Rodgers & Hammerstein penned A Few of my Favorite Things which was made famous by Julie Andrews. I don’t think they had bourbon, cigars or heavy metal on their radar when they did. However, if I wrote the song they would definitely have topped schnitzels and crisp apple strudels. Blackened by Drew Estate was first conceptualized during the pandemic when James Hetfield of Metallica would smoke cigars with Rob Dietrich the Master Blender of Blackened […]
Red Anchor was the start of the boutique cigar industry when the line originally released in 1772 in Holland. Albertus Hillen Sigarenfabriek established the Red Anchor Factory and Cigar Brand in Delft, Holland. On February 22, 1772, legal permission was granted from the Aldermen of the Municipality of Delft, for Albertus to sell his cigar brand under the Red Anchor name. 2022 marks the 250th Anniversary line and it returns via United Cigars and is made at […]
Connecticut Broadleaf is one of the most popular wrappers for people who like stronger cigars. However, over the years a shortage of wrapper has created supply issues for some popular cigars. That issue has gotten worse over the years due to weather. Add to the fact that tobacco farms aren’t as prevalent in the Connecticut River Valley as they once were the shortage becomes is obvious.. This had lead tobacco farmers to try and recreate […]
It’s a long standing tradition in pipe culture for carvers to craft one off designs and blenders to create special mixtures to mark the holidays. In honor of this practice Steve Saka of Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust has teamed up with Cornell & Diehl to follow suit with a delightful aromatic puro with a mild Cavendish Burley and Virginia tobaccos. According to Steve Saka, “This year’s release is a delightful aromatic puro with a carefully balanced […]
HVC Black Friday is the cigar industry official start of the holiday season. Move over Mariah Carey, this is something that won’t make you cringe. Since 2015, Reinier Lorenzo has released a cigar that is synonymous with the start of the Christmas Season, Black Friday. Each year the cigar is released with a new wrapper and a new size with this year being a 5.5 x 50 with an Ecuador grown Habano ‘ 92. Additionally […]
El Baton is one of J.C. Newman’s vintage brands made by their founder, J.C. Newman, back in 1914. This nickel cigar was originally hand rolled in a Cleveland, Ohio factory with Cuban tobacco. Although it was popular for many years, the onset of machine-made cigars caused El Baton to disappear from the marketplace in the 1920s. In 2008, J.C.’s grandsons, Eric and Bobby Newman, re-launched the brand as the company’s first Nicaraguan cigar. El Baton cigars […]
Freud Cigar Co. was born out of a shared passion for premium tobacco and elevated experiences — and an opportunity for some of the world’s leaders in cigar production to collaborate on a new collection for the luxury market: innovative small-batch blends, rooted in the namesake of one of the most prominent cigars smokers and public intellectuals in world history, Dr. Sigmund Freud. Three of the four people involved have ties to Davidoff cigars. Founder […]
The cigar industry is full of characters from shop owners, brand owners and factory owners. However, often overlooked are the cigar representatives who are usually unknown outside their territories and those who do know them are far from the average smoker. This bring us to Nick Goss, a cigar broker (one who reps multiple brands) in New England where he acts as the liaison between shop owners and brands like Illusione and Foundation Cigars. He […]
I first met Noel Rojas in Miami in 2012 at a cigar shop called Cigar One which was once owned by Nestor Miranda and Jason Wood. He barely spoke English and I barely spoke Spanish but we bonded over cigars. It was here I first heard his story about leaving Cuba by raft to Mexico where he would make his way North to America to follow his passion. In Cuba he wasn’t able to work […]
Introduced at the 2022 PCA Trade show was Alfonso Anejo from Nelson Alfonso’s Selected Tobacco. The Alfonso Añejos line ages in a separate room. This was an experiment Nelson was testing after learning the complexity French Oak could offer. Some of the most famous wines in the world use French Oak barrels and this became an obsession to incorporate a new wood into the aging rooms for Nelson. The results after five(5) years of post-roll […]