Weekly Cigar News Sampler: Temple Hall Estates, Boveda Patents Hold Up, IPCPR Trade Show Floorplan Revealed, and More

As we have since July 2006, each Friday we’ll post our sampling of cigar news and other items of interest from the week. Below is our latest, which is the 517th in the series.

1) Foundry Cigar Company (FTC)—a boutique operation within the General Cigar umbrella that, until recently, was headed up by longtime General veteran Michael Gianni—has announced the new Temple Hall Estates collection. Named for a Jamaican cigar factory that sprung up during World War II, the line sports a Connecticut Shade wrapper, Mexican binder, and proprietary Piloto Cubano filler tobaccos from the Dominican Republic. The blend is billed as a “silky, elegant, and flavorful smoke reminiscent of the cigars crafted at Temple Hall under the tutelage of Ramón Cifuentes,” the father of Partagas. “Temple Hall Estates rounds out the Foundry Tobacco Company portfolio by offering a mild, smooth-smoking cigar not previously represented in the FTC Heritage Series, which includes Ramón Allones and Bolivar,” according to a press release. The line’s four sizes will retail in the $6.99 to $8.49 range. The cigars are now shipping to U.S. retailers.

2) Boveda’s cigar humidification patents have survived a legal challenge from Holt’s, a Philadelphia-based retailer with a strong online presence that also owns the Ashton cigar brand. The two patents in question concern the internal solution Boveda uses to regulate moisture, as well as the membrane technology that allows purified vapor in and out of the Boveda packet, according to a representative from Boveda. The challenge was launched in 2015 not long after a four-year distribution arrangement between Ashton and Boveda concluded. Email inquiries into Holt’s were not returned. It is not clear if Holt’s plans to appeal this decision of the United States Patent and Trademark Office to uphold the patents. Ashton markets the Savoy humidor line, as well as limited humidification devices, leading to speculation that had Holt’s successfully overturned the patents, it would have launched a competing humidification pack using the same technology.

3) Inside the Industry: Looking for a sneak peek preview into the 85th annual International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) Trade Show? Here you can see the convention showroom layout, as well as many of the larger booth space assignments. The event takes place July 10-14 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The 2017 convention had originally been slated five days later at the Sands Convention Center—site of previous IPCPR Trade Shows—but the location administration cancelled on IPCPR, triggering a cancellation fee (likely because a bigger business opportunity arose on those dates).

4) What’s with celebrity tequila brands? Also, if you were looking for evidence of a  mezcal bubble, here you go: Sammy Hagar and Adam Levine band together for a tequila. Huh?

5) From the Archives: From time to time, we get asked how we’re able to observe and write about many of the more subtle flavors found in a cigar. The answer? It’s mostly a combination of experience and, quite simply, paying close attention. But sometimes there are flavors you wouldn’t notice if it weren’t for the retrohale technique, which is also known as smoking through the nose (since the nose is where most flavor is noticed). Doing so properly is key, as explained in this tip written over a decade ago.

6) Deal of the Week: Here’s a “Winter Sale” that includes many samplers, bundles, and boxes. Exact percentages vary, but numerous items are discounted 40% or more.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: General Cigar