Blog Archives
Drew Estate Thanksgiving Bash hosted by Marvin Samel & Willy Herrera
Join us on November 21st from 6pm-9pm as we welcome Drew Estate Co-Founder, Marvin Samel, & Drew Estate’s Master Blender, Willy Herrera. It’s Marvin & Willy’s first visit to the shop and they’ll be offering phenomenal deals on ALL your favorite Drew Estate & Joya de Nicaragua smokes. This is a once in a blue moon chance to get your mitts on some awesome stuff, so don’t miss it!
-Box Specials
-Single Cigar Specials
-Rare & Limited Cigars
-Great Food & Drink
Gurkha Ghost Review
Despite all the perks that come with being The Mayor of Cigars, it doesn’t pay the bills, so unfortunately I must have a day job, or should I say night job. I work the graveyard shift at a hotel that happens to haunted by the former managers husband who lived in room 302. You’re probably saying to yourself “Bull! I don’t believe in ghosts.” Or “What does this have to do with cigars?” Well, I’ve never seen “Arnold” the friendly ghost but something does keep creeping people out in room 302 and this is a perfect segway into my next cigar review of the Gurkha Ghost.
The Ghost is the newest line from Gurkha and was their giveaway cigar at this year’s Great Smoke. This smoke has a very dark Brazilian Arapirica maduro wrapper with a Dominican Criollo binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. I smoked the Toro size, which is right around 6×56 in size.
Now I will warn you, and as previously read in past reviews, Gurkha isn’t my favorite brand, but the Ghost may be a real winner. The cigar is consistent all the way through with a sweet, herbal flavor that is strong in the beginning, mellows out in the middle, and then picks up again at the end of the smoke. Another interesting characteristic of the Ghost is that it is very smoky; in fact between the flavor and the tons of smoke it puts off, it reminds me of a past Gar Shop Top Ten cigar, the Undercrown from Drew Estate. The Ghost has great construction and is very full bodied. On top of all this, the Ghost wins the award thus far for best band with its silver and black label. Overall I rate the Ghost 4 out of 5 flames and is our first contender for the 2013 Top Ten.
So if you’re planning your next ghost hunt or just kicking back watching a horror flick and need a heavy smoke, pick up a Gurkha Ghost and Happy Smoking!
The Mayor
Reposted with permission from thegarshop.com
LFD Digger Review
Greetings and salutations to my fellow habitual cigar enthusiasts and Weekend Warriors alike. Let me introduce myself. My name is Bill, and I hold the unofficial title of the director of culinary affairs at the Smoke Inn in not so historic Port St.Lucie, Florida aka “The Pizzle”. My desk is adjacent to my good friend and fellow cigar enthusiast D.A. Mayor.
Like most cigar smokers, I started as a casual cigar smoker. When I first started smoking in high school “I was on a budget” (had to throw that one in there for you Bandit). I would smoke any cheap sticks whenever my friends and I would get together and hang out. Like my palette for food, my taste for cigars has changed over the years. Today I smoke daily, and mix it up depending on my mood or activity. My preference now is definitely for a quality medium to full maduro stick.
The other day I was sitting in the shop with D.A. Mayor smoking a La Flor Dominicana (LFD) DL660 Maduro when Matt, the manager of the Smoke Inn in the “Pizzle”, walked in with his weekly supply of fresh sticks. He said “Billy Boy, I got something for you I know you’re going to love”. D.A. Mayor and I stood there with bated breath like little kids on Christmas day waiting to see what Matt was going to pull from the box. To my surprise he pulled out of the box the “Digger” by LFD. For those of you who are not familiar with this bad ass stick, it is by far one of the largest stogies I’ve ever seen. It has an impressive 60 ring gauge and is a massive eight and half inches long and full of the finest Dominican double ligero binder and filler, wrapped nicely in a beautiful slightly oily Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. Trust me when I tell you that even Linda Lovelace would think twice about taking this bad boy on!
The LFD Chisel is my regular go to stick! So naturally I had to step up to the plate and purchase two Diggers to see how they would smoke. Typically, I won’t buy such a big stick, because I find the flavor changes half way through and they tend to draw hard and burn unevenly. Today I finished work for the day at 5:15 PM and could not wait until I got to the shop to light up the Digger. So I sparked it up in the car at 5:26PM in route to the shop. When I got to the shop D.A. Mayor had just finished smoking the Digger and raved about it. We got to talking and we wondered how big of an ash this stick would hold. To my amazement, I was able to hold an ash on better than half the stick. Keep in mind we are talking about an 8 ½ inch stick here. Just for kicks, I laid the stick out horizontally three times without losing the ash. I got to about a half inch from the band before the ash finally fell. At no time did the draw or flavor change from start to finish. It took me all of 2 hours and 45 minutes to crush the beast.
For those of you who enjoy a full body stick this is a must have! The best part of all was this gem is an exceptional value at the incredible price of $10.00 a stick.
WARNING: As with all Double Ligero sticks they are not for the faint of heart. You also must make sure you only smoke this one on a full stomach or the Digger will put you in the Grave!!!!!!
Cheers,
Chef Billy
Reposted with permission from thegarshop.com
Drew Estate Undercrown Review
Every once in a while, a cigar comes along that really surprises me in a good way that I wasn’t expecting. The latest being the Undercrown by Drew Estate. I had heard a little bit about this cigar and from what I heard is that it was essentially a smoke in the Liga Privada line, which isn’t entirely incorrect, but the real story behind the cigar was that Drew Estate asked their torcedores to not smoke the regular quantities of cigars they were making, so they had some of the best torcedores in the factory make cigars especially for them. In turn, the cigars turned out so well that Drew Estate felt it was necessary to release to the public in large quantities.
Now the cigar I was generously given by “Honest” Abe Dababneh was a 5×54 robusto that is wrapped in Otapan Negro Ultimo Corte, with T52 Connecticut River Valley Stalk Cut and cured habano binders and filled with Brazilian Mata Fina and Nicaraguan Cuban Seed. The Undercrown will come in boxes of 25 and the robusto is priced at $7.45 a stick.
Now let’s get to the good part, the actual cigars tastes. In the first 2 or 3 puffs, the Undercrown is kind of spicy but after that it transitions to a light, earthy flavor with some spice in there for good measure. At this point it was a medium bodied smoke with good construction and the flavors were very good.
In the second third of the Undercrown the earthy flavors with spicy notes continues to be the predominate taste I get, which is surprisingly good since I’m not big on the earthier cigars. Still a solid medium bodied cigar but the flavor lightens up towards the end, the draw gets a little firm, but not so much that it hurts the quality of the cigar. The burn is a bit jagged at this point, but again not bad enough to complain.
The last third of the cigar finds that the flavors switch entirely to predominantly spice with some earthy undertones that is an excellent change of pace. The flavor of the Undercrown remains this way until the end of the smoke. The draw on the cigar was again firm, but not firm enough to make me complain, just worth mentioning. The only negative I could find was that it did burned jagged and I had to touch up a small portion of it before it began canoeing too bad.
Overall, I found the Undercrown to be a very good cigar that I would probably try again at some future point and would be a lot better if it was allowed to age for a while. So, until next time, Happy Smoking!
The Mayor
Reposted with permission from thegarshop.com
Tatuaje Capa Especial Review
Today I’m reviewing the Tatuaje Capa Especial. The more Tatuajes I smoke, the more I’m becoming a fan, and this 5 5/8 x 46 Corona Gorda only solidifies that fact.
The flavor of this cigar is difficult to pinpoint initially, but it is an excellent medium to full-bodied cigar. In the first third, the Capa Especial began with a very complex flavor, like I said, it’s very difficult to pinpoint the exact flavor, but I’d call it leathery. Nonetheless, the cigar is very enjoyable.
In the Second third of the Capa Especial, the complex leathery flavor remains, but a hint of sweetness, akin to milk chocolate, finds its way into the fold. The burn and the draw on the cigar are excellent and still a very enjoyable smoke.
In the last third of the cigar the same leather and sweetness that presented itself in the second third remains through the end of the smoke. I find that this Sumatra wrapped cigar is an excellent product by Pete Johnson and Tatuaje. The burn is perfect and the draw was effortless. At around $9 a stick, I would be sure to buy the Tatuaje Capa Especial.
The Mayor
Reposted with permission from thegarshop.com
Vero Beach Cigars, Cigar Accessories, Premium Cigars 