When you think of cigar tobacco you think of Cuba, Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua but there is a rich history of tobacco grown for cigars right here in the United States of America. Today we explore the Connecticut River Valley with Nicholas Melillo who has his company, Foundation Cigars based in The Constitution State. We will do this with one of the newest cigars in his portfolio the Tabernacle Havana Seed CT #142. Master […]
Foundation Cigar Company announces Tabernacle Havana Seed CT #142. There’s a reason why we all tend to wait with special anticipation for Foundation Cigar Company’s President, and Master Blender, Nicholas Melillo’s latest undertaking. His depth of passion and knowledge for tobacco, Nicaraguan culture, and never mind his intimate connection to the Connecticut River Valley where he is based, almost guarantees another head turner. Nick’s visionary approach to cigar blending has most recently yielded, Tabernacle Havana […]
Fact is the top three selling cigar sizes are Robusto, Toro, and Gordo. But if you look on social media it would appear the top-selling cigar sizes are Corona and Lancero. Does the social media cigar connoisseur know something you may not. Much to the dismay of our own David Garofalo I will reach for a Lancero or Corona more often than not, but why? For me the answer is the fact that the majority of the […]
Dave returns from Florida after making the trek last weekend to show his respects for Old Man Padron. He’ll fill is in on the Celebration of Life and let us know who was there and who he rubbed elbows with. We will light up The Upsetters from Foundation Cigar Company as we sit down with Rick Ardito. We will discuss his history with Drew Estate, ACID and now his relationship with Foundation Cigar Company with […]
This week we welcome the owner of Foundation Cigar Company Nick Melillo aka Nick R. Agua to the show and we discuss his company which makes cigars such as Charter Oak and Tabernacle which we will smoke, and we will discuss El Gueguense and the Upsetters. It’s Labor Day weekend and we discuss our Labor of Love cigars with one of the most passionate owners in the business. Join us live for the madness known […]
The Changing “FACE” of the Cigar Industry! The Faces of the Brands and the ones that could be changing another Editorial by David Garofalo We know a small business owner, as is in the cigar industry, must be a jack of all trades and one of the tools they should possess is being the face of their brand. Today even some of the huge corporations and brands have attempted to put faces and personalities to […]
I had not planed to light up a cigar on New Years Day but that plan didn’t last long. The urger for Tabernacle was strong, and I decided that one was just not enough. So this morning I lit up another from Foundation Cigar Company. The company which was born in 2015 is the brainchild of Nick Melillo, who was responsible for a lot of the great blending at Drew Estate prior to the arrival […]
This summer of 2015 saw the launch of Foundation Cigar Company by Nick Melillo who had his career start at the retail level while living in the state of Connecticut. From here he would go on to Drew Estate where he would oversee their factory operations and he was responsible for blending Liga Privada No. 9, T52, Dirty Rat, L40, Nica Rustica as well as others. Nick would eventually leave Drew Estate to start his […]
The Tabernacle is Foundation Cigar Company’s newest super premium cigar. It is a combination of tastes that calls on founder Nicholas Melillo’s roots in the Connecticut River Valley and his work with the finest artisanal tobacco batches in Nicaragua. The Tabernacle box tells the story of the cigar’s name. The artwork features an image of none other than Haile Selassie, 225th King of Abyssinia, whose lineage traces directly to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. The […]
The Tabernacle is Foundation Cigar Company’s newest super premium cigar, boasting a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper and some of Nicaragua’s finest fillers. It is a combination of tastes that calls on founder Nicholas Melillo’s roots in the Connecticut River Valley and also his work with the finest artisanal tobacco batches in Nicaragua. “I want to show my love for Connecticut Broadleaf,” says Melillo. “I was born in New Haven where, at the turn of the century, there […]