The Stogie Guys

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 542nd in the series.

1) In a Facebook post last weekend, Dr. Gabie Kafie of 1901 Cigars announced his intention to form the Boutique Cigar Association of America (BCAA). The new trade organization will focus on representing companies that make 500,000 or fewer cigars per year. The board of directors will be selected soon. According to the group’s Facebook page, the BCAA will be “about all the family-owned cigar brands and all the retailers and customers that love such brands. We need to organize, educate, and create further awareness moving forward. As small cigar producers, a lot of us don’t have the finances or the means to get the critical information needed to protect our interests (especially in dealing with the FDA). This will be a coalition of likeminded individuals for the betterment of our entire industry.”

2) Although two weeks ago the FDA announced a major delay in implementation of their deeming rule for cigars, not all deadlines were pushed back. For example, yesterday warning label plans were due to the FDA. Cigar makers were required to tell the agency their plans for complying with FDA requirements for rotating mandated health warning statements. The warning label requirements were challenged in lawsuits filed against the FDA regarding the rule, although those cases were recently stayed.

3) Inside the Industry: New York City officials passed a series of anti-tobacco bills recently, including one setting minimum prices for cigars. Before any taxes are added, retailers must charge $8 per cigar when sold individually, while a formula creates a minimum box price that is roughly $40 for a box of 20. City taxes were also increased to 10% of retail price (at least $0.80 per cigar).

4) From the Archives: With the recent news that another of Tampa’s long-shuttered cigar factories is up for sale, it’s a reminder that you can still see quite a bit of history if you visit Cigar City. About two dozen of the buildings that housed cigar factories survive, though J.C. Newman’s El Reloj is the only one remaining that functions as a cigar factory. Check out our guide to Tampa from a couple of years ago.

5) Deal of the Week: For today only, here are 100 deals, including cigars from Ashton, Oliva, Tatuaje, Rocky Patel, Davidoff, Drew Estate, and more. Free shipping is included on any purchase. If you really want to stock up, add promo code “GBP20D” at checkout to knock $20 off an order of $150 or more.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: BCAA

When it comes to variety of styles, rum gives whiskey a run for its money. Dark rum, aged rum, spiced rum, overproof rum, flavored rum… Besides being distilled from sugarcane or sugarcane derivatives, there are few rules when it comes to rum.

The downside is many rums, even higher-end rums, take advantage of the lax rules to add sugar or caramel color. This creates a sweetness many identify with premium rum. Such rums may be enjoyable to sip, but they’re hardly the only style of premium rum.

Foursquare Distillery’s Richard Seale is on a mission to clear up some of the confusion inherent in the category and give rum drinkers a better way to determine what exactly they are sipping. He’s even proposed new sub-categories of rum to achieve it.

Meanwhile, Seale makes some excellent rums, all free of any additives; he only employs rum and barrel time. He’s also not shy about revealing the details of exactly what’s in the rum and what types of barrels were used to make it. While some premium rums obfuscate about how long they were aged or how much sugar has been added, his approach is a breath of fresh air.

Today I look at two rums I recently picked up from the Barbados Foursquare Distillery. Both are barrel-proof and, while not impossible to find, will take some searching to locate.

Foursquare 2004 Single Blended Rum (Exceptional Cask Selection, Mark III)

As the label makes clear, this rum was distilled in 2004 in both pot and column stills then aged in used bourbon barrels for eleven years before being bottled at a hearty 59% alcohol by volume. Foursquare also makes a port cask- and zinfandel cask-finished version of the 2004 vintage rum. So, if you buy it, be sure to differentiate between them. Expect to pay between $60 and $80 for this bottle.

The nose of this amber-hued rum is surprisingly restrained with wood, vanilla, and molasses notes. On the palate, it’s a bold combination of tropical fruit, cocoa, leather, candied almonds, and butterscotch. The finish shows off more vanilla and fruit along with some barrel char.

Foursquare Triptych Single Blended Rum

Foursquare’s Triptych blends 2004 rum aged in used bourbon casks (presumably the same as in the 2004 Exceptional Cask) with 2005 distilled rum aged in ex-Madeira casks and 2007 rum aged in virgin oak. The use of virgin oak is unusual for rum, and the combination, once blended, is bottled without dilution at 56% alcohol by volume. Expect to pay $120 or more for this rum, which is limited to just 5,400 total bottles.

The result is a deep copper-colored rum with a lively nose of vanilla, wood spice, and just a bit of sulfur. On the palate, it features powdered cocoa, roasted cashew, bananas foster, leather, and molasses. The finish lingers with charred oak and more molasses.

Each is an excellent rum and a testimony to how flavorful, complex, and smooth rum can be without any added sugars. Also remarkable is how sippable they are neat despite the high proof. The prices aren’t cheap, especially the Triptych, but if you enjoy rum neat these are must-tries.

Good rum always pairs nicely with cigars, and these are no exception. The high proof and full flavor lend themselves to an earthy, full-bodied cigar like the Tatuaje Havana VI Verocu, Sobremesa, or Intemperance BA.

– Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

You’ve got to hand it to Pete Johnson, the creator and owner of Tatuaje. His annual Monster Series release is pure marketing genius. Every year, Tatuaje’s growing army of devotees seeks out the Halloween limited release, many buying an entire box before trying a single cigar.

Back in 2011, Cigar Aficionado wrote an article about the “distribution nightmare” the Monster Series had become. Back then, the release was only in its fourth year, with production at 22,000 cigars; the latest release, called the Krueger, clocked in at just shy of 60,000 cigars.

For the uninitiated, Tatuaje has released an annual Monster Series smoke since 2008, each celebrating a character from the horror genre, including The Frank, The Drac, The Face, The Wolfman, The Mummy, The JV13 (Jason), The Jekyll, The Hyde, and The Krueger. The MSRP is always $13, and there are typically 666 “dress boxes” of 13 cigars made available to 13 “unlucky” retailers (Johnson also releases plain boxes of 10).

I didn’t have a chance to get my hands on The Krueger when it came out last fall. Thankfully, I spotted a stash at my local tobacconist and picked up a handful. As the name would suggest, The Krueger honors the Freddy Krueger character from A Nightmare on Elm Street. Its recipe calls for a Mexican San Andrés wrapper around Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos.

Typically, wrapper leaf is judged by both taste and appearance. A testament Johnson’s aforementioned marketing genius is his ability to use ugly, scary-looking wrapper leaves that, while tasty, certainly wouldn’t qualify for most $13 cigars. Indeed, The Krueger is a dark, rough, and rugged box-pressed torpedo (7 x 48). Its dry surface is characterized by plenty of veins, lumps, and tooth. There are hardly any oils to be found. It is slightly spongy and the cold draw is moderate.

After setting an even burn, pungent pre-light notes of earth, cocoa, and hay transition to an initial profile that’s balanced and medium- to full-bodied. Flavors include coffee bean, roasted nuts, leather, black pepper, and sweet cream. That earthiness (some might say dirtiness, or grittiness) so emblematic of San Andrés tobacco creeps in as the first inch is concluding.

As the midway point approaches, the profile remains consistent, but the flavor settles a bit as the cigar takes a more balanced and nuanced stance. The sweetness ramps up with the addition of chocolate, and the leather and roasted nuts become more pronounced. The final third is marked by a reprise of the intensity from the outset, plus heavy notes of leather and a sour meatiness.

With solid construction from light to nub, The Krueger is a fine, well-built cigar with loads of rich flavor and ample changes throughout to keep things interesting. That said, I don’t believe it quite stands up to the lofty expectations set by its Monster Series predecessors (and its price and pedigree). Perhaps that will change with some age. For now, the most fitting rating for this Tatuaje creation is three and a half stogies out of five.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here.]

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Each Saturday and Sunday we’ll post a Quick Smoke: not quite a full review, just our brief verdict on a single cigar of “buy,” “hold,” or “sell.”

It’s hard to believe how much the La Palina brand has grown since I attended the launch party in June 2010. From the debut single vitola blend, La Palina now features a dozen blends, most with multiple sizes. Illumination an features Ecuadorian wrapper and binder around Dominican and Nicaraguan filler. The cigar is made at the El Titan de Bronze factory, same as La Palina’s better-known Goldie. The corona gorda-sized Illumination Colonial (5.25 x 44, $10.50) showcases medium-bodied bread, cedar, hay, and coffee notes. Flavors are pleasant enough, though hardly in the same class as Goldie. The biggest flaw, however, is a burn that goes out for no apparent reason and requires several relights.

Verdict = Hold.

– Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Each Saturday and Sunday we’ll post a Quick Smoke: not quite a full review, just our brief verdict on a single cigar of “buy,” “hold,” or “sell.”

Released in 2015 to celebrate Rocky Patel’s 20 years in the cigar industry, this blend is said to have taken four years to develop. Its wrapper and binder comes from Honduras, and the filler is a mix of Honduran and Nicaraguan tobaccos. The result is a complex, tasty, medium-strength smoke. The severely pressed Twentieth Anniversary Natural Toro (6 x 52, $12) performs excellently, including the generation of lots of smoke. It’s well worth a try.

Verdict = Buy.

–George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys

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 541st in the series.

1) Cuban farmers in the storied Pinar del Río province are harvesting a bumper tobacco crop, and they expect to increase acreage even more next year, according to news reports. Much of the country is struggling with drought, so additional wells are being drilled and irrigation systems expanded to accommodate the additional planting. Exported premium cigars are said to generate about $450 million a year for Cuba.

2) With the override of a gubernatorial veto, Maine this week became the latest state to raise the minimum age for tobacco purchases to 21. (Others that have approved the change are California, Hawaii, Oregon, and New Jersey.) Voting for the increase in both legislative chambers crossed the required two-thirds majority. Gov. Paul LePage, in opposing the change, had referred to raising the age as “social engineering.”

3) Inside the Industry: A lawsuit filed last year by Frank Herrera’s law firm on behalf of several cigar makers challenging FDA cigar regulations has been suspended. Herrera posted the document to stay the case on Facebook. He wrote that the FDA’s three-year extension for implementation of the substantial equivalence provision regarding cigars “provides relief for issues that were raised” in the lawsuit. Either party is allowed to reopen the case in the future. Meanwhile, Judge Amit Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has granted a 30-day delay in the lawsuit brought by Cigar Rights of America, IPCPR, and the Cigar Association of America against the FDA. It is assumed the extension is intended to buy time for the Department of Justice, the agency that is representing the FDA, to determine how FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb’s new tobacco regulation plan impacts premium cigars.

4) From the Archives: San Andrés wrapper is seemingly everywhere these days, including on many of the cigars that were introduced at the recent IPCPR Trade Show. Back in May 2015, we published our thoughts on Mexican tobacco. You can revisit that piece here.

5) Deal of the Week: StogieGuys.com recommends Bespoke Post, a monthly collection of awesome items (think fine bar accessories, shaving kits, wine, workout gear, coffee kits, and more) delivered for just $45. You can skip or purchase every month. Sign up here.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Last week I noted a concrete reason for hope in the ongoing battle against overbearing FDA cigar regulations. Just over two days later, the FDA announced a “new comprehensive plan” for tobacco regulations, including cigars.

As part of the rollout, the FDA delayed pending deadlines for cigars to be submitted to the agency for the agency’s approval. Critically, the agency noted that cigars with a pending application can be marketed and sold while waiting for the agency’s response. Motions to stay two legal challenges were quickly filed in court supported by attorneys representing the FDA.

The new deadline for pre-market approval is August 2021. So far, other deadlines (for example, warning labels) haven’t been changed as a result of the announcement. However, they still could be changed or delayed in the coming months.

Here are three important takeaways from the announcement:

FDA’s New Approach to Tobacco Regulation Could Benefit Cigars

Premium handmade cigars may have never been the primary target of FDA regulation, but they certainly were collateral damage. By targeting new tobacco products and making them run the gauntlet of the approval process, the FDA would make it exceedingly difficult and costly to introduce new products.

Because the market for cigars (unlike cigarettes and other traditional tobacco products) is vibrant and competitive with hundreds of new products introduced every year, cigars were hardest hit by the requirement for approval of new products. A new policy focused on “harm reduction” could mean major changes for cigarettes. But for handmade cigars, which have never been particularly attractive to youth and are used by adults in moderation, it could mean less regulation.

In the past, while communicating with the FDA, agency officials repeatedly insisted their position is all tobacco is harmful. Further, they insisted they wouldn’t acknowledge (even though everyone knew it) that some tobacco products are significantly less harmful than others. Any doctor not on the FDA payroll would tell you you’re far better off being the average cigar smoker than the average cigarette smoker. But the prior FDA regime refused to utter this truth.

On the other hand, the new focus on harm reduction would be a more scientific approach, which, if followed through, would greatly benefit handmade cigars. It will take a long process, including rule making, to see the ramifications of this new focus, but cigar smokers should welcome it.

Only Congress Can Fix This For Good

While a change in direction at the FDA is certainly welcome, don’t think for a second it is a permanent solution. Even if the FDA does everything the cigar industry hopes, a new administration or head of the FDA could start rule making and undo it all within a year.

Congress gave the FDA the power to regulate the cigar industry to a standstill, and ultimately only Congress can undo it. A bill to repeal to FDA’s jurisdiction over cigars is still needed. The only downside of the current rules being delayed and likely rolled back is that it gives Congress a reason to delay fixing the problem it created, since the worst consequences seem further down the road.

The FDA Leaks to Anti-Tobacco Groups

It may seem small and unsurprising, but it’s worth noting: The move by anti-tobacco groups preceded the FDA’s announcement by just days, which almost certainly happened because news of the upcoming announcement was leaked by insiders to the groups. This is a reminder that while the leadership at FDA may be embracing a new approach, many mid-level and lower FDA officials may not be on board with scrapping the old approach and delaying their enforcement.

This bureaucratic resistance (and their leaks to anti-tobacco advocacy groups) versus the new, more scientific approach of FDA Director Gottlieb will be something worth watching. You can be sure many people in the agency aren’t happy that their focus and work over the past few years has been scrapped, even though their new boss has initiated a new direction for the FDA’s regulation of tobacco.

–Patrick S

photo credits: Stogie Guys