Cigar Week Wrap: Volume 2, Number 12 (4/6/13)

The Cigar Week Wrap is a one stop place to catch up on the activity here at Cigar Coop. It is a combination of our news reports, cigar reviews, and assessment updates we do throughout the week. We will throw in a few bonus items from time to time as well. Our intent is to publish once a week on Saturday mornings. Note: We have decided to label our posts as “Volume 2” to be consistent with the monthly “Editor’s Corner”.

News and Previews

April 1st comes along every year with lots of bogus April Fools’ stories from the cigar industry. When news hit with a movie with Cigar Celebrities and the use of Fire Cured tobacco in new cigars, we even had to digest this one for a while.

The Fire Cured Tobacco announcements made for a somewhat historical week in the cigar industry. There were two cigars announced that include the use of fire cured tobacco. This is not a type of cured tobacco normally seen in cigars (which are air-cured) A possible new trend? A possible new innovation? Time will tell. This week, Drew Estate’s Kentucky Fire Cured MUWAT (which uses a fire cured wrapper) and Leccia Tobacco’s Black (which uses a fire cured leaf in the filler) both made for this significant week.

Ashton: Announced a new line extension to the San Cristobal line called the Coloso. The cigar is listed as “now available”.
Asylum Cigars: We updated our story on the Asylum 13 Corojo as we learned that there will be four sizes as opposed to the two originally reported.
Avo: Avo Cigars will be releasing the Avo Movement this fall – an exclusive cigar to the TAA. Meanwhile, the Avo Dominant 13, the 2013 edition of the Avo Limited Edition has begun arriving in stores. We previewed this cigar back at the end of February.
BOTL LLC: The company’s second blend, the “E” Cigar was officially launched this past Saturday.
Camacho Cigars: A fourth cigar is being added to the Mike Ditka Series – the Ditka Throwback.
Drew Estate: Announced the Kentucky Fire Cured line that will be a part of My Uzi Weighs a Ton line. This cigar will feature a fire cured wrapper from Kentucky.
E.P. Carrillo: The E.P. Carillo Short Run 2013 has begun to arrive in stores. We had a preview back in January.
Ezra Zion Cigars: The company announced their latest release – the Ezra Zion Tantrum. The cigar will be launched in Keller, Texas on 4/26/13.
L’Atelier Imports: Our friends at the Halfashed Podcast are reporting that the L’Atelier Maduro is targeted for the early June time-frame. They also mentioned that one of the sizes will be a 44 ring gauge. We reported news on this new line back in January.
La Flor Dominicana: LFD will be releasing the La Flor Dominicana Double Press Maduro for the TAA this May. Meanwhile the company will be doing a Virtual Tobacco Workshop with Danbury CT retailer Buttheads Tobacco Emporium.
Leccia Tobacco: We have our article on Sam Leccia returning to the cigar business with the launch of his new company Leccia Tobacco. There will be two blends called “Black” and “White”. Torano Family Cigars will be the distributor. An official press release was also issued by Torano.
My Father Cigars: Grace Sotolongo of My Father Cigars posted several pictures of a a La Duena #13 . While no dimensions were given the cigar was described as a “box-pressed Toro Gordo”.
Operation Smokescreen: We provided information on this Indie motion picture that will focus around the stars of the cigar industry.
Rocky Patel Premium Cigars: The company has recently moved to a new web-site design. There appears there is still content that needs to be created.
RoMa Craft Tobac: Our good friends at Leaf and Grape reported the Mode-5 will become the latest regular production vitola under the core CroMagnon line. The Mode-5 adds a 5 x 50 perfecto to the CroMagnon line. The company also provided Halfwheel.com information on a new limited edition Craft line to be launched at the 2013 IPCPR Trade Show.
Room 101 Cigars: South Florida retailer Smoke Inn Cigars has begun taking pre-orders for the Room 101 Big Delicious. This is a part of their MicroBlend series and is a retail-exclusive to Smoke Inn.
Villiger: We provided a preview of the new NicaRoma line.
Xikar: Company founder Kurt Van Keppel was a guest on the 3/30/13 Kiss My Ash Radio show. In terms of new cigars for the 2013 Trade Show, Van Keppel said he is not sure if something will be released at the trade show. They feel they have the right blend, but needs to see if factory production can handle volume and consistency. Van Keppel did say he is looking at maduro wrappers with a certain blend targeted.

Legislative News

Obama: President Obama is proposing a tax hike on tobacco products to pay for Pre-Kindergarten programs.
Pennsylvania: House Bill 926 has been introduced and referred to the House Finance Committee that would impose a tax on premium cigars and smokeless tobacco.

Reviews

Chess Extreme Maduro
Fonseca Cubano Exclusivo
Nestor Miranda 70th LE Dominican
Padilla Reserva Maduro
Room 101 Big Delicious (Pre-Release Review)
Screwpop Cigar Punch (Accessory Review)

Editor’s Corner Vol 2, Number 4 (April 2013)

In this month’s topic we provided some thoughts on two industry power players that entered the scene in 2013 – Royal Gold Cigars and Sindicato Cigar Group.

On this date April 6th..