An update on the Raleigh Outdoor Smoking Ban…. The Raleigh City Council voted 6 to 2 to develop delay the vote on the Outdoor Smoking Ban until a ordinance is developed. Although the ban has delayed, this is not great news for tobacco enthusiasts – namely that an ordinance is being drafted. Yet buying some […]
Yellow Alert: Pleasure Police Seek Outdoor Smoking Ban Proposal for Raleigh NC
As I mentioned previously, we need to keep a very close eye on the Outdoor Smoking Ban proposal going on in New York City. The fear I have is if this is passed, many other municipalities will follow suit. In fact, this has already been happening in several plans – like Asheville, NC and Great […]
A Night of Cigar-ebrities – Ernesto Perez-Carrillo and Jeff Borysiewicz

Cigar Coop (L), Ernesto Perez-Carrillo (C), Lissette Perez-Carrillo (R) Jeff Borysiewicz (L), Cigar Coop (R) The past 24 hours have been a whirlwind to say the least. Tonight I attended the E.P. Carrillo Cigars event at Corona Cigar Company in downtown Orlando. It was an evening where I got to meet and talk to two […]
Larry Amoruso

Larry Amoruso of Florios It is with great sadness that I have learned that Larry Amoruso, owner of New York’s Florio’s Restaurant and Three Little Indians Cigars has passed away. I learned this information from a friend a little while ago and was able to confirm this on Florio’s Hollywood (Florida) Facebook page that Larry […]
Bill Paley of La Palina Cigars on Fox News

Cigar Coop with Bill Paley (L) and Glynn Loope (C) Readers of Cigar Coop have heard me rave about La Palina Cigars. I rated two of his sticks in the Top 10 – including one at Number 5 and one at Number 7. Today Bill Paley was a guest on Fox News and did a […]
Cigar Review: Macanudo Vintage 1997 Maduro

The Macanudo brand has been well-known among cigar enthusiasts and cigar novices for some time. Macanudo’s reputation has basically been built on cigars known to be on the milder side. About two years ago, Macanudo sought to change that image by introducing the full-bodied Macanudo 1968. – a very good cigar. This year, Macanudo […]
Event Recap: Matt Booth in Charlotte at Outland Cigars

Cigar Coop and Matt Booth Matt Booth took Charlotte by storm as he was the guest of honor at a Room 101 Cigars event hosted by Outland Cigars. Matt had been scheduled to fly to Charlotte for this event back in December. Due to a family emergency, Matt had to fly back to the West […]
Link to Interview with Jon Huber formerly of CAO
Back in December, the cigar industry was rocked when one of its icons, Jon Huber announced he was leaving the CAO brand. Huber was the Director of Lifestyle Marketing and had a lot to do with the “edge” that CAO brought to the table in their products. I just saw a link to an interview […]
Cigar Review: Ortez y Turrent Dos Familias

Back in May, I attended a Cigar Dave event in Charlotte and got to sample the world premiere of the A. Turrent Triple Play. The Triple Play was a Triple Maduro that was created by Alejandro Turrent. I was very pleased with this cigar and in the end I ended up selecting this as the […]
Updated (1/17/11): Other Cigar of the Year Choices: What the Rest of the World is Thinking
As I approach the announcement of 2010 Cigar of the Year and runner-up, I thought it would be interesting to see what other people are listing as their top cigars. Everyone had different criteria. While some people included Cubans, I opted not to since they are not generally available. The amazing thing is how different […]