The Cigar Industry Report is a one stop place to catch up on the activity here at Cigar Coop and Stogie Geeks. It is a combination of our news reports, cigar reviews, and assessment updates we do throughout the week. We will also recap what happened on our Stogie Geeks show. Finally, each week we will look back at Cigar Coop history. Look for this report every Saturday morning at 8am Eastern time.
Happy New Year
As we do on Cigar Coop, the Cigar Year goes from the day after Thanksgiving to Thanksgiving the following year. Now that Thanksgiving 2014 is behind us, we now open up the Cigar Coop 2015 Year.
There will be a couple of changes this year. Cigar Coop will introduce a new assessment category for “burn” called “Exceptional”. This is meant to signify those burns which perform at a level “above and beyond”. We also will introduce a slight change to our scoring algorithm for 2015, but not as drastic as the changes introduced for 2014.
Of course, this December 1st, we introduce our 2014 Cigar of the Year Countdown. We start at #30 and each day (except for December 25th and December 30th), we count backwards down the list unveiling one cigar a day until #1 is reached.
This week we welcomed our latest sponsor, Aged Selects.
Feature of the Week: A.J. Fernandez New World Connecticut To Debut Next Week
As heard on first on the Stogie Geeks 3 Year Anniversary Show, A.J. Fernandez Cigars will release a new Connecticut shade cigar as a part of its New World line called the New World Connecticut. The cigar will have a soft-launch that will be done exclusively to a December 1st event in New York City at Cigar Inn.
News and Previews
- Debonaire Cigars: As news exclusively broken on the Stogie Geeks Third Anniversary Show, owner Phil Zanghi has re-acquired the Indian Tabac trademark and will create a new line of cigars in collaboration with Indian Motorcycle called Indian Motorcycle Ultra Premium Cigars.
- 1502 Cigars: A Holiday Sampler has been unveiled that includes unreleased sizes of the 1502 Emerald and 1502 Black Gold in a Robusto format as well as a 1502 Xikar Cutter.
- Chinnock Cellars Cigars: We previewed the recently launched Chinnock Cellars Cremoir.
- General Cigar: Bloomberg News is reporting that the owners of the parent company of General Cigar, Scandinavian Tobacco Group is in talks for a possible sale of the company.
- Legacy Brands: As heard on the Stogie Geeks Third Anniversary Show, Legacy Brands will release the Tortuga 215 Reserva Connecticut, Cedro No. 10, and El Coyote Negro No. 700 in January
- VegaFina: The VegaFina Nicaragua will be heading to the U.S. market in December.
- Viaje: Company founder Andre Farkas has confirmed the Holiday Blend 2014 Release
- FDA: No new co-sponsors have signed on to HR792. The total remains at 167 co-sponsors (168 total sponsors). Meanwhile, the OMB (White House Office of Management and Budget has proposed a timetable for June Date for Final Rule on Regulations. In addition, new legislation (bills) will be filed in 2015.
Assessments
- J. Grotto Anniversary P555 by Ocean State Cigars
- D’Crossier L’Forte Robusto
- Hammer + Sickle LE14
- Padron Family Reserve No. 50 Natural
- Tatuaje Jekyll (Tatuaje Monster 2014 #7)
El Mayimbe Robusto by AJ Fernandez Cigars
Aging Room M20 ffortissimo
E.P. Carrillo Cabinet Robusto (Will)
EP Carillo Cabinet Robusto (Paul)
E.P. Carrillo Medalla d’Platino
Hammer + Sickle Berlin Wall Series Celebration Short Corona
Joya Red Robusto by Joya de Nicaragua
La Boheme Poeta by Boutique Blends Cigars
Padron Family Reserve No. 50 Natural
Rocky Patel Prohibition Broadleaf – Pre-Release (Collaborative Unbanded Review with Blind Man’s Puff)
Tatuaje Jekyll
- November 29th 2010: We assessed the My Father Limited Edition 2010, a cigar that finished as our Cigar Coop #18 Cigar of 2010.
- November 29th 2012: We published an Assessment Update on the Room 101 Daruma Papi Chulo.
- November 29th 2013: We assessed the Torano Vault D-042
