For Episode 207, we are proud to be joined by Brad Winstead, CEO of Casa de Montecristo. Brad’s got a long history in the cigar industry and we’ll talk to Brad on his journey and how he made it to Casa de Montecristo. We will also discuss what Casa de Montecristo is, and its unique […]
Agile Cigar Reviews are cigar assessments where we use a lightweight, shorter format. These will never take the place of our comprehensive reviews. They are only used on blends we have previously assessed. This might be a blend we are re-scoring or giving a score for the first time. It might be a blend we […]
One of the big stories in the premium cigar industry over the past year was Imperial Tobacco selling off its premium cigar business to a private equity group. This sale included Altadis U.S.A and its associated brands. The transaction closed late in 2020. In terms of what this means to its customers, things have remained […]
In addition to his role as Director of Product Capability for Tabacalera USA, Rafael Nodal remains a co-owner of Boutique Blends Cigars. Both Tabacalera USA and Boutique Blends have been in a strategic partnership for the past four years where Tabacalera USA handles distribution for Boutique Blends. While Nodal has been doing great things on […]
In 2019 Altadis USA decided to give its Trinidad brand a refresh and relaunch by introducing the Trinidad Espiritu Series. Altadis would reach out to AJ Fernandez who had been working with Altadis on several projects over the past few years, including reimaging brands such as Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta, and H. Upmann. The resulting […]
Tonight, we take a journey back to the cigar version of Mount Rushmore. This is the fourth installment of this series. Previously, we have done Drew Estate, Rocky Patel, and Davidoff editions This time Bear and Coop will be looking at their candidates from E.P. Carrillo to fill the four spots on this historic momument […]
Each week, I have the opportunity to produce the news segment for KMA Talk Radio. On the Cigar Coop “blog,” we will now post replays of the shows the week following the date the show is aired. On July 17th, Billy and Gus Fakih of Arteseano del Tobacco our special guest. Rafael Nodal of Tabacalera […]
Rafael Nodal, co-owner of Boutique Blends, is teaming up again with AJ Fernandez to launch a new project called Aging Room by Rafael Nodal Rare Collection. As the name indicates, it is a cigar that features specially selected rare tobaccos. The cigars in the Aging Room by Rafael Nodal Rare Collection are 100% Nicaraguan puros. […]
It’s hard to believe that it was back in 2013 when Rafael Nodal and Hank Bischoff rebranded their company Oliveros Cigars to Boutique Blends Cigars. At that time, Oliveros had recently launched two new brands – Aging Room and Swag. These two brands became the more popular brands in the Oliveros portfolio, so the decision […]
When it comes to iconic brands in the cigar industry, Montecristo is one that stands near the top. Montecristo traces its roots back to 1935 when Alonso Menendez and Jose Manuel Pepe Garcia started a brand in Cuba inspired by the Alexandre Dumas novel, The Count of Montecristo. While the brand is still an iconic brand in […]
