Search results: "77th annual International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR)"

Stogie Reviews: Rocky Patel “Patel Bros.” Toro

19 Oct

Rocky Patel “Patel Bros.” ToroAlong with 1961 and Corojo Especial, “Patel Bros.” was one of three blends released by Rocky Patel at the 77th annual International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) Trade Show in New Orleans. Inaugural shipments of the new line are arriving at retailers across the U.S. as we speak.

This appropriately named four-vitola blend represents the first collaboration between Rocky and his brother, Nimesh. According to Rocky’s website, “the duo worked for years to find a robust and unique wrapper to accompany a special Nicaraguan filler and binder blend.” They finally settled on an interesting choice: a broadleaf wrapper from the fields of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The result is rumored to taste similar to Rocky’s popular Winter Collection.

I was fortunate enough to grab a Patel Bros. Toro (6.5 x 52) when I was covering the IPCPR event back in August. So please note that this review is based off a single pre-release sample.

As you can see, my sample doesn’t include Rocky’s finished band, which features gold lettering on a black and white background. But it does include a dark and toothy wrapper, an absence of large veins or seams, a heavy weight, and a firm feel.

Pre-light, I find intense, mouth-watering aromas of sweet chocolate and espresso, especially off the foot. The well-constructed cap clips neatly to reveal an easy draw and some spice and sweetness on the lips.

Patel Bros. is full-bodied from the start. The first few puffs greet you with a rich taste of coffee, cocoa beans, and black pepper. Then, after the first inch, the flavor mellows slightly while remaining vigorous. A bit chalky, this profile reminds me of the Cain Habano—but perhaps with a little more depth.

Leather comes to the foreground as the winding yet self-correcting burn works down to the final third. All the while, the draw remains clear and the gray ash holds decently.

I enjoyed the young Patel Bros. Toro today, but I fully expect it to improve with age tomorrow. Still, absent any further development, it is already worth its price tag of $6-9 apiece and worthy of four stogies out of five.

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

Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Stogie Reviews: Mi Dominicana Corona

13 Oct

Two months after the 77th annual International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) Trade Show in New Orleans, the industry remains focused on the newest additions to the market. But many of us still have some catching up to do. The Mi Dominicana, introduced at last year’s IPCPR event in Las Vegas, is one blend that, until recently, never made it into my humidor.

Mi Dominicana CoronaMi Dominicana is the first Dominican puro made by tobacco giant Altadis. It is crafted by José Seijas, general manager of Tabacalera de Garcia, Ltd.—one of the biggest cigar factories in the world—and the man behind the Dominican versions of Montecristo, H. Upmann, and Romeo y Julieta.

Born in Santo Domingo, Seijas created this eight-vitola blend to honor his Dominican heritage. “Everything that is beautiful about the Dominican Republic has gone into this cigar,” he says on Altadis’ website. “Mi Dominicana is my personal tribute to our nation and our people…[It] truly captures the pride of my country.”

That pride is evident in the Corona’s promising appearance. This five and a half inch by 44 ring gauge cigar includes a carefully applied cap, a firm feel, and a toothy, oily wrapper. The sole aesthetic drawback is the network of thick veins that crisscross the cigar’s surface.

Pre-light, sweet floral notes shine though. A cold taste reveals honey on the lips and a slightly stiff draw, then the first lighted puff produces notes of sage, coconut, almond, and toast. The profile is fairly balanced and medium-bodied, and the aftertaste reminds me of yellow cake.

These flavors remain largely unaltered at the midway point. The only change, unfortunately, is a bitterness on the finish. That, and I find myself growing a bit bored of the once interesting taste—a boredom that carries through to the end of this 90-minute smoke.

While the flavor is neither completely dull nor utterly inspiring, Mi Dominicana’s physical properties are above average. The draw opens nicely, the white ash behaves well, and the burn only requires minimal touch-ups to stay even. These characteristics were apparent in both Corona’s that I smoked for this review.

Still, for a cigar that commands a price tag of about $7-8 apiece, José Seijas’ Mi Dominicana falls a bit short. I was left hoping for more from a highly anticipated blend that is intended to espouse the attributes of a great tobacco-growing nation. Ultimately, the Corona earns three stogies out of five.

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

Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

StogieGuys.com’s IPCPR Trade Show Coverage Wrap-Up

12 Aug

[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.

RP 1992 Vintage Signature by you.

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

Live Updates from the IPCPR Trade Show (Day 3)

10 Aug

[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

Live Updates from the IPCPR Trade Show (Day 2)

9 Aug

[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.

Gene Arganese and the "S-This" Hat

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.

J. Fuego 777 Corojo

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.

Siglo Maduro

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.

Padrón 45th Anniversary

[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

Live Updates from the IPCPR Trade Show (Day 1)

8 Aug

[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.

The Cigar Family Setup at IPCPR

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.

Cuban Crafters

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.

S-This

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