Out of the Humidor: Weekly Cigar Corner: Current Discussion: General Smoking 01/26/07

[warbird]

James, I'll do some checking on Spirit of Cuba when I get back from lunch.
I'm a band "on" smoker, too. Quite often a bit of the glue seeps through the band and onto the wrapper leaf of the cigar. Early removal, then, damages the wrapper sometimes. I don't want to run that risk. There are many who claim that leaving it on is ostentation, but I normally grasp the cigar with my fingers over the band, in any case.

Sometimes, the band is tight and you can't even move it without tearing until the cigar has heated sufficiently.

Well said Pop. I also leave the bands on most of mine until the cigar has adequately heated the glue for removal. Tore many a good wrapper back i the old days trying to remove them cold.

 

[Spitfire]

To remove or not? Over here it's a sign of "show off" when you leave the paper band on...on the other hand the paper was put there for a reason. In order not to get "fat" from the fingers in contact with the tobaccoleaves.
I tend to do the same thing. Leave it on untill the glue has dried so much, that I can remove it without ruining the cigar.

By the way - anybody knows the brand: Vegafina? Hecho a Mano in Dominian Republic? Last night I enjoyed a pyramid (A size I truely like. Classic - and lets all the flavours live!)
I can only recommend this brand.
Easy to smoke and one after another high quality.

 

[RedPop4]

Spirit of Cuba is made by Alec Bradley Cigars, they make some very good cigars.Wright Reports short profile of Alec Bradley

Alec Bradley Cigar Corporation - Company Profile Snapshot
Company Profile: Alec Bradley Cigar Corporation
Ticker: ABDC
Exchanges:
2005 Sales: 2,587,200
Major Industry: Miscellaneous
Sub Industry: Wholesalers
Country: UNITED STATES
Employees: 5

Business Description
Alec Bradley Cigar Corporation. The Group's principal activity is to import and distribute cigars. It distributes cigars under the name 'Bogey's Stogies'. Customers of the Group include distributors, including wine and liquor wholesalers, retailers, which includes tobacco shops, convenience stores, bars, restaurants and country clubs. It purchases and imports the majority of its cigars from cigar manufacturing plants in Honduras and the Dominican Republic. The Group supplies cigars through mail orders, direct sales and personalized and customized cigar band program. The Group imports and distributes cigars in the United States and Canada.

AB has five regular lines, and now the Spirit of Cuba brand. Their other lines, Occidental Reserve, Havana Sungrown, and Trilogy especially, are quite good. I've enjoyed those three I named a number of times.

Here's their different product guide
"Brand 411"

Spirit of Cuba

Blend:
Wrapper: Nicaragua
Binder: Honduras
Filler: Nicaragua, Columbia, Honduras

Sizes:
Robusto 50 x 5 Box of 25
Churchill 48 x 7 Box of 25

A new premium cigar line, Spirit of Cuba by Alec Bradley, offers "top quality at low cost," says company president Alan Rubin. "Cigar smokers are searching for value and quality in a premium cigar. Spirit of Cuba combines the same select-grade leaf and painstaking construction as our other fine premium cigar lines," says Rubin.

With a body of mild-to-medium the Spirit of Cuba line uses Central American filler and binder tobaccos and a natural wrapper described as "a tawny golden color" by cigar maker Alec Bradley. Spirit of Cuba is a mixed-filler cigar, also called a "Cuban Sandwich," combining the trimmed tobacco leaves from Alec Bradley's top premium cigars around a central leaf that runs the length of the cigar. This gives it greater stability, as well as a slower burn rate and longer ash than short-filler cigars.

If this copy is to be believed, it's a really nice cigar for under $3.00 a smoke.

There's also a blend with a "Habano" wrapper that's the newer, more refined form of the Havana 2000 wrapper leaf which debuted in 1998 or 1999. It was at the time almost fireproof lol lol but most growers have learned to adapt the plant, and most companies have learned how to work with the H-2000 leaf to make it better. It's a good strain of tobacco more resistant to pests and disease, chief among them being blue-mold. It replaced the beloved corojo wrapper for many companies and growers for those reasons.

 

[RedPop4]

From what I've found so far, it seems that Vega Fina is a Dominican cigar which is marketed chiefly in Europe. From reading this blog entry it sounds like they're not available in the United States. It's unlikely, then, that I would run across them, much less smoke them.

I searched over on Cigar Weekly and I didn't come up with much.

 

[jamespowers]

Spirit of Cuba is made by Alec Bradley Cigars, they make some very good cigars.Wright Reports short profile of Alec Bradley



AB has five regular lines, and now the Spirit of Cuba brand. Their other lines, Occidental Reserve, Havana Sungrown, and Trilogy especially, are quite good. I've enjoyed those three I named a number of times.

Here's their different product guide
"Brand 411"

Spirit of Cuba
If this copy is to be believed, it's a really nice cigar for under $3.00 a smoke.

There's also a blend with a "Habano" wrapper that's the newer, more refined form of the Havana 2000 wrapper leaf which debuted in 1998 or 1999. It was at the time almost fireproof lol lol but most growers have learned to adapt the plant, and most companies have learned how to work with the H-2000 leaf to make it better. It's a good strain of tobacco more resistant to pests and disease, chief among them being blue-mold. It replaced the beloved corojo wrapper for many companies and growers for those reasons.

Thanks. I wondered where they came from and what they were made from.
Its an ok cigar for me. For the price it is better than some higher priced cigars but it just doesn't have that full flavored finish to it when smoked. Maybe I needed more whisky whilst smoking it.

Regards,

J

 

[RedPop4]

That's interesting because the Spirit of Cuba has a Nicaraguan wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and a filler blend of Nicaraguan, Colombian (I've rarely seen that) and Honduran tobaccos. It should have plenty of kick with all that Nicaraguan leaf in there.[huh] [huh] [huh]

 

[jamespowers]

That's interesting because the Spirit of Cuba has a Nicaraguan wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and a filler blend of Nicaraguan, Colombian (I've rarely seen that) and Honduran tobaccos. It should have plenty of kick with all that Nicaraguan leaf in there.[huh] [huh] [huh]

Maybe I did have a whiskey with it then.

Regards,

J

 

[PADDY]

Last night in 'Little Havanna'




Just me, Andy Garcia and a few friends around to the house. I did a last minute phone around with the promise/carrot of fresh out of the oven baked garlic bread and spaghetti bolonese 'al fresco!' As it was such a lovely evening. The pics were taken at the very end when the cigars and a fine tawny Port was produced.




I don't consider myself a smoker. I cannot stand cigarettes.[huh] But I do enjoy an occasional cigar with a fine wine or Port and good company.

 

[RedPop4]

Most excellent. Watch out, there's a guy on the Smoking thread in the news forum who states, AS FACT, that "Cigars and Port are something we just don't need."

Now, how DARE you contradict THAT?


Yeah, the same way I do, by having another cigar or pipe. lol lol

 

[PADDY]

"Red,"...I always thought that was 'you' in the avatar..

And I had a great image of you sitting in your chair on the porch with a cigar, portly figure and braces, a real homely look about the scene.

Then I'm sure I saw a pic of you, and the avatar isn't you My illusions totally shattered!!! I thought you were the archetypal, ceegar smoking, old 'Pops' type person. Have I really been deluded??[huh]

So who is the gent in the picture, as it's such a great avatar (one of my favs on the Lounge actually!)

 

[RedPop4]

<blushes> Why thank you sir!!!!!!
That is Menelaus "Pappy" O'Daniel (pronounced "O Dan'l) guvnuh of the great state of Mississippi......

Taken from the movie "Oh Brother Where Art Thou?"

I'm a bit younger than that, about 30 or so years younger, and about 30 or so pounds lighter as well with red hair and imperial.

 

[RedPop4]

That's TaxMan1 on the left, and me on the right, just a month ago on the occasion of my visit to his home in Clearwater FL. and to Walt Disney World. That's at GrillSmith in Clearwater, excellent restaurant.

 

[jamespowers]

That's TaxMan1 on the left, and me on the right, just a month ago on the occasion of my visit to his home in Clearwater FL. and to Walt Disney World. That's at GrillSmith in Clearwater, excellent restaurant.

Nice cigar cutter on the table there.
You mean they actually let you smoke in a restaurant?!


Regards,

J

 

[RedPop4]

Nice cigar cutter on the table there.
You mean they actually let you smoke in a restaurant?!


Regards,

J

Oh no, that was outside.
The cutter is from Cigar Savor I got it in 1998 for $22 off of eBay. Come to find out the seller was a local wholesaler. But it's a double bladed guillotine, self-sharpening and has served me well. I recommend it all the time.

The link has a nice description along with this photo

 

[jamespowers]

Oh no, that was outside.
The cutter is from Cigar Savor I got it in 1998 for $22 off of eBay. Come to find out the seller was a local wholesaler. But it's a double bladed guillotine, self-sharpening and has served me well. I recommend it all the time.

The link has a nice description along with this photo

Nice. I think I need one. Mine is getting dull and yours has that nice steel finish.

Regards,

J

 

[geckoheart]

Wow a cigar thread. Let me start reading from the beginning. I'll be back.

 

[RedPop4]

lol lol
What we REALLY need is a few anti-smoking bigots to chime in and save us all from ourselves and whine about the smell.

*cough* *cough* *aaaaaaaach*

 

[warbird]

lol lol
What we REALLY need is a few anti-smoking bigots to chime in and save us all from ourselves and whine about the smell.

*cough* *cough* *aaaaaaaach*

Since I usually have been asked to stop smoking a cigar by women wearing some of the most hideous smelling perfume, bathed all over them. I guess the next push should be toward banning perfume. It's a trigger for migraines and asthma attacks. I'm certain it leads to many types of skin, lung and throat cancer.


Ok. Enough of the this stuff, let the smoker bigots stay out of this thread and other cigar friendly threads and we can get back to talkin' about 'gars and 'gar gear.

 

[geckoheart]

Nice looking cutter- how do you hang onto a cutter that long without loosing it? 1998

 

[RedPop4]

Dunno. I have a lighter from about that time, too. It's a Laser Jet, a Blazer knockoff that I picked up for $3. The button is broken off, it still seats, but it's broken. The entire lighter assembly could easily come off of the tank as well. I've been given a couple of Nibos, I've purchased a couple of $10-20 lighters, and none work.

This guy, with his very soft flame, has his moments, but usually he's up to the task. I'll sit at herfs, and guys with Dupont Xtends, Collibris, Nibos, and others, always reach for my little Blazer knockoff, laugh at it, and light their cigars and wonder what's wrong with their high dollar lighters.

I simply take care of the cutter. I carry a murse, but since the zipper is broken, it goes in my knapsack. I have a small zip-up compartment with a functioning zipper where I keep the Laser Jet, the cutter, a Xikar scissors cutter and a couple boxes of matches.