On the first day of the IPCPR trade show in Las Vegas, Brian and I were going randomly from booth to booth speaking with the people that we knew. As we went along introducing one another to the different manufacturers we knew we came to the Arganese booth.

Sandy and Gene from Arganese immediately recognized Brian and came over to speak with us. After being introduced we started talking about a new cigar that Gene was working on with Joe Gannascoli (Vito from the Sopranos) entitled “Cugine”.

Shortly after we were introduced to Joe and he went on to tell us that Cugine is Italian for Cousin and that he selected Gene to do the blend for him because “Gene is a great guy, a regular guy“. He wanted someone that had their hands in the business from seedling to straight to the retailers and Gene was the guy for him.

The blend consists of an Ecuadorian grown Connecticut wrapper , Honduran Binder, and Dominican Fillers. The Cugine will be available in three sizes which include a Robusto, Churchill, and a Torpedo and is said to be a mild to medium bodied cigar with full flavors.

Take a minute to check out the footage from our quick interview with Gene Arganese and Joe Gannascoli. Both of them were very generous with their time and were more than happy to speak with us one more than one occasion throughout the show.

MP3 Version: Right Click > Save As