Do you have a specific vitola that you always buy? Then you might be missing out. So I challenge you this weekend to buy a cigar you enjoy in the size you usually buy it in and in one of the two extremes. If you prefer Churchills I want you to smoke a lancero or corona. If you like coronas try something on the larger end.

Take some notes and let us know the difference in how the cigar smokes and the flavor changes because of the difference in size. Please add your thoughts in the comments.

Update: Well I took my own challenge this evening with the Origen by J. Fuego. Since my palate is a bit shot tonight I found the lancero more enjoyable.

Sponsored By: The Party Source Welcome cigar enthusiasts and aficionados. We are delighted to provide you with immediate, any time access to the premier cigar humidor in the region.

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Miami, FL, 31 July – Cigar Express is pleased to announce the exciting new cigar release San Lotano, a signature blend by A.J. Fernandez. With a rich history, San Lotano dates back to Cuba’s pre-Castro era where the brand was among the most popular with traditional Cuban cigar makers. Retired for decades, the line is being reintroduced by A.J. Fernandez whose grandfather first started the brand in San Luis, Cuba. San Lotano is made entirely by hand in the Fernandez factory in Esteli, Nicaragua, and is available in three enticing variations encompassing Habano, Connecticut and Maduro wrappers.

A.J. Fernandez is no stranger in the cigar industry. As a third generation cigar maker, born in Cuba, Fernandez is well known for being one of the only cigar makers in the industry to still employ many of the oldest traditions and secrets that have earned him an unmatched reputation among cigar aficionados. When asked about the importance of the brand, A.J. says, “San Lotano has been a project many years in the making for me, and it is made to honor the tradition of cigar making that I learned from my father and my father’s father. The blends are extremely rich, flavorful and are the culmination of my family’s knowledge which has been accumulated over the last century.”

The Fernandez factory is one of the largest in Nicaragua, producing 9 million cigars a year. While this is the first nationally distributed release coming from Fernandez himself, he has made cigars for many notable brands in the industry over the past few years including: Padilla, Rocky Patel, Graycliff, Gurkha, Man O War, Diesel and many more.

Sponsored By: Cigarmony.com Get 5% Off Your Order By Using The Promo Code "CJ2010"

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Orient Watch USA is giving away a free watch to one lucky Cigar Jack reader. Who doesn't like a great watch? Orient Watch Ltd. recently celebrated their 60th Anniversary and is known for making all their movements in house. An automatic watch is self winding so as you move that sporty CTD0A001W winds itself. Being a bit of a geek, not knowing much about watches I find the whole idea pretty cool.

Orient Watch USA has quite a few beautiful and functional watches. I find myself rather partial to the CUT05006W which is part of their modern line of automatic watches.

The watch we are giving away today is the CEM5J006U and is the watch in the picture. This watch has a stainless steel case, screw caseback and is water resistant up to 50m.

Rules:

1. Contest is for the United States Residents only.
2. Contest Ends 8/11/2010.
3. I must be able to contact you. So when leaving a comment make sure your email address is valid. Or if leaving a Twitter entry make sure to follow @cigarjack (Click the Orange t button to the right.)
4. Winner will be contacted by a rep/assign of Orient Watch USA for the receiving of the prize.

How to Enter:

1. You can enter twice. Once by comment and once by Twitter.
2. Leave a comment on this post telling us which of the Orient watches is your favorite.
3. Use the "ReTweet Button" at the top of this post to spread the word and enter via Twitter. Please add #cjcontest to the retweet to make it easier for me to find.

Good luck everyone!

Sponsored By: Fuller's Pullers Boutique and Name Brand Cigars.

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General Cigars Announced the La Gloria Cubana Artesanos De Tabaqueros back in April on the Team La Gloria Site. Tonight this was a special cigar presented to us as a surprise at The Party Source's weekly cigar tasting. Typically I scan through press releases and ignore most of what is said since you can't smoke words. This press release did a great job though describing some of the work that went into this cigar.

Created by Team La Gloria Cubana to showcase the artistry of La Gloria Cubana “tabaqueros” (artisan cigar makers), Artesanos de Tabaqueros cigars are a stunning embodiment of the time-honored craft of cigar making. So exacting is the skill required to handcraft cigars of this complexity that Benji Menendez personally selected an elite group of just 18 master cigar makers, representing the cream of the crop from El Credito Cigar Factory in the Dominican Republic.

Meticulously crafted to combine two different wrappers and two distinct tastes in one eye-catching cigar, Artesanos de Tabaqueros is a world-class smoke that opens to a rich and intriguing spice and ultimately reveals a depth of flavor that can only be achieved through a precise balance of unique and rare tobaccos. Hand selected from General Cigar’s extensive library of Dominican and Honduran tobaccos, the cigars are dressed in both a supple Connecticut Shade and hearty Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper. The blend is made solely of proprietary tobaccos, each aged five years or more.

 

Also while poking around the Team La Gloria site I found this video which takes a look at this cigar being made. It is fairly short and to the point.

Now, on to my impression of the La Gloria Cubana Artesanos de Tabaqueros. When the local sales representative from General Cigars, David Crowe, handed me this cigar the first thing I did was push it up out of the cellophane enough to smell it. Immediately I could smell a very rich barnyard smell. I couldn't wait to sit down and smoke this cigar. The presentation is beautiful. When you crack open a box you don't want to smoke them, you want to put them on the mantle.

Almost all the cigars I've smoked in the past with two different wrappers would often have burn issues, but this cigar burned perfectly right through the transition. The Artesanos de Tabaqueros isn't tightly filled cigar it has quite a bit of give to it, but the draw is right.

I was told there is ligero in the filler and it definitely stands out with that familiar bite you'd expect. The Connecticut Shade end start off with earthiness, hay and a little black coffee. There is a definite change once the Ecuadorian Sumatra Maduro takes over, with rich bittersweet dark chocolate coming through. The coffee is still hanging around along with nuttiness and touch of cinnamon. It finishes as well as it starts, rich and smooth right to the end.

Verdict: I admit I don't pay much attention to what the big cigar manufacturers release year to year, because honestly most haven't really impressed. This is completely different. This is a beautiful cigar that I'd love to share with someone, in fact I plan to take two on vacation to share with my father. In my local shop this cigar retails for $8.00 and for a difficult to make unique cigar it is a reasonable price. A definite must buy if you can find them.

Sponsored By: The Party Source Welcome cigar enthusiasts and aficionados. We are delighted to provide you with immediate, any time access to the premier cigar humidor in the region.

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For some reason I'd missed these at my local shop, perhaps because they can keep them around. Great spicy smoke for an awesome price. I picked up a bundle of them for $28.75. Another reason I'm a huge fan of Erik and Eddie also thanks to Micah at The Party Source for calling my attention to these.

Sponsored By: Camino Viejo Tabacos The standard for excellence in imported handmade cigars.

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The Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial is the second cigar to be blended and released by Jaime Garcia the son of Don Pepin Garcia. Typically I'm not a fan of cigars over a 50 Ring Gauge, but the vitola I reach for most often of this cigar is the 6x54 Toro. The Reserva Especial has dark Connecticut broadleaf maduro wrapper wrapped around Nicaraguan binder and filler. The filler is a blend of tobacco from the Garcia family and some from the Oliva family farms. There seems to be conflicting information on the binder as I'm seeing both Nicaraguan and Ecuadorian listed on the sites I checked. Unfortunately the My Father Cigars website has nothing listed as the cigar appears to be under construction. I picked these up at The Party Source for $6.40 each.

Each one of these dark maduros I smoked was very well constructed. The cigars have a nice weight to them and all six smoked down to almost nothing. Unlit the Reserva Especial has a distinctive smell you associate with a good maduro with rich tobacco flavors even coming through before lighting. Large ring gauges and broadleaf wrappers seem to lead to burn issues for me, but besides the occasional touch these burned very well.

The cigar starts off with a bit of spice before settling down and the maduro sweetness comes through. The smoke is thick and lingers in the mouth a bit creamy on the palette. The spice is always in the background a little hint of pepper underneath the dark chocolate, leather and coffee. The flavors do change throughout the smoke, sometimes the spice coming through heavier or the chocolate fading into the background.

Verdict: I go through phases where I enjoy different types of cigars more than others. Lately I've been smoking more maduros and the Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial hits the spot. I am always a bit disappointed when I'm finished with this cigar, wishing there was just a bit more to smoke without burning my fingers.

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Savannah, Georgia July 23, 2010 – The International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association is urging smokers and non-smokers alike to ‘just say no’ to the Savannah City Council’s proposed smoking ban extension that would include virtually all workplaces, including smoke shops.

The second opportunity for comment on the issue will be at the Quarterly Town Hall Meeting to be held at 7 PM on Wednesday, July 28 in the Savannah Civic Center Ballroom. The proposal would eliminate current exemptions in the Georgia law by making all workplaces smoke-free. This includes all indoor and outdoor areas of bars, restaurants, private clubs and other businesses, including cigar stores and within 20 feet from the entrance to any such workplace.

“What no one needs is more of government telling people what they can and cannot do,” said Chris McCalla, legislative director of the IPCPR.

The IPCPR is an association of some 2,000 retailers and manufacturers of premium cigars, pipes, tobacco and accoutrements. These are, by and large, small, family businesses that have been passed on from generation to generation. According to McCalla, they do not represent what most people would classify as ‘big tobacco.’

“Our members hire neighborhood folks, pay all kinds of local, state and federal taxes, including taxes that fully support SCHIP – the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Without tobacco taxes, SCHIP would disappear,” he said.

McCalla said that levels of secondhand smoke in virtually all working establishments are well within the safe standards set by the United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. He also cited a paper funded by the Lung Association and published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine that puts the passive consumption of secondhand smoke at 0.009 cigarettes an hour in a bar and 0.001 at a bus stop.

“That means bartenders would get exposure to roughly 20 cigarettes per year which isn’t enough to do anyone any harm,” he said.

In addition to dismissing the overreaching claims against the impact of secondhand smoke, McCalla said legislative smoking bans tend to be unconstitutional and could lead to usurpation of civil rights.

“Jobs and businesses truly are at stake here, as well as the rights of business owners to declare whether or not smoking should be allowed in their establishments. If government was to declare no smoking in its facilities, then so be it. If a restaurant owner decides that his place of business will allow smoking, then that’s his right, as well. If patrons and potential employees don’t want to patronize a place that allows smoking, they have the right to go somewhere else,” he said.

McCalla urged all Savannah citizens, all Georgians and everyone else to attend the hearing or call the City Council at 912-651-6441 or the office Mayor Otis Johnson at 912-651-6444 to voice their objection to the proposal.

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Getting ready to write a review so I'd picked this up from The Party Source. Had a Lancero last night and picked this one up for my lunch time smoke while running some errands. Very enjoyable, plenty of spice and flavor.

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When I first got into cigars I tried a couple short and mix filler cigars and they were awful and since then I've never touched them as they were either flavorless or downright nasty.

Recently though I've tried a couple mixed filler cigars (contain both long and short filler) that will be in my regular rotation of smokes. One is the Tabacos Baez Serie SF and the other is the Ramones Criollo.

Thanks to the cigar makers out there that look out for those of us on a limited budget.

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A spicy full flavored smoke that easily took my mind off what I've been dealing with today. My favorite of the Cain line by far. Not something I'd typically smoke this early in the day, but I wanted something that was bold that demanded you focus on it.

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