he spent some time living in Honduras and developed some relationships in the cigar industry.  I was drawn to the poultry imagery on the bands, and purchased a couple to give a try.  I smoked the Los Gallos Noche Negra in the short gordo size. They had Robustos and this 4″ x 60 gordo on hand, and I thought maybe the gordo would be a little longer smoke than the robusto. It turns out I thought wrong.  This uses a dark Habano wrapper, and that’s all the website says about the blend.  I got a bit of a rootbeer note on this, which I almost never get, and find interesting. It’s almost a spice, along with a leather and cocoa. It’s got more of a bright flavor rather than the darker flavors I would think a maduro cigar would have. I found it to be a fascinating cigar, and wished it had a longer burn time, a 6″ x 54 or 60 would have been perfect.  These guys are fairly local, I hope to get a chance to connect with them again sometime soon. 

 

Another cigar I got at the expo was from Osvaldo Morales of OM Cigars.  I met Osvaldo at the TPE a few years ago, although he didn’t remember me. It was at one of the hotel bars after hours amongst a collection of my “cigar media” brethren. I think the fact that he didn’t remember me means I didn’t make much of an impression.  Anyway, I had a bit of a preconceived notion about this brand based on my initial interactions.  I smoked the OM 5th Anniversary Edition, a 6″ x 60 with a slight box press.  This is made at El Galan in the Dominican Republic. this cigar has a Habano 2000 wrapper, Corojo 2012 binder and fillers from Pueblo Nuevo, Condega, Estelí Nicaragua.  Five years in the cigar industry is halfway to overnight sensation, to be honest, I don’t know how old this cigar was, maybe OM is older than that, must be since it was the 2020 TPE where I met Osvaldo.  This cigar surprised me. It was absolutely delicious, with some dry cocoa, and that root beer flavor I got in the Los Gallos.  I have been indulging in the occasional root beer barrel candy here and there, but hadn’t had any inthe few days prior.  Perhaps the flavor memory is there, do they call that recency bias or something?  Anyway, I really enjoyed this cigar, burn and draw were great and the flavors kept me interested to the end.  

 

Check out the discount codes in the right sidebar, there’s one for Panacea and one for Bariay 1492 Cigars. Both have great offerings, give them a try!  That’s all for today, until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

 

Share

2 Comments

Filed under Review

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

February 23, 2025 · 9:52 am

Grace O’Malley, Big Papi HOF and Fratello Bianco Nero Cigars

Info a

buy clenbuterol online https://stmu.edu.pk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/jpg/clenbuterol.html no prescription pharmacy

bout this cigar isn’t going to be offic

buy nolvadex online https://sparkhealthmd.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/png/nolvadex.html no prescription pharmacy

ially released until next Saturday, but I’m going to get ahead of things here.  I hope Kevin isn’t pissed at me.  When I was in Tampa last November, I was fortunate enough to accompany Kevin (CigarProp, Trash Panda) to Single Barrel Cigar Company to drop off the cigars that would become Grace O’Malley Pirate Queen Cigars. The Robusto size cigars, which were made by JSK Cigars, are 5″ x 54, and may be a tweaked version of the JSK Red Knight.  

 

Here’s a quote from Kevin on

the barrel selection:

We partnered with the crew at Single Barrel Cigar Company, aligning our pirate theme with the perfect aging vessel: a rum barrel. But not just any rum barrel. We selected a Sazerac Rye barrel that had previously held Myers’s Rum before making its way to Big Storm Distillery, where it finished yet another rum. This multi-layered history of spirits infused our cigars with unparalleled complexity.

The cigars were placed in the barrel on November 7, 2024, and remained there for 94 days, emerging on February 9, 2025.

 

As I’ve said ad nauseum, I haven’t had

a drink in 35 years, so I don’t have much of a palate for spirits, and when I gave it up, the highest quality rum I drank was Bacardi (no offence to Kevin, I know it’s a staple for him, but it’s not a high end sipping rum). After smoking the Single Barrel Blanton’s Gold Maduro and enjoying it, I had some expectations for a cigar aged in a rum barrel. I was expecting sweet, it was a tasty cigar, but more of the barrel char flavor to me than sweetness.  I did make a mistake though, I wish I had mooched a cigar off of Kevin before being put in the barrel, although at the time I had no expectation that I would get to sample the finished product. I smoked a couple of these, and they were consistent, and I enjoyed them for what they are, a quality cigar, with a boozy aroma from the start.  Like I said, I’m not the guy for anything spirits related. However, I was

buy erythromycin online http://cosmeticsurgeryspecialists.org/eblog/images/gif/erythromycin.html no prescription pharmacy

able to figure out the proper way to use the cannon carriage cigar rest! 

 

I smoked a couple more cigars I got at the TPE show a few weeks back this week, starting with the Fratello Bianco Nero, which was released last year. Omar gave me this cigar knowing how much I enjoy the Bianco, and this Bianc

buy hydroxychloroquine online https://stmu.edu.pk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/jpg/hydroxychloroquine.html no prescription pharmacy

o Nero (Italian for White Black for some reason), is a tweaked version.  It’s a 6″ x 58 box pressed perfecto, with a Maduro San Andrés wrapper, Indonesian binder and Nicaraguan fillers.  They only made 500 ten count boxes of these, and I wouldn’t mind

buy ventolin inhaler online https://firstchoiceohio.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/png/ventolin-inhaler.html no prescription pharmacy

having one of those in my humidor. This was a spectacular cigar, possibly richer in flavor than the regular Bianco (big fan of the Boxer), with loads of espresso flavors.  I’ve had some really good cigars so far this year, and this is near the top of the list so far.  Delicious.

 

Another cigar that came home from the TPE show with me was the Big Papi HOF from Artista Cigars.  This was a 6″ x 54 toro, they also have a limited edition figurado that’s reminiscent of a baseball bat, and they only made 541 boxes, which is the number of home runs he hit during his major league career. Artista is a funny brand for me personally. I have a good relationship with Kevin Newman there, but there are only one or two cigars in their portfolio that really work for my palate. There are a couple other brands like that, and I keep trying, because I like the folks and want to support the brand.  It’s kind of weird, I guess.  Anyway, I smoked the Big Papi HOF yesterday and enjoyed it. It has a San Andrés wrapper, although not a dar maduro color, with Indonesian binder, and a proprietary filler blend, which one would assume is largely Dominican given David Ortiz’ roots.  I got a woody profile with some subtle spice, not my favorite profile, and not what I expect from a San Andrés wrapper, but objectively quite a good cigar. I need to revisit the Harvest and  Midnight and try the Falu in their Artista Series.  Buffalo Ten is a really great bargain in any wrapper.

 

That’s all for today, I’m working on another adventure for next week, so stay tuned! 

buy estradiol online http://cosmeticsurgeryspecialists.org/eblog/images/gif/estradiol.html no prescription pharmacy

Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

Share

1 Comment

Filed under Review

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

November 12, 2023 · 10:45 am

Trash Panda Connoisseur Club Over-Runs, All Saints and Micallef Cigars

I had a little different idea about how this week’s smoking was going to go.  I got one each of the Connoisseur Club Over-Runs from TrashPanda, which are on sale for a ridiculously low price, by the way.  These came with the caveat that they needed to be dryboxwd, as they had been sealed in the humidibags for several years.  I opened them out and left them on the desk for a week (I think the house has been around 52% RH this week) thinking they would dry down sufficiently. The Foundation Lonsdales did, the Aganorsa Robustos did not, so you’ll have to wait until next week to read about that cigar and how there;s some left!  I can tell you that the  is quite a treat, and if you don’t go to TrashPanda.com and pick some up you’re foolish (and there’s nothing in it for me, at $25 each and buy one, get one, there’s probably not much in it for Kevin either!). the cigar is  6¼” x 46, has a Habano Nicaraguan grown wrapper, Habano Ecuador binder and fillers from Estelí and Jalapa. This is going to be a great cigar for the holiday season, because it has some really interesting warm spices, kinda like mulling spices.  I thought it was very unique and delicious, and quite different from what Nick usually does.  Maybe it’s close to something he’s come out with in the past two years that I haven’t gotten around to smoking? For $2.50 each you can’t go wrong, you might need to beat me to the checkout.  I might note that TrashPanda is transitioning away from selling the rare and vintage cigars, and moving toward selling their own branded lines, so there are some great deals to be had all over the site. Again, nothing in it for me! (I just placed an order…as if I need more cigars…)

 

I’ve probably said this before, but I find that I have to talk myself into going out after a long day at work.  I get home, eat dinner, and I just want to grab a cigar and retreat to the peace and quiet of my porch and enjoy that cigar for an hour and a half or thereabouts. Friday evening I had some choices to make, and I talked myself into heading to the Wooden Indian to celebrate All Saints Cigars 4th anniversary with Micky Pegg. When I arrived, Jim from Great Cigar Reviews was several hours in to his live podcast, which I assume was streaming on Youtube?  Micky threw me to the wolves and sat me in front of the mic and Jim and I had a nice chat for a while. I had decided early in the day that I was in the mood for a Saint Francis Churchill, which was a motivating factor in going, I’ll admit.  The cigar, as always, was delicious, it’s probably my favorit

e in the line.  I came to be in possession of the new Solamente, which is going to be an annual release. I think I have one of the originals still in the humidor someplace.  This is a 5″ x 58 cigar in the round, where the majority of the All Saints line is pressed.  The Solamente comes in a box of 23, next year’s will be in a box of 24, and so on. How’s that going to work going into 2030?  This is a $20 cigar, box buying is going to get a little cost prohibitive as the years progress.  Anyway, I smoked it yesterday as I wanted to smoke it on a fresh palate. This. has an Ecuadorian Habano oscuro wrapper with Nicaraguan and Honduran fillers.  I found this to be on the leathery side of the flavor spectrum, with some coffee notes, with a nice burn and draw.  It was a fine cigar, but I’m in love with the Saint Francis and it’s hard to get me off that one right now, it suits me perfectly.  It was fun hanging with Micky, I look forward to smoking the All Saints Collection Plate (my suggestion, doubt he’ll remember!).  The Wooden Indian always has great events, they have a great staff and Dave, the owner is among the best guys around.

 

Of course, Micky Pegg wears two hats, when he isn’t a co-owner of All Saints, he’s the president of sales for Micallef Cigars, and I picked up a couple of their new  toros as I’d been hearing good things about them. When it turned out that the Aganorsa Connoisseur Club  cigars were still too wet to smoke, I grabbed one of the Micallef Black Toros to smoke last night.  The first thing I notice when doing some background research on their website is that the have the measurements goofed up on this cigar. It’s 6″ x 52, not at all 5″ x 62 like the website says. Perhaps they should fix this.  This has a San Andrés wrapper, Ecuador Habano binder and Nicaraguan fillers.  This is a cigar that appeals to me.  The construction was perfect, it was a good, solid maduro cigar with a nice chocolaty flavor, and it was just a good cigar at a great price. I don’t know what more to say about this that hasn’t already been said by others, I’m late to the game, but it’s good, and at $8 it’s great, can’t go wrong if you like nice, medium bodied, sweet, earthy maduro cigars. 

 

That’s all for today.  I figure I should get the temperature i n the room about doing a Secret Santa agai

buy cialis professional online https://chinaacucenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/pdf/cialis-professional.html no prescription pharmacy

n this year.  I’m fairly sure I know one person who will be interested, but who else would like to get in on a cigar exchange?  Let me know in the comments.  Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

 

Share

Comments Off on Trash Panda Connoisseur Club Over-Runs, All Saints and Micallef Cigars

Filed under Review

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,

April 30, 2023 · 9:44 am

Nomad, Cert Maith Bruscar, La Gloria Cubana and Macanudo Cigars

This week was challenging.  I had a tooth pulled on Monday, and I’m not altogether sure that one or more of the medications I’m taking isn’t affecting my palate.  Let’s start out with my pre-procedure cigar, a Nomad SA-17 Shorty, which is 4″ x 56.  I’m unsure of the provenance of these cigars, they were a generous gift from a friend, and I want to say that they are pre-Ezra Zion because they have Fred’s twitter name on the band, but anecdotal evidence would suggest that they were recently purchased.  If I recall, these were made at A.J. Fernandez’ factory, and has a San Andrés wrapper over Nicaraguan guts. Perhaps it’s a bit uncool to smoke a cigar right before going to the oral surgeon, like eating Oreos before going in for a cleaning, but it is what it is.  I knew I was going to be taking a few days off from cigars, nobody wants dry socket!  This is a great cigar, loads of earthy, coffee and cocoa flavors.  Burn was perfect, and this little cigar lasts almost an hour.  Many thanks to Phil for sharing these with me! 

 

On to some new stuff!  Like I said, after a couple days off cigars, and between an antibiotic and a rinse, my palate may be off, or maybe not!  I tested this theory by smoking a cigar from Kevin at Trash Panda Cigars, the Cert Maith Bruscar.  I

hope Kevin made sure this name wasn’t already trademarked before using it!  Cert Maith Bruscar is Gaelic for “Real Good Trash”, in keeping with the Trash Panda theme, and is an homage to Kevin’s probably 8th or 9th great grandfather, who came to the US in 1679 from Ireland, around the same time my ancestor came from The Netherlands.  This is a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper cigar that has a Cameroon binder and fillers from Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and US.  I typically like the combination of Broadleaf and Cameroon, this is an interesting blend. The first time I smoked this my wife commented on the

aroma, which she characterized as fruity.  This is consistent with what I perceived as the dominant flavor, which I called citrus.  I struggled to gut much else around the citric tang, it was a good cigar, performed well, and certainly was unique. I smoked a couple of these (before and after dental work) and had the same experience.  On paper I’d expect this to be a cigar for me, in practice, while it was a good cigar, I’m just not sure about the dominant citrus flavor. This just might be me, as Kevin said he didn’t get that from this cigar.

 

New from Forged Cigars is the La Gloria Cubana Corojo de Oro.   Last year they had the Criollo de Oro, with a hybrid of Criollo and Pelo de Oro tobaccos. This has a hybrid of Corojo and Pelo de Oro (I think that means “golden hair”, it’s a narrow leaf if I remember correctly from my visit to the Garcia’s farm in 2011).  I’m much more a fan of Corojo than Criollo, and I liked the Corojo de Oro much more than the Criollo de Oro.  This was a 6″ x 50 toro, with a Ecuador Habano wrapper, the hybrid tobacco as the binder, and Brazilian Mata Fina, Dominican Piloto and Nicaraguan Ometepe in the filler blend. I found this to be a well balanced cigar, with some sweet earth, and some spice.  I’m not sure how many La Gloria Cubana marques there are now, I like a lot of them (the Serie S was a miss for me, and I love San Andrés), but it just seems like I don’t see many of them in stores. 

 

Finally, I tried a new Macanudo Inspirado, the Tercio-aged.  Tercio refers to the practice of wrapping the bales in palm bark to age as opposed to burlap.  In this case, the Dominican Piloto Cubano filler component is aged in Tercio, while (because they mention that specifically and omit the rest), the San Andrés wrapper, Indonesian binder and Columbian fillers are aged in burlap bales. For me, this cigar was a great representation of the concept of body vs. strength. The flavors were very interesting, some baking spice, sweet earth (again) and some pepper spice.  The smoke was very thin, not a lot of body, but the flavor was there.  It was a little strange, and I’ll have to revisit this again. Maybe it was just me.  I liked the cigar overall, might me my 4th favorite Inspirado (another line with a lot of extensions!). 

 

That’s more than enough for me today. Next Sunday may be tricky, as we are taking a weekend road trip. Until the next time, 

 

CigarCraig

Share

Comments Off on Nomad, Cert Maith Bruscar, La Gloria Cubana and Macanudo Cigars

Filed under Review

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,

May 22, 2022 · 10:20 am

ThermoPro TP393 Hygrometer and Vice-Versa Cigars

Every now and then the folks at Thermopro send me a new gadget to try out. In this case I protested a little, and suggested something else, but they insisted that this was better technology than the older model I asked about, and were rather insistant! I agreed to evaluate the ThermoPro TP393 Hygrometer even though I thought it seemed a little large for most humidors. I set it up in my cabinet humidor for a week or two next to a known accurate hygrometer and left it alone. There are quite a few things I like about this, besides the fact that it appears to be accurate. My old eyes like the large display, in this application, the backlighting, time and date function are

Before you panic about the humidity, the top unit is in my Family Room!

pretty superfluous, but in other applications this are nice to have. It has a rechargeable battery, which should make things easier over time, as saves having to find weird button cell batteries, or keep a stock of AAA batteries around. I’ve noticed no battery power reduction over the two weeks it’s been in use. It interacts wi

buy tadapox online https://bayareawellness.net/ebook/images/png/tadapox.html no prescription pharmacy

th the App seamlessly via bluetooth, one can set alerts easily, and historical data is tracked. I have three devices now in my app and can see the conditions in three humidors at a glance. It may be a little big for a desktop humidor, it’s good for a large cabinet, and would be ideal for a walk-in. It’s a nice unit for a very reasonable price. I also have been using their TP200B Indoor Outdoor Thermometer to monitor the temperature in my enclosed smoking porch. This is a neat thermometer for indoor and outdoor, but doesn’t really have a good application in the humidor without a hygrometer, and it isn’t Bluetooth. The links included are Amazon affiliate links, I get a few pennies if anyone buys one. I recently received an Amazon payment about enough to buy a cigar, and it’s the first one I’ve gotten in a few years, so I’m not getting rich off of affiliate links! Thank you to Thermopro for the promotional consideration.

 

I had an opportunity to try a new cigar this week, two of them, actually. It’s actually the same cigar, smoked two different ways. This is a cigar that Kevin at CigarProp/Trash Panda Cigars has been working on with Omar of Fratello Cigars for the last two years, it’s not a new concept, just maybe one that hasn’t been perfected yet. They have made a cigar that has a different smoking experience depending on which end you light. It’s capped on both ends, one end has a lighter cap, and is about 7″ x 50. I smoked two cigars,

buy ampicillin online https://bayareawellness.net/ebook/images/png/ampicillin.html no prescription pharmacy

one from each end, and did, indeed have a different experience. I know nothing about the blend, but I am guessing it’s got some Dominican tobacco, and strikes me as a cigar rolled in the DR. It appears to have a Habano wrapper. The first one I smoked, lighting the Habano capped end (hint, cut both ends, burning through the cap doesn’t go well!), seemed to start spicier, and built in strength. The second, lighting the shade end, seemed to start smoother. Overall these are on the leather side of the flavor spectrum to my palate. My personal opinion on cigars that are copped on both ends is that they need to be stored at a lower humidity, because once the humidity is inside the cigar there’s nowhere for it to go. I found that both samples needed frequent relights in the last third, although the burn and draw were still pretty good. It’s an interesting concept, there have been a couple cigars in the past that have done similar things, on

buy robaxin online https://www.dentistwaycrossga.com/slick/fonts/woff/robaxin.html no prescription pharmacy

e of which was a blatant SCHIP tax dodge! Check out Kevin and Jess’s video about this cigar. I’ll be interested to see how this project pr

buy clindamycin online https://www.dentistwaycrossga.com/slick/fonts/woff/clindamycin.html no prescription pharmacy

ogresses! Thanks for including me in the select group of people allowed to know about this! 

 

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

 

CigarCraig

 

 

Share

2 Comments

Filed under Accessories, Review

Tagged as , , , , , ,