The Borons Cigar Blog

This past weekend was Cigar Aficionado’s 17^th annual Big Smoke in Las Vegas.  The event is a big deal and CA has reported on the events.  But I can do something they cannot…congratulate them.  The Big Smoke is a huge event,  drawing thousands for a weekend of smoking, seminars, food and beverages.  (4,000 attendees this year, and with about 40 cigar companies handing out a total of about 160,000 cigars!  The cigars ranged from Fuente to San Lotano to CAO Concert to Casa Magna to Rocky Patel’s 500 Home run club made for Gary Sheffield—who was in attendance as well.) The event sold out once again and normally, it comes off like clockwork.  But this year it was a bit different.

The reason was Sandy.  We at JR, like many in the Northeast, were without power for week.  The Whippany mother ship was dark. But we were lucky because our North Carolina operations were still functioning and here in Dallas everything was ok.

At Cigar Aficionado, they were shut down for a week from October 29 until November 3, just a few days before they had to fly to Vegas to set up the Big Smoke.  In its 20 years of operation, CA’s office never has been closed this long.  Many of the people at CA,  not only were out of the office, but also struggling with a lack of power at home.  Greg Mottola said he just got electricity back just before he left for Vegas.  Dave Savona who also lost power for days says some deliveries and shipments were missed because of the closure.  (Remember New York airports were also closed for a time which impacted shipping. And after Sandy came the Nor’easter blizzard.)  And logistics for a show like the Big Smoke are huge.

Anyway, despite being handed that challenge, the Vegas Big Smoke came off without any of the attendees realizing all the scrambling that had been done behind the scenes.  I was impressed at how well everything came off considering what they CA staff had to overcome.   It shows everyone at CA works like a finely tuned machine even when things go screw up. Kudos to all at CA.

New Pro Cigar Member

At the Big Smoke, I learned that Pro Cigar has a new member, within the past couple of weeks.  EPC Cigar Co. –which is the company founded by Ernesto Perez Carrillo and his family—was welcomed into the Dominican cigar group known as Pro Cigar.  Pro Cigar is the group that promotes Dominican cigars and it also hosts one of the best events for cigar smokers…The Pro Cigar Festival which will run from February 17^th to the 22^nd next year.  At Pro Cigar, you get up close and personal with all the Dominican cigar makers.  It is an event not to be missed.

Speaking of the Carrillos, they are finally shipping their newest blend,  E.P. Carrillo Cardinal Series.  The Cardinal is a rich full-bodied smoke that comes in 3 sizes and two wrappers.  The wrappers are an Ecuadorian Sumatran Natural and a Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro.  The binder is Nicaraguan in the Natural and from Ecuador in the Maduro.  The fillers are from three different farms in Nicaragua.  The cigars are larger ring gauges with the Cardinal 52 (5”x52), the Cardinal 54 (6”x 54) and the Cardinal 56 (5.5” x 56).  The prices range from $7.25 to $8.75.  The Cardinal series adds to the company’s Core and New Wave Connecticut lines.

Mazel Tov

Marvin and Netta Samel

And if the Big Smoke was not enough for the past weekend, Drew Estate co-founder Marvin Samel decided it was the weekend to tie the knot.  Marvin and his new bride Netta Niv were married Sunday in Coconut Grove, Florida before about 200 family and friends.  (Because of the wedding, neither Marvin nor Jonathan Drew went to the Big Smoke and several other guests for the wedding who did go to the Big Smoke took off early to make it to Florida and the event.)  As with anything associated with Drew Estate, the wedding was a big success.  I am told the wedding party complete with great food, drink and dancing lasted into the wee hours of Monday morning.   Congratulations Marvin and Netta.

New Lounge

If you are in North Carolina, specifically Burlington where we have one of our huge stores, next Tuesday (November 20^th) JR is opening a brand spanking new cigar lounge.  The new lounge will have comfy furniture, game boards, TVs, of course, and a nice relaxing atmosphere.  The ribbon cutting is on Tuesday at 3pm but the Grand Opening party goes on all day from 8am to 9pm.  There are special deals too.  If you are in the area go to 2589 Eric Lane in Burlington, N.C. and join in the fun.

Thanks to Gary Griffith, owner of Emilio Cigars, for sending me some samples to try. The Emilio AF1 is named to honor of the man who blended and manufactured this cigar, A.J. Fernandez. AJ has had his hands in quite a few blends and brands. Google him, you’ve probably smoked a blend of his without realizing it. Anyway, enough rambling.

Wrapper: San Andreas Maduro

Binder & Filler: Nicaraguan

Size: Robusto 5 x 50

Price: Around $7.50

Pre-Smoke & Construction:

The wrapper was oily and toothy looking, but no major flaws were noticed. The wrapper had a mild bitter odor, while the foot reminded me of cocoa. The cigar was solidly and evenly packed. The draw had slight resistance, and a dark cocoa flavor on the pre-light draw.

The burn required one correction, and the ash held for about an inch.

Flavor:

The first third started out with coffee and an easy, peppery spice. Wood and earthiness developed after the first inch or so. In sort order, the cigar took yet another turn. The smoke feel became thicker, and the focal point became cocoa and a peppery zing. This made for a nice, lingering aftertaste.

Cocoa, coffee, and creaminess took over the second third. Pepper was especially noticeable through the nose. Thankfully, it wasn’t the kind that burns your face off (if you’re careful). Earthiness and wood lingered way in the background.

The last third was focused on coffee and spicy pepper. Like before, it wasn’t your traditional black pepper. Cocoa was noticeable mainly in the lingering aftertaste. I can only describe it as rich and smooth. 1990 song reference, anyone? Anyone?

Conclusion:

This was a very good full bodied cigar. I may even have to say it was damn good. The changes in the first third alone would have kept me happy. Flavor, construction, complexities, and a slow burn made this a pleasure to smoke. The price point is easily met too. Keep your eyes open for the Emilio AF1. It is a must try.

How can it be only a few weeks from Thanksgiving? Is that really possible? Is this some kind of sick & twisted cruel joke? Can our lives really be zooming by like rocket sleds doing the land speed record on the Bonneville salt-flats? Unfortunately it’s all yeses across the board.

I swear it seems like just a few weeks ago I was wearing short sleeve shirts, but now, post Sandy the hurricane Biatch, it’s freezing out as the winds of winter rears its ugly puss. Good God, Christmas is just around the corner, gas prices are heading higher, and Honey Boo Boo is a top-rated cable series? What the hell, man, WHAT THE HELL is going down on this third freakin’ rock from the sun???

Okay, okay, I’ve gotta calm down… take a few deep breaths… in through the nose and out through the mouth… one with the Universe, one with everything…

Ah, the hell with that… somebody get me a damned cigar, will ya?

Without question, smoking a cigar is the sure fire cure-all for whatever ails you. Have a super-duper crappy day at the office? Light up a londsdale. Bash your knee on that glass coffee table you’ve been telling your wife to get rid of for seven years? Spark up a stogie. Neighbor’s dog leaving love piles on your freshly landscaped lawn? Fire up a figurado. Whatever comes your way, whatever the world can toss in your path, I don’t care if a meteor lands on your car with only one payment left to the bank… there is no doubt in my mind that smoking a good cigar will make it all better. I mean it has to, that’s what it was born to do.

I’ve been talking about this a lot in my blogs, but it’s the truth and if everyone would just realize that cigar smoking does make the world a happier place, there’d be a lot less wars and a lot more humidors.

All right, I know I’m rambling here, but we who smoke the heavenly leaf know quite well about the calming effects that puffing a puro can bring to the human spirit. Those non-smoking nasties who loathe the luscious leaf have no idea how much their lives would improve, how their demeanors would change, how their smiles would become wider – if only they did a Dominican or had a Honduran. They chide us for smoking and preach of disease and death, but it is those who do NOT enjoy the hand rolled goodness that we use to relax – THEY are the ones who are in for a rude and crude awakening. As the world becomes more tumultuous and as hell ends up in that proverbial hand basket, it is WE cigar smokers, WE will be the ones who remain calm and will continue to enjoy life, even while carpet bombs are exploding all around us.

I see that a remake of the movie Red Dawn is coming out soon (Wolverines!) All I can say is that if the Rooskies ever invade and try to take over the land that we love, dammit bro, just break out the cigars (and some decent vodka fer crissakes) and you’ll have them herfing for hours on end. And it’s all because cigars are the greatest bonding tool ever known to man, and after just a few puffs of premium aged tobacco, we’ll all be great pals, laughing and enjoying life the way it was intended to be.

Well, I believe I have preached enough and my work is done for the day. It’s now time to torch up a toro and let the so-called troubles of the world go bye bye. And so it is.

I urge you to PLEASE SUPPORT Cigar Rights of America as they continue to deal with congress, the senate, and all US legislators who need to be made aware that our cigars are the best friends we know of and we will fight like hell to keep them in our lives! >> http://cigarrights.org

As always, stay smoky my friends,

 JR Cigars Blog with the Zman

 > CLICK HERE to Check out this week’s J•R CIGARS Weekly Special

I randomly found the Mi Amor Reserva while browsing the humidor at Ed’s shop. Being a fan of the original Mi Amor, I couldn’t resist picking a few up. The price did raise an eyebrow, but I figured why not. Let’s see if this cigar delivered where it counts.

Wrapper: Mexican Cuban Seed

Binder & Filler: Nicaraguan

Size: Beso 5.62 x 48

Price: $8.50

Pre-Smoke & Construction:

The wrapper on this thing was rugged looking. Near the head, I saw what looked to be a patch. Stuff like this isn’t a deterrent to me, as long as it’s a good cigar. I picked up hay, wood, and earthy aromas from the wrapper. The foot was more pungent soil (earth?) and leather. The cigar did have some lumps here and there, but overall nothing was of concern. The pre-light draw was free, and it had a dark earthy and leathery flavor.

The burn required no corrections, and the ash held for about 3/4 of an inch.

Flavor:

The first third opened up with a simple dark earthy flavor, mixed with an easy pepper. Wood and leather joined in shortly after. The peppery spice developed nicely, and it had an interesting tingly/cooling effect in the nose.

I can only describe the second third as smooth and rich. Everything just felt smoother, and the peppery spice kept it’s zing. Like before, wood, earthiness, and leather were prominent. Cocoa joined in at the mid way point. The aftertaste kept that zingy, cooling effect.

The last third kept the same flavors as before. The big difference was the in flavor delivery. By that, I mean everything blended together evenly.

Conclusion:

This was a very good full bodied cigar. I could see how some could confuse this as medium. That’s how smooth it is. What stood out was rich flavors, good construction, and a flawless burn. This cigar delivered where it counts. My only complaint is the price. Is it worth it? I’m still on the fence. I’m learning towards no, but price aside, this is still a solid smoke.

Another new cigar at this past show comes from Maria Martin.  Maria used to work with her father Pedro Martin when they owned Tabacalera Tropical.  After the Martins sold the company to Eduardo Fernandez, Maria went over to Camacho where she worked for several years.  Longing to get back into the business on her own again, Maria formed Martin Family of Cigars.  Last year, she unveiled her initial three cigars, the Ruby, Gold and Corojo.  This year, she added with the platinum series, the Royal, M and Fiera.   The Royal features a Connecticut wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler.  The M is a Maduro using a Mexican San Andres wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers and the Fiera which uses a Criollo wrapper over a double binder  and Nicaraguan fillers. They run between $6.50 to $8.

Another one bites the dust.

Gallagher’s Steakhouse in New York City opened in 1927.  It made it through the Great Depression, but now the eatery filed notice with the government it is closing January 16^th. (And this was before Sandy). 92 employees will be out of work.  I wonder why Gallagher’s could make it through the Depression and not this Recession….what is different?  Oh right smoking.

Gallagher’s was one of NYC’s steakhouses known for their blessing on cigars…right up until Nanny Bloomberg got into town.  At the time, Cigar Aficionado reported the 2003 laws (the state came in after the city’s ban to make things worse.)

“Between the price and the space a smoking room would take up, we decided it just wasn’t worth it to convert our private catering room into a smoking room,” said Bryan Reidy, general manager of Gallagher’s Steakhouse, which long allowed cigar smoking in its bar area. “We couldn’t afford to give up the 350 square feet of space for nothing more than smoking. And the cost would be up over $50,000 anyway.”

Another legendary cigar friendly steakhouse  in NYC was Frank’s Steakhouse…it closed as well.  But remember smoking bans do not affect the economy.  (Tell that to the two empty steakhouses here in Dallas and Plano that have been closed and empty since 2004 and 2008 respectively which was within a year of the smoking bans in those cities.)

About those Apps

Many cigar manufacturers have been putting out apps for iphones and the android.  They also are active on Facebook, Twitter and the like.  I have always felt social marketing comes with a risk (there is virtually no way to do an age verification on many of these sites and apps.)  In an unfortunate  “I told ya so” comes a study out of Australia which the creeps at Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids are all over.  The study says big evil tobacco companies (ok the big and evil is implied) may be using smartphone apps to encourage kids to smoke.

These apps are potential violations of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which bans advertising and promoting tobacco products in all media, says the paper. And of course the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids says:

This study should prompt action to prevent smartphone apps from becoming a new means of marketing cigarettes to kids:

                  Apple and Google should review their policies for approving apps and restricting youth access to adult content and take action to stop apps from being used to deliver pro-tobacco messages to kids.

                  Philip Morris, whose Marlboro brand can be seen in several apps, and other tobacco companies should act quickly to stop the use of their brands in apps.

                  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other government regulators should investigate this emerging means of marketing tobacco products, including whether tobacco companies are involved, and take action to protect our children.

But in Australia where the study was born, catch this:

The Federal Health Department, which regulates tobacco advertising, said in a statement it was generally an offence to publish a tobacco advertisement on the internet.

“Potentially, many of the apps identified in the study may be tobacco advertisements under the Act, particularly if they promote smoking,” the statement read.

Fortunately this only applies to anything published from Australia. But think about it, if you live in Australia and post on Facebook about a cigar you could be in violation of that country’s law.  And don’t think the WHO wants to make that law everywhere.

If you think it is only about Marlboros…guess again.  TIME magazine looks at the top 5 smoking apps….Guess what is number 5?  Cigar Rights of America.  According to TIME:

This app lets users stream audio and video related to cigar regulation, and gives updates on news, events, and ways to get involved with the group.

How horrible.  Does the CRA’s app promote underage smoking or smoking in general?  No, but remember these are the same people who are convinced about 2nd, 3rs, 4th and 5th hand smoke.  Ya gotta be careful…they are gunning for us and we don’t need to hand them ANY ammunition.

Okay, I’m not here to dwell on the negative, but the truth of the matter is that Sandy was a hurtful bitch for those of us in New Jersey. The stories range from people losing power for an hour to people who lost absolutely everything – some their homes and even some their lives. Power was restored to my section of town on Sunday at 3pm, meaning I went six days freezing my ash off (no generator) and no ability to work on the internet, which of course is what I do for a living. So now I write this blog a few days late and what else is there really to talk about but that evil hurricane.

Any of you who have been through this kind of ordeal know damned well about the stress it produces. People just don’t act the same when forced to eat the remains of their frig before it all goes rotten, and when there are NO local stores open with power. And to make matters a whole lot worse, gas stations don’t have gas, and the ones who did had lines of cars up to two and three hours long. A huge number of businesses were closed for the week (Including JR Headquarters in Whippany, NJ) and many people I know went house-bound stir crazy. While everyone has a breaking point, I think most of us were pushed way beyond that this past week.

Okay, so, I mentioned the unbelievable levels of stress that people were put though… but if you’ve been reading my blogs for a while, you know damned well what I have preached for ages – one of the world’s greatest stress reducers that has ever graced this planet is…

Cigar Smoking.

Scroll down a bit and read (or re-read) my blog from September 28^th, entitled: No Matter What, There’s Always My Cigar – http://blog.jrcigars.com/?p=10095 – where I talk about the fact that no matter how much you get dumped on, no matter how much you’re forced to take, you always have your cigars to pull your mind away from the pressures of the world, if only for a few moments in time. A good cigar really is the ultimate escape from the monotonies and curve balls that life throws your way on a daily basis and I know that most of us will use ANY excuse imaginable to find time for a smoke. And during my six days of sadistic Sandy’s brand of painful penance, I managed to enjoy at least one cigar each of those days and I can’t tell you how much my mental state changed for the better. Now my wife, she can be a stress-aholic (that right there is a grotesque and vile understatement) and if only she smoked cigars along with me, this week would have been just a little bit better for both of us.

There are many doctors and psychologists who have gone on record stating that they truly believe that the mentally relaxing benefits of cigar smoking far outweigh the possible physical dangers, and it’s just a plain old fact that an $8 hand rolled stick from Latin America is a hell of a lot cheaper than sitting on a shrink’s couch for $150 an hour. Listen, we all make choices to engage in activities that might not be the healthiest things to do – eating fried foods and sugar laden desserts, bungee jumping from suspension bridges, or watching an episode of Honey Boo Boo, but like I said, it’s our “choice”, and as long as cigars are legal in these here United States of America, I choose to relax and unwind with my little leafy pals from Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic.

For those of you who endured the hurricane, I sure as hell feel your pain. And I can say with total honesty that if you smoked cigars this past week like I did (and yeah, a little Panamanian rum to wash it all down didn’t hurt too much, either), you gave yourself a break from hell that everyone of us truly deserved.

‘Til Next week, hoping for brighter and smokier skies,

 JR Cigars Blog with the Zman

 > CLICK HERE to Check out this week’s J•R CIGARS Weekly Special

Thanks to Patrick V, of Rocky Patel CIgars, for sending me a couple samples. To my knowledge, the original Burm was exclusive to the Rocky Patel Burn Lounge. Since then, the blend changed, and this cigar can now be found in a wide variety of cigar shops.

Wrapper: Honduran Habano

Binder & Filler: Honduran

Size: Robusto 5 x 50

Price: Around $7.00

Pre-Smoke & Construction:

The wrapper was velvety smooth, and had virtually no flaws. Off of the wrapper, I picked up a mild barnyard odor, and a sweet bitterness from the foot. The cigar was solidly and evenly packed. The draw was a little snug, but it fell just within my tolerance. The pre-light flavor was dark, bitter coffee, and wood.

After lighting the cigar, the snug draw became less of an issue. The burn required one small correction, and the ash held for over an inch.

Flavor:

The first third started off with rich, dark, bitter sweetness, accompanied by a nice peppery blast. After an inch or so, the boldness of these flavors calmed down. This revealed wood and slight earthiness.

Black coffee joined in the second third. Bitter cocoa mixed with a tingly spice followed. Retrohaling revealed a zingy pepper, and a lingering aftertaste. Wood and earthiness stayed in the background.

The last third saw no change in the flavor profile. The gradual increase of strength and body took things to the full range.

Conclusion:

This was a good medium to full bodied cigar. Rich, bold flavors, and good construction, leave nothing to complain about. There was no real wow factor, but I enjoyed it. If you see the Burn at your local cigar shop, I think it is worth a try.