AJ Fernandez Cigar Company has announced that Starky Arias will be its new marketing director. Arias will assume the position effective March 1st, 2018. Arias has experience as a creative director for many cigar brands, and its best known for his work at Cigar Rings – which is a company that does cigar band and […]
About William Cooper
Posts by William Cooper:
Cigar Coop Prime Time Special Edition 21: A Conversation with Henke Kelner and Eladio Diaz
William Cooper Podcast 1 Comment Davidoff, Podcast, Prime Time Special Edition
Join Coop and Bear as they journey to the Dominican Republic and have a conversation with Davidoff Master Blenders Henke Kelner and Eladio Diaz. Plus we were also joined by Henke’s son Klaas Peter. This is a rare occasion where both Mr. Kelner and Mr. Diaz have been interviewed together, so you won’t want to […]
Cigar News: Rocky Patel Premium Cigars Teaming Up with Colibri for V-Cutter
William Cooper Cigar News No Comments Accessories, Colibri, Rocky Patel
Rocky Patel Premium Cigars has announced that it is teaming up with Colibri to release a Rocky Patel branded version of Colibri’s popular V-Cutter. The new accessory is called the Rocky Patel V-Cutter by Colibri. The V-Cutter features a stainless steel blade with a spring-loaded release. It is able to produce a wedge (i.e. “V”) […]
Cigar Industry Report: Volume 7, Number 11 (2/3/18)
William Cooper Cigar Industry Report, Cigar News No Comments Cigar Coop, Cigar Industry Report, Cigar Wrap, News
The Cigar Industry Report is a one-stop place to catch up on the activity here at Cigar Coop. It is a combination of the news reports, cigar reviews, and assessment updates we do throughout the week. In addition, each week we will look back at Cigar Coop history. Look for this report every Saturday morning at […]
Cigar News: Crowned Heads Inks Distribution Agreement for Canadian Market
William Cooper Cigar News No Comments Crowned Heads, News
Fans in Canada will soon start to see Crowned Heads products in their country. Today the Nashville, Tennessee based company announced it has entered into an agreement with Bingham Enterprises Inc. to handle its distribution in Canada. In a press release, Bingham National Sales Manager Paul Graham said that the premium cigar market is growing in […]
2017 Year in Review: Best Brand Performance for 2017
William Cooper Feature Story No Comments 2017 Year in Review
The Performance Rankings were introduced in 2012 as a statistical analysis based on the average numerical score of all cigars assessed on Cigar Coop. Today we break things down by brand. This is not meant to be necessarily an award, but a look at how scoring went, and what can we learn from it. For 2017, a total […]
Editor’s Corner Volume 7, Number 3: Remembering Gary Laden
William Cooper Blog, Editor's Corner 1 Comment Editor's Corner, People, Smooth Draws
On Friday January 26th, 2018 I was informed of the death of my co-host on the Smooth Draws Radio Show, Gary “Doc” Laden. It was a very tough day. I personally want to thank everyone for the kind words, and ask everyone to keep Gary’s family in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time Gary […]
Cigar News: Black Works Studio S&R Set the Hit Stores in February
William Cooper Cigar News No Comments Black Works Studio, Fabrica de Oveja Negra, News
S&R, a release from Black Works Studio, that was first announced back in July 2016, is now heading for a widespread release. Today the company announced the cigar will be making its way to select retailers in February. The name S&R stands for Serpents and Rainbows. The release is significant because the blend is a bit of […]
Cigar News: Scandinavian Tobacco Group Acquires Thompson Cigar
William Cooper Cigar News 7 Comments News, Scandinavian Tobacco Group, STG, Thompson CIgar
Only hours after the cigar industry’s first major acquisition of 2018, comes news of the second. Today, following the announcement of Quality Importers acquiring XIKAR, Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) has announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Thompson and Co, the catalog retail giant known as Thompson Cigar. The purchase price for Thompson is $62 […]
Cigar News: Quality Importers Acquires XIKAR
William Cooper Cigar News 1 Comment News, Quality Importers, Xikar
The first major acquisition of 2018 has occurred. Quality Importers Trading Company, in conjunction with Svoboda Capital Partners LLC, has acquired XIKAR Inc. XIKAR is a leading cigar accessories company based in Kansas City, Missouri and best known for its product lifetime warranty. As a part of the acquisition, XIKAR co-founders Kurt Van Keppel and […]