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 has been doing is investing in building their existing brands. I mentioned La Gloria Cubana as one of the brands that has seen an expansion take place. […]
Cigar Review: Toraño Family Single Region Serie Jalapa
William Cooper Reviews, Uncategorized No Comments Long Ash, Nice to Have, Review, Toraño
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 […]
Cigar Review: El Camino Dominicano
William Cooper Reviews, Uncategorized No Comments Pass, Quesada, Review
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 […]
Cigar Review: La Palina Alison
William Cooper Reviews, Uncategorized No Comments La Palina, Memorable, Review
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 […]
Cigar Review: Nording by Rocky Patel
William Cooper Reviews, Uncategorized No Comments Review, Rocky Patel, See What You Think
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 […]
Cigar Review: La Gloria Cubana Artesanos De Tabaqueros
William Cooper Reviews, Uncategorized No Comments General, La Gloria Cubana, Memorable, Review
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 […]
Cigar Review: CAO La Traviata Maduro
William Cooper Reviews, Uncategorized No Comments CAO, Memorable, Review
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 […]
Cigar Review: Roxor Maduro Torpedo
William Cooper Reviews, Uncategorized No Comments Indie, Nice to Have, Perseo, Review
Last year, when I rated the Top 20 Cigars for 2009, I surprised a lot of people by including the Indie Cigar, the Roxor Maduro as my number 7 Cigar of the Year. While this surprised many people that I rated this cigar ahead of the Liga Privada #9 and the Don Pepin My Father, […]
Cigar Review: Estaban Carrera’s Cubana Real Semilla Maduro
William Cooper Reviews, Uncategorized 3 Comments Esteban Carreras, Indie, Nice to Have, Review
A lot of people who know me know I am a big fan of Esteban Carrera’s Cigars. I would definitely categorize Estaban Carrera’s as one of the Indie Cigar companies. Typically with an Indie Cigar, I look for something unique and special with the line. With this line of cigars, I do believe that […]
Cigar Review: Gurkha Ninja Knife
William Cooper Reviews, Uncategorized No Comments Gurkha, Memorable, Review
Gurkha Viper (L), Gurkha Ninja (R) Early in the history of Cigar Coop, I posted a review of the Gurkha Viper stick. This would not only mark Gurkha’s introduction into the value-priced, high-quality cigar market ($5.00 – $7.00 range), but would also mark Gurkha moving to a simpler packaging scheme. The Gurkha Viper is a […]