Sunday was a beautiful autumn day and I wanted to take a ride on the scooter (2005 Yamaha Majesty 400). Last week we had come across a shop we hadn’t seen before, right on the main drag in Phoenixville, down the street from the historic Colonial Theater (one of the locations where the 1958 classic “The Blob” was filmed). I decided it was as good a time as any to take a ride, check out a cigar store, and hang out with an old friend.
I called my childhood friend Jeff, and we arranged to meet at the shop. I arrived to find The Twisted Leaf closed, despite the fact that the sign in the window, as well as their website, said they were open from 12-5. (There’s more to this that I’ll save for a future post, short story is: if you are going to say you’re open, you should be open!). Fortunately I had a back-up plan in another Phoenixville shop, aptly named Cigar Cigars. We spent some time in the humidor looking at the selection. This shop has a pretty decent range of cigars. When Jeff and I reconnected earlier this year, we discovered that we shared an appreciation for cigars, although I’m probably a little more of a fanatic than Jeff. I wanted to select something on the milder side, since Jeff had mentioned Macanudo, so I was looking for something along those lines. I noticed the Macanudo 1968, which I hadn’t yet tried, but have read many reviews and heard about them on the podcasts. I was surprised to see the Trompeta in a box separate from the regular display box, and priced under $5. 
I was surprised by the price, so I grabbed two and we took them to the clerk. As they rang up at $7, I was asking the clerk why they were so much cheaper than the regular 1968 line. It turns out that the box in the humidor was mis-marked, so we got a good deal. Jeff picked up the tab for these, which is something I’m unaccustomed to, in my world, I’m the one who supplies the cigars…but Jeff, thank you, my friend! The Trompeta is a brand new shape in this line, a figurado which tapers from 40 to 60 ring guage over 5 inches. It was a very tasty cigar, much stronger than the regular Macanudo line. I really like this format, it has the comfortable hand and mough feel of a corona, and the cool burning of a robusto. Very nice cigar. Hopefully Jeff will read this and add his thoughts in the comments of this blog. We smoked the cigars in the shops lounge area, seated on leather couches with a game on the TV. It was a very nice way to spend a couple hours. 
I picked up a couple cheappies on the way out, something called “Rebels Choice”, which I’m guessing is a house brand, this chain of stores used to be called Rebel Valley, these were priced at $1.95 for a corona. They look to have a shade grown wrapper, I will certainly comment on these in a future post. The other item that caught my eye was a tubo called 3×3. These are packaged in a plain aluminum tube, which contains an unbanded robusto (they had a churchill too). It also looks like a shade grown wrapper, and, after doing a little research, it appears these come from Davidoff of Geneva. I look forward to trying the 3×3, the Davidoff factories in the Dominican Republic are legendary for thier production of quality crafted cigars. I expect a mild and flavorful cigar with an impeccable burn. If this can be accomplished in a cigar that retails right around $3.25, I will have to get more of these. One cigar I had in mind for Jeff to try and didn’t see on the shelf was the Santa Damiana, which I thought would suit his tastes. These are a really tasty mild to medium cigar from the cigar making giant Altadis. It turned out to be a great day to take a ride, have a cigar with a freind, and just sit for a couple hours before embarking on what turned out to be a very long work week.
Thank you for taking the time to read, and please feel free to comment. I would really welcome the input.
Until next time,
CigarCraig
CigarCraig's Old Blog 