#thecigarstop

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My Summer Cigar Stop Office: The Cigar Stop North

It has been sometime since I shared something other than a cigar review or a photo set or a re-blog from other cigar friends such as Tigertown79, Eugene312 or RTGarcia17 (and I hope more friends to come), so I thought I would share with you my Summer time Cigar digs.  Most of you my know I have a camp up in the woods of Maine not too far from my home in Massachusetts, about 3 ½ hours north, this is where my hangout with friends and family and write a lot of stuff for The Cigar Stop Blog/web site.    So I thought I would share with you all my summer Cigar Stop office, I couldn't ask for a better place to relax and spend quality time with my cigars, just don’t tell the wife she thinks I'm supposed to spend time with her, and although it is nice I really dig my cigars...LOL

  So enjoy some views of one of my favorite spots!

Cigar Life is good

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New Home for the Cigar Stop come on by and check it out

http://thecigarstop.tumblr.com/

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Good morning from Camp

Well before I start my morning I think I shall stop and enjoy a cigar and a cuppa coffee and perhaps a brief walk in the woods and another cigar what can I say I’m a cigar whore

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Happy Thanksgiving

We hope you have a Happy and safe Thanksgiving and share a cigar with someone.

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Coolest wife ever

 I am at work, my email pings and it is a flash sale from one of my frequented cigar sites, I click and look at it and I see the exact cigars I wanted to buy a box of was on the list a 80% off and a 10% coupon too boot!!!

Then it hits me, I don’t have my charge card or my debit card with me and my smile sags as if I just saw my 98 year old Granma topless!

So what do I do you ask with bated breath? Well I text the wife at work and ask her to give me a call, she does and tell her what’s up and she says hold on what is the log-in and password you use for the site, I give it to her and not only does she score me a box of 20, but she gets me a second box of 20 cuz I am the best husband in the world (my words, and she doesn’t read this blog, so my definition stands!).

So I say to you even though she will not see this, she is the coolest cigar wife EVAH!

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Morning All

Well I have the fire started, my coffee, now to decide what cigar to sample, its a cool morning at camp on the first day of fall in New England,

 Coffee and cigar anyone?

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Relaxing in the woods of Maine with a nice Belgian white and an awesome Nicaraguan Omar Ortez Maduro. I was not sure about the combo, but I must say they a great together.

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Morning start up

This is how I like it quiet start with a coffee and a fire in the woods

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I’m not saying that cigars made me this way, but I would NOT bet against it!

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Returning to The Cigar Stop Life

So I would like to thank everyone who inquired about my whereabouts, we had some family tragedies that needed to be dealt with and some time to heal, but I am back at it and hope to have some new content up shortly.

 In the mean time I leave you with this. This is what my day will be filled with!

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Up Next The Chillin’ Moose Too

The Chillin’ Moose has made it’s escape from my humidor… see what I thought of The Foundry’s second Chillin’ Moose blend…

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Q & A on the Cigar Stop

 I have not sat and written much about my shopping habits, for a while and with the few (sadly) comments and questions I do get so I thought I would take a beat and pound out a quick post and answer a question and comment that I get the most as of late, so here  you go Brothers and Sisters of the leaf.

I was asked a few months back why I do not review the more well-known cigar brands or the higher end cigars, well first let me say I do about 80% of my cigar shopping on line at a few different sites, so if I can find the not-so spotlighted cigar selections than so can you. In fact at the end of this I will include a few of the sites that I use, I am not endorsing one site over the other, only giving you a point of reference.

 The other 20% of the time I am in cigar brick and mortars looking at new arrivals and other sales stuff you cannot always get with an online store. There is no right or wrong place to get your cigars however I do strongly urge you not to buy them in a gas station in coastal Maine, it was late I had another 3 hours to go and I was out of cigars until I made it to the loving arms of my humidor, and the shame of that overpriced dried out twig of a cigar haunts me and my taste buds to this day! OH THE SHAME !

  I do sample the higher end cigar selections, but they are just not as prevalent in my regular rotation of cigars I smoke, Do I like them …yes, do I want to smoke more of them? . . . yes, but with prices the way they are I cannot always fit them in om my cigar budget, cigars in a brick and mortar are usually about 10% more than online places due to over head of running a business and I still have a tough time justifying the purchase of them. Not to mention when I do a cigar review I like to have at least smoked 3 of the selection I review so that my opinion on that cigar is exactly the same all 3 times so I do not recommend a selection that is consistent and not that I am an a authority on cigars, but I do not like to miss inform anyone so that they try something and say… The Cigar Stop is full of shit. At the writing of this I have just over 1,075 followers a drop in the well to some blogs, but a number I respect and do not want to disappoint or misadvise anyone on anything that costs even a penny or someone else’s money or time.

  So that is the answer to at least 3 questions and comments I have been getting, have any of your own or you own opinion on a cigar or even a recommendation send them in to me, I welcome the feedback. Now that being said I have recently made purchases of some of the more well know and higher end cigar selection that will be coming up starting with the CAO Black and the Montecristo Platinum series and please remember what I said I try and smoke at the very least 3 of each selection I review to give you a solid base of information.

Now Go forth and Cigar my people!

As promised here are “SOME” of the sites I shop at in NO special order or preference and the same goes for the list of brick and mortar’s.

Cigars International

2 Guys Smoke shop

JR Cigars

Cigar page

Mike’s cigars

Famous Cigars

Here also is a list of cigar stores I frequent

2 Guys Smoke shop -  Salem New Hampshire

2 Guys Smoke shop – Seabrook New Hampshire

Federal Cigar shop – Portsmouth New Hampshire

Red’s smoke shop – Salem Massachusetts

Cigar City – Quincy Massachusetts

Brennan’s smoke shop – Pembroke Massachusetts

William Perry Cigar Lounge – Bridgton Maine (Now the APO Cigar Lounge)

I would like at my next available free time to try out the Seacoast Cigar bar in North Hampton New Hampshire, if you ate in the area look them up and stop in an say hello to Shannen your cigar concierge and Bar tender.

See you next time.

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The Cigar Stop Reviews Chillin' Moose from the Foundry

Name: Chillin' Moose

Origin: Dominican Republic

Wrapper: Connecticut

Filler/Binder: Mexican San Andes, Nicaraguan, Dominican and US Broardleaf

Shape/Size: Corona, Robusto, Gordo

Strength: Mild - Medium

Box/Bundle: Box of 20

Flavored: No

Price: $10.00 - $12.00 Per 5 pack  – $40.00 - $50.00 Per Box

 Surprise from The Foundry cigar manufactures with this one called the Chillin' Moose! Known for their off beat blends and names they have a hit with this one and I cannot wait to try the Chillin' Moose follow up Chillin' Moose Too.

 You would think that at the listed prices that the quality and the flavor would be pretty bad, but I have smoked 6 of these beast and everyone of them have preformed better than some of the bigger and more expensive brand brands.

No blemishes, no flaking, even burn and a as far as the taste of this cool moose it  leans towards the medium rather then the mild end of the spectrum.

 C-Moose has a nice thick solid ash, no flaking and a flavor that is hearty, earthy with just a hint of spice on the back end. If your looking for the most out of your cigar budget capture yourself a Moose!

Fair warning on this one, though I have not experienced it, I have had a few friends that have smoked these and they have reported a bitter taste on some of  them. After checking with them in a couple of cases they had their humidification too low, as with some cigars, as they dry they can have a bit of a bite, don't get the chillin' moose mad so that he bites you... keep your humidification up!

No road kill here with this Moose, cuz he is just Chillin' goodness

 And as Usual this Big boy goes great with your favorite Whiskey, it brings out even more flavors.

Rating this one a 6 out of 10

Tame your wallet and let your taste buds run on the wild side.

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Montecristo Promo night

   This past weekend I had the fortunate luck to be invited to Twins Smoke Shop in New Hampshire by my friendly neighborhood Altadis USA cigar rep. Adam.

The promotional event was to Introduce Montecristo’s new selection, the Montecristo Pilotico Pepe Mendez cigar, as well as hawking the other cigars that they distribute at Altadis, such as Romeo y Juliet, A huge line of Montecristo cigar selections and accessories, Onyx cigars and Henry Clay just to name a few.

So Smokehouse and I made the small trek north to Twins Smoke Shop in Londonderry New Hampshire. The place was huge, a walk-in Humidor that was so well stocked I started my Christmas list for next year in advance, plenty of clothing and accessories and a fantastic bar and smoking room on the second floor.

Adam and Twins hooked us up with some discounts and I bought a few that I wanted to try as well, it was a great night.

Thanks Adam, I will see you at the next event, thanks to Altadis USA and thanks Twins Smoke Shop for hosting a Montecristo event.

Here is just some of the stuff I came home with.

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The Cigar Stop Reviews the Fonseca Cubano Limitardo

Name: Cubano Limitardo

Origin: Dominican Republic

Wrapper: Habano

Filler/Binder: Nicaraguan Ligero and Dominican

Shape/Size:  Panatela/Lancero – Belicoso – Robusto – Gordo – Corona - Toro

Strength: Medium - Full

Box/Bundle: Box of 24

Flavored: No

Price: $8.00 Per Single – $145.00 – 180.00 Per Box

 As you can see the price is up there on this selection from Fonseca, so as you know I only sampled a 5 pack and not a box of this fantastic Dominican redo of a Cuban favorite.

Fonseca’s not-so secret weapon has done it again with this selection, I was happily pleased with the earthy notes on this one I was led to believe that there would be hints of coffee and a finish that had son spiciness to it, but I did not get any of those, it was a fantastic smoke even burn to it although I did have one canoe on me, but one out of five it could have been a fluke.

Construction was very nice, no blemishes to speak of the combination of the Nicaraguan and the Dominican fillers and binders made for a great aroma and a nice medium smoke, with and ending of a nice solid ash that kept its form.

So this one is simple, good taste, good construction, bad price, this is more of a $5.00 to $6.00 cigar not an $8.00, let alone I would never spend $145.00 to $180.00 for it. I would day worth the price for a 5 pack, but unless your cigar budget is big. This cigar was very worth your time and gave me great enjoyment, I just get stuck on the price, Even if it has an expert rating of a 90.

We are going to rate this one a 6 1/2 out of 10

Thanks as always for reading . . . Keep it Smokey