Single Region Serie Jalapa (Left) picture with another new release -the Brigade (Right) Back at the 2010 IPCPR, one of my most exciting visits was to the Torano Family Cigar booth. During that visit, I saw a lot of energy and excitement around the recent re-branding of the company and the new releases that were […]
Sam Leccia at IPCPR 2010 in action I saw this post on this post on the Cigar Aficionado Web-Site. The legendary Sam Leccia is leaving Oliva Cigars. Sam is truly one of the Cigar-ebrities in the business. He is the master behind the the Nub and Cain sticks. The Nub and Cain sticks will stay […]
For the past two years, the emergence of the “value” premium cigar has resulted in a lot of companies jumping on the bandwagon. I define these as high quality premium sticks in the $5.00-$7.00 range. Sticks such as Gurkha, Torano, Oliveros, Perdomo, and CAO have all capitalized on this bandwagon and have had both commercial […]
Could not help but post a couple of pictures of the La Palina Cigars. This stick is “The Babe”. What a work of art!!! The Babe contains a beautiful Costa Rican Wrapper. I put some details up on the La Palina line when I reviewed the Alison (that one contains an Ecuadorian wrapper) That is […]
Your rights are being threatened big time in Santa Clara, California. I’ve pulled this from the Cigar Rights of America web-site: The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors has advanced a proposal (advocated by Board President Ken Yeager) that would ban smoking in all apartments, condominiums, townhouses, and common areas within such housing. It would […]
La Palina Alison (Sorry for bad lighting) The race for Cigar of the Year just got that much tighter. No doubt, 2010 has been a highly competitive year for cigars. And just when I thought things were settling down, along comes La Palina to throw a monkey-wrench into things. I happened to stumble on this […]
Erik Nording is one of the legendary pipe crafters in the world today. Simply put his pipes are works of art. Therefore, when Rocky Patel decided to blend a cigar to honor Nording, it caught my attention. The result is the appropriately named – the Rocky Patel Nording. While I have great respect for the […]
There has certainly been a hot bed of activity with the Pleasure Police in North Dakota. Earlier, this month the city of Minot, North Dakota rejected a Tobacco Ban that would have had a catastrophic impact on local businesses. Now the city of Bismarck, North Dakota has their own battle with the Pleasure Police. Bismarck […]
Prior to go to IPCPR 2010, our team had a series of prep meetings on how we were going to attack the trade show. One task was to really look for the Indie Cigars that would stand out and have something special. As part of his prep work, my friend Stace had done some research […]
Cigar Coop with “The Master”, Don Pepin Garcia As I’ve mentioned several times here, the Cigar industry follows a “Donald Trump” brand model. With Trump’s company, Trump is the face of the company – and the brand of his company. Many know icons such as: Jonathan Drew, Litto Gomez, Sam Leccia, Matt Booth, Christian Eiroa, […]
During the 2010 IPCPR, it was my opinion that General Cigars had the best year in terms of new product releases. One of the most exciting things General was doing was investing in building their existing brands. One of the brands that General was clearly focused on building as La Gloria Cubana. La Gloria Cubana […]
Today’s Cigar Store and lounge takes me to Old Virginia Tobacco Company – located in the Carytown district of Richmond, Virginia. Old Virginia Tobacco company has been in business for 30 years. They have seven stores located in Virginia. Six of the stores are located in the Northern Virginia area just outside of Washington DC. […]
