David Savona Most Recent Comments: See Also: The CRA Freedom Tour—Day ThreePosted: 02:33 PM ET, August 22, 2008 Chicago: It’s one of my favorite places in the entire world. Now that we no longer can do a Cigar Aficionado Big Smoke, I don’t travel here very often, so I was happy to get back to the Windy City.
After joining up with the rest of the team at the hotel lobby, those of us who weren’t too exhausted from the road headed out to Jack Schwartz and Iwan Reis, a pair of great Chicago retailers. We puffed away on cigars (naturally) and I joined Litto Gomez in a La Flor Dominicana 2000 Series No. 3, a great small smoke. Jack Schwartz is a small shop with a phenomenal selection, and a couple of smoking chairs plus a rail with chairs. Iwan Reis is a gargantuan shop, with a new smoking lounge that’s very spacious. Half the cigar industry was in there yesterday—Christian Eiroa, Nick Perdomo, Tim Ozgener, Litto Gomez, Jorge Padrón, Robert Levin, Peter Baenninger, Ernesto Perez-Carrillo, Jose Oliva, Rocky Patel, Jonathan Drew, and the CRA organizer Keith Park.
Being in Chicago means I need to stop in the Italian Village, a homey, old school red-sauce Italian near the financial district. I ordered pasta arribirata with meatballs. The sauce was great, and the meatballs were absolutely perfect.
The last time I went to Italian Village I smoked right at my seat, but that’s all gone now. My brother called me in the middle of lunch. When I told him who I was with, he asked if I was smoking a cigar. I told him we couldn’t smoke in Chicago restaurants anymore. “That’s why you’re on the tour, right?” he said.
That’s precisely why we’re on the tour, and that late afternoon we rallied 500 cigar smokers to the CRA cause. Half the group went to Up Down Cigars, run by the wonderful Diana Silvius-Gits. I went with the other half to 8 to 8 Cigars.
The crowd was inspired at 8 to 8, and the store was packed with cigar smokers. Read more
The CRA Freedom Tour - Day TwoPosted: 02:50 PM ET, August 21, 2008 Wednesday morning in New York City’s LaGuardia Airport had the elements of a mini Big Smoke, minus the cigars. Sitting in a lounge, waiting on a delayed flight to Milwaukee were Jorge Padrón, Jonathan Drew, Litto Gomez, Ernesto Perez-Carrillo, Robert Levin, Peter Banninger, Charlie Toraño and Eric Newman, along with myself. We were chatting about Tuesday’s dinner that kicked off the Cigar Rights of America tour, and eager to take off on the second leg of the show. We were also eager to fire up cigars, but we couldn’t. Talk about punishment—each guy in the group was carrying dozens of cigars, but we couldn’t light up…yet!
When the plane touched down in Milwaukee, half of us went straight for the Starbucks counter in the airport. Almost every cigar guy I know is a coffee guy as well, and half this group needs espresso like an old car needs motor oil. Refreshed, we headed to our hotel.
We lit up right outside the hotel. Jorge Padrón handed me a tidy Padrón Serie 1926 No. 6, and I was ready to go.
The game plan was to get a quick bite then head to Western Lakes golf course for the CRA event where a group of Milwaukee-area cigar smokers were about to have the cigar night of their lives.
So why Milwaukee? The immediate area is home to a group of very motivated cigar retailers who joined together to create a group called C-SAW (the Cigar Store Alliance of Wisconsin). They fought tooth-and-nail to squash a Draconian cigar tax that would have made premium cigars extremely expensive.
The C-SAW group did a great job of getting out the word on CRA, and about 225 people joined us at the golf course. They puffed cigars and tucked into a few hearty brats.
How could you come to Milwaukee and not have a bratwurst? It was my first visit to the city, so I made sure I had one.
I lit up an Elegante and listened to Mike. “This is the original boutique guy in the industry,” he said, nodding to Ernie. “Before anybody knew what boutique was.”
The Elegante, which measures 6 7/8 by 49 ring, is leathery, with lots of hardwood notes, coffee, and a long and smooth finish with a touch of cedar. Absolutely great cigar. Ernie outdid himself.
I found another great cigar at the SAG booth, run by Manuel Quesada, maker of Fonseca cigars. I don’t know what’s gotten into the old, mild cigar guard at this show but they all seem to be boosting their blends. First General took Macanudo and injected some serious flavor, now Manolo has taken the traditionally mild Fonseca blend and turned it into a flavor powerhouse with the Fonseca Cubano Viso Fuerte. Read more
A Lovely Fuente and Other New CigarsPosted: 02:41 PM ET, July 17, 2008 I know it won’t be easy to get sympathy here, but sometimes I have a hard job. And my job is never tougher than when it comes time to get info on new cigars from the Fuentes.
Now the Fuentes are great people, and Carlos Fuente Jr. and Wayne Suarez are dear friends of mine. But they just don’t release new cigars all that often, and when they do they don’t really want to talk about them. When I went to their booth the other day with James Suckling, I felt a little like a White House reporter trying to get information from a Bush administration press secretary. We talked about our families, we talked about our lives, but what about the new cigars?
Finally I saw something—a red, heart shaped cigar box under glass. Hmmm. Next to it was a mini-box of perfectos that looked like big Short Stories. Hmmm. With Fuente Fuente OpusX bands, and a secondary band reading 2006. Hmmm! What’s that? I asked. Turns out it’s a new size of Fuente Fuente OpusX called Love Story. Carlito originally made it for his parent’s 55th wedding anniversary. I was able to twist his arm and get him to talk about it while Suckling filmed. Check it out.
Carlito said it will probably be out for the holidays. I didn’t get a chance to smoke one, but I hope to soon. Fuente makes incredible shaped cigars, so I’m sure this will be something to remember. (And they actually have some other new smokes coming out. I'll explain fully in upcoming issues of Cigar Insider.)
I did smoke another My Father cigar from Pepin Garcia, when Suckling and I sat down with him and his son, Jaime. This was one of the best cigars of the show, hands down. Pepin showed me the My Father Lancero, which has a short pigtail. I’ve never seen a cigar in Nicaragua with this level of construction. Read more
Monday at IPCPRPosted: 08:32 PM ET, July 14, 2008 The International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers trade show began today at 10 a.m., and I’ve been smoking since opening bell. I have a notebook full of scribbles on new cigars that I’m going to share with you.
My first smoke was the new Aroma de Cuba Edicion Especial from Nicaragua that I wrote about online and in Cigar Insider. I was asked in the forums if this meant an end to the original Aroma de Cuba, which is made in Honduras. Nope. “It’s not a replacement for the original,” said Ashton vice president Sathya Levin. “We wanted to strengthen and round out the La Aroma de Cuba brand.” He handed me a short robusto. It’s made by Pepin Garcia with a middle priming Ecuador wrapper grown from Cuban seed, and Nicaraguan filler and binder. It was mild to medium bodied, a bit floral, with a honeyed character to it, and some creaminess. Very tasty. Just what the doctor ordered for the morning. There’s also a new Ashton ESG, a pyramid size, but it’s not going to be ready all that soon. They hope to have it out for the holidays.
Here’s a shocker—Davidoff now has a maduro cigar, the first Davidoff white label ever. It comes in only one size, a longer (and darker) version of the Special R. The wrapper is Nicaraguan leaf. It has some sweet coffee notes, a smack of vanilla and a bit of a mushroom note on the finish. It starts shipping today, and will have a suggested retail of $15.50.
C.A.O. has a bunch of new smokes. I tried a robusto format of the new Lx2, a Nicaraguan puro with quite a kick. I liked it a lot. I think it’s the strongest C.A.O. I’ve ever had. There’s plenty of licorice and black pepper, with syrupy coffee, like a good café Cubano on the finish. I found it pleasant, rich and balanced. The company also has two samplers, including one called C.A.O. Champions that has 10 of the cigars that were rated highest in Cigar Aficionado. It comes in a snazzy red vinyl case. Read more
Trade Show Blog—First SmokesPosted: 12:04 PM ET, July 14, 2008 First things first—I keep calling this IPCPR trade show by its old name, RTDA, so from now on I’m just going to say “trade show.” Problem solved.
It’s Monday morning here in Las Vegas, and in one hour the trade show begins. I arrived last night on a delayed flight from New York and met up with a big group of cigarmakers eating outside at Bouchon, Thomas Keller’s restaurant in the Venetian Hotel. I tucked into a plate of steak frites, ordered a Martini and fired up my first cigar.
Michael Chiusano, owner of the Cusano and Cuvée brands, gave me smoke No. 1. It’s the new Cusano 59, which is the final incarnation of the Cameroon-wrapped perfecto I smoked with him early this year in the Dominican Republic. It’s a fine smoke, much as I remembered—very toasty, just a bit sweet on the finish and with a pleasant, earthy spiciness. It was a nice starter smoke.
After the steak, I was ready for a strong cigar, and I found something I absolutely love. Pepin Garcia handed me his latest, My Father, in about a 6 3/4 inch long size with a tapered head. I cut it and lit it, and immediately I felt a big blast of power. Wow! I think this may be Pepin’s strongest smoke ever, or maybe almost as strong as the Tatuaje Cazadore he makes for Pete Johnson. Here are my notes, straight from my notebook: Big!! Spicy!! That’s some cigar.
There’s a lot more to say, but I have to get to the show. James Suckling is firing up a blog now as well. We’re going to keep you covered from top to bottom on this show, so stay tuned.
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