Cigar Blending with General Cigar in the Dominican Republic
As many of you know, I was recently part of a trip to the Dominican Republic for cigar bloggers to visit General Cigar DR operations. Â I will be posting several videos and even a picture show with all the great learning experiences we had as well as the amazing operation General Cigar has in the DR. In this first video, the General Cigar DR crew put together an amazing tobacco tasting seminar where they had about 15 different types of tobacco leaves ranging from primings, origin and aging. Â They rolled us fumas (small cigars of only one tobacco type) to truly be able to get the taste and palette reaction of that type of tobacco. Â Once we tried each one, they gave us the task of making our own blend which would be then rolled with a binder and wrapper of the Macanudo Cafe. Â I neglected to hear that last part about the wrapper and binder, so I made a full bodied cigar blend. Â I picked 4 tobaccos for my blend:
- Nicaraguan barrel aged ligero (aged in old wine barrels for about 2 years)
- Ometempe Seco
- Honduran Seco
- Brazilian Mata Fina
This gave me exactly what I love in a cigar. Â Nice sweet cocoa note with a bitter coffee finish and a woody core. Â Here is the video of the torcedor rolling my blend. Â Enjoy! Â Thanks to David Jones of The Tiki Bar Online for shooting this video!
Alec Bradley Fine & Rare
Alec Bradley to Release “Fine & Rare†Cigar on 11-11-11
New, very limited edition 10 leaf blend will debut this November
DANIA, FL – October 21, 2011 – No, it’s not a new Broadway musical, a reality TV series, or a law office. Fine & Rare is the name of the latest and perhaps the most ambitious cigar yet from the award-winning Alec Bradley Cigars. Scheduled to arrive in cigar stores on November 11th, 2011, Fine & Rare is made in just one size, a 6†x 52 Toro format, and will be a limited edition release of only 1,111 boxes.
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Take Part in Famous Smoke Shop’s Beta Test for Their New Penny Auction Site, CigarSniper.com
Cigar Sniper is to cigar smokers what videogames are to gamers. Cigar Sniper(www.cigarsniper.com) is a cigar-orientedpenny auction website, and THE mostentertaining way ever devised for cigar loversto buy their favorite cigars and accessories.Using guerilla warfare as the theme, CigarSniper is kind of like playing paintball withoutthe mess, and promises to be one of the mostviral websites of its kind.
Click the link below for more infomation. Â You could win some free bids!
CroMagnon
A few evenings ago Ben, Shawn and I got together via Skype to review the CroMagnon. CroMagnon is the brainchild of Skip Martin, owner of Hava Cigar Shop. Skip teamed up with Michael Rosales of Adrian’s Cigars to create a cigar he felt would be appreciated by hardcore cigar enthusiasts. What they created is a full-bodied cigar with tons of flavor and a healthy amount of strength.
The CroMagnom is cloaked in a thick and oily Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. Beneath that is a Cameroon binder and Nicaraguan filers. These cigars come in five different sizes, which are referred to as the Taxonomy: Knuckle Dragger (4×52), Mandible (4 1/2×60), EMH (5×56), Cranium (6×54) and Anthropology (5 3/4 x46).
The short synopsis of this review is that all of us really enjoy the CroMagnon. This a no nonsense cigar. It provides great flavor and strength, which pairs beautifully with bourbon.
Skip wanted me to also mention that he’s running a promotion this weekend (10/14/11-10/16/11) on Hava Cigar Shop. Two random customers during this weekend will be chosen to receive a three-cigar sampler. The cigars included in this sampler are prototypes of three new brands: CroMagnon Aquitaine, Intemperance and Adrians Thirty. So head over to Hava Cigar Shop and pick up either CroMagnon or Adrian’s Cigars for your chance to win this special prize.
Also, don’t forget, at the end, we have a contest where you can win a sampler of these cigars thanks to Hava Cigar Shop!
La Caridad Del Cobre La Charada #5 La Monjita
This cigar garnered a lot of buzz when it first came out a few years ago and I was lucky enough to get one during our Twitter Brotherhood of the Leaf Cocktail hour at the 2010 IPCPR in New Orleans.  I stashed it away for safe keeping to let it rest after the hot, humid days and nights in NOLA.  Somehow I forgot that I put the cigar away and recently ran across it this weekend.  I knew I couldn’t let it escape again from me, so in short time, I had it clipped and lit.  This cigar was created by  Frank Herrera, a copyright lawyer in Florida.  Its named after the patron saint of Cuba, La Caridad del Cobre or The Lady of Charity of the Copper aka La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre aka The Virgin of the Sea.  She has been the patron saint of Cuba since 1608.  La Charada is the old Cuban tradition of picking lotto  numbers from objects you dreamed about.  Each image had a number.  La Monjita means The Nun.  Being a boutique cigars, these cigars are very hard to find, but a list of retailers is on their website located here.
Zino Platinum Scepter XS
Cold Weather is comming up and smaller smokes will be smoked more and more for those unfortunate enough to be able to smoke indoors at all times. So, I am going to focus on a few smaller smokes on my next few reviews. This week, I am going to try the Zino Platinum Sceptor XS. I got this cigar from a Zino Black Carpet Event held at The Cigar Shop (Biloxi, MS) last week had one, liked it and decided to give it another shot and a review.
Zino Platinum Sceptor XS
Size: 4×30 Demme-Tasse
Wrapper: Connecticut-seed Ecuadorian
Binder: Connecticut Shade
Filler: Dominican & Peru
Smoke Time: About 19 minutes
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Gran Habano STK Zulu Zulu Released
Miami, Fl., October 10, 2011 – Shipments of the new STK Zulu Zulu Habano and Ecuadorian Connecticut lanceros have been delivered out to all of our STK participating retailers. Measuring 7 ½ x 40 the Zulu Zulu lanceros will come in both an Ecuadorian Connecticut and Nicaraguan Habano wrapper featuring a Nicaraguan binder, and Nicaraguan filler.
The medium-body Ecuadorian Connecticut cigars will be packaged in the blue box while the full-body Nicaraguan Habano will be in the red. Both boxes were hand painted and signed by the Miami artist, and close friend of George A. Rico, known as “Kidâ€. Limited in production, only 500 boxes of each blend were released.
Both the Zulu Zulu Habano and Ecuadorian Connecticut will retail for $9.00.
All of our STK retailers, STK cigars and future projects (as they are announced) can be located on our website:Â http://GHCigars.com under the STK heading.
Please remember that a portion of the proceeds from all boxes sold will be donated directly to Invisible Children. Invisible Children is an organization; “…that uses film, creativity and social action to end the use of child soldiers in Joseph Kony’s rebel war and restore LRA-affected communities in central Africa to peace and prosperity.â€
For more information on Invisible Children please take the time to explore their website and videos at http://InvisibleChildren.com.
About Gran Habano Cigars
Gran Habano Cigars was founded in 1995 by Guillermo Rico and his son George Rico. Using only the best raw materials on earth, Gran Habano begins the growing process with Habano and Corojo seeds which are grown on company-owned farms in Colombia, Panama, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. The process comes to fruition at our boutique factory, which focuses on quality control and high-end productivity making it one of the top cigar companies in the world.
Connect With Gran Habano
http://GHCigars.com
http://twitter.com/GHCigars
http://facebook.com/GranHabanoCigars
La Gloria Cubana Artesanos Retro Especiale now shipping to retailers
Continuing its tradition of innovation, Team La Gloria is proud to introduce La Gloria Cubana® Artesanos Retro Especiale, a collection that spent eight years in the making.
Inspired by an antique humidor found at the El Credito® Cigar Factory, Michael Giannini and Team La Gloria toiled for nearly a decade to replicate the antique humidor. Inclusive of a two-year process that encompassed cultivating a new wrapper, the development of the blend for Artesanos Retro Especiale was approached with an equal amount of creativity and commitment.
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CAO OSA Sol – New Month Long Contest!
This week I’m reviewing the newest, and first, CAO cigar under the General Cigar banner. The OSA Sol was the brainchild of Rick Rodriguez and select General Cigar master blenders. This new cigar features a select wrapper from the Olancha, San Agustin (OSA) area of Honduras that was grown in 2008. 2008 was a perfect year for the area climate wise producing a nice oily tobacco leaf perfect for cigar wrappers. In CAO’s words:
To achieve its uniquely balanced, medium-bodied taste, Rick and his team have punctuated the flavorful OSA wrapper with a hearty Connecticut Broadleaf binder, and a blend of Nicaraguan and Honduran filler. The result is a provocative taste that celebrates the nuances of Olancho San Agustin tobacco.
General Cigar sent out a 5 pack sampler to several of us cigar bloggers for review. Â The size we received was the Lot 54 which is a 6 x 54 Toro Grande. Â So, how does the new CAO OSA Sol compare of the old CAO line up? Â Watch the video and find out.
PS – Don’t forget about the contests! Â Here are the match ups for the first weekend (Oct 6)! Â Remember, give scores for both to get a chance to win both contest.
New Orleans vs Carolina
Mississippi State vs UAB
A Message from Glynn Loope, CRA Executive Director
While I was at Cigar Expo 2011 I got a chance to talk with Glynn Loope and Alan Price of Cigar Rights of America (CRA). Mr. Loope was kind enough to take a few minutes and spread the work of CRA. Unfortunately the audio didn’t turn out that well, but if you listen carefully you should be able to pick up on the message. Either way the CRA is doing a great thing for cigar smokers across the United States of America and deserves our support.
