Tatuaje La Verite 2009 Back in July, I put up a cigar assessment on the Tatuaje L’Esprit de Verite 2009. This was part of the second blend of Tatuaje’s La Verite Vintage series. The La Verite Vintage Series uses the concept of harvesting tobaccos from a single farm from a single year to produce a […]
La Flor Dominicana Colorado Oscuro No. 5 Vitola – My Sample In the world of cigars, all cigars are works of art to me. I love to look at a cigar’s appearance from wrapper, to foot, to cap. If these handmade gems are not works of art, then I don’t know what is. At the […]
Tatuaje Tattoo The Tatuaje Tattoo is another limited production cigar by Pete Johnson and Tatauje earlier in 2011. This cigar was only limited to a select few “top-tier” Tatuaje retailers. The cigar is a part of the “Exclusive Series” by Tatuaje that typically are earmarked as retailer exclusives. The word is that a vitola in […]
San Cristobal Elegancia 2011 will long be remembered as the year of Ecuadorian/Connecticut Shade wrapper cigars. Many of the big name blenders have been working with these tobaccos in the cigars they have made. The challenge this is creating is that it is creating a lot of competition in retail humidors for cigars in […]
CAO OSA Sol The CAO OSA Sol marks the first new blend released under the CAO brand since it was integrated under the General Cigars portfolio last year. When I previewed the CAO OSA Sol, I was on the record saying I think the brand is in good hands. Late last year, it was announced […]
Lou Rodriguez Edicion Reserva Connecticut One thing I’ve said that is important for retailers when considering indie/boutique cigars is to find something special. Most importantly, a cigar that is capable of knocking something else out of the humidor. In a time with many new launches and many new brands, this is an important rule of […]
Note: The IPCPR Series is not over yet, but I believe based on my notes I have from IPCPR this is the last of the “Cigar Previews”. There are still plenty of cigars to be evaluated as a part of the 2011 IPCPR Series that will be forthcoming and included in the series. As I […]
One cigar that has gotten a lot of buzz from the Cigar Industry is the release of Miami Cigars’ Humo Jaguar. The Humo Jaguar cigar comes from the cigar festival in Honduras that bears the same name. Various cigar makers enter the competition. It turns out that a blend by Nestor Plasencia won the 2011 […]
San Lotano Oval At the 2010 IPCPR, one of the revelations that came out of the trade show was A.J. Fernandez’s debut of his San Lotano line. While many had heard of Fernandez for his reputation as one of the great young blenders in the industry, San Lotano was a new label on the industry. […]
Over the past year, I’ve gotten to know Jeff Borysiewicz of Corona Cigars. I’ve been able to learn a lot from his knowledge of the industry from a retail and legislative standpoint. Jeff’s also one of the true patriots when he comes to fighting for the rights of cigar enthusiasts. The following is a video […]
At the 2011 IPCPR, Altadis unveiled a new value-priced line. This one is called “Diamondback” and it is blended by Omar Ortez. Now when I think of the term “Diamondback”, the first word that comes to mind is the Major League Baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. In this case, the name Diamondback comes from […]
At the 2011 IPCPR, Alec Bradley unveiled a cigar that I would categorize as an ultra-premium This cigar is called the “Fine and Rare”. While most of the details of the blend have not been disclosed, we do know that the Fine and Rare utilizes ten different tobaccos in the blend. Each box will also […]
