We’ve tried a lot of beverages with our cigars over the years. Coffee, whiskey, beer, root beer, even the occasional energy drink. But we’d never experienced anything quite like Abbina Craft Sipping Soda until Charlie Albanetti joined us on the podcast alongside our good friend Big Rob from LA Cigar Collective.

Charlie didn’t set out to revolutionize what we drink with cigars. He was sitting in his basement one night, smoking a stick and sipping a mass-market soda, when frustration hit. “This stuff is terrible,” he thought. “I can do something better than this.” That moment of dissatisfaction launched a two-year journey that resulted in the first beverage specifically crafted to pair with premium cigars.

From Politics to Patchouli: An Unlikely Path

For nearly 20 years, Charlie worked in politics. It paid the bills, but the passion had faded. He needed an exit strategy, and like a lot of us, he found clarity while enjoying a cigar. The idea seemed obvious once it clicked. There really aren’t any beverages made specifically to pair with cigars. Sure, whiskey works great because it shares flavor compounds with tobacco. But what about those of us who don’t always want alcohol? What about creating something intentionally designed to enhance the cigar experience?

Charlie had an advantage most beverage entrepreneurs don’t have. A few years before launching Abbina, he’d fallen deep into the hobby of perfumery. And we mean deep. He amassed a library of individual aroma chemicals, took intensive courses, and learned that the mint in your mojito seltzer uses the exact same flavor molecules as the mint in cologne. Once he understood that connection between fragrance and flavor, the pieces started falling into place.

He went upstairs from his basement lounge and started tinkering. Juicing beets. Mixing almond extract. Experimenting with combinations that sounded bizarre on paper but made sense when you understood how flavors interact with cigar smoke. After nearly a year working with a professional flavor lab in Louisville, he finalized four formulas. In December 2023, Abbina Craft Sipping Soda officially launched.

Four Flavors, Infinite Possibilities

What makes Abbina different isn’t just that it’s made for cigars. It’s how Charlie approached the entire concept of pairing. Each of the four flavors serves a distinct purpose, designed to work with different cigar profiles.

Candlewood: Cherry Meets Earth

This one throws you for a loop. You smell candy cherry and amaretto, that artificial Jolly Rancher sweetness that Charlie specifically wanted. Then you taste it and find beet earthiness and oakmoss. It sounds weird. It shouldn’t work. But it does.

The philosophy here is what Charlie calls “discovery pairing.” When you’re smoking an earthy cigar and you pair it with Candlewood, you overload your palate with that earthiness. Your taste buds get desensitized to it, which lets you discover the vanilla, citrus, and grassy notes hiding underneath that dominant earth flavor. Eddie described it perfectly during our tasting when he said it was like smoking a completely different cigar.

Tower 44: Elegant and Refined

If Candlewood is bold and eccentric, Tower 44 is pure sophistication. Saffron, patchouli, grapefruit, and rose. Charlie wanted a leather profile in a soda, and saffron was his answer. To him, straight saffron smells like fine suede.

Now, patchouli gets a bad rap. Eddie had a visceral reaction when he first smelled it, immediately transported back to 1989 at a Grateful Dead concert. But here’s the thing most people don’t realize: patchouli is in almost every fragrance you own, you just can’t always detect it. Charlie uses just enough that it’s there, adding sweet, spicy complexity without overwhelming you. Tower 44 is the most versatile of the four flavors and works with just about anything you’re smoking.

Vinnie: Not for the Faint of Heart

This is the boldest of the bunch. Allspice, ginger, molasses, and herbs designed to mimic jerk seasoning. Charlie built Vinnie around his love for dark, meaty, savory cigars. The kind that taste a little like pork. He asked himself what flavors in the culinary world pair well with meat, and jerk chicken immediately came to mind.

When you first sip Vinnie, you get hit with tropical fruit notes and ginger spice. But what lingers is the molasses, building with each sip and interacting with the smoke in ways that create entirely new flavors. Mark was smoking an Espinosa Habano with Vinnie and couldn’t stop raving about how well they complemented each other. For Connecticut Broadleaf or Nicaraguan cigars with some kick, Vinnie is the move.

Royale: Coffee Lover’s Dream

If you’re the type who pairs your morning Connecticut with espresso, Royale is calling your name. Coffee, chocolate, nuts, and vanilla. But this isn’t your gas station coffee flavor. Charlie uses a compound called trimethyl pyrazine to achieve a nutty flavor that tastes like freshly ground coffee beans, not burnt diner brew.

Royale is the top seller, which makes sense. Coffee naturally pairs well with cigars, and it’s a flavor profile people are comfortable with. Big Rob mentioned that his wife Jenny loves Royale so much she drinks it even when she’s not smoking. Charlie’s recommendation? Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and make the best float you’ve ever had.

How Abbina Works in Real Cigar Lounges

Kyle and Big Rob have been selling Abbina at LA Cigar Collective since Charlie launched, and his insights were gold. When customers first see the amber bottles in the cooler, they assume it’s beer. Rob’s approach is simple: “We’ve got soft drinks, water, tea, and we also have cigar pairing soda.” Nine times out of ten, that last option stops people in their tracks.

The key is education. Big Rob doesn’t just hand someone a bottle and wish them luck. He asks what they’re smoking, recommends the appropriate pairing, and explains why it’ll work. Then something magical happens. Someone tries it, loves it, and asks Rob to pick a cigar that pairs with a different flavor. Before long, they’ve tried the whole lineup.

The amber bottles serve a purpose beyond aesthetics. For Big Rob’s sober customers, holding that classy glass bottle makes them feel like part of the lounge culture. They’re not relegated to water or basic sodas while everyone else enjoys whiskey and beer. Some of Rob’s regulars who are fresh in recovery have told him that Abbina helps them stay sober.

Seasonal patterns emerged too. During Louisiana’s brutal summer heat, customers gravitate toward Vinnie, Royale, and Tower 44. When winter rolls around (or what passes for winter down there), Candlewood becomes the favorite. But across the board, Royale and Tower 44 are the consistent top sellers. LA Cigar Collective keeps three or four cases of each flavor in stock because once one person orders it in the lounge, everyone wants to know what they’re drinking.

The Science of Sipping (Without the Headache)

Charlie gets deep into the technical stuff, but he explains it in ways that make sense. Most mainstream sodas give you a blast of sweetness from high fructose corn syrup and just a hint of flavor. Abbina flips that ratio. You still get sweetness (75% organic agave, 25% cane sugar), but the flavor is emphasized and layered.

Some ingredients hit your palate bold and strong, like that cherry and almond in Candlewood. Those flavors fade relatively quickly. Other ingredients like oak moss and beet earthiness? They linger. They build with each sip. As your bottle warms up and sits open during your smoke, the flavor profile shifts. That cherry in Candlewood calms down and becomes more orange, more fruit punch-like.

This is retronasal pairing at work. You’re not just tasting the soda and tasting the cigar separately. You’re pulling in cigar smoke, sipping the soda, and both are traveling through the back of your nose simultaneously. That interaction creates flavors you’ve never experienced before. As Charlie put it, you might be the first person in the world to taste that specific combination.

The guy even has a spreadsheet that calculates parts per million for individual flavor molecules. When you’re working with ingredients where one drop in three ounces of liquid is the difference between perfection and disaster, precision matters. But Charlie doesn’t want you thinking about decimal points and chemistry when you’re enjoying Abbina. He wants you discovering new dimensions in your favorite cigars.

The Cold Truth About Temperature

Charlie recommends drinking Abbina as cold as possible. We were worried our bottles might explode in the frigid garage, but colder really is better. When we did our first tasting, the sodas were around 50 degrees. This time, they were nearly frozen, and the difference was noticeable.

Here’s the thing though: as your bottle warms up during your smoke, new flavors emerge. That’s intentional. Certain molecules burn off faster than others when exposed to air. Your palate picks up on different notes at different temperatures. So while starting ice cold is ideal, don’t stress if it warms up a bit. You’re getting a different experience, not a worse one.

And please, actually sip it. We powered through our first tasting like it was a race. That’s not how this works. Charlie crafted these sodas to be enjoyed slowly over the course of your cigar, not chugged in ten minutes.

Beyond the Cigar Shop

Charlie made a strategic move with his latest batch of bottles. He removed all cigar language from the labels. This isn’t about abandoning the cigar world (Abbina is still fundamentally a cigar pairing beverage), but about opening doors to specialty food and beverage shops, bars, and restaurants.

It’s a smart play. The product works with cigars because of how it’s formulated, not because it says “cigar” on the label. And frankly, a spiced soda that pairs well with meaty, smoky flavors could work just as well with barbecue or charcuterie. Charlie’s vision extends beyond our humidors, even if that’s where his heart is.

He’s in about 50 shops now and expects to increase that after this year’s PCA trade show. The biggest challenge isn’t convincing shop owners once they taste it. Charlie has a 90% success rate when he can sit down, sample the product, and let a few customers in the shop try it too. The challenge is getting that meeting in the first place.

Quality retailers who push the product see real results. But shops with apathetic staff who don’t engage customers? Charlie doesn’t want Abbina sitting on their shelves collecting dust. It’s the same principle that applies to cigars. A shop with passionate staff who guide customers and get them outside their comfort zones will thrive. The rest just survive.

The Packaging Experience

Before we even tasted a drop, we were impressed by how Charlie ships his product. The 24-count case that arrived weighed 35 pounds and was packed so meticulously that Charlie literally threw one onto pavement to test it. Nothing broke. Out of thousands of boxes shipped over two years, only about 15 have had any breakage, usually from freezing overnight on a truck.

Inside, you don’t just get bottles. There are coasters, bottle openers, and an informational pamphlet. Charlie hand-writes a note in every box. This is a guy who understands that the experience matters. If you just poured this into a glass without context, you might overlook it. But when you engage with the full presentation, read about the intention behind each flavor, and approach it as a complete experience? That’s when Abbina really shines.

The amber bottles themselves serve a purpose. They look classy lined up together. They give the product a refined aesthetic that clear glass wouldn’t provide. And yeah, the color inside is a surprise. That bright orange Tower 44, the deep red Candlewood that looks almost like wine. Charlie uses natural fruit and vegetable-based coloring because artificial colors like Red 40 are actually harmful, even if he’s not afraid of using artificial flavors where they’re necessary to achieve his vision.

What’s Next for Abbina

Charlie has four more flavors mapped out in his head. He’s been playing with the concepts for about a year and a half. But expansion has to wait. Right now, the focus is on building volume to lower production costs. This is an expensive product to make, and until he can produce larger batches, new flavors and a zero-sugar variety have to stay on the back burner.

There’s also the question of cans versus bottles. Cans would significantly reduce shipping costs and open up venues that don’t allow glass (golf courses, sporting events). They’re also cheaper to produce – about a quarter of the cost of glass bottles. But Charlie worries cans will diminish the perceived quality of the product. It’s a real dilemma. The savings and versatility are tempting, but that amber bottle is part of Abbina’s identity.

For now, Charlie is focused on getting Abbina into more lounges, perfecting his approach to bars and restaurants, and letting people discover what he’s created. He’s not trying to compete with anyone because there’s nobody else in this space. He brought something entirely new to the cigar industry, and that’s worth celebrating.

Why This Matters

We’ve had a lot of great guests on this podcast but Charlie represents something different. He’s a cigar enthusiast who identified a gap in the market and filled it with something nobody else was making. He didn’t have family connections in the industry. He never worked in a cigar shop. He just loved cigars enough to want a better beverage to enjoy with them.

For those of us who don’t always want alcohol, Abbina is a game changer. Eddie and Eric are both sober, and having a sophisticated, intentionally crafted non-alcoholic option means everything. It’s not a compromise. It’s a legitimate pairing beverage that stands on its own merit.

And even for those who do enjoy whiskey with cigars, Abbina offers something different. It’s exploration. It’s experimentation. It’s the possibility that your next Padron 1964 might reveal flavors you’ve never noticed before because you paired it with a molasses-forward soda designed to interact with that specific tobacco profile.

Final Thoughts

The cigar world is full of passionate people doing interesting things. Charlie spent 20 years in politics, fell in love with cigars and perfumery, and somehow connected those dots to create a product that genuinely enhances the smoking experience.

If you’re curious about Abbina Craft Sipping Soda, we encourage you to try it. Start with a variety pack and experiment. Pair Tower 44 with your everyday smoke. Try Vinnie with something dark and meaty. See if Candlewood unlocks new flavors in an earthy Nicaraguan. And if you’re a coffee lover, Royale is waiting for you.

The beauty of what Charlie created is that there’s no wrong way to explore it. Your palate is different from ours. Your favorite cigars are different. The combinations are infinite, and you might just discover a pairing that becomes your new ritual.

We’re grateful Charlie and Big Rob took the time to join us on this episode. The conversation was fun, informative, and gave us a new appreciation for the thought and craft that went into these four bottles. Now it’s your turn to experience it.

Share this episode with your cigar buddies and let us know what you think. We’re always looking for great guests and interesting stories, so if you have someone in mind or want to be on the show yourself, reach out. Until next time, as Big Rib would say, Put Some Smoke in the Air!