Wrapper: Ecuadorian Arapiraca
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican
Size: 6.25 x 56 “Legends of the Arapiraca -Box Pressed”
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $11.99 MSRP

Today we take a look at the new Crossfire Cigars Library Series “Legends of the Arapiraca”.
Thanks to Miguel Castro for the gift…to gift, has gifted, presented me with, gifter, present, handout, donation, offering, bestowal, bonus, award, and endowment. (See Comment Section of “Tatuaje Monster Series #8 The Hyde” review to understand the joke.

I reviewed the Crossfire Library Series Count of San Andrés back on November 15. And it was redonkulous. I rated it 91. A great cigar.

BACKGROUND:
Courtesy of Halfwheel.com:
“The new collection, dubbed The Library Series, is made up of three cigars: The Count of San Andres, The Diary of a Connecticut and Legends of the Arapiraca, with the first two being made available to existing Crossfire retailers as of July 1. New retailers will have the opportunity to order the cigars at the upcoming trade show, with the Arapiraca version slated for a mid to late fall release, according to Jason M. Lois, the company’s national sales manager.

“Each is being released in a 6 1/4 x 56 box-pressed toro extra vitola for the first edition, with subsequent releases coming in different vitolas, though not on a set schedule at this point. Lois said the next edition will come as popularity and demand warrant.

“All three versions come in ten-count boxes that feature a slide-out drawer where the cigars rest. The Count of San Andres and The Diary of a Connecticut have an MSRP of $119.90, (10 count box) or $11.99 per cigar, while pricing for the Arapiraca has not yet been announced.

“All of the cigars are being made at Tabacalera William Ventura in the Dominican Republic, with production capped for the first edition at 500 boxes of each blend, a total of 5,000 cigars and 15,000 cigars between the three versions.”

DESCRIPTION:
Like the Crossfire Library Series Count of San Andrés, the Crossfire Library Series Legends of the Arapiraca is a gorgeous cigar.
It is a rich, oily, dark, dark coffee bean brown. The oil glistens off the wrapper. Seams are invisible. Almost no veins. A beautiful triple cap. Smooth as silk. Solid without a single soft spot. A crisp box press.

The cigar band is similar to the San Andrés blend. A black background with gold trim and a middle ages cross on an artful mural.

AROMAS AND COLD DRAW NOTES:
From the shaft, I smell a fruity sweetness, spice, exotic spice, coffee, dark cocoa, BBQ sauce, floral notes, and oak.
From the clipped cap and the foot, I smell strong black licorice, barnyard, oak, cocoa, and spice.
The cold draw presents flavors of red pepper (Double quick sneeze), cocoa, espresso, oak, sweetness, and black licorice.

FIRST THIRD:
My lips still burn from the cold draw and the heavy inflection of spiciness.
The draw is very good in spite of it being a jam packed stick. I still can’t figure out why the draw was so persnickety with the Tatuaje The Hyde yesterday.
Smoke fills my hair.
Strength is medium body.

And then the flavor profile bursts like a dam: Creaminess, spiciness, chocolate, malts, dark espresso, licorice, graham cracker, roasted nuts, oak, a meaty element, and dried fruit.
Nice start. I still have a couple Crossfire Cigars to review: The Connecticut and the Corojo. Gotta’ get on it.

Donovan’s song, “Hurdy Gurdy Man” is playing. Even though he was the ultimate Scottish love child, I always found something odd about him. He had that arrogance of…fuck..I can’t remember…hold on…GOT it! Andy Warhol.
And now the Dutch band, Focus, is playing their one and only hit from 1970: “Hocus Pocus.” A total instrumental; a good one. Story about that later.

This is a heavy blend. Nothing light and airy about it. It is deliberate and assaults the palate like a convoy of Israeli Merkava tanks. Take no prisoners.

The Crossfire Cigars Library Series “Legends of the Arapiraca” is so different than the Count of San Andrés. That blend had a kitchen sink list of flavors. The Legends of the Arapiraca is more confined, at this point, and while it is a great cigar it doesn’t have the wide splay of flavors.

Strength hits medium/full.
The creaminess, the chocolate, the espresso, the licorice, nuts, malts, meatiness, raisins, oak, and graham cracker are totally bitch’n. Like, be a moon doggie, dude. I used to talk like that in the 60’s growing up in So Cal. At the beach all the time.

Oh yeah baby…SRV is playing “The Sky is Crying.” Can you even imagine what he would be doing now if he were alive? Mind boggling.

Now the Legends of the Arapiraca is packed to the hilt. Not enough room for a cigar beetle to survive and yet the draw is perfect.
The Crossfire Cigars Library Series “Legends of the Arapiraca” is every bit a high premium blend and I’m telling you now, at this early juncture, that it is worth every shekel of the $12.00.
This will be a two hour cigar so my review should be about 9500 words instead of the usual 2000 words.
The nuts diversify: Marzipan, raw cashew, and peanuts.

SECOND THIRD:
Smoke time is 40 minutes.
Strength moves to full body. I sense a touch of nicotine readying itself stage left.

Yesterday, I went on my daughter, Katie’s FB page and left a babbling mess. She removed it. It seems the only time I find some lucidity is when I write about cigars. The rest of the time, Alzheimer’s takes over and I can’t put three words together.

I’d like to take this moment for thanking William Burke (Magyud in the comment section last review) for having no compassion for my situation and still dogging me for my grammar. And thank you fellas for backing me up.

The char line spent the first third wavy and needing a couple minor touch ups. It seems that we have passed that part of the cigar. It now has a dead nuts char line.
The Crossfire Cigars Library Series “Legends of the Arapiraca” is very complex. Flavors have morphed into a giant ball of tasty moods and character.

I’m going to say right now, before I hit the halfway point, that I prefer the Count of San Andrés. All due to the fact that my palate loves that wrapper.

But I’m not dissing the Crossfire Cigars Library Series “Legends of the Arapiraca”. It is a great cigar just with its own special character. A horse of a different color; so to speak.

The halfway point is upon me and the Crossfire Cigars Library Series “Legends of the Arapiraca” snaps into action. Flavors explode. The complexity deepens. And the finish is a long and winding road. This is the sweet spot.

Smoke time is a full hour.
New flavors develop: Toffee, black cherries, golden raisins, hickory smoked, and BBQ sauce. The perfect beef jerky.
BTW- I hope everyone had a nice turkey day!

I’m having more and more trouble with navigating my laptop and my camera. It is taking me nearly twice as long to publish a review. Even Charlotte commented the other day, on her day off, that she was surprised how long I spent doing this. I think she mentioned it was over 3-1/2 hours….on a cigar that took around one hour 30 minutes to smoke. I just get confused and make too many mistakes. Or find myself staring at the computer like it just landed from outer space and I had to figure it out for the first time. Don’t even ask about my use of the camera.

Another transition. The true test of a great cigar. The red pepper is burning my nasal hairs. I love it. I don’t have enough testosterone. As a result, I no longer have hair on my body save my head. Even my nasal hairs have disappeared. Ear hairs too. But if this happens to you, never…I say, never…take those meds for increasing your testosterone. It is proven that you will start losing the hair on your pate. I’m bald enough as it is and I don’t want to lose any more. Besides, the modern woman likes a Mexican hairless. Or so I’m told.

Every flavor is in warp drive. The creaminess is going nuts. The chocolate and coffee are swimming along. Here are the malts: Chocolate Malt, Aromatic Malt, Cara Munich, Chocolate Rye Malt, and Honey Malt. (See Malt Chart).
The toffee has turned to caramel.
Here they are: Creaminess, spiciness, chocolate, malts, dark espresso, licorice, graham cracker, oak, a meaty element, marzipan, raw cashew, peanuts, toffee, black cherries, golden raisins, hickory smoked, and BBQ sauce.
NOW…it is a kitchen sink blend. If I had smoked the Crossfire Cigars Library Series “Legends of the Arapiraca” 5 cigars down the road, I wouldn’t taste half of this bold flavor profile.

I haven’t read the flavors of the Count of San Andrés. I will at the end of the review to compare.
It just dawned on me why the other Big Guy reviewers don’t have the luxury of writing the Third Testament like I do every review. First, I’m much older than all of them. And second, they all have day jobs. Lastly, they all think I’m a joke.

Holy shit. “Walk on the Wild Side” by Lou Reed. One of the most classic bass riffs in rock. On the recording, they used two bass players to get that sound. I learned early how to get that exact sound with just my one bass.

LAST THIRD:
Smoke time is one hour 30 minutes.
The Crossfire Cigars Library Series “Legends of the Arapiraca” is really strong now with a healthy dose of nicotine. Not for the squeamish.

Oddly, the Crossfire Cigars web site has not incorporated the Library Series.
Cigar Federation carried them at one time but not now. I’m pretty sure that Miguel Castro bought these at his local B & M. The Crossfire Cigars web site has a Retailer page. Check it out. I count only 16 B & M’s on their web site.

You can buy the original Crossfire blends on Cigar Federation.
I started this review over 3 hours ago and I’m wiped out.

I check my Count of San Andrés review and there are some similarities but still quite different.
I now rescind my decision about which cigar I prefer. Both are different and it’s like comparing apples and oranges. Each has a “mood need.” How you feel at the moment when picking which blend to smoke.

I think I will review the Crossfire Corojo tomorrow for comparison. It is half the price of the Crossfire Cigars Library Series “Legends of the Arapiraca”. I shall keep that in mind.
With 1-1/2” to go, the blend surges one last time.

This was a great cigar experience. The gentleman smoker will dig it.

RATING: 90

And now back in the day:
And now the Dutch band, Focus, is playing their one and only hit from 1970: “Hocus Pocus.” A total instrumental; a good one.

The band fell apart of course. And a new band was formed ala “Yes.” But only 3 pieces and only instrumental. They had their Rick Wakeman with a wall of keys and synthesizers all on wheels so this madman could run across the stage pushing his two tons of musical equipment, the drummer from Focus, and a guitarist that sometimes played bass.

You can watch them play it live, as a 5 piece band, once they were a big American success in 1973 on “The Midnight Special” on YouTube.
Anyway, Curved Air did a week of touring with Trace. The new three piece band with Focus drummer Jaap van Eik.

They were an arrogant bunch of dudes. We would do our sound check and Stew Copeland and I would woodshed on a jazz fusion riff I had developed. It was very progressive and this form of music had not hit England then.

I remember jamming and saw the guitarist wave his hand like what shit this is.
Well fuck him.
One night, after a gig, a drunken roadie left the guitarist’s axes on the ground next to the truck. And walked away. Well, someone snatched them all.

But they didn’t discover this until the next gig the next day.
We were usually having dinner while Trace was on.

When we returned, we heard what happened. The guitarist/bassist was beside himself.

So my roadie, Beric Wickens, loaned him my 1968 Fender P bass. Know what this asshole did? He re-worked my bass to fit his needs. He did all sorts of things and then when they finished playing just handed my bass to our roadies. He didn’t even show the courtesy of taking my bass back to square one.

In the dressing room, I spent an angry hour putting my bass back together. When I was done, I went to their dressing room and screamed at him. My roadies had to pull me off of him. This guy was a lot bigger than me but I didn’t care.

The fucker didn’t even bother to thank me for the use of my bass. Must have thought it was divine intervention.
I bitched to our road manager and he called their manager. And let him have it. Our manager, Miles Copeland III told them he would never book them again.

This made me very happy.
The asshole apologized to me a couple days later. Probably made to by his manager.

As a player for 50 years, I never let my bass out of sight for even 5 minutes. Except when I was playing with Curved Air. I had no choice. I hope this guy is now selling hot dogs at a Pommes Frites stand in Amsterdam.

Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS

Tags: cigar review, cigar reviews by the katman, cigars, Crossfire Cigars Library Series “Legends of the Arapiraca” | Cigar Review, jason m. lois