An Interview w/ Brian M. Kurland of Cigar Reserve

I had the recent opportunity to pull President of Cigar Reserve, Mr. Brian M. Kurland, aside just long enough to answer a few questions prior to his diving passionately back into his fine cigar and cedar work. 

[You can check out Mr. Kurland's wares by clicking the above link or HERE.

Too, you can read my review of Cigar Reserve's Cedar Spills by clicking HERE.

I do, however, please wish you'd read on prior to doing so. ]

Kaplowitz: First off, sir, thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer a few questions. It is much and greatly appreciated.

Brian M. Kurland: Hey Kap, thank you for the opportunity to interview with you.

Your company, Cigar Reserve, has a large focus on the manufacture of Cedar Spills. Might we start with a little history behind spills, and the allure they held over you? In other words, why spills, Brian?

Spills have been a concept and tradition in the cigar industry for over a hundred years. Before everyone was in a hurry and people actually took the time to enjoy their cigar, they would use a long strip of cedar to light their cigar. This would allow them to not get any unnatural by-products from other lighters or candles. Also, allowed for a long light that allowed them to toast their cigar without rush.

Why me? I started smoking cigars seriously when I was 18 years old but, didn't have the money or time to invest in the hobby. So, the few times I did get to enjoy a cigar with my hard earned money I wanted to get the most out of the experience. So, I would take the cedar sheets, strip them and use to light my cigars. After doing this a while, I couldn't light up any other way. Whenever I used a normal lighter or torch I could taste the chemicals and harsh charring from the torch lighter.

Another offering of Cigar Reserve is its Cigars of the Month Club. I’ll let you delve more into what that is, but preliminarily here, it is a monthly sampler of rare, premium, and vintage cigars sent out to all members of the club. This makes me wonder, what do you personally look for in the creation or approval of your samplers? Are you thinking of pairings? Themes? What is the process there?

We have a small board of so-called "cigar experts" that pick the 5 cigars each month. They try to find 5 cigars completely different from each other. We don't have monthly themes or give off what we can't sell. We simply choose 5 incredibly awesome cigars that we feel our patrons need to try. We actually lose a good deal of money with the cigars of the month club, but it is still our baby and is a linchpin to our cigar business side of Cigar Reserve.

I noticed on your site that you sell empty cigar boxes. Do you have any memorable re-purposing stories (positive, less positive, or downright silly) that you’d care to share?

I hear a few crazy stories from time to time of what people make with the cigar boxes. Normally its the usual cigar box guitar or jewelry box. But, I have seen a life-sized robot made from them and some serious amplifiers. One loyal customer bought 300 boxes from us and lined all his walls in his man-cave with cigar box lids. It looked great!

Allow me the purely metaphysical question of: why cigars, man? Too, when did you know you were a “cigar guy?”

Unfortunately, at a young age my body made it very clear alcohol was not a good fit for me. So, to wind-down from those long days or celebratory moments I would fire up a cigar. Cigars have been a part of so many memories and times in my life it's now more of a religion/passage then a hobby. God, family/friends, fly fishing and cigars.

What is your favorite cigar situation? I’m speaking pairings, here. I’m also going beyond the palate and into the mood. For instance -- my pairing is a lounge in a casino in earshot of a craps table, Three Stooges on TV, dark chocolate, nice enough snoot full of brandy, a well brewed cup of joe, and a cigar that is akin to how I like my women -- big, sweet, and not exactly mild. Set an atmosphere for me, sir...
You definitely ask the best interview questions I've ever been asked! This is a good one. It's hard to think of just one, because I find it's based on my mood. One mood I enjoy is sitting around a poker table with good friends, cigars and good music playing in the background. Another mood I love is the solace mood...where I get into my man-cave, kick my feet up, fire up a cigars and just watch TV. With a demanding travel schedule and 2 young kids, time by myself to collect my thoughts is perfect.

Now that we've set the mood writ large -- let’s unplug, strip down. What is the one thing a cigar needs, inherent to itself, to bring you satisfaction. In other words -- what, in your opinion, is the single most important characteristic of a good cigar?

In my eyes the most important characteristic is how it's rolled (i.e. draw). You can have the best cigar in the world, but if the draw isn't right, you lose all the characteristics of the cigar. Second, is the aging of the tobacco. If the cigar is too young it's too harsh and too old it has nothing left in the tank. I like them aged specifically to the cigar and what it needs. Some cigars are great off the shelf, some are better with a few more months or years in the humidor.

What are your goals, both short and long term, for your Cigar Reserve brand?

The short term goal is to conquer the cigar industry in the Spanish Cedar department. We are close and already one of the largest domestic importers of Spanish Cedar to the US. Second, I would like to see everyone use cedar spills to light their cigars. I can almost hear cigars scream in agony as they are getting 2000 degree char-burn flame scorching the flavor and taste out of it. Let's save humanity and our cigars, but lighting the tradition and natural way. (i.e. Smoke Naturally)

Also, one day we would like to build our own cigar line. We will only do this if we feel we can make a superior cigar with the best tobaccos and blenders.

Now that I have your eyes on the future, allow me to pitch you an idea guaranteed to make us millions. I keep one tool handy at all my cigar smoking times -- the simple yet noble toothpick. It serves to unplug a faultily rolled stogie, to clean my teeth in case a lady decides to pay an unexpected visit, and also to save my fingertips from burning at a nub’s end. (I skewer the nub and hold it via the pick.) -- Cedar toothpicks. Think, sir, of the possibilities. When shall we begin production? 

Let's do it! Thank you very much Noah, for the great questions and your cool candor. 

Cool? I am, and shall continue to be, the other side of the pillow within the cigar lifestyle world. Thanks again, Brian, for your time.

Visit Cigar Reserve by clicking HERE.

Read my review of their Cedar Spills by clicking HERE.

[Italicised, mine. Natch.]

FROM THE DESK OF: Kaplowitz

Hello,

This is still quite a young blog. Its growth thus far has been beyond my expectations, and for that, I thank you all. After years of forcing words into cyber-space shape, I simply and as organically as possible started blogging about things I like. The internet version of writing about what you know. See, you really don't need to know anything any longer, you simply need to like it well enough to Google it a few times.

From these, the wilds of my mind, cigars came to the forefront and stayed there. Now, I have decided to add (somewhat less organically) to the mix the topics of coffee and of wine, namely fortified wine. I do this securely viewing myself as a "cigar guy." What I mean by this is that, for the foreseeable, the newest two topics are mere and wonderful accompaniments of the first. To say it another way, this blog could easily live on as a cigar blog. It would not last a New York minute as a wine and/or coffee blog.

Think pairings.
'Nuff.

I do so hope you continue to enjoy and hopefully support this here lil blog right here. Please click HERE for free ways to do so. Now seems a time for growth. 

Best,
Kap

Rubbing Two Nickels Together: pairing on a dime vol. 1

Remember what I said HERE re: pairings, monies, and whatnots? If you'd rather skip that link to a well written and thought-provoking post -- here are the Cliff Notes. Way to really nail that C, Magna Cum Quietly.

"A true connoisseur can walk you by a bodega and impress you with its offerings and his or her pairings. What palate is required to dole out of deep pockets at trendy spots?" Me.

Tuesday (it's Monday evening as I type this) is the second anniversary of my son's death. Last night, after being weepy all day, I knew I needed to sleep. I forgot how. I stood over my couch (my wife makes an OK living and allows me to crash there) and went dumb.

I should probably take off my shoes first, I thought -- and continued to stand there motionless. It was midnight and the Golden Girls were on. I realized I needed to change the channel in order to see them. Find the remote! I blurted out my epiphany and my motion was regained enough to do so and strip down and go horizontal. Ruby, my dachshund, kept me in place with her chin and chest pinning my shoulder to the cushion.

I was asleep after two of Sophia's Italian curses and one of her picture its...

I awoke feeling better, but always on the prowl for betterer, I rubbed two nickels together and walked the mile to my local market to see Apu. With payday always just around the next corner, I scooped up my pairing:

The Cigar:
Hugo Cassar
Sumatra Wrapper
Nicaraguan Blend Binder/Filler
Churchill
$2.50

The Wine:
Christian Brothers
Tawny Port
Napa Valley product
(note the lack of Port'o' on the label)
19% ABV
$5.79

The Scratch-off Ticket:
5X The Cash
$1.00 (not a winner)

"Thank you, please come again." Apu and me, we like to pretend I have a darn choice. Cute, that.

I should mention a couple of things here. 

Port and cigars go back as far as pork and beans -- or more aptly, fish and chips -- but we'll get to that in a jiff and a half. I am well aware, and well tired of, the knee-jerk reaction of pairing a stogie with a spirit. Yawn. Also, not always as proper as many folks seem to believe. I too am aware proper (un-fortified wines) cannot stand up to most cigars. 

Please, please, pretty ol' please, don't get me started on the new-fangled monstrosity of pairing cigars with craft beers. To each his own does not fly in the face of atrocity. We are speaking separate spectrum, kind gentlepersons.

But Port (of the Tawny variety, in particular). The world's most popular fortified wine (the Port, not the Tawny), now we're talking.

Fish and chips: The English, while at war with France, still wanted their bloody wine fix, gov'nah. So they went to Portugal and fortified their offerings with brandy in order to make the longer journey home. Too, it bears mentioning that the double claro is still en vogue across the pond -- as it 'twas back then. So we are speaking of light-bodied cigars.

Tawny is a heady port, the tenets of which -- if'n you will, and I did -- include firstly and logistically, their far longer shelf life, as compared to the bottle-aged Vintage Ports. Nextly, the tawny variety does not require decanting. Thirdly, and this is a bit of a cheat on my part -- they are notoriously easy to pair. So we have here a more user-friendly fortified wine.

This Cassar stick has a rather definitive hay quality... in the interest of time, HERE is a link to my full review.

Dipping, Swishing, Sipping

If that was a question I asked of myself -- the answer I would return is yes. Of all these affirmative responses, "dipping" will most likely raise the most ire from self-described true cigar smokers. However, my fish and chip friends of yesteryear did it in spades. You see, dipping your cigar in your adult beverage was an excellent way of re-humidifying your de-humidified smoke, seeing as personal humidors weren't quite a thing yet. It too adds a nice flavor to a decidedly non-complex stick.

Swishing, as we are well into a rudimentary primer, is what sommeliers do to not get, pardon thrice my Francois, shit-faced. You get all the palate and finish notes you would with a swig. You just get more before you hit the floor... or cement porch, as is my case. I'm no lightweight -- I simply prefer a meandering marathon to a straight as an arrow sprint. I prefer to savor. Too, I am not a fan of sweating whilst clothed. 

Sipping: uh...we got this one, right?

I will do a full write-up of the Christian Brothers Tawny Port offering shortly and link it back to HERE, when I do. I can, however, preliminarily say that its characteristics are sweet, thick, and cheap -- the same characteristics which I look for in mah wiminz.

I suppose I'll say I served it 'chilled' as I did not first heat it. Heating a tawny is supposed to raise it to a workable alternative to Cognac. Which Cognac, which tawny, and who it was that said this, is unknown. Nevertheless, this CB bottle bore notes of canned (syrupy) red fruit, higher-priced drugstore chocolate and spiced apples with a long, sweet spice finish. Did I mention long? It was, but mainly kind. 

"That's great, but how was the pairing?"

Nice, disembodied, typed voice. Nice enough. Each was made better by the other -- most notably did the Port aid the cigar in distracting the palate from the overly hay notes and by wetting it all down a tad. Less, the hay of the Hugo Cassar dried the syrupy finish from the Christian Brothers palate.

Blowing smoke into the wine offered a nice effect that added a deeper earthiness to the fluid. Too, the chocolate of the port seemed to bring out some of the dormant cocoa from the stogie, although mostly in a semi-sweet earthiness. It was all very nice enough and together, both were better than apart. 

I'd call that a win/win, from my spot lying on the cement porch, anyways. I missed the latest Blue Moon...perhaps I'll lay in wait for the next -- beat the crowds, I always say.

L'chaim!

Carlos Torano Exodus 1959 - Cigar Review

Prologue:
8:??pm

After a steady diet of cheap stogies and the philosophical remembrances they bring to visit, I decided to simply rest my widdle mind and luxuriate. I remember the days when I could afford this dalliance into fancy much more often. Since they limited the amount of times you can sell blood -- well, it's been rough all over.

An 88 cent can of sardines and two egg supper helped me grab hold a...

The Cigar:
Carlos Torano Exodus Gold 1959
Habana 2000 wrapper
Costa Rican, Mexican, Nicaraguan filler

Honduran binder

Churchill pressed  

#5 Cigar of 2006, according to Cigar Aficionado

Rated a 92 by CA Several other 90+ ratings

Pre-light:
This Carlos Torano is a pressed cigar, but not as rigidly so as say a My Father La Antiqued. The pressing seems more intended to gently hug, than to force into uniformed drudgery stuffiness. There is plenty to hug in this stogie, as it serves as a virtual and lit tour of several famed tobacco growing regions.

The veins are duly noticeable but in keeping with this cigars aversion to uniformity. It has an eye-catching and inviting oily sheen and is packed, too, invitingly. Not too tight, not too loose. As I'm prodding it, I note its toothy texture.

Like a gent, I remove the band post haste and see an at once detailed yet somewhat minimalist design. It's filigree seems threatened to be swallowed up by the great black beyond background.

Its nose is predominately dark chocolate at first. At second there is a creamy complexity with a lingering cedar back note.

A cold pull highlights a creamy yet dark chocolate with a slight hint of roasted chestnut with an oily texture.

Light:
First pull is a heated version of the cold pull. Second is retro-haled and indicates black pepper and deep earthiness. The palate is interestingly far sweeter than the nose. They are expertly balanced, however and meet up well to finish long and oily and consisting of chocolate, pepper, cedar in order of length of finish from shortest to longest.

1/3:
The burn is a bit erratic and the ash betrays it oily tendencies and flakes of quite easily. I'm normally not a fan of pepper notes, but these are very nice and allow deeper complexities to come easily through to detection. The cedar deepens and becomes headier with each pull, the chocolate lives on the back end of that cedar sweetness and lays nice in the finish. The nuttiness seems to roast further as the stick warms, natch. It dances back there somewhere.

This Carlos Torano is an ensemble cast of flavors and black pepper is playing Dorothy on late night Golden Girls re-runs. I don't like her, but I do -- because I like the darned show so well.

The stick gives of a lot of smoke and it smells of cedar and possibly cumin. It smells warm, like by a fireplace in a leather chair with a fluffy pelt rug underfoot.

The ash clumps off expectedly at 3/4" and I dare yours to last much longer than that. The slow burn is aided by this and evens. Then unevens and I tend.

I find myself drawn to the pepper and retro-haling often to capitalize. It is flirting with controlled danger, as I know it is made far too superior to bite. This is not to say it is a toothless lion -- this is to say that it is the lion with nothing to prove and the lionesses all form pretty lines to visit him.


2/3:
This Torano is a primer of each of its origin countries tobacco. In short, it puts the tour in tour de force. Every forecast-able note of every country is present and is presented very, very well. There are no surprises, sans the beauty of craftsmanship insofar as balance. I am reminded of the Fibonacci sequence -- and the body here is full enough (high-end medium and deeply rich) to believe I saw Mona Lisa wink at me through her mathematically calculated loveliness.

The box press, while not exaggerated, too does not yield its form. The chocolate sweetness of Nicaragua deepens yet the cedar remains not light -- but not cumbersome. The black pepper takes a backseat but cuddles up there with a dark tobacco. There is a rich cream texture/taste a frothed milk that holds all together in the same way the Habana wrapper does -- loosely but with strong arms.

This offering is all about robust restraint.

Hold a pull long enough in your smoke-hole and the reward is a rich nuttiness. Dean Martin -- not Jerry Lewis. The burn is hot and slow like like a Latino lover with a belly full of very good tequila.

This stick just feels like a beaut. In the hand and on the lips. At the halfway point, I ... I ... I'll get back to ya in the --

3/3:
I should say that I smoked through a crack in the very final part of the second third which seemed to diminish the overall experience not one iota.

The billows of already voluminous smoke have grown even fuller and the stick's notes have not mottled, but have become less delineated. The stick is very warm and calm.

The black pepper has left and cumin remains in slight traces. The cedar has taken on a harder wood accompaniment and the chocolate is deeply inherent in the darkly nutty, naturally sweet tobacco. I imagine what I'm experiencing is the Nicaraguan filler taking the stage from the Mexican pepper bite. Cream remains in an at once intense and back-lit manner in keeping with the rich depths.

This Exodus 1959 only fails to knock yer socks off if you were barefooted in the first place. The complex ensemble is erudite beyond dress codes, any ol' ways. I am reminded of a more perfected RyJ -- and that is no knock on RyJ. A genius blended this. A magician. A soothsayer who saw and then surpassed my needs.

Technically speaking, that is*.

Notes:
(During which I turn the tables on ya.)

The draw was a tad stiff through the 1/3, nothing to suck yer fillings out over. Once warmed and opened, the pull was middle of the road and nice enough.

*I could imagine a better smoke (keep reading for final grade) but not by a whole heck of a lot. One item of note is that the early mid 3/3 (once the notes other than Nicaragua, left) became almost almost boring and almost to border on laborious. The cigar demanded much attention in the form of often puffs and seemed to want to go out, anyway.

There was a certain something lacking in the "other" category of this offering. It seemed overly introverted and lacked the innate hospitality of an introvert. Par excellence insofar as assemblage, a certain 'Jean Nate' fell somewhat shy of being delivered. At least delivered enough to bring balance to science and art.

Perhaps it wasn't a magician who crafted this stick, but a scientist. That character profile would fit well here.

Pairings: A Rich coffee, sweetened and adorned with frothed milk. I'd be tempted to oppose the stick's notes with a very dry Sherry, but I like to party.

Final Grade: A- [An uneven burn and slight leak prevented the A I wanted to give. A soul to match its science would have garnered an A+]

Epilogue:
10pm-ish?
Hasn't this post been long enough? I mean, really.

I should note that I stand by my RyJ, but more perfected opinion. That said, RyJ offerings have, generally, immensely more character. Here's what I thought of the Medallas de oro 1875 Reserve, for instance.

Now get to steppin', kiddo.