March 2010 Contest
It’s been a while since we’ve had a contest here at Nice Tight Ash, and it’s definitely time to put an end to that! The nice people at Drew Estate are providing a great prize pack.
The Prize
Drew Estate has really put together a nice prize package for the winner. First, a great looking ACID t-shirt. Second, a five pack of the new Joya de Nicaragua Cabinetta Serie. And last, but definitely not least, a Liga Privada sampler. The Liga Privadas are big favorites of all the guys here at Nice Tight Ash. It’d be a great prize with just those.
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The Contest
So, what do you have to do to win the contest? We’ve tweaked the rules from our contest last March. Just comment on Nice Tight Ash posts for the month of March 2010 and earn points. All comments need to be submitted by 11:59pm on March 31st, 2010. Every point you earn will get you one entry in a drawing. We’ll select a winner using a random number generator. So, the more points you score, the more chances you get for the prize pack.
Here’s the ways to score:
- Comment on a post – 1 point
- First comment on a post – 2 points
- Comment on all posts during a week – 1 points
- Comment on all posts during the month – 5 points
- If you manage to be the first comment on every post in March – 10 points
Rules
Really simple rules on this one.
- The comments do need to be pertinent to the post, and not just anything to get your points up.
- You must be at least 18 years of age and a resident of the United States to enter.
- You must enter a valid email address when submitting your entry. (We can’t stress this one enough. If you don’t give us a valid email address, or at least one you check regularly, we can’t get a hold of you to give you your prize!)
- Once the winner has been determined, we will contact that person via the provided email (see #3), and they have 1 week to claim their prize. If they do not respond in that time, the second place commenter will be awarded the prize.
Jameson Cigars and Rock Stone Coffee
I consider myself a coffee aficionado as much as I enjoy cigars. If you follow me on Twitter, you already know this. My go to coffee is by Black Dog Coffee Company as I’ve known the owner for many years from Cigar Weekly cigar forum. Also, I really enjoy Brian’s blends more than anything else I’ve tasted, especially the Sumatra and Costa Rican blends. Recently, though, Brad Mayo of Jameson Cigars sent me 4 1 lb bags of Rock Stone coffee to sample along with 2 Red Label coronas and 2 Black Label coronas to pair with. Now, I have a pretty high expectation from coffee as I have enjoyed Black Dog for years, so I was curious as to how these coffee compared to my benchmark of Black Dog. Below, I pair each coffee with a Jameson cigar and I pick the cigar based on Brad’s suggestions he gave me as to which pairs well with each type of coffee. Read on to see my thoughts.
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Press Release: Joya de Nicaragua Cabinetta Serie
Below is the meat and potatoes of a press release from Drew Estate about the Joya de Nicaragua Cabinetta Serie. I’ve also included a couple pictures that accompanied the press release. Not only do I think this makes for an interesting read, but I’m also foreshadowing a review that I’ll be doing in the next week or two.
Esteli, Nicaragua – Joya de Nicaragua, S.A. (JdN), the makers of the respected JOYA DE NICARAGUA® brand of premium handmade cigars, announced today that they will continue to slowly expand their release of their Cabinetta Serie® line to select retailers. Well known for their powerhouse Antaño® line, the Cabinetta Serie is an unexpected departure from their classic full-bodied style of blends. This new blend is a marriage of a creamy, milder filler recipe of tobaccos complemented by the spicy taste sensation of its unique double-wrapped, Habano-Seed leaf head.
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Oliva Connecticut Reserve Toro
A while back I reviewed the Camacho Connecticut and discussed the other Connecticut that was entering the fray around the same time. Both of these sticks were marketing a fuller bodied smoking experience than your usual Connecticut wrapped cigar. Although I enjoy mostly full bodied sticks, I do enjoy a mid bodied cigar when the time is right and I usually reach for a Connecticut wrapped smoke. Past favorites have included the RP 1999, the RP Connecticut, the NUB Connie, and Devils Weed. While I for one was all for adding a little spice to “jazz up” the typical flavor profile of a Connecticut, I was hoping that these blends would not be over the top and find a nice niche somewhere in between. Well…you seen what I thought of the Camacho, now let’s see how the Oliva stacks up…
Diamond Crown Maximus Robusto #5
The Diamond Crown Maximus was one of the first super premium cigars that came on the market near the end of the cigar boom. Made by Tabacalera A. Fuente for JC Newman in the Dominican Republic, it was a bolder version of the Diamond Crown line that was to appeal the rapidly growing full bodied smoker market. The secret weapon of this cigar is the El Bajo sun grown wrapper grown in Ecuador by the Oliva family. The filler and binder are grown in the Dominican Republic. This super premium cigar was one of the first really high priced cigars on the market. Is it worth it? Watch the video and find out.
Tatuaje Verocu Tubo
Back in the summer of 2007, Tatuaje released a more full-bodied blend of their Havana VI line (a.k.a. the Tatuaje Red Label) called the Verocu. Two sizes were released: the 5″ x 54 Zona del Este and the 6″ by 52 Lado Occidental. On a take off of the Cuban regional release, the former was distributed east of the Mississippi River and the latter west of it. They proved to be popular, but only a finite number was made, and except for trades, the original Verocus are longer available. In November 2009, Pete Johnson released a new version of the Verocu in a tubo. The blend and wrapper remained the same, and are now delivered in a 6-1/8″ x 52 torpedo in a bright red aluminum tube. (A Tatuaje Black tubo was also released at the same time, and I’ll be smoking that with you next week.) The Verocu Tubos come in beautiful 10 count red boxes that are incredibly heavy in comparison to most cigar boxes, and MSRP is $11 per cigar.
Padilla Achilles
I’ve been doing a little digging in my humidors lately, and as a result I’ve found some cigars that I either forgot I had, or haven’t had in a while. So is the case with the Padilla Achilles.
The wrapper on this cigar is a wonderful caramel shade of brown and slightly oily. There is an incredible amount of tobacco rolled up in this cigar; not only visible but the weight can be felt in my hand. Pre-light aroma was light with hints of hay and straw and manure. Overall, this cigar looked ready for smoking, so check out the video to see how things went.
5 Vegas Cask Strength
The 5 Vegas Cask Strength features a blend of tobaccos from 4 different countries: Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Honduras and Peru. These tobaccos were blended to create a medium to full-bodied cigar that’s full of flavor. But as always, I’ll give it a try and let you know what my take is.
Just like many cigars these days, the Cask Strength comes double banded. The wrapper is a medium shade of brown with a reddish hue. The texture of the wrapper reminds me of velvet, and has quite a few veins. The cigar appears to be constructed well and actually feels slightly heavy in my hand. Pre-light aroma is nothing more than classic tobacco off the wrapper and becomes stronger at the foot. Pre-light draw seems promising so it’s time to add fire to the mix.
Quick Smoke: 601 Green Oscuro Corona
I am back with a quasi quick smoke. Although this is a bit longer than the 45 min lunch time smoke I enjoy, this is a good 55 minutes to an hour of smoking time that is perfect for when you don’t have that 1.5 hours of down time to enjoy a Toro or larger. I am also doing a repeat of a line which I believe is the first revisit of a line (other than the Opus X) since the site started. Today I have for you the 601 Green Oscuro in a corona size from EO Brands manufactured by the Garcia Family. You can see what Chris thought of this smoke in the Trunco size here. Back then I left a comment on Chris’ post (this was before I was part of the NTA family) and stated that the Trunco is a top three cigar for me. Now it has been knocked down a bit with some of my new experiences over that past year but it is still a fine smoke. So let’s see if the Corona is as good, or better, than the Trunco and how my tastes for this line vary with Chris’
Chateau Real Maduro
Drew Estate is well known for their innovative approach to infused cigars, and because of that their traditional lines of cigars don’t get very much attention. At least that’s my opinion. So today I’ll be smoking the Chateau Real Maduro, which is comes with a maduro wrapper from San Andres, Mexico.
The Chateau Real is a dark, nearly black, shade of brown. The wrapper has a slightly oily feel and few prominent veins. The cigar felt like it had a consistent bunch and there were no visible flaws with the cigar.
So I’ll fire up the cigar to see what it’s all about.