For the past six years, My Father Cigars has emerged as a staple in the Tobacconist Association of America (TAA)’s Exclusive Series. For its 2019 TAA Exclusive Series installment, the company provided a cigar off the brand that started it all for company founder Don Pepin Garcia, the eponymous Don Pepin Garcia Original (a.k.a. Don […]
Back during the earlier days of Viaje nearly a decade ago, the company was gaining a reputation for its seasonal themed releases. Some of the more popular themes included: Holiday Blend (Christmas), TNT (Fourth of July), and Candela (St. Patrick’s Day). While interviewing Viaje Cigar founder Andre Farkas for their IPCPR media coverage, the crew […]
Since Cubariqueño Cigar Company launched in 2015, each year the company has released a new regular production blend into its portfolio. The year 2019 was a little different as Cubariqueño would unveil two blends under a new line known as Protocol Sir Robert Peel in the form of a Natural and Maduro. Protocol Sir Robert […]
At the 2018 IPCPR Trade Show, Joya de Nicaragua Cigars unveiled the fourth installment of its Joya series with Joya Silver. The Joya series was first launched back in 2014 with the release of Joya Red and is intended to offer a more contemporary styled smoke in termed of packaging and blend at a […]
j Back in 1996, Alan Rubin founded Alec Bradley Cigar Company, naming it after his two sons, Alec and Bradley. While Alan never pushed his boys into the company, both sons expressed an interest in joining their father in the cigar business. After playing a role in some of the operations of the company, the […]
As I reflect back on the decade 2010 – 2019, if there is one cigar line that continues to have me scratch my head its the E.P. Carrillo Cardinal line. This was a line introduced in 2012 and it was intended to offer a bolder and stronger cigar into the E.P. Carrillo portfolio. The Cardinal […]
One of the busiest companies at the 2019 IPCPR Trade Show was Southern Draw Cigars. For the most part, Southern Draw focused on brand extensions (additional blends for existing brands, and line extensions (new vitolas for existing blends). One of the new brand extensions came to Southern Draw’s 300 Hands brand in the form of […]
When it comes to the Trinidad brand in the Altadis U.S.A. portfolio, it’s been one that hasn’t quite had the impact of other Cuban brands that Altadis U.S.A. sells in the U.S. such as Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta, and H. Upmann. Over the years, there have been several releases. Most recently in the past ten […]
In 2014, Kurt Kendall introduced the 7-20-4 Factory 57 line into his portfolio. Factory 57 joined the original 7-20-4, 7-20-4 1874 Series, and 7-20-4 Hustler lines. An ongoing theme with Kendall’s brands has been nostaglia. 7-20-4 is a brand founded in 1874 by R.G. Sullivan that was named for the Manchester, New Hampshire address of […]
In 2019, Drew Estate brought back one of its more popular limited releases, the BOTL. The name BOTL stands for “Brothers of the Leaf” and is a forum for the cigar community. The story of the BOTL cigar goes back to 2010. The story has it that a man by the name of Tim Podwika […]
