Until the next cigar,

CigarCraig

www.CigarCraig.com

I have been contemplating making some website changes and moving this blog to a WordPress blog hosted on the CigarCraig.com server.  Have a look at the beta version at http://www.cigarcraig.com/blog/ and let me know what you think.  If anyone has any advice on how I can put an E-mail subscription on there I sure would appreciate it.  I have some other minor concerns, but that is the one item that is keeping me from taking it live.

That’s it for now!  I’m REALLY looking forward to spring!

Until the next cigar,

CigarCraig

I think I left my ashtray on the picnic table...

Two feet of snow here in southeastern PA kind of got me off of my schedule.  To add insult to injury, they are predicting another 12″ to 18″ on Wednesday!  I don’t know where we are going to put it.

Here’s my winter smoking strategy:  Since conditions aren’t right for enjoying a premium cigar, I like having some more pedestrian cigars on hand for taking my walks in the cold weather, or shoveling or even just standing around outside.  This week I dug out some old cigars that may not have been great when they were new, but age hasn’t hurt them.  I smoked a couple of unbanded cigars and a JR Alternative that was given to me in a mixed bag of cigars when my bother-in-law gave up cigars years ago.  I’m suspecting all of these were around 10 years old.  They all burned well and tasted well aged, smooth and mellow, but enough flavor to be satisfying even out in the cold.  I hate to smoke a really good cigar under these circumstances.  One exception to this was a Hatuey Double Wrap 5 x 50 that I enjoyed while hanging out outside watching a friend work on one of our cars.  I had the propane heater out there and it was before the snow.  This cigar was a barber-pole cigar with  Connecticut shade and Connecticut broad-leaf wrappers that was very nice.  I really couldn’t taste any difference in the two wrappers but the overall flavor was good.  I look forward to better circumstances to enjoy the second one I have in my humidor.  I haven’t smoked that many barber-pole cigars, and, apart from the visual appeal, I don’t really see the point.  Because it’s a spiral, the wrappers have to blend together.  If it was striped, you could probably discern a flavor difference.  Feel free to let me know your opinions on this style of cigar.

In the “new inmates in the humidor” department, I received an incredible package this week from my friend Jason.  Quite a few cigars that I haven’t had a chance to try.  A veritable cornucopia of cigar goodness!   I look forward to spring and summer when I can relax on the deck to enjoy these!  Thanks Jason!

Tickets went on sale for Cigarfest this morning, but I over-slept and by 8 am they were sold out.  I’m still on the fence as to whether this event is a good value for me.

It’s February contest time! Up for grabs this month is a really cool Drew Estates cigar cutter.  I’ve been using one for the past few months and really like it.  It’s closed on one side so you can’t over cut your cigars.  I am in the habit of placing my cutter on a flat surface and standing my cigar up to cut it. This cutter removes the need to find a flat surface.  Anyway, leave a comment here to enter and I’ll select a winner in the usual manner.  I’ll make the selection and post the winner on or after Sunday, Feb 14, 2010.

Remember, you can subscribed to this blog and receive an e-mail each and every time I post a new article!

Until the next cigar,

CigarCraig

I am also a fan of black licorice.  The Avanti’s dominant flavor is anise, smoking on is like eating a package of black Twizzlers.  The PCN Tour show showed them painting the cigars with anise liqueur, and they load it on.  I was surprised at how long this little ugly cigar lasted, it was about a 45 minute smoke. This was an interesting change of pace, and I will enjoy these from time to time, and they have fewer calories than a box of Good ‘n Plentys!

Sunday I took a walk to pick up my car and smoked a 10-year-old Dominican cigar that was from E-Stix.com, an internet reseller from the ’90s which is, sadly, no longer operating.  It was actually a tasty cigar, it held up well after all these years.  It was a Churchill sized cigar that lasted the entire 3 mile walk.

Enough for now!  Until the next cigar,

CigarCraig

In the Cigar  Media:

I saw an article on Cigar Aficionado by James Suckling regarding Cuba’s Best Market.  The article throws some numbers around regarding the number of Cuban cigars that are sold in the US, ranging from 20 million to 50 million (with 50 million representing one third of Habanos S.A.’s annual production).  I think that when the embargo is eventually lifted there will be such a huge rush on Cuban cigars that the quality will be terrible, and the rest of the world will be mad at us for smoking up all their cigars!  Cuban cigar hungry Americans will stampede to their local cigar store to try what has been unavailable here for almost 50 years.  There will be abundant fakes and what are legitimate will be mistreated.  I don’t look forward to that day.  While I enjoy the occasional Havana cigar (I like the flavor of them) I don’t think they are better than many cigars currently available.  We are in a time when there are such great cigars being made outside of Cuba that there is room for all of them in the market.

Camacho Cigar‘s website posted some pictures of an event where the inimitable Pauly Shore was spotted with a box of Liberty’s.   Click  here for the pics.  I have been a Camacho fan myself for many years, going back to the first one I had in 1996.

Cigars One to One podcast on Cigarmedia.tv featured Andre Farkas of Viaje Cigars, which were featured on last week’s Dogwatch Cigar Radio podcast.  This sounds like an interesting cigar to try, especially the 50/50 which is blended to be, from the way I understand it, two separate blends which transition from one to the other midway through the smoke.  It just sounds like it would be interesting to try.

A Lehigh Valley TV news outlet reports that Cigars International is opening their new headquarters in Bethlehem, PA on the site of the old Bethlehem Steel.   CI says there will be 50 jobs created.  I hope the state of Pennsylvania realizes that if they had gone through with their proposed tax on cigars this wouldn’t have happened and CI would have moved their operation to Florida.  In related news, CI’s Cigarfest tickets go on sale Monday, February 8.  I have never attended this event, but I’m considering it this year.  If anyone has gone in the past and can tell me about it, please leave a comment or e-mail me. If you’re going this year, please let me know so we can meet up!  Obviously I’m always looking for  new cigar-ventures and this looks like a good one.

Cigar Rights of America reported this week that the Governor of Massachusetts is recommending a tax increase on cigars from the already punitive 30% to 110%. What are people thinking when they suggest such things?  That people are just going to roll over and accept it?  Obviously they aren’t thinking that people are going to buy from out of state and that businesses are going to close and people are going to be unemployed and the state will lose ALL of the taxes instead of increasing their revenue.   Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.  If you haven’t already, please consider joining the CRA to help protect our rights.

Well, that’s all I can manage to go on about right now.  Thanks to everyone for reading and remember that you can subscribe to this blog and receive updates in your inbox!

Until the next cigar,

CigarCraig

Greg asked me a question last night that I didn’t get a chance to answer, so I figure this is a great place to address the question.  The question was regarding hygrometers, digital versus analog, and calibrating them.  Let me speak to calibration first:  Most of us probably don’t  want to actually change the calibration of our hygrometer, especially if it’s digital.  We want to get an idea how far it’s off so we can make a mental correction (or, if you’re like me, you write the variance on the unit so you don’t forget).

Humifiers and hygrometers out of 2 different humidors.

Here’s a simple way to test your hygrometer:  Take a small container like a bottle cap, and fill it with salt. Make the salt damp with water (don’t soak the salt completely). Place the wet salt and your hygrometer in a ziploc bag, or an airtight container and leave for 8 hours. Your hygrometer should read 75%.

I’m old fashioned. I still use florist foam based humidifiers in my humidor and cooler.  I have an old Radio Shack digital hygrometer and an analog thermometer/hygrometer that I got at a hardware store.  I rarely look at them, and rely on feel and how my cigars smoke to give me an indication as to whether I need to pay attention to my humidity sources.  I also have had a little bottle of propylene glycol for about 10 years, but my gallon of distilled water is starting to get low.  In addition to being old-fashioned, I’m also lazy.  The latest technological advancement in humidification is the polymer beads. You can get these in pre-set humidity levels and they seem really simple to use.  You can physically tell by the volume in the container when they need distilled water added.  I haven’t gotten around to trying these yet, but Heartfelt Industries seems to be a credible source for these.

If your humidity gets too high, a simple trick I’ve used is placing a container of dry white rice in your humidor.  Rice is a great desiccant, although, now that I think about it, aren’t rice producing areas usually really wet and humid?  Ironic, isn’t it?

Obviously this isn’t new or original information, but just some of my experience over the last 14 years of keeping cigars.   Cigars want to be kept in a reasonably damp environment, 65% relative humidity works for me, and they want to be at a comfortable temperature, too warm and you risk insect problems, which is another post all together.  Other than that, it isn’t rocket surgery.  I hope this information is of value to someone.

Congratulations again to our January contest winner, DJ from Boston.  Make sure you check out yesterday’s post and see the video of the selection process.

Until the next cigar,

CigarCraig

Anyway, this week I received a box of Chateau Real Gran Cru Perfecto Maduros from JR Cigars Weekly Special.  I have really enjoyed the Chateau Reals in the past and $59 for a $140 box was too good a deal to pass up.  These are another traditional blend from Drew Estates wrapped in a Mexican maduro leaf.  While I usually prefer a corona or robusto, it was hard to pass up this beautiful perfecto.

Meet the CigarCraig.com Contest Selection Committee

Last Friday I held a contest here with the prize being a couple cigars I picked up at Holt’s Cigars when I was there.  Today I conducted the highly scientific and conclusive selection process and a clear winner has been selected.  Please watch this short video of the actual selection.  My judges are beyond reproach and the results are final.  Ellie (not pictured here) made the final selection.  The video was edited for time which did not effect the outcome of the selection.

Click here to see the video or go to http://www.cigarcraig.com/video.html to see the video.

The winner as selected by the famous and proprietary cat method is DJ from Boston, apparently your “here kitty” approach was a success!  Please e-mail me your mailing address so that I can get your prize in the mail!  Thank you to everyone who participated.  I’ll be having another contest in February so keep your eye on this space.  You can also subscribe to this blog and receive an e-mail every time a new blog is posted so you don’t miss out!

Until the next cigar,

CigarCraig

Speaking of the latest addition of Smoke, I’m surprised every quarter when it arrives at how thin the magazine has become.  That being said, it does have some interesting articles about cigars.  There was a time several years ago that I would look at the panel of tasters and know several of them.  Not anymore, however the one familiar face that surprised me in this issue was Brian Propp, former Philadelphia Flyer player and broadcaster.  As a hockey fan it’s nice to see someone like that included on the panel.  Something about the fact that of all of the cigars reviewed were in the 90s with a few in the 80s kind of makes me wonder.  Are there that many great cigars out there now.  I’d like to see a dogrocket in there once in a while.  There are also articles about Ernest Perez-Carrillo and Matt Booth that caught my interest.

If you are interested in art, take a look at some of the art of Michael Godard (http://www.michaelgodard.com/), “Rockstar of the art world”.  We saw some of his work this past summer at a showing at Resorts International in Atlantic City that was shared with another rockstar, photographer Mark Weiss.  Godard’s work focuses on the good life, with a strange fascination with olives.  He has some cigar themed works that are very nice, although I’m told he prefers to smoke Marlboros.  Unique work to be sure.

On the blog front, I found “The Arzt of Cigars” on CigarMedia.tv to be quite interesting.  One of his points that resonated with me was his opening segment about the Cigar Rights of America, an organization that I’m proud to say I support.  The CRA is fighting for our rights to continue to enjoy a legal product.  Granted, there is no convincing the anti-smoking set that we are right, it’s like arguing religion.  The CRA works tirelessly to make sure we continue to be able to enjoy cigars without smuggling and sneaking around.  Support the effort if you are able.  Mr. Arzt makes several other points about reviews and the latest New York City law that requires anyone selling tobacco to display graphic posters with diseased lungs and gums and such, while at the same time the Health Department published a brochure telling heroin users how to shoot up properly.  Can someone explain this to me?  The inmates are truly running the asylum there.

Enough of my ramblings, until the next cigar,

CigarCraig

In today’s cigar news Swedish Match (Macanudo, Partagas, La Gloria Cubana, etc.) and Scandanavian Tobacco Group (CAO, Toraño) announced plans for a merger. You can read Frank Seltzer’s article about it on Cigar Weekly. My good friend and tobacconist Jason told me a couple years ago that the industry was consolidating, a prediction that is coming true.

As I’m typing I’m sitting in on the Dogwatch Cigar Radio‘s live Stickam chat. This was the first time I’ve done this and it’s interesting to listen in on the recording of the podcast. The folks in the chat are quite friendly. Stickam seems to be a little unstable though as it keeps losing the connection.  In the end, they went on to record the podcast without Stickam.  They had just returned from a trip to Estili, Nicaragua with a group of listeners.

Click to Enlarge

A few weeks ago I posted about going to Holt’s flagship store in Philadelphia. I’ve put together a modest prize pack from that trip (and I’ll probably throw another cigar or two in before I send it out) which is the prize in this months contest. The rules are simple: Post a comment to this blog post, about a cigar, constructive criticism, whatever. The winner will be selected in the usual manner: The entries will be spread out on the floor in front of me and I will gaze at them intently, the first one that one of the cats sits on will be the winner. I will e-mail the winner for their mailing address.  The contest will run until Friday January 22.

Until the next cigar,

CigarCraig

Sunday my wife suggested we go to the mall so she could do some shopping and I could hang out at the cigar shop and have a cigar.  The King of Prussia Mall is one of the largest malls on the east coast.  International Tobacco is conveniently located in the mall, however it has an outside entrance and access to the mall is through a corridor.  All malls should have such an arrangement.  The shop has a decent selection of mostly traditional brands and they are priced reasonably well considering the mall location. There was a game on the TVs and the bar had coffee and soda available.  I bought a Casa Magna Belicoso to smoke there while my wife shopped.  I chose this one because it had been Cigar Aficionado‘s top rated cigar of 2008 and I was curious to see what the hype was all about.  It looks like someone forgot to update the website for this brand, and there isn’t a lot of information out there.  These are supposed to be sold in shops only, so I guess it’s not surprising that there isn’t a lot of info on the web.  I  took a seat at the bar and lit my cigar.  The Casa Magna was a good cigar, and the $6 price tag is not bad for a good cigar. I guess I was expecting it to be a really great cigar, but  I just didn’t think it was as good as Cigar Aficionado made it out to be.   Still, if you need to go to the mall, King of Prussia mall has an oasis in the middle of shopping mayhem where a guy can park his butt for and hour or so and have a cigar!   

Please remember to go to the Austin Chronicle and place your votes for the 25 Smokin’ Figurados, and leave a comment on the last blog post for a chance to win their CD (and a couple cigars to go with it!).  Also, I’ve changed the appearance of this page, please let me know what you think.

Until the next cigar,

CigarCraig