7-20-4 1874 Series At each IPCPR trade show, there seems to be an indie/boutique company that becomes the talk of the show. In 2010, that company was 7-20-4 cigars. The 7-20-4 cigar is the brainchild of Kurt Kendall. Kendall owns Twins Smoke Shop in New Hampshire. The cigar was named after an older line that […]
Illusione Ultra MK At the 2011 IPCPR Retail Trade Show, there were two cigar blends that were being showcased by Illusione Cigars. The first was the new maduro line being added to Illusione’s core line. The second was the release of the new Illusione Ultra. While the Ultra had garnered a lot of attention, this […]
Kristoff Kristania The cigar marketplace today is loaded with so many good choices. As a result, there always is a backlog of cigars to assess. Along the way, there have been some good cigar companies that have not made it on to this web-site. Once such web-site is Kristoff Cigars. I’ve smoked many cigars from […]
Viaje Fifty Fifty Red Earlier this month, I did an assessment of the Viaje Fifty Fifty Black, so I figured it was time to assess the other blend in the Fifty Fifty series – the Viaje Fifty Fifty Red. The Viaje Fifty Fifty series is intended to be somewhat of a unique cigar experience. The concept […]
VegaFina Jose Seijas 2011 A few weeks ago, Altadis announced a new blend being added to its VegaFina cigar line This cigar includes the name of one of its master blenders, Jose Seijas. Seijas presides over the famous Tabacalera de Garcia factory in the Dominican Republic. VegaFina represents one of the cigar lines that has come out […]
Viaje Fifty Fifty Black The Viaje Fifty Fifty series is intended to be somewhat of a unique cigar experience. The concept behind the Fifty Fifty is to bring two different flavor profiles together into one cigar. This is done by utilizing two separate fillers, brought together within double binders and covered by a single wrapper. […]
La Flor Dominicana Factory Press IV Ever since the initial release of the Factory Press series by Litto Gomez and La Flor Dominicana a few years ago, the cigars in this series have long been sought after by many cigar enthusiasts. According to Gomez, the genesis for the Factory Press series is as follows: For […]
Lou Rodriguez Habano-Rosado Over the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to sample and assess three blends in the Lou Rodriguez core line. When an Indie cigar company is able to place three different blends in a retailer’s humidor, it becomes what I term a “brand builder”. I’ve now had the opportunity to […]
Viaje C-4 When it comes to Viaje Cigars, I think there are two fair complaints: 1) Some blends are often shipped to the retailer “green” and not aged enough; 2) Some blends emphasize strength over body. With the cigars being “green”, I have usually applied an eight to ten week rule of aging Viajes in […]
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 […]
