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 […]
Opinion Page: Cigar Aficionado’s #11-25
While most of the gripes I’ve had with Cigar Aficionado’s Top 10 are still valid, there were some pleasant surprises in the remainder of the Top 25. I was pleased there were at least two of my Top 30 sticks to be mentioned. I didn’t go and comment on every stick, just the ones that […]
Best New Vitola for Existing Brand: Oliveros King Havano Black Knight Mace
Best Vitola: Oliveros King Havano Black Knight Mace One thing that I done differently from Cigar Aficionado in ranking cigars for the year is to distinguish ranking the blend from the vitola (size/shape). For my Top 30 list, every cigar represented a new blend (while Cigar Aficionado includes new vitolas in their countdown). However, there were […]
2010 Cigar of the Year Countdown: #6: CAO La Traviata Maduro
#6 CAO La Traviata Maduro There are six cigars to go in “30 Cigars in 31 Days” – my review of the Top 30 Cigars for 2010. Today’s installment is the 25th of the series, this leaves the Top 5 to go. As I’ve also mentioned – each of the cigars in the Top 7 […]
More CAO (and other) News….
Jon Huber (L) at a CAO Event in Wilmington NC There had been a lot of rumors running rampant for the past couple of weeks. Today a twitter post confirmed – CAO’s Director of Lifestyle Marketing – Jon Huber is leaving CAO Cigars. The twitter post was: caocigars will be saying ‘adios’ L8r but please […]
Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year’s Cigar Buying Guide for 2010
Many people come to me asking me what is the best cigar to buy for a Christmas, Hanukkah, or New Year’s gift. Unfortunately, the first response I give them is what I term the “Standard Consulting Answer” which is “It Depends”… It depends on a few factors. Below I’ve put a table to help […]
Update: Tim Ozgener’s Departure from CAO Cigars Clarified
This past Tuesday, I posted some information in regards to Tim Ozgener’s departure from CAO Cigars. In this post, I posted a reference to a press release by General Cigars to announce that Ozgener was leaving CAO. In that press release, there was some ambiguity in that release with whether or not Ozgener was leaving […]
Breaking News: End of an Era as Tim Ozgener Departs CAO
No Doubt a product of Ozgener’s marketing For the second time in two weeks, the Cigar World has been rocked with the departure of another Cigar-ebrity. Tim Ozgener of CAO Cigars is leaving the company, and it looks like leaving the industry. The official reason by General Cigars is that Ozgener is leaving to pursue […]
Cigar Place Review: Old Virginia Tobacco Company – Richmond VA
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. […]
Cigar Review: CAO La Traviata Maduro
In 2009, I did my first Cigar of the Year list. The way I worked this list is I selected 20 cigars that I felt warranted Cigar of the Year consideration. One by one, I opted to countdown the list by figuring out which cigar I would be most likely to part with. When it […]
