Viaje WLP Stuffed Turkey Viaje has begun shipping their November releases to their authorized retailers. This release cycle by Viaje is highlighted by a new entry into the White Label Project family – the Viaje White Label Project Stuffed Turkey. As par for the course with Viaje, there is always some mystery surrounding the blend, […]
Lou Rodriguez Edicion Reserva Maduro In the past two years at the IPCPR trade show, there has been one booth by an Indie cigar company to get a great deal of buzz by the retailers. In 2010, it was Kurt Kendall and his 7-20-4 cigar. In 2011, it was Elogio Cigars. If I had a […]
Elogio Serie LSV – New Ecuadorian-grown wrapper version On 11/18/11, Nabil Sabbah, head of Elogio Cigars paid a visit to Outland Cigars in Charlotte, North Carolina. As a part of his visit, Sabbah brought a modified version of his popular Elogio Serie LSV. I can honestly say, those who sampled it were all blown away. […]
Wicked Indie by East India Trading Company The Wicked Indie is a new cigar that has been released by Beach Cigar Group. Beach Cigar Group is actually the parent company for Gurkha Cigars. The difference is that the Wicked Indie is not being released as a Gurkha cigar, but under a new line called the […]
Rocky Patel Fifty 2011 has been a very busy year for Rocky Patel Premium Cigars with four new releases. These new releases were unveiled at the 2011 IPCPR and were slowly rolled out following the trade show. So far, I’ve had a chance to assess three of the four releases – the Rocky Patel Vintage […]
A couple of weeks ago, Cigar Brief reported that Rocky Patel Premium Cigars was bringing back the Rocky Patel Winter Collection in a new blend. This included information of the blend and vitolas. Since then, I’ve talked with a representative from Rocky Patel and have now seen the cigar listed (not yet for sale) […]
Whether it has been his original core line, or the new maduro extensions to the core line, I’ve always liked how Illusione cigars have had flavor nuances between the vitola sizes. I compare it to macaroni – the same ingredients go into the macaroni, but put that macaroni in a different size, it has a […]
Crowned Heads Four Kicks The anticipation for the release of the first cigar by Crowned Heads was perhaps as unique as any I have ever seen. Namely, I cannot remember an initial release from a new cigar company getting as much attention as the Crowned Heads’ debut. Much of the reason for this is the […]
Elogio Excepcionales In the past 18 months, Elogio Cigars has been an Indie cigar company that has really been getting a lot of attention of cigar enthusiasts. Elogio is the true definition of an Indie cigar company. The cigars are made in Nicaragua and are blended by Carlos Pereda Robaina. If you recognize the Robaina […]
Gurkha Cellar Reserve The Gurkha Cellar Reserve is one of three cigars unveiled in 2011 by Gurkha Cigars that is targeted as brick and mortar retail exclusive. The 2011 releases by Gurkha offer something for different pallets of cigar enthusiasts. The Gurkha Royal Challenge represents a milder offering. The Gurkha Seduction is targeted for those […]
Pedro Martin Gold One of the Indie cigar companies that has been getting a lot of buzz has been the Martin Family of Cigars company – and in particular Pedro Martin cigars. The company was started by Maria Martin, the daughter of the late renowned blender Pedro Martin. Maria Martin, who was formerly with Camacho […]
As always, when I smoke a pre-release cigar, I feel it is premature to give it a firm assessment rating – therefore, I do a pre-review to provide some initial feedback. With some follow-on smokes completed, it’s time to assess some more cigars. Two of the cigars in this assessment update were originally smoked as […]
