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. We call ‘em Friday Samplers. Enjoy.

1) A federal court has struck down a New York City ordinance that required tobacco retailers to display graphic anti-tobacco posters. Judge Jed S. Rakoff (pictured) of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan found the ordinance to be “well-intentioned” but ultimately in violation of the law, which places regulations on tobacco warnings and advertisements under the purview of the federal government. Back in November, in his first CRA TV webcast, Cigar Rights of America Executive Director Glynn Loope said that the legal challenge to the ordinance was important not only for New Yorkers, but because a favorable ruling would limit other cities that are considering similar measures.

2) The Cohiba Behike BHK 52, a fat robusto that retails for $75 apiece, was named Cigar Aficionado’s top smoke of 2010. “Cohiba has long been a marquee name in Cuban cigars,” says the magazine. “This new smoke has done what no special release Cohiba has done before: win critical acclaim as well as commercial success.” Although technically a limited production blend, Cuban officials say they plan to make new Behike cigars annually.

3) Inside the Industry: Cubatabaco, Cuba’s government-controlled tobacco monopoly, is suing a U.S. cigar retailer because the retailer’s Michigan shop, Casa de La Habana, is said to be too similar in name to La Casa del Habano. Gurkha plans to release a box of 50 cigars (encased in a pure silver) that will cost $250,000 for a box of 50. To promote its new Single Region cigar, Toraño will be hosting a series of events at stores across the country featuring coffee from PT’s Coffee.

4) Around the Blogs: Smoking Stogie smokes the Romeo y Julieta Short Churchill. The Tiki Bar smokes the Zino Classic Embassy Selection 2010. Stogie Review picks their Top 10 of 2010. Nice Tight Ash checks out the San Cristobal Classico. Cigar Fan fires up a Padilla Dominus. Tatuaje Reserva, EO 601, and AVO Heritage are the top cigars at YourCigarRatings.com.

5) Deal of the Week: Check out this Don Pepin Elite Selection sampler. It includes two each from the Tatuaje Havana, 5 Vegas Miami, Cuban Classic, and San Cristobal, all for under $40. Grab yours here.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: New York Times

As we have since July 2006, each Friday we’ll post a mixed bag of quick cigar news and other items of interest. We call ‘em Friday Samplers. Enjoy.

1) U.S. Customs officials seized 30,000 Cuban cigars when the illegal smokes arrived at Chicago’s O’Hare airport this week. “The flood of the popular contraband is the biggest seen at the Customs and Border Protection’s Chicago field office, which typically seizes 10 to 12 cigars a week at the O’Hare international mail facility,” reports the Chicago Tribune. “Officials attribute the influx in the last two weeks to changes in U.S. Transportation Security Administration regulations…[which ban the] shipment of parcels weighing more than 16 ounces from passenger flights…Officials believe that because European shippers could no longer send packages via these flights, they stockpiled parcels until they could be put on cargo freighters, which fly less frequently.”

2) In order to help New York shops that are suffering under draconian state taxes, La Aurora is launching a cigar called “Broadway” that will only be available at Empire State tobacconists. The blend includes a double wrapper of Ecuadorian Sumatra and Nicaraguan leaves over a Dominican corojo binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Peru. The only size, Sumo Toro (5.75 x 54), retails for $12 (including taxes).

3) Inside the Industry: Rene Castañeda, vice president of Miami Cigar & Company, is turning over the organization’s national sales portfolio to Hector Paz to concentrate on international sales and product development. Davidoff named Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard as their new CEO. Davidoff subsidiary Cusano Cigars will now distribute for Heavenly Cigars. With demand increasing, La Flor Dominicana has expanded production in its Dominican factory from five days  per week to six.

4) Around the Blogs: Epernay Le Ferme is curently rated a 94 at Cigar Ratings. Cigar Fan fires up the EP Carrillo. Smoking Stogie smokes the Dunhill Selección No. 50. Stogie Review reviews the Tatuaje Anarchy. Cigar Inspector inspects the Tatuaje Boris. Stogie Fresh lights up a La Aurora 107 Lancero.

5) Deal of the Week: This Hurricane Sampler includes a dozen smokes for just $40. Included are sought-after cigars from Diesel, Man O’ War, Gurkha, Padilla, and La Herencia. Use coupon code “JIMMY” and get free shipping if you buy two.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: U.S. Customs

As we have since July 2006, each Friday we’ll post a mixed bag of quick cigar news and other items of interest. We call ‘em Friday Samplers. Enjoy.

1) This week Raúl Castro released a 32-page booklet that outlines Cuba’s new “guidelines for socio-economic policy.” Over the coming years he plans to decriminalize certain forms of self-employment and transition 40% of the workforce off the government payroll. “Raúl Castro takes the view that Cuba can no longer afford the bloated and paternalistic state he inherited from Fidel,” reports The Economist. “There is a small but real place for private enterprise. And stopping small businesses from growing may prove harder than preventing them from being set up at all.”

2) Lawmakers in Australia—a country that already bans tobacco advertising on television, radio, and print—plan to outlaw tobacco advertising on the Internet. “Driven away from newspapers and television by regulation, online tobacco advertising has mushroomed, with more than 1,000 tobacco-themed Facebook groups available to people of all ages, plus YouTube clips and Flickr galleries produced by tobacco company employees,” reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

3) Inside the Industry: Tatuaje Anarchy, which we revealed in July is being made for Smoke Inn in West Palm Beach, will be available for pre-sale on Black Friday. The cigar is a unique size: a large perfecto featuring a spiral pigtail head wrapped in a black band. 1,500 boxes of 15 cigars are set to ship on December 13. Each box will sell for $150. Photos of the highly anticipated smoke can be found here.

4) Around the Blogs: Stogie Review reviews The Face. Smoking Stogie smokes a 1985 Dunhill. Cigar Inspector inspects the Tatuaje RC 223. Nice Tight Ash checks out the Rocky Patel NRA Valedor. B&B Cigar Club smokes the Guillermo León. Tiki Bar kicks back with a Gurkha Ninja.

5) Deal of the Week: Starting today, Citizen Cigar is holding a site-wide sale that’s well worth checking out. All prices are being reduced by 10% and shipping is free. Hurry and check it out before the the sale ends Monday.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Flickr

Though you may not have heard of him, chances are you’ve enjoyed one of A.J. Fernandez’s smokes. The prolific cigar maker has crafted stogies for Rocky Patel, Padilla, Graycliff, and Gurkha, and he’s also made limited distribution lines like 5 Vegas AAA, Man O’ War, Diesel, La Herencia, and Sol Cubano.

Fernandez, who has as much cigar blending talent as anyone his age, has made quite a name for himself in recent years. So it wasn’t completely surprising when he announced just before this year’s industry trade show that he would be producing his first solo nationally distributed cigar. The San Lotano brand originated with Fernandez’s grandfather in San Luis, Cuba, but has not been made in decades.

The brand is being released in three versions: Connecticut, Maduro, and Habano. On the latter, beneath the shiny Brazilian Habano wrapper is a Honduran binder and Dominican, Honduran, and Nicaraguan filler tobaccos.

Each blend is released in four sizes: Churchill (7 x 52), Robusto (5 x 52), Toro (6 x 52), and Torpedo (6.5 x 52). The Toro that was the subject of a Quick Smoke and each of the three Robustos I sampled for this review were notably firm.

The San Lotano features an impressively complex combination of flavors. Warm tobacco, spice, toastiness, cedar, meaty char, and roast coffee are all apparent in the full-bodied blend.

It’s not knock-you-on-your-ass full-bodied, but there’s a lot going on here, including a certain “crunchiness” that is hard to describe properly, but easy to enjoy. The hour-long smoke features excellent construction as the firm cigar has a deliberate, but not difficult, draw.

Having sampled all three of the San Lotano blends, I can definitely say that while none are disappointing, the Habano is my clear favorite. And at $6 apiece, it provides good value.

The San Lotano doesn’t change much from beginning to end, but it doesn’t need change to be enjoyable, as the interplay between the flavors keeps the smoker plenty interested. That complexity, combined with excellent construction and solid value, earns the San Lotano Habano Robusto four and a half stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

A.J. Fernandez made his mark on the industry by producing top-selling cigars for the likes of Rocky Patel, Padilla, Graycliff, Gurkha, and others. This year he broke the mold and released his first nationally-distributed solo cigar.

The blend, San Lotano, was once a pre-Castro Cuban line. “Retired for decades, the line is being reintroduced by A.J. Fernandez, whose grandfather first started the brand in San Luis, Cuba,” reads a press release. Fernandez says that “San Lotano has been a project many years in the making for me, and it is made to honor the tradition of cigar making that I learned from my father and my father’s father.”

San Lotano is handmade at the Tabacalera Fernandez factory in Estelí, which turns out nine million cigars annually. The series is available in three wrapper variations: Habano (already being hailed in cigar circles), Maduro, and Connecticut. The latter features an Ecuadorian-grown outer leaf, a Nicaraguan binder, and a three-country filler blend from Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic.

The Robusto (5 x 52) retails for about $6 apiece. It has a golden, toothy wrapper that’s nearly flawless, a firm feel, and a foot that reveals a cross-section of tightly packed tobacco. The pre-light aroma is faint and nutty. The cold taste exposes an easy draw and some sweetness on the lips.

After lighting, the initial flavor is of hay, creamy coffee, and citrus. Flavorful, yet very similar to many of the other Connecticut-wrapped smokes on the market. Notes of almond and subtle peppery spice soon add depth. Thereafter, the profile takes on warm tobacco flavors.

The physical properties, as I’ve come to expect from A.J. Fernandez, are superb. The burn line is even, the white ash builds wonderfully off the foot, and the draw remains clear throughout the 50-minute smoke. If only every cigar smoked this well.

Still, is the San Lotano Connecticut remarkable? No. I can’t imagine many seasoned cigar veterans being blown away by this blend. But while I’ll save my high praise for the Habano version of this tobacconist-only line, I must say that this Robusto compares favorably to some of my favorite Connecticuts, including those made by Camacho and Oliva. For that, it earns four stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick A

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. We call ‘em Friday Samplers. Enjoy.

1) Labor Day is upon us. For all you hard-working Stogie Guys out there, it couldn’t have come soon enough. The entire StogieGuys.com team would like to wish you and yours a happy, safe, and cigar-filled holiday weekend—a great time to smoke that extra-special cigar you’ve been saving for years. So whether your plans include a barbecue, a beach, golf, or anything else, be sure to make this year memorable with a memorable cigar.

2) Officials in Ocean City have scheduled a hearing to discuss the possibility of a smoking ban for the Maryland town’s beaches. The announcement came just days before the upcoming holiday weekend, a lucrative time when thousands of mid-Atlantic vacationers flock to this popular ocean-side destination. NBC reports that “most businesses are against a ban on smoking, fearing that it may hurt their already struggling businesses.” An outcome isn’t expected until after an October election.

3) Site News: It may have taken awhile, but the cigar community seems to have embraced Twitter as a forum for talking cigars. So we’ve created a new Cigar Tweets page—your one-stop shop for the latest updates from all the cigar makers on Twitter. And don’t forget to follow Stogie Guys, too.

4) Around the Blogs: Smoking Stogie tries an Illusione Singulare. Cigar Inspector inspects a Juan Lopez Short Torpedo. Stogie Review fires up an AVO Heritage. Nice Tight Ash checks out an Art Deco. Perfect Draw reviews the Quesada Tributo.

5) Deal of the Week: With full-bodied spice and Cuban-like depth, Nicaraguan smokes are increasing in popularity, and this Nicaraguan Blends Sampler demonstrates why. Included are two each from Padilla Habano, Man O’ War, Rocky Patel Fusion, and Gurkha Park Avenue, all for under $30. Grab yours here.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Flickr

As we have since July 2006, each Friday we’ll post a mixed bag of quick cigar news and other items of interest. We call ‘em Friday Samplers. Enjoy.

1) Politicians in Savannah aren’t satisfied with Georgia’s statewide smoking ban, enacted in 2005. So they’ve proposed a city ordinance that would close the “loopholes” of the existing law, criminalizing smoking in all workplaces including cigar bars, tobacco shops, and outdoor sections of restaurants and bars. “What no one needs is more of government telling people what they can and cannot do,” said Chris McCalla, legislative director of the IPCPR. “Jobs and businesses truly are at stake here, as well as the rights of business owners to declare whether smoking should be allowed in their establishments.”

2) The final blend has been selected for the Padrón Family Reserve No. 46, a box-pressed corona gorda (5.5 x 56) that honors the company’s 46 years of business. It will debut at the IPCPR Trade Show in August and hit retailer shelves on September 8. Each cigar is made in Estelí, Nicaragua, and will carry a price tag of approximately $25.

3) Inside the Industry: A.J. Fernandez (who has blended cigars for such names as Padilla, Rocky Patel, Graycliff and Gurkha) is releasing  his first solo nationally distributed release, San Lotano. The New York City edition of Cigar Aficionado’s Big Smoke has been announced for December 1 at Pier 92. Cuba’s new Romeo y Julieta Wide Churchill is now available. Cigar Rights of America has improved its website by adding a members-only dashboard, RSS feeds by state, member discounts, and an event calendar.

4) Around the Blogs: Smoking Stogie lights up a San Cristobal O’Reilly. Stogie Review reviews a Don Pepin Series JJ. Nice Tight Ash checks out a Liga Privada Flying Pig. Keepers of the Flame fires up a Nestor Miranda Special Selection Coffee Break. Cigar Jack torches a La Gloria Cubana Artesanos de Tabaqueros.

5) Deal of the Week: This “One Stop Shop Sampler” has 20 top smokes for just $75 with free shipping included. Included are cigars by Rocky Patel, Graycliff, Padilla, Gurkha, and many more. Grab yours here.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Flickr