Smoking with Eddie Ortega of 601 Cigars

About a few weeks ago, I got to enjoy something you don't get to do everyday.

It's not often that you actually get to enjoy a good cigar with the man who owns the company of the cigar you are smoking.

Back at the end of July, the last Saturday in July to be exact, I made my annual trip up to the Lehigh Valley to see the Philadelphia Eagles training camp. In recent years, this trip has included a second part to visit the Cigars International superstore in Bethlehem, PA.

To me it is an absolutely perfect day. I enjoy seeing my favorite team live and in person in the morning, get a few autographs, then I head over to Bethlehem for a couple of hours and veg out in the cigar lounge with some fine smokes.

Well this year, things changed a bit. I would up driving over an hour to the training camp site, only to find out just before I got there that the morning practice had been cancelled. Not because of weather, but because a water main break flooded the field. So the training camp idea was done for me, and it was only 9:00 am.

I'm thinking I might have to kick around town for a couple of hours before the cigar shop opened, but a phone call to the shop informed me that they actually open early. So thankfully, I got to head to the shop for a morning smoke instead. I'm not usually a morning smoker, but why not give it a try for once? Not like I had anything better to do.

Let me say something about Cigars International. Not only do they have a great website with really good deals, their superstore in Bethlehem is amazing. Imagine a cigar warehouse with a huge lounge in the back. I love the choice of brands too. They get some cigar brands that you don't often find at normal cigar shops, and they get exclusive lines of cigars from some brands that aren't sold anywhere else. I'll tell you about my cigar purchases later.

As I get there just before 9:30, I see that they are hosting a cigar event at 10 am with Eddie Ortega, who owns a cigar brand called 601. He was arriving to promote his cigars, and apparently to give out some free samples.

This trip, which started out so disappointing, quickly became worth it when I heard the words "free cigars". In my world, that brightens my day quickly.

So I'm browsing around the store which isn't crowded at all, and Eddie Ortega shows up for his event early, well before 10 am. So I got to meet him well before the afternoon rush of people. He struck me as a very nice guy, and seemed to love meeting fellow cigar smokers. So we got to chatting right away. As we are chatting, he hands me a free sample fresh out of a new box.

Now, he didn't just hand me some run of the mill stogie here. The brand he was sampling was his new line called Cubao. And the stick he handed me was the Lancero size, which looked to be at least a good hour and a half smoke. Just for kicks, I asked him how much it would cost me to buy one of these cigars individually, and he said around $9 to $10. Which, according to Cigars International website selling a 5 pack of Lanceros for $48 is about right.

Well, anyone who hands me a $10 cigar is immediately my best friend, at least for the next couple of hours.

Honest review of this cigar is that it may not be for everybody. But it was definitely for me. This cigar had three things going for it that I liked. It has a corojo wrapper, it's medium to full bodied, and it is Nicaraguan. I'm learning more and more that I like fuller bodied cigars, and I'm learning more and more that Nicaraguan cigars are top of the line. Eddie claims Nicaraguan cigars are every bit as good as a good Cuban. I think I'm starting to believe him based on other Nicaraguan smokes I have had.

If you don't like these things, this cigar might overpower you a bit with it's flavor. But if you do, this smoke is for you. It had a great peppery flavor right off the bat that stings the tongue right in the back of the throat. About 4 or 5 years ago, I might not have liked that as much. Today, I've grown up as a cigar smoker and I dig that kind of flavor much more.

Eddie lit a Cubao up with me, and we got to talking. One thing he shared with me is his recommendation of the Partagas Series D cigar. Let's just say that you can't exactly get that cigar in the US. But when I make my trip to London, England later this year on the way back from India, I will be searching for one of those.

We also discussed the best way to cut a cigar, and surprisingly he just likes to bite the end off of the cigar and start smoking. He says the cigar cut just isn't that big of a deal to him. I know many cigar smokers that might think that idea is hogwash. In their minds, if it isn't cut by a double guillotine cutter that costs $70, it isn't a good cut. Well, when the owner of the company tells you to just go ahead and bite the end off of one of his $10 cigars, you take him at his word. I'm here to report that the Cubao smokes just fine that way, thank you.

I did eventually leave him be to speak with other customers as they filtered in, but I also bought up one of his 601 Green Oscuro Corona for my 2nd smoke of the day. It's not often that I smoke two cigars in a sitting, but what the hell. Eddie warned me that this was probably his strongest smoke, which is why I bought the smallest size he had.

My thoughts on the 601 Green Oscuro... not as peppery as the Cubao. It's more of a smooth smoke for me. Fuller bodied, definitely. I remember thinking that I could handle a larger size of this smoke if that was the only cigar I was smoking all day. But after tackling the Cubao first, this small size was about all I could handle that day. You don't smoke this cigar on an empty stomach. I wouldn't mind having this cigar on hand after a nice steak dinner. It was definitely a good choice for sitting there in the cigar lounge with a group of guys from Virginia I had met as we talked some football.

This is probably the best compliment I can give Eddie Ortega. When I made my trip up to Cigars International, I had my eye on several cigars I knew I had to grab ahead of time. I bought 5 other cigars there. Two of them I had been waiting to try for a good while but couldn't get at home. These were the Montecristo Media Noche #3 size, and the Perdomo Reserve Maduro. Aside from the other cigars I grabbed there, these two in particular I had been waiting weeks to try. So, after buying those cigars I had been waiting weeks to try, I wound up smoking two of Eddie's cigars instead that day. I wound up saving those other two cigars for another time.

Let me say this as well... I eventually smoked that Montecristo Media Noche a couple of weeks later, and while it was a good cigar, I found myself a little let down by it. For my standards, I thought it was a little less flavorful than it should have been, especially for a maduro. Montecristo usually doesn't disappoint me. Perhaps I should have had less expectations going in. The Perdomo Reserve Maduro, however, lived up to my expectations. That's a fine cigar.

So Eddie's 601 and Cubao cigars have converted me. They wound up being better than at least one cigar I had been waiting weeks to try, and just as good as another. Since our meeting, I have picked up a 601 Blue Box-Pressed Maduro which is sitting in the humidor waiting to be smoked at a later date.

Big thanks to Eddie Ortega of 601 Cigars for good smokes and good conversation. Hopefully we will meet again sometime.