On Saturday morning April 2, the cigar world was greeted of the sad news of the passing of Gary Arzt. As many know, Gary was associated with Miami Cigars. I did not know Gary at all, so it would be very unfair for me to comment on him. I do know that was “shoot from […]
I’ve decided to go ahead and continue the month in review series. This is the second installment. In this series, I will highlight some noteworthy events that happened in the world of cigars. I’ll focus on noteworthy events and smokes that I explored on the Cigar Coop website and throw in a few other tidbits […]
When I made the roadtrip to Marietta Georgia for a Berger & Argenti event, one cigar I managed to pick up was the “Berger & Argenti Mooch”. The Mooch is a value priced cigar aimed at a wide variety of cigar enthusiasts from novice to more seasoned. With its Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper, this is one […]
NOTE: As of 5/14/2011, the Operational Code of Ethics will be a permanent page on this web-site – click here to access. Friends, I am so grateful for the outpouring of support for the “Cigar Coop” project. In a little over 7 months, to achieve over 21,000 page hits is simply mind-boggling. The project has […]
An interesting topic for debate around the cigar industry is how many companies are focusing way too much time around their “limited run” cigars at the expense of their core line. In some cases, it has become an “Apple iPhone frenzy” of being the first to get one of these cigars. Last year, E.P. Carrillo […]
A lot of times, I like to uncover a cigar that might be buried deep in a retail humidor hoping to find the gem. My buddy Scott found one of these cigars, a Cubita Spanish Market Selection and asked me if I had smoked one. My response was “No”. Therefore we used the opportunity to […]
The E.P. Carrillo New Wave Connecticut marks the beginning of the expansion of the E.P. Carrillo line. This introduces a Connecticut Shade wrapper cigar into the E.P. Carrillo portfolio. One of the challenges of any Connecticut Shade cigar is finding a good balance of flavor against what typically is a mild strength smoke. The E.P. […]
Earlier this month, when I reviewed the lIlusione 88 Candela, I made the comment that I had not paid enough attention to Dion Giolito’s Illusione line. I have another confession to make – while I feel Illusione has some the highest quality cigars out there, they just have not fit in with my taste profile. […]
Last night was pretty busy night from my perspective as I attended a terrific Oliveros event at Outland Cigars in Charlotte, NC. However, I really wanted to make a point to catch the webcast of the La Gloria Cubana Serie N virtual smoke featuring Team La Gloria Cubana (Michael Giannini, director of marketing; Rick Rodriguez, […]
Last month, I got my introduction to Savinelli Cigars and when I sampled the Savinelli Nicaragua Reserve, I really enjoyed it. Therefore, I was pretty excited to sample more from the Savinelli line. This time I was fortunate enough to try the Savinelli Special Selection 2005. After enjoying this blend, I raised the question – […]
Swag Limitado 99 Pre-Release In my motto – “it’s all about the cigars – the smoke, the craft, and the people”, it really is the people that make the cigar industry the best industry in the world. Over the past few months, I’ve gotten to meet some great people. Fabian Barrantes, Director/VP of Marketing of […]
If you have been following my ramblings, you know that 2010 was La Gloria Cubana’s year – they were the only brand to have three cigars in my Top 20 for Cigar of the Year. Much of what I liked was the innovation that was demonstrated by “Team La Gloria Cubana” (Team La Gloria members […]
