The Stogie Guys

Legendary cigar maker Avelino Lara died yesterday due to complications from thyroid cancer. Once Fidel Castro’s personal roller, Lara was famous for his creations at the El Laguito Factory outside of Havana, where he crafted some of of the most famous Cuban cigars, including the Cohiba brand.

Born in Havana on March 20, 1921, Lara worked in the cigar business all his life. He trained and mastered the art of a torcedor at a young age. After decades of working in the Cuban cigar industry, including having a hand in some of the best-known blends ever created, Lara retired in 1996, in part because he was unhappy with government interference in cigar making.

Lara couldn’t keep away from cigars for long. He eventually moved to Nassau to roll cigars at Graycliff Restaurant. His cigars soon became a success, and Lara then teamed up with Enrico Garzaroli to create and distribute Graycliff Cigars.

“With Avelino we had the idea of creating a cigar to sell in the restaurant to fuel my passion of finding the perfect cigar to complement our 5-star dining experience,” said Enrico Garzaroli, chairman and founder of the Graycliff Cigar Company. “With him we created the award winning Graycliff Original blend, beating some of Avelino’s former Cuban cigar creations in blind tastings. He had a passion for his art that no one can replicate.”

Although Lara retired from Graycliff a few years ago and returned to his native Havana, he was still involved with the company product line, sampling new cigar blends and suggesting modifications.

“Avelino will be sorely missed. Even though he was no longer present in the rolling room each day, the torcedores continue to refer to his passion, knowledge, and his constant testing of their skills,” said Paolo Garzaroli, president and co-founder of Graycliff. “I will personally miss his dedication to our company, his drive for perfection, and his many wisdoms which he shared with me.” Lara’s son, Abel, continues to make cigars for Graycliff.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Graycliff

Today, the first provision of the so-called “Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act”—a bill that gives the Food and Drug Administration sweeping powers to restrict the manufacturing, marketing and sale of tobacco products—goes into effect. The provisions make flavored cigarettes illegal, something anti-tobacco activists say will help stop minors from buying cigarettes.

The ban exempts menthol-flavored cigarettes but includes such “adult” flavors as coffee and whiskey. The menthol exemption is thought to be the result of lobbying by Altria, the world’s largest cigarette maker, which supported the bill as a way to protect its market share.

The new law, however,  has evoked other responses besides cheers from the nanny state crowd. Small tobacconists are bracing for a decrease in sales. As Manhattan smoke shop owner Sami Mohammed told NPR, “It’s destroying us—it’s rocking the smoke shops. It’s killing us, banning all flavored cigarettes,  as well the increase on taxes.”

Cigar Rights of America board member and Orlando cigar shop owner Jeff Borysiewicz told the Orlando Sentinel he’ll lose between $100,000 and $150,000 in sales annually due to the ban. “They say the different flavors appeal to children,” he told the paper. “Applying that logic you might as well ban piña coladas and strawberry daiquiris.”

Ban Leading Regulators to Target Cigars

In response to the law, some flavored cigarette makers, such as clove maker Djarum, have introduced little cigars with the same flavors designed to replace the now prohibited cigarettes. This has already led anti-tobacco lobbyists to call for the ban to be extended to cigars.

The FDA has issued a letter asserting that it may treat flavored cigars as if they were cigarettes. That move should worry makers of flavored or infused cigars including Drew Estate, CAO, General Cigar, and Altadis, all of whom make both flavored and non-flavored cigars.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

[Editors’ Note: Even though co-founders Patrick A and Patrick S are back from the 77th annual International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) Trade Show, they still have plenty more to share. Below are some updates that we didn’t  get a chance to include from our first three days of coverage in New Orleans.]

CAO’s La Traviata: One of the most interesting new releases is CAO’s La Traviata. Named after an old Cuban brand with a recently-expired trademark, the brand is CAO’s attempt to create a classic Cuban flavor profile. It utilizes an Ecuadorian habano wrapper combined with a Cameroon binder and Nicaraguan and Dominican filler tobaccos. La Traviata comes in three sizes—robusto, toro, and Churchill—and carries an extremely approachable price tag of $4.95-5.75.

Rocky Patel Updates His Classics: Rocky Patel unveiled three new smokes as we detailed in tour IPCPR preview, but also of note was that he updated the packaging of some of the smokes that brought him to fame. Such staples as the Vintage 1992 and Nording look completely different. The 1992, for example, now carries dual black bands to differentiate it from the Vintage 1990 line. In addition, the Rocky Patel Decade, Vintage 1990, and Vintage 1999 are all getting newly designed tubos.

New Davidoff Maduro Coming: While Davidoff had many new and beautiful (and pricey) humidors and accessories on display, we were most excited to hear about the second size for the Davidoff Maduro, which was announced last year. Due to hit stores October, the corona size joins the robusto in Davidoff’s maduro line. Also of note from Davidoff was the new 2009 Limited Edition Toro Especial, featuring a Colorado claro wrapper.

Toraño Unveils Exodus 50: Charlie Toraño told us about his new cigar, the Exodus 50 Years, created in honor of  the 50th Anniversary of his family’s departure from Cuba in 1959. The blend comes in three sizes:  robusto (5 x 50), torpedo (5.5 x 52), and toro (6 x 48).

[View all of our shots from the IPCPR Trade Show at the official StogieGuys.com Flickr album.]

–Patrick A & Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

[Editors’ Note: NEW ORLEANS — StogieGuys.com co-founders Patrick A and Patrick S are reporting live today from the 77th annual International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) Trade Show. This convention is where cigar makers from around the world come to showcase their products and debut their new creations. Check back throughout the day for live updates.]

11:00am CDT: First stop this morning was General Cigar, where they are debuting two new brands as well as some interesting line extensions. La Escepción (the name is a Cuban brand that was discontinued 20 years ago) features General’s exclusive Nicaraguan Ometepe tobacco as a binder around Nicaraguan filler surrounded by a Honduran habano Talanga wrapper. It will sell in the $6-7 range and comes in three sizes, including a figuardo (5 x 54). We also heard that General Cigar is  hoping to use the Ometepe tobacco, which comes from a Volcanic island with uniquely rich soil, as a wrapper in a future cigar.

11:15am CDT: Another new General brand is Brioso, which retails at the value price of $3-4. It features a Honduran Jamastran wrapper, a  Connecticut  habano binder, and a blend of Dominican, Nicaraguan,  and four types of Mexican filler. Also of particular interest is “Upper Cut,” an extension of the Punch line based on one of the Punch Election cigars released last year, and new sizes in the La Gloria Cubana Serie R and Macanudo 1968 lines.

11:45am CDT: Sam Leccia, creator of Nub Cigars, told us how he embraces the need to come out with new smokes every year. He showed us the new Nub Maduro, featuring a Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper. He also showed us his new Cain “straight ligero” cigars, which come with either a Nicaraguan habano or maduro wrapper. While Cain does feature three different types of Ligero tobacco, it isn’t 100% ligero because, according to Sam, a small amount of other tobacco is necessary to create a proper burn.

[View all of our shots from the IPCPR Trade Show at the official StogieGuys.com Flickr album.]

–Patrick A & Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

[Editors’ Note: NEW ORLEANS — StogieGuys.com co-founders Patrick A and Patrick S are reporting live today from the 77th annual International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) Trade Show. This convention is where cigar makers from around the world come to showcase their products and debut their new creations. Check back throughout the day for live updates.]

11:00am CDT: In our search for a cutter, we stopped by the Palío booth where we saw their new sportsman cutter series and also a new Churchill size of the Escencia cigar that they released at last year’s show. We also stopped by the Arganese booth where Gene Arganese gave us the story behind “S-This,” which he figures will save smokers over 40 cents per cigar.

2:30pm CDT: Just met with Jesus Fuego who told us about his new 777 Corojo made with a Brazilian corojo wrapper. His father is growing the corojo wrapper in Brazil and Fuego says he is the only one to have access to it, which will be the focus of some upcoming limited releases.

3:45pm CDT: Got the run down on the new smokes from Altadis. Some of the highlights were a Siglo Limited Reserve Maduro, Montecristo 75th Anniversary, Frank Llaneza 1961, Romeo y Julieta Maduro, and a Bering Puro Nicaragua.

4:30pm CDT: Dropped by the Padrón booth and saw the highly-anticipated Padrón Reserva de Familia 45th Anniversary. Due out in September, the box-pressed smoke will be released only in a maduro wrapper at first, with a natural wrapper possibly to come later this year.

[View all of our shots from the IPCPR Trade Show at the official StogieGuys.com Flickr album.]

–Patrick A & Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

[Editors’ Note: NEW ORLEANS — StogieGuys.com co-founders Patrick A and Patrick S are reporting live today from the 77th annual International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) Trade Show. This convention is where cigar makers from around the world come to showcase their products and debut their new creations. Check back throughout the day for live updates.]

2:30pm CDT: This afternoon we checked in, collected our passes, and took a brief walk around the trade show floor.  The huge space doesn’t officially open until tomorrow, so currently everyone is scrambling finish setting up the intricate displays designed to show off their wares.  Some of the biggest areas belong to General Cigar, Altadis, Rocky Patel, Oliva, Ashton, Davidoff, and the Cigar Family (seen below). Other booths are smaller and more modest.

3:30pm CDT: While walking the show floor we ran into our good friend Alberto Noguera of Cuban Crafters, who introduced us to Don Kiki Berger. Kiki told us how his father fled Poland during the run up to World War II and eventually settled in Cuba where he learned the tobacco trade. He also told us about his new smoke, Entubar, which is releasing under the Berger & Argenti brand. Pictured below (from left to right) are Patrick A, Kiki, Steve Ashby (Patrick A’s father), Alberto, and Patrick S.

4:00pm CDT: In our preview on Thursday we mentioned Arganese was creating a two-in-one cigar designed to minimize the SCHIP tax. Below is a photo of the cigar, called “S-This.” What might not be clear from the photo is the cigar is really two smokes, connected at their heads with an extra bit of wrapper that can easily be removed by the smoker. So while for tax purposes the consumer is buying five cigars, in reality they get ten smokes. Sneaky.

4:30pm CDT: We overheard that Louisiana’s cigar excise tax is being applied to cigars given away on the floor. If so, it could put a damper on the number of samples that makers will be giving out. We’ll be following up with more details on this story, but rumors are the tax may be as much as $1 per cigar.

[View all of our shots from the IPCPR Trade Show at the official StogieGuys.com Flickr album.]

–Patrick A & Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Starting Sunday, the 77th annual International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers (IPCPR) Trade Show will take place in New Orleans. StogieGuys.com will be on location to provide you with live updates as we sample cigars, get the details on new releases, and speak with dozens of cigar makers.

While many of details will be released at the show, here are some of new cigars set to debut this week:

Padrón is set to launch a new line called the “Reserva de Familia.” Featuring well-aged Nicaraguan tobacco, they will be releasing one blend annually in one size every September thereafter.

Don Pepin Garcia is expanding its My Father line and debuting the Tobacco Baez SF, which consists of 70% long-filler and 30% short-filler to provide consumers with a lower price point of $3 per cigar.

CAO recently announced it would debut a new brand called La Traviata, a full-bodied blend complete with an Ecuadorian habano wrapper, a Cameroon binder, and two different ligero filler tobaccos.

Rocky Patel has announced three new cigars. One blend, called “Patel Brothers,” is a collaboration with Rocky’s brother, Nimesh. It will feature a Nicaraguan-grown binder and filler and an unusual Pennsylvania broadleaf wrapper. The other is the “Rocky Patel 1961″—named for the year Rocky Patel was born—which uses a blend of Nicaraguan filler, Honduran binder, and an Ecuadorian-grown wrapper. Also to debut is the Rocky Patel Corojo Especial which, like the Cameroon Especial that debuted last year, will be a bundled smoke.  We also heard rumors that a 12th Anniversary cigar may be on its way.

Oliva is introducing the new White Label Connecticut Reserve and launching Cain, an all-ligero cigar blended by Nub creator Sam Leccia.

Toraño will be announcing the contents of their 50th Anniversary cigar as they roll out the line in a series of normal sizes. The Solomon size, which is featured in the Exodus sampler, won’t be part of the regular line.

Tatuaje will debut the new La Verite cigar lines. La Verite, which means “the truth,” will be a Churchill and available in April 2010. It will be offered in cabinets of 100, broken down into smaller boxes of 10, 25, or 50, and retailing for approximately $25 per stick. The other, L’esprit de La Verite, which means “the spirit of the truth,” will be a robusto and available in December 2009 at a retail price of around $13 apiece. We reviewed a pre-release of the L’esprit de La Verite here.

Camacho recently announced that it has teamed up with LA jeweler Matt Booth to create “Room 101 Cigars,” a Honduran-Dominican blend that will debut at the show.

Padilla is set to release two new cigars in August. Padilla Dominus, made with 2006 corojo tobacco, will be a new premium blend ($8-15). Meanwhile, the Padilla Cazadores, made with an Ecuadorian habano wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos, will be a value-oriented smoke that will cost around $5 each.

Illusione is teaming up with Drew Estate to make a new release called “Nosotros.” It will sell for $8-12 apiece and feature a Nicaraguan corojo ’99 wrapper, a Nicaraguan filler, and a Connecticut habano binder.

Alec Bradley is set to release four new cigars (though some appear to have already begun landing in cigar shops): the SCR, Family Blend, Vice Press, and Mudial.

Nestor Miranda is expanding on the newly re-blended Nestor Miranda Collection including a lancero and a rosado version of the Ruky perfecto. The company will also be releasing reblended versions of its Don lino 1989 blend in three sizes: a torpedo, a robusto, and a Churchill.

EO Brands, makers of the 601 line and Cubao, will be launching new releases. The Cubao Maduro will feature a similar blend to the original Cubao line, this time with an Ecuadorian broadleaf maduro wrapper. The Murcielago contains a blend of Nicaraguan and Mexican tobaccos.

Perdomo Cigars has announced two new smokes.  They will be releasing a tubo version of the 10th Anniversary Champagne smoke and also a new Grand Cru Connecticut.

G.A.R. Cigars is releasing the G.A.R. Vanguard, a Nicaraguan puro with plenty of ligero tobacco. They will also debut a new limited size (6 x 66) of the Gran Habano Corojo No. 5 blend called the “Czar,” and a Gran Habano No. 5 Double Maduro featuring a San Andreas wrapper that is due out in November.

Arganese Cigars will be releasing a CL/ML double-wrap cigar, based on the CL3 and ML3 lines. We’ve also heard rumors they are set to launch a “double cigar” that will be two cigars with one wrapper twisted and connected at the head.  The idea is to help enthusiasts avoid SCHIP and other cigar taxes by selling two cigars in one.

Casa Magna debuted at last year’s trade show and became a big hit when Cigar Aficionado named it the “Cigar of the Year.” This year, the company is adding the Casa Magna Oscuro and a new large vitola to its regular Casa Magna line called the Extraordinario, which measures seven inches with a 58 ring guage.

Some of the biggest names in cigars, including industry giants Altadis and General Cigar, haven’t announced their new releases yet. Be sure to check back with StogieGuys.com for updates.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys