Cigar Coop (L), Manuel Quesada (R) One of the true gentlemen of the cigar industry, Manuel Quesada will be returning to Charlotte on Weds 2/23 at Outland Cigars “Gars and Growlers” event at the Olde Mecklenburg Brewery. I’ve had the occasion to meet Quesada several times. In can honestly say that each time I meet […]
Cigar Coop and Rocky Patel Making his rounds through the southeast, world-famous cigar-maker Rocky Patel made a stop in Greenville South Carolina at Outman Cigars for an event. As usually the case, Rocky drew a big crowd – I’m estimating about 150 people jam-packed Outman Cigars for a great evening. One thing that always strikes […]
Today was one of the premier cigar herfs in the world – the Great Smoke sponsored by Smoke Inn. The Who’s Who of the cigar industry was down in West Palm Beach. While I wasn’t there, I was keeping a keen eye. Suddenly, in the late afternoon, my text messages started going off with something […]
This is going to be two firsts on Cigar Coop. A shout out to Whoopi Goldberg and a link to the show “The View”. I have never been a Whoopi fan. I think it was deplorable when she made fun of President George W Bush at a John Kerry fundraiser. For the most part, I […]
This has been one of the roughest weeks the Cigar Industry has endured in some time. Word is now coming out that the legendary Sal Fontana has passed away. Sal had been ill for sometime. He was 86 years old. A World War II veteran, Sal was also one of the brain-trusts with Camacho Cigars. […]
Last week, the cigar industry in the southeast lost one of its more popular people. Nathan Saab was a cigar rep based in North Carolina. Nathan died on January 24th as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident this past December 13th. When I moved to North Carolina back in 2008, I’ve met […]
In a move that was not unexpected, Gary Hyams formerly Chairman of CAO Cigars is leaving General Cigars. This move comes just a little over four years he was named to this position. With the departures of President Tim Ozgener and Lifestyle Marketing Director, Jon Huber over the past three months, this has was not […]
I wanted to think of something special to put up for Post #200 on Cigar Coop. My inspiration for this came from Post #199 – when I discussed how cigar enthusiasts have to deal with substandard conditions on where they can enjoy a cigar. In that post, there was some deliberate wording when I was […]
Cigar Coop (L), Ernesto Perez-Carrillo (C), Lissette Perez-Carrillo (R) Jeff Borysiewicz (L), Cigar Coop (R) The past 24 hours have been a whirlwind to say the least. Tonight I attended the E.P. Carrillo Cigars event at Corona Cigar Company in downtown Orlando. It was an evening where I got to meet and talk to two […]
Larry Amoruso of Florios It is with great sadness that I have learned that Larry Amoruso, owner of New York’s Florio’s Restaurant and Three Little Indians Cigars has passed away. I learned this information from a friend a little while ago and was able to confirm this on Florio’s Hollywood (Florida) Facebook page that Larry […]