At the 2022 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show in Las Vegas, Nicholas Melillo’s Foundation Cigar Company introduced a two-blend cigar line known as Olmec. It pays tribute to the culture of the Olmecs, who were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. They flourished in the period of 1600 and 400 BCE. According to Foundation […]
The story of celebrity restauranteur Guy Fieri has been well-documented. It was in January of 2022 when it was announced that Fieri would be teaming up with Erik Espinosa to launch Knuckle Sandwich cigars. Knuckle Sandwich Cigars are being done in partnership with Espinosa Premium Cigars, who are handling both the production and distribution of […]
When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) put its Deeming Regulations into effect, the concept of predicate cigars was introduced. Predicate cigars are ones that were first introduced to the market prior to February 15th, 2007 and anything introduced after that would require the FDA pre-market approval. This gave companies with predicate cigars a […]
In 2022, Drew Estate announced a three-way collaboration project that was done between Metallica’s James Hetfield, Distiller Rob Dietrich of Sweet Amber Distilling, and Jonathan Drew known as Blackened M81. Blackened is the name of a whiskey collaboration of Metallica and Dietrich and Dietrich and Drew have been friends for a while. It was Dietrich […]
In 2023, HVC Cigars made a bold move. After over a decade of producing some highly acclaimed cigars at the Aganorsa Leaf factory, HVC Cigars’ owner Reinier Lorenzo made the decision to open his own factory, Fabrica de Tabaco, and start shifting production to come from there. While Lorenzo still maintains some production at Aganorsa […]
Over the past few years, the several brands of Scandinavian Tobacco Group have been engaging in collaborations with various spirits companies, some involving utilizing barrel-aged tobacco. Such projects have come to the Diesel (Rabbit Hole Distilling), Cohiba (Weller), and even a Buffalo Trace branded line. In 2022, Macanudo became one of the STG brands which […]
There are several wrappers that are associated with Pete Johnson of Tatuaje Cigars. But I think the wrapper Johnson is best known for is Connecticut Broadleaf. Some of Pete Johnson’s most iconic releases have featured this wrapper. In 2008, Pete Johnson released a medium-bodied Connecticut Broadleaf line known as La Riqueza. The name La Riqueza […]
Agile Cigar Reviews are cigar assessments where we use a lightweight, shorter format. These will never take the place of our comprehensive reviews. They are only used on blends we have previously assessed. This might be a blend we are re-scoring or giving a score for the first time. It might be a blend we […]
United Cigars is a company that is richly steeped in U.S. tobacco history. It began as a U.S.-based cigar store chain in 1901 and would go to 3,000 shops. United Cigar eventually became part of the corporation that bought Marvel Comics in 1968. Several years ago David Garofalo acquired United Cigars. Since then, the company […]
Over the past few years, subscription clubs have gained a lot of popularity in the cigar market. Each has offered different value propositions along the way. There are subscription clubs that give cigar enthusiasts an opportunity to try different cigars that exist in the market, and there are also subscription clubs that provide the opportunity […]
