The Stogie Guys

Last week I reported live from the 2011 International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers (IPCPR) Association Trade Show. Catch up on my updates from Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, as well as the show preview. But even this coverage isn’t comprehensive.

While two and a half days on the convention floor wasn’t enough time to hit every booth, three days of updates still wasn’t enough to capture all of the info I gathered. So here are some odds and ends that didn’t make my previous IPCPR coverage:

Last year Drew Estate won the award for best booth, and they followed it up this year with another eye-catching display. In addition to more custom-painted shoes (last year it was sneakers, this year it was women’s pumps) the Drew Estate booth featured dozens of graphic cigar molds.

Drew Estate had many new releases, including a number of blends based on the popular Liga Privada line. Included was Undercrown, a blend created by the torcedors who roll Liga Privada. As Drew Estate President Steve Saka explained to me, when they were smoking too many Liga Privadas, they created this blend from the same tobaccos used for the Liga, but using different primings and vintages not used in the Liga blend. According to Saka, while the Liga is medium- to full-bodied, this is a more medium-bodied blend.

The Miami Cigar Co./La Aurora booth was full of new releases. In fact, if there’s an award for most new lines, they surely won it. One of the most anticipated of those new releases was Casa Miranda, which was blended by Willy Herrera at the El Titan de Bronze factory in Miami before Herrera left to join Drew Estate. Despite selling for around $10 a cigar, Jason Wood tells me this was a top seller for Miami. Another new cigar in the super-premium line was the Nestor Miranda Grand Reserve ($12 each), a box-pressed torpedo made by the Pepins at the My Father factory in Nicaragua using a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper.

La Aurora 107 was a big hit for La Aurora in 2010, and so a maduro extension was almost inevitable. While they had banded and boxed examples of the new 107 Maduro for display, I was told the actual blend isn’t ready yet. The blend was recently tweaked, but they still are aiming for a release by October.

La Aurora Preferido Corojo Vintage 2003 is one of those new cigars that isn’t actually very new at all. After looking through their aging room in their Santiago factory, they “discovered” that they had enough of these circa-2003 Preferido Corojos to put out a limited release.

In case you forget that Miami Cigars is a distributor as well as a cigar maker, take note of the new Humo Jaguar made by Nestor Plasencia in Honduras. The cigar shares the same name as the Honduran Humo Jaguar cigar festival. I was told that a number of Honduran makers created blends for the festival for blind tasting by attendees. Plasencia’s blend won and is now being distributed by Miami Cigars. Next year a new blend will be crowned.

Tomorrow, stay tuned for my final thoughts on this year’s IPCPR Trade Show. Until then, be sure to let us know which blends you are most looking forward to trying.

–Patrick S

photo credits: Stogie Guys

This week StogieGuys.com is in Las Vegas covering the 79th annual International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers (IPCPR) Association Trade Show—the convention where cigar makers from around the world come to showcase their products and debut new creations. Check back throughout the day for updates, and keep an eye on Twitter for even more.

Early Morning Update: Various cigar makers I spoke with all say that day two of the Trade Show was very successful, and that there was no noticeable drop off in sales from day one to two. It’s hard to say whether this was merely positive spin or actual sales, but it did seem that many more than a few booths were even busier yesterday. Everyone I spoke with was happy to back in Las Vegas (as opposed to New Orleans) and more than a few were a little worried about next year being in Orlando.

Yesterday I also visited with Andre Farkas of Viaje. He said he’ll continue to keep production low even though he has a waiting list of 150 shops who want to get Viaje Cigars in their stores. The next new release he plans is the Late Harvest.

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This week StogieGuys.com is in Las Vegas covering the 79th annual International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers (IPCPR) Association Trade Show—the convention where cigar makers from around the world come to showcase their products and debut new creations. Check back throughout the day for updates, and keep an eye on Twitter for even more.

Early Morning Update: Yesterday was a busy day for me, and it was also a busy one for cigar makers as they took orders from retailers. The real test will be if traffic and sales hold up, or if the strong sales were just a function of people getting their buying done quickly so they can enjoy a few days of vacation in Sin City.

As we reported in our Trade Show preview, Tatuaje has plenty of new releases. Highly anticipated is the Black Petit Lancero, which was displayed next to the recently released La Vérité 2009.

Fausto is based on the T110 blend and, by all accounts, is a real powerhouse. Avion is a box-pressed perfecto that features the same blend but the size makes it less powerful.

La Casita Criolla features a blend made entirely of Connecticut broadleaf tobacco. The 7th Capa Especial is the same blend as the Brown Label but with a Sumatra wrapper.

Every year Tatuaje puts out a special Halloween-themed release like “Boris,” “The Face,” “Frank,” and “Drac.” This year’s will be “The Wolfman,” a box-pressed torpedo with an unfinished foot. A limited number of special boxes will be available. (more…)

This week StogieGuys.com is in Las Vegas covering the 79th annual International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers (IPCPR) Association Trade Show—the convention where cigar makers from around the world come to showcase their products and debut new creations. Check back throughout the day for updates, and keep an eye on Twitter for even more.

Early Morning Update: Yesterday I attended the IPCPR seminars conducted for members of the association (StogieGuys.com is a Online Media Member of the IPCPR). In the first seminar, IPCPR brought in an expert on social media marketing to help “de-mystify” social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc…). Some cigar makers and cigar shops have completely embraced social media (La Aurora, Tatuaje, and Drew Estate come to mind) and they’ve reaped the benefits, so it’s good to see the IPCPR educating its members on how to reach cigar smokers through social media, though I could have done without the constant sales pitches in the presentation. (I’m not sure whether this seminar was in the works already, but I should note that at one point we had discussed with the IPCPR leading a similar panel on social media and blog outreach, so obviously I thought the seminar topic was a good idea.) The second seminar featured an expert on productivity and increasing job satisfaction. This was also good to see because (as I’ve written) there’s nothing worse than a lazy or apathetic employee ruining what should be a great cigar shop experience.

The final seminar, and my personal favorite, was a tasting seminar lead by José Blanco (who we interviewed here). Last month Blanco announced his retirement from La Aurora after 30 years with the company, but he didn’t leave before leading his famous tasting seminar one last time. Attendees smoked one cigar (pictured above) with five different wrappers. The experience lets smokers experience the impact of each wrapper (Ecuadorian-grown Connecticut, Cameroon,  Ecuadorian-grown Sumatra, Brazilian mata fina, and  Dominican corojo) on the flavor. (more…)

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.”

By the time this is published, I’ll be firmly on the ground in Las Vegas to cover the IPCPR Trade Show for the fourth straight year. But writing (still from Virginia) I figured I’d get a jump on things by smoking a cigar that won’t officially be released until the convention opens Monday morning. I’ve yet to confirm any details about the newest cigar from Sean Williams’ El Primer Mundo, except for the fact that I’m holding this tightly constructed, double-banded robusto in my hands. Epifania (Italian for “epiphany”) features medium-bodied woody flavors and subtle sweet molasses notes. It’s a well-rounded, balanced smoke with significant spice on the finish. It paired well with the spicy notes of an Elijah Craig 18 Year Old bourbon.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick S

photo credits: Stogie Guys

Next week the center of the cigar world will be right in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip, as the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) Trade Show returns to the Sands Expo and Convention Center at the Venetian Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. As we have each year since 2008, the last time the show was in Las Vegas, StogieGuys.com will be on the trade show floor providing updates on the many new cigars set to be released.

I’ll be providing live updates starting Monday morning from the middle of the action. But just because the trade show doesn’t open until then, that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty to report already. Here are some of the high-profile new releases that we already know about: (more…)

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 been a while since I lit up a Tatuaje Cajonu 2003 (though I’ve got a box of the Gran Cojonus stashed away in a cigar locker somewhere). It’s a great looking cigar, with a dark, oily wrapper framed by twin bands. The cigar produces a dense smoke with tons of earthy notes and a dark chocolate finish. The full-bodied smoke stays the same from beginning to end and sports flawless construction. Still, I  found it to be a touch one-dimensional. Given the high price and all the other great Pete Johnson smokes, I’d conclude that it’s a good cigar but hardly Tatuaje’s finest.

Verdict = Hold.

–Patrick S

photo credits: Stogie Guys