The retro-theme of Illusione Cigars booth made it one of my personal favorites at the 2018 IPCPR Trade Show. While the retro-theme is nothing new for Illusione Cigars, it was very appropriately this year as owner Dion Giolito revived the OneOff brand. It was the featured cigar for Illusione at this year’s IPCPR. OneOff was […]
For many years, Jochy Blanco built his reputation as a highly acclaimed grower and blender. In 2015, he decided to enter the market with his own brand. He would acquire IndianHead Cigars from Bill Bock (who had decided to retire). At the time IndianHead Cigars was mostly focused on value-priced cigars, so concurrently Blanco added […]
The track record for companies who opt to skip an IPCPR Trade Show is not good, but for Southern Draw Cigars they went against all odds. They returned to the IPCPR Trade Show in 2017 and the consensus was they had an excellent IPCPR. The company returned in 2018, and they knocked it out of […]
Glen Case and Kristoff Cigars showed up with a Vengeance – literally. For 2018, Kristoff Cigars’ signature release was the Kristoff Vengeance. At one time, Vengeance was a brand produced by Case that did not have the Kristoff name on it. In 2011, the Vengeance line was rebranded as the Kristoff GC Signature Series. However, […]
When Steve Saka and Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust did their first IPCPR in 2015, the company showed up with no samples of their inaugural cigar, Sobremesa. That didn’t prove to be a problem as the company sold out of the cigar, and it became the hottest cigar that nobody had tried. Since then, it’s […]
This past spring, Mike Bellody’s MLB Cigar Ventures and the Seijas family’s Matilde Cigars announced they were ending their distribution agreement with Quesada Cigars to form their own distribution company known as SeiBel Distribution. At this year’s IPCPR Trade Show, the two companies partnered together for booth space to showcase their offerings. While the companies […]
This year, Oscar Valladares Tobacco and Company moved into its own booth. This was a booth that was filled with vibrant colors. At the same time, the newer products reflected a combination of Mayan culture and contemporary art. In previous years, Oscar Valladares Tobacco had shared a booth with Jim Robinson of Leaf cigars. The […]
One thing I learned over the past few years, you don’t need to have new product to have a successful IPCPR Trade Show. For years, companies like Arturo Fuente, Oliva, and Padrón have had very successful shows without the pressure of having a new product. As I learned over the past couple of years, […]
American Caribbean Cigars is a company has operated a factory in Estelí, Nicaragua for quite some time. They have produced cigars for companies such as Gurkha, Toraño, and Leccia Tobacco. In 2015, American Caribbean released its very own brand called La Rosa de Sandiego. Since then this has been a brand on the rise while continuing […]
In 2015 two cigar enthusiasts named Juan Cancel and Bill Ives started a company called Cubariqueño Cigar Company and launched a brand called Protocol. They went to the 2015 IPCPR, getting a small space at the Espinosa Cigars booth and quietly sold out of their inventory. Over the past three years, the brand has grown. In […]
