The week on The Cigar Authority we smoked the Southern Draw Jacobs Ladder as we looked at the differences between Connecticut Broadleaf and Pennsylvania Broadleaf tobaccos. Southern Draw is a veteran owned company based in Texas with their cigars blended at AJ Fernandez in Esteli, Nicaragua. Like many of the cigar names from Southern Draw it has a link with agriculture, religion and family. First, it shares its name with a plant. In this case, it […]
On February 1st, 2020 we featured a cigar from the care package on The Cigar Authority. That cigar is one of Mr. Jonathan’s favorite smokes and unless you’ve been smoking for a long time you might not remember 22N/83W which is made at J. Fuego. 22N/83W are the Latitude and Longitude where you will find Hacienda el Corojo, a plantation that once (1930 – 1990) grew arguably the best tobacco in the world. Today, having […]
With Dave on his way to Miami for the Super Bowl after spending a week in Las Vegas at TPE, the boys take charge of the show. Will they be stooges or musketeers? In the first hour Mr. Jonathan is in charge of the show we fire up one of his favorite cigars that happens to be part of the February Care Package. We smoke 22N / 83W as we address your burning cigar questions […]
Last night at the Tobacco Plus Expo the Tobacco Business awards were announced. The exclusive invite-only event took place at Club 101 at the Sahara in Las Vegas with almost 300 people in attendance. In the audience was our own David Garofalo who was nominated for Entrepreneur of the Year which we have the video announcement below. Other winners on the night included Carlo “Carlito” Fuente (Legacy Award), Arturo Fuente Hemingway Untold Story (Dominica Cigar […]
In 2015, Rocky Patel began his relationship with accomplished Cuban Cigar Roller, Hamlet Paredes. In addition to being a cigar roller Hamlet worked as a brand ambassador for Habanos SA in addition to the Partagas and Romeo y Julieta factories before winding up in Naples, Florida. The cigar which is made by Rocky Patel as the Tavicusa factory in Nicaragua was actually blended in Naples, Florida at the offices of Rocky Patel when Hamlet couldn’t […]
We caught up with Miguel Schoedel of Crowned Heads where they were showcasing a cigar named Juarez. According to Schoedel the cigar is named for the song Cocaine Blues by Johnny Cash, but it also shares a name with the murder capital of the world Juarez, Mexico. The cigar comes from a small factory in Nicaragua named, Tabacalera Pichardo which makes them the fourth factory to work with Crowned Heads. The cigar comes in three […]
They aren’t going to the 2020 PCA, but they were on hand at Tobacco Plus Expo and we caught up with Rafael Nodal who showed up Romeo y Julieta Reserve Real Nicaragua which should ship to retailers in March. The company taps AJ Fernandez once again to give a new spin to one of their showcase brands. Available in four sizes; Robusto (5 x 50 / $8.77), Toro (6 x 54 / $9.03), Churchill (7 […]
We caught up with Alan Gold from Lotus / Vertigo where he showcased a couple of new lighters with the Margaritaville branding. These new lighters showcase Jimmy Buffet inspired looks with the saying It’s 5 o’clock Somewhere which is the mantra of Barry. The lighters feature a cool window into the patented big ass tank as you can see in the video.
We caught up with Nimish Patel in Las Vegas at the 2020 Tobacco Plus Expo and he gave us a look at the Rocky Patel CSWC. The cigar is the new official cigar of the Cigar Smoking World Championship and will debut in three sizes. The Mareva which is the official size of the yearly event measuring 5 1/8 x 42 ($8.75), a Robusto coming in at 5 x 50 ($9.75) and the Toro at […]
Back in the day I ran a cigar blog by another name. It’s a blog that allowed me to carve out a career in the cigar industry. Back when PCA was known as IPCPR we ran into a lot of resistance from retailers and manufacturers about being allowed into the show where we helped create buzz around the newest releases. Back then Dave was on the board of IPCPR and he went to bat for […]