Hand Rolled Cigars in Berkeley Springs West Virginia

[snubbyfan]

My wife and I went to the annual Apple Butter Festival in beautiful downtown Berkeley Springs West Virginia.
Through the crowd, I spotted something that caught my interest.
Hand rolled cigars.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IrmxjqhNPE[/ame]

I'm gonna let them rest in my humidor for a few days then cut, light and give my opinion on one.

 

[snuffy51]

Don't forget the grill. YOU have to have something (dead) on the grill. Enjoy

 

[Ray1970]

I watched a couple of Dominican guys hand rolling cigars in Las Vegas. Picked up a couple. They weren’t too bad but weren’t anything special either. Looking forward to what you think about yours.

 

[chief38]

Snubby,
All the cigars we all buy from the major distributors like JR, CI, Thompson, Holt, etc. are all aged after being rolled to let the flavors from the Wrapper, Binder & Filler "marry". This is done for many months to years for the optimum flavor and consistency.

I know lot's of guys think the hand rolled show cigars like the ones you just got are "cool" because you watch him roll them, but it's been my experience that no two cigars taste much the same when you buy them because they are in the "green" (premature) state and have not married.

That said - hey, you might like 'em!

 

[nachogrande]

IT'S A THING NOW.

Been seeing guys hand rolling at weddings for a while now. I don't smoke em myself, but suppose it's what's rolled inside them that counts.

 

[les.b]

Good lord, Snubby....I knew that the "gentrification" of West Virginia was inevitable, but now we have our own boutique cigar rolling craftspeople.

Hope they are good, but Chief38 may have a point there. I am a former hand rolled cigar aficionado, (my cancer doc recommended that I quit), and I enjoyed years of smoking many varieties of wonderful cigars.

Best Regards, Les

 

[rwsmith]

Could you picture a world.......

Could you picture a world where Stoney Creek cigars are in demand all over the world, displacing Cuban cigars. But you can go to Berkeley Springs and pick up a few anytime you want?

That brings up a good question. When I was doing cigars I never did the hand rolled domestic cigars like Nat Shermans. What are some good American home grown brands?

 

[M1A]

I am interested to see how it works out for you. I am hoping the best, as I have not had good luck.

 

[Drm50]

Are those cigars rolled with locally grow tobacco? Most people
don't realize that a lot of Tobacco was grown across Appalacia.
Most old farms had a tobacco shed. Their were many small local
cigar factories. Chewing tobacco as well. I use to collect the labels they glued in the top of the cigar boxes from this area.
Unused labels are always coming out of the woodwork at yard
sales. The old timers in my family use to make plug and twist.
The twist they would chew or smoke in a pipe. For the plug they
drilled a hole in a green beech log. Then used a mallet and dowel
to pound tobacco and licorice and other ingredients into the hole.
Then drive a wood plug in the hole to seal it. Leave set all winter
then split the log in the spring after it aged. This might be where
Beechnut brand chewing tobacco came from.

 

[snubbyfan]

Snubby,
All the cigars we all buy from the major distributors like JR, CI, Thompson, Holt, etc. are all aged after being rolled to let the flavors from the Wrapper, Binder & Filler "marry". This is done for many months to years for the optimum flavor and consistency.

I know lot's of guys think the hand rolled show cigars like the ones you just got are "cool" because you watch him roll them, but it's been my experience that no two cigars taste much the same when you buy them because they are in the "green" (premature) state and have not married.

That said - hey, you might like 'em!

Good point. It'll be interesting to see how they taste.

 

[snubbyfan]

Good lord, Snubby....I knew that the "gentrification" of West Virginia was inevitable, but now we have our own boutique cigar rolling craftspeople.

Hope they are good, but Chief38 may have a point there. I am a former hand rolled cigar aficionado, (my cancer doc recommended that I quit), and I enjoyed years of smoking many varieties of wonderful cigars.

Best Regards, Les

Berkeley Springs West Virginia's touted as a artist community and blending and rolling a quality cigar's an art so....

 

[snubbyfan]

Could you picture a world where Stoney Creek cigars are in demand all over the world, displacing Cuban cigars. But you can go to Berkeley Springs and pick up a few anytime you want?

That brings up a good question. When I was doing cigars I never did the hand rolled domestic cigars like Nat Shermans. What are some good American home grown brands?

I tried a Nat Sherman Maduro, wasn't impressed.

 

[snubbyfan]

Are those cigars rolled with locally grow tobacco? Most people
don't realize that a lot of Tobacco was grown across Appalacia.
Most old farms had a tobacco shed. Their were many small local
cigar factories. Chewing tobacco as well. I use to collect the labels they glued in the top of the cigar boxes from this area.
Unused labels are always coming out of the woodwork at yard
sales. The old timers in my family use to make plug and twist.
The twist they would chew or smoke in a pipe. For the plug they
drilled a hole in a green beech log. Then used a mallet and dowel
to pound tobacco and licorice and other ingredients into the hole.
Then drive a wood plug in the hole to seal it. Leave set all winter
then split the log in the spring after it aged. This might be where
Beechnut brand chewing tobacco came from.

The guy rolling 'em said they had Dominican fillers and binders and he was using Colorado Red wrappers that he orders form Honduras.

 

[Ray1970]

Hand rolling is pretty popular in Colorado these days. Unfortunately, most of what is being rolled isn’t cigars.

 

[M1A]

Hand rolling is pretty popular in Colorado these days. Unfortunately, most of what is being rolled isn’t cigars.

Now, you do know that a "Rasta man" does roll his ganja into a huge cigar.

 

[chief38]

I tried a Nat Sherman Maduro, wasn't impressed.

Years ago (maybe 20 - 25) Nat Sherman had some incredible Cigars! I bought them by the truck-load even though they were very expensive. About the time when Lou Rothman stared to really expand JR Cigar, Nat Sherman really felt the competition and could not compete on a level playing field. To keep his prices competitive he had to cut costs on quality and the other major problem for Nat was that Lou had sort of cornered the market on buying the first and best crop from the growers in the Dominican Republic. The DR is the next best thing to Cuban Tobacco and some even like it the best. Nat Sherman was forced to buy from secondary Growers, got second pick and then started the downward spiral. While still in business and while they still make a half way descent cigar, they just can't compare to the Fuente's and products of General Cigar which are primary suppliers to the Big Boys like JR, CI, etc.

I have smoked many cigars sitting in the old Nat Sherman Cigar Lounge upstairs in 5th ave & 42 st. location but haven't been there in at least 10 years. I sort of lost my taste for NYC and choose not to go there anymore these days.

 

[Drm50]

I was never a high class cigar smoker. I had a friend who worked
for Marsh Wheeling and he kept me supplied with boxes of their
seconds. My cigar smoking stopped soon after they shut down.
Block Bro's Tobacco also shut down. No more free smoke' and
chew'n.

 

[Roadtrash]

When you try one be sure to let us know. Right now I am smoking Padron Maduro

 

[chief38]

Cigars do NOT have to be very expensive to be GREAT! I smoke some pricy ones however my go-to every day cigar for many years now is a Double Chateau, Chateau Fuente Natural Wrapper. They run a good sale now and then and they run about $97 bucks a box of 20 shipped. I usually buy about 4 or 5 boxes and store them in my Humidore to age. So for just under $5 per cigar (not expensive for these times) you get one of the very best quality and consistent cigars on the planet! I only have 1 - 2 cigars a week (with the exception of Hunting Week of course ) and so that does not break the bank. On occasion I will break out something a little pricier but not for every day.

 

[snubbyfan]

Cigars do NOT have to be very expensive to be GREAT! I smoke some pricy ones however my go-to every day cigar for many years now is a Double Chateau, Chateau Fuente Natural Wrapper. They run a good sale now and then and they run about $97 bucks a box of 20 shipped. I usually buy about 4 or 5 boxes and store them in my Humidore to age. So for just under $5 per cigar (not expensive for these times) you get one of the very best quality and consistent cigars on the planet! I only have 1 - 2 cigars a week (with the exception of Hunting Week of course ) and so that does not break the bank. On occasion I will break out something a little pricier but not for every day.

Absolutely true.
I was sent a coupla cigars by a fellow I was doing some leatherwork for. One was a Cuban Rounds Toro with a Natural wrapper and the other was a Cuban Rounds Robusto with a Connecticut wrapper they had a price sticker of $1.59 on the cellophane.
The natural wrapper smelled like a good cigar so I cut it and lit it up. I was surprised, it was pretty good. Perfect draw and even burn line. The body was just to the light side of medium and very little strength. The ash was a bit short. Not bad at all for a budget mixed filler cigar.
I also tried the one with the Connecticut wrapper. Since I'm not too fond of Connecticut wrappers, I didn't enjoy it as much but it did taste like a Connecticut cigar. Same body and strength as the natural wrapped cigar.
I'm thinking of getting a box of Cuban Rounds when my Christmas cigar money comes in.

I still have that Partagas Lucitania, I'm still saving it for that perfect cigar moment.