Stogie Guys Friday Sampler No. 467

As we have since July 2006, each Friday we’ll post a mixed bag of quick cigar news and other items of interest. Below is our latest Friday Sampler.

1) For the first time in eight decades, a sitting U.S. president will visit Cuba. Yesterday morning President Obama unveiled his plans to travel to Cuba in March. “Next month, I’ll travel to Cuba to advance our progress and efforts that can improve the lives of the Cuban people,” read his official Twitter account. “We still have differences with the Cuban government that I will raise directly. America will always stand for human rights around the world.” The announcement comes amid thawed relations between Washington and Havana, which recently restored diplomatic ties. Obama has also called on Congress to end the trade embargo, as well as issued an executive order to make legal travel to Cuba easier. Currently, legal visitors to Cuba are allowed to bring up to $100 worth of Cuban cigars back to the U.S. Calvin Coolidge was the last sitting president to visit Cuba, reports ABC News.

2) In other political news, Senator Ted Cruz may be the presidential candidate with the closest connection to cigars—he hosts cigar-related fundraisers and says he smokes occasionally—but a recent poll suggests he may not have a lock on the cigar vote (if there is such a thing). New Republic reports: “How devastating it must be for Cruz… that in a poll by Cigar Aficionado—where William F. Buckley Jr. has a byline, and which gave Rush Limbaugh the cover treatment—he won the support of only 22 percent of the magazine’s Republican readers, behind Trump’s 39 percent and Marco Rubio’s 23 percent… Neither of Cruz’s top rivals has made much of an effort to court the cigar vote. ‘I used to smoke a little cigar here and there,’ Rubio said earlier this month. ‘Now it’s just hard to do.’ As for the Donald, he says he has never smoked. And now he’s won the support of a conservative magazine for men who love to do just that.”

3) Inside the Industry: General Cigar formally announced the return of the annual Punch Rare Corojo release. The blend continues to feature a reddish Ecuador-grown Sumatra wrapper and Connecticut broadleaf binder around Dominican, Honduran, and Nicaraguan filler tobaccos. As has become tradition, there is a limited edition vitola for 2016, a  perfecto called Regalias Perfecto (7.25 x 54). General also announced the Double Corona (6.75 x 48) will be going away after the current stock runs out.

4) From the Archives: In “A Good Cigar and a Cup of Joe” George explained his appreciation of good cup of coffee as a cigar pairing. “Choosing a drink to accompany your cigar is about as individual a choice as selecting what you’re going to smoke in the first place. The drink choice can also be greatly influenced by where you happen to be smoking… My choice of a drink to pair with a cigar is almost always coffee. Early, late, it doesn’t much matter to me.”

5) Deal of the Week: A good cigar sampler can be a great way to revisit some old favorites, or discover new ones. This ten-count sampler from Smoke Inn has a solid mix of high end classics, new hits, under-appreciated standbys, and even a store exclusive limited edition.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Flickr