Cigar Weekly

This year's RTDA was not the most heavily attended, but the quality of the cigars was certainly up there. I did see Carlito, but didn't have much time to talk to him about what was going on with Fuente. But here are the highlights.

We began with the welcoming reception. That was fun and we ended up visiting with lots of people some we hadn't seen in years and then headed over to The Palms for the General Party. By the time we got there, the line was hideous... it took bout almost an hour to get in. But once we did... wow what a party. The grammy winning band Millie Quezada who last played for the 100 year anniversary party of La Aurora in Nashville. The music was wonderful and we talked briefly (it was very loud) with Daniel Nunez of General and Jose Blanco of La Aurora. The downside of the party was the greedy nature of some in attendance. There were women with trays of cigars who were supposed to circulate handing out smokes. They got about 5 feet inside the door before they were mobbed with people taking handfuls from the trays. They never made it past 6 feet. I saw one guy who had a huge wheel (well over 50) of the free smokes... amazing.

The music was great as was the food and the drinks... but we were beat and decided to move to another quieter locale. On the way out General gave us a lovely ashtray and one of the Partagas 160s in its own coffin. Very nice looking.

If the cigar looks familiar it should. This is the same wrapper used in the 150.1977 Cameroon. It has a Mexican binder and Dominican and Mexican filler. The taste is rich, and medium bodied. I certainly enjoyed this cigar, but the price is too rich for my blood -- $18-22 (they are very limited in production).

After the General party. we herfed in the lobby bar with Clyde andJohn Fia from Oahu, Stan Boone and his son from Washington. Steve Saka and his lovely wife Cyd came over to join us and we stayed until after midnight. (Talk about tired, 2 am Dallas time and we were up for about 23 hours at that point.) But it sure was worth it.

Steve gave us the Liga Privada #9 to try. This is one of the new regular blends from Drew Estate. Steve had said when he went to work with Jon he was thinking about a full smoke, cubanesque in style that he could smoke every day. It took 9 tries to get the blend just right but he did!

The cigar is beautiful... dark and oily.(The picture does NOT do it justice.) It is a Connecticut Broadleaf ligero wrapper... with a Brazilian Matafina binder and filled with Jalapa (Nicaraguan) Seco, Condega (Nicaraguan) Viso Jamistran (Honduran) Cuban seed Crojo 98 and Esteli ligero. This baby is full flavored but never overpowering. The aroma is pleasant (even to non smokers like Steve's wife who allows him to smoke it in the house.). There were 10 of us smoking it in the small lobby bar and NO one even gave us a second look. The cigars we tried were young but still very tasty. We all smoked them to the nub. Steve told us they need time... til mid fall before they are ready. Production is limited due to the wrapper, which can be very veiny. He said the Segundo rate is about 20 percent. (We all offered to help him out with the seconds.)The price is to be determined but expected to be very reasonable no wonder Steve was so busy in his booth.

The seconds smoke well but the aesthetics suffer so they will not release them. The other new cigar from Drew Estates was the Chateau Real. This is a mild morning smoke with an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper, matafina binder from Brazil, and Dominican Piloto Cubano, Viso from Jalapa and Esco from Esteli in the filler. The Chateau has an interesting taste that develops but never overpowers. For those who like lighter fare, this is a good possibility and something out of the ordinary.

Monday morning began getting together with Jose Blanco at the La Aurora booth. Always a delight to see him and he gave us one of the Leon Jimenes 20^th anniversary blends. This is a robusto, limited as a special edition to 1,000 boxes this year. Next year it will be a full line of sizes and generally available. The cigar is a great Cameroon wrapper with Dominican binder and Dominican corojo and Nicaraguan filler.

It is very reminiscent of the Don Fernando made for Guerillmo Leon's father... but while it has the Cameroon flavor there is some of the Nicaraguan spice. This is one of the standouts of RTDA. It should be in stores this fall.

The new Emerald Preferido was not available yet but promises to be the fullest bodied preferido with its Sumatra-Ecuador wrapper. I am looking forward to that one.

We then went to Gran Habanos to visit Guerillmo and George Rico. We like their cigars, especially the GR Specials which at about a buck sixty each are our everyday smokes. The new one from Gran Habanos is the 3 Siglo.

We had tasted the test blend on this back in October and loved it. It is a Shade Grown Nicaraguan wrapper with Nicaraguan binder. The filler is Nicaraguan Corojo ligero, Costa Rican ligero and Colombian ligero. It is a full bodied smoke, but not something that would take your head off. Some 3 ligeros are all heat and no flavor... not this one... plenty of flavor in pretty stick. Should be arriving in stores by September... about 7 bucks.

Mike Argenti and his brother Al have left Perdomo and now have Cuban Imports. They are marketing 3 brands... H Upmann Signature, Por Larranaga Cuban Grade and Exile. The Upmann and Por Larranagaare being made by Altaldis in the Copan factory in Honduras and the smokes have a different profile from the standard Altalds products with the same marca. The boxes on the Upmann and PL are gorgeous. Mike has really put together a nice looking product.

While I have not tried all the cigars yet, the Por Larranagua has a great light flavor. This is a mild cigar but it does not lack flavor. Great for a morning smoke with a cup of coffee. The H. Upmann also has a very pleasant flavor... light and mild.

CAO introduced its Vision but the box alone is amazing. The box is a humidor with a build in hygrometer which also lights up. It is designed to keep cigars at 68- 70% humidity. Very pretty.

The cigar itself has a Dominican Corojo wrapper, Dominican Piloto Cubano binder and the filler is a mixture of Dominican, Nicaraguan and Brazilian tobaccos. The wrapper is silky and smooth. The taste is what you would expect with a top quality Dominican but you do pick up the spice from the Nicaraguan and Brazilian tobaccos. Very tasty but I fear with that fancy box they could be out of my range.

It comes from a very well respected company in the DR. I know who but not sure I can say, but if you know who makes CAO's flavored smokes then you know the manufacturer.

One night we had dinner with Christian Eiroa from Camacho. At dinner we were treated to his new Diploma Maduro. Yes he had one before, but it used a Mexican maduro leaf for the wrapper. Now it comes with a true corojo maduro and the taste is immediately noticeable.

This is a much better cigar. It has the flavor profile of the regular Diploma, but with a hint of the sweetness from the maduro wrapper. The previous version, while not a bad stick by any means, did not have the true Cuban seed corojo taste. This one does. Also, Camacho has the select with its tasty Cameroon wrapper and the corojo line will no longer have dark naturals... they will be true maduros.

Cuban Crafters expanded their accessory lines with some very nice items. La Flor Dominicana introduced the Coronado, but they were very busy and I didn't find out the blend nor did I get a sample... they had run out. They look nice though.

Never did get to try any of Rocky Patel's products. The rep for Dallas, Gary Moore, knows we are not owners of a shop and will not give us any to try. No publicity for you Rocky. Sorry.

Altaldis had two new Quinteros and a Contessa. I have not tried all three, but the Quintero Maduro is a very nice stick. It comes with a San Andres Morron wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and filler.

You get the natural sweetness from the wrapper with a very pleasant medium flavor. With a retail beginning under 4 bucks... this will be a hit.

The Torano family introduced their Noventa... a new line meant to commemorate their 90 years in the cigar business. But there were no samples available. This was kind of reminiscent of the Chocolate Port cigar they had at last year's show. (Well, there was no cigar but the Port was tasty.) It has yet to come out as far as we know. But I do look forward to the Noventa.

There were a lot of manufacturers we missed, but 3 days is a short time to talk with everyone. Houston is next year, while I will enjoy the show, the idea of Houston in August does not excite me.

Frank Seltzer (Mowee) is a former network correspondent who now owns a media consulting company in Dallas, TX. A regular cigar smoker since 1973, he runs the DFW Cigar Society that has almost 300 members who get together twice a month to trade smokes and lies. He also runs away as often as he can to his condo in Maui...hence the name Mowee (which btw was the way Captain Cook originally spelled the island when he heard Hawaiians speak it.)