The Stogie Guys

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) When longtime industry veteran and roving cigar ambassador José Blanco left Joya de Nicaragua in August, few expected he would be away from cigars for long. Questions about the nature and timing of his return were answered this week as Blanco announced the creation of Las Cumbres Tabaco. The new venture, which translates to “summits of tobacco,” will run out of the Dominican Republic and include a partnership with Tabacalera La Palma, operated by Blanco’s cousin, Jochi Blanco. The first Las Cumbres blend is still in the works—don’t expect to see anything until the summer—as are details about cost and distribution. But it is known the blend will be called Señorial (Spanish for “lordly”), have an Ecuadorian wrapper, and feature Dominican tobacco.

2) The Indiana Supreme Court ruled this week that an Evansville ordinance banning smoking in bars violates the state constitution. Since 2012, Indiana has had a statewide ban that exempts bars, retail tobacco stores, cigar clubs, gaming facilities, and a few other locales. The court struck down the stricter Evansville regulation because it closed the bar exemption but maintained the exemption for a local casino. Evansville is Indiana’s third-largest city.

3) Inside the Industry: General Cigar has unveiled a new project with E.P. Carrillo called “Re+United” under its boutique-oriented Foundry Cigar Company. The cigar will reunite Ernesto Perez-Carrillo and Foundry’s Michael Giannini, who worked closely together at General Cigar until Carrillo left in 2009 to form his eponymous family-owned cigar company. Even before this official partnership, the two companies cooperated, including E.P. Carrillo boxes being built at General Cigar’s Dominican box factory. The trademark for “Re+United” (seen here) is owned by General Cigar.

4) Deal of the Week: Cigar Place has some excellent deals if you use these coupon codes. Some of the deals include Cain Daytona starting at $76 (box of 24) and Liga Undercrown starting at $104 (box of 25).

–The Stogie Guys,

photo credit: Stogie Guys

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) Lost in the seemingly endless supply of news about smoking bans, regulations, and taxes at the local, state, and federal levels is a cadre of officials who aren’t afraid to stand up to anti-tobacco zealotry. Take Randy Voepel, for example. He is the current mayor of Santee, California. Mayor Voepel recently received an “F” grade for his city’s tobacco control policies (or lack thereof) from the American Lung Association—a grade he calls “’F’ for Freedom” while proudly donning a cigar tie (pictured). Then there’s Missouri State Representative Kathie Conway, who continues to encourage localities in the state to not pass smoking bans, and is drawing attention to how smoking bans harm small businesses. And, at the federal level, U.S. Representative Tom Cotton of Arkansas is the latest legislator to pledge to protect premium cigars from impending FDA regulation. Officials like these deserve our thanks.

2) This week it was announced that Crowned Heads and My Father Cigars have teamed up to create a new release (due out in May) called Las Calaveras Edición Limitada 2014—Crowned Heads’ first Nicaraguan cigar. Three sizes will be offered, each with an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper around Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos. Only 1,000 boxes of each vitola will be made, with per-cigar prices ranging from $8 to $12.

3) Inside the Industry: Royal Gold Cigars, the premium cigar subsidiary of machine-made giant Swisher, officially announced Nirvana, which is made by Drew Estate. The five-size line will feature a Rosado wrapper grown in the Eastern province of Cameroon, a Mexican San Andres binder, and filler from Jalapa, Estelí, and Jamastran.

4) Around the Blogs: Cigar Inspector inspects a Cuban Davidoff No. 1. Keepers of the Flame fires up some Gurkhas. Stogie Review reviews the Fratello. Stogie Fresh smokes the Room 101 Master Collection One.

5) Deal of the Week: We make no apologies for being fans of corona-sized cigars, which makes this deal particularly noteworthy. Just $24 gets you five coronas: Kristoff Ligero Maduro, Montecristo, Cain Daytona 543, Tatuaje Noella, and L’Atelier Maduro 44.

–The Stogie Guys,

photo credit: Santee Patch

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) We first told you about Drew Estate’s enormous, new “pre-industry” facility back in May, when we visited it while it was still under construction. This week Drew Estate announced it held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the building they’ve now dubbed “DE2.” Located right across the street from Drew Estate’s La Gran Fabrica in Estelí, Nicaragua, the $4 million building will be used to ferment, age, and sort tobacco, as well as house a medical center and cafeteria for Drew Estate employees. The facility is “one of the largest, most state-of-the-art leaf processing operations in the world, specializing in dark air-cured tobaccos,” according to a press release. “DE2 provides Drew Estate with the ability to drastically increase their scale for pilone curing and bail storage, as well as provide all of the necessary professional support services in leaf sorting, classification, and analysis.”

2) Officials in Boulder have instituted a smoking ban for parts of the Colorado city’s downtown area, where lighting up a cigar is now a criminal activity, even outdoors. Interestingly, the law also applies to smoking inside parked cars within this area. Details about enforcement are not yet clear.

3) Inside the Industry: Drew Estate is giving away a bundle of MUWAT Kentucky Fire Cured cigars. Just post a photo of yourself smoking one and tag it Drew Estate. Details here.

4) Deal of the Week: Cigar Place is offering this CA 2013 Top 25 Sampler that is definitely worth checking out. Just $180 (about $8 per cigar) gets you 22 top-rated smokes, including quite a few hard-to-find, super-premium smokes like an Opus X, Padrón 1964, Davidoff Nicaragua, and many more.

–The Stogie Guys,

photo credit: Drew Estate

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) Pennsylvania has had a statewide smoking ban dating back to 2008, originally signed into law by Ed Rendell, who was governor at the time. In its current state, the ban provides a few exemptions, most notably for bars where minors are not permitted and where 20% or less of revenue is from food. However, State Senator Stewart Greenleaf (pictured) and State Representative Mario Scavello are hoping to make it even more difficult to enjoy a cigar. They have introduced measures that would render Pennsylvania one of the toughest places to light up by extending the current ban to private clubs, bars, gaming floors, and outdoor patios of bars or restaurants. This is a bold move for a state that’s home to major retailers like Famous Smoke Shop, Holt’s, and Cigars International.

2) In last month’s “Question of the Month” (which admittedly ran significantly longer than a month), we asked readers how many cigars they are currently aging or storing. “Fewer than 25” was the most popular answer with about 24% of the vote, followed by the 26-50 range (19%), 50-100 (18%), 100-200 (15%), 200-500 (13%), and more than 500 (11%). About 2,500 unique visitors participated in the poll. We’re not sure if it’s more surprising that about a quarter of our readers are only aging/storing 25 cigars or less, or that 11% of readers have a collection of more than 500. Please feel free to weigh in on this in the comments below, and you can also contact us if you’ve got suggestion for a future poll. A new “Question of the Month” is open for voting in the sidebar on the right.

3) Inside the Industry: The Nashville Scene gives us an update on what CAO founder Cano Ozgener is up to these days. During the Nicaraguan cigar festival this week, Drew Estate officially unveiled its new, massive, pre-industry building where it stores, ages, and sorts tobacco before rolling it into cigars.

4) Deal of the Week: The clearance section of Smoke Inn currently has some deals worth checking out. Of particular note are boxes of Añoranzas, El Tiante Habano Oscuro, and La Dueña Petit Belicoso, each for under $90 per box.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Pennsylvania State Senate