Posted: Feb 10, 2012 12:00am ET
My
brother Carey walked into my smoking room on Sunday, sat down on one of
the couches and opened up a beer. I handed him a Four Kicks Corona
Gorda and we lit up, ready to watch the Super Bowl with a great group
of friends.
“Nice cigar,” he said, a few puffs in. “I especially like how thin it is.”
For
those of you who haven’t smoked one yet, the Four Kicks Corona Gorda
isn’t all that thin—but it seems small compared to the fat cigars
gaining popularity today. The smoke measures 5 5/8-inches-long with a 46
ring gauge. Made for Crowned Heads LLC by Ernesto Perez-Carrillo’s
Tabacalera La Alianza S.A., the Corona Gorda scored 91 points in the
December 6 Cigar Insider
So
why does a 46 seem thin? It’s because cigar smokers like my brother are
getting used to looking at 60 ring gauge cigars. The Four Kicks he was
smoking shares its dimensions with all Cuban corona gordas, which
include such well-known smokes as the H. Upmann Magnum 46, the Hoyo de
Monterrey Epicure No. 1, the Cohiba Siglo IV and the Punch Punch, long
considered the benchmark size for the category.
“Gorda”
is Spanish for fat, and when these sizes were created they were
considered fat indeed, plumper than many other vitolas , or sizes, in the
Cuban cigar portfolio. Ever pick up an antique cigar cutter and try to
use it on a modern day cigar, like a 6 by 60? It won’t fit. Cigars, like
just about everything around us (including ourselves) used to be
smaller generations ago.
Kudos
to the guys at Crowned Heads for using some old school sizes to make
their new brand, and for taking the bold move of not including a 60 ring
in their lineup.
So
take another look at those 46 ring gauge smokes in your humidor—while
they might seem skinny to you today, at one time, they were considered
pleasantly plump.
Posted: Dec 23, 2011 12:00am ET
Camacho Cigars, the company behind such superb cigar brands as Camacho Corojo and Room 101, has come under fire recently for its upcoming sponsorship of the Orange Bowl. Camacho, which is owned by Switzerland’s Davidoff of Geneva, inked a three-year deal with the Orange Bowl Festival earlier this month, and as part of the arrangement the company would create smoking lounges for adults who wished to enjoy a puff around game time. here . Yesterday, Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) joined the protest, sending letters announcing their opposition to having Camacho as an Orange Bowl sponsor.
Posted: Nov 23, 2011 12:00am ET
Tomorrow
is Thanksgiving here in the United States, a day when we gather with
family over a succulent meal of turkey and all the trimmings, share old
and new stories and drink some good wine, watch football on the
television and smoke cigars on the patio.
I’m
thankful for many things this year. Thankful for my wife and son, who
bring so much joy into my world, and thankful for all the family members
who will be around me, especially when I think of those who are gone,
namely my father, who died two years ago.
Posted: Nov 4, 2011 12:00am ET
We’re
back from Las Vegas, back from the biggest event from Cigar Aficionado
magazine—the Las Vegas Big Smoke Weekend. This year some 4,000 cigar
lovers from around the world came together to meet the biggest stars in
the cigar business.
I
say around the world with sincerity. The Vegas Big Smoke has long been
an international affair. While most attendees come from the United
States—with a hearty representation of Californians—the show always has
good international representation, but this year it was particularly
strong. There were visitors from Indonesia (long trip), Canada, Russia,
the United Kingdom and a huge contingent from Brazil. I spoke several
times to the Brazilian guys, and they were having a phenomenal time. Cigar Aficionado ’s No. 2, 3 and 4 cigars of the year from
2010. Each one rated 95 points, classic on our 100 point scale. It was a
treat to share them with our sold-out audience of 500 people. click here to read all about the seminars on Saturday and Sunday. #BigSmoke ) and tweeted as much as possible from the
show, and followed the people who attended and gave us their feedback,
which was overwhelmingly positive.
Posted: Oct 19, 2011 12:00am ET
I’m
in Ybor City, Florida, the onetime cigar capital of the world. Ybor,
part of the west Florida city of Tampa, was built upon cigars. A melting
pot community of Cubans, Spanish and Italians made more cigars here
than anyplace else, some 500 million a year at its peak. The city was
once dominated by proud, huge cigar factories made of brick, each
standing several stories tall. Most have crumbled or have been converted
into something else. Office space. Nightclubs. A chain Italian
restaurant. A precious few still have something to do with cigars.
Posted: Oct 14, 2011 12:00am ET
I’m
quite impressed with the new Edmundo Dantes Conde 54, a Regional
Edition Cuban cigar designed only for sale in Mexico. It’s not a big
surprise. When the Edmundo Dantes Conde 109 came out in 2007, it was
utterly amazing, so when we heard of a new Edmundo Dantes we had high
hopes indeed. So far, in non-blind tastings, the cigar has lived up to
its expectations. You can read about how good it is in Gordon Mott’s
blog from earlier this week .
I’m
quite horrified, however, with the cigar’s packaging. It’s not the box
itself—a lovely boite nature box, with an ornate brooch clasp and
dovetailed corners, and a simple but stately pair of triangles making up
the Edmudo Dantes logo—but what has been done to it. More than half of
it is covered in unsightly warnings.
Posted: Oct 7, 2011 12:00am ET
I
reached for a cigar from my tasting humidor today and almost pulled a
muscle. It was six inches long with a ring gauge well north of 60,
perhaps as big as 64. Ultra-fat cigars such as this one are burning up
the charts, selling amazingly well, but count me as a fan of smaller
smokes. While they aren’t huge sellers, most serious smokers I talk to
share my love for small cigars, particularly petit coronas. It’s a size I
find myself reaching for increasingly often.Cigar Aficionado , we define a petit corona as a cigar measuring no
longer than 5 1/4 inches long, and no thicker than 42. The Cuban
standard calls for a cigar that measures a shade over 5 inches long with
a 42 ring gauge.
Posted: Sep 2, 2011 12:00am ET
I
recently returned from a little vacation with the family, and I'm
getting back in the swing of things here at the office. That means
getting back to smoking cigars. During my trip, I took a seven-day
break. Every now and then, I don't mind missing a day (or a few days) of
puffing cigars.
My
son saw people puffing cigarettes, and told me I should light a cigar
there. I explained that's not what cigar smoking is all about. When I
smoke for pleasure, I want to be in a relaxed, comfortable environment,
not huddled in an unlit shack without seats. Not rushing. When I puff
for pleasure, I'm not smoking a cigar because my body says I have to,
I'm smoking a cigar because I want to.
Posted: Jul 19, 2011 12:00am ET
Those
who say "it's not the heat, it's the humidity," have never sat outside
in Las Vegas in 105 degree heat. Trust me, it's the heat. But I'm not
here in Las Vegas to enjoy the (all too copious) sunshine and blazing
temperatures, I'm here to attend the biggest trade show in the premium
cigar industry.Cigar Aficionado
to cut through the fluff and find out about the cigars, for today, the
IPCPR trade show is the launching point for many of the new cigars that
come out each year. Yesterday I smoked up a storm to get a few first
impressions of what's coming out soon.Cigar Insider
RSS