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December 18, 2022 · 8:51 am

Some West Tampa Tobacco and Powstanie Cigars

I’m trying to figure out what I’m going to do next week, be prepared for a simple post, or maybe I put something fun together for the holiday week! I have to work on that…anyway, I smoked some cigars that I found interesting this week. When I saw Rick Rodriguez at the Cigar Heritage Festival, he gave me two lanceros, I mentioned the West Tampa Tobacco Co. Black last week, and smoked the West Tampa Tobacco Co. White this week. As with the Black, I found the lancero iteration to be very different from the Robusto and Toro. I don’t know how old these were, which can factor into things, but the lancero started with some “off”, sour notes. The sourness turned into almost a fermented citrus sort off flavor. Very interesting. I am always careful to smoke lanceros slowly, I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again, this shape cigar tastes “sharper” because it burns hotter than a larger ring gauge cigar. This is often mistaken for some wrapper to filler ratio nonsense. It’s heat, sip the lancero, it can’t be smoked like larger cigars. I did find that this cigar burned pretty fast, which was disappointing because I enjoyed the flavors, perhaps more than I enjoy the regular White sizes. I liked both of these blends in the lancero format.

I recently came across the West Tampa Tobacco Co. Attic Series in one of my local shops and picked one up to sample. I got some of the Black and Whites too while I was there. I also grabbed an Excalibur No. 1 Maduro while I was there, I hadn’t had one in ages, and thought it might be fun to compare it to the Sakakhan, as the Excalibur loosely inspired it. Anyway, I smoked the Attic and instantly regretted not picking some up at the festival. This was an excellent cigar for me. It was of the dark roast coffee theme that I enjoy. San Andrés wrapper over Nicaraguan binder sna fillers in a 6″ x 54 format are all right up my alley. This smoked perfectly and was delicious. If you like the cigars I tend to like, put this on your “try” list.

The CigarCraig.com Secret Santa this year had a pretty light turnout, but the quality was very high. I think everyone was well taken care of, including myself. My SS surprised me with a bunch of cigars that I haven’t smoked before, as well as some very nice goodies, some of which I’ve already put into use! He went way over and above and I am humbled and very appreciative! I lit up the Powstanie (link is to the Cigar Hustler site, which is owned by the same dudes who own the brand, not a sponsor, BTW) Wojtek which I believe to be the 2021 edition. This is a barber pole/dos capos style cigar that has Habano and

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San Andrés wrapper. All I can fi

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nd out about the blend is the wrapper, I assume the rest is Dominican and Nicaraguan. Previous iterations had an Indonesian binder, safe to assume this does too. These are made at Nica Sueño in Esteli, and I tend to like cigars made at that factory. I also like the Powstanie cigars, I’m pretty evenly split between Broadleaf and Habano, they are both really good. This cigar was 90 minutes of pleasure. It starts with some pepper, then some earthiness and espresso. It burned well, the box press was comfortable, and it was a really nice smoke. Thanks to my SS fo this, as well as the rest!

Off to see what I can come up with for the coming week, it’s that time of year you know! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as cigar, cigars, Powstanie, Warbear, West Tampa Tobacco Co., White, Wojtek

July 31, 2022 · 9:21 am

West Tampa Tobacco Cigars, a Street Taco Carnitas and a Patina Sumatra

I’ve started smoking some PCA show samples now that I feel fully recovered from the post-Vegas Covid situation. I started out revisiting the West Tampa Tobacco Co. Black and White. Rick went out of his way to give me a 6×60 from a bundle, that had never been in a box! This is significant because I told him about an experience I had initially with the cigars I had sourced locally. This was the first cigar I smoked, and it was very good. If you refer back to the video interview with Rick (HERE), he explains how the Black and White have the same wrapper, it’s just fermented differently. The Black has nice espresso notes and is up my alley. The construction was perfect and everything tasted the way it should.

I had another West Tampa Tobacco Co.White Toro that Ricky also gave me, which was also very good, but I find the Black suits my palate more. The White has more of a woody character, with some citrus tang to me. Rick explained that the White was blended more for the European palate, with the wrapper being highlighted, and the darker wrapper Black highlighting the filler blend. I like them both, but the Black is better for me. I still have to try the robusto. GOod stuff from a very small factory in Esteli.

Thursday evening I had the pleasure of being a guest on the All About Wine Podcast, of all things. We had a panel of folks talking about cigars. I pre-gamed with a Rojas Cigars Street Taco Carnitas, the Connecticut shade version of the Street Taco. This has an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and fillers. I had the 5″ x 50 robusto. Oddly, this comes in a Robusto and Toro, with the 5½” x 46 Short Corona being the closest thing to a small ring gauge in the line. I think of a corona being 5″ x 42, so I’m not sure I understand the name. Regardless, the robusto was very good. It was creamy, with some oomph to it. There was some spice and it wasn’t a mild Connecticut. Considering that shade wrappers are fairly low on my preference list, this one was very good.

Finally, when I met with Mo Maali at the show, he gave me a Patina Sumatra. This is his new release, which excited me for a few reasons. First, I’ve enjoyed the Patina line in general, Maduro and Habano, I don’t think I ever had the Connecticut (see above). They are made in the NACSA factory where Mi Querida cigars are made, as well as several others! I want to say that factory mad the majority of JR’s Alternatives bundle brand, which is millions of cigars. NACSA is one of the largest factories in Nicaragua. The other reason I was looking forward to this is because I really love Sumatra wrapped cigars! This one didn’t disappoint. It had the sugar cane sweetness that I really like. It burned perfectly and gave me a great experience. Check out my video with Mo here. Good stuff!