La Gloria Cubana Rolling Event

La Gloria Cubana Rolling Event
Wednesday, August 25 - 26
Timing -5-8pm

Emerson's @ Hampton - PTC
Ticket includes 2 LGC Cigars: Artesanos de Tabaqueros and LGC Serie R.
Join us at Emerson's Cigars as we welcome a professional roller from La Gloria Cubana to roll with our customers. We will be providing a table for 4 people at a time to roll their own cigar. Each roller with place his/her name on their cigar and and the end of the night we will pick three winners-1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Each winner will receive some amazing prizes. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opporunity! Don't miss it- buy your ticket now before they sell out.

http://www.emersonscigars.com/storefront/event-listing.aspx
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Peninsula Town Center, 4310 East Claiborne Square, Hampton, VA 23666

Kristoff "cigar"- new size, same amazing cigars

This year as part of their Superstar Cigar Tour, Emerson’s Cigars hosted Glen Case of Kristoff at their brick and mortars. Recently, Kristoff introduced a new Corona size for their blends so I thought I’d review a couple of my favorites- The Kristoff Sumatra and the Kristoff Ligero Maduro.

Kristoff Sumatra "Cigar"

After the popularity of the Kristoff Series came the release of the newest line, the Kristoff Sumatra. Very indicative of an elite Cuban, this cigar has a beautiful, rich Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper. The filler, like many others from the Kristoff line, is a combination of Cuban seed Dominican and Cuban seed Nicaraguan tobaccos. It's easy to taste the velvety, floral flavors meld nicely with the rich spice from that Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper. The cigar still maintains a lovely smooth, sweet finish that makes the Kristoff Sumatra the definition of quality craftsmanship.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra
Filler: Cuban seed Orlor Dominican and Nicaraguan
Binder: Brazilian
Strength: Medium Bodied



Kristoff Ligero Maduro "Cigar"

The Kristoff Ligero Maduro, delicately handmade, is typically a favorite line of the Kristoff brand of cigars. That's because when the ever popular Brazilian Maduro wrapper combines with Cuban seed Dominican and Cuban seed Nicaraguan filler, the result is flavors of dried cherry, coffee and cocoa beans,but with a snappy but nectarous finish. I guess you could say the Kristoff Ligero Maduro is sugar, spice, and everything nice.

Wrapper: Brazilian Maduro
Filler: Cuban seed Orlor Dominican and Nicaraguan
Binder: Cuban seed Orlor Dominican
Strength: Medium to Full Bodied


Emerson’s Cigars carries Kristoff in their brick and mortar stores, scattered all over Hampton Roads, Virginia. They also sell online at www.EmersonsCigars.com

Top Smokes for Spring

Some people think that spotting a robin is a sign that Spring has finally arrived. But for me, finally putting that snow shovel away and digging out that lawn chair from the garage so I can sit outside and enjoy an afternoon cigar is the true expression of Spring.

The first cigar on the first temperate day of the year is no small occasion. It’s the first pitch of baseball, the first day of school, the Black Friday of the Spring season. The first smoke is magic. So, choosing the right cigar is imperative.  There are few things worse than waiting all Winter to smoke only to be disappointed because you chose a bad cigar. Emerson’s Cigars (www.emersonscigars.com) has a huge selection of premium cigars and accessories and is sure to have the perfect cigar for any occasion. Below are my selections from Emerson’s huge inventory. You can buy from their online store or at any one of their locations in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, or their new location in Hampton, VA.

If you’re looking for a mild cigar, I recommend the Montecristo White. With the success of the Montecristo series came a demand for a milder, more gentle version. Jose Seijas responded with the extremely popular Montecristo White. A hand-selected Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade wrapper envelops the Dominican/Nicaraguan fillers resulting in a creamy, smooth, but still complex flavor. This is a very well-rounded smoke with a luxurious quality.  The Montecristo White is also an amazing cigar for the golf course. Emerson’s Cigars has them in a variety of sizes.

If you want to dip your toe in the cigar smoking waters with a medium bodied cigar, I recommend the Kristoff Sumatra. After the popularity of the Kristoff Series came the release of the newest line, the Kristoff Sumatra. Very indicative of an elite Cuban, this cigar has a beautiful, rich Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper. The filler, like many others from the Kristoff line, is a combination of Cuban seed Dominican and Cuban seed Nicaraguan tobaccos. It's easy to taste the velvety, floral flavors meld nicely with the rich spice from that Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper. The cigar still maintains a lovely smooth, sweet finish that makes the Kristoff Sumatra the definition of quality craftsmanship. This is a great “grillin steaks on a Sunday afternoon” cigar. If you love Kristoff, Emerson’s Cigars offers an amazing sampler with a travel humidor included. Check out www.emersonscigars.com for details.

If you want to take a small step up from medium bodied smokes, the San Cristobal Seleccion del Sol is the perfect medium to full bodied cigar and one of my top picks for Spring. Hailed as one of the most requested cigars of 2009, the San Cristobal Seleccion Del Sol is a treat for palate. Handcrafted by the legend himself, Don “Pepin” Garcia, the Del Sol features an extremely special sun-grown wrapper, grown especially for this cigar on the Garcia’s family’s Estrella farm in the fertile, lush paradise of Esteli, Nicaragua. Estrella sits on a picturesque plot of land surrounded by green hills, where sunlight abounds and the soil is thick and dark as coal. Pepin and his son, Jaime, hand-selected this magnificent wrapper from the first crop of tobacco harvested from Estrella. With complex flavors full of cedar, earth, and spice, and finished with notes of dark chocolate, the Seleccion Del Sol is the sun on my Spring day.

Cigars

What is Cigars?

A tightly rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco which is ignited to draw its smoke into the mouth is known as cigar. Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines, and the Eastern United States are the largest producers of Cigar tobacco.

Composition of Cigars

Cigars are composed of three types of tobacco leaves, whose variations determine smoking and flavor characteristics:

a.) Wrappers

A widest part of the plant is used to make outermost leaves, or wrapper of cigar. Cigar’s character and flavor is determined by its wrapper and its color is used to describe the cigar as a whole. Over 100 wrapper shades are identified by manufacturers, but some common classification are Double Claro, Claro, Colorado Claro, Colorado, Colorado Maduro, Maduro, Oscuro.

b.) Fillers

The majority of a cigar is made up of fillers, wrapped-up bunches of leaves inside the wrapper. Fillers of various strengths are usually blended to produce desired cigar flavors. In the cigar industry this is referred to as a "blend. The more oils present in the tobacco leaf, the stronger (less dry) the filler. Types range from the minimally flavored Volado taken from the bottom of the plant, through the light-flavored Seco (dry) taken from the middle of the plant, to the strong Ligero from the upper leaves exposed to the most sunlight. Fatter cigars of larger gauge hold more filler, with greater potential to provide a full body and complex flavor. When used, Ligero is always folded into the middle of the filler because it burns slowly.

C.) Binders

Binders are elastic leaves used to hold together the bunches of fillers. Essentially, binders are wrappers that are rejected because of holes, blemishes, discoloration, or excess veins.

Smoking

To smoke a cigar, a smoker possibly cuts it, lights it, then puts the unlit end into the mouth and draws smoke into the mouth. Some smokers inhale the smoke into the lungs, particularly with little cigars, but this is relatively uncommon otherwise. A smoker may swirl the smoke around in the mouth before exhaling it, and may exhale part of the smoke through the nose in order to smell the cigar better as well as to taste it.